Issue 26 - Junior Issue 1

Volume 118 Junior Issue 1

Alex Lautin and Alexandra Yao Staff and Contributing Writers From fashion and feminism to recycled poster-making, the school’s first-ever Green Week covered various themes related to intersectional environmentalism in student and faculty-led workshops.

Green Week is intended to create an opportunity for students who are interested in issues involving the environment and equality, Coorganizer of Green Week Sabrina Freidus (12) said. Freidus, along with her fellow Green HM Copresidents Nina Gaither (12) and Natalie Sweet (12) organized the week with the theme of environmental intersectionality in mind.

“Because of COVID, there’s this absence of school-wide events that bring people together under the same academic theme,” Sweet said. Freidus, Gaither, and Sweet had always wanted to host their own Unity Week workshops, but when this year’s Unity

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Week was cancelled, they decided to create their own week centered around the environment, Sweet said.

With this goal in mind, the three sent out emails to teachers and other community members to make their dreams a reality, she said.

Sweet and Freidus created their own workshop in which participants watched the 1972 film “The Lorax,” and discussed its relation to environmental themes. Freidus chose “The Lorax” because of its commentary on the struggle between the economy and the environment and because it was ahead of its time in terms of activism against climate change, she said.

After showing “The Lorax,” Sweet and Freidus led a discussion about the repercussions of deforestation and finding a balance between the environment and the economy.

“The Lorax” is an example of how capitalism and industrialization can harm ecosystems and have dire consequences on the world, Freidus said.

Steve Yang (10) attended Sweet and

Freidus’s workshop with his French 3H class. “Seeing the images of ruin further made apparent the urgency of the climate crisis for me, especially combined with my recent research of climate change in Chemistry class,” he said.

Jack Bleichmar (10) attended the workshop titled “Recycling Mentality: Looking at Gender, Misinformation, and Laziness.” The discussion made Bleichmar think deeper about the environment and its relation to gender, he said.

Although most of the workshops took place on campus, Dr. Christine Leo’s AP Chemistry class put together a virtual collection of workshops for the week. In the workshops, the class focused on four aspects of climate change: land, water, atmosphere, and its causes and solutions. Previously the ten minute presentations were on posters, but this year Leo decided to host the workshop online because of COVID-19 precautions.

“The hope is that this website provides a resource for people to become more deeply educated on the

science of climate change despite its complexity, and that this knowledge will ultimately lead to action,” Leo said.

Alexandre Saint-Sauveur (9) attended the “Dumping Trash in Developing Countries” workshop led

by Elise Kang (9) and Naomi Yaeger (9). In their workshop, Kang and Yaeger discussed the ways that larger and more developed countries tend to dump their trash on developing

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countries. Saint-Sauveur also learned that there are more solutions to the issue of dumping trash than he had previously thought of before, he said.

“I hope that [the workshops] starts a conversation that lasts beyond Green Week and that it opens people’s perspectives into environmental issues that we don’t always hear about,” Freidus said.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST Gaither (12) presents on farming.

Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert speaks on climate at assembly Emily Salzhauer Staff Writer “Climate change is not a problem that can get solved, but it’s a problem that can get worse or get better,” journalist and author of “The Sixth Extinction” Elizabeth Kolbert told the Upper Division (UD) at Tuesday’s assembly.

Addressing climate change “will require some major thinking and we must work hard to fix our problems,” Kolbert said. People must cut carbon emission and stop climate change before it worsens, she said.

“The Sixth Extinction” won the Pulitzer Prize and was labeled one of The New York Times “10 Best Books of 2014.” Kolbert is also a staff writer

for The New Yorker and has written seven other books, most of which address the science and politics of the environmental crisis facing our planet today.

Natalie Sweet (12) introduced Kolbert, and a panel of Global Environmental History (GEH) students, along with GEH teacher Dr. Ellen Bales. The panel members, Claire Goldberg (11), Izzy Abbott (12), Bennett Neuwirth (11), Ryan Finlay (11), and Teddy Ganea (11), moderated the assembly by asking her questions about her work.

Kolbert discussed her experience of traveling with other scientists to The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, an experience that opened her eyes to the tremendous destruction of the environment within only

CLIMATE ENGAGEMENT Assembly panelists speak with Kolbert.

a few generations. Kolbert also discussed the importance of learning through active engagement with the environment, as it helps students understand their role in protecting those spaces.

Bales agreed that learning about the environment first-hand in places like the John Dorr Laboratory can be beneficial to students, she said. When combined with classroom learning, it provides students with a deeper understanding of the environment and climate change, Bales said.

Most of the ideas Kolbert raised during the assembly were also closely connected to what students are learning in the GEH course, Ganea said.

Another theme that Kolbert discussed was the idea of timescales — or rates of change — and how quickly humans can affect the environment, Ganea said. “Humanity has been imposing a human timescale — years, decades — onto the geologic processes of nature, which means that nature simply can’t catch up with the burdens we are placing on it.”

Another course theme Kolbert highlighted in her conversation was how catastrophic extinction events can stop the slow processes of evolution and natural selection, Neuwirth said.

During the D period talkback, students asked Kolbert questions

about her work at The New Yorker, the process of writing her books, and her expertise on other environmental issues currently affecting the world.

Kolbert also discussed technological innovation and the possibility of humans going to or living in deep space rather than solving environmental problems on Earth.

In light of Kolbert’s insight, Ganea said people need to utilize their available resources when dealing with the climate crisis. “Kolbert argued that while going to space might seem great on paper, we cannot expect technological innovations in the future to serve as our ‘get-out-of-jail’ free card.”

The UD community read “The Sixth Extinction” during the 20192020 school year in preparation for the 2020 Book Day, which was canceled due to COVID-19. The school chose “The Sixth Extinction” because of the current environmental crisis, Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels said.

The book is relevant to the school’s community because the consequences of human interference with the environment is a problem that current generations of students will have to face, Bartels said. “The decisions we make about how we interact with the environment will directly determine the rapidity of this

next big extinction.”

Nitika Subramanian (10) especially enjoyed Kolbert’s thoughts on the Green New Deal. Kolbert said that while it is a great idea and political statement, it would not necessarily end climate change entirely, she said.

“It’s great to talk about how climate policy would have a tangible effect on our lives.”

At the end of the assembly, Kolbert urged students to take action to stop climate change. “[Climate change] problems are as big as planet earth and they’re only getting bigger,” she said.

Kolbert’s assembly effectively demonstrated the gravity of the climate crisis and Bales plans to continue sharing Kolbert’s work in her GEH classes in the years to come, Bales said. “I hope students will feel inspired to read more of Kolbert’s work and will take seriously the urgent nature of the climate crisis,” she said.

Ganea hopes students leave the assembly more conscious about the environment, and inspired to do their best to combat climate change, Ganea said. “We cannot stand on the sidelines of such an impending crisis,” he said. “We must take swift, yet well thought-out action, and it’s time we put our brains to the task.”

COMMUNITY REACTIONS TO DEREK CHAUVIN VERDICT “It’s the beginning of a long overdue seismic shift in both policing and the justice sysrem” - Music Teacher Doug Epstein

“I am very relieved that the verdict reached this conclusion, yet I am unsure about the policymakers and politicians calling this justice. This isn’t justice; this is the bare minimum for what should’ve happened. George Floyd “I don’t believe this will lead to concrete policy change, but should still be alive. He wasn’t a martyr, and seeing people I’m happy that someone our justice system has deemed is frame him that way as if he intended to die for a cause is unsettiling.” a criminal is going to jail.”

- Gabrielle Fischberg (12) - Ryan Rosenthal (12)

“I think this verdict was a very important step in black liberation, but it’s not justice because the system is still broken so no change has happened yet.”

- Ajani Green-Watson (11)

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THE RECORD OPINIONS APRIL 23RD, 2021

Being on good (climate) behavior: We need to ritualize eco-friendly decisions

Claire Goldberg I think about the climate a lot.

Better yet, I worry about the climate a lot. And, after almost a year of Global Environmental History (GEH), I

natural disaster.

This is all information I know and care deeply about, and yet, I still find myself making choices that make me part of the problem. I drive often, I use plastic cups sometimes, I eat meat, etc. Horace Mann has provided me with an enriching climate education.

Why isn’t that enough to force me to make eco-friendly choices?

This is a question that my GEH class discussed a few months ago.

One student in my class said that solving climate change was a matter of getting information to enough people. “If only everyone knew about the problem,” they said, “then we’d be able to solve it.” Immediately, a sea of frenzied hands shot up into the air to counter this claim. The whole class quickly came to the consensus

“Making eco-friendly choices can’t feel like a sacrifice every time, or else these choices won’t be made.” have very good reason to be worried.

Unless something drastic changes, we will be experiencing the grave consequences of our destructive environmental choices within our lifetimes. Oceans will warm and rise, biodiversity will be reduced, species will go extinct, and we will be pounded by natural disaster after

that the climate crisis is not just about information. Many people, like myself, have the information and continue to do the wrong thing all the time.

Even with the right information, we often enlist the “it’s just one cup” mentality. When I’m using a plastic Starbucks cup, I calm my worries by

convincing myself that it is a matter of proportions. “This is a global crisis,” I tell myself. “This is one cup in a global crisis. What difference could it actually make?”

To justify my bad actions, I convince myself that my actions don’t actually matter. Other times, I justify my actions by circumventing responsibility. “The government should really be subsidizing electric cars and sustainable fashion,” I say.

“They should be making eco-friendly choices easier.” These justifications are lies and I know it, so recently I tried to adopt a new, more productive train of thought.

The solution to this dilemma is not to suddenly believe that my plastic cup is the end of the world — it’s not.

I know very well that a single plastic cup will not determine whether or not Manhattan is flooded. But, I’ve realized that it is not about the cup at all; not exactly, at least. It’s about how to commit to making decisions just because we know that they are the right thing to do, even if they appear to be inconsequential. It’s about doing good deeds because they are good.

Instead of dismissing the consequences of our individual actions, we have to ritualize good climate behavior. We have to ritualize making daily efforts to protect the environment in the same way that we ritualize brushing our teeth

for sanitary purposes, voting for democratic purposes, or practicing religious rituals, like my keeping Kosher, for spiritual purposes. Sure, it might be easier to not make these choices, but we still make them because they are habits. Our list of ritualized actions is long, and we need to add eco-friendly actions to that list.

This is how I have been thinking about making eco-friendly choices, and for the first time, it has been working. I try to ritualize turning lights off every time I leave a room in order to preserve electricity. To train myself to use less electricity, I made a mark with red tape on my shower handle of the moderate water temperature I would like to use for each shower. I have also made a habit of carrying around a reusable cup to prevent using plastic bottles.

What was once an annoying extra object to carry around has now become natural. These are a few of the small things I have been trying to make daily rituals, so that I don’t have to think about it as much, and I encourage everyone to do the same.

Making eco-friendly choices can’t feel like a sacrifice every time, or else these choices won’t be made.

They must be subconscious, natural, and routine. We all have to take the knowledge we acquire about which choices are good, which are bad, and we have to incorporate them into

parts of our daily routine, even if it takes an uncomfortable adjustment.

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Each time we perform these rituals, subconsciously or not, we will be reminding ourselves of the importance of protecting our planet. Though ritualizing ecofriendly behavior may not solve climate change, it will empower us to recognize that our choices do matter and that we all have a role to play in combating the climate catastrophe.

MBTI AND ME: HOW AND WHY I STUDY PERSONALITY TYPES

Alex Rosenblatt In 2018, my eighth-grade science teacher had each member of my class take a short personality quiz to aid him in assigning partners for an upcoming project. The pages explaining the result I received from the quiz read as if someone had reached into my deepest, innermost monologues and spilled them out for the world to see.

Here I was, surrounded by people who I believed didn’t understand me, reading the result of a 60 question quiz that explained my thought process, my strong suits, and my insecurities more thoroughly and accurately than anyone else ever had. I was hooked. I felt a need to learn all that I could about this system that I had just discovered in the hopes that I could finally understand myself and everyone else around me.

While my understanding of psychological

type, the study of systems that propose “types” with sets of personality traits, has changed quite a bit since then, the fundamental reason I continue to study the topic has remained the same: to further my quest to understand myself and others as deeply as possible. This is also why I encourage others to learn about type. I want to help everyone feel as understood as I felt on that fateful eighth-grade day. I want everyone to believe that they can explain themselves to others, that others can understand them, and that everyone can have a common language to discuss the complexities of human personalities.

Anyone who has asked me to describe someone I know will tell you that I’m notoriously terrible at it. Descriptors such as “kind” or “annoying” are infuriatingly general and subjective. Psychological type is a step in the direction of having a more detailed vocabulary for discussing personalities.

To me, types in these systems are simply descriptors, just as “tall” or “green” are descriptors. Systems of psychological type are merely tools to describe personality, thought processes, or behavior. Those who criticize type accuse it of “fitting people into boxes,” a jab at its perceived inflexibility in light of everyone’s individuality. I feel that this dispute is less of an attack on type itself and more so on how it is used. The best way to use type is not to fit people into boxes but fit the boxes into people. When someone discovers their type, they should think of it like this: of the traits and/or types presented by this system, this particular type within the

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system fits the most of me. Of the personality traits presented, this set describes me the best.

This philosophy of applying type is also why it is beneficial to learn about multiple systems of type. The system I am most familiar with is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

It happens to be one of the most popular and widely recognized systems, but it is far from the only one. Others, such as enneagram, Big 5, and the NERIS system, offer their own tools to describe people, and, like MBTI, all have their quirks, philosophies, strengths, and weaknesses.

The more systems you discover, the richer your type vocabulary will become, and the more complete your picture of yourself and others will be. These systems all offer their descriptors to contribute to a greater whole: you.

Often those who believe that type systems are inflexible do not read far enough into the workings of the systems. The deeper one studies most systems, the more flexibility one will typically find. For example, in the enneagram system, which is based on nine numerical types which each have traits associated with them, with each the most basic way a type is expressed is a single base number (for example, mine is type 5). However, Enneagram practitioners will often also express a wing type, which means that the person the type describes most predominantly exhibits traits of their base type and strongly exhibits traits of another type (ex: 5 wing 4, or 5w4).

To everyone who asks something to the effect of “is type real?” or means to degrade it by

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pointing out the fact that we are all unique and individual human beings that cannot possibly fit into prescribed “boxes,” I invite you to think of type differently. When encountering a type system of any sort, I invite you to ask, “what can I learn from this system?” A type system is simply an idea about ways to describe personality traits.

Therefore, if you study a system and discover even a single new thing about yourself or others, you have succeeded.

If you do not consider a particular system to be comprehensive, bear in mind what it doesn’t say while focusing on what it does say and whether or not it is interesting to you. In other words, if you were to take a quiz that tells you what type of sandwich you are, I would invite you to read all about what that particular quiz says that it means to be a turkey on rye, and also to investigate whether or not it is possible to be a turkey on rye with lettuce but without mayo, and how that is distinct from just a turkey on rye. I invite you to investigate type systems in a detached but open-minded way and to always search for deeper detail if possible.

Finally, remember: type is here to serve you, not the other way around. The objective is not to find what types you fit into, rather what types fit into you. At the end of the day, you are the object of study. The human mind is the complex whole, and type systems are merely tools at your disposal in the great quest to understand and describe yourself and others.

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HORACE MANN NEWS APRIL 23RD, 2021

News In Brief Audrey Carbonell Staff Writer

Vincent Li (11) competes in USAPhO After his success in the F=ma Physics Competition in February, Vincent Li (11) qualified to attend the USA Physics Olympiad (USAPhO), a prestigious two-day competition which took place on Monday and Wednesday.

Primarily covering physics mechanics, the F=ma is a written multiple-choice exam that takes 75 minute to complete, according to the exam’s website. “Although it was multiple choice, it’s actually quite hard,” Li said. “The questions can get really difficult, and you have to figure things out pretty quickly.”

However, the USAPhO is significantly more demanding than the F=ma exam because it covers a broader range of topics, Li said. While about 3,500 people participated in the F=ma, only about 400 qualified for the USAPhO, he said. The test lasted 90 minutes with three

questions per day, Li said.

Because the USAPhO is a highly competitive exam, the questions seem challenging at first, Li said. The test covers material that goes beyond the scope of the normal high school curriculum, he said. However, Li found it helpful to focus on solving the questions based on material he did know, he said. Figuring out the correct equations to use was key to solving each problem, he said.

Between 67 and 75 percent of USAPhO participants receive awards including honorable mentions, bronze, silver, and gold metals. The 20 highest scorers will be invited to attend a physics training camp, and five of them will be selected for the International Physics Olympiad, Li said. Although Li has not gotten his results back yet, he is optimistic, he said.

ICIE hosts family dialogue The Office for Identity, Culture, and Institutional Equity (ICIE) hosted a family education session to focus on intergroup dialogue skills this Tuesday.

The office gave student’s families the tools that will lead to productive conversations about race, Acting Director of the ICIE Ronald Taylor wrote.

“Our country, yet again, is seeing the impacts of xenophobia, racism, and blatant ignorance,” Taylor wrote. “Asian people are not the cause, nor should they be painted as the cause, of a virus.

That language has created unsafe and challenging situations for many Asian identifying people.”

The family workshops are half ‘teaching’ and half ‘applying.’” Taylor wrote. “This was a strategic choice because people learn better by doing

as cognitive science would suggest.”

For this event, Taylor used a scenario relating to the term “China-virus” and had parents prepare for the conversation they would have with a fellow parent or their own child, he wrote.

Taylor chose the topic for the event because it is relevant, timely, and responsive, he wrote.

Taylor hopes that attendees will have a commitment to change and a willingness to engage while considering their own agency, he wrote. “I think the parents and families were on fire, and I hope they walk in that fire. Based on the dozen calendar meetings I have within the next week, I can tell [that] our families are interested in working hard at getting better.”

Science research class members present at 10th annual SciTech Max Chasin and Erica Jiang Staff and Contributing Writers “We like to think about SciTech as a celebration of all things science and technology at Horace Mann,” science teacher and organizer of SciTech 2021 Dr. Christine Leo said. SciTech is an annual school event designed to highlight student science research projects and achievements. This year, it took place on Thursday, after having been rescheduled from Tuesday due to the verdict on Derek Chauvin’s trial.

SciTech is important because it allows students to practice communicating their work to others, Science Department Chair and co-organizer of the event Dr. Lisa Rosenblum said.

“For those who keep their science and research to themselves, what good is it?

It is important for scientists to exchange information and to share ideas, and one great way to do this is to hold a symposium.”

Students in the science research classes presented on a range of topics via Zoom. Justin Gurvitch (11) explored the epigenetic role of RP58 in development and aging, Ariana Borut (10) researched Bounty Paper Towels marketing, and Ria Chowdhry (11) tested Miracle Gro’s statement that Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food grows bigger and more beautiful plants.

In the past, SciTech included a poster session with music and demonstrations from the robotics team followed by dinner and a keynote speaker, Leo said.

However, due to the pandemic, SciTech 2021 was moved online for the second consecutive year.

Prior to the event, the presenters had to engage in an extensive research process which entailed creating a research proposal, acquiring materials, conducting research, and reporting their results, Borut said. Through this experience, Borut learned how to use statistical analysis when reporting results for an experiment. “Even though it was tedious at times during

the process, overall I enjoyed doing it because it seemed similar to the type of process someone working in a real lab would have to follow.”

Elyse Gay (12), who worked on the Bounty Paper Towel project along with Borut and Maya Nornberg (11), said their group wanted to take something as simple as paper towels and examine how the product is marketed. “We just looked at the different factors that went into how companies present their products, such as Bounty’s claim that their paper towels are two times more absorbent than other companies.”

Ultimately, the researchers concluded that the brand of the paper towel did not change its performance, Gay said.

Chowdhry decided to experiment with Miracle Gro because she thought it would be interesting to test a popular product that many people use to grow their plants, she said. “We also wanted to see how accurate Miracle Gro’s claim was by comparing the plants we grew with just water to the ones with the product,” she said.

Gurvitch, whose project focused on the effects of the gene RP58, mainly conducted his research in a lab outside of school. Beyond his Science Research 2 class, Gurvitch reached out to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers Drs. Nadia Dahmane and Christopher Mason in order to join their labs and begin to chart a path with respect to the RP58 project. Gurvitch feels fortunate to work with the researchers as he continues to expand his network in the science field and learn more about science research, he said.

In addition to these projects, event attendees watched Berk Balkir’s (12) presentation on Air Quality in Masks, Jiyon Chatterjee (10) and Mekhala Mantravadi’s (11) on the Interschool COVID-19 Research Team, and Vincent Li’s (11) on COVID-19 and Electricity Demand. Viewers then separated into two different Zoom rooms to watch the presentations by the Science Research 1 class before Leo

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and Rosenblum delivered their closing remarks.

Stephanie Lee (9) said that all the presentations were incredibly insightful and offered her a greater understanding of what research projects can look like.

“After the event, I’ve become much more aware of what science research is and how it can be done,” she said.

Additionally, Lee enjoyed learning about the projects surrounding Covid-19 since they directly relate to our current situation, she said. The projects that incorporated student participation, such as the one on Students’ Health During In-Person and Online Classes, were especially interesting as she was able to see how the general data from the student body correlated to how she personally felt, Lee said.

Because some of Gay’s research partners worked from home, preparing for parts of the experiment was difficult. However, working on the project enabled Gay to learn about the various elements that make up the research process, she said. With the help of Leo, Gay mastered myriad research methods, gained research opportunities and internships during the year, and met various researchers.

The Science Research 1 class and her project sparked Gay’s interest in research, prompting her to realize that she wants to pursue it as a future career, she said.

As the culmination of all of the students’ work, SciTech is a great opportunity for research students to receive well-deserved recognition and for more inexperienced students to gain exposure to the very important, relevant, and fascinating discipline of scientific research in a fairly casual setting, Gurvitch said.

Gay hopes that SciTech will inspire students to join the Science Research class and further their research interests.

Patel (12) explores precision agriculture in independent study Emily Sun and Athena Rem Staff and Contributing Writers Arya Patel (12) presented her independent study: “Better Farming: Big Data and Precision Agriculture” on Thursday. Patel chose this topic because she has been interested in the environment since elementary school, she said.

When she was in ninth grade, Patel visited a sugarcane factory in India that sparked her interest in how agriculture manifests itself in New York City. Her questions about farming eventually led her to explore rooftop gardens, a simple but effective way to incorporate agriculture into an urban environment, she said. After visiting The Brooklyn Grange, three rooftop gardens in Brooklyn and Queens, Patel was inspired to build a garden of her own atop Lutnick Hall.

Director of Independent Study Avram Schlesinger said that because Patel initially developed her interest in the topic outside the school, her passion for the topic shines through.

To elevate her understanding of the layout for rooftop gardens, Patel used satellite imagery to make 3D renderings of her favorite agricultural spaces in the city. She also spoke with Isa Moise ‘15, who works at Oko Farms in Brooklyn. Oko Farms is an organization that centers agriculture on aquaponics, a system where aquatic waste is recycled to provide nutrients for growing plants.

In practicing aquaponics, Oko Farms works to reduce the impact of climate change while also increasing food security.

Moise taught Patel about how rooftop gardens in the city compensate for the lack of land for a traditional farm. This method repurposes unused land to foster a community based on agriculture, Patel said.

“Most of us are surrounded by concrete everyday,” Patel said. “[Urban farmers] are

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EFFICIENT FARMING Patel (12) presents on eco-friendly agriculture. showing that [agriculture in a city] is not a utopia or a fantasy, it’s a reality.”

In addition to rooftops, which require extensive organization, planning, and ownership of the land, Patel found more accessible methods of

urban agriculture such as hydroponic gardens, which grow plants in water with dissolved minerals instead of in soil.

After learning about these gardens, Patel made her own hydroponic garden with the help of her

advisor, Assistant Director of John Dorr Nature Laboratory Nick DePreter. DePreter used his experience working at Dorr to suggest various types of plants and different methods of growth for Patel to use.

While Patel was not able to build her original rooftop garden on Lutnick Hall because of logistical reasons, she used the skills she developed over the course of the project to design it. She showcased her research from both semesters during Green Week, specifically focusing on precision agriculture and the Satellite Image Process (SIP).

There are a triad of benefits to precision agriculture, Patel said. For farmers, it maximizes productivity, conserves resources, and saves time and money, allowing consumers access to cheaper produce. Precision agriculture is also more environmentally-friendly than traditional agriculture because it reduces the amount of chemicals, fertilizer, and water that farmers use to grow crops, Patel said. She also explained the four steps of SIP which include data collection, processing, analysis, and application.

In the second half of her presentation, Patel focused on farming in India, tracing its history of agriculture from traditional farming before 1950 to E-agriculture in the 2000s. According to her presentation, food production must double by 2050 to match the country’s population growth and alleviate food shortages; new methods of farming such as urban and precision agriculture are crucial in combating climate change in India and around the globe, she said. “[Her presentation] sheds light on the fact that food security is a big deal for a lot of people,” DePreters said. “It couldn’t be better that she’s doing it during Green Week.”

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THE RECORD FEATURES APRIL 23RD, 2021

Bales, Bomwell, and Bahr fight for the environment

Dr. Ellen Bales Clio Rao Staff Writer

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, History teacher Dr. Ellen Bales is thinking seriously about what the moment requires from her in terms of developing an eco-conscious lifestyle, she said. Throughout her adulthood, Bales has pursued involvement with climate issues through the teaching of her Global Environmental History (GEH) class, she said.

Bales’ upbringing in rural Missouri, an area where people predominantly make their living through farming, made her more aware of human dependency on land, she said. In addition, Bales’ mother also had a clear commitment to the care and appreciation of the environment, which Bales adopted as a child. “My mother is someone who feels very deeply connected to the land where she lives, and talks about that eloquently,” Bales said.

Throughout her childhood, Bales became increasingly aware that she was going to be experiencing life during a moment of cataclysmic

Michael Bomwell Hannah Katzke Staff Writer “I do not want my children to live in a world where they cannot go outside because the conditions are too inhospitable,” music teacher Michael Bomwell said. Bomwell has pursued his passion for environmental justice throughout his whole life.

Although he majored in music, Bomwell pursued his interest in environmental justice by taking a course titled “Big Questions for a Small Planet,” he said. The class discussions centered on the intersectionality between the environment, resource management, competition between developed and developing nations, and social justice. Before taking this class, Bomwell believed that environment and social issues were separate. However, the content of the class opened Bomwell’s eyes to the movement and showed him how social justice and environmentalism were inextricably linked.

While Bomwell does not consider himself to be

climate change, she said. “I believe that realizing that things are going to change dramatically within your lifetime is very unsettling.”

While obtaining her Ph.D at the University of California, Berkeley, Bales pursued her interest in environmental questions, especially those surrounding the dangerous effects of climate change. “My dissertation had an element of environmental history, and I was really captivated by the questions that subfield asks and the lenses it gives us to view the world,” she said.

Her fascination with these topics and their relevance to the urgent situation of the world is what prompted Bales to teach GEH, she said. The global environmental history topics that Bales is most fascinated with are the transition to agriculture, the study of hunter-gatherers, and the effects of the industrial revolution, she said. Teaching GEH has been her favorite initiative relating to climate change that she has ever contributed to, Bales said.

“The material in the course feels really important, urgent, and exciting to me, and I’m thrilled to be able to share it with students.”

Individuals can learn how they can contribute to the climate action movement by using a Venn Diagram structure, Bales said. One circle would represent what one is good at, another would be what brings one joy, the third is what needs to be done, and the intersection of the three would be what the individual should do, she said. Bales achieves her intersection of the three circles through teaching, she said.

While she does not necessarily view herself as a climate activist, Bales spreads awareness about the movement through education, she said. “I try to get the message out to my students, and by extension, everyone they meet,” Bales said. Bales also taught Environmental History at her previous school, the Potomac School in Virginia, she said.

Bales had many favorite moments from the climate change movement, one of them being the first Earth Day in 1970, she said. This particular event was special because the organizers expected a small turnout, but so many more people ended up being interested in it and showed up, she said.

“I really like the idea of people getting out on the

streets and working towards something.”

The work of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is also exciting to Bales because she believes that the next strides taken to curtail climate change will have to come from those under the age of 20, she said.“I think young people have a better chance of seeing the urgency and severity of the issues we face, and being willing to make the radical change that will be required,” Bales said.

Thunberg is a great example of this mentality due to her fearlessness, she said.

Bales also participated in HM’s Green Week to be part of the community’s involvement in climate action, she said. Her GEH class also contributed to the assembly with Elizabeth Kolbert, the author of “The Sixth Extinction.” The class generated multiple questions for Kolbert, and Bales selected a few that reflected the general interest of the class, she said. “It’s great to see HM committing to this event and to see so many people participating.”

a vocal advocate for environmental justice, it has been a lifelong interest of his, he said. He engages in personal actions to maintain sustainability; some of his practices include turning the water off in between washing his hands, reducing his use of heat or air conditioning during the day, and closely examining the waste he is producing, he said.

“All of those things are constant reminders that [environmental justice] is an ongoing awareness thing.”

Maintaining his motivation for environmental justice was a challenge when he first moved to New York City, Bomwell said. After seeing how much waste the city was producing, he became pessimistic about the environmental impact he could make.

However, after coming to the school, Bomwell regained hope about his ability to help the environment. Bomwell became a part of a faculty sustainability committee, which gave him the opportunity to make an impact on the school’s community in a positive and long lasting way, he said.

As part of the committee, Bomwell met with

Brenda Cohn of FLIK and Gordon Jeson, the head of the Facilities Department, he said. Together, they brainstormed ideas that would resonate with the student body, and met with students to plan initiatives for last year’s Green Action Week.

“I feel like a lot of the best ideas come from the students,” he said. For example, students pioneered several initiatives such as the water bottle competition and an effort for students and teachers to use reusable bottles, Bomwell said.

In addition, Bomwell recently became inspired by naturalist and advocate for forest conservation John Muir, after watching a PBS documentary on national parks, he said. Muir’s respect towards nature and the understanding that humans need to protect the environment resonates with Bomwell, as he regularly travels to the southern tier and the Adirondack region. His appreciation of natures stems from his hiking and camping excursions that he hopes to continue now that his kids are older, he said.

In addition to practicing daily sustainable practices, Bomwell suggests others engage and volunteer in community efforts, he said. “If there’s

a meeting about sustainable infrastructure or sustainable transportation, get involved in that and be a part of the conversation.”

As the climate crisis grows, overpopulation and the lack of resources around the world are our biggest climate threats today, Bomwell said.

While it took a long time for humans to recognize environmental threats, he is glad the climate crisis is gaining more recognition from the public and those in power, he said. Biden’s declaration of cutting carbon emissions in half and decision to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, for example, demonstrate how the United States is taking steps in the right direction, he said.

As environmental justice has gained more attention on the national level, Bomwell hopes that Green Week initiatives can expand in the future, he said. “We could make [Green Week] more of an integral part of school culture.” Specifically, the school could add respect for our environment to the school’s core values, he said. “It would have to become a much more prevalent aspect of our institutional language and dialogue.”

titled “Writing Nature, Writing Ourselves” that focuses primarily on reading books about the environment and writing about nature.

“I got really involved in the literature of nature writing and thought that was a very powerful way to awaken me and my students to what’s going on around us,” she said. “Reading about different perspectives really broadens your mind and hopefully spurs you to some action and encourages you to be a better environmentalist.”

Bahr’s time with the PeaceCorps, a US government-run volunteering program that globally provides social and economic development assistance, also fueled her passion for environmental justice. “When we were in Thailand, I went to a few rural villages, and despite the fact that they were so poor, people [there] had very little waste and almost no plastic usage,” she said. “Then I was in Bangkok, an urban center, and it was really distressing to see how much plastic consumption there was.”

After these experiences abroad, Bahr strove to make more eco-friendly choices in her life, such as cutting down the amount of plastic she uses on a daily basis and composting any food scraps she may have. “The [climate change] situation has become so dire, so we have to take drastic action to change our habits and our technology that are polluting things,” she said.

Two years ago, Bahr decided to become one of the three faculty advisors of Green HM. “I was really impressed with the work Green HM did that year, and the way so many students got involved,” she said. That year, club members participated in phone banking for a Floridian campaign that was running on an environmentally friendly platform, she said. “It’s so important for people, students included, to use their economic and political muscle as best as they can to try and get some policies that will change things.”

Bahr was excited that students in Green

HM chose to make the theme of this year’s Green Week intersectionality as it relates to the environment. “It’s been a really powerful educational tool in the past for kids to see how race, gender, sexual orientation, and more work together with other ideas like the environment,” she said. “Now hopefully, more people will get involved, and see this is a very complex issue that is intertwined with so many other concepts and aspects of identity.”

Bahr continues actively trying to make changes in her lifestyle that will help her connect with the environment and the world around her, including looking at her screen less and going outside more, she said. She wants to encourage her students to do the same and to educate themselves on the environment. “Start by really awakening yourself to what the world outside is like; Learn about it and get interested in being caught up in it,” she said.

Rebecca Bahr Jiya Chatterjee Staff Writer “[Humans] are not the masters of the universe, despite what some people think, and it’s important for people to realize that it is in our long-term self interest to understand our environment and to take care of it,” English teacher Rebecca Bahr said.

Bahr became interested in the environment and environmental justice after taking an environmental history course at Yale University, she said. She was so deeply impacted by what she learned from the course that she considered becoming an environmental lawyer. Bahr eventually decided to become an English teacher, but that didn’t stop her from bridging her two passions together: the environment and the humanities.

Bahr currently teaches a senior elective course

5

HORACE MANN FEATURES APRIL 23RD, 2021

Students explore sustainable thrifting Zachary Kurtz Staff Writer “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Aidan McAndrew (12) said in reference to his experience with thrifting. McAndrew is one of many teens who began thrifting because of its environmental benefits and fashion opportunities.

This practice has grown increasingly popular in recent years among teens in upper income households, with 46% of surveyed upper income teens having bought clothing secondhand, according to “Business Insider.”

It is a combination of desire to keep with the latest fashion trends and environmentalism that incentivize thrifting, Willa Davis (10) said. “Our generation has a stronger sense of environmentalism, so from that standpoint, people want to thrift because they actually want to help the world.”

The main reason Felix Brener (11) thrifts is because of the positive environmental impact the practice has, he said. “By extending the lifespan of a garment, you can prevent new garments from being bought and produced.”

The fast fashion industry is one of the largest producers of clothing in the world.

Shopping at thrift stores can help people refrain from buying fast fashion, Nikita Subramanian (10), who led a Green Week workshop on the dangers of fast fashion, said. In recent years, fast fashion, clothing produced cheaply and rapidly to maximize on current trends, has become detrimental to the environment, she said.

Because of fast fashion, consumers bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, but they kept that clothing for half as long, according to the World Resources Institute.

With an expected 400% increase in the world GDP by 2050, the demand for fast fashion is only expected to go up, the article said.

Subramanian tries to avoid buying low quality fast fashion clothing, she said. “So you’re in this lose-lose situation, because you don’t want to throw away the garment because you want to be good for the environment and not create textile waste, but the more you wash the garment, and the older it gets, the more microfibers are released into the ocean.”

GreenHM Co-president Arya Patel (12) said fast fashion is terrible for the environment and the world in general. “It uses a lot of child labor, especially in Asian countries like India and China.”

Davis said that fast fashion companies prioritize

profit over the well-being of their workers, which is why thrifting provides an amazing alternative. “When you’re buying something secondhand, you’re giving a piece of clothing a new life, because otherwise it would have just been discarded.”

Thrift flipping, also known as upcycling, is a practice where people will repurpose thrifted items to create new items, Tomoko Hida (11) said. Hida thrift flips to make clothes that better suits her and is influenced by the latest trends in fashion, she said.

“Particular fabrics are hard to find so it’s nice when I hit the jackpot at a thrift store.”

The more people thrift, the more encouraged

unique, it has a little more flavor to it,” McAndrew said. “[The clothing] comes from somewhere, from a different time, or it has more pizzazz than something that I could just look up online and buy.”

Social media can give you the impression that you will find something amazing whenever you thrift, but it is important to not go into a thrift shop expecting to find the most incredible pieces all of time, McAndrew said.

Sometimes McAndrew goes into a thrift store and finds nothing that speaks to him.

“You go in, you buy what really speaks to you, and you leave. You have to have that gut feeling,” he said.

The first time that Ariana

they are to continue learning about sustainable shopping and how to protect the environment with their clothing choices, Hida said.

“They are more likely to find new brands that engage in more sustainable practices.”

Many brands recycle clothing scraps in order to make their original fabrics, Hida said. Some brands gather and reduce scraps of clothing to their basic synthetic fibers in order to create their patented fabric.

“There are hundreds of industrial plants processing this recycled fabric that is then distributed to brands interested in sustainable collections,” she said.

“Obviously the buying side [of thrifting] is really important, but also the donating side is really important as well,” Hida said.

“It is important to help those who may rely on thrifting for their wardrobe to feel beautiful.”

When McAndrew first tried thrifting, he realized that he could find clothing items he would not normally see had he gone to a typical clothing store in the city, he said. Thrifting opened his eyes to the fact that there were other viable options for clothes shopping and finding things that he liked apart from common brands, especially at a time when he was still discovering his style, he said.

“I could buy something similar, [that is] new for a lot more, but I’m going to choose this because it’s a little more

Borut (10) thrifted was while she and her family were living in Japan, she said. She had an account on Poshmark, a virtual marketplace where users can buy and sell new or secondhand goods. Borut later branched out to other similar platforms, she said.

Borut enjoys thrifting because she likes finding a good piece of clothing while also getting more for her money, she said. She takes special considerations when thrifting, such as not buying products that are being resold from fast fashion companies.

If she wanted to just buy fast fashion she could, but she goes to thrift stores to find something unique, she said.

Thrifting has also given Borut an opportunity to branch out with her fashion choices. “Thrifting exposes you to so many different brands and types of clothing that you may not have been introduced to before,” she said.

To find the best thrift stores, Loren Pretsfelder (10) researches online and looks on TikTok for popular stores, she said.

Thrifting has also been a great opportunity for Gabrielle Fischberg (12) to get more into fashion during high school, as it is low stakes economically, she said.

While some people overbuy while thrifting due to the cheap prices, Brener is very conscious about his purchases. If there is a piece of clothing that he is interested in, Brener will think about it for a few months before going

out and buying it so that he does not regret his purchase, he said.

Thrift stores, like other retailers, will occasionally raise their prices with higher demand for items, Brener said.

With the rising popularity of thrifting, increasing prices can be detrimental to people who rely on thrift stores for all of their clothing, he said. “That doesn’t mean that thrifting is worse than fast fashion, it’s just something to be a little mindful of when you do thrift.”

“Sometimes, thrifting is people’s only option for clothing, and so with the influx of people coming to thrift stores, it’s made it harder for those people who rely on only thrift stores as their main source of clothing,” Patel said.

Lian Aydemir (11) tries to only purchase non-necessity items, to ensure that people who rely on thrift stores as their primary clothing source have access to what they need, she said. “I make sure not to buy cheap necessity items like heavy winter puffer coats because there’s a lot of lower-income people who actually need it more than I do,” she said. “When picking something out, I always pick it out based on how versatile it is, how much use I can get out of it, and if it’s a really unique piece.”

Fischberg tries to avoid buying items such as shoes because they can be hard to find in good condition, and there are people who need them more than she does, they said. However, she does not worry about buying other items. “[Thrift stores] have so much backstock, and a lot of clothes from thrift stores get dumped anyway, so you might as well purchase [the clothing], instead of it getting sentimental.”

One of the problems with thrifting is the resale for a higher price in order for resellers to make a profit, Hida said. “It prevents this whole group of people from being able to access conventionally “nicer” clothing, and the more [common it becomes], thrifting is no longer going to be an option for sustainable clothing because people aren’t going to thrift because it’ll be so expensive.”

For Pretsfelder, the most rewarding aspect of thrifting is the satisfaction of finding a unique item while benefiting the environment, she said.

“Thrifting combines a more expansive array of options when shopping. It even gives you the satisfaction of feeling like you are helping preserve the environment, it’s the best of both worlds.”

Vivian Coraci/Art Director

6

HORACE MANN FEATURES APRIL 23RD, 2021

Where does our waste go?

Investigating the school’s waste system Emily Sun and Jillian Lee Staff Writer “It needs to become second nature to be conscious about where we’re throwing our waste,” Head of Facilities Management Gordon Jensen said. This year, the school is set to produce about 270 to 350 tons of un-recycled trash, based on Jensen’s estimates. The school produces 80 to 100 55-gallon bags of waste per day, approximately the weight of two small cars, he said.

Since the harmful effects of the school’s waste are not visible to those who produce it, people might not consider their impact when they generate trash, Arya Patel (12) said. “What happens to a container or a utensil after you throw it out?” she said. “We should think about where our waste goes because if we don’t, it’s easier for us to produce more.”

NYC produces about 84,000 tons of trash and recyclables per week, according to “The New York Times.” The school’s waste contributes to this figure. However, rather than processing the school and city’s waste within the five boroughs, NYC exports the trash to other parts of the state and states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia. If the waste is incinerated, it has a 79 percent chance of ending up in communities of color or low-income communities, according to “The Washington Post.”

Local government and waste management companies build more landfills or incinerators in these areas due to zoning laws, resulting in increased risks of cancers, respiratory illness, and birth defects among residents, according to the “The Washington Post.”

Food waste from food preparation at the school has risen by 50 percent due to the increase in offerings. The cafeteria has adopted unique techniques to reduce waste, Head of Flik Staff Brenda Cohn said. The cafeteria uses techniques to get the most out of products such

“

People are especially prone to waste food this year because there are more options, Mekhala Mantravadi (11) said. “There’s so much [food] that it feels disposable and you’re not cognizant of going up to the counter and paying for it, so it makes people think they can throw it out.”

It can be hard for people in urban environments to appreciate the energy it takes to grow food, which makes it easier for them to take it for granted, Gaither said. “The United States wastes an estimated 40 percent of all food, which is terrifying, especially when you think about the amount of food insecurity in our nation,” she said.

If people understand the environmental impact of food waste, they should be less inclined to throw it out, Gaither said.

Another increase in cafeteria waste this year comes from grab-and-go containers. Cohn said she tries to source materials that are biodegradable or recyclable, such as aluminum and cardboard boxes without wax or petroleum.

She also tries to purchase plant-based plastic instead of oil-based, but as the demand for plant-based plastic exceeds the supply, she sometimes has to buy the latter, she said.

This year, the school reverted to plastic water bottles instead of cans because of an aluminum shortage, as COVID-19 caused a rise in beverage consumption at home, Cohn said. “It’s a very challenging type of food service that we’re doing during COVID; my priority is to keep the food and the students safe, so we do the best that we can under the circumstances.”

The amount of cardboard and plastic waste has risen significantly since the pandemic because of the daily delivery of pizza and the weekly delivery of cleaning supplies, Jensen said.

“Some weeks, the cardboard is stacked to the ceiling [of the recycling center] because so much is ready to be recycled,” Head of Maintenance Dan DeCecco said.

To accommodate this year’s influx of waste,

“We constantly see the maintenance staff around campus picking trash up, so the campus always appears clean to me [and] we don’t really realize how much waste we actually produce.”

- Madison Xu (10) as cutting fruits tight to the skin, and they store ingredients at the appropriate temperature to prevent them from spoiling, she said.

Flik staff also keep production records of each menu item to track how much students consume on average so they do not under or over-prepare food, Cohn said. They repurpose leftover products such as bread and kitchen scraps into bread pudding and soup stock, and distribute extra food to faculty and staff.

Fryers in the cafeteria use 50 gallons of oil per week, which is less than the 150 gallons in previous years because of a new fryer that filters and refines used oil so it can be reused three times, Cohn said. The Flik staff then recycles the oil with a company called Biodiesel, which turns oil into renewable diesel.

Much of the food waste at the school occurs when people grab more food than they can eat, Cohn said. “Take one item and if you’re still hungry, come back for more; don’t pile up too much food then throw it away.”

The school does not have a compost system, so they dispose of food waste with other trash, Cohn said. Nina Gaither (12) said she hopes the school can instate a composting program to reduce and repurpose food waste, as well as paper and plant trimmings from landscaping.

there are over 1,000 trash receptacles on the Middle and Upper Division (UD) campus, more than one bin per student in the UD, Jensen said.

This includes waste baskets and paper recycling bins in every classroom, as well as the triple bins for waste, paper, and bottles and cans. 16 custodians work from 4:30pm to 1am to empty every receptacle daily, he said.

After the custodians collect the trash, they consolidate non-recyclable waste into 55-gallon garbage bags and stack them in the parking lot beside Fisher Hall for the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNYC) to pick up every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Jensen said.

The DSNYC also collects recycled objects from the school every Thursday, Jensen said.

Like trash, NYC exports it to other processing plants in the state and across the country. The city transports paper separately from plastic, metal, and glass, so the school sorts recyclables into bags of paper, bottles and cans, and bundles of cardboard, maintenance staff member Jimmy Otsuni said.

Every morning at 6:30am, Ostuni spends an hour sorting the recyclables and breaking down cardboard boxes with a compactor located in the recycling center at the basement of Fisher Hall, he said. “I call it ‘doing my paper-work,’”

Courtesy of Jimmy Otsuni

RECYCLING STORAGE Otsuni spends his mornings sorting recycling. he said. “We could always do better. If you see somebody not recycling properly, you should educate them.”

“We constantly see the maintenance staff around campus picking trash up, so the campus always appears clean to me [and] we don’t really realize how much waste we actually produce,” Madison Xu (10) said.

One of the ways that the school can cut down on waste is by utilizing electronic formats. For example, the program of studies is available online as well as in physical form, which ultimately creates an unnecessary contribution to the waste production, Avani Khorana (10) said. “Since the program of studies is something that we have electronically, why do we need to waste more paper and plastic to print copies of something that we already have access to?”

Although the school has increased its efficiency at recycling paper, there is still room for improvement, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly wrote. “We continue to have days and even periods of time wherein the careless depositing of food or a beverage into a paper recycling container necessitates that we treat the entirety of that container as disposable waste,” he wrote. “It is not the responsibility of our nighttime cleaners to pick through our recycling containers.”

Elise Kang (9) said students are confused about what can be recycled and where, such as whether they can throw chip bags or bottle tops in the bottles and cans bin. The school should put up signs near waste disposal areas to help remind and guide students to recycle correctly, she said.

The school could eliminate the confusion around recycling by providing training and signage about what the grab-and-go containers

are made of and how people should recycle them, especially if there is food residue on them, Mantravadi said.

Even if people doubt whether what they throw into the recycling actually gets processed, doing so is better than not recycling at all, Mantravadi said. Although people might not intend to hurt the environment, throwing recyclables into the garbage results in more trash, she said. “Lack of intention is [as harmful as] bad intention.”

Though some sustainability practices had to be suspended because of health and safety protocol, the school will resume all programs when safe, Kelly wrote. “As the pandemic protocols sunset and product is easier to get, we’ll return to our goal of eliminating all plastic beverage containers in the CDC; something we had achieved last year.”

Despite the adjustments for COVID-19, the community can still reduce their plastic and aluminum waste through recycling, Cohn said. “We have to heighten the awareness of the student body to recycle,” she said. “The more we speak about recycling, the more it gets ingrained, and the more likely it will become second nature.”

While it can be challenging to clean food containers before recycling them, people can definitely put bottles and cans in their correct bins, Cohn said. Though it might feel like a small action, it makes a difference if every person does their part, she said.

“We are all a team in terms of taking care of the environment,” DeCecco said. “If you are walking across the field and you see a can on the ground, pick it up and toss it in a recycling bin on your way.”

7

THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT APRIL 23RD, 2021

HMTC hosts third Variety Show Vidhatrie Keetha Staff Writer

Courtesy of HMTC Co-presidents

“To be, or not to be,” Theater Teacher Haila VanHentenryck said while holding her cat up to the camera in the Horace Mann Theater Company’s (HMTC) third Variety Show. The pre-recorded video showcased various students’ talents, including songs, short films from VanHentenryck’s Acting for the Camera class, and poetry recitations.

VIRTUAL VOCALS Owens (12) performs Unlike past Variety Shows, participants did not have the option show, Taub said. They also publicized of performing live over Zoom, the event through the HMTC’s VanHentenryck said.

Instead, Instagram account, explaining that they submitted recordings of their students could perform whatever performances, which HMTC Cothey wanted. president Sarah Taub (11) compiled “Many times, shows have a limited into one video. In order to create a number of roles and only showcase a more personal environment, Taub set of talents the performer doesn’t included recordings of herself necessarily get to choose,” Taub said. introducing each student before “We wanted to create an event that their performance, she said. gave the performer the freedom to As the co-advisors of HMTC, show whatever they pleased.”

VanHentenryck and Manager of Bailey Hecht (10) has watched the Department of Theater, Dance, several Variety Shows and was and Film Studies Jonathan Nye impressed by the participants’ suggested edits for the recording courage to share their performances of the show before it premiered. with peers, she said. Hecht was Except for these edits, the show was also pleasantly surprised to see that an entirely student-led initiative, many of the performers were not VanHentenryck said. previously involved in theater.

Taub said she was For Jonathan Mong’s (12) covers responsible for organizing the show. of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and In order to get students to submit The Fray’s “How to Save a Life,” he their recordings, HMTC members worked on learning how to make his sent emails to the student body with performance distinct from existing a sign-up form and description of the covers. “The goal, at the end of the

“I Remember.”

On Wednesday, Jaden Kirshner (12) expressed his fascination with film production through his independent study presentation, “The Business of Film.” His presentation explored the financial perspective of film production, rather than assuming the traditional artistic perspective.

Since many of his family members are involved in the entertainment industry, Kirshner became interested in film at a young age. This early interest has inspired Kirshner’s career aspirations as he aims to double major in business and film in college. Following graduation from college, Kirshner hopes to become either a movie producer or a studio executive, he said.

The study helped Kirshner gain more insight into this career path. The project’s independent nature allowed Kirshner to generate most of the information on film production, and he was always the expert in their meetings, Director of Independent Study Avram Schlesinger said.

“I helped to get Jaden directed in a particular way and to think about the different parts of his project,” he said. “Mostly my role was to ask him lots of questions and have him teach me lots of things.”

In order to prepare for the presentations, Kirshner expanded his knowledge on the business of film by consulting a variety of sources specifically geared towards the film industry, including books, documentary pieces, film statistics, and financial information, he said.

The Independent Study course requires students to deliver four presentations on their research throughout the year. After each presentation, Kirshner set goals for the next one, he said. “My past few presentations have been more lecture type, so there hasn’t been that interactivity aspect,” he said. “This time, I decided I wanted my presentation to be more improvisational, which allowed me to interact more with my peers.”

Kirshner chose to do an interactive presentation to allow viewers to experience the

he said.

For students who may be less comfortable performing live, the pre-recorded performance was a useful alternative, Taub said. Taub is new to organizing shows virtually, so pre-recording the show also made it easier to manage, she said.

However, she is still open to virtual live performances in the future. “Hopefully next year, our performances will be in-person and on stage,” she said. “But in the meantime, I think we made the best out of a strange year and still provided a creative space for those in our community who are passionate about theater and performing.”

day, is to create a song where, if you remove the vocals and pick a random section, you won’t know what song I’m playing unless there is something very distinctive,” he said.

However, for “Piano Man,” Mong did not change any aspect of the song, he said. After figuring out how to play each song, Mong practiced Courtesy of HMTC Co-presidents and worked on his renditions until he was satisfied with them. He also chose to perform in this Variety Show because it might be his last chance to perform at the school, he said.

Mekhala Mantravadi (11) submitted a video of herself reciting poetry for the show. Mantravadi has participated in a different Variety Show in which she recited poetry live. She prefers live performances because she can gauge the audience’s reactions, Mantravadi said. “In a live performance, you can’t press rewind, and sometimes that adds an PIANO PERFORMANCE Mong (12) performs cover of Billy Joel. aspect of spontaneity which I really

Jaden Kirshner (12) explores film production through independent study Ayesha Sen and Maeve Goldman Staff and Contributing Writers

enjoy,” she said. “Things are more surprising in a live performance for me but also for the audience.”

Although pre recording the show presented fewer technical issues than accommodating live performances, the show’s virtual format was still difficult to navigate, VanHentenryck said. But, when the audio stopped working before the show, VanHentenryck and Taub had time to restart the Zoom before the performance to fix the problem.

Theater Teacher Benjamin Posner, who helped plan previous Variety Shows, thought pre-recording the show allowed for more participation.

“I think that there’s an element of excitement that you lose when there’s not as many live performances, but it also lets more people be a part of it,”

real world implications of the film business, he said. He began by introducing the audience to an app called “Box Office” which he used to guide them through the process of developing a film from the perspective of non-prestigious producers from a production company.

“Producers have to manage the logistics of business and creative decisions on set,” he said.

“Even though you are a producer and there is the film production part of making a movie, producers have a role in the film’s final version, with actors and the editing, and with the film’s distribution.”

The app allowed Kirshner to instruct attendees on producers’ key roles, from choosing the correct concept for the film to allocating the marketing budget, he said. He also covered the difference between producing an artistic film that could win prestigious awards and a blockbuster created with the purpose of generating large amounts of revenue. He focused on the importance of cost and pay off because the overall objective for producers is to make a profit.

Using a budget of 80 million dollars, Kirshner led the class through the hiring process as they chose a screenwriter, director, and cast based on applicants’ cost, prestige, and collaborative nature. “Film finance is a really complex process,” he said. “Budgeting is a really important part of the production of a film that doesn’t come to mind when you think of film production because, most of the time, people think of the creative aspect.”

Overall, Kirshner believes that the presentation was successful and thinks the new interactive format allowed the audience to deepen their knowledge. “I find producing so fascinating because there are a lot of different areas that producers are involved in— the creative, the financial, the logistical processes,” he said. “It’s really rewarding to see something you put years of work into being watched by so many people.”

Vivian Coraci/Art Director

Choral groups return to in person singing Cecilia Coughlin Staff Writer For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, all choral groups have begun to sing in person during their rehearsals.

The Center for Disease Control and Department of Health recently revised their guidelines, allowing Music Department Chair Timothy Ho to finally lead his students in vocal exercises, he said.

“On Monday, students hummed and then did some normal warmups,” music instructor Dr. Amir Khosrowpour said. “This is the first time we heard singing. It was kind of a big moment.”

While choral groups are allowed to sing, there will not be an immediate return to normal rehearsals. “We have to balance our excitement of singing in person with everyone’s apprehension about doing it,” Ho said. “[We are] assessing our comfort level and then taking slow baby steps to getting back to there.”

To enforce social distancing, Concert Glee Club has been divided into groups based on voice parts. There were

similar adjustments for the Treble Choir, Piper Wallace (11) said. “Usually, we would have class in the regular choir room, but now we do it in Gross Theater so we can all sit socially distanced.”

Before the restrictions on singing were lifted, Khosrowpour and Ho had to change their lesson plans to ensure a unique form of student participation.

For example, the teachers organized a lesson plan that allowed students to analyze the language of the pieces they had worked on, Ho said. During online school, students recorded themselves singing and shared their work with a vocal coach, who listened to each submission and provided feedback, Khosrowpour said.

Despite these revised class plans, the former restrictions on singing drastically affected class dynamics. “The whole point of choir is that you can allow other people to be able to blend, fix your annunciation, and the sound of your voice to match up with other people,” Wallace said.

The new change allowed students in Concert Glee Club to return to the way

they practiced before the pandemic, Jared Contant (10) said. “We go in, we stretch, we do the same warm ups that we have been doing for years,” he said. “This is the first time we went through that regimen, and it’s the first time we could sing in over a year.”

The return of in-person singing has made students more hopeful about the end of pandemic, Contant said. “[Singing] marked for us a return to normalcy because it is something that we have become so accustomed to,” he said. “Just the prospect that we are one step closer to being able to sing for real people is really great.”

Felix Brenner/Staff Artist

Lions’ Den Record Sports

8

APRIL 23RD, 2021

Middle Division Science Clubs Nate Chiang and Ariella Frommer Contributing Writers

The Mighty Chondrias Each week, Middle Division (MD) students who are passionate about science meet to discuss various science topics in a club called the Mighty Chondrias. A group of seventh graders started the club in the fall in order to share their love of science with each other, cofounder Bishop Ibrahim (7) said.

Once the co-founders developed the idea for the club, they exchanged emails with MD history teacher Cailtin Hickerson about logistics. They then asked co-founder Zach Hornfeld’s (7) advisor, MD science teacher Walter Wagner, to be the club’s faculty advisor. Wagner agreed, and within a week, the club had been created.

New members mainly joined by word of mouth, Ibrahim said. Currently, the club has around ten members that participate consistently.

When creating the club, the founders wanted to avoid limiting discussions to one genre of science, co-founder Matthew Brand (7) said. Students are drawn to the club because it is a place of discovery, rather than learning textbook-based information, he said.

The Mighty Chondrias have met once a week since October. During club meetings, students usually prepare presentations on various science topics, ask questions, and watch videos on topics presented, club member Anyi Sharma (7) said.

Their discussions are informal and sometimes include debates about various science topics, she said.

In this week’s meeting, the club focused on biology because Thursday was Earth Day. Hornfeld presented on how various animals adapt to their environment, he said. He discussed how Wood Frogs freeze over in

Science Book Club

the winter unscathed because of the glucose pumped into their cells, and how Electric Eels use electricity to stun their prey.

Club discussions tend not to overlap with what students learn in class because members want to learn new ideas that reach beyond the curriculum, Sharma said. However, every so often, club members will discuss a topic that dives more deeply into a subject they learned in science class, she said.

Aside from learning about science, club members also learn important collaboration skills, Brand said.

Wagner can sense a bond between the students in the club, he said. Members encourage each other to come up with presentations in their free time, and they organically start discussions every time the club meets.

The club is unique in comparison to most clubs in the MD because students are the ones teaching, Ibrahim said. This process gives students more experience when giving presentations in their classes, he said.

The Mighty Chondrias differs from day-today science classes because students get to have fun talking about what excites them, Wagner said. “You get the sense that students are really passionate about the topics they bring up when they’re getting involved in other students’ presentations, and they can feed off of their [peers] excitement.”

Wagner’s favorite part of advising the club is learning from his students. “During the day I’m the teacher, so they learn from me, but when I come into this space there’s always something fascinating to learn,” he said.

Earlier this year, Middle Division (MD) science teacher Jodi Hill and a group of her students formed a book club for students to read engaging literary works that explore the field of science. The club holds weekly meetings for members to discuss and express their opinions about the plot. Hill also plans presentations and activities about topics to share with students.

The club is currently reading “The Vacation Guide to the Solar System,” by Olivia Koski, an astrologer at the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History.

The book is a parody guide to the solar system that intertwines facts with intricate illustrations. Hill chose the book because it generates a lot of discussion, she said. She likes how the book discusses the possibility of space travel to distant moons and planets in the future.

While the book is a work of science-fiction, Rose Korff (8) enjoys how club members discuss the content as if it were factual, she said. “It’s really cool to imagine the things we might have to think about in the future if we get to travel to planets for vacation.”

Participating in the club has made members more engaged in science and flexible to exploring new genres. Before joining the Book Club, Carmen Zhang (8) did not enjoy reading science books because the concepts were difficult to understand on her own. Now, she is more inspired to read science-related books because she has a group of people to ask questions to and make reading the book more fun. “I am more interested in the solar system as well as science books,” she said.

Korff was a member of the MD Science Olympiad team in previous years, but because Science Olympiad is not happening this year, she decided to join the Science Book Club. Korff enjoys the competitive aspect of Science Olympiad, however, reading science books and having intriguing discussions is just as fun for her, she said.

Club meetings are often relaxing and enjoyable for students, Hill said. “We read [the book] chapter by chapter [and] then discuss it,” she said. “We also play games like Kahoot, watch related video clips and even conduct some activities.” Hill hopes that the club will inspire members to explore literature and science beyond what is offered in the current MD science curriculum.

Korff enjoys doing club activities at home using materials she has around her house, she said. To learn about craters on the moon, club members did an activity with flour and marbles. Korff is learning more detail about planets than what she studied in her 6th grade science class, she said.

Lauren Kim / Art Director

Through scrimmages and intramural games, Lions play on Divya Ponda Contributing Writer A recent change in COVID-19 restrictions allows sports teams to now compete against other schools for the first time since the pandemic began.

Teams will primarily play against the Ethical Culture Fieldston School and the Riverdale Country Day School, Director of Athletics Robert Annunziata said. “We thought it would be best just to isolate the three schools together,” he said. Playing against hilltop schools only is the most practical choice because of the schools’ similar COVID-19 protocols and proximity to each other, he said.

Prospective competition creates a more driven and focused team, Softball Team member Sarene Choudhury (10) said.

The coaches are more strict about athletes attending practices because they now have to be prepared for games beyond simply practicing their skills, she said. “It’s definitely a lot more exciting now that we are practicing for something.”

Courtesy of HM Flickr

This year is Michelle Kim’s (10) first time playing games with the Girls Lacrosse Team, so she is especially excited for their first game. “Lacrosse is a lot about games and sportsmanship, and last year we weren’t able to have any games or practices,” she said.

Girls Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach Keri Panarelli has mixed feelings about the new policy. “I am super happy for the kids, especially the seniors, given that they missed out on a lot last year, but I feel a bit unprepared as the way that we went into the season is very different than we ever have before,” she said.

The schedule is still being finalized, and games have been tentatively scheduled during the first and third weeks of May if all goes to plan, Annunziata said. Teams will be tested 72 hours before their game in order to adhere to the school’s COVID-19 guidelines, Panarelli said.

“The outliers are our non-league sports: boys volleyball and girls rugby,” Annunziata said. The school is working on finding an opportunity for Boy’s Volleyball and Girl’s Rugby to also play against other schools, he said.

In practice, the Boys Volleyball Team is playing intramural

games, Jared Contant (10) said. “Volleyball is a great candidate for [playing against other schools], because you’re already social distancing while you’re playing,” he said. “It is also very easy to clean the balls in between rounds, and coaches have been sanitizing them frequently during practices, he said.

There are many ways that volleyball competitions could be made safer, Uddipto Nandi (11) said. “In Volleyball, it’s customary to switch sides of a court,” he said. “But since this would be an informal game, not switching sides of a court is probably a better idea because keeping the teams on different sides of the net would limit the amount of contact.”

“At the moment, we don’t know whether we’re having a game this season,” Girls Rugby Team member Clementine Bondor (10) said. “Harvey, one school against whom we’ve played in the past, isn’t in the HM ‘bubble,’ and Rye, another, is completely online,” she said. “Despite the fact that we might not have any true games this season, I’m excited about the change. It signifies a lot of progress and hope for the future.”

Courtesy of HM Flickr

Courtesy of HM Flickr

Courtesy of HM Flickr

Courtesy of HM Flickr