Issue 11

Volume 119 Issue 11

The Record Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903

record.horacemann.org December 10th, 2021

Community remains vigilant in face of COVID-19 uptick Sophie Rukin Staff Writer Mandatory testing after Thanksgiving Break revealed a slight increase in COVID cases at the school, with five cases in the Upper Division (UD). The increase, coupled with the new Omicron variant, has led to increased anxiety for some members in the community. “The thing I don’t want anybody to do is panic. There’s really no cause for panic right now,” Head of UD Dr. Jessica Levenstein said.

While the school will not implement any new protocols at the moment, some community members choose to be cautious in their own ways, whether that means more mask wearing or getting the booster shot if eligible.

“I’ve definitely felt an extreme increase in fear, almost similar to the start of the pandemic,” Krish Gandhi (10) said. Gandhi and his family have begun to take extra precaution such as wiping down their food deliveries and staying out of restaurants, he said.

Other students have also initiated new precautions into their routines.

Chloe Trentalancia (11) has decided to double mask out of concern for possible

United States and New York, causing some community members to question how it might impact the school community. “All the news is kind of like a reminder of what March [2020] was,” Joelle Maddan (12) said.

Maddan has felt some increased fear and worry with the rising cases both in the school community and the greater world, she said. “We just got back to being more open and free, and now it feels like we might have to lock down again, which is scary.”

While some members of the school have elevated fears in light of the rising cases and new variant, others remain calm. Ian Acharjee (9) said that his fear level for COVID has not changed.

“Everybody’s getting tested and everybody’s wearing masks, so I think we’re all going to be fine,” he said.

Michelle Orloff (10) has not had additional concerns due to COVID either, she said. “I feel fear if I know that I’m going to be in a large group of people where no one is really wearing masks, but otherwise I haven’t really had that many worries since I got vaccinated.”

Orloff was not surprised to hear the statistics on rising cases in the UD, because students have a lot of

“A lot of people, since they know that they can’t go remote when they are sick, just choose to come to school sick and that’s how it spreads, because they don’t want to miss school — especially during testing week.”

- Neeva Patel infection, she said. Trentalancia is also concerned for her upcoming international travel over winter break, she said.

The rise has led to a shift in the community’s atmosphere, Sammie Pruzan (10) said. “Everyone’s a bit tenser and a little bit more worried, especially with winter break coming up.”

William Woodruff (9) has also felt an atmospheric change regarding precautions, he said. He has noticed more people washing their hands and wearing masks. However, the new increase of COVID has not harmed relationships between peers and faculty, he said.

In addition to the community’s positive cases, the new Omicron variant has been a source of fear for some after data was released by the CDC last month. Though first detected in South Africa, the variant has spread to the

siblings, friends, and family members at other schools. Though she expected it, she considers the rise in cases to be unfortunate, especially since COVID numbers were getting better in the beginning of the year, she said.

The numbers also do not worry Spanish teacher Diego Argibay, he said.

“We just came back from vacation, where there was a very large number of exposure, but the number of students is not a very large number.”

Argibay has a young daughter in public school who had four cases in her grade alone, so by comparison, the school’s numbers seem miniscule, he said. “I do think there is rising concern with the whole Omicron variant, but I just need to keep an eye on it and be hopeful.”

Last Friday, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly required testing for every student and faculty member at the school.

Levenstein said this testing was planned

to happen regardless of the Omicron variant.

One reason the administration planned to test was because there tends to be more interpersonal contact amongst family and friends during the holidays, which can lead to potential exposure, UD Dean of Students Michael Dalo said.

While the cases in the UD have increased slightly, they still remain relatively low, Levenstein said. However, there have been reports of students and faculty members who have a family member ill with COVID, she said.

There are many potential reasons for the increase in cases, Levenstein said. “I’m not a scientist, but if I were to guess it would have to do with the fact that the weather is colder, we’re moving indoors, and as we know being indoors with less air circulation definitely increases spread,” Dalo said.

MD and UD Nurse Deanna Cooper said that the rise in cases was expected.

There is an increase in cases in New York City right now, including some breakthrough cases with vaccinated people, so it makes sense that this increase would be reflected in the school’s data, she said.

Levenstein said one of the big causes of rising cases was students traveling over Thanksgiving break. “From what I understand, people really traveled a lot and that creates a lot of potential exposure,” she said. “They saw a lot of people they were eager to see, so it’s hard to stay vigilant with masks under those circumstances.”

While there are no new protocols going into place, there will be more outdoor dining options available, Levenstein said. This update includes more areas to eat outside as well as partitioning between seats under the tents.

Cooper said the school is currently continuing to put in significant effort towards cleaning, sanitizing and wearing masks. “There is always the possibility that if the numbers go way up, that we will reinstitute wearing masks outside,” she said. Kelly lifted the outdoor mask mandate on Monday, October 11 and in the present moment the school is alright with taking a step back by allowing students to take a break from wearing masks outdoors, Cooper said.

English teacher Dr. Adam Casdin feels as if overall, the school — and specifically Kelly — is doing a great job at handling COVID precautions, he said. “[Dr. Kelly] really did thread

the needle at one of the most difficult situations that any institution has ever faced, and I felt confident all the way through that he was informed and up to date and serious about the approaching difficulty,” he said.

Casdin is a strong believer that masks work.

L i k e

Trentalancia, he uses the double mask technique, and has been doing so since we first went back in person. “We spent a year in school, I met directly with students who tested positively the next day and never got sick,” he said.

“There was no transmission in any of my classes, so I am not worried. I actually feel pretty confident with the way the school is handling it.”

Trentalancia, on the other hand, was disappointed that the school did not put more precautions in place. It would be beneficial to instate more frequent testing, possibly even daily testing, she said.

Maddan said it makes sense for the school to keep restrictions to a minimum. It is important that the community maintains a “positive vibe” at the school as people go through the testing weeks, she said.

However, Maddan said it is possible that after break the school might impose some stricter restrictions.

While these restrictions would be bothersome, Maddan understands that they may be necessary.

Neeva Patel (10) was one of the five positive cases discovered through the community testing last Friday.

Patel does not know how she got sick and thinks that in general everybody needs to be more cautious. “When you’re eating short snacks, your mask shouldn’t be off for long,” Patel said.

Patel also said that with cases rising the school should reinstate masking outdoors.

It is also super important for people to get tested when they are asked to, she said. “I know a lot of people forget, and then you might just be walking around with COVID, and you had the opportunity to test and didn’t.” Patel is appreciative that the school had mandatory testing last Friday, because otherwise she would not have figured

out she had COVID. Many faculty members and senior

Dylan Leftt/Staff Artist

students over the age of 18 have also decided to get their booster shot as an additional precautionary measure against the virus. The school does not track booster shots unless a parent provides the vaccine record with the booster to the school, as it does not currently mandate them, Cooper said.

However Cooper would appreciate it if more parents would send in this data, she said.

“I have no knowledge of who has received the booster at this point in time,” Dalo said. “I know that I have gotten a booster and many people in the Dean’s office have gotten their booster.” However, Dalo has heard some conversation around the dean’s office about mandating the booster shot down the line, he said.

Argibay has also gotten the booster, in part because his daughter was not fully vaccinated at the time, he said.

That fact, coupled with the possibility of exposure at school, made him inclined to get the shot. “I chose to get the shot out of an abundance of caution more than anything else,” he said.

Some seniors, such as Maddan, are under the age threshold to get the booster shot. However, Maddan plans to get it once she turns 18. Her family is at a somewhat high risk for COVID and she does not want to make them worry, she said. “Getting an extra shot won’t hurt.”

On the other hand, some faculty members, though eligible, have not yet received the booster shot. Physical

see Covid on page 2

Teachers find community at People of Color Conference Zachary Kurtz Staff Writer Last week, a group of 11 teachers attended this year’s annual National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) People of Color Conference (PoCC). The conference took place over the course of five days and included seminars, a master class, affinity spaces, and over a hundred different workshops on topics relevant to people of color teaching in independent schools.

The conference features a different theme each year to help guide its workshops and conversations. The theme for this year was “Reckoning with Impacts, Rolling with Just Intent.” “They talk about the theme a lot, and it lives throughout the conference,” Head of Middle Division (MD) Javaid

Khan said.

At the conference, there were six workshop blocks and twenty workshops to choose from during each block, Khan said. They are presented by educators from all over the country who submitted proposals for their workshops in the spring, he said.

While the conference is typically held in a different city each year, it took place online due to COVID restrictions. It was held on a virtual event platform called Hubilo, which allowed each participant to create their own schedule and attend the events they were most interested in, Associate Director of the Office for Identity, Culture and Institutional Equity (ICIE) Bri’ana Odom said.

The event worked well online and the NAIS did a wonderful job with the resources that they had, she said.

The 2022 conference will be held in

person in San Antonio, Texas.

There are some benefits to being online such as having the ability to rewatch recordings of the workshops, Odom said. “Even now I’m thinking, I want to go back to this workshop because I just need to refresh my memory on what it was about.”

The remote option also opened up the conference to many more people than in previous years, Khan said. This increased accessibility begs the question of whether there will be a remote aspect of future PoCCs to continue allowing people from all over the country to attend, he said.

The conference hosted around 7,500 educators and took place alongside the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, also hosted by the NAIS. According to the NAIS, PoCC’s

mission is “to provide a safe space for leadership, professional development, and networking for people of color and allies of all backgrounds in independent

schools.”

Khan first attended the PoCC in 1996, he said. “The purpose of the conference when they designed it

see Conference on page 2

Courtesy of Javaid Khan

DANCE OFF DJ Van Vader closes out conference with a dance party.

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THE RECORD OPINIONS DECEMBER 10TH 2021

Reflecting on the Oxford school shooting: America’s mental health crisis

Ariela Shuchman Last week, the nation witnessed the 223rd school shooting of 2021.

According to a study conducted by The Conversation — a news site — classrooms have been especially deadly this year. 2021 has jumped to first place with the most school shootings in U.S. history. But what makes this year different? If we dive deeper than the politics of gun control, we uncover a much darker answer to all of this violence: the mental health crisis plaguing adolescents.

The idea of moving to the corner, barricading the door, and scanning the

classroom for makeshift weapons and torniquetes is foreign to anyone outside of our generation. Our “normal” is a world where a loud bang, an unplanned fire drill, or an accidental beep triggers our hearts to drop to our legs. We are forced to constantly fear what feels inevitable, given the sheer number of headlines dedicated to school shootings. All of this is to say how our lives as students in 2021 have changed because of mass shootings. But what are the differences in our lives as American teens that are causing so many mass shootings?

As Ethan Crumbley, the shooter at Oxford High School, was only 15 years old, it’s difficult to write his motive off as a manifestation of pure, unadulterated evil, especially given the disturbing messages pleading for help that he left on his desk. We have to look at Crumbley’s mental deterioration into violence as a symptom of a larger culture of bullying that persists in American high schools.

Behind every school shooting, there are two perpetrators: the shooter and the gun. Dealing with the gun has a clearer cut plan of action than dealing with the shooter. Guns are objects.

They lack complexity, emotion, and

motive. If we can inspire strong policy change, ideally, we can tame the use of these objects. However, dealing with the shooter solves three of our nation’s most challenging issues at once: social isolation caused by COVID-19, cyberbullying in the age of social media, and the disease of loneliness and depression that has infected most American teenagers.

Most times after a school shooting, it is later revealed that the perpetrator was in some way bullied or had few friends. Though it is impossible to fully understand the motive of a school shooter, EducationCorner credits 75% of school shootings to harassment and bullying. There is an undeniable link between the festering of negative emotions and the rise in frequency of violence. As the magnitude of harassment and depression increases, especially in conjunction with preexisting mental illness, tragedies like Oxford will become more likely. So, though these connections will always remain somewhat unproven, it is still of utmost importance to address the adolescent bullying and depression problem because it can only do good.

Obviously, the mental health crisis I’m describing is amplified by the fact that

people struggling have unregulated access to guns. But once again, we have to compartmentalize the gun and the shooter to most effectively tackle the school shooting epidemic.

To say that the average high school experience has changed drastically since our parents were roaming the halls is a categorical understatement.

The two changes that stand out the most to me are social media and the pandemic. The pros and cons of social media have been beaten to death, so I won’t get too much into it. Its drawbacks can be summarized as a new hyper-dependence on the phone screen that attempts to provide someone with all of the human and emotional connection of actually being outside with friends. Social media contributes to the problem of teenage loneliness because it creates a false sense of togetherness and community. As this reliance worsens, real social interaction often ceases to exist; in turn, loneliness and depression begin to spiral.

It is impossible to separate America’s recent mental health crisis from the pandemic. As everyone was forced into isolation, we were left with no choice but to rely on these platforms to provide us with the comfort and

interaction we missed so dearly.

Unfortunately, social media sanctioned loneliness often works in tandem with bullying, as it often facilitates cyberbullying and spurs the mental health spiral of vulnerable youth. Fortunately for Horace Mann, we have structures in place to counsel those in crisis and report instances of harassment.

However, most schools are not lucky enough to have these resources.

No words can encapsulate the tragedy of school shootings. Innocent students continue to lose friends, teachers, or their own lives to these acts of evil. Almost as disturbing is the giant increase in American teens who are struggling so much that they consider harm to themselves and others. Though it’s impossible to identify a list of steps to solve the teenage mental health crisis, we must continue to advocate for destigmatization, distribution of school resources to accurately account for student experiences, and most importantly, zero tolerance against any instance of bullying.

Stand up for what is right because you never know what someone is going through. Let’s stop these tragedies at the source and save countless students, including the shooter themselves.

about those who are having a quick snack, or people who need to make way for a tissue to blow their noses. I’m referring to extended under the nose, below the lip, and sometimes even over the eyes (yes I have actually seen this) mask violations that I have continually noticed at our school.

Sometimes it’s a lengthy maskless debate in the senior lounge or a prolonged maskless discussion after a sip of coffee. Other times, a group hanging out in one of the library study rooms without any face coverings whatsoever.

Following mask guidelines is quite literally one of the simplest things you can do to show respect for all the work the school has done for us to remain in person and on campus. The Flik staff and the librarians are friendly faces throughout campus and actively work to make our community a more enjoyable place. Intentionally resisting policies instilled to protect our wellbeing reflects really, really poorly on all of us. We already disrespect these adults through the absurd amount of trash we leave everywhere — we shouldn’t have to add refusing to wear our masks to our ignorant tendencies.

Moreover, this problem goes

beyond not following the rules. Last week in the library, I witnessed a new “game” some students decided to play.

The rules were straightforward: snatch someone else’s mask and run away.

In turn, the person whose mask was stolen would chase the snatcher until they retrieved their face covering. I could make a laundry list of ways this nonsensical “game” is problematic.

But the most crucial lesson we must learn from this act is clear.

Safety is not a game.

T h e significance of this infraction is deeper than openly ignoring the guidelines the school has put in place for us. It’s one thing to decide you won’t wear your mask when indoors, but this goes beyond a simple inability to follow protocol. We are making a mockery out of safety.

Of course, we don’t always agree with every rule that the administration implements — many of us were frustrated way back in the “no phones in the hallway” era. But our school’s indoor mask policy is something of consequence. COVID-19 is still at large. We can’t decide not to adapt to the Omicron variant and rising cases because we are tired of it.

We all have our own risk analysis when it comes to

COVID-19, and that’s okay.

When we are not on campus, we take responsibility for whether or not we feel it’s appropriate to wear masks and avoid crowds. We are coming off a period of a few months where COVID was under control in New York City and large indoor gatherings for fully vaccinated people

were deemed acceptable.

Think about it this way: life in the era of COVID is fundamentally about balance. No one should be shamed for traveling, hanging out with a few friends indoors when not at school or going out to dinner.

These are social experiences that the vaccine has allowed us to have with lowered risk. But low risk isn’t no risk. For this reason, we need to think critically about why our school even asks us to wear masks in the first place. It’s about the “what-if ’s”.

Wearing a mask does not only display your respect for our community — it also serves as an acknowledgment that COVID-19 safety rests on this balanced foundation. While the school is not monitoring us when we are not at school, when we are on campus, we should be willing to wear masks as a product of our care for our community.

It’s not hard to be kind, it’s not hard to be decent, and it’s not hard — at all — to wear a mask. We are all capable, socially adept students. You should want to work just as hard for the health of your community as you do for that A on your math test. Wearing your mask for the limited time you are indoors at school? Easy A.

as well, he said.

The school recently made the first two doses of the COVID vaccine available for the newly eligible members of the community. This included people between the ages of five to eleven. If the school chooses to mandate the booster, it is very probable that they would administer boosters on campus, Cooper said.

Along with the increasing COVID cases, the winter flu is on the rise.

Patel said she is not concerned about the flu, as she is about COVID, since people know how the flu spreads

and how to stop it, with tactics such as washing your hands and not touching your face, she said.

Patel said that if a student feels sick it is important to stay home. “A lot of people, since they know that they can’t go remote when they are sick, just choose to come to school sick and that’s how it spreads, because they don’t want to miss school — especially during testing week.”

The increase in cases has caused some members of the community to feel nervous towards others

with COVID, especially if they are considered a close contact.

Having COVID was a learning experience for Patel. “I think there’s a stigma against people with COVID,” Patel said. Upon testing positive she realized people were quick to judge and polarize people who have COVID. It is important for people to be careful when they are contact-traced but also to handle it appropriately, she said.

As the community continues to get sick with a combination of COVID and the flu, Levenstein stresses the

importance of balancing vigilant mask wearing and maintaining a normal school life, she said.

However, students and faculty need to realize that they have a responsibility towards everybody else in the community, and that they all must be a part of the collective effort, Levenstein said. “We have to imagine that the person next to you has an immunocompromised family member, so you can treat that person with care. And in your own actions, you need to protect yourself as much as possible.”

Unmasking student disregard for COVID protocols

Alex Nagin Do any of us truly believe that the library staff enjoys constantly reminding us to wear our masks? Do we really want to come across to the adults in our community as people who have decided that the rules do not apply to us? Ask yourself this: what kind of message does it send that we have such a profound inability to respect the school’s rules?

Deciding not to wear your mask in the library, or any other indoor space on campus, is more of a statement than most of us may think. I’m not talking

Vivian Coraci/ Art Director

from Covid on page 1 take the booster primarily because of a lack of time. He plans to get it over break and is hoping to feel even more secure after the shot, he said.

ICIE Program Associate Jaquan Shaw has not gotten his booster yet either, but plans to get one. “When I did look into getting [a booster], I thought the information that was given wasn’t really direct about how to get one,” he said. Even though he has not yet gotten his booster, Shaw feels safe since he has not gotten COVID since being vaccinated and everyone around him is vaccinated

Volume 119 Editorial Board Editor in Chief Hanna Hornfeld

Managing Editor Liliana Greyf

Features Mia Calzolaio Emma Colacino

News Claire Goldberg Katya Tolunsky

Opinions Devin Allard-Neptune Yin Fei

A&E Purvi Jonnalagadda Arushi Talwar

Middle Division Jade Ciriello

Lions’ Den Lauren Ho

Art Directors Vivian Coraci Lauren Kim Riva Vig

Design Editors Avani Khorana Myra Malik Arin Rosen

Photography Daniel Schlumberger Ailill Walsh Sean Lee

Online Editor Lucas Glickman

Head of Design AJ Walker

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Staff

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

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.

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

THE RECORD NEWS AND MIDDLE DIVISION DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

Clubs run drives to benefit community

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from Conference on page 1 Kayden Hansong/Staff Artist

MH x HM fills community fridges Ceci Coughlin Staff Writer

Yorkers volunteered in person at food banks. When many food pantries closed, people turned to community The Mott Haven x Horace Mann refrigerators — fridges located in (MH x HM) club started a food drive public to which people can bring or to help the Mott Haven community take food — to access food, Fic said. with food access during the pandemic. “Before the pandemic, people were Students can bring non-perishable more reliant on food drives in churches food to Olshan Lobby. and community spaces,” she said.

Bronx neighborhood Mott Haven The fridges are household is in one of the poorest congressional refrigerators on the street inside districts in the country, MH x HM sheds to keep them protected from President Karolina Fic (10) said. Yet, the elements, founder of Mott Haven it is in the same borough as the Hunts Fridge Dan Zauderer said.

Point Terminal Produce Market, which “They are painted by local artists or distributes food and produce to much by school groups,” Zauderer said. “Both of the country, she said. “If you have of the fridges in Mott Haven also have a huge produce market in the same a corresponding pantry, which is much borough that has one of the poorest bigger than the fridge and it has lots districts in the US, there is clearly a of shelving units in it, which can take paradox there.” harder produce.”

During the pandemic, few New The school drive started with Fic when she and her sister Courtesy of Jiwan Kim interned with Zauderer over the summer, Fic said.

“Mott Haven Fridge has just a couple of fridges, but the idea of community refrigerators are all over the city,” Fic said.

The fridges IT’S ABOUT DRIVE Students donate non-perishables. allow people to

access food with dignity and with no questions asked, she said.

“We are a volunteer-powered organization, whose purpose is to get fresh fruits and vegetables directly into the communities that struggle with getting access to fresh and healthy foods to feed their families,” Zauderer said.

Volunteers can help by donating nonperishable food items to the school, making drop-offs of food items to fridges any day of the week, or signing up to drive produce to designated locations on any Saturday, Zauderer said. Every Saturday, volunteer drivers take food to grassroots communityrun and community-supported distribution sites throughout the Bronx, he said.

“The other way is to do a cook off or bake off,” Zauderer said. “I would love for families to bake cookies or make lasagna that they could put into Tupperware containers labeled with the name of the item and the date that they were prepared.”

“If you have a parent or chaperone sign up, all they have to do is put in their phone number, their email, and then they get text messages,” Zauderer said. Volunteers can sign up for any time slot that they want between 10am and 2pm on Saturday, come for 15 minutes while their car is loaded with produce, and then they are given a site in the Bronx or up to drop off, he said.

“Yes she can!”: AAC donates dolls

Ceci Coughlin and Divya Ponda Staff Writers

To empower and give autonomy to autistic women, the Autism Awareness Club (AAC) is holding an American Girl doll drive for the organization Yes She Can. According to its website, Yes She Can is a non-profit dedicated to helping women with autism and related disabilities develop job skills and workplace social skills through authentic work experience. The women refurbish the donated dolls, which are then sent to the affiliated Girl AGain store, a resale boutique that sells the dolls to children who otherwise would not be able to afford them, AAC president Hannah Moss (11) said.

According to the website, Girl AGain trainees are paid to sort, clean, and prepare merchandise, which they then price and display in the shop. They learn about marketing, retailing, customer service, and inventory acquisition, as

well as appropriate workplace behavior, collaboration, and decision-making.

It can be hard for autistic people to get jobs, which is why the company is so special, vice president of the AAC Joaquin Ramirez (12) said. According to the Yes She Can website, 80% of adults with autism spectrum disorders are unemployed, regardless of their academic accomplishments.

“The drive is something that already exists in other communities and that there are initiatives for,” Ramirez said.

“As soon as we heard about it, we wanted to be a part of it.” When Moss learned about the organization online, she also thought a school drive would be a great way to get the school involved with the company’s mission, she said.

Bins are set up in Olshan Lobby and anyone can donate, Moss said. If the drive is successful and the school donates a large amount of dolls, Moss would love to continue these drives in the future, she said.

Members of the AAC also posted flyers around where they live, Ramirez

said. “We are getting donations from people in our buildings as well as the donations we are getting from the school.”

The company does effective work that aligns with the values of the AAC by providing autistic women with resources for equal opportunity and treatment, Ramirez said. The club’s goal is to spread awareness, but also to do whatever they can do to help other organizations enact real change, he said.

“This organization relies on the good will and funding of these initiatives, so it just feels great to know that we can make a change in autistic women’s lives and provide them with a means of work,” Ramirez said. People with autism, especially women, do not get enough support from the government, especially if they come from a low income background, he said. “Being able to do something where we can donate things from our house and knowing that it can make an impact is the main reason we are doing this drive,” Ramirez said.

was to create an affinity space for educators of color to gather.” At that time, few educators of color worked in independent schools, so the PoCC was a unique opportunity for educators of color to be in community together, he said.

Khan has attended the conference fourteen times and keeps going back because of the familial feeling, he said. He has established a network of hundreds of people that he met through the conference, and even if he is not in contact with these people on a regular basis, he knows that they will all gather at the PoCC come each December, he said.

ICIE Program Associate Jaquan Shaw attended his first PoCC this year, and found the conference to be an appreciable way to connect with educators from around the country, he said. “It creates a community and creates space for like minded individuals to have a moment to reflect on their experiences within the private schools.”

The conference was a time for ICIE Director Christine Moloney to absorb new information about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at independent schools, she said.

“The work around DEI is changing and updating minute by minute, so this is a chance for ICIE to be in fellowship with people who are also doing this work and to go spend three straight days in workshops on our specialty,” Moloney said. “It’s also professional development for ICIE and allows us to do the best job that we can at the school.”

This year, Khan got the chance to present a workshop with two of his former colleagues, he said. “We did a workshop on restorative practices as it relates to discipline when there are racial implications, when there’s been a racial transgression, and how we approach that.” The workshop was very popular as it garnered over 700 attendees, while the average workshop is viewed by around 70100 people, Khan said.

MD World Languages Teacher

Rebeca Bataller found Khan’s workshop to be especially useful, she said. It was very inclusive and discussed how teachers should be mindful of the psychological changes that adolescents are going through and they should try to include the students as much as possible and consider their voices when a problem arises, Bataller said.

One of Odom’s favorite aspects of the conference was the selfidentified affinity spaces that the conference offered, she said. “It’s really nice to be able to fellowship with people based on our identities.”

Odom appreciated that the majority of the presenters began their workshops with a land acknowledgement, she said. “Some educators even took that further to say, ‘it’s not enough to do a land acknowledgement. How do we make this an authentic thing and an authentic practice to acknowledge the indigenous people whose land we are occupying?’”

Since the conference, Odom has continued to think about land acknowledgements and making them a staple at the school, she said.

“We obviously have begun to do that and I feel it’s been done in the past, but I wonder how we can make that a more meaningful practice and make it more consistent.”

The conference ended with Club PoCC, a dance party DJed by Khan – aka DJ Van Vader – who has a background as a professional DJ. Even though everyone was at home dancing by themselves, no one wanted to leave and it was a moment he won’t forget, Khan said.

Khan also appreciates the school’s commitment towards allowing teachers to attend the PoCC, he said. “We are really fortunate of the generosity of the school to do this as a priority because to send that many people to PoCC is very expensive, but I think it speaks to why our faculty population has continued to diversify with the numbers that it has.”

Elena Zhu/Staff Artist

CJC collects donations for Books Through Bars Etta Singer Staff Writer The Criminal Justice Club (CJC) is running a book drive from Thanksgiving to winter break in partnership with Books Through Bars, a nonprofit that sends free books to incarcerated people. Books Through Bars (BTB) will donate the books to various prisons that they work with, club co-leader Allison Markman (11) said.

The book drive is the first big initiative for the CJC, which began this school year. Club leaders Markman, Sophie Dauer (11), and Rachel Baez (11) had the idea for the CJC in their freshman year, after Lynn Novick ’79 spoke at an assembly, Markman said. Novick introduced her documentary “College Behind Bars” about inmates earning degrees while incarcerated. “We realized that books and education are something so important and we want to do something to share it,” Markman said.

Markman, Dauer, and Baez proposed the book drive during a CJC meeting and the whole club decided it was a great idea, history teacher and club advisor Dr. Lauren Meyer said. “It was really a student-run initiative and I was just there to

support them.”

The club leaders reached out to Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels to help with the drive, who immediately thought of BTB for the initiative. The school has been donating leftover books from the school’s annual book fair and donation boxes to BTB since 2017, Bartels said. The school is a “community of readers” and students often take for granted the fact that everyone has access to books and education while others do not, she said. “We wanted to make sure the unsold books could find a good home.”

The genres in highest demand are science fiction, fantasy, thriller, manga, graphic novels, reference books, and instructional books, but the club is happy to receive books of any genre, Markman said.

Gwendolyn Simon (10) donated two books to the drive — one fantasy and one thriller — because she said it is important for incarcerated people to receive educational resources that stimulate their imaginations and give them some enjoyment in the harsh prison environment, she said. “Not only should we donate books to educate them, we should educate ourselves about their conditions in prisons and then do something to help improve them,” she said.

Camila Florencio (10) agrees that students should learn about incarcerated people and prison conditions in classes and talk about them more openly, she said. People in prisons were disproportionately affected by COVID and it is important to discuss why, she said.

The book drive has been widely successful so far with over 50 books donated by last Thursday morning, Meyer said.“Education is a human right that everyone deserves access to, and this drive is just a step.”

Riva Vig/Art Director

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THE RECORD FEATURES DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

The layered history of the dress code, from Audrey Carbonell Staff Writer For the majority of his time at the school, Robert Watson ‘71 was expected to wear a jacket and tie with neat, short hair. However, the counterculture of the late sixties began to challenge these formalities, he said. “Maybe the control of students was compromised, but I think on the whole the spirit and freedom of thought were more than enough compensation for that,” he said.

In 1968, the school — along with the rest of the world — went through several political and cultural shifts, Watson said. This included the removal of dress code regulations. “The insistence on short hair yielded, but that concession was accompanied by a rule that students had to have a comb handy to keep the hair neat. If you didn’t, you had to go immediately to the bookstore and buy a new one — some students ended up owning a lot of combs.”

In the 50 years since Watson graduated from the school, dress regulations have

whether or not to enact a change in dress policy.

With approval from then Head of School Robert A. Thomason, the CC produced reports from both the majority, advocating for the removal of the dress code, and minority, wanting to maintain the current limits on attire. “[Cultural changes at school were] amplified when the long-term traditionalist headmaster Mitchell Gratwick was succeeded by the youthful Robert Thomason,” Watson said. Thomason became headmaster in the fall of 1968, the same year that the dress code was abolished.

Even with the administration’s support, the majority of change was driven by student initiative, Watson said. “I never heard of the faculty opining on it, though no doubt it was discussed by them in some meetings, and I could certainly have guessed a few who would have supported it and quite a few of more conservative leanings who would have resisted it.”

After a four week-long discussion in

MAY 23, 1940

FROM THE ARCHIVES Editors of The Record Volume 58 pose in their suits. changed significantly. The conversation about the right balance between dress regulations and freedom is still ongoing.

Prior to the changes, the school had strict dress codes. Although there was no official uniform, students had to wear a tie and jacket at all times, Robert Owens ‘67 said.

“It was more like a British prep school — we looked like little businessmen,” Owens said. “The teachers would make you put your jacket back on if you took it off, and they did not like it if your collar was open. There was a real emphasis on proper dress.”

Owens saw benefit in this dress code, he said. “For adolescent boys, it helped to create a certain amount of discipline.”

Today, however, the school no longer has an official dress code: “the school expects students to dress appropriately for school and for the season,” according to the Family Handbook.

The Family Handbook outlines the expectations for Nursery and Lower Division students, discouraging certain articles of clothing including specialized sports attire, spaghetti-strap styled tank tops, and very short or very long skirts.

Restrictions for Middle Division (MD) and Upper Division (UD) students are more relaxed and do not outline the specific types of clothing to be avoided: “Students, however, are expected to dress in a way that is respectful of the core values and academic purposes of the School. For special occasions, students are expected to dress in accordance with the formality of the event. Excessively revealing shirts or shorts are not permitted; additionally, T-shirts with inappropriate images or messages are also not permitted.”

If students do not follow these dress guidelines, the school can ask them to change clothes or can send them home. If students are continuously dressing in an inappropriate manner, they are subject to the disciplinary procedures of the school, The Family Handbook said.

In 1968, the school’s Community Council (CC) proposed a plan to effectively remove the original dress code at the school. Led

by Chairman Roger Meltzer ‘69, the CC conducted a series of debates to determine

November of 1968, the CC motioned to abolish dress regulations and promote “student self-determination matters of attire” with a final vote of 11-1 in favor of removing the dress code, according to Volume 52, Issue 8 of The Record. Dress regulations were officially suspended following a school-wide referendum where students voted 391-282 in favor of the CC’s motion.

Following the changes in dress policy, students began to notice a change in the atmosphere at the school, the Record Press Staff said in an opinion piece in Volume 52, Issue 11 of The Record. “To many people, the most gratifying result has been an increase in interest in the arts,” they said. “It’s difficult to say precisely why this has occurred; some may deny that it has anything to do with the dress rules. But the general atmosphere of reduced pressure at H.M. — and this is a result of several changes in addition to the dress rules — has promoted an atmosphere more conducive to artist endeavors.”

Watson was in favor of abolishing the dress code at the school, he said. “I’m confident the great majority of my classmates felt the same way, and it certainly did lead to a less stuffy atmosphere around the place,” Watson said.

“To me, it was a relief not to be pretending all the time that we were Eton or some similar ancient high-class British academy, and being

disciplined in ways that had nothing to do with our learning.”

Karen Davis ‘77 joined the school seven years later in 1975 in the first class with female students. By that time, the school no longer had a dress code, she said. “We were allowed to wear jeans, and people dressed up sometimes,” she said. “No one wore sweatpants or leggings — none of that really existed back in the 70s.”

Davis did not see the same types of dress issues that are found today, she said. “They didn’t have to tell you not to wear certain things,” she said. ”Although popular in the early 70s, mini skirts — short-short skirts —

were not in style by 1975, so we didn’t have that issue either.”

By 2004, however, mini skirts had become a controversial topic, according to an article in Volume 101, Issue 31 of The Record.

The piece, titled, “How High Can You Go? Miniskirts Hit HM,” reflects on the fashion trends of the early 2000s and their effect on student’s clothing in the school setting.

The article starts off with the lede: “Keeping cool will not be an issue on this wonderful spring day, but making sure that blue Cosabella thong is not peering over of the top of your Sevens might be a distraction from that proof of the Pythagorean Theorem written on the board,” Elizabeth Olanoff ‘07 wrote.

Students were hesitant to pinpoint the causes of recent changes in dress, Olanoff wrote. “But does HM have a problem with inappropriate clothing? The answer depends on who one asks. Most Upper School students blame the rise in inappropriateness on the younger students, but few students would agree to be quoted for fear of sounding hypocritical.”

Another instance in 2010 led to further conversations about appropriate dress in the school community. In Volume 107, Issue 19 of The Record, an article titled, “‘Banned’ Swim Team Spirit Sparks Disputes” commented on the former team spirit traditions of the swim team where they would switch clothing with teammates of the opposite gender. Former Head Dr. David Schiller banned the tradition because “[he] did not like it.”

Schiller’s decision led to a strong response by the student body, according to the article.

Members of the swim team in particular were frustrated by his decision, according to the article. “Take the example of a closet transgender student at the school who finally feels comfortable enough in our supposed ‘safe and caring’ environment to come out as a transgender student,” the Swim Team captains wrote. The banning of the swim team spirit will send a bad message to this student, who will think that the school would not be accepting of them, they wrote.

After hearing the team’s complaints, Schiller reflected on his decision making. “‘Was it right to prevent the kids from expressing themselves in that way? I don’t know. Am I responsible for it? Sure. If people are angry, let them come to me,” he said.

Over a decade later, the current student body, faculty, and administration have varying opinions and perspectives about dress regulation and freedom at school.

For the six years that Head of the Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein has held her job, it has been a priority of hers to not enforce the dress code regulations, she said. “I really firmly believe that dress is an expression of your personality and can be an art form,” she said. “There might be students who walk to class wearing something that I would never wear that I didn’t even wear when I was 16,

but that’s just my own personal style, and I’m not going to interfere in their personal style.”

“Schools should be a place where students feel comfortable and empowered to be who they are and express themselves in a way that matches their identity,” Upper Division Dean of Students Michael Dalo said. “We all spend so much time here and it’s important that students feel as comfortable as possible,” he said. “Clothing is also a principal way by which people can express who they are and how they identify. I want students to have that freedom on our campus.”

Lucas Borini (11) saw a great difference in dress regulations when joining the MD as compared to his previous school, he said. “I’m coming from a school that has a uniform,” he said. “It wasn’t even that strict of a uniform, it was a collared shirt and slacks, but even so, not having uniforms is pretty nice.”

“It was more like a British prep school — we looked like little businessmen. The teachers would make you put your jacket back on if you took it off, and they did not like it if your collar was open. There was a real emphasis on proper dress.”

-Robert Owens ‘67 At his previous school, Borini had been dress-coded for wearing sweatpants on days he was not supposed to, he said. “They made me go into a lost and found bin and take someone else’s pants.” When joining Horace Mann, Borini enjoyed the newfound freedom in dress, he said. “I’m a big boy,” he said. “I can dress myself.”

Like Borini, Kailyn Ortiz (11) came from a school that required uniforms, she said. She hated wearing a uniform because it made her look like “a purple grape,” she said. Ortiz now enjoys the freedom of choosing what to wear to school and not being overly worried about the length of her shorts, she said. “It’s less restricting in the way that I could get up and choose anything from my closet, as opposed to having to stress about whether I will get dress-coded for something and get detention.”

The school is overall open to students choosing their own clothing, Kayla Choi (10) said. “Having no dress code is a part of Horace Mann’s image because we are very open to everyone,” she said. “You can express your individuality through your clothes, and Horace Mann allows you to do so.”

Ana Aguilar (11) also likes the lack of dress restrictions at the school, she said.

MARCH 27, 1950

SINGING IN SUITS Choir rehearses in uniform.

THE RECORD FEATURES DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

5

m suits and ties to hoodies and leggings but pushed the edge all the time,” she said. “When you actually get a flash of nipple, that might be too much. So I told them downstairs and they told her to come down and gave her a shirt to put on.”

Although in the past teachers would stop students who wore low cut shirts or high cut shorts, the UD no longer concerns itself with these regulations, Levenstein said. “If we’re going to ask someone to alter their clothing in any way, generally it’s because it contains a message that has obscene or offensive Comments by teachers can language in it — that is pretty much the have long-term harmful effects only time we ask somebody to change,” on female students, Aguilar she said.

Samantha Strasser/Staff Artist said. “Psychologically I think The school is conscious of the that it’s also harmful for the harm that dress regulation can have girls for when they grow up on students, Levenstein said. “We and become women; I think it have students who have come from creates this habit of where they other schools than HM, who had very should accept the comments negative experiences with being told she said. “Different cultures have different of others,” she said. “It’s gonna to change clothing,” she said. “Clothing standards of what’s appropriate, and it can be draws different attention depending on your hard for a school to decide what that is.”

ORDER IN THE COUNCIL Students petition to end the dress code. affect their willpower. It’s going to lower their self body shape, and so it can be very hurtful Parents can be held partly accountable for “It gives me the freedom to express myself esteem, it’s going to affect the way they see for students to be told to change when their the students’ choices in clothing, Bartels said. through my clothes,” she said. “I feel like I themselves if there’s teachers, adults, who friend is wearing the exact same thing, but “I frequently think to myself, because your found myself and my personality through they’re supposed to look up to are constantly they’re just less curvy than they are.” parents are my age, ‘what was that parent exploring my clothing options throughout telling them to change the way they dress, The generational gap between students and thinking letting their child walk out the door my years at Horace Mann.” Aguilar has been just because it doesn’t appease them or just faculty can lead to differences in opinions like that?’” she said. “But I don’t know what experimenting with her clothing and hair because they don’t like it.” regarding dress, Bartels said. “I’m also the battles go on at home before that child walks since her freshman year, and she feels her Elena Zhu (9) does notice a difference generation that doesn’t think that leggings out the door.” style has dramatically changed, she said. between the expectations in dress between are pants,’’ she said. “At the same time, I want Bartels thinks that the lack of dress On the contrary, Peter Yu (11) would the MD and UD, she said. “I didn’t have a first you guys to be comfortable and you’re clearly regulation will not prepare students for the rather have uniforms at the school, he said. “I hand experience with anything, but there were comfortable in what you’re wearing. I just feel future dress requirements in the workforce, really think that economically disadvantaged rumors in the middle school about people you’re not the only people here, so there’s this she said. “I think it’s going to be a rude students feel the pressure of having their peers getting detention for wearing cropped shirts,” two levels of people, adults and kids, and your awakening for kids when they go to jobs clattered in designer clothing, and it really is she said. “I felt this was ridiculous. The whole comfort frequently leads to our discomfort.” because in a job you can absolutely say to to the detriment of their mental health.” idea of a dress code can be controlling.” Dress This discomfort can lead to tension in somebody ‘what do you have on?’ and ‘go There are possible benefits to having a codes can limit student expression, especially the student-teacher dynamic, Bartels said. home,’” she said. “It would be great if they dress code at the school, Coco Trentalancia when it comes to students who identify “I always think to myself, because you learn that now.”

(11) said. “Having uniforms is so much easier, as female, she said. “The dress code guys are being taught by a different Despite her own personal beliefs about not only to get ready in the morning, but just tends to be a lot stricter for them while generation, ‘is that really the image what clothing is appropriate or not, Bartels for everyone to look so much cleaner and admires the student’s attitudes towards more professional,” she said. “Having a bit clothing, she said. “I love the fact that your NOVEMBER 7, 1968 of structure and system in our attire is very generation is like, ‘we don’t care, we’re proud nice.” of our bodies,’” she said.

Yu finds that a uniform will have multiple As a faculty member, conscious of students’ advantages to the entire student body, he said. clothing, this duality in feeling causes “First of all, we can better identify [by attire] internal conflict for Bartels, she said. “There’s who’s actually part of our school or not, and this warring part of me that’s like ‘what do also it takes the stress out of the morning you have on?’ versus ‘that’s really great that routine of going to your drawer and not being you guys feel comfortable enough in your READ ALL ABOUT IT School abolishes all dress code requirements. able to find the right clothes,” he said. “Most bodies,’” she said. Nevertheless, Bartels thinks importantly, it levels the playing field so less that some change in dress could be better for privileged students won’t feel bad when their not mentioning anything for male students. that you want to project in the classroom the school environment, she said. peers wear expensive designer brands.”

Due to his gender, Jack Bleichmar (11) to a teacher who is of a different generation Upper Division Library Department does not feel the pressure to dress a certain who’s probably thinking to themselves ‘what Chair and Director of UD Student Activities way at school, he said. “Because I am a guy, happened to your pants?’ or ‘why am I seeing Caroline Bartels thinks although it is unlikely I have the luxury of not being subjected to your midriff?’” Bartels thinks it would be to happen, the school should have a uniform, the same rigorous societal pressures and beneficial if students can have a change in she said. “First of all, uniforms also level the beauty standards that women have to deal perspective so teachers playing field a bit in terms of money,” she said.

NOVEMBER 15, 1968 with on a daily basis,” he said. For this reason, will not question “why “I have long wanted us to have a uniform. I Bleichmar does not notice other student’s don’t you have clothing think it would be good for kids.” attire and feels comfortable “being lazy” and on?” she said.

Rain Li (9), however, does not believe that showing up to school in sweatpants and a UD History teacher the school should have uniforms, he said. sweatshirt, he said.

Dr. Emily Straus ‘91 “Wearing whatever you want is your own Bartels also sees a problem with dress finds that the biggest kind of expression of what you’re feeling that codes, she said. “They tend to always impact discomfort in the day and your personality,” he said. “Requiring a girl’s clothing, not so much a boy’s clothing,” classroom does not everyone to wear the same thing wouldn’t be she said. “I can understand not letting kids relate directly to dress, beneficial.” wear any sweatshirts or t-shirts that say she said.

“What’s Yu’s interview prompted Frederick anything because they tend to be somewhat making me the most Volgelbaum (11) to respond. “I agree with inappropriate. But, I really hesitate about the uncomfortable is kids the point that Yu said about economically other issues, like whether something is too without their masks on, disadvantaged students having an equal short.” so that’s the thing I’m playing field here and not feeling like they’re At her old school, Aguilar noticed focusing on,” she said. lesser than because they cannot pull up in the the gendered component in dress code “It’s hard enough to same kinds of clothes,” Volgelbaum said. At enforcement, she said. “I thought it was toxic, the same time, students should have freedom especially towards the girls,” she said. “The in what they choose to wear, he said. “There guys were not dress-coded as much as we are going to be people who feel very limited were.” Aguilar and her female friends would by a certain uniform, so I think we can avoid constantly get dress-coded, and she hated the enforce people wearing this by keeping the [dress code] as we have it fact that the majority of her clothes were off- masks for a health right now.” limits even on casual-wear days, she said. reason that I don’t think Even without an official dress code, Ortiz There are potential limitations and points I would want to spend feels external pressure to dress in certain of confusion within the informal dress code, my time enforcing a ways, she said. “My parents, if they see me in Choi said. “I like that there is not a strict dress dress code.” a crop top, they’re pretty against it — but I feel code, but, because it is vague, you never know However, Straus like that’s pretty standard for many parents,” sometimes if something is school-appropriate thinks there are many she said. or not.” She interprets the code to mean factors that need Ortiz thinks that the way she dresses has that students shouldn’t wear anything too to be considered an effect on her teacher’s attitude towards revealing, she said. when deeming the her, she said. “If I see a teacher in the hallway Bartels has not seen many instances of appropriateness of and I’m wearing something a bit more showy, disciplinary action due to inappropriate dress dress, she said. “There’s they won’t smile or say hi. It’s more so when in her 25 years in the UD, she said. “In all a fine line between selfI’m dressed in a more conservative way that the time I have been in the Upper Division, I expression and what’s I feel more respected.” However, Ortiz does know of one kid that I specifically said ‘hey’, appropriate, and it’s not change the way she dresses due to this FAREWELL, FORMALITY Students wave goodbye to the dress code. and this kid had amazing taste in clothing, a complicated issue,”

OCT 10, 1968

potential judgment.

Due to her experiences at her previous school, Aguilar sees adverse effects when faculty members comment on female student’s clothing, she said.

“Telling a girl to cover up a part of their body is a form of slut shaming,” she said. “I shouldn’t be taking responsibility for someone else’s actions just because I dress a certain way.”

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THE RECORD FEATURES DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

“Shaping the space”: Students come together in affinity Ariella Frommer Staff Writer

time, and then we’ve been trying to do a storytime where we’ll come up with a topic and people talk about what’s happening for them in that topic,” they said.

Unlike other affinity groups, White Students Critically Working on Whiteness is a working group, or a group that works together to achieve certain goals. The group allows students to engage with their own whiteness to work towards racial justice, co-advisor of the group and math teacher Benjamin Kafoglis said. The group started a few years ago, after students and leaders from the already existing affinity groups said that they wanted a space for their fellow white students to do this type of work, he said.

“We are now calling it a working group, not an affinity space,” Scarlett Goldberg (11), a member of the ‘‘White Students Critically Working on Whiteness” group said. “I personally didn’t like calling it an affinity group because white people don’t need a safe space — the entire world is our safe space.

So, it felt a little odd in that way.” A ‘working group’ is a much more fitting name as the members are there to work on their whiteness in a context of antiracism, she said.

The groups are faculty run, so Lombardo’s main role as an advisor is to be an advocate for students, they said. “If there is something that’s going on at HM, that they feel is making an LGBTQ+ student feel excluded, they could come to us with that and we can help advocate for more inclusivity as needed,” they said.

In the LGBTQ+ space, there are a lot of identities that need to be nurtured, Lombardo said. “It’s sometimes a challenge to make sure that we are covering material and topics that can s p e a k to everybody o n the sexual and gender spectrum,” they said.

In the BL E X affinity group, t h e advisors can show students the past versions of the same i s s u e s going on t o d a y because they have

“It’s nice to have a group of people who you can rely on, and even if you guys don’t have the same interests or you don’t come from the same places, you still have this one underlying thing in common,” member of the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Affinity Group (APIDA) affinity space Sofia Filardo (10) said.

Under new Office for Identity, Culture, and Institutional Equity (ICIE) leadership, the school’s faculty-led affinity groups have come together as a collective of defined spaces.

Affinity groups at the school are groups of students of similar identities who want a space to explore their identity with people who share similar experiences, co-adviser of the LGBTQ+ affinity space and Studio Arts Technician Emily Lombardo said.

The groups include the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, the Black Excellence Affinity Group (BLEX), APIDA, the Latinx Affinity Group, and the Multiracial Affinity Group. There is also a working group for white students called “White Students Critically Working on Whiteness.”

Only people who share specific identities can enter affinity spaces. The closed nature of the White Students Critically Working on Whiteness allows white students to work towards social justice by themselves, Kafoglis said. “It allows us to engage with whiteness without having to lean on people of color to do the work for us.”

Affinity spaces are necessary both at the school and in general, Director of ICIE Christine Moloney said. “Children are often left without the language or skill to process their identity in a healthy way. Affinity spaces provide structured conversations in a safe space to reduce identity stress for all at the school, she said. Students can build deep, caring human connections when they practice awareness of their own identities, the identities of others, and when they practice identifying and combating unfairness, she said.

The ICIE Office has always overseen the affinity spaces, Moloney said. ICIE is sticking to this structure while streamlining sign-up through the ICIE email address instead of through affinity space leaders, Moloney said.

The APIDA affinity space, which meets once every two weeks, provides a safe space for students who want to explore aspects of e x p e r i e n c e d their Asian identity, co-faculty advisor of more, Wilson said. “We have had meetings APIDA Lester Lee said. “It’s really nice to where we’ll show short videos, or we have a space where we can come in with a might show a part of an old 90s sitcom, shared set of expectations, shared cultural so in that case, we are of the voice of older values, and create deeper understandings of generations that is helping them to see some of the continuity throughout history,” he said. experiences we’ve gone through,” he said.

Students support and empower each other Students can then ask themselves, “Is there in the space, co-advisor of APIDA and UD progress?” and think about the past and the English teacher Stan Lau said. “For example, future of the Black community, he said.

A large group of students return to BLEX there was a spike in anti-Asian violence after Donald Trump made comments about where each meeting, Wilson said. “Among Black he thought Covid came from, so [APIDA] students, I think there’s a sense that they became a place of support and solidarity often feel that their questions, concerns, or experiences are not seen and not heard by the during a national crisis,” he said.

BLEX is a space where students can gather larger culture, and an affinity space feels like a together, hear each other, bring out the best place where they can voice that and figure out in each other, and nurture their ambitions in ways to be themselves in the most meaningful way they can,” he said. an institution where they are the The newest affinity space is the minority, co-adviser of BLEX Multiracial Affinity Space, which and English Department Chair was added this year. Several Vernon Wilson said. students who self-identify as Meeting new people, multiracial requested the catching up with her space, so administrators friends, and hearing about worked together to provide their day is Nia Huff ’s (10) it, Moloney said. As a favorite part of BLEX, multiracial person herself, she said. “It’s important Moloney thoroughly enjoyed to give Black students in the space’s first meeting this a predominantly white Wednesday, she said. institution space to share Audrey Carbonell (11) how they feel, learn, helped start the Multiracial socialize, and make Affinity Group. Carbonell memories,” she said. talked to Moloney about The LGBTQ+ affinity starting an affinity group space is not only a place where because there was not a space students can feel heard and for multiracial students prior to share their stories — it is also this year, she said. “[Moloney] a place where students learn is also someone of multiracial about LGBTQ+ history and background so she wanted to current events, Lombardo be part of it too,” Carbonell said. said. “Sometimes we talk “‘Multiracial affinity group’ about current events in doesn’t mean that people have the LGBTQ+ community, to necessarily come from the which there are so many same racial background, yet there things happening all the Sophia Liu/Art Director

is something that they share: an ambiguity with their backgrounds.”

Many identities fall under the category of APIDA, which is both a privilege and a challenge, co-advisor of APIDA and English teacher Jennifer Huang said. “If we fit go into a structured conversation with a predetermined topic, it’s totally possible that the students in the room are going to have radically different experiences — some people may have everything to say about it, and others may be like, ‘Oh, this really doesn’t affect my life,’” she said.

The group gets to hear stories from many different backgrounds, but also it can be difficult to accommodate the conversation to everyone’s identity at all times, Huang said.

Being in the same space as people who share similar experiences outside of the classroom setting is beneficial, member of APIDA Christine Tao (10) said. “I hope to have a group of teachers that I can rely on if something happens regarding my Asian identity that are Asian and that understand my experiences,” she said.

Huff joined BLEX to receive guidance from advisors and to get advice from upperclassmen who have gone through similar experiences as herself, she said. The upperclassmen are willing to help — they are currently scheduling a Q&A for the underclassmen to ask the seniors questions a b o u t navigating t h e school, both as a Black student and in general, she said.

T h e White Students

Critically Working on Whiteness working group has only met three times, Goldberg said. “However, I’ve really enjoyed being able to work through some stuff in the group.” For example, ICIE has provided resources to help Goldberg pull apart the media and biases which she has ingested since she was very little, she said.

“We have been discussing whiteness and focusing on the student body’s response to the creation of this group,” she said. The group has also discussed misconceptions about the group. “I’ve heard a lot of students have been uncomfortable with it or thought that it was funny,” Goldberg said.

The White Students Critically Working on Whiteness group has received feedback from students about the existence of the group, Kafoglis said. “Some were initially worried that this space was analogous to the affinity groups for people of marginalized identities, which it is not.” While he does not blame white-identifying students for being hesitant to be a part of the group, he encourages students to listen to how they define this group and its purpose, then assess based on that if they are interested in attending a meeting, he said.

All the affinity spaces at the school are faculty-led. Lau used to be a faculty advisor of a group similar to APIDA when he taught at San Francisco University High School, he said. There, two upperclassmen leaders helped faculty co-advisers plan and facilitate the conversation, he said. Lau hopes to introduce student leaders, but because APIDA is fairly new, it will take time and momentum to change the structure. “I would like to have students take more leadership in the group and have more input in shaping the space,” he said.

The fact that affinity spaces at the school are faculty-led allows the faculty to take the

burden of organizing and logistics off of the students, Huang said. “Students can just have a space where they turn up, put their backpacks down, and have a chance to interact with the adults in the community without this looming shadow of grades,” she said.

The relationships between a faculty advisor and a student in the affinity spaces are not the standard teacher-student relationship, Lau said. “It’s easy to think that it’s a oneway street when it comes to teachers giving information, but with affinity spaces, the learning happens both ways,” he said. In particular, Lau has learned about students’ experiences in relation to social media and the internet surrounding students’ APIDA identity, because there was no social media when he was growing up, Lau said.

Lee’s role as a faculty advisor has two aspects — providing educational resources and emotional support, he said.

Setting the norms, facilitating discussions, and giving students vocabulary to talk about topics about race is the educational aspect, Lee said. “Helping students name the feelings they’re having and working through those experiences is also my role,” he said.

This year is the first time affinity groups are meeting in-person since the spring of 2020.

“People are just way more engaged in person, however last year, more people showed up over Zoom because students had time to come, and there was a little bit less back and forth talking on Zoom,” Lombardo said.

At the first few meetings in APIDA, the group did icebreakers to get to know each other and set norms to make sure that everyone felt comfortable sharing in the space, Lee said.

After they established that base, they moved into discussions. At their meeting before Thanksgiving break, the group talked about how their families celebrated the holiday.

While the faculty advisors create a plan for the meetings, students are also welcome to bring up topics. “Sometimes students will come in and be like ‘I can’t believe this happened,’ and we are more than happy to help process and talk about those things,” he said.

The advisors of BLEX create a loose agenda so students feel that there is business to each meeting. Wilson also wants students to feel like they are in control because the affinity space is for them, not faculty, he said.

Huff likes how informal the space is, she said. “It’s just an outlet I can go to whenever I have time after clubs, where I just drop by there and say hi, talk, or debrief,” she said.

Huang hopes that students use this space to engage with their Asian identities actively and thoroughly, as Huang herself wished she had a space like APIDA when she was growing up, she said. “In my personal experience growing up, it was pretty common for me to just subordinate my Asian American identity to every other identifier that applied to me, and I didn’t have a space to think about that,” she said. There were always avenues to explore aspects of her identity such as a writer, a reader, or a girl, but nothing comparable existed for her Asian identity, she said.

Lombardo hopes that students feel a sense of community in the space, they said.

“Particularly with LGBTQ+, throughout history, we’ve had to create safe spaces to be able to share stories and this is exactly what the space is for these students, maybe not everybody is able to be out at school or out at home, so this is a place where they can truly be themselves without any judgment,” they said.

In the future, Lau hopes APIDA can collaborate with other affinity groups, like the LGBTQ+ group because many students in APIDA identify with more than one affinity, he said. “The challenges that queer or trans Asian-American students aren’t necessarily different from, for example, a Black student who identifies as queer or trans,” he said, “but holding the space for students to be in two groups at one time would be beneficial.”

THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

“Dark lights and bright colors”: Fisher gallery show lights it up at the school “It was so dark we could barely see anything,” Isabelle Kim (10) said. Students then used glowin-the-dark materials such as paint and string to The once white walls of the Fisher Gallery are transform the darkroom into a colorful gallery, covered in black paper and fluorescent imagery Kim said. for the Black Light Show — complete with neon Students had full creative control over their flowers, glowing strings, and a green cardboard additions to the gallery, which allowed them race car suspended from the ceiling. to experience art in a way that differed from Instead of a traditional art gallery with their usual art classes, Christine Tao (10) said. paintings hanging on walls, this student- “Normally in class, we have a lot of restrictions,” made art installation uses ultraviolet light she said. “In the gallery, people could draw to create a neon effect throughout the space. whatever they wanted which really increased “The concept of the show dates back to 1960s our artistic freedom.” blacklight shows,” Studio Arts Technician Emily “Our teacher set out brushes and cans of Lombardo said. paint and told us to get to work,” Sofia Liu (10) The gallery was a great opportunity for the said. “We had no clear instructions on what the community to get the chance to work on an gallery was supposed to look like.” immersive installation, Lombardo said. Starting On the right side of the gallery, Tao painted on November 10, the school’s sculpture and the bust of a bright green cowboy surrounded by the words “Be the Cowboy Mitski.”

“The freeness of the theme of the gallery allowed me to paint pop culture references,” Tao said. “I really like Mitski’s music and was glad I had an outlet to express that.”

Students had Aanya Gupta/Staff Photographer limited time to plan and create GLOW IN THE DARK Student art covers the gallery walls. their pieces as painting classes came together to make the they only worked on the gallery during class installation, she said. “The gallery helped build time, Tao said. a sense of community and brought people “Sometimes students need to be able to together to work.” create art in the moment,” Lombardo said. “We Before students could enter the gallery and wanted to give students the chance to react to begin shaping the space, the area had to be the different light any way they wanted to.” transformed to accommodate the black light, This process forced artists to think quickly Lombardo said. Lombardo covered the floor on their feet and adapt, Liu said. “Only certain and ceiling of the gallery in black construction colors would show up on the black paper,” she paper, they said. said. After originally wanting to paint a flower,

Jillian Lee and Maeve Goldman Staff Writers

7

Liu drew a bright yellow bumblebee in the Do started the tradition several years ago, corner of the gallery, she said.

Lombardo said. “The gallery is created once The gallery also encouraged students to every three to four years so that new students collaborate anonymously as new classes added can experience the installation,” they said. unique elements to the gallery’s ceiling, floor, Lombardo hopes that students can use the and walls each visit. gallery to take a mental break during the day “There was a lot of anonymity because the and relax, she said. “The gallery is very fun to work was unsigned,” Tao said. Students had to check out,” Lombardo said. have faith that students that entered the gallery Since the installation opened last Friday, later would not completely paint over their students have enjoyed spending time in the artwork, she said. gallery.

The gallery was a collaborative effort, Liu The show felt uniquely Gen Z, Ashley Coburn said. “Some people would draw shapes and faces (10) said. “The dark lights and bright colors out of letters students had previously painted. It reminded me of a paintball studio,” she said. “It was really special to be a part of.” was very reminiscent of my childhood.”

On the left wall of the gallery, the word “The gallery captivated me so much that, “Phoebe” is painted directly above a neon green upon entering, I lost track of time,” Tamiah skeleton with a dinosaur head and human Williams (10) said. “I was so transfixed I was late body. Although Tao created the skeleton, she to my next class.” has no idea who wrote the letters above her Overall, the gallery is a representation of the original illustration, she said. “My artwork school’s art community, Lombardo said. “I want didn’t explicitly reference pop culture,” she [viewers] to take away how creative and quickly said. “Someone interpreted it as a pop culture the HM community can fill the gallery with fun reference because a skeleton is common Phoebe imagery.”

Bridgers iconography so they changed the meaning of my illustration.”

The gallery allowed students to test new techniques and skills. When students’ names are attached to work, they feel a lot of pressure for their skills to be fully mastered, Kim said.

“Since it was anonymous you could create any type of work you wanted to try,” she said. “I got to try out new mediums such as 3D sculpture.”

Next to Tao’s cowboy portrait, Kim transformed a painting of a colorful neon face into a three-dimensional sculpture of a man with bright blue accents. “I stapled neon string to the wall to create facial hair and eyelashes,” she said. “I got the opportunity to experiment with a texture that I otherwise would not have.”

The Black Light Show has been a Aryan Palla/Staff Photographer common fixture of the school gallery PHOEBE AND THE SKELETON Students get creative. for years. Visual Arts Teacher Kim

Dynamic ceramics: Hess (12) molds his artistic experience Erica Jiang and Samantha Matays Staff Writers Devoted ceramic artist Leo Hess (12) has been creating works of pottery since he was four. “I like the 3D aspect of it, the fact that I can make something then hold it, turn it around in my hands, and use it” he said. “It’s something that you can enjoy at any level and something that can provide benefits in terms of creativity and relaxation at any level.”

Hess was first introduced to ceramics at day camp when he was seven. He created handbuilding clay projects with basic techniques and simple tools, he said.

When he was ten, Hess attended sleepaway camp where he participated in ceramics classes again. He used the potter’s wheel for the first time and his passion for the art form grew.

He later developed this passion in seventh and eighth grade when he took ceramics classes and developed his handbuilding skills. In the class, he learned how to dunk pottery into different glazes and layer them to paint richer colors on the outside of his piece, he said.

While fostering an interest in ceramics, Hess also applied to the school for 9th grade. Hess

said he was especially intrigued by the ceramics program while touring the school. “It was the most elaborate and in-depth ceramics program I’d seen out of any of the high schools I was looking at,” he said.

For the short term, Hess hopes to become more consistent in his work by crafting a set of plates and bowls, rather than individual pieces. In the future, he plans to pursue ceramics in college and specifically looked for a strong ceramics program throughout his college search. After college, he hopes to continue his ceramics work in a local studio.

Hess prefers using the potter’s wheel because it creates a more consistent flow and less interrupted shapes, but he also experiments with handbuilding, combining multiple pieces of clay to create a new shape. “It’s really just making things out of clay using only your hands, or occasionally simple tools like stamps or rolling pins,” he said.

“Handbuilding tends to be more sculpturallooking work, whereas things made on the potter’s wheel are typically more symmetrical.”

Although Hess does not stick to a specific method, he typically begins a project with a foundation of what he wants to create in his mind, but he is flexible throughout the journey. “It’s a bit of a weird process where I start by making the basic construction; then, I just follow where the clay is taking me,” he said. “So if I see it’s starting to get wide at the bottom, I may continue bringing that wideness up to the top and make it a bowl instead of trying to constrict that wideness and force it into being a mug.” His creative process is an organic and spontaneous journey of making visually appealing and useful pieces, Hess said.

While Hess typically creates from imagination, he also enjoys looking to others for inspiration.

Hess said he finds inspiration in ceramics teacher Keith Renner’s numerous pottery books and enjoys observing other students’ work such as Mia Calzolaio’s (12) to see a variety of techniques and glazing methods. “Because of the different experiences they’ve had and the different art pieces that they’ve seen in their lives, other students help illustrate new patterns or shapes to me,” he said.

For example, he watched a senior experiment with glazing when he was a sophomore and saw how they tried out all kinds of different combinations without trying to predict the outcomes. It taught him the spontaneity that came with making pottery and the huge array of ways that one can create something appealing or useful, he said.

Hess also finds it helpful to work on multiple projects at once. This way, he has a variety of options to work on if he feels a creative block with one project.

As a whole, the amount of time he spends on each clay creation varies, Hess said. Sometimes a piece can never feel completed while other times he can put the piece back on the wheel and rework it. “The beauty of working on the wheel is that you can change what you’re making as you’re making it and you can stop the wheel at any time and alter your work,” Hess said.

At school, Hess works with Renner in the ceramics studio to create his pieces and refine his skills. He is currently one of two students at the school taking Directed Studies in Ceramics, a full credit course that meets four times a week.

Renner teaches Hess pottery techniques and vocabulary and helps him get from A to B in the less structured Directed Studies class, Renner said.

“Instead of Leo coming in and [me] saying, ‘here’s a technique, learn this’ or ‘here’s an idea, run with this,” it’s ‘what do you want to do and how can I help you get there?’”

Renner enjoys working with Hess on his current project which includes taking the 13 glazes

at the school and firing them over and under one another while keeping the glazes oxidized, Renner said. When finished, there will be a grid, with a hand built stack of extruded loops of clay, that displays the effect of reduction, which is the removal of oxygen molecules from a glaze, on different glazes, he said.

“It’s pretty ambitious and it’s going to be a long lasting project that’ll actually help future generations of ceramic students.” Renner said.

“Leo was curious about what these glazes would look like if you did not reduce them, if you fire them oxidized.”

After the oxidation grid is complete, students can compare the oxidation with the reduction of glazes, he said. “It will give current and future students more possibilities for glazing and more information to make decisions about finishing their clay work.” Renner said. This grid will also be useful as a teaching tool to illustrate how these two firing methods differ, he said.

This project has given Renner insight into who Hess is underneath his artist identity: thoughtful, creative, and helpful to his classmates, Renner said. “I am sure that many years from now, while watching students contemplate Leo’s glaze oxidation glaze grid to decide how to finish their artwork, that I will be reminded of Leo and his dedication to the ceramics studio.”

Lions’ Den Record Sports

8

DECEMBER 10TH, 2021

Dribble, drive, and dunk: Boys Varsity Basketball off to a strong start Sophie Q. Li and Rani Ogden Staff Writers

The Boys Varsity Basketball team started the season with a solid 3-1 record, after beating Loyola and Masters on Saturday and Monday, respectively, and losing against Poly Prep on Wednesday.

The Lions defeated Loyola with a score of 78-68.

After Saturday’s game against Loyola, the team looked to capitalize on their win and shift their focus to defense against Masters, Captain Ailill Walsh (12) said.

“Despite having a poor shooting performance as a team against Masters, we took a step in the right direction on the defensive end,” Walsh said.

“Our increase in communication as well as our increased pressure on ball defense allowed us to push through in crunch time.”

“We were up seventeen at one point, and we ended up winning by eight,” Aden Soroca (11) said.

“We had a little slip in the fourth, so we wanted to make sure [that for the Masters game] we didn’t do that again, and we were strong on defense all the way through the fourth quarter.”

Soroca stood out because of his great defensive plays in the second half of the game, coach Tony Wright said.

The Lions also won 50-45 against the Masters School on Monday — their third win of the season.

“Masters was a pretty big and physical team, so it was definitely a gritty win,” Jake Zukerman (12) said.

The Masters game remained close throughout, and the team had to work hard to maintain a lead, Eshan Mehere (11) said. “We were leading the whole game, and then we fell behind by three points in the fourth quarter,” he said. The team

ultimately took the lead by the end of the fourth quarter and won 50-45.

Walsh stepped up and took a charge during the final moments of the game, allowing the team to regain possession, Soroca said. “A player on Masters was taking the ball, drove to the basket, and Ailill stepped in front, set his feet, and basically let the Masters player run into him,” he said.

Similar to Walsh, Soroca pulled through in the final moments of the game with his excellent defense, Mehere said.

“Aden Soroca had the game-sealing steal,” Zukerman said. “We were up by three, they had the ball with like 20 seconds left, he jumped a pass and then got a steal, took it up for a lay-up to put us up five points and to basically win the game.”

Towards the end of game, the team began running their five-out offense — their Princeton offense — to secure the lead, Soroca said.

The Princeton offense is an offensive strategy pioneered by Princeton, Wright said. “The Princeton offense is where the players are constantly moving and the basketball is constantly moving,” he said. “You’re working to get the best shot, whether it’s a layup or a wide open jump shot.” It relies on passing rather than dribbling, and forces players to use movement to try to find the correct angles, Wright said.

Going into Poly Prep’s game, the team put more focus on their offense, running their plays correctly, and keeping good spacing on the court, and taking good shots, Wright said.

The team lost against Poly Prep Wednesday with a final score of 44-69.

The Poly Prep game started out competitively, with the Lions tied at the end of the first quarter.

“Poly went on a big run and we couldn’t keep up,” Walsh said. “We were physically and mentally at

SHOOT TO SCORE Boys Varsity Basketball takes it to the rim. that point in the game.”

The team’s loss was due to their lack of preparation, Walsh said. “This game wasn’t a very good reflection of our team and what we will become. When you face a team that recruits and has been practicing for the past six months, it’s hard for us to match that preparation when we haven’t even had two weeks of practice.” Walsh said.

The late start to practices was the biggest setback because some other basketball teams had been practicing together since August or September, Zukerman said.

“Offensively, the ball movement and shot selection is getting better,” Wright said. “We still need some work with that, as the kids are still learning the offensive system we run.”

Nevertheless, the team is making productive use of practices, which involve conditioning, shooting, and strengthening both their offensive and defensive plays, Zukerman said. While

conditioning ensures the players’ physical fitness, plays are strategies they employ during games.

“We have a lot of potential to get better, so we’re just trying to be really focused and making sure every practice is productive,” he said.

In addition to the lack of practice, COVID protocols require that the team wear masks during practice and games, which has created challenges.

The need to breathe and receive oxygen makes wearing masks difficult during games, Soroca said.

Despite the difficulties with wearing masks, it’s important to wear masks at all due to the risk of the season getting cancelled, Zukerman said.

“All we can do is continue to adjust, and make the best of the situation,” Wright said. “A year ago, we didn’t have a basketball season at all. Therefore, I think these kids no matter how tough it is wearing a mask, they have more of an opportunity to have a good year.”

Girls Varsity Basketball splits games against Chapin and Poly Prep Kate Beckler Contributing Writer

The Girls Varsity Basketball (GVB) team played their first games of the season this week, winning against the Chapin School on Monday with a score of 45-29 and losing to Poly Prep on Wednesday with a score of 30-39.

The games were the first official ones in over 18 months, and the team came in with a lot of pressure having won the state championships two years ago, Cecilia Coughlin (11) said. “In order to play at our full potential, we must find our groove again by playing strong defense and continuing to work on our offense,” Coughlin said.

Usually, before games, coach Ray Barile researches the team’s opponents to prepare the team, co-captain Sareena Parikh (12) said. “During the Chapin game, I didn’t have the opportunity to scout the opposing team’s players, so the team went in trying to do the things that they do well,” Barile said.

A couple of minutes into the game, the team figured out who Chapin’s best shooters and rebounders were, and then worked from there to strategize plays, Parikh said.

Co-captain Devin Allard-Neptune (12) played a particularly great game, Audrey Goldberg (10) said. “She’s our center, she’s a very good defensive player and is very good at passing the ball and shooting,” she said.

Goldberg was another standout player during the game because of her aggressiveness on the court, Parikh said. Goldberg’s energy stood out to Parikh because during Parikh’s first games as an underclassman, she played timidly because she was extremely scared of the opponents, she said.

“Audrey played really aggressively as a starter for her first game, so I applaud her for that,” Parikh said.

During the game on Monday, the five starters scored at least six points, and a few people who started on the bench also scored.

However, the team still faced challenges, as three out of the team’s five starters finished the game on Monday with four fouls, Parikh said. “Once a player has five fouls, they are out of the game, but we ended up managing the foul trouble pretty well,” she said.

The team had a rocky start, but played better during the second half, Barile said. “When one person doesn’t know the plays, it affects the whole group, so that’s our biggest challenge — mixing the new people and the old and trying to catch up to where we belong,” he said. However, after halftime, the team discussed how to improve and their communication led them to play better in the second half, he said.

During the first half of the game, the team moved around the court a lot but wasn’t playing aggressively, Coughlin said. “In the fourth quarter, we were able to come together to make good passes and score, which we weren’t able to do in the first half,” she said.

Similarly, at Wednesday’s game against Poly Prep, the team struggled at the beginning, but was able to improve throughout the game, losing the game by only nine points. During the first quarter, Mia Calzolaio (12) and Goldberg often communicated on the court in between each play.

“There weren’t many, but if I were to choose one highlight of our game, it was when the push play we planned to do worked, and we were able to get a bucket,” Goldberg said.

NOT TRASHKETBALL Point guard Goldberg (11) dribbles up the court.

The team fought back during the second quarter.

Coughlin scored three times, earning the team a total of six points during the quarter. Parikh played aggressive offense as well, making a deep twopointer in the last quarter that caused an uproar in the stands.

“Although throughout the game both teams were good at passing the ball, ultimately, our school’s team had a lot of turnovers,” Goldberg said.

There are always little things the team can fix, Parikh said. “We have to learn how to play smarter and make better decisions in quick seconds because that would not only help us score more, but would [allow us to] make fewer turnovers and play better defense,” she said. In order to achieve this goal, Barile wants to come up with new sets — structured player positions — to get the team to play more aggressively.

The team’s primary goal is to improve throughout the season and play their best on the court, Goldberg said. “As much as we love to win, it’s about how we play, not how the other team

plays,” she said. “What we put on the court should be a representation of ourselves.”

The team is on track to reach their potential by January as they continue to work hard in practices and absorb the feedback their coach gives them, Coughlin said.

The Lions sit down after each game and watch tape of their plays in order to improve for the next, Barile said. “This will allow us to understand the mistakes we made and what we should have done, which is how we make ourselves better,” he said.

Being a close team translates to better play on the court, Barile said. Barile credits a part of the success of previous GVB teams to being a tight-knit family.

During her freshman year, Coughlin joined the team not knowing many of her teammates, she said. “The basketball team soon became my family and we had a very close team, arguably one of the closest teams at the school,” she said.

Barile has a lot of faith and belief in his team, he said. “The past is the past, but we have to find who we are, and this week, we took a big step.”

LIONS’ BOX: Results from This Week’s games 12/3 - Varsity Wrestling vs. Trinity/Hackley/RKA -- 1st Place 12/4 - Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Loyola -- WIN 76-68 12/6 - Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Masters -- WIN 50-45 12/6 - Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Chapin -- WIN 45-29 12/8 - Varsity Table Tennis vs. Fieldston -- WIN 5-0

12/8 - Varsity Wrestling vs. Rye -- 3rd Place 12/8 - Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Poly Prep -- LOSS 30-39 12/8 - Boys Varsity Squash vs. Poly Prep -- LOSS 0-7 12/8 - Boys Varsity Basketball vs. Poly Prep -- LOSS 44-69