Issue 13

The Record

Volume 119 Issue 13

record.horacemann.org

Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903

January 7th, 2022

School adapts stricter COVID protocols in response to Omicron variant Hannah Katzke and Samantha Matays Staff and Contributing Writers

Despite the recent spike in COVID cases, students and faculty returned to in-person school after winter break on Tuesday. “For now, and until the data says otherwise, the best place for our students – your children – to be is in school,” Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly wrote in an email to parents on January 3.

Kelly has instated new COVID protocols to ensure the safety of all students and faculty.

However, because of the continuous rise in COVID cases, students should be prepared to switch to HM Online 2.0 at any time, Dean of Students Michael Dalo wrote in an email to students.

While determining whether or not to open for in-person learning, the school looked at the information and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local public health authorities, Nurse DeAnna Cooper said. This information motivated schools to stay open so students could learn in person, she said.

The school also reviewed the number of cases in the community, in addition to the common symptoms that are present for people who have the Omicron variant, Cooper said.

Continuing to learn in person was the right decision as the benefits outweigh the risks, Cooper said. “We’re all working together to keep everyone safe, and everyone’s vaccinated, with the very, very few exemptions that we have,” she said.

Eliza Becker (12) was worried about the decision to return to school in person because so many students currently have or have had COVID, she said. “At the same time, I also really trust Dr. Kelly, and I think he has been doing a great job handling COVID.” Upon returning to the school, English teacher Sarah McIntyre observed that students and faculty were taking the renewed efforts and protocols seriously, she said. “I saw how willing our campus seemed to be to take seriously the rising cases,” she said. “I felt reassured that it was going to be alright.”

Likewise, Head of the Upper Division (UD) Jessica Levenstein congratulated UD students. “I was blown away by how seriously [UD students] took our mask rules and by the spirit and energy [UD students] brought to campus today,” she

wrote in an email to students on Tuesday.

On December 27, Kelly announced to the parent body that the school would take extra precautions and reopen on Tuesday instead of Monday. He made this decision to allow for students to have an extra day to complete the required COVID testing, he wrote in an email to parents.

Students were required to produce a negative PCR test, rapid antigen test, or an over-thecounter at-home test to return to school on Tuesday, Kelly said. To help students gain access to testing, the school was able to purchase a substantial amount of rapid tests, giving students the option to take a rapid test at the school on Sunday or Monday, he wrote in an email to parents.

Through the required testing, over 90 percent of students and faculty tested negative, Kelly wrote in an email to parents. Over 60 students are attending school remotely due to quarantining and close contact tracing this week, Levenstein said.

While Dalo has no health concerns about being at school, he is also worried for students who are learning remotely, he said. “My biggest concern about the current situation just as a teacher is how we can best teach our classes and meet the needs of students who are in person and also students who are at home.”

In response to rising cases, students can only eat in the cafeteria, under a tent, or outside, Dalo wrote in an email to students. “If students are eating all over campus, it’s much harder for us to supervise those spaces, and it’s important for us to be supervising where students are not going to be wearing masks because that helps us ensure compliance with the rules,” he said.

As a result of the cold weather, many students are now eating in the cafeteria. Brody Grossman (9), who ate in Lutnick before the policy change, is worried about this as it increases the risk of exposure while eating inside, he said. “The dividers in the cafeteria do not make me feel safer since all it does is block the people who I would already be exposed to,” he said.

Limiting the ability to eat in Lutnick and other indoor spaces creates anxiety for Molly Goldsmith (10), as the cafeteria has been extremely crowded since the new protocols began, she said. “It changes my typical lunch routine because I used to eat in a variety of areas,” she said. “I would eat outside when there was nicer weather, as well

Dylan Greenberg/Staff Photographer

TESTING WEEK Students line up for mandatory spit tests.

Kayden Hansong/Staff Artist

as the cafeteria when it’s colder, and Lutnick sometimes with friends.”

While the decision disrupts Becker’s lunch routine, she still supports the decision to prohibit eating in Lutnick, she said. “[The rule] makes sense because people were abusing where you can eat and not always being super safe with where they were eating.”

The school also suspended off-campus and food delivery privileges that were recently granted to upperclassmen in an attempt to limit the unnecessary risk of exposure, Dalo wrote in an email to students.

Riya Daga (11) supports the school’s decision to suspend off-campus privileges and appreciates that the school is taking as many precautions as possible, she said.

Similarly, Becker does not mind the decision to suspend off-campus privileges, she said. “We had it suspended before when the virus was on the rise, so it makes sense now when [COVID] is back on the rise.”

In addition, the school suspended assemblies for the entire month of January. “As we get closer to the end of the month, we will reevaluate where we are with COVID numbers and whether or not we are comfortable with having everyone together in such a large gathering space,” Dalo said.

Guest speakers that were supposed to present in January are now rescheduling and will speak later in the year, Director of Student Activities Caroline Bartels said. Hosting guest speakers virtually last year was difficult, which is why assemblies are not shifting into a virtual format this January, she said.

Grossman said the suspension of assemblies will be beneficial to the health of all students and faculty. Typically during the assemblies, Gross Theater overflows with people, which makes Grossman feel unsafe, he said.

Although Goldsmith finds it upsetting to no longer have assemblies in person, see performances, and hear guest speakers, she believes the decision was a good one, she said.

Suspending in-person assemblies decreases crowding and the risk of exposure, therefore creating a safer community, she said.

Due to the risk of added exposure from people outside of the school’s community, the school has suspended all field trips outside of school,

including all trips to Dorr, Dalo said.

Although in-person Dorr trips are suspended, the Dorr faculty are finding ways to continue their activities, specifically for the “Bronx-based 8th grade program,” Head of Dorr Nick DePreter said. With the new COVID policies instated, Dorr is likely to remain at the Bronx campus, he said. Although there is not a substitute for activities like free time on the fields at Dorr, the Dorr faculty is working together to create a program centralized around the Bronx campus with a different perspective, he said.

“As we once again enter uncharted waters during this pandemic, please be assured that if at any time, the safety of our students and employees is at risk, we will move to remote instruction,” Kelly wrote in an email to parents.

To determine whether or not the school needs to switch into remote learning, the school will observe the transmission rates of COVID in the community, along with any problems in staffing, Cooper said. “If we [have] issues with a significant number of teachers not being able to be here because they are obligated to isolate, then we may have to go online.”

If the school transitions to remote learning, instruction in the UD will be the same as last school year’s HM Online 2.0, Dalo said.

Grossman prefers in-person school over online school because classes would be less frequent during remote learning, he said.

Goldsmith also prefers that school remains inperson as she finds online learning challenging, she said. “Personally, I struggle a little bit with HM online because I have trouble focusing during Zooms, and I find it’s way harder to motivate myself to do work.”

While McIntyre is prepared to switch to HM Online 2.0 if necessary, she believes that having in-person school is an understandable risk, she said. “I know that the benefits for in-person school go beyond just academic learning,” she said. “I know that social-emotional health for students is more important than we can even measure, and from that standpoint, it looks to me that we should take whatever measures we can safely take to be together.”

McIntyre is glad that the school’s administration is carefully following the science with COVID, she said. “I have trust that they are going to make good decisions in our best interests.”

Approximately 10% of students attend school remotely following COVID surge Sean Lee and Jiya Chaterjee Staff Writers “Online school is not great and it is not fun,” Rachel Kuhn (12) said.

This week, after the school reinstated online schooling for symptomatic students, over 60 students are attending school remotely due to quarantining as a result of the rising number of COVID-19 cases, Head of Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein said. 10% of students and faculty tested positive for COVID-19

preceding the return to school after Winter Break, according to an email sent by Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly on January 3rd. Kelly also wrote that the school would only return to fully online if 30% of the school had tested positive for COVID-19.

Not all students learning from home have contracted COVID-19, Levenstein said. “Allowing students to Zoom into class if they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms, even without a positive test, is intended to minimize the presence of potentially infectious students on campus,” she said.

“Opening Zoom to these students is

an effort to keep our community safe during the surge.” Students must stay at home for 10 days before returning to school, Levenstein said.

Upper Division Science teacher Dr. Christine Leo took this year’s return to online schooling as a moment to reflect on how she taught the previous year, she said. “While after last year I feel really comfortable conducting Zoom-in class, there was definitely a moment of adjusting and shifting back into that mode.”

Leo is using some of the techniques from her Zoom experience last year that she felt best served students,

in spite of the difficulties that come with them. “I found that using an iPad to project notes on the board in Notability while using the classroom computer to Zoom everyone in was the best,” she said. “However, it requires a lot of time to set up, and it is difficult to manage as a teacher.”

Compared to hybrid efforts last year, Michelle Kim (11) does not feel there is a large difference this year, she said. “My experience has been better than expected, but things are slightly worse because there were more people there and teachers were a bit more skillful dealing with Zoom,”

Kim said. “Since we sort of had half of the year without Zoom at all, they’re sort of just getting back to it.”

Patrick Stinebaugh’s (12) experience this year has been better than last spring when he was quarantined while the campus had begun reopening and restarting many programs that had been previously shut down due to COVID, he said.

“Things were starting to happen on campus, the field was open, so I really felt like I was missing out,” he said.

see Remote Learning on pg. 8

2

THE RECORD OPINIONS JANUARY 7TH 2022

One year since Jan. 6: The path forward

Emily Sun Yesterday marked one year since insurrectionists stormed the US capitol to overturn the 2020 presidential election. How, and why, should we continue to think about the gravity of what happened on that day and over the 12 months that followed?

Last January 6, I tried to make sense of the event with a mess of open tabs, glued to my phone as news feeds updated by the minute — gallows with a noose hung over the U.S. Capitol Building, Congress members barricaded themselves in their offices, people scaled walls and smashed windows, pistols were drawn, and red, white, and blue billowed. But by the next day, I had returned my attention to an upcoming chemistry test and Spanish quiz. By the following week,

the insurrection was relegated to the past, a sore spot I didn’t press beyond the cursory glance at the news.

My willful ignorance was a coping mechanism, a way to shield myself from the horror of the event at a time when I had no way to wrap my head around it. Like the rest of the school and country, I let the insurrection slip from my consciousness and conversations.

Pundits and politicians cushioned the horror by declaring January 6 “un-American.” That narrative was false. Many insurrectionists were motivated to act as “patriots” by the Great Replacement theory, the idea that Black and brown people will soon overtake and gain more rights than white people. While a group in power trying to preserve their spot at the top of our racist hierarchy is a playbook that America has cycled through for centuries, knowing that did nothing to ease my shock and terror. Confronted with such stark extremism and hyperpolarization, my reaction was to shove the entire incident to the back of my mind.

I used apathy to ward off the gutturning realization that over twenty million Americans were neckdeep in a rabbit-hole of election fraud conspiracy theories, willing to wield violence to restore a white supremacist to power.

My avoidance strategy worked until this week — it’s hard to ignore headlines like “January 6 Was Practice” (The Atlantic) and “Every Day is Jan. 6 Now” (New York

Times). The two articles, among countless others, sound the alarm on the widespread, organized, and ongoing fight to erode democracy — one that we, as a school and as individuals, must confront. There is a middle ground between fearmongering and ignorance, a place where we can look at our country’s past, present, and future with steadyhanded understanding. That’s where we must stand if we are to face the 2022 midterm and 2024 presidential elections, and that’s where each one of us has a part to play.

The first step is to rid ourselves of the assumption that those w h o stormed the Capitol are an isolated mob of extremists.

It is easy to see people from that day, like the Vivian Coraci/Art Director “QAnon s h a m a n” decked in ox horns over a red-whiteblue striped face, and dismiss them as farcical clowns, especially in a blue state like New York where such views are undoubtedly in the minority.

But a poll released by the University of Chicago last September found that 20 percent of American adults

believe Joe Biden stole the election from Donald Trump — that is over 47 million people. The insurgents were not societal outcasts, as many believe to be the case. They were mostly middle-aged, middle-class white people. Though untied to known extremist groups, they still took extremist action, signaling the shift of radical right-wing ideologies into the mainstream.

Our second misconception is that the worst of the insurrection is over. In reality, the armed attack has evolved into concerted local efforts by “Stop the Steal” proponents to ensure future elections turn out in their favor.

ProPublica reported on Steve Bannon’s “precinct strategy” that calls on far-right individuals to enlist as pre c i n c t officers and take charge of elections from the ground up.

The collective influence of 8,500 new Republican precinct workers in 65 key counties by September last year (there was no such rise in Democrats) grants them the power to push elections in their favor. The New York Times also reported on

Republican efforts to seize control on the state level, wresting the power to oversee elections from Democratic or non/bi-partisan hands to prevent another “stolen” election. These avenues are all lawful. They could be argued as evidence of people taking part in a democracy, but their motivations are undeniably antidemocratic.

Most of us are not of voting age, and it seems like our power to affect what feels like an immutable national force is minimal. However, in the face of such rampant historical revisionism, there is great power in separating truth from falsehood. We have an obligation to keep watching as the anti-democratic movement continues and the House committee on January 6 reveals more behind their conspiracy. Don’t doomscroll until you fall into a constant state of panic — been there, done that — it’s useless. Information is out there from all the sources I mentioned, plus many more. Dedicate a few hours to find answers and form your own opinions. Then, and I know this is a lot to ask, use your knowledge to take action. Write to members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, and demand that they make bipartisan pro-democracy a priority.

If nothing else, answer this: what does democracy mean to you as an individual? Why does it matter that Republican forces are eroding it?

Because it does matter, and by the time 2024 comes, it might be too late to salvage it.

with some of our best moments from 2021, my favorite being our impromptu snowy picnic in the dead of winter, which we spent snacking on McDonald’s nuggets and fries. Over the course of the year, she had written her happiest memories on Post-It notes and put them in a “Happy Memories Jar” to be opened at the end of the year.

These memories ranged from the most unforgettable events of the year to seemingly everyday occurrences — the everyday occurrences that so many of us tend to overlook.

Reading through my friend’s postits gave me a boost of positivity and motivated me to think back on my year. While I’m sure there were many small moments that I missed due to the unfortunate circumstances, I realized that I could generate a number of joyful memories that made my 2021 special and could have certainly filled up my own “Happy Memories Jar.” The key was to bypass the overwhelming negativity of the past two years and engage in deeper introspection to allow the positive memories to emerge.

While I wouldn’t consider myself a pessimist, I found it easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the negative events of the past year. A quick Google search into why it took so much more effort to remember all of the positive moments of 2021 led me to an article from the National Institute of Health about the “negativity bias,”

a psychological theory which asserts that humans have the tendency to register negative emotions or events with more ease than positive ones.

As a result, the unfavorable moments of 2020 and 2021 are more likely to shape our perspective of the past two years and keep us from more readily accessing the happier moments that we’ve experienced.

Now I’m not someone who typically makes New Year’s resolutions — I gave up on them after 10-minute workouts on January 1 didn’t yield immediate results — but my friend’s “Happy Memories Jar” has inspired me to give them another go. This year, I am challenging myself to combat my negativity bias as best I can, and I encourage all of you to do the same, starting with the creation of a “Happy Memories Jar” for 2022.

While I can’t take credit for the idea, my favorite thing about the jar is that it is a concrete, actionable step that we can all take to bring positivity into our lives. Whether you create a physical jar, keep a journal, or make a notes app list, the act of writing down the positive moments of the year — big or small — will guarantee that you can look back and remember the moments that made the year special.

In addition to the “Happy Memories Jar,” I have also created a notes app list titled “Things I’m Grateful For” that I update daily.

Similar to the “Happy Memories Jar,” it’s not only for big, life-changing

occurrences; it also allows me to take note of the simple things in life that I enjoy. For example, my first entry on January 1, 2022 was “laughter,” something that I truly value in my day to day life. By December 31, I hope to have a list of 365 things to be grateful for as I reflect on my year.

I also embarked on a new journey to create Spotify playlists for each month of the year where I can keep track of new songs I discover and those I have on repeat. Spotify Wrapped is great and all, but I like the idea of creating a musical time capsule that I can revisit at the end of the year and truly make my own.

Even if music isn’t your thing, I encourage you to do this with books, TV shows, movies, or whatever suits you best. It will be a great way to remember your year through a medium that is meaningful to you.

Like any other year, 2022 is bound to have its ups and downs.

However, when I look back on this year come December, I hope to remember it as more than something miserable.

Committing to overcome the negativity bias is not about having the perfect year or even having a year that has more positive memories than negative ones. Instead, it’s about realizing that the negative moments d o n’ t

The memory jar: Tips and tricks for a happier 2022

AJ Walker When my family found out that we had tested positive for COVID a week before the end of the year — putting an end to my holiday celebration and my winter break plans — I was ready to write 2021 off as yet another miserable year. From the Capitol insurrection to the Omicron variant, a multitude of disheartening global issues and intense personal hardships dominated my memories of the year.

So, when looking ahead to 2022, my growing pessimism alongside internet memes that declared 2022 as “2020, too” led me to discount 2022 as just another year being tacked onto a string of bad years before it had even started.

My pessimistic outlook of 2021 was challenged, however, when a friend texted me on New Year’s Eve

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

Online Editor Lucas Glickman

Head of Design AJ Walker

Photography

Daniel Schlumberger Ailill Walsh Sean Lee Sam Siegel

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Staff

Staff Writers Alex Lautin, Alexandra Yao, Allison Markman, Audrey Carbonell, Audrey Moussazadeh, Ayesha Sen, Cecilia Coughlin, Celine Kiriscioglu, Divya Ponda, Emily Salzhauer, Emily Sun, Hannah Katzke, Jillian Lee, Jiya Chatterjee, Max Chasin, Rachael Baez, Sean Lee, Vidhatrie Keetha, Zack Kurtz, Ariella Frommer, Athena Rem, Ben Rafal, Ella Shaham, Erica Jiang, Etta Singer, Heidi Li, Kate Beckler, Lucy Peck, Maeve Goldman, Naomi Yaeger, Neeva Patel, Nia Huff, Rani Ogden, Samantha Matays, Sophie Rukin Staff Photographers Aanya Gupta, Allyson Wright, Amelia Hirsch, Anna Miller, Aryan Palla, Ben Rafal, Catherine Mong, David Aaron, Dylan Greenberg, Harper Rosenberg, Jiwan Kim, Lynn Egan, Madlyn Yoon, Matthew Jacobson, Nicole Au, Oliver Konopko, Trisha Tran Staff Artists Aashna Hari, Addy Steinberg, Aimee Yang, Amira Dossani, Christian Conner, Dani Brooks, Dylan Leftt, Elena Zhu, Felix Brener, Isabelle Kim, Ishaan Iyengar, Karla Moreira, Kayden Hansong, Kristy Xie, Lauren B. Kim, Sam Gordon, Samantha Strasser, Samuel Stern, Serena Bai, Sophia Liu, Sophie Li

Editorial Policy

have t o define our lives and about giving time to remember t h e positive moments that shape our lives as well. So here’s to 2022 and the happy memories that I will soon create.

Dylan Leftt/Staff Artist

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

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

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THE RECORD NEWS JANUARY 7TH 2022

School tightens mask policy enforcement Audrey Carbonell and Ben Rafal Staff Writers

“Our mask compliance issue had nothing to do with a political stance or even a lack of concern with the community’s well-being.

It came from exhaustion,” Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly wrote. Many members of the community did not practice consistent proper maskwearing over both the nose and mouth prior to the break, he wrote.

The school has put forth stricter policies about mask compliance, stating that students will be sent home without access to remote instruction for the duration of a two-day suspension if they fail to comply with the mask policy. Kelly has also strongly recommended that all members of the community wear more protective KN-95 or KF94 masks in light of a surge in cases due to the Omicron variant.

Although recommended, the

rules, Dean of Students Michael Dalo said. However, Dalo received complaints from both students and faculty about a periodic lack of mask-wearing from certain community members, he said. “We needed to look at more serious consequences to help students really understand how serious this situation is,” he said. “It’s not just about enforcing rules for the sake of enforcing rules, it’s about protecting everybody in the community.”

“I do think by and large students have tried very hard and have made a lot of sacrifices, as we all have, so I’m not in any way condemning all students.” Head of Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein said. There are many students who have never violated the mask rules, she said.

“But we do have a fair number of students who just repeatedly seemed unable to wear their masks properly, and I don’t think it’s surprising that after a certain point, some faculty lost their patience.”

Sam Siegel/Staff Photographer

SMILES FOR SAFETY Friends follow mask guidelines in the library.

now we are starting to really clamp down on the mask policy.”

Phil thinks that the stricter enforcements are due to a conflation of case count with death likelihood stemming from the Omicron variant, he said. “We must also remember that this variant is by far the least deadly, and risk of death is practically negligible for anyone who is vaccinated or boosted.”

Nevertheless, Phil understands the consequences of not complying with the mask-wearing policy, he said. “I also don’t want to be kicked out of the school, so I will comply all I need to.”

Some students, such as Gabe Jaffe (10), have voiced concerns about The lack of compliance mainly the severity of the consequence of occurred in communal spaces, a two-day suspension. “I believe such as the library, Lutnick Hall that people wearing masks is a very gathering spaces, and Friedman important issue and we should be Hall, Levenstein said. Although it very diligent about it,” Jaffe said. was not widespread in classrooms, “However, I do think [a suspension] there were some instances of is a harsh punishment and that it is students feeling uncomfortable not the way by classmates David Aaron/Staff Photographer to get things wearing their to work well masks below because it will their nose, she only make said. “It became people scared a very tense as opposed and unpleasant to wanting interaction to help the between the greater cause.” adults and A f t e r students,” she witnessing said.

“The n o n students felt compliance in overpoliced, the beginning and the adults of the school felt really year, Daniel frustrated Pustilnik because none (10) believes of us actually that the would like to p u n i s h m e nt have that kind of suspension of interaction is the best with students.” remaining Additionally, option, he Levenstein said. “I think noticed that for a while, some students MODEL STUDENTS Students are hard at work and COVID-safe! people have would pull not been their masks up over their noses as she approached Mumbi Johnson (11) believes that the vaccines came out,” he said. following the mask rule or having them, she said. “That’s good that stricter mask-wearing enforcement “But I think it’s ridiculous that only see Mask Policy on pg. 8

“We do have a fair number of students who just repeatedly seemed unable to wear their masks properly, and I don’t think it’s surprising that after a certain point, some faculty lost their patience.”

- Dr. Jessica Levenstein school did not require students to wear KN-95 and KF-94 masks, Kelly wrote. “While the new research regarding this new variant and the greater success of KN-95 and KF-94 masks protecting against it was shared with employees and parents/guardians, mandating the use of such restrictive masks is not developmentally appropriate for the range of students we serve,” he wrote. “We also made it clear that we are prepared to provide a KN95, KF-94, or equivalent mask to anyone — employee or student — who would like one.”

Kelly’s decision for stricter maskwearing stemmed from research by the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, which found that employees and students should move away from surgical and cloth masks during this stage of the pandemic, he wrote in an email to parents on December 27.

To minimize the spread of COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant, it is critical for the school community to wear the correct, form-fitted masks on campus, he wrote. “Even with the most appropriate mask in hand, if not worn appropriately, it does little to protect the individual or members of the community.”

Prior to winter break, the majority of the student body remained compliant with the existing mask

they did that, but it also implied that if I wasn’t in sight, their masks would not be over their noses.”

Wearing masks inappropriately indicates a lack of concern for the community, she said. “If you decide that you are exempt from the mask rule, you’re putting other people at risk.”

This past fall, students were allowed to eat snacks and drink in the library, Library Technology Coordinator Melissa Kazan said.

However, food will be prohibited for the time being, so that students remain with masks on as the school works through the new restrictions, she said. “We are having a noreminder policy regarding masks in the library. We’ve been reminding kids all semester to mask up and we have not had 100% compliance, so we are looking for that.”

Even with the new policies in place, UD Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels still needs to remind students to wear their masks when working or relaxing multiple times per day in the library.

“It is going to take one kid getting suspended for people to realize that [the administration] is serious,” she said.

Dalo is concerned about the issue of contact tracing in the event that students are non-compliant with the new policy, he said. Previously, students in close contact with a positive case would not have to worry about quarantining if both students were masked and vaccinated. The refusal of one student to wear a mask could trigger a domino effect that the school has not had to deal with this year, Dalo said.

Due to the spike in COVID cases,

3

is necessary to protect people’s health, she said. “We’re protecting everybody, and I think [the school is] trying to be as safe as possible.”

Delphina Engelstein (11) also thinks that the transition to more protective masks is a smart decision, she said. “If we’re not going to go online, I think it’s best that we’re protecting ourselves to the highest extent,” she said.

Engelstein does not think that the new mask-wearing enforcement is too harsh, she said. “There’s scientific reasoning for what’s safest for everyone, and it wouldn’t become a policy if it wasn’t going to be effective,’’ she said.

On the other hand, Phil* (11), who asked to remain anonymous because he feared that people will develop hostile feelings towards him for his beliefs, does not think that masks should be worn at all on campus, he said. “I was supportive of wearing them last year before

Editorial: The Record’s demographics Our feature this week explores the impacts of diversity — or lack thereof — across leadership and membership of clubs at the school. Though the Record could not ethically report on itself due to issues of conflicting interest, we want to be transparent about the demographic makeup of our board.

Our 20-person board includes five men — all of whom are layout, photography, and online editors. The editors on the board with direct influence over the paper’s written content are all female or nonbinary students. Though 40 percent of the board are people of color, our top leadership is entirely white and has been for several years. We naturally try not to let our backgrounds affect our work, but our whiteness has an inevitable impact upon the work we do and the group of people we lead.

The Editorial Board has power — from the stories

we tell to the edits we make, we as leaders of this paper are able to choose the information we share with the community. In our first issue of the year, we promised to always strive for objectivity in our journalism. Though we have worked to keep this promise, we would be remiss to ignore that pure journalistic objectivity is an impossible standard — our individual experiences will always have a subconscious impact on our work. Therefore, a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities is necessary to make the paper strong.

The Record does not use quotas when determining its leadership, nor does it actively recruit members of certain demographics. Still, we want to create an environment that is welcoming to and supportive of students of all backgrounds. We hope that all members of the student body would feel comfortable and excited to join our paper,

if they so desired, but we acknowledge that this goal is historically and understandably limited by our current lack of representation. Years of white female leadership may well discourage eager writers from joining the group, or diminish the community’s trust in the publication.

This paper is a source of information (and, we hope, community) for the entire student body. We acknowledge that our board and its leadership prevents us from fulfilling that mission to the best of our abilities, and we understand the consequences of this historical and current issue. Throughout the rest of this year — and in the legacy we leave — we will remain aware of the implications of our demographic makeup and continue to value diversity among our board and our readers.

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THE RECORD FEATURES JANUARY 7TH 2022

Investigating club demographics: The impacts o Ayesha Sen Staff Writer When Isabel Melián (10) walked into her first robotics club meeting at the beginning of her eighth-grade year, she was startled upon realizing that she was the only girl in the room, Melián said. “I remember there being some weird times when our meeting was cut short and everyone would go to play basketball, which wasn’t something most middle school girls did then,” she said. “It made me feel a little out of place because I was new to the school so I didn’t know many people,” she said.

While Melián eventually bonded with her male team members, the initial experience was jarring, and it took some time to adjust, she said.

Increased diversity within clubs and publications can have a psychological effect on students, making them feel “welcomed, valued, and safe,” Upper Division Director of Counseling & Guidance Daniel Rothstein said. “When students and faculty feel that important sense of belonging, that’s when they can thrive here — educationally, socially, and emotionally.”

“Horace Mann started off as a boys school, predominantly white, so for a lot of years, we saw those same kinds of people leading and succeeding in clubs,” president of the Speech team Isabel Mavrides-Calderon (11) said.

“But now, with diversity no longer being a taboo subject, we have begun discussions and made progress towards making everyone feel welcome in our groups, which is something we will have to continue doing for years until the problem is ‘fixed.’” Diversity and inclusivity are crucial aspects of any club, regardless of the activity, she said.

According to the club directory, there are a total of 85 clubs and 27 publications across the Upper Division within the topics of Awareness & Outreach, Business & Industry, Community Building, Games, Hobbies & Interests, Humanities, Identity &

become more balanced, with a lot more female members joining in the past few years.

Mavrides-Calderon believes that the increase in girls joining the club occurred because members of the leadership team began to advertise the club as being a platform for advocacy, she said. “I think a lot more females have realized that we’re about having

confidence, male overrepresentation across the debate community is still significant, she said. “I still think that there’s that gender disparity between men and women debating, and it’s especially evident in judging,” Fazal said. “Even if judges don’t mean to be biased, when there are more male partner pairings than female pairings, it becomes easier for males to win, and

Division Mentoring (MDM) program, co-leader Giselle Paulson (11) said.

“Regardless of the gender of the mentors, I don’t think that the female dominance affects how the program functions,” she said. “But, I think that it’s interesting since gender imbalance, or male dominance, wasn’t necessarily a barrier we needed to specifically overcome like other clubs had to.”

a voice and tackling social issues such as sexism,” she said. “So I think the environment caused women to want to join, especially since in general our voices are suppressed.”

While the debate team has been primarily male since its founding in the early 2000s, co-president of the Public Forum (PF) Debate team Rohan Buluswar (12) has noticed that the team has made significant progress with the gender balance since he started high school. “Each year we’re getting closer to a more similar ratio of boys and girls since it’s something we are always working on,” he said. “Based on our biggest group chat that contains all the sophomores through seniors, the team is currently about 55% boys and 45%

so people become used to seeing more successful male debaters than female debaters, which is how stereotypes develop. It’s not true that boys are better than girls at debate, but unfortunately, that’s a very common assumption.”

Fazal also believes that the school’s PF debate team is severely maledominated, which has contributed to an environment of toxicity, she said. “Many people like to ignore the problems within our own team because there’s a sense of school pride, but there is a problem of toxic masculinity at Horace Mann too,” she said. “I’ve seen male debaters making fun of female debaters’ voices by saying their points are weak or laughing when they speak, and I think that it’s a big problem since the whole point of debate is to explore your own argumentative voice, but it’s hard to do that when you’re getting criticized for anything not perfect.”

When Nikki Pande (9) went to an Ethics Bowl club meeting at the beginning of the year, it was heavily male-dominated, which created a stressful environment and caused her to feel hesitant to speak up, Pande said.

At one meeting, Pande’s female friend was constantly interrupted by male club members, which discouraged Pande, she said. “I felt like my voice wasn’t as validated as the guys’ in the room,” she said. “The club leader was definitely very supportive of me and my friend, but when there is a dominant group in a room, it’s difficult to change the dynamic without changing the gender balance.”

Mavrides-Calderon has noticed discrimination based on gender in the wider speech community, she said.

“It’s always frustrating when female competitors lose points on scoring because their shirts are too short, while boys are purely judged based on the content of their material,” she said. “For one tournament I was in, a judge wrote in my ballot that my skirt was too short and said that I lost points because of it, which is frustrating because boys can usually never be told that their outfit is inappropriate, so it’s a standard that only affects women.”

However, Mavrides-Calderon believes that the school’s speech team has made progress in terms of its gender balance, she said. Since its founding, the speech team has always had male presidents, she said, but this year, Mavrides-Calderon became the first female president of the speech team.

Unlike other clubs, such as speech and debate activities, there have generally been more female students than male students in the Middle

The HM Dance club is entirely female, dance club member Pande said.

“I feel like a lot of boys are discouraged to do dance because they think it’s a girly thing, but really with dances, it’s good to have different genders because it allows you to do many different tricks and have different storylines,” she said.

“And, there are also different types of dance that are not heavily dominated by girls, like hip hop or jazz, which is another option for guys.”

Pande thinks that gender diversity can only be achieved once larger societal stereotypes are reduced, she said. “I don’t really know if boys will start joining dance until there are no stereotypes overall or if they are lessened,” she said. “For example, ‘girly’ versus ‘boyish’ things shouldn’t even be a thing. If we make that clear, then boys should be able to join clubs they really want to, like dance club.”

A lack of male representation is also apparent in certain publications such as Folio 51, the feminism gender and sexuality magazine, co-Editor-inChief Louise Kim said. “The writers are mainly women or non-binary, which I think is interesting and a kind of pattern that falls with any clubs or groups that revolve around feminism, or women’s issues, or gender,” they said. “I think that everyone, including men, should feel a responsibility and also drawn to think more about gender issues and sexuality-related themes.”

Trish Tran (11), who is the cocaptain of the Design, Build, and Testing section of the FRC robotics team stressed the importance of having female mentors in robotics. “Being one of three upperclassmen girls on robotics, and being the only openly queer one, I felt representation through alums like Gabby Fischberg, Kristin Yung, Erin Zhao, and Carmel Pe’er, who were all leading robotics my freshman and sophomore year,” they said. “They allowed me to be open and comfortable within the space and allowed me to grow with my understanding of robotics. They are one of the reasons I’m still on the team today.”

“I’ve seen male debaters making fun of female debaters’ voices by saying their points are weak or laughing when they speak, and I think that it’s a big problem since the whole point of debate is to explore your own argumentative voice, but it’s hard to do that when you’re getting criticized for anything not perfect.”

- Rizaa Fazal (10) Culture, Service & Outreach, Speech & Debate, Sports & Athletics, and STEM. Each of these clubs have varying levels of racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic diversity in club membership and leadership.

GENDER DIVERSITY When Mavrides-Calderon first joined the Speech team in eighth grade, she was the only girl on the team, she said. In fact, Mavrides-Calderon was the only girl in the club until her sophomore year, when one other female competitor joined the team.

The club’s leadership has since shifted to be more heavily woman-led, with three girls and one boy leading the team, Mavrides-Calderon said.

Similarly, the club’s membership has

girls, so the ratio is definitely very close.”

In spite of the progress in gender balance, however, members of the debate team are constantly working towards making sure everyone feels supported within the community, regardless of gender, Buluswar said.

“For example, for at least four years, if not more, we have hosted a Gender in Debate conference every year,” he said.

“In this conference, many different speakers are invited to speak about gender inclusion in debate, and the event is open to anyone, whether or not they do a speech or debate club at HM, so it’s really just to strengthen the debate community specifically, and also the larger school community.”

However, while debater Rizaa Fazal (10) has noticed that she and her female friends have gradually gained more

RACIAL/ETHNIC DIVERSITY Buluswar has noticed that the PF debate team features greater diversity than normally seen in the larger debate community, he said. “I don’t necessarily have specific statistics, but even just from the leadership, the racial diversity is clear,” he said. “Last year we had three Asian presidents, and this year we have two Asian presidents and one white president. Even just walking into the debate room, I think you can see the

racial diversity, and hopefully feel very comfortable in that respect.”

Editor-in-Chief of the Linguist, the school’s language journal, Steve Yang (11) believes that the publication’s major objective, which is to celebrate the diversity of languages, naturally results in a group of members with various cultural and racial origins, he said. “While we have a concentration in French and Spanish since those are languages taken by most students at HM, we encourage writers to write in languages they might know from outside of school,” he said. “We have someone who writes in Romanian and Toki Pona, which is a conlang, and some people write in the language that they speak at home, so we’re definitely a diverse group.”

While all clubs are open to anybody, Paulson said mentoring may attract a more diverse group because of the nature of the program. As a whole, the program is balanced in terms of identifiers, she said. “In terms of being accepted as a mentor, [diversity] doesn’t play a role — we solely look at the qualities of a person, not necessarily how they identify,” Paulson said. “But, there are so many people who are qualified to be a mentor, each with different identifiers, so the program naturally becomes very diverse.”

The school also has clubs that are targeted to a specific demographic, such as East Wind West Wind (EWWW), a club that discusses Asian American identity and culture. While most of the people within these clubs have shared identities, Elise Kang (10) wishes that there was more diversity within the groups in terms of ethnic knowledge, she said. “I feel a little bit hesitant to join because I feel like everyone in the club would already be so into the Asian culture, like they’ll all be talking about these Asian foods and all these Asian holidays, and I’ll have no clue what they are,” she said. “I feel like most of the people in the affinity club have a connection to their culture, so people who feel disconnected, like me, may have more difficulty fitting in.”

Kang believes that students who are considering joining clubs like EWWW would be able to learn more about the varying levels of connection to the culture if the club leaders are more open about what happens at meetings, she said. “I haven’t really gotten a specific image of the group’s vibe at all,” Kang said. “I wish the presidents would show me that there are other Asians like me who can join the club, without necessarily being able to contribute to the conversations where we’re just praising Asian culture or something.

And it’s not that I don’t like being Asian, it’s just that I feel disconnected, and I almost think that seeing a bunch of connected people and feeling different could worsen the impact of that.”

However, co-president of EWWW Tomoko Hida (12) has observed a wide range of degrees of connectedness to Asian culture within the club, she said.

“I definitely understand that it can be intimidating to join a group that seems

THE RECORD FEATURES JANUARY 7TH 2022

of diversity on our extracurricular communities so in touch with their Asian cultures, but honestly, not all of us are like that,” she said. “We have some students who can speak their ethnic language perfectly, and those who don’t understand it at all, and that’s perfectly okay.”

Furthermore, EWWW is different from an affinity group in that it is not targeted solely to Asians, Hida said.

“East Wind West Wind is absolutely

uncomfortable positions if they don’t want to be singled out in that sense.”

Club advisor of the Parliamentary Debate team Melissa Kazan realizes that clubs may create a socioeconomic divide across the school, specifically because of the time commitment they require, she said. “​​It’s certainly possible that clubs create a socioeconomic divide across the school, given that

“Any club involves sharing opinions or perspectives, to some extent, and diversity can increase the number of perspectives, which can ultimately help facilitate better discussions.”

- Tomoko Hida (12) open to allies as well,” she said. “In fact, we greatly appreciate allies who come to appreciate Asian culture and participate in our discussions, because that helps us share the value of the Asian American community and our goals for the future with the wider community.”

In the Gender-Student Alliance club (GSA), another group targeted to a specific demographic, vice president Tran has noticed a lack of racial diversity, they said. However, Tran does not believe that this diversity impacts the group environment, they said.

“In a club like GSA, though I wasn’t represented racially, I felt that there was such a bond in experiences that we all understood each other and were represented as a group and not only ourselves.”

SOCIOECONOMIC DIVERSITY At the beginning of the school year, each club is required to submit a budget request that Dean of Students Michael Dalo reviews, he said. Dalo then tries to provide as much money as possible to each club, based on their respective requests. “A lot of it is dependent on size,” Dalo said. “For example, a club like Model UN is one of the clubs that receive a higher amount of funding because they usually have a lot of travel expenses for a lot of people.”

For students who cannot afford expenses that are not covered by the club’s funding, the school has a Student Assistance Fund (SAF) run by Director of Institutional Research and Enrollment Management Lisa Moreira.

The SAF is available to any student who would like help with expenses, both curricular or extracurricular, even if the student is not receiving financial aid, Dalo said.

In spite of these efforts, financial concerns still seem to be a prevalent issue across the Upper Division, Clio Rao (11) said. “For a few clubs I have done, you often need to pay a certain amount of money to participate in the tournaments, which I think definitely creates an unfair socioeconomic divide,” she said. “The school has produced a number of initiatives to help curtail this sort of barrier, but even still it sometimes puts students in

some clubs meet after school past I period and have tournaments on weekends,” she said. “Some students may have commitments outside of school that preclude them from taking part in evening and weekend activities.”

However, in terms of financial access to tournaments, the allotment the school gives to clubs to cover certain costs, coupled with the SAF, makes it possible for all students to attend Parli tournaments, Kazan said.

In spite of the SAF and club funding, some clubs still require members to pay money out of pocket, Tran said.

“For my own experience, Mock Trial went to Yale for the Bulldog Invitational earlier this year, and as a student who is in scholarship and financial aid, it was a little tough to sacrifice 50 to 80 dollars for one weekend, after HM had given out student aid funding and [Dr. Kelly] cut the original price of nearly 200 dollars,” they said. “There was also another comp or seminar at Harvard in November, and I had to opt-out because I couldn’t afford it and didn’t have the time.”

While several clubs at the school do not require money — a lot are about spending quality time and simply having fun — clubs that are more serious and go to competitions, or are seen as more “elitist,” often do require money to travel to competitions or to pay for admission, Tran said. Tran believes this creates a socioeconomic divide because those clubs often gauge commitment based on participation in events, which is directly dependent on affordability for some students, they said. “If you can’t afford to go to these big events, then it’s harder to succeed in the club, even with HM aid,” Tran said.

Mavrides-Calderon believes that the Speech time allows for members of any financial background to join, she said.

Participation in tournaments is funded by the school, which is a privilege other schools may not have, MavridesCalderon said. “Students can join the Speech team without having to stress about being able to afford it, which at the end of the day, is my main goal — to get people to enjoy the activity.”

Schools with more funding and resources will naturally get a better shot in developing their speech

team since they can participate in more tournaments, Mavrides-Calderon said.

“It’s often overlooked, but I am very grateful to be at HM where funding is not a problem that I or any of the club members need to deal with.”

As president of Poetry Out Loud, the only thing Mantravadi has ever needed was access to a computer with Zoom installed, she said. Mantravadi does not believe that club leaders should need to contribute funds from their own pockets, she said. “I have chosen to pay out of pocket for snacks as a club leader, but that was entirely due to my passion and desire to give the best to our team members,” she said. “It is definitely not necessary to provide funding in order to participate in the club or become a leader.”

Rao has noticed that the pandemic has alleviated financial concerns to some extent, especially since many clubs have adopted virtual formats, she said.

“While there are definitely still issues, a lot of stay away trips that were more frequent before Covid involved paying for hotels and meals that the school doesn’t fully cover,” she said. “Because many club activities have switched to Zoom, the situation has definitely been alleviated a little bit, since the fact that you don’t have to worry about food, housing, or transportation for these away trips means that there is wider accessibility.”

While the pandemic may have better conditions temporarily, Tran does not believe it will lead to a permanent change, they said. “For Mock Trial last year, I was able to attend the Harvard tournament for free because we were online, but that was also because I’m pretty sure the school paid for the virtual trips at that time,” they said. “This year, though, the comps were online still, so we had to pay out of pocket.”

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because of that, I’ve made the majority of my speeches be about topics related to ability, race, and gender and how we can make change,” she said. “The only way we’re going to have the best possible impact of speech is if we have different perspectives, and so many teams are going to be left out if teams are just homogenous.”

Kazan said it is especially important to have diversity in clubs such as debate because each speaker’s voice impacts the activity. “Many of the debate topics in tournaments focus on current events, and being exposed to different perspectives from students who have different lived-in experiences from one another can be educational and enlightening,” Kazan said.

In Poetry Out Loud, diversity is a crucial aspect, as it enhances the experience of its members, Mantravadi said. The club has members that come from a wide range of ethnicities and races and several who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, Mantravadi said. “[The club] introduces you to many different viewpoints, especially since each person has different experiences that shape their identities, whether it be relating to gender or race or relating to ideology.”

Many members of Poetry Out Loud discuss their identifiers in their poems, Mantravadi said. For example, when the club hosted poetry writing workshops

values or outlooks are prominent in certain ethnicities or cultures or even gender groups, having a wide variety of these identifiers can make these clubs more representative,” she said.

“Any club involves sharing opinions or perspectives, to some extent, and diversity can increase the number of perspectives, which can ultimately help facilitate better discussions.”

last year, several members wrote about their experiences as first-generation Americans. “Even though they shared a common theme, each poem was very remarkably unique, which really shows the diversity of the group and the true impact a person’s experiences can have on them,” she said.

The diversity within the Middle Division Mentoring (MDM) program, both in terms of gender and ethnicity, also contributes to its overall success, Giselle Paulson (11) said. “When middle schoolers see high schoolers who identify similarly to them, they feel represented in the mentor program, and in the greater high school community as well,” she said. “Especially when they are younger, it’s important for students to see themselves in others, especially in people they look up to like middle schoolers do with their peer mentors.”

In general, Hida believes that diversity is crucial to clubs because it furthers the learning of everyone in the space, she said. “Because certain

to select leadership in a way that you have a diverse set of people throughout the club and represented in leadership,” Buluswar said. “The point of doing this is the general idea that there’s definitely some value in having a balanced leadership group, and many team members have said that they prefer at least some kind of gender balance.”

Rothstein believes that in order for diversity in clubs and their environments to improve, people in power must take action, he said. “Current leaders of clubs, for example, have the power to perpetuate imbalances through their choices in the next leaders, or through microaggressions that make people feel uncomfortable and contribute to a toxic environment,” Rothstein said. “Or, they can make positive change by supporting more diverse leadership candidates for the following years, and by consciously creating a positive environment within a club, and through outreach that sends a clear message that everyone is welcome.”

INCREASING DIVERSITY When creating mentor pairings, the MDM leadership focuses primarily on making sure the personalities of mentor pairings balance well, instead of specifically attempting to create diverse pairings, Paulson said. “The whole point of mentoring is to support middle school students through a period of their lives that will have a lot of change,” she said. “And with this change, a lot of the time, it has to do with identity, so people who have experienced struggles with their identity are often attracted to the program.”

On the other hand, the debate team specifically attempts to promote diversity within their leadership, Buluswar said. For instance, in choosing leadership, they have attempted to select at least one female president for at least two years, he said. “Especially in a large club like debate, there are so many talented people so it is very easy

IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY According to an article published in 2019 on Psychology Today labeled “Why We Need Diversity,” research proves that because diverse workgroups highlight more perspectives, they can lead to better problem-solving and promote creativity. Moreover, diversity can result in increased cognitive processing and facilitate the exchange of information.

The diversity of the speech team adds to its inclusive nature, MavridesCalderon said. “In any club, diversity is very important because it creates a positive team dynamic that lets others feel welcome and supported within the group,” she said. “Our group is very non-toxic, and I feel like that has to do in part with the fact that no one feels like an outsider since the group is very diverse.”

More specifically, having even gender and racial balances is integral to the Speech team because Speech, as an activity, is a platform for advocacy, Mavrides-Calderon said. “It’s really unique in that you can talk about anything you are passionate about, and

Art by Vivian Coraci, Lauren Kim,Riva Vig/Art Directors

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THE RECORD MIDDLE DIVISION JANUARY 7TH 2022

MD students adapt to new COVID protocols Sophie Rukin and Sophia Paley Staff Writers

Middle Division (MD) students cannot go to the basement of Tillinghast Hall and the vending machines are off limits, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly wrote in an email to students on December 17, 2021. The new restrictions have been deemed the safest decision amidst rising COVID cases and the Omicron variant, eighth grade Dean Carlos Aguilar said.

“If a Middle Division student needs to pass through the basement of Tillinghast to access a Technology classroom, the Technology Office, or the Department of Theater and Dance Studies, so be it,” Kelly wrote in his email. “If we discover MD students congregating in the basement either through a walk through or on video, there will be a consequence.”

Neel Pande (6) experienced these crowding issues in Tillinghast, he said. “There were a lot of eighth graders that piled in a hall,” he said.

“10 of them [would come] every day to eat.”

Before break, Charlotte Wuebben (8) would go to Tillinghast during her lunch or free periods. She noticed the area was especially busy during D and E periods due to the mix of MD and UD students, she said.

Even in the mornings, the space gets crowded, Ayana Gupta (7) said. “It got so crowded that there was almost nothing left in the vending machines.”

One inconvenience lies with the lack of supervision in spaces such as Tillinghast, Aguilar said. “When we don’t have as many adults as we wish there, we cannot make sure [MD students] are not on top of each other.”

While MD students should have some freedom, they are not yet ready to navigate campus unsupervised as Upper Division students can, sixth grade Dean Michelle Amilicia said. Amilicia is confident that students know how to behave appropriately, but she is aware that it is difficult to adjust to new rules in the beginning, she said.

While the MD likes to allow for kids to grow

from mistakes, students who break the rules will experience consequences, Head of MD Javaid Khan said.

If a student were to break the rules they would likely have a serious and restorative discussion, Aguilar said. However, he is certain that the students will make the right choices, he said.

Amilicia wants students to appreciate the reasoning behind the rules, she said. “I don’t want you to follow the rule just because I told you. ‘I said so’ is not good enough for me,” Amilicia said. To ensure that students understand the rules, teachers and deans will address the MD’s new COVID restrictions during advisory, Amilicia said.

While Sarah Cohen (8) did not use the v e n d i n g machines often, Sophie Li/Staff Artist it was nice to know that she could get food if she chose to, she said. “Having v e n d i n g m a c h i n e s and having a big open campus adds a certain level of independence,” she said.

However, the potential safety risks outweigh these benefits, Cohen said.

When the administration senses issues like the one in Tillinghast, they collectively discuss the best way to move forward and handle it, Khan said. “If students keep distance, keep their voices at a minimum when eating or congregating outside of a class, wear masks responsibly, clean up after themselves — we

are not having this conversation.”

Now that the rules have been developed, it is important that they are enforced, Aguilar said. Students must encourage each other to follow the rules, and the faculty and staff in Lutnick and Tillinghast will help to enforce the protocols, he said.

Gabriela Faybishenko (8) understands all the protocols, but thinks they are too harsh, she said. “We should be allowed [to use the vending machines] but only during certain time periods,” she said. The best times to do this would be during D or E period when most MD students have lunch, she said.

“I understand where Mr. Khan is coming from, since it got pretty busy, but the vending machine should not be taken away,” Wuebben said.

Instead, the school should find a way to manage the chaos through time slots or social distancing, she said.

Though the restrictions make Jameson Ibrahim (7) feel somewhat safer, they do not actually make much of an impact, she said.

“Everybody is getting sick anyway at this point.”

C o h e n , however, said the restrictions are important because of the rising cases, she said. “The more effective measures we take now, the faster our recovery will be towards our new normal,” she said.

Ayana Gupta (7) said that the new

restrictions are fair, however she thinks there should be opportunities for MD students to get snacks in other ways, she said. Gupta no longer has anywhere to get food after school, she said.

In his email, Kelly suggested bringing new treats to the MD. “[The MD could] get a committee of students and teachers together to figure out how to occasionally make [access to sweet treats] possible within the Atrium,” he wrote.

Kelly’s idea could become a reality, Amilicia said. Several groups in the MD such as HM Lead – an after school program in which MD students work to improve student life – could represent the MD. “If they really wanted to make something happen, they could survey their fellow classmates, they can talk during the meetings, they can figure out how we can make this happen,” she said.

Sydney Kurtz (8) would appreciate a vending machine or snack bar in the MD, she said.

Ibrahim would also enjoy having a vending machine for the MD, but does not know if it would work logistically, she said. “There’s nowhere in the buildings that we are in like Pforzheimer and Rose where it would be a good place,” she said.

Though Faybishenko would appreciate a vending machine, it would lead to crowding in the MD, she said. The only way to avoid this crowding would be through the use of multiple vending machines, she said.

Overall, Amilicia hopes that MD students can learn a sense of responsibility by following the new restrictions and keep the community safe in the process, she said.

It is important that students realize these restrictions are for their own benefit and remember the primary goal is to keep students safe in school, Aguilar said. “We recognize the importance for teenagers to be present, and to be able to socialize, and if we put it at risk, then it’s unfortunate because then we all get sent home,” he said.

From Filmmaking to Ceramics, 8th graders experience the arts Neeva Patel and Madison Kim Staff and Contributing Writers

than he expected, he said. “The most memorable moment was probably the chair game we had played during yoga,” Yilmaz said. “It was very As the first semester comes to a close, 8th intense and chaotic but very fun and kept us on graders enrolled in the school’s art program are our toes.”

Sloane Easton (8), who is taking “Theater 8” replacing their electives with another of their which was one of her last choices, wishes that choosing.

Students choose from a list of 18 arts electives, the school would honor their promise to enroll a including Filmmaking, Ceramics, Darkroom student in one of their top choices, she said.

Other students, such as Bea Monti (8), are Photography, Steel Drums, Yoga, and Public enrolled in their first Amelia Hirsch/Staff Photographer choice, Ceramics, taught

by Natasha Rubirosa.

Currently, Monti is learning the concept of slip and scoring, used to attach clay pieces to each other, she said. “We have also been learning how to texture our ceramics when dealing with proportions in order to produce a stable product.”

Ceramics was Monti’s first choice because she enjoys hands-on activities and expressing her capabilities through sculpting, she said. “It BUDDING ARTISTS MD students focused on their ceramics work. brightens up my day to be able to relax and have fun while still learning new ceramics techniques.”

Speaking. In 6th and 7th grade, the registrar Visual Arts Teacher Mirrie Choi has been places students into two art courses per trimester.

However, in 8th grade, students are able to choose teaching “Sculpture 8” for two years, she said.

Choi finds freedom in the fact that she can the electives they take each semester.

In the spring of 7th grade, students are sent customize the curriculum to suit what she thinks a form that asks them to rank the different art the students and herself will find most exciting, electives, Head of the Middle Division (MD) she said. “Each year, I end up doing something a Javaid Khan said. Although Khan and Scheduling bit different with each class, finding inspiration in Coordinator Tom Petras try to grant students artists as well as the students and their ideas.”

Choi designed her elective to start out with a their first choices, there are sometimes scheduling more structured project, where all of the students conflicts, Khan said. would learn the same process and have different “Some students were placed into electives lower down on their list due to scheduling conflicts, end results, she said. “However, for the second enrollment challenges, and the fact that there project, students were able to experiment with might not be a teacher or enough students to fill different mediums and materials which gave them more freedom to make their work and up the class,” Khan said.

For instance, Berk Yilmaz (8) is currently process unique.”

Choi enjoys teaching sculpture because there enrolled in the school’s yoga and theatre electives, are endless possibilities of the materials you can taught by Angela Patmon and Ben Posner, respectively. Although neither of these classes use, and each has its own properties that make it were his top choices, Yilmaz enjoys them more both fun and challenging to work with, she said.

“I hope students take away the sense that there are department chair to create a new course if they always creative approaches to any challenge, you choose to do so, Khan said. just need to experiment to find what works for Bates has taught “Steel Drums” — otherwise you and make it your own,” she said. known as Steelband — ever since he came to the These special electives are offered to 8th graders school in 2009, he said. Steel Drums is a hands-on to allow them to try out a variety of options during course in which students learn playing techniques their final year in the MD, Khan said. “Students for the instrument, musical terms, and how to may come to find they have a passion for an art understand rhythms, Bates said. they would have never tried before.”

Bates designed the 8th grade “Steel Drums” Will Matays (8) is currently enrolled in his elective for students who played the steel drums first choice elective — “Filmmaking,” taught by in sixth or seventh grade, since the course builds Film and Photography teacher Jordan Rathus, he on the basic skills they learned in previous years, said. Matays chose the course because his friends he said. signed up for it, he said. “So far, the course has The group of eighth-graders Bates taught this been a great learning experience since I am able semester had a clear desire to play, he said. “This to dive into topics I have never worked in before, group of kids is amazingly talented and whenever such as the behind-the-scenes process of working we get together as a band they sound great,” Bates a camera.” said.

Matays enjoys being enrolled in a course with In the future, Monti is looking forward to his friends because they are all able to create a learning more about how to improve her ceramics film together, he said. Along with working with skills, and is considering taking the year-long his peers, Matays enjoys learning how to take course in the Upper Division, she said. videos from different angles. “Filmmaking has Bates hopes that the students in his elective a lot of different parts to it since you have to use your creativity while working in front of and behind the camera,” he said. In the last week of the semester, Matays looks forward to learning more film camera tricks that he can incorporate into his videos.

Easton finds the 8th grade electives Amelia Hirsch/Staff Photographer to be a different experience from the PASSIONATE PAINTERS Students get creative with colors. previous curricula, she said. “When you get to choose your class, you consider taking the year-long UD Steelband spend more time doing something you actually course, he said. “I hope students have a great want to do.” experience of playing in a band, and that it will Music Teacher Alan Bates finds that students inspire a life-long love and appreciation of music.” in his 8th grade “Steel Drums” elective are more As students move into high school or college, excited to learn than those placed into his classes they will need to make choices about the courses by the standard curricula because they have they want to take, Khan said. “Gaining some chosen to take his class specifically, he said. exposure to this type of elective choice is an Teachers may choose the electives they teach. extremely valuable experience, which is why we They are also permitted to work with their chose to start the process in the MD.”

7

THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT JANUARY 7TH 2022

Those who make the stage shine: Behind the scenes with stage crew Etta Singer Staff Writer Every Tuesday and Thursday, eager students descend into the basement of Tillinghast to the scene shop for a stage crew meeting. The tightknit group of the Horace Mann Stage Crew share their love of theater production and design by helping create shows for the Horace Mann Theatre Company (HMTC), Student Technical Director (STD) Bailey Hecht (11) said. The crew designs, builds, and paints the sets, while also working lights and sound backstage at all of the Upper Division (UD) and Middle Division (MD) theatre productions and assemblies.

The scene shop is a large room lined with tools and wood planks with large tables in the center for Technical Director and Design Teacher Caitie Miller’s classes, advisory, and stage crew to gather around. Set pieces are always moving in and out of the room, being assembled and painted before being taken up the elevator to Gross Theater, until all the sets are ultimately taken back to the shop to be disassembled.

AJ Walker (12) and Hecht are the Co-Student Technical Directors (STDs) of the stage crew for this school year. Hecht and Walker lead the group by taking attendance, delegating tasks, leading small working groups, and building a strong community, Hecht said. She joined stage crew in her freshman year and has always looked up to the STDs, so they are very excited to have that role for new stage crew members.

When students arrive to afterschool stage crew, they greet their friends and

spend a few minutes talking about anything from their Hogwarts Houses to ideas for research paper topics before splitting into groups for their daily tasks, Hecht said.

Last Tuesday, Walker began the meeting by pointing at random members of the crew and enthusiastically interrogating them about their day, sending everyone into fits of laughter. “Of course, we all trust each other for safety reasons but also can joke around at the same time,” Hecht said.

Since everyone in stage crew has a common goal, the environment is very welcoming, stage crew member Jennifer Feng (12) said. During every meeting, the STDs delegate tasks to small groups that work closely to complete their jobs. Stage crew member Matthew Aponte (12) worked on stage crew in the fall semesters of both his freshmen and sophomore years and now is back for his senior year. “A lot of the reason we do stuff together is safety but honestly, it’s just more fun with your friends,” he said.

“A lot of the things we do in stage crew we can’t do without each other,” stage crew member Juliet Burgess (10) said. “It requires teamwork.”

When taking apart the set from the recent Middle Division musical production Singin’ in the Rain Jr, stage crew members teamed up to carry around pieces of wood and platforms while others unscrewed them and put away props, she said.

In addition to working together, students also take on a variety of jobs for each show. Stella Shah (12), who designed lights for this year’s

MD production, Singin’ in the Rain Jr, and the recent UD production of A. R. Gurney’s The Dining Room, is now taking on the role of set designer for the student-written One Act Play Festival.

Hecht has also taken on multiple jobs, having stage managed for last year’s MD production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder and running curtains for Singin’ in the Rain Jr. “I’ve really learned about what goes into the show from start to finish,” Hecht said.

Many stage crew members also perform in the HMTC. “Stage crew has helped me as an actor because I know about the ins and outs of what I’m doing,” Aponte said.

Miller actively encourages HMTC actors to join stage crew. Working backstage enhances the onstage experience for actors immensely, she said. “It is easy for people onstage to forget about the work that happens when they’re not there,” she said. “It’s important for them to value and respect those who don’t get the applause.”

Burgess has learned many important skills from her hours in the scene shop, she said.

Members get hands-on experience with new tools they never had access to or had no idea existed in the first place.

“I really like working with my hands and I love how hands-on stage crew is,” Feng said. “It’s satisfying to have a final product that you cut and assembled by yourself.”

Along with after-school stage crew, Miller teaches an H period stage to Director

crew section. Burgess, who is in both groups, finds that the class and club are very different environments but enjoys her time in both, she said. “H period is more of a class setting while afterschool feels more like hanging out with my friends and being productive at the same time,” The H period crew often starts projects that the after school crew continues when they arrive a few minutes later, Miller said.

Students find a community in stage crew and have memories they will cherish long after their time at HM, Hecht said. “It was the first activity I joined my freshman year and now it’s my happy place,” they said. Some of her favorite memories include the small inside jokes between stage crew members and long Saturday rehearsals when students take time out of their busy weekends to pitch in and help.

Aponte also has many joyous memories from his time in stage crew. For example, the time Dylan Chin ‘20 wrote his name on every piece of wood he could find so for the next year, whenever the stage crew had to build something, they could find his signature.

The stage crew celebrates their hard work on shows by hanging out after closing performances and participating in fun stage crew rituals, Burgess said. “One time, when we had finished up all our work for the whole school year, we even had a huge karaoke party in the shop,” Aponte said.

Sean Lee/Pho

“Something bigger than yourself:” HMTC Rehearses One Act plays Mira Bansal and Kate Beckler Contributing Writers Rehearsals for the biennial student-written and directed One Act plays have been in session for nearly two months. Every other year, four students from theater teacher Haila VanHentenryck’s playwriting class are chosen to have their original one-act play produced by the school.

This year, the four plays are “Cosmic Cleanup Crew,” by Liliana Greyf (12), “Canceled,” by AJ Walker (12), “Till Death Does Its Part,” by Tess Abraham ’21, and Sam Siegel/Staff Photographer

ACTING UP One Acts cast gets silly at rehearsal.

“Think Tank,” by Spencer Kahn ’20.

To prepare for the production, students rehearse three times a week. Each rehearsal begins with a twenty-minute check-in, Yunshu Wang (12) said. “This check-in creates a greater sense of community and allows the cast to bond outside of the play.”

After checking in, the student director blocks whichever scene is being rehearsed that day, Wang said. The cast spends the last ten minutes of the rehearsal reinforcing each other for the great work that they have done that day.

On the first day of rehearsal, the cast spent

time building their ensemble with warmups and different group acting exercises. “Our chemistry as a cast has evolved throughout the rehearsals, as we are more comfortable than we were during the first rehearsal,” Amaris Christian (9) said. “Rehearsals are so refreshing after a long day of school, it’s nice to be silly.”

Rehearsals also include important discussions about how to perform complicated scenes with overlapping lines and rapid movements, Jeffrey Dai (10) said.

His previous participation in Horace Mann Theater Company (HMTC) productions led him to audition for the One-Acts.

During rehearsals for “Think Tank,” the cast spends time learning how to act as a society of fish, working specifically on their movements within the setting of the play. “We focus a lot on figuring out how a fish society works, how fish move, and how these characters interact,” Dai said.

“My favorite thing about rehearsal is the ability to step outside of your comfort zone and be a part of something bigger than yourself,” Christian said. “We are able to complement each other as a cast and as a result create a great production.”

Dai, who is in two of the four plays — “Till Death Does Its Part” and “Think Tank” — is looking forward to seeing the final product of the casts’ hard work. Dai is excited to play multiple personas in one night after building the characters and their backgrounds over the course of months, he said.

In “Till Death Does Its Part,” Dai explores the persona of Georgie, a shy and quiet kid

who is unnoticed by his family. “I found myself coming up with a vast backstory for him and how he learned to behave in school and [with] his family,” he said.

In “Think Tank,” Dai plays Koile, a fish who is outgoing and proud of his wit — almost the complete opposite of Dai’s character in “Till Death Does Its Part.”

Wang, who is also acting as a fish in “Think Tank,” is performing for the first time of her high school career, she said. “I wanted to act before I graduate, but I didn’t really know how to act, so I asked the director for a small role.”

Since Wang’s character does not have any speaking lines, she portrays her character’s emotions in less traditional ways, such as using large gestures to convey different feelings. Through this experience, Wang has learned that acting involves a deeper relationship with the audience, she said.

Christian, who is also in “Think Tank,” decided to audition for the One-Acts because of her positive experience in the recent Upper Division (UD) production of “The Dining Room.” “I was just really excited to get back to performing with my friends,” Christian said.

In “Think Tank,” Christian plays Andrea Mitchell, a news reporter working alongside her co-anchor Brine Williams, played by Oscar Shah (10). “I love how much of a gogetter she is and wish she would use that strife to expose the nibbler,” she said.

Since the first rehearsal, cast members have become closer and their acting has progressed, Wang said. Wang is excited to see how the play will continue to improve before their first performance.

8

THE RECORD NEWS AND LIONS’ DEN JANUARY 7TH 2022

from Mask Policy on page 3 their masks beneath their nose, so I believe there needs to be some discipline,” he said. “The warning before you get suspended allows you to have your mask slip down, but if you are a repeat offender then you should be disciplined, and I think suspension is a good way to do that.”

On the first day back from break, Johnson noticed that students were following the mask guidelines, she said. “I’ve seen a lot of people with KN95 masks,” she said.

Due to the new enforcement, Coco Trentalancia (11) has become more self-aware about how well she follows the rules, she said. “I’m constantly looking at everyone I am around to make sure not only they are safe, but I am as well to protect my family who I come home to every night.”

Kelly also saw improved results with maskwearing compliance, he wrote. “Based on what we have seen today and yesterday, the student body is working hard to come to school with

from Remote Learning on page 1 $57,000-a-year New York City private school Horace Mann that counts Betty White and Jack Kerouac among its alumni threatens to EXPEL students who flout mask mandate.”

Kelly felt the media coverage was misleading and unfortunate, he wrote. “My love and appreciation for this student body was artfully and intentionally edited out of much of the discussion, and the fact that we are one of a small number of schools who have been consistently open since the pandemic arrived in the U.S. was conveniently omitted as that fact did not fit with the story the media wanted to tell,” he wrote. “More importantly, the coverage is unfortunate in light of the urgency with other matters in the United States and beyond require attention.”

Kelly believes that the community understands the school’s efforts to hold in-person instruction with as little disruption as possible. “Our parents and guardians and our student body understand

“My love and appreciation for this student body was artfully and intentionally edited out of much of the discussion, and the fact that we are one of a small number of schools who have been consistently open since the pandemic arrived in the U.S. was conveniently omitted as that fact did not fit with the story the media wanted to tell.”

- Dr. Tom Kelly appropriately fitted masks and masks worn with greater consistency,” he wrote on Wednesday. “I couldn’t be prouder of the response.”

Engelstein does not know how long students will comply with the stricter mask-wearing enforcement, she said. “People usually are better with policies right after they get made, so it’s hard to tell right away if it’s going to have a lasting effect on the community,” she said.

Kelly’s email prompted media coverage on the school, including articles and tweets that attacked the school’s mask policy. Some public figures have tweeted about this email. Karol Markowicz wrote that the email was “insane,” Megyn Kelly wrote that “they’ve lost their bloody minds,” and Matthew Loop wrote “That’s what happens when you have a bunch of fearful and indoctrinated parents who just roll over in the face of authoritarianism. It keeps getting worse and more nonsensical.”

Daily Mail, a British middle-market newspaper, covered the issue with an article titled, “Elite

and appreciate what we are trying to accomplish this year,” he wrote.

Levenstein stands by the school’s mask policy in its protection of the community, she said. “I would hope that if parents send their kids to the school, it’s because something about HM speaks to them and they trust us and feel confident in our ability to make decisions on behalf of their kids.”

Kelly does not believe that the rule dictating greater mask compliance is too harsh or misguided for a school that serves 150 zip codes hailing from three states, he wrote. “While it’s always okay to disagree with the rules established by the leadership at HM, one must remember to attend or be employed by HM is something pretty special — some might say it’s a privilege,” Kelly wrote.

“I prefer to remind everyone that the few rules that matter most at HM focus on the well-being of our community members — intellectually, academically, socially, emotionally, and physically.”

Emily Salzhauer and Hanzhang Swen Staff and Contributing Writers

Varsity Swim coach Thatcher Woodley, Wu said. “Coach Shannon suggested Williams and Amherst because their swim programs are very team-oriented, which is really important to me,” she said. “The Williams team is similar to the HM team in that the team has a lot of fun while still being able to swim fast.” Because of their swim team and academics, Wu finally landed on Williams, she said.

At one of her AGUA meets, a parent on the team approached Wu’s mother about the recruitment process. The parent said that ages thirteen to sixteen would be important if she wanted to swim in college because swimmers are able to swim faster and specialize at different events, Wu said.

When she was thirteen, Wu qualified for her first national-level competition, but she was too young to compete based on her team’s rules, she said. “At that moment, I realized that I could actually get recruited to swim somewhere that I want to go.” Since then, Wu

“Right now, while I’d still be in school, I don’t feel as stressed about missing out.”

While Sophie Dauer (11) has not felt that online school has significantly harmed her learning experience, the amount she learns still varies depending on the class, she said.

“The only place where I’ve really felt a strain on my ability to learn is probably the math class, just because you really have to see the board and the Hudl cams make it slightly difficult to do that.”

Raydris Espacia (11), who was online for the majority of the 2020-2021 school year and has recently returned to being online, has found that being on Zoom is less engaging than being in a classroom. “I don’t have a quiet room to work in [at home], which makes it harder for me to focus during class time,” Espacia said. “I get so easily distracted by my surroundings, because it’s already hard to pay attention to class.”

Stinebaugh has also had trouble paying attention in class due to technological limitations, he said. “I’m not getting distracted by other things, but it’s harder to hear a lot of things that mics don’t pick up and you’re not as involved in the group discussion.”

Kim has had difficulty participating in music-based classes, such as Music Theory and Sinfonietta, where students are often required to participate physically with their instruments or with their auditory abilities, she said. However, in classes that are more discussion-based, such as English and history, participation has not been as difficult, Kim said.

To help her remain engaged in a class discussion, Kuhn’s history teacher positioned

her in the middle of the Harkness table and moved her around, which helped her feel less isolated from the class, she said.

Along with the tiresome schedule, Espacia said that communication with teachers, which is easy to do in person, is limited for her when she is online, she said. “Communication is sometimes there, but I often get forgotten about [by teachers],” Espaica said. “However, some of my teachers last year did make the effort to include me in class and make it feel like an in-person environment.”

Stinebaugh’s experience with teachers has been similar to last year during online school, he said. “Some teachers have difficulty with Zoom, some forget about it and start the Zoom ten minutes into the period, but I think that was true last year.”

However, Stinebaugh does not think about what his teachers are doing or what they could do better, he said. “I don’t really pin it on the teachers—this is not what they signed up for, and it’s just an unfortunate circumstance where they have to deal with the negatives of being online,” Stinebaugh said. “They’re doing their best to deal with it, and they obviously don’t want me to be online either.”

Kuhn strongly prefers learning in an inperson environment, she said. “I don’t think there are any benefits to Zoom learning—I feel like I do learn a lot better in class.”

Dauer has often felt isolated from the rest of her classmates on Zoom, she said. “It’s sad to see everyone together, especially since at Horace Mann, the classrooms are always pretty fun.”

Lauren Kim/Art Director

Maddy Wu (12) commits to swimming at Williams

When Maddy Wu (12) was ten years old, she watched the NCAA swimming championships on TV with her parents and saw Simone Manuel break the American record. That summer, Wu met Manuel at a swimming camp at Stanford University. “That was the first time I realized that [swimming in college] was something I [wanted] to do in the future,” Wu said. Now 17, Wu has officially committed to swimming at Williams College.

Wu has been swimming competitively since she was eight years old, both on the Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics (AGUA) team outside of school and on the school’s swim team during her 9th and 12th grade seasons, she said.

Wu learned about the swim program at Williams through Caroline Shannon, a former swim coach at the school, and current Girls Courtesy of Maddy Wu

MAKE A SPLASH Wu prepares to dive into collegiate career.

started working even harder to improve her times, she said.

Wu practices 16 hours a week at AGUA, she said. Her training also includes attending training camps during school breaks and traveling for meets and competitions, Wu said.

Because AGUA practices at an indoor facility, they are able to practice for the entire school year.

Her years of hard work at practice and meets finally paid off when the recruitment process began, she said. The swim recruitment process is different from that of other sports because there are a large number of students looking to be recruited, Wu said.

Because of the number of students, there is a strict timeline for recruitment. The official recruitment period — when students can talk with coaches and schools -— starts at the end of 10th grade. During 9th and 10th grade, Wu searched for schools with strong swimming programs that she thought would be a good fit academically and socially, she said.

“I spent a lot of time on my computer looking at times I needed to hit for certain schools and divisions,” Wu said. “I used those times as a goal for myself and worked closer to them as I got older. It took a lot of training and working to hit those goals.”

After 10th grade, Wu was able to reach out to coaches and express her interest in their programs, she said. “I told coaches that I was interested and sent them my times and grades too.”

Wu misses some practice for the school’s team in order to make the AGUA practices and be a part of both teams. Therefore, Wu practices for an hour at school on Monday and Thursday, a half an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the full two-and-a-half hours on Friday, she said. This schedule allows Wu to compete on both teams while maximizing her training, she said.

Girls Varsity Swim coach Thatcher Woodley,

who has coached Wu for two years, sees Wu as an incredibly valuable member of the team, he said. “Maddy is incredibly passionate about swimming,” he said. “She shares her excitement and enthusiasm for the sport with her team and it rubs off on people around her.”

Wu’s love of swimming is intensified in a team setting, Woodley said. “Being a part of a high school team for Maddy is a really valuable experience because it gives her an extra element of excitement being on a different team with different swimmers.”

Throughout her time on the school’s swim team, Woodley has watched Wu grow both mentally and physically as a swimmer, he said.

“She always knew she could be a very good swimmer, but she has also excelled in other parts of her life.”

When Wu was in ninth grade, Woodley knew that she could swim at the collegiate level if she chose to do so, he said. “In ninth grade, most swimmers will be in a place where you can project how they will grow as a swimmer in the future,” he said.

During Wu’s recruitment process, Woodley helped her find the perfect college, he said.

“I helped her work out her priorities between academics and swimming, while helping to match her level as a swimmer to a school where she could contribute to the team and excel,” he said.

Ella Shaham (10) enjoys swimming with Wu on the Girls Varsity Swim team, she said. “She is always smiling and has a good attitude no matter what,” Shaham said. “She always makes sure everyone feels like they’re a part of the team.”

Wu is an amazing swimmer, Shaham said.

“I remember watching her at meets as the bell rang for her final lap while most other swimmers still had a bunch of laps to go,” she said. “And even when she finished, she always seemed like she could’ve kept going.”