The Nueva Current | September 2023

9/29/23

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NUEVA CURRENT

NEWS Student Council elections are over. Read about the new organizational changes, as well as the newly elected council members. [ P 3 ]

A R T S & C U LT U R E With her sophomore album, GUTS, singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo showcases her growth both musically and in terms of coming to grips with the everpresent spotlight of fame. [ P 5 ]

Illustrations by Jodie C.

F E AT U R E S Get to know math teacher Liam McDonald ’19, the first Upper School graduate to return as a faculty member.

[P7 ]

Emerging from the margins OPINION Two student perspectives on the use and prevalence of “trigger warnings” and “content warnings,” the terms used to warn people about potentially triggering or sensitive material in online content, TV shows, movies, social media posts. [ P 11 ]

SPORTS New year, new weight room. The athletics program is getting a fresh boost with the addition of a new weight room for team training. [ P 15 ]

Underrepresented students, DEI team, and admissions staff weigh in on belonging at Nueva

By Gabe H. & Owen Y-L. Every Friday, students congregate in the third-floor succulent garden. Over a lunch of burgers and fries, they exchange rapid-fire conversations about music, discuss updates in pop culture, and playfully quarrel about the superiority rankings of fast food chains. Though they only meet once per week, their joy lingers beyond the hour-long lunch slot.

This is what a typical THRIVE meeting consists of: affinity, camaraderie, and laughter.

Co-founded in 2018 by then-Director of Admissions Taryn Grogan and former Social Justice and Inclusion Director Alegria Barclay, THRIVE is a space for underrepresented students—such as those who identify under a marginalized ethnic group, qualify for a certain degree of financial assistance, or have parents requiring translation services. The group aims to cultivate a space in which these students—who are typically identified during the admissions process and subsequently invited to join—can

THE NUEVA SCHOOL: 131 E. 28TH AVE. SAN MATEO, CA 94403

find affinity, particularly at an institution where they may exist within the demographic margins.

While recruiting underrepresented students in the first place is an important step, “it is critical to make sure we have systems in place so these groups feel seen, heard, valued, respected and a sense of belonging and community,” said Grogan, who is now Director of Enrollment & Strategic Engagement. “THRIVE is a community within a community so [these students] can be their best and most confident selves.”

THRIVE is just one response to a broader conversation around the importance of diversity in academic settings, which has only amplified in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of race-conscious college admissions in June.

While diversity is one of Nueva’s core tenets, as outlined on the website’s “Racial Equity and Accountability” page, seeking out and fostering diversity at the school isn’t a simple undertaking. [ CONTINUED ON P 8 ]

INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: @THENUEVACURRENT

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By the numbers...

gathered and presented for the annual clubs fair on Sept. 13.

Class of ’24 finally gets a Senior Sunrise

By Neel G. Most seniors would loathe the idea of waking up before the sun comes out. But, in anticipation for Senior Sunrise on Aug. 23, the class of 2024 rallied at six in the morning for a spirited start to the year. They formed a mob full of blue pajamas and colorful signs, boisterously cheering and encouraging the freshmen to honk as they drove into their first day of high school.

“I really wanted to make it something memorable,” said senior grade representative Kelly P. who organized this year’s event. “It’s nice to start the year off with something big.”

Senior Sunrise closed with a cheerful welcome to the incoming freshman as they entered the school. Many held up previously made signs, with content ranging from

clever jokes to Pokémon cartoons.

“I hope [Senior Sunrise] helped take down the pressure [of starting high school] a little bit,” said Kelly. “I know coming into freshman year with the new campus full of new people can be kind of a lot.”

One freshman, Mars R., described the rally as “hype.”

“I walked through, and there was just so much energy coming at me from all directions,” Mars said.

Because the seniors missed receiving the senior sunrise as freshmen due to the pandemic, this was their chance to make their rally special for the incoming class.

“Because COVID [canceled] senior sunrise for us, I think [the class of ’24] got really into it this year,” Kelly said.

“Hopefully it just gets better and better each year.”

Photo by LiAnn Yim

Photo by LiAnn Yim

80 CLUBS

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WA R M W E L C O M E Seniors held signs, cheered, and offered donuts to freshmen as they pulled into the drop-off zone.

Photo by 2foodtrippers

Clubs Fair transforms the Rosenberg courtyard

By Aaron H.

1 0 TA B L E S P O O N S O F H OT SAU C E sampled by Student Council co-lead Isabella X. '24 during an all school meeting for her "24 Second Talent."

MavFest kicks off new school year

By Milo K.

Photo by Kayla L.

FULL OF FUN Community members of all ages were invited to participate in the festivities, including a carnival.

On the first weekend of the semester, the San Mateo campus was flooded with the smells of cotton candy, food trucks, and popcorn as over 1,400 members from the Nueva community from the Lower, Middle and Upper school came to the San Mateo Campus to celebrate MavFest. Planned by both the NPA and Diana Chamorro, the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement, the event is a blend of carnival-like food trucks, games, and activities. Additionally, it serves as a unique welcome to the school community with a new parent meeting, performances from students as young as kindergartners, and an introduction for many to the San Mateo campus.

Chamorro saw the day as a resounding success: “It's a lot of work to put on such a huge event, but knowing that people walked away having a really great time makes it a really positive experience.”

By Milo K.

Photo by Ellie K.

Photo by Zoe B.

36 TEAMS

signed up to compete in the school-wide pickleball tournament, which began on Sept. 26.

The booth presentations and signs ranged from Sharpie-colored poster boards to flags hoisted 10 feet into the air, battling for the attention of prospective members.

Over 80 student-led clubs hosted booths assembled on the Rosenberg lawn on Sept. 13 for the annual clubs' fair, according to the student council–an event that allows club leaders to introduce their club to the school community and get student sign-ups.

“While 90% of the people who sign up never show up, you end up getting people who otherwise wouldn’t have found out about the club,” said leader of Pod Club Carly B. ’25, a club Carly founded last year that builds wooden portable pod homes for the local homeless.

Nearby Pod Club’s booth was the Programming Club run by Diego A. ’25 and Medical Research Club run by Camille C. ’27 and Shayan S. ’27. Clubs typically range from five to twenty five people with members across all grades.

“There was so much diversity in the clubs that were there,” Thomas J. ’24 said.

“One moment you’d be talking to the [members of ] Climbing Club, the next you would be at the Sandwich Club.”

Beloved Community Day builds connection

WAV I N G T H E F L A G Olivia C. ’24 promoting her booth for the EquityEd Club.

On the first Wednesday of the new school year, the Upper School gathered to celebrate Beloved Community Day, an annual tradition that celebrates the ideal of a unified, caring community.

Following an all school assembly with opening remarks from Dean of Students Jackee Bruno and Upper School Division Head Liza Raynal and grade level meetings, students attended one of 19 student-led affinity spaces that touched on religion, race, gender, sexuality and more.

Bruno, one of the chief organizers of the event, hoped that these affinity spaces provided smaller, unique spaces for students to express their identities.

“I designed it by creating different spaces where people could find connection and comfort,” Bruno said.

Bruno described this year’s Beloved Community Day as a “success.”

After the day concluded, he sought feedback from students via a Google form with hopes to continue improving this day in future years.“I hope to take the feedback from this year to do something similar that can also still feel actionable and real for each person,” Bruno said.

Staff and alumni from Kenya-based school share experiences

By Natalie L.

“Because her education changes everything,” reads the homepage of Daraja Academy, a nonprofit secondary school that serves under-resourced girls in Kenya. Staff and alumni from Daraja paid a visit to the Upper School on Sept. 11.

According to their website, Daraja Academy was founded in 2006 with the goal of preparing teenage girls for national exams and higher learning at international colleges.

During their talk with members of the Nueva community, the speakers—cofounder Jason Doherty, academic director Victoria Gichuhi, and Dianah Machoka and Velma Anyona, two alumni— shared heartfelt stories from their time at the school.

Talinn H. ’25, one of the event’s student coordinators alongside Siana K. ’25, recalled a particular anecdote: Anyona shared how the Daraja Academy allowed her to find her passion in computer science, which she is now getting a degree in at Rochester University.

“[Anyona] told us that when she first started school at Daraja, she had never owned or opened a computer, forget coding.

And yet, she put in the extra hours to catch up to American students,” Talinn said. “Her perseverance and determination really stuck out to me.”

Talinn was first introduced to this organization over the summer by doing an online internship for the academy. Since then, Talinn and Siana established a Daraja Club at the Upper School. The club is part of a national network of chapters and aims to fundraise for the academy’s Daraja Education Fund.

In the future, Talinn and Siana hope to create a pen-pal system between Nueva and Daraja students and potentially host shortterm exchange students, though not yet considered by the administration team.

“The purpose of our club is to show the students at Daraja [Academy] that we are thinking of them and want to help them,” Talinn said. “And, most of all, show that we are inspired by how they are able to become so successful even when they start off with so little.”

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Construction transforms San Mateo campus The $9M project will deliver upgrades, expansions, and additions

By Jordan F.

The Weight Room The weight room, located in room 175A, was one of the most significant construction projects of the Upper School. The construction planning started in January of this year but was eventually opened to student athletes and faculty on Sept. 11.

Last year, the weight room was a reconfigured storage closet. Now, the weight room contains various weights, a bench press,

Art and Music Facilities Previously, the art rooms were cramped, with limited room for the art supplies and students. The two new art rooms, one for dry art and the other for wet art, are approximately 50% bigger and feature natural lighting and new equipment.

Music facilities have been enhanced as well, with four new sound-proofed rooms built in the Rosenberg wing over the summer.

Classroom Upgrades Beyond new construction, the Upper School underwent various remodeling projects. Physics labs have been upgraded by adding structure on the ceiling to hang heavy objects from the ceilings for experiments, while the I-Lab by adding storage improvements. Nueva also worked on remodeling the gym by adding a new scoreboard and revamping the gym’s floor paint.

Student and Faculty Comfort Another significant part of the renovation was the relocation of gender-neutral restrooms to be by the staircase and outside the gym in order to be more accessible for users.

Additionally, the Upper School now has a new health office on the second floor and a relocated mental health room, dubbed the Swellness Room, which serves as a quiet space for students to go. The construction workers are also creating a new Zoom Room, which is expected to be completed over the coming week.

It is intended for students and faculty who need to privacy for Telehealth appointments or other meetings.

On the mezzanine on the third floor of the WRC, a staff lounge and additional classroom was added.

Photos by Gabe A.

As students and staff returned to campus, they were greeted by ongoing campus construction, in various stages of completion.

The school spent approximately nine million dollars over the past three months on construction, using the same architects and construction company that recently renovated the Hillsborough campus.

Associate Head of School Terry Lee explained that during the last school year, administration and staff looked for ways to improve the experience for students and faculty. The main goal, Lee explained, is to make the campus “good for the people.”

“This Upper School is only 10 years young,” Lee said. “We’ve learned how different things work and want to make things as good as possible for our students and colleagues.”

Here are some of the most significant changes made on campus:

and other cardio equipment. Along with the weight room, there is a training room with a cold plunge tub and a hot tub, and cardio equipment on the patio facing the street.

“What we had previously was just small, inadequate, and wasn’t going to allow our student athletes to work out properly,” said Director of Athletics and PE Brett McCabe, who provided input on the weight room’s design. “The new room allows us to have more space, equipment, and flexibility for all of our students to work out.”

A L L- N E W A M E N I T I E S Expanded art room (left) makes the most of the space's natural light. New gym equipment (right) is decked out in Nueva's signature blue, allowing athletes to keep up their school spirit even when working out.

Fall elections inaugurate a new Student Council system Reforms include new positions, guidelines, and a “cabinet system”

WHO’S WHO?

Elected StuCo members for the 2023-2024 school year: Co-leads Isabella X. ’24 and Kayte C. ’25 Academics Rep. Ellie L. ’26 Arts Rep. Chloe M. ’25 Athletics Rep. Zoe B. ’24 Community Engagement Rep. Aria G. ’25 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rep. Zara M. ’25 Spirit & Social Rep. Max M. ’24 Student Life Rep. Dylan P. ’25 Grade Reps.

Camille C. ’27, Hilde K. K. ’27, Connor H. ’26, Oliver C. ’25, and Kelly P. ’24

GET INVOLVED

Find resources for student involvement, like the "StuCo Event Feedback Form" and "Student Idea Proposal Form" on the Upper School student Nexus dashboard.

By Jackson H. This month, Upper School students finished electing the 2023–24 Student Council. While a handful of positions were elected in June, the majority were elected at the start of the year, in order to make room for changes to the structure of the council. The shake-up is the largest in the Upper School’s history, and its scope is due to expand over the course of this year. The reforms aim to create a more flexible and adaptive system with clearer leadership opportunities.

I. Flexible Roles Deliberation on these changes began in February under the previous student council. The result was removing two positions, the Community Service Learning (CSL) and Environmental Representatives and creating positions for Community Engagement and Academics.

The exact responsibilities of the new roles remain vague. A “Meet the Candidates” session on Sept. 6 allowed candidates to differentiate their visions for new roles. In the case of the Community Engagement Rep, Aria G. ’25 focused on her leadership in the CSL Club as a key qualification.

Her opponent, Josie B. ’25, held that the new position isn’t analogous to the old Community Service position, and that “the only thing they have in common is the word ‘community.’”

The Academics Representative, meanwhile, has been primarily tasked with piloting a new mentorship program that connects underclassmen and upperclassmen with similar interests.

However, the position, which previously existed in the 2021-22 school year, will serve as a communicator between administration and the student body.

“The student council’s job is to create the experience of student life. Academics is an experience that just wasn’t covered yet, and that’s part of the student experience,” said Jackee Bruno, the Dean of Students. “Even if they don’t have the same training, experience, or degrees as admin, there’s still a value to sitting at the same table.”

Ellie L. ’26, the new Academics Rep explains that she has been trying to get more “clarity” on the academic policies behind homework load and major assignments.

“I’m trying to get a better system for surveying student opinion on academics and actually being able to get that to teachers and admin,” said Ellie. “I’m just starting that process, so it’s more of a long-term investment.”

The other change from last year was the removal of the CSL and Environmental Representatives.

According to Bruno, this was one of the key sticking points in the proposed changes last year.

“We have clubs that already, for the most part, on-board all of that,” said Kayte C. ’25, Student Council co-lead for this year. “If they need help, we will obviously be there, but we really want to encourage non-StuCo systems to be able to create events and be able to have that independence.”

II. Leadership Opportunities This year, the Student Council will be implementing a new “cabinet system.”

The system allows representatives to select volunteers as unelected associates to manage individual tasks of a given event, allowing the representative to gain greater leadership experience.

Bruno highlighted the lack of cooperation when planning Student Council-led projects in previous years.

“Representatives would organize an

event. They’d be the first to show up, the ones carrying everything and making it all happen. I had a lot of questions about how many chances [a Student Council member] actually had to demonstrate leadership,” Bruno said. “One of the things I wanted to do was make it a very obvious leadership structure.”

Additional changes are underway for how Student Council operates internally: meetings will now be closed to visitors, with clubs or individuals seeking an audience arranging it through an online form that will be shared with the school community soon.

Bruno hopes these changes will create new opportunities, while taking some pressure off of representatives.

“Assuming one person can represent 500 people’s needs for a role, say Equity and Inclusion, is ridiculous,” Bruno said. “But, if that person can also choose three, four, or more people to help them represent the entire group, and if they’re being guided by leaders above, then that system could carry the needs of our student body.”

III. Moving Forward While stronger accountability mechanisms are still being written, Bruno said that the Student Council will have a monthly peer review process, with the potential for removal from office under a three strikes system.

“I want each representative to define success for their position this year.

Hopefully whatever we decide will be repeatable and sustainable for next year," Bruno said, noting each representative elected this year is going to shape their position going forward.

Kayte explains that the reforms made to the Student Council system are not final: “We’re not scared to say ‘this isn’t working’ and make changes to them next year.”

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Redefining the feminine experience, one “girl dinner” at a time On TikTok, recent microtrends have profoundly affected my outlook on social gender dynamics

By Kayla L.

“Girl math!” Cassandra Mazzucco and Maya Hall exclaimed in a video posted on TikTok. Hall showed of her newlypurchased $38 purse, which meant “it’s $30. (Round down, not up).” Mazzucco then explained that she spent $200 at a store but that she bought nothing from any other stores she walked into: “So, when you spread it out, that was good.”

Hall echoes semisarcastically, “You saved money. Girl math!”

This summer, “girlblank” trends took over TikTok. No matter where on the internet I went, #girldinners, #girlmath, #Barbiegirls, and many more were there—unescapable, but in a good sense.

Unlike most microtrends on the platform, this digital embrace of the word “girl” also took over parts of my life in the real world.

Seeing a cultural shift online encouraged me to reckon with both my feminine and feminist identities these past few months.

Since June of this year, various microtrends—in the case of TikTok, digital trends that last from a few weeks to just a few months—embraced what I’m choosing to call “girl-ism.” The trends typically featured a relatable action, like #girldinner or #girlmath, where girls showed off their low-effort meals enjoyed alone (think: blueberries, leftover pasta, and guacamole) and habits of justifying spending (“cash money doesn’t count as real money since it does not detract from a bank account”), respectively. #hotgirl walks involved women going on power-walks as a form of self-care.

According to the analytics platform TikTok Creative Center, these terms were mostly nonexistent before this summer, but have quickly skyrocketed in popularity.

Every single term previously listed reached record engagement in June, July, August,

or September of this year. #girldinner alone has reached two billion views since its creation in May. Collectively, “girl-blank” trends have reached more than three billion views on TikTok in the last 120 days.

The increased engagement these past few months with “girly” trends initially made me queasy. To me, “girl” implied an overly feminine (whatever that means!), immature, irresponsible, or incapable woman. Its literal definition is “female adolescent.”

Even now, if a man were to call me “girl,” I would respond negatively because it would feel condescending.

However, seeing the community of women online reclaim this word indicates a larger and more empowering cultural shift to me. I see women not just embracing their feminine or hyperfeminine identities but ignoring what the patriarchy has conditioned us to do by putting no intention into pleasing men. #girldinner is all about making a meal that works for you, not whoever you have to cook for as a significant other or mother. Hot girl walks are all about taking time to reflect on yourself: what you are grateful for, your goals, and just how hot you are.

There is a radical freedom in all of this.

It makes me proud to be a young woman with a feminine and feminist side, because I realize now that they are not mutually exclusive. A woman can wear pink, like makeup or fashion, not cater to men, and also believe in gender equality.

Though some may be quick to point out that these microtrends were just that— microtrends—I disagree. Judging by the vast reach the movement has attained in just one summer, I believe that “girl-ism” will continue to be a positive force for change and cultural reckoning.

From the Hot Girl Summer of 2023 emerges a broader lesson I hope TikTokers, media creators, and even businesspeople will consider: women deserve to see all aspects of our womanhood unapologetically and normally embraced, “girl-ism” and all.

It is a smart decision and one that half the world will rally behind.

This Barbie was doomed to hypocrisy!

Summer blockbuster Barbie’s feminist promise is undermined by the limits of corporate-funded cinema

By Isabella X. This is not a review. Rather, it’s a critique of the conglomerate forces that predetermined Barbie’s fate.

Photo by Mattel

B OX E D B A C K U P The creation of Barbie movie dolls gains another level of irony when, in the movie, there's an entire scene where Barbie is forced into a toy box as a non-so-subtle metaphor for being subjugated by the patriarchy.

By the time the movie theater screen turned—well, pink—the credits began to roll, and Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice began rapping about being “bad like the Barbie,” I was still leaning forward in my seat waiting for something more. And when my mom turned to me with a quirked eyebrow and expectant gaze, asking, “Well, was it really all you had hyped it up to be?” I stayed uncharacteristically silent.

I couldn’t articulate a single thesis to describe that two-hour pink debacle I’d just seen. I really wanted to like Barbie. In fact, I wrote an entire op-ed last year about how I really wanted to like Barbie. But watching those credits roll, I felt like I’d watched a completely different movie from the one that I’d seen countless TikToks of, commending the Greta Gerwig-directed film for its commentary on mother-daughter relationships and criticism of ageism.

Instead, the movie was a bland repetition of introductory feminist principles. Yes, catcalling is bad. No, “but what if roles were reversed” arguments aren’t valid responses to criticisms of the patriarchy. After the Kens discover patriarchy and bring it into Barbieland, America Ferrara’s character, Gloria, gives a monologue about all the woes of non-toy women which slowly gets cut down into shorter and shorter soundbites, until her words sound more like 2016 Buzzfeed taglines than the nuanced insight I’ve come to expect from the woman who directed Lady Bird. (Although, maybe that’s the point: the symptoms of patriarchy are so

normalized that we’ve brushed them off as repetitive. Again, this movie is so vague in its commentary that its hard to really justify this claim.)

The moments that had potential, like when, after arriving in the real world, Margot Robbie’s “Stereotypical Barbie” meets a woman at a bus stop who embraced her beauty in old age, were rushed and not given enough time to develop. How had this woman managed to maintain confident in the face of a (no pun intended) dolled-up Barbie? Is the movie’s message for women to maintain ceaseless self-confidence in the face of relentlessly oppressive beauty standards?

As opposed to changing the beauty standards themselves? We may never know, because the scene lasts a whopping 90 seconds.

Barbie, in its attempt to appeal to all

Fundamentally, in a world where intellectual property can only be utilized for artistic critique with the corporation's consent and supervision, criticism can never be sincere. audiences as a blockbuster hit, failed at genuinely speaking to any. Despite its attempts at progressive messaging, at its core, Barbie is a hypocritical attempt at selfawareness without taking any actual action to address its own criticisms of unrealistic beauty standards.

The root of Barbie’s failures is encapsulated in a single headline: “Barbie the Movie Dolls Are Here: Where to Buy Them.”

The headline is from a Billboard article detailing the release of Barbie dolls modeled on the characters in the movie. It’s laughably ironic—every doll based off Margot Robbie’s character in the collection is pre-patriarchy dismantling. Children are encouraged to buy the 80s-inspired inline skating unitard that Barbie was groped in, or the 1950s style gingham dress which is quite literally used to represent all the oppressive notions of traditional femininity that the movie aims to critique.

Barbie was doomed to hypocrisy because, at the end of the day, the intellectual property is owned by Mattel. The company executives had to approve every self-deprecating joke and valid criticism of the brand. Of course they’d let Will Ferrell flail around in rollerblades as Mattel’s CEO if it meant that Mattel’s real CEO would see $1.38 billion in box office grosses.

Even if the movie had delivered the most scathing, progressive commentary on Mattel’s role in shaping the self-image of millions of young girls, it would ultimately be insincere.

Fundamentally, in a world where intellectual property can only be utilized for artistic critique with the corporation’s consent and supervision, criticism can never be sincere.

The reality of the Barbie movie is bleak, almost dystopian. I came out of the theater a much more cynical person than I was before. But that doesn’t mean there was nothing to be gained from Barbie. My hope is that, with the immense discourse the film has incited, movie-goers will begin thinking more critically about conglomerate-produced “progressive” commentary—I know I will.

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Pop Culture Report Card: Summer Edition

By Ellie L. It is easy to dismiss Love in Taipei as a cheesy movie and a bad adaptation of Loveboat, Taipei, Abigail Wen’s bestselling teen novel. Within the first few minutes, it quickly falls into the classic teen movie elements: slow-motion introductions to every love interest, swoon-worthy glances set against vibrant nights, and occasionally clumsy dialogue. Salacious scenes and their darker, dramatic impact from the book are removed in favor of a family-friendly, though not quite family-centered, narrative.

But, despite these changes, Ashley Liao is radiant as Ever Wong, a timid 21-year old who is sent off to a Taiwanese cultural program for the summer before medical school. Her beaming grin reflects the youthful spirit of the movie, endlessly effervescent until a disastrous typhoon generates the simple narrative of staying true to yourself.

This theme of self-discovery is woven into every relationship Ever makes, breaks, or holds onto. The medical future her immigrant parents have sacrificed for, and her own wish to pursue dance, are woven into the love triangle at the forefront of the movie. Ever spends much of the movie with the studious and handsome Rick Woo, AKA “Boy Wonder,” who is the perfect Asian boy. He is intelligent, he is dreamy, and he always succumbs to the pressure of his family—something Ever has done her whole life. But she is allured by rebellious Xavier,

whose artistry and attraction to Ever form the romantic mystery from the books. He is reckless at times, he dates other girls, but he is always true to himself—something he teaches Ever.

But perhaps the most important relationship for Ever is her loving, playful relationship with her beloved Auntie Shu, who is masterfully portrayed by Cindy Cheung. Auntie Shu, the owner of an apartment that has become an artist collective, is free spirited and delightfully random. She advises Ever on her journey of self discovery and gives her space to dance in her studio. She symbolizes the culture Ever has never felt connected to and inspires Ever’s Loveboat charity festival.

Auntie Shu’s presence brightens a movie where Asian American identity is often reduced to little jokes and the subtext of Ever’s family struggles. Sophie Ha, one of Ever’s new friends, tells her at the beginning, “This isn’t the ’90s, Ever. Everyone knows Asians are cool now.” This snappy line informs how Ever will feel about her identity, and about Taipei itself, by the end of the movie. Yet, there is no complementary journey, only a timid start that can be excused by general nervousness and a concluding proclamation of Ever’s love of the city. The movie acts as if Ever did not grow up as the only Asian person in Ohio, a key component of her identity from the books that is intrinsically tied to her self worth, social skills, and family dynamics. She still doesn’t know her culture and sustains the

same repressed personality, but she seems perfectly at ease with her identity, as does every other student in the program.

This change completely shifts the core of what made Loveboat, Taipei such a cathartic, Asian American classic: there wasn’t Ever just coming into her own identity and self; there was Rick, struggling to be the perfect son, boyfriend and student; there was Sophie, striving to find a husband to prove her worth; and there was Xavier, rebelling under his father’s unattainable expectations.

The city brought these raw feelings out of Ever in a way that made me root for her growing confidence and, most importantly, empathize with her complicated relationship with her identity. The city still transforms Ever’s confidence and family dynamics, and I can still cheer her on. But, I cannot empathize.

Still, Taipei itself is perhaps the true star of the movie. It gives life to all scenes through its utter beauty, whether Ever is hiking through a verdant, emerald forest or trying every possible fried snack in the lantern lit night market. It heightens the charm Ashley Liao brings to the table, and provides a visual feast.

As Ever says, “This is a love letter to a place I never knew eight weeks ago. Now it’s a part of me.” By the end of the movie, it became a part of me, too.

Love in Taipei is not a perfect adaptation.

It’s not a groundbreaking commentary on the Asian American experience. But it’s still delightful, and absolutely worth a watch.

GUTS spills the messy insides of the spotlight

Photo by CNN

The adaptation of Abigail Wen’s novel Loveboat, Taipei isn’t faithful, but it’s still charming

Barbenheimer: A This summer, two blockbusters burst on the scene, inspiring millions of Americans to flock to cinemas in record numbers. The intensely awaited Barbie became the highest-grossing film by a female director after crossing the $1 billion mark in early August. Oppenheimer, a historical film chronicling the creation of the atomic bomb, opened to critical acclaim, grossing $853 million and going on to become the second most successful R-rated film of all time.

Photo by HuffPost

Love in Taipei : good movie, bad adaptation

Photo by Paramount+

By Gabe H.

Colleen Ballinger controversy: F The curtain may be flickering on Colleen Ballinger, whose YouTube alter-ego Miranda Sings quickly became a household name in the 2010s—after posts surfaced of the content creator engaging in sexually-charged conversations with minors. However, by far the most damning act was Ballinger’s mockapology video itself, where she plucked a ukulele and lamented the “toxic gossip train” that triggered her downfall.

Photo by Larissa Hofmann

T E E N AG E D R E A M Rodrigo's sophomore offering displays marked maturity, both musically and thematically.

“They all say that it gets better / It gets better the more that you grow,” laments the chorus of “teenage dream,” the concluding song on Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS. The lyrics are a little on the nose (perhaps why this song was chosen as her outro): Two years after Rodrigo’s first album release, the now 20-year-old may have grown out of her “teenage dream,” but she is only getting better.

After releasing her hit single, “driver's license,” in January 2021, Rodrigo rose from Disney Channel child actress to relatable teen pop star overnight. In one week, she set Spotify’s record for streams, became the youngest artist to debut on top of the Billboard Hot 100, and was compared to pop veterans like Taylor Swift and Lorde.

Rodrigo’s debut, Sour, was an emotional chronicle of teenage breakup, from bitter jealousy in “good 4 u” to all-consuming heartache in “driver's license.”

However, in Rodrigo’s sophomore album, released on Sept. 8, the open wounds of Sour have healed. On GUTS, she ruminates on having fun in adulthood while reflecting on her rise to the public eye.

"I’m feeling a lot happier these days.

Everything’s pretty good. So I wasn’t going to make something super devastating," Rodrigo said in an interview with The Rolling Stone.

Whether it be through her sarcasm, witty punchlines, or grungy melodies, the album is not only happier than Rodrigo’s debut but also more self-aware. I don’t think GUTS is anything I have never heard from Rodrigo before; it's very recognizably her, but I also don’t think it has to be.

Rodrigo wasn’t shooting for a reinvention

after her award-winning debut; after all, as she explains in “making the bed,” she is still in the process of inventing herself: “I’m so tired of being the girl that I am/Every good thing has turned into something I dread.”

Instead, Rodrigo masterfully expands on the two signature styles of her last hit album—emotional ballads and bratty poprock—through newfound maturity and selfawareness. All of this is combined to paint a moving portrait of a young girl coming into her own in the public eye.

The album's opening song, “all-american b*tch,” explores Rodrigo's feelings of anger and confusion with the impossible standards that women are expected to live up to.

The track opens with a gentle acoustic melody while Rodrigo describes an image of perfection: “I am light as a feather and as stiff as a board / I pay attention to things that most people ignore.”

Yet, as Rodrigo reaches the chorus, she flips the switch off sweet acoustics and on to spiteful grunge, revealing her frustration with the impossible standards she is expected to live up to: “I forgive and I forget / I know my age and I act like it.”

On GUTS, there are still many of the emotional and cresconding ballads that made up Sour — In “Vampire," Rodrigo sings, “I used to think I was smart, but you made me look so naive / The way you sold me for parts, you sunk your teeth into me.”

Although "Vampire" examines Rodrigo's heartbreak, it is not just about melancholy and regret. It's about change. The song might fit on Sour in production, but it perfectly represents Rodrigo’s rise to the spotlight. No longer is she a teenager attacking a boy she once loved; now, she laments fame itself.

Twitter becoming X: A change no one asked for: D Elon Musk parted ways with the signature blue bird branding in June, renaming the platform X. As Musk is notoriously prone to spontaneity, it is yet to be seen whether or not the change will last, but it’s evident that the company’s rebranding was a thinly veiled attempt to draw attention back to the lagging service.

Photo by People

By Josie B.

Photo by USA Today

Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album isn’t afraid to laugh at itself, even as the whole world watches

Lizzo's weight-shaming fiasco: F On Aug. 1, pop superstar Lizzo came under global scrutiny after three backup dancers on her Special world tour filed a lawsuit accusing her of fat-shaming and sexual harassment. The accusations starkly contrasted with the singer’s public persona, in which she’s branded herself as a champion of body positivity. On Aug. 24, TMZ reported that the singer was planning on filing a counterlawsuit. Having attended her Special tour myself, this news cycle was particularly dismaying.

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Meet your faculty

FEATURES

9/29/23

Get to know this year’s 12 new classroom teachers

By Alvin Y. & Niam K.

J AYA N T G H O S H , M AT H Jayant Ghosh (he/him) was born in Mumbai, India and earned degrees in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University and MIT. Gosh is excited to teach students who are extremely motivated and willing to explore further than what is taught in class. He enjoys running, tennis, and music.

What kind of music do you like?

“The Beatles are my all-time favorite band, but that’s kind of old fashioned now. I like songs where you can hear and understand lyrics. Today, lyrics is kind of secondary since people focus on beat, but I like to focus on the words, so those types of bands are my favorite.”

D AV I D E I K , B I O L O G Y David Eik (he/they) was born in Santa Rosa where they developed their love of science in high school. Eik attended Colorado College where they received a degree in Molecular Biology and Spanish. After, they studied immunotherapies for a leukemia at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. Eik subsequently moved to San Francisco to study sudden cardiac death before their current role in the Upper School.

*Note: Due to space constraints, this is a list of faculty/staff who are also classroom teachers. It is not inclusive of all new staff who join Nueva this fall.

SY D N I M A R M O R , C O U N S E L I N G Sydni Marmor (she/her) was born in New England, Connecticut, and received her degree in Counseling at Lesley University, later earning her M.A in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Holistic Studies at the university. She is excited to teach SOM and get to know her students through classes and counseling.

Marmor is also excited to incorporate nature into SOM to build connection and community. In her free time, enjoys backpacking, hiking, camping, and cooking.

What is your hot take?

“When you cut a sandwich into triangles rather than rectangles, there is more sandwich in the triangles than the rectangles.”

M A R A BA L L M E R , B I O LO GY Mara Ballmer (she/her) was born in Ventura, California, and attended Carleton College where she received her degree in Biology. After graduation, Ballmer started as a lab technician in virology and immunology lab at the University of Wisconsin.

She is excited to “geek out” with students through interesting conversations.

What TV show, book, or movie do you recommend?

“If you want something that’s trashy, Selling Sunset was my show of the summer. It’s just like reality TV and drama. One of my favorite books is The House in the Cerulean Sea. It’s very cute, whimsical, and just brought me to another world.”

What's one fun fact about yourself?

“I was once stalked by a mountain lion.

I was at a summer camp up in the Santa Barbara mountains, walking alone in the dark, and I heard something gently padding behind me. I thought, ‘it’s just a turkey, don't freak out.’ It keeps going and I hear it growling, so I keep calm and walk towards a field. Turns out it wasn’t stalking me, it was stalking deer on the field.”

R E G I N A YO O N G , E N G L I S H

J U L I E H E R M A N , D E B AT E

S T E V E N M AT H I S , S O U L

BRIANNA BEEHLER, ENGLISH

Born in Miami, Florida, Steven Mathis (he/ him) attended Oakwood University where he earned his B.A in Journalism with a minor in English. He later attended Alabama A&M where he received his M.A in English Education. Mathis enjoys reading, traveling, baking, playing racquetball, and running in his free time. Before coming to Nueva, Mathis worked in multiple roles at schools in Alabama, Colorado, and Oakland.

Born in Chelsea, Vermont, Brianna Beehler (she/her) received her B.A. in English with a minor in Film Studies from Tufts University, eventually moving to California where she earned her PhD in English Literature at USC. In her free time, Beehler enjoys doing yoga, baking bread, biking in Marin County, and trying new things.

What are you excited for at Nueva?

“I am excited to learn. There’s a lot I am learning about the school and also my role here as Equity and Inclusion Coordinator.

I’m also excited to learn about the students and how to make this school better and stronger.”

What is a book you recommend?

“I just read Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen and it was amazing. I used to have a negative relationship with short stories and enjoyed reading really long stories. It was so immersive and beautiful what she constructed and I didn’t feel like I needed more.”

L I A M M C D O N A L D , M AT H

N I C K C I N KO , P H Y S I C S

Liam McDonald (he/him), born in San Mateo, attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he received his degree in Computer Science and graduated from Nueva in 2019. McDonald is excited to help students develop complicated ideas.

Nick Cinko (he/him) was born in Valparaiso, Indiana and attended Purdue University where he earned his B.A in math and physics. He earned his M.A in physics at UC Berkeley. He is excited to see the variety of courses Nueva offers and hopes to explore all the different physics courses which are available to the students. In his free time, Cinko enjoys cooking, running, hiking, climbing, reading, playing video games and board games, watching movies, and trying new things.

What is your hot take?

“There are three main kinds of oatmeal: steel cut oats, rolled oats, and instant oats.

Instant oats are terrible. You then have two primary contenders for the oatmeal spot, steel cut oats and rolled oats. Of these two, rolled oats are more popular, but they are vastly inferior to steel cut oats. Steel cut oats reign supreme in the flavor profile, the tactile experience of consumption, and their ability to be cooked and last a while as a food you prepare once then eat for a while.”

What is your proudest accomplishment?

“When I was a freshman—this is when I was 14—I broke the five-minute mile. When I was in school, it was all academic accomplishment, and athletics are harder for me than math, science, and English.”

ALEXANDER BROCCHINI, H I STO RY

P R E E T H I S U N DA R E SA K U M A R , B I O LO GY & C H E M I ST RY Born in Chennai, India, Preethi Sundaresakumar (she/her) earned her first M.A in Microbiology in India, later moving to San Jose State University where she earned another M.A in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. She is excited to find new ways to teach, being bold in her methods, and having fun while doing so. In her free time, she enjoys singing, DIY, reading, and spending time with her dog.

Regina Yoong (she/her) grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Yoong earned her B.A in English and Journalism at the University of Malay, later receiving her M.A in English Literature from Ohio University. Yoong enjoys biking, hiking, camping, and enjoying nature during her free time.

Julie Herman (she/her) was born in Livermore and attended Santa Clara University where she earned her B.A in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology before attending UC Santa Cruz for graduate school. In her free time, she enjoys playing tabletop roleplay games and hiking with her family.

Favorite food?

“I really miss Malaysian food. We have nasi lamak, which is a coconut rice dish with sambal, a chili spice, and we have it with fried chicken and anchovies. That’s one thing I’m craving.”

Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Alexander Brocchini (he/him) first attended UC Santa Cruz where he earned a degree in history. He later attended UC Berkeley, receiving his M.A in Education. Brocchini taught middle school prior to his current role at Nueva.

What's your hot take?

“I think In-N-Out is overrated. The shakes are bad and they should feel bad. I think Five Guys is better.”

What are some fun facts about yourself?

“I was a competitive sailor in college and still raise sailboats from time to time. I am a fourth-generation Bay Area resident, and I don’t like socks.”

What songs do you enjoy singing?

“I like singing Bollywood songs, so I pick a few Hindi songs that I like and enjoy singing.”

FEATURES

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Bay Meadows before Nueva's construction (left) versus the bustling neighborhood today (above).

The road less parked

Student parking restrictions at Bay Meadows have a far deeper history than what meets the eye If someone were to visit Nueva’s Bay Meadows campus 10 years ago, they would find dirt. There was only one townhome development in the area where the school stands today. There were no office buildings or town square with coffee shops, ice cream stores, or burger joints. There wasn’t even a park.

Parking on that square of dirt might have been easy, but the neighborhood has since evolved far beyond the flatness of its past.

In August, Dean of Students Jackee Bruno issued a reminder via email about parking and driving to school: students should not be doing it. Guidance around parking had slipped during the pandemic, and Bruno wanted to get everyone back on the same track.

“It's not that I am ‘the enforcer,’ but I did want more accountability,” Bruno said. “We need the permits to continue building and wanted to make sure we were up to code on our agreements.”

Bruno’s reminder came at an ideal time: the school is currently embarking on a number of construction projects, and in order to obtain building permits, it needs to be up to date with its promises to the community.

Nueva’s original agreement with developers hinged on the idea that it would be a fully commuter school. It wasn’t just Nueva. The entirety of Bay Meadows was

designed as a transit-organized community. While neighbors may not have been an issue when the school was built, developers needed to ensure that the school’s plans were in line with the goals of the entire development.

One of the biggest issues on the table was parking. Nueva was held to the same standards for parking in the soon-to-be neighborhood as home builders, office development builders, and retailers in the area.

“I think [the lack of neighbors when Nueva was originally started] was both an opportunity and a challenge,” said Terry Lee, Associate Head of School.

“We didn’t have the crazy uncle showing up at meetings saying, ‘these high schoolers are troublemakers,’ but what we did have were developers having to stand in for all those future neighbors.”

Parking capacity was determined based on the school’s population, but the school ended up building less parking in order to accommodate more space for classrooms and students.

“We knew we wanted to build a school for 450 students, and we had a good idea of how many faculty and staff would be required to support those students,” Lee said. “There's no way we would have the same space for classrooms and programs if we had 300 parking spaces as opposed to 125.”

By reducing the parking capacity, Nueva was required by the city to support and promote alternative modes of

transit.

In came Caltrain Go-Passes, which are now given to every student free of charge. And the Hillsdale train station is conveniently located just one block from campus.

However, not all students have the privilege of easily-accessible public transportation.

Charlotte S. ’25, who lives in Brisbane, has struggled to find a sustainable commute to school.

“Both of the closest train stations to me are very inaccessible. Driving to the train station alone takes half the time of my normal commute,” Charlotte said. “I have to sacrifice over an hour of sleep, which isn’t great for a busy teenager.“ Bruno and Lee understand that transit isn’t a feasible solution for every student. This year, Bruno is piloting a parking program for students who have no other option except driving themselves. While only seven parking spots are currently available, Bruno hopes to raise that number in the future.

In an ideal world, Charlotte hopes that students will be encouraged to apply for parking if they need it, rather than scared away.

“I know there are space limitations, but I think having more easily accessible student parking would be best,” Charlotte said. “I think students might hesitate to apply because they think it will take a lot of effort and negotiation.”

A Nueva homecoming

Alum and math teacher Liam McDonald reflects on his singular journey at the Upper School

Photo by Tidal Staff

Affable and eccentric, Liam McDonald ’19 is a proud product of Nueva. This year, after studying engineering in college, he returned as an associate math teacher, co-teaching linear algebra with Jana Comstock and leading a twelfth grade advisory alongside Claire Yeo. McDonald’s return to Nueva distinguishes him as the first graduate of the Upper School to return as a faculty member.

To say this is a full-circle moment for McDonald would be an understatement.

When he was a student, his favorite elective was none other than Comstock’s Linear Algebra course, which he hailed as “extremely cool.” Citing Comstock as a lifelong mentor and confidante, he says their collaboration has been “a great experience for the both of us because it lets us kind of conspire with our perspectives.”

Yeo, who taught his Gothic Literature seminar in twelfth grade, is now his co-advisor. He recalls fond memories of working with her to direct a senior Shakespeare showcase.

“We were incredibly collaborative,” he recalled. Now they get the chance to bring the same degree of collaboration to their shared advisory.

Photo by Kayla Ling

By Gabe H.

FULL CIRCLE McDonald at his desk (top) and in his senior portrait (bottom).

Though a return to Nueva was always in the cards for McDonald, he came to this realization during the Covid-19 pandemic, which offered him a period of contemplation and the chance to reflect on his career goals. An inchoate aspiration crystallized and led him to his verdict: “Teaching was the answer.” Now, McDonald wishes to apply the skills he learned from the school to “give back to this community.”

Sharing sentimental anecdotes about his high school experience, McDonald acknowledged various changes about the Upper School. When he was a student, the classrooms flanking the I-Lab wing were vacant, and McDonald and his friends used the area as a homework hideout, exchanging stories while completing assignments. Now, those spaces have been converted into arts classrooms, and the creation of the Rosenberg wing in late 2019 further expanded the building.

Despite the physical evolution of the school, McDonald says that a distinctive culture of curiosity has endured.

“It trickles down and affects the community on a pretty holistic level…Everyone around here has something going on that they're really excited about. That leads to a larger culture of buy-in and facilitated engagement across the board.”

Upper School English teacher Pearl Bauer discusses her forthcoming book

By Natalie L. When Upper School English teacher Pearl Bauer was nine years old, she moved from Manila, Philippines to a predominantly white area of New Jersey. She recalls her school experience from middle school all throughout to getting her PhD in nineteenth century British poetics as a tireless pattern of white faces and white-centric narratives.

“My college education was really focused on a colonialist, white supremacist landscape,” Bauer said. “When I started considering being a professor, I didn’t even think it was possible for me because all my professors were white. I never saw anyone who looked like me.”

In 2020, Bauer began co-writing a book, titled Cosmology of the Circle: Decolonial Weaving in the Classroom, inspired by her life experiences and focused on promoting emotionally connected classroom spaces.

Her co-writers, Jennifer Murphy, an International Studies teaching assistant at USF, and Egidio de Bustamant, a Senior Lecturer at the Unit for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Innsbruck, share sentiments on improving the modern classroom.

The book, likely to be a completed draft by next summer and eventually published by Living Justice Press, will emphasize how colonization has influenced classroom dynamics and propose integrating indigenous methodology and values to foster a more emotionally connected and respectful classroom environment.

Photo by Pearl Bauer

Photo by Scott Lenhart

T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

By Josie B.

7

The classroom, reimagined Photo by Wilson Meany

9/29/23

“ A H E A R T- C E N T R I C P R O J E C T ” Bauer's writing and research stems from her personal experience as a first-generation immigrant.

Throughout the writing and research process, Bauer and her co-writers have worked in collaboration with a mentor, Dr. Jonathan Cordero. Cordero is the metush, or head of chair, of the Ramaytush Ohlone people, the original peoples of the Bay Area, who has helped Bauer and her co-authors better understand indigenous knowledge and terminology.

In one chapter, Bauer will highlight the profound difference it makes to teach a class while sitting in a circle rather than in rows of desks. In another, the effectiveness of the elicitive approach, or the prompting of learners to recall information they already know by activating prior knowledge.

Much of the book’s content is inspired by the feelings of isolation Bauer experienced in her own education due to her race. And, with her background as a first-generation immigrant, Bauer uniquely blends personal anecdotes—first as a student, then as a teacher—as qualitative research for the topics her book addresses.

“I want to teach the way I wish I was taught,” Bauer said. “It’s such a heart-centric project, which made it feel very natural to write. A lot of our research is synthesized by our experiences and what we have to say to the world.”

In parallel to writing their book, Bauer and her co-writers will be featured in a chapter of a book project, Nonkilling Relationships, edited by writer Sofía Herrero Rico, which will come out in 2024. The chapter, which largely covers the same topics as their own book will in the future, has received “fantastic feedback.”

Bauer hopes that her book will inspire readers and educators to imagine the possibilities for more emotionally connected change within the classroom.

“I am optimistic that our book will reach the right people,” Bauer says. “If we could create positive change in even one educator’s life, then that’s a win for me.”

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8

FEATU

Emerging

Demographic profile Numbers are of the 2023–2024 Upper School student body.

There are 450 enrolled students this year. The categories below are not mutually exclusive and may overlap—families can identify under multiple identities. This data is provided by families/students during the admissions process and may not accurately reflect how currently-enrolled students identify.

Underrepresented students, DE faculty weigh in on diversity an

By Gabe H. & Owen Y-L. [ CONTINUED FROM P 1 ]

1% Native American

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

27% Multiracial

51% Asian

2% Black/ African American

7% Latine/x/ Hispanic

1% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

42% White 2% Middle Eastern

Like many private schools seeking new applicants each year, Nueva often touts its “70% students of color” population—a statistic featured prominently on the website and in admissions brochures. However, that percentage doesn’t translate to lived representation, visibility, or belonging for certain students from underrepresented groups.

For Wendy E. ’26, who identifies as Latina, the transition to Nueva last fall as a freshman was jarring. After reading about the school’s commitment to diversity, she didn’t anticipate feeling siloed as a community member—not only was she a new student, but she was a minority in her new school.

“I felt imposter syndrome throughout all of ninth grade,” she said.

Margot S. ’25, who identifies as French-Peruvian, felt a similar yearning for a broader presence of Latine students.

“I wish I could walk around the halls and see people who look like me, who understand my culture and my experiences,” Margot said. “Shared cultural experiences” have set the foundation for some of her “most meaningful friendships,” she added.

While assessing Nueva’s approach to diversity, Margot identified a selfperpetuating cycle. She believes the low presence of underrepresented students disincentivizes families of marginalized communities from sending their kids to Nueva. “It’s kind of like a reinforcement,” she added.

Looking at Nueva in the context of its surrounding populations, there is a clear disparity in terms of representing the larger community. While 24% of San Mateo County identifies as “Hispanic or Latino,” according to U.S. Census data, only 7% of Upper School students identify under the “Latine/x/ Hispanic” label.

Wendy noted that her Latina heritage hadn’t been a “huge part of [her] identity,” but being a minority at Nueva garnered unwanted visibility.

She found that it was “very rare to see someone that

looked like me” and felt di from her peers.

“It was hard to accept th now be a defining feature,” Zara M. ’25 agreed that underrepresented student on the basis of their identi pervasive reality. Zara, who as Black, Indian, and Musl during Ramadan, she face questions about the holida “It’s really hard being in where no one understands Zara reflected.

As the newly elected D Equity, and Inclusion Stud representative, Zara hopes events with other schools t underrepresented Nueva s to connect with those with backgrounds and shared c “I know how isolating it see other people who look daily basis,” Zara said.

For those students who out of place, THRIVE hold importance, said Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator Mathis, who co-facilitates with College Counseling O Manager Erika Rojas.

“I’ve lived a lot of my lif outskirts of belonging and Mathis said. “THRIVE is im me because it intentionally the students who need the THRIVE provides a my services to its students. Me qualify for financial assista their college application fe and are able to attend scho like prom and homecomin Students with parents requ translation services are acc in parent-facing conferenc events.

Most of all, the program an oasis of connection and said Margot, who has atten meetings since ninth grade “It means everything to said, adding that the space beyond affinity. “It's more t a community built off of ra socioeconomic status. Our goes past that.”

Yet, while THRIVE prov haven for underrepresente and their families once the Nueva, more challenges ar trying to recruit those stud first place.

MECHANISMS OF D

Illustration by Senya S.

When it comes to diver of Admissions Melanie Le the importance of her team “We really focus on hav community in all aspects— and ethnic diversity, socioe diversity, diversity of thoug diversity,” Leon said. “It is pieces that we’re thinking we look at applicants or cr Attracting these applica the most difficult part, tho acknowledged a history of and discrimination tied to of giftedness and IQ assess which Admissions uses to Lower and Middle School As a result, it can be harde gifted students in commun “It’s not because there a and brown kids who are gi because they have not bee Leon explained. “It’s the sy widespread identification we're trying to combat to h diverse population.”

Grogan also emphasize around the “gifted” label w Black and Latine families.

PAGE

URES

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DIVERSITY

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their children have been historically underrepresented in institutions that boast this term, it has sent the indirect message that they don’t fit under that umbrella.

Grogan recalled a specific instance in which a Latine family turned down admission to the Lower School due to concerns over a lack of representation for their child. Years later, they applied to and enrolled in the Upper School, a testament to the school’s growth.

“I’ve lived a lot of my life on the outskirts of belonging and acceptance. THRIVE is important to me because it intentionally puts eyes on the students who need them.”

STEVEN MATHIS

To address these tensions, Leon and Grogan both emphasized the importance of demystifying giftedness from an educational standpoint.

“A lot of it is explaining what giftedness is and helping people understand that, for gifted Black and brown students, this community can be for them,” Grogan said. “There’s a level of education, trust building, and relationship building that has to happen.”

Beyond racial and ethnic underrepresentation, the high price tag of applying to and attending the school can present another barrier for prospective families. To mitigate this, the school provides fee waivers to cover the cost of applying. Also, in order for psychologists to appear on a schoolcurated list of IQ assessment providers, they must agree to offer lower-cost services or a sliding scale of prices.

“That means that we’re committed to supporting families and we feel that they shouldn’t go into debt in any way to be part of our community,” Leon said.

Once students arrive on campus, they can access the extensive financial assistance program, which meets 100% of the demonstrated need. In recent years, the program has expanded to automatically cover non-tuition expenses, whether it’s a new pair of cleats for soccer or a school-organized trip. Currently, 21% of Upper School students receive financial assistance, and the school has $7 million in dedicated funds.

“We want students and families to be able to join our community and have access to everything that we have to offer,” Leon said, adding that this level of need-based financial support is unprecedented for independent schools. “If you have programs that folks can’t access, then you're creating a two-tier system.”

The admissions team has also made strides to promote diversity through cultivating partnerships with community organizations.

For over 20 years, the school has partnered with the nonprofit A Better Chance, where Grogan worked before coming to Nueva. The organization helps students of color gain enrollment to leading independent schools by working closely with their families during the application process.

Nueva also partners with Our Family Coalition, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ students, as well

as various other nonprofits aimed at bolstering Black and Latine enrollment.

Their efforts have paid off. This year, Nueva enrolled 24 new students schoolwide who identify as Latine/x/ Hispanic—more than double the number from the previous admissions season.

Throughout the department, Leon and Grogan have used their own identities and experiences to connect with prospective families.

“I really try to connect and say, ‘hey, I see you as an African American or Black family going through the process, and I’m here for you,’” Grogan said.

Leon, who identifies as Colombian, has found that her experience as a fluent Spanish speaker and firstgeneration American has allowed families to feel more comfortable approaching her.

“I know families will come to me with questions that they might not feel comfortable asking anyone else,” Leon said. Because of her background, “they feel that affinity, they feel like I will understand.”

This positive commitment towards change is what drew her in the first place, said Grogan, who is entering her 18th year at Nueva.

“In the past, there were a lot of people excited about the work. They were saying, ‘go out and do the work,’” Grogan recalled. “Now, it is ‘let’s do the work.’ I absolutely feel a difference.”

LOOKING FORWARD Part of this shift in culture stems from Nueva’s expansion of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Team. In 2020, Nueva added the role of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator to both the Upper and Middle School campuses. Alison Williams, who worked at Nueva from 2016 through 2022, was the inaugural DEI Coordinator for grades seven through 12.

“The DEI positions were created in response to the demands made on behalf of the Black community in 2020,” Williams said, referring to the Racial Accountability Task Force, which advocated for more support for Black students and faculty during the period where national racial turmoil galvanized discussions around diversity at Nueva.

The task force deemed the inclusion of a DEI Coordinator a “necessity,” “simply because it’s unsustainable for one person to be able to support all divisions and constituents in a K-12 school,” Williams added.

In her time in that role, Williams worked to build a solid foundation; molding THRIVE into a “more comprehensive and holistic program,” and incorporating a “DEI perspective in conversations around student support.”

This year, Mathis stepped into the position of DEI Coordinator, succeeding Matthew Oakland. What was instantly striking to Mathis was the immediacy with which the school responded to student grievances about instances of racism or targeted microaggressions. Emphasizing the school’s “responsive” approach, he praised past diversity teams for acknowledging instances of bigotry and addressing them head-on. “[Oakland] saw the importance of ensuring expediency and transparency,” Mathis said. “I want to make sure that I continue in those same steps.”

Previously, Mathis had served as principal of a charter school with a majority Black and Latine population. When he arrived at Nueva, Mathis couldn’t help but acknowledge the lacking presence of these communities. Nonetheless, he was blown away by the vast range of academic programming and state-ofthe-art facilities. He only wished that these opportunities could be available

to some of his past students.

Now, Mathis hopes to make a positive impact by expanding diversity in the student body and creating a space where underrepresented students feel a sense of belonging.

“I want to make sure that I am preparing a ground that is fertile for those coming in,” he emphasized. His goal? “If my son can come here and feel safe, I have done a solid job.”

Looking forward, Grogan has a similar mission. In particular, she wants to destigmatize conversations around wealth and the financial burdens of attending Nueva, in line with her vision of increasing socioeconomic diversity.

“The thing that we’ve been wrestling with is shifting the socioeconomic culture of the school,” Grogan said.

“We have to be able to have those conversations, and actually say out loud that this is an expensive school. We live in an expensive area.”

The admissions department also hopes to continue attracting and retaining students from economically underrepresented backgrounds.

While she doesn’t have a numerical target for diversity, Grogan hopes to see an ongoing upward trend in

“We’re committed to supporting families and we feel that they shouldn’t go into debt in any way to be part of our community.”

MELANIE LEON

underrepresented enrollment each year.

“The magic number is that every year we’re improving on the last time,” Grogan said. “I consider every single child a success story.”

To continue that upward trend, Leon highlighted the importance of increasing transparency in the financial assistance process. Rather than waiting for an acceptance letter to outline the terms of a student’s financial assistance, she wants to make this information available on the website. In the coming years, Leon suggested creating an online portal where families seeking assistance can input their finances and receive an estimate of how much they’ll need to pay.

“Let’s remove that barrier,” Leon said.

“Let’s remove that anxiety and allow families to access it from day one.”

Beyond the admissions department, Director of Communications Karin Wood noted that her team also plays an important role in representing the school, both internally and to prospective families.

“We want the students who ultimately apply and enroll to feel that their expectations of the school are being met by their experience,” Wood said. “We help hone what we’re saying and check that it reflects our strategic mission.”

In her role, Wood hopes to prioritize diverse representation while avoiding tokenism.

“It’s always been my belief that the most authentic representation of a community is to have the people in the community speak for themselves,” she explained, adding that the communications team has focused on spotlighting student voices in their projects.

The school as a whole is also trying to standardize and streamline its process of collecting and presenting demographic data from the community.

Wood noted that, on one hand, more granular labels—like specific national origins, ethnicities and multiracial identities—are useful for shedding light on the nuances of Nueva’s population beyond the “70% students of color” bucket. On the other hand, she says, broader racial categories can be important for identifying themes, and increased granularity poses the question: “How specific should we get?”

“It’s hard to capture data that is 100 percent representative of each individual,” Wood said, “because then you splinter your data so profoundly that it’s hard to reach more generalized conclusions.”

Overall, while increased percentages of Black and Latine students are key indicators of diversity, student belonging remains Grogan’s ultimate priority.

“If you have the numbers but students aren’t happy here or don’t see themselves here on campus, then we missed the mark,” Grogan emphasized.

“Of course we want to increase diversity numbers in all these ways, but we want to make sure we have systems in place to support them so they can thrive, not just survive.”

This, she adds, is where the larger community can pitch in: “Everyone has to own the work to make sure that underrepresented communities feel a sense of inclusion and belonging.”

Illustrations by Jodie C.

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10

The many facets of “diversity”

By The Nueva Current Editorial Board

Welcome to Volume 7, Issue 1 of The Nueva Current.

While “diversity” may carry a racial and ethnic oriented connotation, it would be an oversight to think that’s all it is. We wrote our centerfold article to highlight diversity at Nueva, focusing mainly on the racial and ethnic aspects.

But that’s not Nueva’s only area of struggle regarding diversity.

We’ve heard from our peers that talking about and acknowledging wealth at Nueva can be an uncomfortable conversation. We published an op-ed in issue five of last year about how we discuss it. But there also needs to be a conversation as to how to.

Whether it is because we are in the Bay Area—the U.S.’s fastest growing economic area, according to SFGate—or the hefty tuition fees acting as a barrier for entry, there is no doubt our school can suffer from the same problem faced by many private schools—a lack of socioeconomic diversity.

And while administration works to overcome the larger barriers—such as tuition fees and financial aid—how we address class in our everyday conversations also plays a vital role in ensuring that Nueva is welcoming and comfortable for students of all economic backgrounds. Building upon last year’s op-ed, some concrete steps students can take are to not assume that everyone has the same financial privileges as them and make sure that financial status doesn’t prevent students from participating in spirit activities.

We hope that the articles featured within this issue center our community’s continuous drive promote equity and change, upholding our aim to use the paper as a bastion for student voices. Happy reading!

Sincerely, The Nueva Current

OPINION Our tipping system is a lose-lose

9/29/23

America’s cultural expectations for tipping are both inequitable for workers and burdensome for customers

By Owen Y-L. It was about to happen—the interaction that I most resented.

“That’ll be $8.06,” said the cashier, handing me my cup of boba. As she swiveled the payment screen around with an expectant smile and presented the four tip options, dread began to simmer in my stomach.

What is considered typical for an overpriced, eight-dollar drink? Would a more modest tip scream frugality or entitlement? Should I even tip at all?

After a nervous moment of moral tug-

Experts’ recommendation for how to tip: Source: CNBC

20%

tip for wait staff at a sit-down restaurant

15%

tip for baristas at a coffee shop

of-war, I quickly tapped the “15% tip” option, piling another few dollars onto my already-hefty gastronomic investment.

I’m not alone in my hesitancy towards tips. Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults view tipping negatively, according to a 2023 survey by Bankrate, and 30% think that it is “out of control.” Recent economic pressure and subsequent price climbs have contributed to “tipflation”—the rise in tip expectations and expansion to other industries. While the practice was traditionally only expected in sit-down, full-service settings, the tip request screen has become all but ubiquitous at

cafés, boba shops, and even some self-service establishments. The phenomenon has been widely satirized on social media, with videos depicting people presenting their friends with a tipping screen after performing simple favors like offering a high-five.

While “tipflation” has only emerged recently, tipping itself dates back to a Medieval European custom called “noblesse oblige,” where servants could be given bonuses for exceptional performance. The practice only arrived in the U.S. in the mid-19th century.

Here, it became intertwined with the legacy of American slavery and racial discrimination.

When the institution of slavery was formally abolished after the Civil War, jobs available to formerly-enslaved people were limited and often menial, such as working on railroads and restaurants. Discriminatory employers who did not wish to pay their Black employees would instead force them to rely on tips from customers as their sole source of income.

At its best, the modern act of tipping incentivizes those in the service industry to behave more friendly and accommodating towards customers. However, the system is also intrinsically plagued with bias. In a 2015 study, attractive servers received an average of $1,261 more in tips per year than those deemed unattractive, a gap that was most noticeable with female employees. And a 2008 Cornell study found that diners tipped white servers significantly more than Black servers—19.4% of the bill versus 14.6% for dining parties of three or more people.

Moreover, tipping is wildly inconsistent and unreliable as a source of income. As a result of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, the current federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13, a stark drop from the $7.25 minimum for employees who do not receive tips.

Pervasive wage gaps already exist on multiple levels— gender, race, and age, to name a few. The inconsistencies of tipping only add another layer of discrimination and inequity.

It is simply unjust to place the livelihoods of an entire class of employees in the hands of the generosity of strangers.

From a consumer standpoint, this expectation of generosity that has been baked into our culture can also be a source of anxiety.

When I’m already paying ridiculously inflated prices for products like boba, it feels

unreasonable to expect an extra sum on top of that. If these employers are choosing not to pay workers sufficiently, my line of reasoning goes, why should I feed their corporate greed? However, I also sometimes fear that workers are relying on those gratuities to make ends meet. This layer of complexity is what fuels my moral quandary whenever I am faced with the inevitable “Would you like to leave a tip?”

Luckily for us, all hope is not lost.

In much of Europe and Asia, for example, the service charge is typically included in menu prices or on the bill—although a 10-15% tip at most is sometimes appreciated for extraordinary service. This ensures that workers are more fairly compensated, independent of the potential biases and variability of their customers. It also alleviates the extra stress from the consumer experience by providing upfront price transparency.

Here at home, a group of Democratic senators recently introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 by 2028 and eliminate subminimum compensation for tipped workers. While in an ideal world, service workers would be paid enough to eliminate the need for tips altogether, the proposed legislation would be a giant leap forward towards a more just system.

Tipping culture has grown out of hand, exacerbating pay inequities and endangering the livelihoods of service workers. It’s time to “tip” the scales in favor of fairness and transparency for customers and employees alike.

Illustrations by Ariane Y.

PAGE

The metallic underbelly of electric vehicles Widespread electrification is not an effective climate solution

By Milo K.

Photo by Forbes

A LITHIUM SEA Lithium Ponds at the SQM Lithium mine in Atacama Desert, Chile. The color variation comes from quantity of lithium in each pond.

In Silicon Valley, one would be hard pressed to avoid electric vehicles entirely: Teslas pack the streets, hybrid vehicles are commonplace, and Caltrain electrification alters schedules on what feels like a monthly basis. These vehicles are often pushed as the key to sustainable transportation in the face of climate change, able to provide a path to the future of travel. However, the current wave of electrification is not a sustainable or efficient way to prevent climate damage.

On paper, electrification seems like a positive climate solution—transportation emits 7.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. Figuring out a way to cut down on that by removing the smoke from exhaust pipes (the most visible cause of climate change), would no doubt be helpful for climate change. On the surface, the solution is electrification. Wall Street made Tesla one of the most valuable companies in the world, government subsidies for the company are nearly at three billion, and even an eye test by any Nueva student at the ring road will see Tesla’s presence. We see a similar push for electrification with Caltrain

and their 2.24 billion dollar electrification project.

While these products can be beneficial, their environmental impact is far from green.

The main source of the issue comes in the lithium ion batteries required to produce these electric vehicles. These lightweight batteries are used in many everyday items, from phones to laptops to aircrafts. Due to the impossibly high demand for them, the rate at which lithium is mined unsustainably has accelerated rapidly, causing a loss in biodiversity, local air quality, immense water use, and more. And while people are looking into recycling lithium batteries, they are currently unable to be recycled, causing additional waste. All of the production combined can produce 80% more emissions than a traditional gasoline powered car.

Despite this, through their entire lifespan electric vehicles are better for the environment. The issue is that they are not productive enough and not fast enough. The climate clock—a display on how much time is left in order to limit global warming to one and a half degrees Celsius—states that, at our current rate, there are less than six years left before climate change surpasses

one and a half degrees. Due to the benefit of electric cars being throughout the lifespan of electric vehicles being around 10 years, the damage of manufacturing the cars are not offset effectively in the short timespan.

In short, electrification just for the sake of electrification is not an effective climate solution.

It can be easy to be pessimistic about the future of climate change, especially when so-called solutions are ineffective.

But transportation’s climate impact can be effectively resolved with social changes rather than technological ones. To do this, the allure of private transportation needs to be demystified. Public transportation, electrified or not, is magnitudes more efficient than private transportation, but in the Bay Area, 79.7% of commuters drive alone, compared to just 5.3% that use public transportation for commutes. Through infrastructure change to make public transportation more accessible and better awareness for effective public transportation, commutes can be more environmentally conscious without electrification. Although climate change is daunting, it is still solvable, but electrification is not the way to do that.

OPINION

9/29/23

PAGE

11

S T U D E N T S TA N D O F F

Should trigger and content warnings be used in classroom settings?

Controversial but beneficial

Illustrations by Anwen Chen

The answer is not black-and-white, but the warnings should be used

By Kayla L. If I were driving and saw a sign to look out for crossing deer, I would become more vigilant and keep an open eye. By receiving this warning, I would become more aware of what came next, down the road. Of course, I would keep driving, but just proceed with more caution to avoid potential injury. This would protect me—and others—and, who can argue against life-saving street signs?

I believe the same is true with trigger and content warnings for content in school curriculum, social media, news, and more.

The intention behind warnings is inarguable: warnings are supposed to make you more aware and equipped to face the future, not necessarily less anxious.

Trigger and content warnings are valuable, effective, and should be used in classrooms and beyond.

These warnings, which typically come abbreviated as “TW” or “CW,” usually point to a specific topic or experience which the issuer assumes may be emotionally triggering for a reader, viewer, or listener.

Last year, I first encountered one in Amber Carpenter’s Creative Writing class. She had assigned a reading for our non-fiction essay unit, and noted below it: “TW: The first segment (‘Fire Danger Level: Extreme’) of this essay has a line that references self-harm ideation. Feel free to skip that first section if you would like.”

I’m not sure if everyone in the class completed the whole reading. And, sure, it might have crossed my mind if I could get away with skipping a few minutes of homework. (Please do not repeat this to Amber.) Yet, I decided to read it all because I’m someone who has not struggled with selfharm. I didn’t need to skip it, because I didn’t have a personal trauma with the topic. It is not triggering for me, personally, and I didn’t anticipate the reading stirring up potentially distressing feelings for me.

The Nueva English team has actually developed a policy on content for English courses. According to this document, all English teachers are committed to previewing “concerns” that may arise for students in class curriculum. “This overview will allow students with particular sensitivities to plan their reading with care and have individual conversations if needed,” the memo states.

For Carpenter’s colleague, English teacher Jonathan Quick, the conversation around trigger warnings traces back to literature’s

purpose: understanding human existence.

While Quick does not hold a strong stance on trigger warnings, he acknowledged the emotional effects literature or other curriculum may have on teenage students, specifically. “There is joy and beauty in being human, but sometimes being a human is hard,” he said.

A few studies have shown that trigger warnings can fail to reduce or even heighten anxiety about content. Others warn that trigger warnings are a result of the American education system “coddling” students and reducing their resilience. While I see where both points come from, I think the original purpose of trigger warnings is critical. They have never been meant to reduce anxiety.

Instead, they grant necessary autonomy and help prepare those struggling with PTSD and other forms of trauma. This being said, we need to clearly define the intent of trigger warnings so they do not become unnecessary censorship.

As someone deeply passionate about justice, social equality, and putting in the work to achieve it, potential for unnecessary avoidance or censorship makes me consider both sides of the argument. For example, I do not believe it would okay for a someone to avoid racial content that forces them to reckon with their own privilege because it is solely “too triggering.” But, if they suffered a personal trauma embedded in the content, the story might shift.

At the end of the day, learning should be a process of joy, duty, and curiosity. “Our reading or encountering of literature ought to change us in some way whether that makes us more resilient, more empathetic, or more aware,” Quick concurred.

This debate is not clear-cut because trigger and content warnings are about curating to human audiences. And it is impossible for curators to know every human’s story, emotions, background, and what will trigger them beyond discomfort and into serious distress.

I wonder, though, for opponents of trigger warnings: would sending someone down a path with dangerous animals unknowingly be okay? No! What if, instead of sending them blind, we gave a brief signal? For, if they choose to keep going: isn’t that true resilience? Knowing they might face vulnerability or personal challenges and persisting anyways?

A counterproductive approach Studies show that trigger warnings may be harming your mental health

By Roan W.

With the rise of awareness for mental health throughout the world, the general public is more accepting and accommodating of neurodiverse people than ever before. As someone who suffers from extreme sensory issues, I can’t describe how beneficial it has been to be able to separate myself from psychologically harmful stimulation and recenter myself with acceptance and without criticism. The use of “TW” and “CW” at the beginning of a piece of media has become increasingly common to indicate trigger or content warnings.

The presence of those acronyms alerts individuals who might experience distress, anxiety, or trauma due to a sensitive topic, allowing them to avoid accessing that media and avoid triggering the mental anguish.

However, it’s important to recognize the difference between a healthy coping mechanism and a system of avoidance that further perpetuates and worsens mental health issues. It’s time that we consider the possibility that this common mental health practice could be actively damaging us.

The trigger warning originated in the early 2000s, cropping up in Tumblr communities and other blogging websites with a large progressive and neurodiverse user base. Within the next decade, trigger warnings had taken over college campuses across the country, with over half of higher education teachers saying they

incorporated trigger warnings into their curriculum by 2017, according to an NPR survey.

But despite the widespread prevalence of trigger warnings, evidence suggests that trigger warnings might actually be contributing to a cycle of trauma and causing unneeded stress. A study from the Association for Psychological Science found that trigger warnings were likely to worsen the trauma response in viewers as opposed to helping them reduce it.

Another study found that individuals with PTSD who received a warning for triggering content reported more anxiety than those who did not. Furthermore, the same study concluded that exposure to trigger warning caused individuals to associate their traumatic experiences as central to their identities.

These findings coincide with the medical consensus for the treatment of trauma disorders, with targeted exposure being the widely accepted method, as opposed to total avoidance, which is known to increase the severity and frequency of symptoms.

It’s important when dealing with global health crises, be they mental or physical, that we follow the science rather than falling into pseudoscientific remedies popularized by unqualified individuals.

Whether that be ivermectin as a treatment for COVID, seeing a chiropractor for back conditions, or using a trigger warning to help with traumatic stress, we need to be practicing the proper treatments to these ailments in order to ensure we heal rather than worsen the harm.

CORRECTIONS The Nueva Current welcomes comments and suggestions. We seek to publish corrections and clarifications in the subsequent issue. Please email any corrections

to the nuevacurrent@nuevaschool.org.

PAGE

ENTERTAINMENT

12

9/29/23

Grade retreat flicks and highlights

Upper School students embarked on their annual beginning-of-year camping trips

By The Nueva Current Staff

Photo by Francisco B-H.

Photo by Natalie L.

Photo by Grace B.

Photo by Jamie G.

FRESHMEN

SOPHOMORES

JUNIORS

SENIORS

Freshmen camped overnight at Memorial County Park for two days, where they participated in short hikes, advisory bonding games, a campfire full of skits and marshmallows, time at a river, and topped it off with a memorable appreciation circle.

Sophomores traveled to Pinnacles National Park for their overnight retreat and spent time hiking, playing football, playing cards, talking with peers, and bonding. At night, advisories performed skits they had created earlier around a campfire with s’mores, making the night one to remember.

Juniors spent the afternoon canoeing down the Russian River to get to their campsite.

After a much awaited arrival, students spent the evening playing tether ball, eating by the river, and laying sleepings bags out to sleep under the stars.

Seniors spent three days at Happy Valley Conference Center in Santa Cruz, engaging in activities including ropes courses, a trip to The Mystery Spot, live action role playing (LARPing), a highest jump contest, and eating sweets around the campfire.

Highlights from the tour of the century Funneling three hours into 13 bullet points, these moments from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour left me enchanted

By Ellie K.

those who aren’t aware—on a mossy green evermore piano was something I hadn’t emotionally prepared for. The standing ovation couldn’t be more deserving.

It’s as close as you will get to Barbieland: the bejeweled fits, exchanging friendship bracelets, the set and costume changes, the elaborate choreography. The Eras Tour is an economic and artistic feat that is a pivotal moment for the music industry— and my brain chemistry. These 13 moments from each concert demonstrate the master planning and dedication required to bring this tour to life.

After Swift’s instructions to “make the friendship bracelets” in the song “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” Swifties did not disappoint. Before the show, fans traded hundreds of bracelets featuring titles of songs, albums, or other inside jokes. To me, this tradition was one of the most cherished events of the night.

The snake visuals. The anticipatory intro. The outfit. The implications of performing the album that established Swift as a business woman, reinserting herself into the music industry and solidifying her position above the Kanye drama. Unreal.

6. Adding “Long Live” to the setlist

Photo by Popsugar

1. Friendship bracelets

5. The entirety of Reputation

After the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on July 7, Swift began performing “Long Live” with her original koi fish guitar.

Screaming, “I had the time of my life with you” with 70,000 other fans brought even more significance to the song for me.

7. Red “22” hat

Every concert, one lucky attendee receives the “22” black top hat. Watching the interaction between Swift and a fan— likely involving a trade between the hat and a friendship bracelet—is the most wholesome experience of the evening.

2. Two-minute countdown with “You Don’t Own Me” by Dusty Springfield

Swift begins her show by referencing her current effort to re-record her earlier albums and reclaim ownership of her work from former producer Scooter Braun. Plus, the suspenseful beat of the song combined with screams of excitement cultivates an aura of anticipation.

Swift includes several moments of nostalgia within her tour as it reflects upon her entire career. During her performance of “Fearless,” she wears a glittery golden dress while doing her signature spin.

4. “Champagne Problems” 10-minute standing ovation

Watching Swift play “Champagne Problems”—a heart-wrenching song for

After dismantling musical expectations to maintain a three to four-minute song length and releasing a 10-minute song, performing it live felt like the victory lap. It was a perfect concoction of painful lyrics and pure excitement.

Photo by Forbes

3. Nostalgic Fearless dress

8. Performance of “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)”

MISS AMERICANA Swift performing “Fearless” (top) and “august” (bottom).

9. The “august” run

Known on social media as the “august” run, Swift runs across the stage during the song’s chorus, as her dress billows behind her, adding to the energy of the performance. This song earns bonus points

for my show being the first August tour date, and Swift asking the stadium what month it was before she started to sing.

10. 1989 bikes and golf clubs

Capturing the aesthetic of her 1989 album so well, Swift’s dancers come on stage during “Blank Space” riding neon bikes as she swings a golf club. While we’re in the 1989 era, I should mention that she announced the album’s re-recording on Aug. 9 (8/9), eight years, nine months, and 13 days after its original release date. It’s official: Swift controls time.

11. Surprise Song O’Clock

Every show Swift performs two shows not included in her setlist. This tradition, while exhilarating, has definitely caused the most disappointment; many of my favorite songs were played without me in attendance, however, I don’t apologize for the chaos I unleashed when I heard the opening notes of “I Can See You” during my concert.

12. Ending on Midnights

Finishing the show on her most recent album, Swift returns to the present after a three-hour journey exploring her past.

To me, beyond just celebrating her latest creation, it serves as a promise that Swift will continue making music and discover new aspects of her identity and career.

13. Confetti

Last but not least, the show concludes with confetti dumping on the heads of those seated on the floor. Each color of the confetti matches one of her albums, evidencing the amount of detail that went into making every aspect of the show magical. Plus, with the long lines and high costs for the clothes, confetti is an excellent free merch item.

9/29/23

EDITORIAL TEAM Aaron H. ’24 Editor-in-Chief

ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE

Happy never-ending school year!

By Simone G.

Isabella X. ’24 Ellie K. ’24 Managing Editors Natalie L. ’25 News Editor Owen Y-L. ’24 Features Editor Josie B. ’25 Culture Editor LiAnn Yim Faculty Advisor STAFF Gabe A. ’24 Gabriel B. ’25 Jordan F. ’27 Neel G. ’27 Gabe H. ’24 Jackson H. ’26 Ethan H. ’25 Niam K. ’26 Milo K. ’24 Ellie L. ’26 Kayla L. ’26 Roan W. ’24 Alvin Y. ’26

Crossword

By Marcus H.

THE NUEVA CURRENT strives to provide informative and impactful articles for our community. Our issues cover stories related to our school, the Bay Area, California, and other relevant spheres. We are dedicated to helping readers understand the ways in which we can all make a difference in the world around us.

The opinions expressed in The Nueva Current belong solely to the writers and are not a reflection or representation of the opinions of the school or administrators.

The Nueva Current is distributed to current and alumni members of The Nueva School community.

Press run is 600 copies.

The Nueva Current is a member of the NSPA and CSPA. NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2020, 2022, 2023.

Pacemaker Winner 2022.

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUBMISSIONS We welcome your voices.

We accept photographs, letters to the editors, articles, illustrations, and other pieces of work. Please email us at thenuevacurrent@ nuevaschool.org.

STAY CONNECTED www.thenuevacurrent.com Instagram: @thenuevacurrent Twitter: @thenuevacurrent 131 E. 28th Ave. San Mateo, CA 94403

ACROSS

1. Where to “Dress for Less” 4. Clean Air Act org.

7. Bummer 10. Food on a board 15. Tit for tat 16. Surveyor’s dir.

18. Racket 19. Society newcomer 20. Back muscle, for short 22. Considered 25. Turn down 27. City of Light 28. Ewe said it 30. Milk: Prefix 31. Fellas 32. Freight 34. Powerful engine 35. The new name for Nueva’s gym 36. Seed used in smoothies 39. Gullible 40. Pride letters 44. Tom of Forrest Gump 46. To Kill a Mockingbird author 47. Employer

48. “Come on ___” (#1 hit of 1983) 50. World’s second largest country 51. She, in Portuguese 52. Holiday quaff 54. “Way cool!”

55. Advanced math deg., in Canada 56. Old Nueva program pairing students of different ages

60. Building to watch celestial events 61. Fabled race loser 62. Suffix with vigor or rigor 63. Largest continent

DOWN

1. Suitable for most audiences 2. Stage backdrop 3. Like a wallflower 4. Supply-and-demand subj.

5. Water filter brand 6. Slightly 7. Craft kit letters 8. Return to one’s seat?

9. Hog 11. Dangerous mosquito 12. Wireless credit card chip tech (Abbr.)

13. Fed. power dept.

14. Deft authority 17. Steady guy 21. Part of un opéra 23. Error 24. Luxury watch brand 26. Olympic spear 28. ___ metabolism 29. Sweetener source 32. 100 yrs.

33. U.K. award 36. Fastest land animal 37. Flag down 38. Close to a delivery 41. Awards given out in February 42. Hospital count 43. Windpipe 45. Transmits 47. Couldn’t not 49. Lymph ___ 50. Play group 53. Greek sandwich 54. Shaggy Scandinavian rugs 57. Purple yam 58. Law & Order: ___ 59. Historical period

13

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SPORTS

14

9/29/23

Playing with purpose

The varsity girls tennis team embarks on a new season with new goals

By Niam K.

Photo by Kayla L.

A season of growth for ultimate frisbee As team receives influx of freshmen, players to earn full PE credit from fall season

By Gabriel B.

This ultimate frisbee season brings an expanded practice schedule, PE credit for the whole year, and a large contingent of freshmen.

Prior to this year, practices were three to five days a week, and athletes could come whatever days they were available. Students needed to log 50 hours to earn PE credit for the year.

Frisbee remains a club sport, but it is currently following the schedule of a fall sport. The team holds practices every weekday at Bay Meadows Park, and athletes are expected to attend every day or make up for missed practice on their own.

Efforts to coordinate games against the Khan Lab School and others are ongoing, and the hope is to play against them four times before the season closes out at the end of October.

“We’re trying to shift towards being more like an official sport,” said coach Wes Chao.

For the first time, participation in ultimate frisbee

this fall has approval to count as PE credit for the entire 2023–24 year.

Team captain Ethan L. ’25 is entering his third year of frisbee at Nueva.

“This year we have six or seven freshmen that are fully committed to the team, which is more than we have had in the past,” he said.

One of those newcomers, Harrison Q. ’27, shared why he enjoys being part of the team: “I think it’s really fun to play with everybody, practice with everybody, build skills and build the community.”

Chao, who has been coaching ultimate since 2015 and at Nueva since 2020, relishes the chance to work with the ninth graders.

“There are no bad habits for me to unteach because I get to start from a blank slate,” Chao said. “I get to work with our athletes on fundamentals of athleticism, and we see huge improvements.”

The numbers and enthusiasm of new athletes points to bright prospects for not only this season, but future teams as well.

After a strong last year, the girls varsity tennis team has high aspirations for this season, which officially started Sept. 26.

Their season has started off well in the preseason, playing against teams in higher leagues while still recording successful outcomes, such as a 4-3 win against Hillsdale High School and a resounding 6-0 win over Drew, providing a glimpse into what will come this season.

The largest obstacle so far has been the loss of players. The team lost five graduating seniors, along with numerous other players from other grades. Despite this, players remain hopeful as they have added three new freshmen who are poised to make an impact.

“Some of our freshmen are really strong and have already made the varsity team, and I’m glad to have them,” Team Captain Sofia T. ’24 said. “I was a little bit worried about the change in lineup, some singles players would have had to play doubles if not for the [incoming] freshman.”

Currently, the team’s main goal is to bond and get to know each other before the regular season starts in order to start the season off strong.

“Having some team bonding is really important, having that connection and communication between players is key to having a successful season,” Zara M. ’25 stated when talking about team goals.

Despite the competitive environment within the team, the team has still managed to accomplish their goal of having fun and meeting each other.

“I have really enjoyed the van rides,” Julia C. ’27 said. “Listening to music with the team and meeting everybody [is] really fun and a positive environment.”

Along with focusing on team bonding, the team has also been working hard on being prepared for the season, doing numerous drills and other activities in order to be ready.

“We’re drilling down on some more specific strokes. The primary issue in both JV and Varsity is consistency,” Sofia said. “Once we get that down then we can try and move on to some more strategy focused tips, but right now we’re really working on consistency.”

This practice will be put to the test as next on the schedule for the team are back-to-back home matches against Kings Academy and on Oct. 3 and Mercy on Oct. 5.

Ready, set, go to Woodbridge

Cross country team places high at large meet while enjoying a special bonding experience Photo by Diane Mazzoni

By Kayla L.

The varsity girls volleyball team poses with their coaches.

A Quest for CCS

Girls volleyball seeks to capitalize on past success

By Niam K. Coming off a hot start in the preseason, the girls volleyball team wants to build on previous success and make the CCS Playoffs.

Their season has started off well, going 7-3 overall with a 4-1 record in the Private School-Bay league. The team currently sits in second place in the league standings, ahead of rivals including Design Tech High School.

On Sept. 18 the varsity team emerged victorious in the rivalry game, defeating Design Tech 3 sets to 1 in a victory that meant a lot to the team.

“Beating DTech was such a good feeling especially because we’ve always had ups and downs with that school,” said Sakura T. ’26.

After seven seniors graduated last year, there were concerns about how the team would do this season. But team captain Kaila E. ’24 believes the new influx of freshmen will greatly improve the team this season.

“So far they’ve impacted us in amazing ways,” Kayla commented. “This year our defense is really, really strong and a lot of that is due to the freshmen.”

In addition to their main goal of qualifying for CCS, a big goal for the team is to recreate the team chemistry. Within the focused environment of practice the team has still found ways to have fun together.

“We have a new coach—he’s really nice, really funny,” Kayla said. “He has a really good serve and he was serving it to all of us and we were just trying our best to get it up.”

Their new coach Harley Marques joined the team this season and has clearly brought a lot of fun and good spirits to the team.

Up next for the team is a home game against More on Oct. 3.

Photo by Robert Lopez

ON THE COURTS

Natalie S. ’25 lined up with her teammates while she waited for her 8:28 p.m. three-mile race to begin.

She said that in these final moments before the race commences, she tunes almost everything out and can hear just a few people.

“I hear my coaches, my teammates, John Feland, and that's it. I don't even hear my mom if she's at my races,” she said. For Natalie, these are the people who ground her at high-intensity cross country meets.

And at a big-league meet like the Woodbridge Invitational, Natalie's dedicated focus contributed to the cross country team’s overall success.

On Sept. 15, 19 members of the varsity cross country team represented Nueva at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine Orange County Great Park, where they raced against 470 teams from across the country.

The girls team placed fourth among 16 teams in their division and had six runners place within the top 100; five boys placed in the top 200 in their race.

For runner Lila P. ’26, it was the first race she had ever earned a top-100 medal in. “You’re sprinting through the finish line. And you can barely walk, you're bent over, and you're trying to stand up straight when they hand you the medal. It was so exciting and we were all so happy, even if we were so exhausted,” she said.

Overall, the race was “a really light hearted environment, which made it easy and fun to race in,” Jules S. ’26 said.

Runners enjoyed the unique experience of racing at a twilight meet, with one of the latest races commencing at 9:16 p.m. for the varsity boys group.

Apart from avoiding the hot September sun, Natalie described achieving “a level of focus that you don't necessarily get when you are in the daytime with people bustling around.”

“There's just this sense that it's just you and your teammates in the trail. I always look very fondly on those [nighttime running experiences],” she continued.

Each season, the cross country team attends just a few meets with comparable in size to the Woodbridge Invitational. As a small school competing in a large meet, “it's always a big honor to go to kind of like large competitive meets like this coming from a small school,” Natalie said.

H A P P I E ST P L AC E The team visited Disneyland for a day of fun and rest before heading home.

Natalie credited the team’s presence at large meets to the runners before her: “I have an enormous amount of gratitude for past Nueva Cross Country runners who have performed well and made it so that we have this track record of showing up and competing well at these meets.” Teammate Teddy G. ’25 echoed the sentiment, saying, “the senior boys last year especially, to me felt like role models and just great people.”

Besides racing, the student-athletes enjoyed a day at Disneyland in Anaheim before heading home.

While trying to find rides with the shortest lines, the team unintentionally continued their training.

“You could tell we were a cross country team because we were running from line to line, saying, ‘let's sprint halfway across Disneyland together,’” Lila said.

More broadly, “traveling together, being together in an unfamiliar setting, and doing different things that are outside of the norm of school and running brings the team together and really is a lot of fun,” Teddy said.

The invitational was just the start for the school’s cross country team, with upcoming meets on Sept. 30 and Oct. 5.

As the season continues, Lila said that this trip will be an experience that will continue to motivate her. “The whole trip was so much fun that when I'm exhausted or sore, whatever it is, I can think back to this trip with these people that I love, and know that's why I'm doing this,” she shared.

SPORTS

9/29/23

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Trailblazer, FrontRunner

When new science assistant teacher and cross country assistant coach David Eik (he/they) moved to San Francisco in 2021, they set a goal for themself to help them find their footing: to make queer friends and find a group that liked being active and spending time outdoors. They searched online for “queer running clubs” and came across the San Francisco FrontRunners (SFFR).

“After a few months of showing up consistently I started making some really good friends and felt like I was part of the community a lot more,” they said. “It felt just really positive and welcoming.”

The FrontRunners’ story traces back to 1974, when Jack Baker and Gardner Pond were invited to list a class in the free newspaper “Lavender U” that a group of gay San Franciscans had started. After thinking better of a furniture refinishing course, they sent in an advertisement for a “learn to jog” class.

The club name takes inspiration from Patricia Nell Warren’s The Front Runner, which is both a story about running and “the first novel about gay love to become popular in the mainstream” according to Barnes & Noble.

“Amidst all of the legislation that’s regulating trans people’s ability to participate in sports and just live their lives, it’s been really positive to see certain races throughout the country actively carving out space for transgender athletes and non-binary athletes.”

In a typical week, the FrontRunners meet after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then on Saturday mornings in Golden Gate Park. The Saturday slot tends to be the biggest draw, attracting 60 to 80 people. Everyone sets out on their runs and walks, and there are different routes available to fit people’s needs and abilities.

Once everyone returns, the gathering becomes a social event.

People go off and get something to eat or mingle at the park.

Beyond that, there are numerous other activities outside the baseline schedule: movie screenings, ice cream after scenic Sunday runs, not to mention a recent cookie exchange party that featured loads of “the most insanely elaborate cookies.”

This post-run time has provided the best opportunities for Eik to meet people, develop camaraderie, and make friends.

SFFR’s longevity means that some members they interact with are in their 80s and have spent 40 or more years with the club. These members were there when the FrontRunners was one of the few gay organizations out there (most of which centered around bars and party culture). Today, the International FrontRunners is a wide-reaching network of LGBTQ+ running clubs around the world. Being so intergenerational stands out to Eik as a major contributor to the positive club culture.

“I don’t think in general there’s a lot of social groups that have that wide of a range of ages and life experiences,” they said. “And I think especially as a queer person, seeing people who have lived through very significant moments in history, and living great, socially connected lives right now has been really powerful.”

The connections and relationships they formed led to the point in late 2022 when the call came out to fill positions on the FrontRunners board. With no one else running for captain, Eik decided to volunteer.

“I felt like it was a community that I had been part of long enough to where I wanted to give back to it and play more of a leadership role in it,” they said.

As the 2023 SFFR captain, Eik is responsible for organizing the team race circuit and fostering community engagement.

Most recently, Eik planned the FrontRunners’ entry into The Giant Race 5K and 10K and the Santa Rosa Marathon.

The featured event on the calendar was the 43rd San Francisco Pride Run—also called the SFFR Pride Run—which took place on June 24. The FrontRunners organize the races, and the Pride Run logo matches the club’s. Not only did Eik set up the huge event, but they placed first in the 10K race.

For every race the club considers attending, Eik reaches out to the race director and advocates for non-binary race divisions.

They see this as a way to bring a larger movement to the Bay Area. This year, the renowned Boston Marathon included a non-binary division for the first time.

Such progress, Eik said, “has been really powerful change for the queer community, especially people who are gender nonconforming and transgender.”

“Amidst all of the legislation that’s regulating trans people’s ability to participate in sports and just live their lives, it’s been really positive to see certain races throughout the country actively carving out space for transgender athletes and nonbinary athletes,” they added.

Now that their first teaching job has brought them back to a school environment, Eik has been thinking about what their work making space for transgender athletes at adult community events could mean for high school and collegiate sports.

“I think that this kind of advocacy hasn't reached college or high school athletics yet and so I don't have the answers for it right now, but it’s on the mind—how might we think about approaching athletics in a more inclusive way moving forward, the high school level?”

At Nueva, Eik now has the opportunity to coach for the first time. Their experience with the team started at the cross country team’s Mammoth Lakes Running Camp in July, which they described as “a blast,” and “a great introduction not only to the team but to the school as well.”

Eik brings 14 years of running experience to the assistant coaching position. They ran cross country and track at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, then at NCAA Division III Colorado College, before starting to train for marathons. They currently own a 2 hour, 28 minute time in the marathon, which translates to 5:40 per mile.

They are calling on all that experience and success to welcome new runners to the sport and offer them guidance.

“It’s reminded me that I have a lot more knowledge than I previously thought just by absorbing the process of training and racing over the years,” Eik said.

As a coach, Eik is, “really encouraging and is really there for the athletes,” said girl’s varsity runner Jules Schlamp ’26.

She also appreciates how Eik actively participates in practices by doing the warmups and runs alongside the runners. That makes them “really in touch with the runners on a personal level,” Schlamp said.

It seems that Eik’s 2023 has been a year of taking on leadership roles. As the cross country season enters full swing, and SFFR prepares for its 50th anniversary in 2024, they are there to support their community as coach and captain.

Photo by Ross Wollman

By Gabriel B.

Photo by Tony DiPasquale

Meet David Eik, Upper School science teacher and captain of the country's oldest LGBTQ+ running club

P H OTO F I N I S H Top: Eik smiles for the camera mid-race at the Boston Marathon in April.

Bottom: Eik poses with friends at Oracle Park after The Giant Race 10K on Sept. 3, where they registered as non-binary after requesting that the race director add that option.

New school year, new weight room

After a summer of renovation, teams now have a place to train

By Gabe A. & Alvin Y. After years of being located in a tight, windowless space next to the gym, the weight room was moved downstairs to 175A. Dumbbells line the wall, starting at five pounds and climbing to 75 pounds. Two power racks and four adjustable benches face the sliding glass doors. In the corner of the room is a versatile padded-structure for glute and hamstring hinge movements.

Brett McCabe, the Director of Athletics had taken a tour before his hiring and recognized the scarcities in the Athletics department, most notably the weight room.

“I was really honest with Associate Head of School Terry Lee… about some of the deficiencies we had about athletics and the facilities specifically,” said McCabe, who, like many students and faculty, likened the old weight room to a closet.

McCabe plans to involve the school’s sports teams immediately with the new Strength and

Conditioning Coach, Brian Ganz by staggering their times in the room.

As winter season sports begin, so do their preseason training as well. Given the demand for time and space, student-athletes will be given priority in scheduling time in the facility.

However, McCabe and Ganz intend to work around the student-athletes’ schedule.

“We realize school is very challenging here, it takes up a lot of time, and there’s also practice on top of that,” Mccabe noted. “We’re not looking to add more time, add another layer on there, so we’re building it into their practice or if it’s in the offseason, we’ll build it into 30-45 minute workouts after school which allows them to get back home after and do their homework.”

While sports teams have engaged with the new facilities first, non-athlete students are looking to take part as well, especially the weightlifting club.

“We are hoping to get the chance to run some sessions where we will go over some

NEW DIGS Athletes, students, and faculty can now take advantage of the new weight room in the athletics hall of the San Mateo campus.

classic lifts such as bench press, squats, deadlift, rows, lat pull downs, and more,” said co-lead of weightlifting club, Sam Z. ’24. “This way we will get a chance to practice them and get to work on form.”

Sam and one of his two other co-leads, Tate B. ’24, plan to use Wednesdays of Wonders to expand the attendance of their club.

“We also hope to have the chance to run some WoWs where we can expand our program,” Sam commented. “I know that Tate, my Co-leader in the club, had some ideas about potentially running a WoW where we would go really in-depth into one single lift, but we will see where it goes.”

H OT TA K E :

Athletes, it's time to step up The athletic experience and culture should not be the same as the classroom

By Gabe A.

Beneath the towering notions of academic achievement, a quieter narrative plays out on the courts and fields. Similar to the classroom, athletics offers an inclusive and forgiving environment. Only in stark contrast, students can be found pursuing their academic goals with an ardor that dwarfs the latter.

In my five years at Nueva I’ve seen tears shed over Knot Theory and doors slammed because of class placement, but I have never encountered such a passion during my time playing soccer. Once the final whistles would blow, no matter the result of the game, our team would walk off the field unaffected.

Only half of the players attended practices and even those present completed drills lackadaisically.

“It was a ‘come and go as you please’ mentality,” described Director of Athletics and PE Brett McCabe.

I believe that this disinterest surrounding Nueva sports is a product of the relaxed culture we have fostered for athletes. This begs the question, are we inadvertently stifling the passion of our athletes and potential of our athletics program by shying away from a more competitive approach to sports?

I believe it begins with the culture. Nueva has naturally adopted an athletics environment mirroring its classroom environment: flexible, inclusive, and forgiving. In the classroom students are encouraged to provide input on the class’ workload, allotted many opportunities for revision, rarely challenged with in-class tests, and allowed much leeway in the completion of their work—tailored to each students’ unique needs and circumstance. This same “benefit of the doubt” was applied during our boy’s soccer season, leading to patterns of practice and game absences, as well as low effort—ultimately reflected in our poor performances throughout the season. While this system is valuable in the classroom, and applies to athletics in some respects, it cannot be paralleled in the seamless way that it is.

At Nueva, if a student were to be facing any sort of personal conflict, detrimental to their mental health and inhibiting them from completing work, an accommodation would rightfully be provided for their support.

Only, there are no plausible compromises to be made for an athlete who is off their game because of a personal matter. In other words, poor performance will affect the outcome of any sports match, no matter the cause.

Thus, Nueva cannot simply mimic their academic environment among athletics teams. A culture of commitment, and an expectation of athletes to prioritize their own goals as well as their teammates’, is what will push our teams past the discomfort they are sheltered from in the classroom.

While infrastructure may have been a limiting factor in the past, affecting both athlete performance and morale, many advancements are being made to solve that problem.

A new weight room, athletic training room, strength and conditioning coach, and custom Nueva Athletics equipment are all in the process of being put into place.

“If you sign up for a sports team, we’re going to give you everything we have: the coaches, the facilities, the equipment, the jerseys,” McCabe said. “All that I ask for in return is that you commit, you give great effort, and you just communicate.”

The Nueva administration has done its part by developing the once lacking athletic infrastructure. Now there is no longer any excuse for captains, starters, and role-players alike to not advocate for a culture-shift and fully utilize the new resources that we are privileged to have at-hand.

SPORTS

9/29/23

The new athletics rep wants to bring football to Nueva

Students weigh in on the pros, cons, and practicality of a football program

By Ethan H.

With a new school year officially back in session, fall season sports are well underway. At most schools, the weekend commences when students pack into the bleachers for a football game under the Friday night lights. Just not at Nueva.

Across the United States, high school football is one of the quintessential high school experiences. A statistic from AAA State of Play shows that football is the most popular high school sport in all but seven states, and is the second most popular in five of those seven. And yet, Nueva, despite offering eight different sports, does not have a football team.

Newly elected athletics rep, Zoe B. ’24, campaigned on the idea of creating an official football team here at Nueva, though it has not been approved by administration.

“If we were to hypothetically have a team, we would have to officially start next year [due to league rules],” she said.

“But this year, we would be creating a preliminary team—basically creating an outline-type program that would emulate what having a football team would mean.”

Additionally, Zoe plans to implement intergrade flag football tournaments for spirit points and potentially have a football option for PE. She recognizes that forming a football team will be a long and tedious process that will outlast her time at the school, but she hopes that in doing work behind the scenes, she can complete the early steps that are necessary to build a program.

Upper School students are split on the idea. Nathan S. ’25 is in support of a football team.

“I think it will instill a greater sense of spirit,” said Nathan, who added that he would try out for a team at Nueva if it existed. “I know people who go to [schools with football teams] and it’s a part of their school.

It’s something that they appreciate, and even though we’re still a small school, I think it’s something we could come to appreciate having in some capacity too.”

On the other hand, Aadit B. ’26 disagrees and is concerned about Nueva’s small student body of just 450.

“You need around fifty people to maintain a team,” Aadit pointed out. “That means a good part of the student body is gonna have to play and I just don’t think there’s that much interest.”

However, other similar-sized Bay Area schools like Woodside Priory and Crystal Springs have seemingly gotten around this problem by turning to eight-man football.

Eight-man football shaves off three players on each side of the ball, allowing for smaller

rosters, and can be played on either an 80yard or 100-yard field.

While Chloe L. ’25 echoes Aadit’s sentiments about school size, she thinks attendance at these games may be a bigger issue.

“You know how in those American movies, you see all those people in the stands?

That’s not going to happen,” Chloe said.

“Everyone at Nueva has so many extracurricular activities that they already go to, so there’s not gonna be any time for them to go to a football game.”

Athletics Director Brett McCabe, who formerly worked as the Athletics Director at Parish Episcopal School in Texas and oversaw the school’s four consecutive state championships, pointed out that football games only take place on Friday nights and Saturdays, which may promote more attendance.

“Since no other sporting teams typically play on Friday nights, it can truly be a full community event. [Parents] could bring their middle school and lower school kids out,” McCabe said. It can become a really special night.”

KICKING OFF THE AFTERNOON A group of students recreationally play football after school.

Blurring the lines between college and professional football College football has lost its defining characteristic: college consistency

By Ellie K.

In December 2022, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders—an athletic powerhouse who played in the 1995 and 1996 Super Bowls and the 1992 World Series—announced he would be departing from Jackson State University in Mississippi, where he dedicated three seasons revamping the football program.

This season, Sanders coaches at the University of Colorado Boulder (where the team is colloquially called the CU Buffs), whose football team enjoyed little success last season—little meaning a win-loss streak of 1-11. Already, the team has three wins—the first win was against Texas Christian University, which had a win-loss streak of 13-2 in 2022.

Sanders has dutifully crafted this super team of top recruits, players from Jackson State, and two of his sons, sending dozens of former Boulder players into the transfer portal, which consequently spurred movement within college teams across the country.

Sanders brought a fierce approach to Boulder and is already receiving results.

But, is winning all that college football is about?

Historically, college athletics have offered opportunities for students to let off steam, advance physical abilities outside of the classroom, and cultivate school spirit by generating rivalries.

However, in recent years, with money and fame on the line, college football

has shifted dramatically. Student athletes enter the transfer portal at a speed that rivals the players’ pacer times. Coaches leave schools the second a better paying job opens up, often without completing their contracts. Having to adapt to multiple coaches with diverse coaching styles or different schools and football programs over the course of their collegiate career can be harmful for athletes who also lead lives off the ESPN screen.

It’s easy to forget that these players are students, too. They have classes to attend and problem sets to finish off of the field.

Despite gaining national attention, college football players simply cannot live as if they are on professional teams. Today’s college football scene built upon foundations of inconsistency and individualism is unhealthy for student athletes, especially for the most beloved team sport in the country.

Yes, even if they are winning.

Sanders is a prime example—no pun intended—of college football’s current predicament. He will do whatever it takes to see his team on top, even if that means treating the roster like his own Fantasy Football league.

To me, this isn’t what college football was meant for. Students who earned a spot at their college to play for their team shouldn’t be benched or think their position is threatened because a new coach with new luggage wants to rebuild the program.

Underprivileged schools with weak programs should not be left in the dust because a shinier job dragged the coach away.

Believe me, I love to win; being

competitive is one of my strongest traits.

But at the end of the day, I’ve always considered athletics to mean more than whoever holds the trophy or wears the ring.

At least for college football, there should be an emphasis on the “college” part of the title. Football should supplement the collegiate experience instead of harming it.

There’s plenty of time for movement on the professional fields.

Photo by LM Otero/AP

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Photo by Ethan H.

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SKO BUFFS Coach Prime during Colorado's opening game against Texas Christian University.