the overlake independent VOLUME 13 / ISSUE 1 FALL 2017 / 18
What Do Teachers Really Think When They Assign Homework? p. 5
Redmond: Problems of Prosperity An inside look at the challenges our city faces p. 6
A Closer Look at the Transition to Upper School p. 5
table of contents
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Meet the Staff
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Overlake Outlook: A Closer Look at the Transition to Upper School The Truth About Homework
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Redmond: Problems of Prosperity
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Fall At Overlake (Because Washington Does, Indeed, Have Seasons)
10 The Mystery of Lost and Found 11 Lindsay’s Library: Life, Death, and Dystopia; One Author’s Perspective
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10 Advice Column & 11 Back Cover: Confirmation Bias: We’re All Part of the Problem Front Cover: Shri Iyengar (Yes, yes. It’s Escher-inspired. What is that quote... “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”) Photos provided by the Journalism class and Media Club.
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
2017 Andrew Monteith Editor-in-Chief
has been, in short, a difficult year. There isn’t a place to start. Wildfires, hurricanes, and mass shootings have plagued an already tense nation. In the face of so many devastating stories, it is difficult to find one crisis to focus on. Shock follows shock, and oftentimes the impact of one story is left unheeded in the wake or brink of another. Surrounded by noise, Overlake did not stay silent. As a community, we raised more than $5000 to benefit young children and their teachers whose lives were irrevocably changed by a hurricane. We responded to the world around us in a tangible, efficacious way. We made a difference, however small it was in the face of everything. In 2016, the previous editor of The Independent, Eduardo Gutierrez Pena, described the year as one of “political strife and turmoil”. That was true, and remains true in an increasingly divisive nation. But change is not always fostered solely on a national level. Through combined efforts on a smaller scale, change can be built from the bottom up. Despite all this—despite our community’s place in the world— it is important to think of Overlake as, quite simply, Overlake. The unique character of this school can be seen in its students and faculty, maintenance crew and kitchen staff, satirical “news” sources like the Scallion and (relatively) legitimate news platforms like this one. So here’s 12 pages of Overlake character, from an exciting new cast of writers, designers, artists, and photographers. Read on for the statistics behind what teachers think when they’re assigning homework. Take a few minutes to peruse an article on local politics, which isn’t nearly as boring or depressing as it sounds. Drool for a little bit over the beauty of the cover art.
Just don’t look for memes. We have the PSAT for that.
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MEET THE STAFF
Miguel (Patron of Journalism)
Miguel Llanos is an expert of fake news. He relishes his job at Overlake as a chance to corrupt youth to the communist agenda.
Maria (Mother)
The only upperclassmen in Journalism. *DISCLAIMER* NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE HER ACTUAL CHILDREN. Except for Monteith.
Stefan (Staff Writer/Photographer) Being part of the Scallion and the Independent is like being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the same time.
Andrew (Editor)
Andrew Monteith likes books. He was born in the 21st century, which he regrets. He routinely eats scallions for dinner.
Liddy (Staff Writer)
Liddy Boland loves everything politics. She wants to be a Journalist.
Farah (Staff Writer)
The realest person you’ll ever meet. Except for Oprah. Oprah’s legit.
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Shri (Designer)
Shri Iyengar designs magazines, among other things. She spends her time contemplating existence and wondering why Macs hate her so much.
Lindsay (Staff Writer) Lindsay is a new freshman this year and a competitive swimmer. Chlorine is her perfume. She dislikes land.
Alisa (Staff Writer) Alisa Diaconu is the only sane member of the group. Take deep breaths, Alisa.
OVERLAKE OUTLOOK A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TRANSITION TO UPPER SCHOOL BY ALISA DIACONU “High school thus far has been a rollercoaster of emotion, grades, and friends. But free blocks are making it a little easier to handle.” -Nell Corley, a new freshman.
For kids that have been at Overlake since day one and newcomers alike, the transition to Upper School has been filled with new experiences, all of which can take some getting used to. Students arrive at Freshman year from many different schools, with many different environments, experiences, and sets of rules. 9th Grade is a time for these different backgrounds to come together as one, and learn the ropes for the way things will be for the next four years. Overlake has a unique way of running things. “We know students, and we try to have a balanced approach to learning,” says Meghan Waddle, the Upper School Dean of Students. She reflects on the mixture of structured learning and independent free blocks. These factors make it so a student’s success is heavily reliant on no one but themselves, where they are given the extraordinary opportunity to govern themselves and learn how to use their own time wisely. “You guys are young adults, we know you can manage,” Meghan confirms. It seems like a good idea, but how meaningful is it really to allow kids to suddenly have such copious amounts of free time? “Totally meaningful,” declares Meghan. “If we expect you to be someone who can transition to college, we have to give you an opportunity to lead and to self-advocate. If we expect you to use your time wisely, we have to give you time to use.” She believes strongly in the school’s mission to prepare kids for the future, and in doing so she agrees that it’s only logical they are given the opportunity to prove their ability. They must experien-
ce the chance to advocate for themselves firsthand before they are pushed into a world where they’ll be forced to do so on their own. “I like the freedom, it prepares you gradually for college and beyond,” agrees Nell. She came from a small private school, and appreciates her newfound freedom. There is always an argument on how much is too much, and the idea of letting kids loose to figure out how to manage time on their own seems to have a disastrous potential. However, when prompted about the risk of wasting such precious time, many freshmen agreed that that was all a part of the plan. “The expectations, the effort, and the mindset of the students, changes from middle school to high school. Everyone is a lot more serious about it,” says Jake Olsen, a student at Overlake since 6th Grade. Like many others, he decides that the climate in Upper School at Overlake is what allows students to be so trusted with their time. “It’s a learning experience … there’s more independence, but it comes with the risk of messing everything up,” claims Annika Mihata, a new 9th grader at Overlake. “I think seventh and eighth graders could have handled this amount of freedom, but not this amount of work. That was not the time to be unsupervised, but now I’m glad not to have adults around all the time,” Nell adds, highlighting on the proportionality of work given to independent worktime received. Coming from a very supervised school that she compares to an elementary school, the freedom at Overlake came as a bit of a shock. Most new kids could agree that it had been almost overwhelming to be so trusted. But she and her friends quickly grew accustomed to the schedule, and are very pleased with the system. “I’d go insane if I didn’t have free NEWS MAGAZINE
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blocks,” Nell admits, recognizing the independence she has gained. She agrees that the schedule works well for the environment here, and that the student body is driven enough to use their time, or learn from the consequences of misusing their gift. Tej Singh has been at Overlake since 6th Grade, and agrees that the atmosphere here is unmatched. “I can’t imagine going to any other school. I think that day by day it would become routine and boring. But at Overlake, every day I find something new that makes this school extraordinary.”
Credits: Stefan Beskin The Overlake Independent surveyed teachers at our school, and asked them how much homework they try to give out per night as well as how late they believe students should be stopping their homework and sleeping. Thirteen teachers responded, and their responses are shown here. In our next issue, we’ll be diving further into the subject.
FEATURE ARTICLE
Redmond: Problems of Prosperity BY LIDDY BOLAND
REDMOND MAYOR JOHN MARCHIONE
Over the summer, sophomore Liddy Boland took an active hand in local reporting when she interviewed the Redmond City Mayor and several of his peers. The first feature article the Overlake Independent has run, this piece begins a series about these mayors and the problems they face day to day.
While most U.S. cities are struggling to maintain a healthy budget, Redmond is facing another type of problem: prosperity. The population of Redmond numbers just over 60,000, yet during the daytime it more than doubles as people flood in for the city’s many jobs. In an interview with the Independent, Redmond Mayor John Marchione pointed out that Redmond is “a net importer of people… downtown Seattle is the only other city [in the Puget Sound] with that difference”. This influx of people provides greater economic stability to the area. When people commute into a city they spend money on food, gas, and other commodities they otherwise would have bought elsewhere. They also bolster the workforce, allowing for larger companies to plant roots and pay taxes to the city. Not only does Redmond house corporations such as Microsoft and Nintendo, it also boasts a growing economy that is welcoming to small business owners and a downtown that allows them to grow their businesses. While the influx of money and workers is highly beneficial, it comes with its own set of problems that, unless dealt with, could push the city back into economic despair. As Marchione said, “Detroit has problems of decay and once you go down that path it’s a spiral”. Luckily, he saw that “the needs of business, for the most part, are very similar. They need good transportation for employees, affordable housing, and they want to live in a quality community”. In response to this influx of people Redmond implemented a plan that addressed each of these issues, starting with housing. NEWS MAGAZINE
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“While prosperity forces new issues upon local government... Redmond seems on track to handle the struggles that come hand in hand with prosperity.”
When Redmond started looking at ways to house the people who are currently commuting, Marchione recognized that “not everyone makes $100,000 working for Microsoft” and that when you “ask your barista where she lives she either lives with her parents in Redmond or she lives in Monroe…somewhere that’s probably an hour commute”. The average income in Redmond is $99,000 while the median housing price is over $780,000 dollars. This forces most of the day population of Redmond to leave the city in search of more affordable housing. Rather than building more single-family homes, which leads to more traffic and is the least efficient use of land, the city poured its money into its downtown. When explaining his reasoning for this choice Mayor Marchione said that “it’s the most efficient use of land, it’s the most environmentally friendly, and it generates the least amount of traffic”. This new downtown provides the quality community space that large companies are looking for. When Marchione was elected into office nine years ago, he made a campaign promise that he’d create, “a dynamic downtown” and he feels that’s he’s achieved this. Even though the city is currently it its “teenage years”, he knows that by the end of 2018 it should be in its twenties, especially with the addition of more two-way roads and a downtown park. He’s particularly excited about the accessibility that a built-up downtown offers. “If you live in an apartment…you can walk to the grocery store; you can walk to 25 different restaurants”. When the mayor was first elected, there were very few restaurants in Redmond, and you rarely saw people on the streets past 8 p.m. One achievement that he’s particularly proud of is that there are people on every street corner after eight, something
that signals a good economy, good community, and a downtown that people are excited to spend their time in. The last issue that Redmond’s run into is the need for more effective transportation within the city. While cutting down on single family housing and boosting the number of apartments cut the amount of traffic significantly, the city is hoping to offer a public transportation system that will allow constituents to travel throughout the Puget Sound. “A robust transportation system is necessary for Redmond because we bring in [so many people]… you can’t build roads wide enough to accommodate that”. Mayor Marchione, a member of the Sound Transit Board, worked hard to get Light Rail in Redmond, which will come in 2023. This will allow people to tra-
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vel more quickly and easily around the Puget Sound, which lessens the strain on the cities roads and transportation. Even in the face of these problems, Mayor Marchione recognizes how lucky the city is to be dealing with issues stemming from prosperity rather than economic decline. When he goes to the US Conference of Mayors, the majority of mayors “don’t understand that problem…they’d all love that problem”. While prosperity forces new issues upon local government, with the new downtown, the increased affordable housing market, and the steps being taken to create an innovative transportation system, Redmond seems on track to handle the struggles that come hand in hand with prosperity.
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Thanks to Stefan Beskin, Renee Austin, Sam Hirsch and The Media Club and the Middle School Yearbook Club for their fall photos!
OVERLAKE IN FALL
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ADVICE COLUMN
THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST AND FOUND By Farah Lindsey-Almadani
By Maria Russinovich
You might not know it now, but there’s a possibility that you’ve lost something you didn’t even know was lost. Whether you’re walking to the TLC for French class or the Gym for PE, there’s a chance you’ll misplace something. It could be a red coat, a pencil, or black sunglasses. You might not know it now, but there’s a possibility that you’ve lost something you didn’t even know was lost. Losing your personal things at Overlake seems inevitable, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the chance to retrieve them. The school does have a system for finding what was lost, so the real mystery is why there isn’t more awareness of it. The Independent set out to explore this mystery, starting with Assistant Librarian Andrea Maddox. The Library’s lost and found receives all sorts of things, like books and glasses, but students only retrieve their things “about half of the time,” she says. One of the more interesting recently lost items: Beats headphones. Andrea says they were left during finals week and by the time The Independent went to publication they still hadn’t been claimed. Like the Library, each Overlake building has a bin for lost and found items. Once or twice every quarter, items from those bins are moved to the Field House. Physical Education Chair Sara Thomas, who works on sorting items when they arrive at the Field House, manages the donation of items that haven’t been reclaimed by their owners. Three times a year, Sara donates the contents of the lost and found to organizations such as Goodwill (lost items with names written on or in them are not donated). She disclosed that the lost and found in the Field House receives anywhere from 20 to
Help! I’m drowning in homework but want to hang out with my friends this weekend, what do I do? I feel ya. As much as I
30 objects in a week. Can you imagine at the end of quarter or semester hundreds of lost items, sitting there, unused? According to Sara, only 30 to 40 percent of the items are retrieved, which leads to this question: Why? Sara believes students don’t reclaim their lost stuff because they don’t know where to look, “or they don’t think they have lost anything so they don’t check it.” And then there are those long-forgotten losses. Senior Maria Russinovich revealed to the Independent one unforgettable memory: just this year someone found her 6th Grade yearbook in a lost-and-found bin -- five years after she lost it. Maria also shared a few tips on finding your lost items. When looking for something lost on campus she tries “to retrace her steps” and “if worse comes to worse,” she says, “you’ve just got to go to the Field House.” So, just how effective is the lost and found and what can be done to improve it? Andrea deems the Library lost and found “useful” because it’s in an open area, visible to people visiting the Library. Sara thinks the overall lost-and-found system is “not as effective as it could be” because students aren’t always aware about where to look. Maria, a veteran of lost-and-found searches, suggests that “a post on the Overlake Facebook page … would be good” to remind students and parents about the system. “And of course, making an announcement [that there are] lost and found bins in every single building.”
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would LOVE to say, “Go hang out with your friends! Homework can wait!” in some cases, it can’t. If you’re swamped with homework, maybe this weekend isn’t the best time to try to hang out with your buds. Also, more likely than not, you friends are also overloaded with homework, so it would just be best to wait for an easier weekend to hang out and have tons of fun. But that just adds to the excitement for the next weekend to roll around!
I have a really big crush on this kid in my grade, how do I make them notice me?
Oh wow, young love. I would say just be yourself and put yourself out there! The WORST thing you can do when you try to create a relationship is changing who you are just to mesh with someone else, (in non-romantic relationships as well.) Go to sports events that they either go to or are playing in, try to talk to them in between classes, and create a face-to-face relationship to get on their radar. You can do this!
ADVICE COLUMN
Over the summer my friend group began to change and I’m not sure how I feel about it. How do I bring up this topic with my friends? First off, I have beeeeen there. FOMO is the worst, but if you don’t feel like you can talk to your friends about this change, maybe they aren’t the greatest of friends to begin with. However, if you feel like you can talk to your friends, then do so! Maybe after school you can talk to some of your friends about this change, or you can text them and see what they think about the change. If you’re uncomfortable with where your friend group is going, then you don’t have to stay with them. There are 75ish other kids in your grade who are all amazing people and are more than willing to be friends with you, because you’re ALSO an amazing person! I’m new to Overlake and I’m struggling to make friends. How can I open my social circle to meet new people? While I came in 6th grade with 32 other new people, I did not experience being a “new kid” quite like some people have, I DO know that the kids in your grade are SO excited to meet you and be your friend! (No really, new people at Overlake are a hot topic, so we’ve been expecting you for a while.) But, if you are struggling to make friends, try to go to Overlake events and strike up conversations with the kids around you. If anything, you’ve put yourself on people’s radars and everything will move smoothly from there. You’ve got this!
Lindsay’s Library Life, Death, and Dystopia One Author’s Perspective BY LINDSAY RUBIN
Everyone has a different perspective on what the future looks like, some bright, some dark, and some between. Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel “Ship Breaker” takes a personal approach to dystopic societies. Years in the future, the polar ice caps have melted and New Orleans is underwater. The story is centered around Nailer, a “ship breaker” on the gulf coast. He makes his living by taking apart and scavenging washed up oil tankers with his crew. Competition is tough and tense between crews as they fight for the best tankers. After suffering a betrayal from a beloved crew member, which, in this future world, is the worst crime that someone could commit, Nailer has almost reached a dead end. He dreams of a “lucky strike”, like a pouch of oil hidden in the tankers, or a missing piece of valuable jewelry. Instead, Nailer and his best friend Pima find a clipper, a super-fast ship used only by the wealthy. Inside they find riches beyond their dreams, and the injured and dying owner of the ship, a beautiful girl named Nita who is about their age. At its roots, Ship Breaker is a story of decisions. We watch the characters being forced to grow up too quickly as they fight for their lives and their survival. What Bacigalupi does best in this novel is character development. When Nailer and Pima first find Nita, Pima wants to humanely finish her off because of the political complications, but Nailer can’t bring himself to. Readers get to watch Nailer transform from a boy incapable of killing a dying daughter of a politician, to a man capable of killing his own father. Nailer as a teenager has to decide his future, much like modern-day teens, but for him, every decision is life or death. He has to decipher his feelings toward his addict father, and decide whether to follow his father or choose his own path. He slowly transforms from a broken boy forced into labor to a man ready to explore and forge his own future. I loved this novel. The world Bacigalupi wove was intricate and fascinating. The imagery was fantastic, and the idea itself was ingenious. Oftentimes in dystopias, political issues distract from the rest of the story, but Bacigalupi does a great job of weaving in political tensions with action and storyline. At times, the novel became a bit dry, but there’s enough going on that the dry parts are over in an instant and there’s something else to worry about. “Ship Breaker” was a fantastic story of loyalties, decisions, and growing up too quickly for your own good. If you’re a fan of darker novels, “Ship Breaker“ is the book for you.
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BY LIDDY BOLAND
Confirmation Bias: We’re All Part of the Problem By Silvia Nica and Liddy Boland NEWS MAGAZINE
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