The Pingry Record - May 2021

THE NATION’S OLDEST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

ON THE WEB: students.pingry.org/ record

Volume CXLVI, Number IV

May 4th, 2021

Pingry Responds to AAPI Hate Crimes

Pingry Begins Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines ANJOLA OLAWOYE (IV)

Sarah Kloss (V) and a friend at a protest in Bridgewater.

MONICA CHAN (VI) Over the course of the last three months, there has been a string of violent attacks against members of the AAPI (Asian-American and Pacific Islander) community across the nation, bringing about deep pain and grief to not only victims’ families, but also Asian-Americans at large. These crimes are by no means a new topic. However, the successive violent murders and attacks against members of the AAPI community in recent months have caught national attention due to their severity.

On March 16th, eight people were killed in a mass shooting across multiple Asian-owned massage parlors in Atlanta, GA. Six of the eight victims were Asian-American.

More is being revealed about the victims and their individual stories.

Immedietely after the tragedy,

President Biden ordered all flags to be flown at half staff until March 22nd to honor the victims: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, and Paul Andre Michels.

While this shooting is by far the most lethal event in the string of anti-Asian hate crimes that have occurred over the last year, it is not the first. The attacks against Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was killed while walking outside, Ee Lee, who was sexually assaulted then murdered, and Noel Quintana, who was slashed across the face with a knife in the New York City subway, are just a few of many.

These attacks and the lack of a coordinated response to prevent further attacks have left many Asian-Americans feeling angered and cheated by a judicial system and government that does not seem to defend them. Police departments

across the country have announced multiple times that many of these attacks will not be investigated as hate crimes. Because of this, Asian community leaders have been organizing multiple rallies in New York City, Oakland, Atlanta, and other cities. At Pingry, there have been multiple forums for Asian and non-Asian students to discuss and process these events, including a forum for Asian parents and caregivers to speak with DEI Director Mr. Olvera and Mr. Levinson. The Asian Student Union has been working very closely with Mr. Olvera and Ms. Lopez to ensure that the Asian-American community at Pingry feels heard, and are working on ways to better include Asian-American students.

Jeremy Lin (VI), a co-founder of the Asian Student Union, said, “Whether it is making a heartfelt speech on stage in front of the entire school to holding meetings for

our community to come together and discuss these issues, we are trying to spark that same flame and passion in our underclassmen.

In Asian cultures, the concept of going against authority and causing trouble is frowned upon; however, our actions as ASU leaders represent the risks we are willing to take. I hope this inspires students to take risks, go outside of their comfort zones to fight for what they believe in.” At a school-wide meeting addressing the recent rise in violent hate crimes, there were over 300 students and faculty in attendance.

Lin adds that it is moving to see how many people we have supporting us, whether they are Asian-Americans themselves or allies. He hopes “to come back and see the same interest in social justice throughout Pingry’s student community after we have graduated.”

Throughout the last couple of months, many American citizens have started receiving the vaccines that protect against the coronavirus.

Some of these vaccinations that are developed by companies include: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. As of now, children aged 16 years and older are only eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, while people who are 18 and older are permitted to receive all of these vaccines.

With the increasing number of vaccinations being distributed all over America, Pingry has decided to launch the Pingry-Rite Aid Vaccination program, partnering with Rite-Aid to administer vaccines throughout the community. This vaccine clinic began in late March and will continue to run throughout the month of April.

The clinic will be offered to anyone that satisfies the requirements for the Moderna vaccine. In addition to this program, Pingry is also offering a 200 shot clinic for Pingry families and the general public. This Moderna vaccine will be administered on April 17 for the first dose and May 15 for the second dose. In order to receive this vaccine, people must provide identification as well as both medical and prescription insurance. Overall, these clinics will provide easier access to COVID-19 vaccines to faculty, staff, parents, and eligible students.

On Friday, April 9, Pingry announced via email that they would be expanding their program for students who meet the criteria for the Pfizer vaccine. This announcement was due to Governor Murphy’s new statement allowing any children who are 16 and above to start receiving vaccinations starting on April 19.

Eligible students are encouraged to receive this vaccination especially because of the advantages stated by the CDC. For example, vaccinated individuals may resume domestic traveling and they would not be contact traced, unless they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

However, vaccinated people are still required to take precautions such as social distancing and wearing a mask.

The goal of these vaccination programs is to vaccinate as many community members as possible.

Aside from the potential vaccination requirements for the upcoming school year, these vaccination efforts will at least help the community return to a more “normal” school year next year and ensure people’s health and safety.

Write for us!

SCHOOL NEWS: Pages

INVESTIGATIVE: P. 6-9

COLUMNS, Pg. 10-12

1, 13-14

What is an NFT and

Inside the Minds of

Where is it headed?

Park and Wong Debate Free Speech on Social Media

We’re always looking for new writers. Please reach out if you have any ideas or questions!

Andrew Wong (V) and Caleb Park (IV)

Email:

Lebow Winners Sarah Gu (III)

The Pingry Math

Vared Shmuler (IV)

Team Blooms

Pingry Anywhere: A Branding Moment?

Ava Kotsen (IV)

Kiera Chen (III)

recordsubmissions@pingry.org

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Rachada Kloss P’19 P’22, Pingry Web Events, Rhea Kapur (VI), Google Images

THE PINGRY RECORD

2

SCHOOL NEWS MAY 4th, 2021

Pingry Attends Harvard Model Congress MIRIKA JAMBUDI (IV) From February 19 to February 21, 24 Pingry students participated in the Harvard Model Congress (HMC) over Zoom. HMC is the largest competition in the world for students simulating the United States government.

Each student was assigned a current U.S. House Representative or Senator to represent while at the conference. Before the Congress, students researched their roles and their delegate’s stances on issues selected by the conference organizers, such as fracking or renewble energy technologies.

During the conference,

participants around the country gathered to engage in lively debate and discussion. They also learned how to craft legislation and compromise on the passage of bills.

Many Pingry students passed bills in their respectives committees, working in breakout rooms with their fellow delegates. “It was pretty fun and informative, even though the entire conference was virtual,” explained Vared Shmuler (IV).

A unique addition to the conference this year was special activity briefings, presentations from special guest speakers working in fields related to the issues being debated at HMC. Virtual socials and activities were also fun and

informative, such as a panel with Harvard undergraduates who identified as low-income, firstgeneration, and as students of color. In this event, they shed light on the college application process, and discussed programs and scholarships such as Questbridge.

Shaan Lehal (IV) won a Best Delegate Award for his participation in the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in the House of Representatives.

After an educational and engaging weekend, Pingry students look forward to returning in-person to Harvard Model Congress next year.

THE PINGRY RECORD

COMMENTARY MAY 4th, 2021

3

Wasting Our Breath

Inside the Minds of Lebow Winners

Pingry Math Team Blossoms AVA KOTSEN (IV) “Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms; it’s about understanding,” William Thurston said. The Pingry Math Team works to promote this vision of math being more than numbers by pushing the limits of what math really is.

Led by Julian Lee (VI) and faculty advisor Mr. Poprik, the Pingry Math Team has competed in many prestigious math competitions around the country (virtually this year), and has earned high placements at each. The team’s goal has been to change people’s perception of math and prove that math is not just another mundane class in school. Instead of learning math topics and memorizing equations to be quizzed on basic

knowledge, competitive math pushes students to use problemsolving skills to reapply concepts in more creative and abstract settings.

Throughout the year, the team participates in around eight to ten math competitions, including the TrinMaC, MMATHS, HMMT, PuMAC, and Duke Math Meet.

Outside of competition math, the Pingry Math Team participates actively in the STEM and science community at Pingry, recently running the STEM competition in December with support from other Pingry STEM clubs.

On the team are a dedicated group of students who work tirelessly to push themselves beyond the limits of their understanding.

Among them are Kimberly Wong (V), who will be taking over as the leader next year, Noah Bergam

(VI), Leo Xu (V), Max Liu (V), JP Salvatore, Alan Zhong (IV), and Elbert Ho (II). As difficult as this year was for everyone, the team’s success was unaffected.

At some meets, the team splits up into equally skilled groups of six students to engage newer members.

For harder invitationals such as the Duke Math Meet where they placed 18th, the team is decided based on skill level. A 4th place finish at the MMATHS meet out of over 100 teams in the fall earned the team enough national points to qualify for the 2021 USMCA National Championship, set to take place in a few weeks. If they place within the top 36 teams there, they will qualify for nationals! Best of luck to the Pingry Math Team, and may the F=ma be with you!

Club Spotlight: BRIDGES EMILY SHEN (V) Since the beginning of the school year, extracurricular activities at Pingry have been deeply affected by the ongoing pandemic.

Clubs, especially those that closely collaborate with outside organizations, have struggled to find ways to engage students safely.

The Bridges Outreach Club has found new ways to adhere to the organization’s mission to “end homelessness through volunteerdriven outreach and individual case management focusing on health, housing, and independence.” In the past, the club was known for its student-driven runs; students would travel to cities, such as New York, where homelessness has been a prevailing problem. Students then handed out pre-packaged lunch bags that included non-perishable goods, fruits, snacks, and other necessities. Student volunteers were able to see the tangible and immediate impact of their actions, as they helped Bridges continue to fight homelessness. Unfortunately, due to social distancing guidelines, the Bridges Outreach Club cannot organize any runs this year; however, the club’s leaders have found new ways for students to engage with Bridges’s mission.

This year, the Bridges Outreach Club collaborated with Sage Dining to provide leftover Pingry lunches to Bridges volunteers for distribution.

Sandwiches made and packaged by students donated to BRIDGES

Every Friday during second flex, students meet in the Hyde and Watson Gym to pack up nonperishable food items, which are then picked up by Bridges staff.

Although directly distributing the lunches is not possible, the Pingry community still makes a difference, albeit indirectly, in the lives of those suffering from homelessness.

The Bridges Outreach Club is also offering the opportunity to help with lunch packing. With fewer donations due to the pandemic, Bridges Outreach has struggled to keep a constant food supply. Therefore, on top of donating leftover food, students can also pack brownbagged lunches at home. Each lunch bag includes a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a pack of cookies, and a bag of snacks. On Fridays, students can deliver lunches to Mrs. Hartz’s office in exchange for community service hours. Ten lunches count for one hour, which helps students

fulfill their requirements, while assisting an important cause.

In addition to lunch packing, the Bridges Outreach Club also facilitates letter writing to help brighten someone’s day. Many students chose to place a letter in each sandwich bag they package, earning an hour for every ten sandwiches or ten letters.

Like food donations, Bridges Outreach’s clothing and toiletries donations have been altered by the pandemic. As a result, the Bridges Outreach Club hosted a clothing drive in the Upper and Middle School. The club collected gently used jackets, sweatshirts, and sweatpants, as well as new toiletries and underwear.

If you are interested in Bridges Outreach’s cause, feel free to reach out to me at eshen2022@pingry. org or Sankar at sgollapudi2022@ pingry.org. The Bridges Outreach Club needs your help!

Elspeth Cambell (V) speaks at the LeBow Oratorical Competition

SARAH GU (III) On February 26, students and faculty alike were enthralled by the annual Robert H. Lebow Oratorical Competition. The assembly is held by William Hetfield (‘58) and the Pingry Class of 1958 in honor of Dr. Robert Lebow. After a closed-audience preliminary round, the larger Pingry community had the opportunity to listen to the six finalists.

Elspeth Campbell (V) won the competition, with a speech that analyzed the use of one’s voice for the common good; she drew inspiration from a New York Times article and the Capitol riots. Campbell used her speech as “a means for me to process everything that was happening and interpret all these types of events.” While writing, she “wasn’t even sure I was going to enter the competition,” as she had never written a speech before.

Martine Bigos (V) was named the runner-up of this year’s competition, after having been named a finalist last year. “It definitely feels pretty surreal,” she said, “But it actually doesn’t feel different for me each year.

I was just as nervous the first time as I was the second time.”

As mentioned in her speech, Bigos’ brainstorming process was self-referential. She had initially written a speech that felt ingenuine: “I kept telling myself that you have to write something that’s going to win because I felt this pressure to win. Then, I realized that it was an absolutely garbage reason to want to do the competition.”

Thus, she then decided to write about losing sight of passion and participating in activities solely for the sake of college.

Campbell took a different approach while preparing her speech: she never voiced her speech aloud until the preliminary round, out of respect to her parents at home.

Instead, she mouthed the words and practiced her delivery, as she read her speech over and made edits.

Her rhetoric was inspired by Barack Obama’s speech writers; she noted, “As I was writing, I was also learning the skill of oratorical delivery.”

As Campbell did, Bigos also edited her speech while preparing her delivery. She noted that “the writing process doesn’t necessarily stop once you rehearse the speech.”

Additionally, both contestants expressed the competition’s impact on their futures. Campbell noted the competition was “a necessary way to overcome that fear [of public speaking],” especially in order to develop that skill for her future career. Bigos also found the experience challenging and, conversely, did not see herself public speaking as a profession.

“For me, the reason I was really interested in the competition was writing an original speech,” she said. Nevertheless, Bigos believes the process will push her to reach greater heights.

As for advice to future LeBow competitors, Campbell emphasized the importance of taking the audience into consideration. To her, a successful LeBow speech employs the strategy of “tak[ing] larger scale issues and refram[ing] them in the context of Pingry.”

Bigos’ tips included the following: slow down, avoid eating before speaking, drink lots of water, and take deep breaths. In terms of advice, she said, “If you’re interested, but the public speaking part is getting in the way of deciding whether or not you want to sign up, just realize it’s going to be okay at the end of the day.” Bigos affirms that the process will be rewarding no matter what, as “getting to talk to people after you give your speech is one of the best feelings because it is so fulfilling to know that what you say impacts somebody.”

Photo Credits (Left to Right): Emily Shen (V), Pingry Web Events

AVIDAN SHAH (V) Every February, you, me, and hundreds of other excited students gather to watch the annual Robert H. LeBow ‘58 Oratorical Competition in Hauser Auditorium. The speeches are always amazing, and it’s impossible to guess who the winner will be until Ms. Lebowitz announces it on stage.

It would be safe to say that LeBow is most peoples’ favorite assembly of the year, and for good reason.

However, behind this seemingly innocent display of Pingry’s usual academic excellence hides a latent issue: unrefined talent. Over the years, many of my friends have competed in LeBow, and I’ve seen them pour hours and hours into brainstorming, writing, and rehearsing their speeches. All those hours spent in a school competition could have been put towards winning external competitions under our

school name. Why weren’t they?

If you weren’t aware, Pingry used to have a Speech and Debate team, a common and competitive extracurricular at most high schools.

So why don’t we have one today—and if we do, why isn’t it very active?

Clearly there’s at least some interest in oratorical competitions among our approximately 600 high school students. It seems as if Pingry has forgotten about its future debaters.

At my local public high school, there has been an established debate team for years, and the school supports the team with coaching and funding, providing students with the environment to vastly improve their skills over the course of their four years. On the surface, it seems as if Pingry only stands to miss out by not providing support for a debate team.

Students would be happier, as they would more easily be able to pursue their extracurricular passions, and

the School would collect accolades from students winning competitions.

It makes no sense, and yet this is actually a common problem across many clubs at Pingry. The school doesn’t actually seem to provide much of its own support for clubs and non-athletic extracurriculars, instead relying on the initiative of students to keep them alive. Even Pingry Robotics, a popular club that has been around for seemingly forever, doesn’t actually receive school funding—they rely on one big donation made many years ago to purchase necessary equipment and pay for registration fees.

The lack of school support of clubs and overreliance on individual student passion is why Pingry is rife with clubs sporting depressingly short lifespans. Be honest, upperclassmen: how many clubs have you seen pop up for a week, month, or even a year, then completely die out? We see this

cyclical lifespan in clubs like Speech and Debate, which are revived due to the efforts of one passionate student, only to immediately collapse the year after they graduate or finally grow too frustrated to continue. The global pandemic has only served to exacerbate this problem, killing off more clubs than usual, and forcing many to halt or greatly alter their activities.

Another interesting phenomenon that I and many others have noticed that may be correlated with Pingry’s club issue is student commitment to clubs. At my local high school, students actively participate in one or maybe two clubs maximum.

Students sometimes spend more than twenty-five hours a week working for their club, especially in the more competition-focused clubs. At Pingry, it’s not uncommon to see students that are members of four to five different clubs or extracurricular time

commitments, but not too deeply involved in any of them. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this pursuit of well-roundedness, but it more often than not comes at the expense of depth, experience, and accomplishment in any one particular subject. This trade off has been debated for quite some time, especially when it comes to the everworsening competition of the college admissions process. Whether or not students should be actively seeking well-roundedness is an issue of its own.

It seems that Pingry intends to provi de students with experience in all breadths and branches of academics, and it’s doing a great job. If the goal, however, is to truly refine talent and encourage students to excel at one or two strengths through its clubs, then we’re just wasting our breath.

I, Meghan the Durkin MEGHAN DURKIN (VI) Like most seniors, I have spent much of the last few months thinking and preparing for leaving home. Part of me is excited, but most of me is terrified. Maybe in a good way, the kind of terrified that only comes with change. Though while I continue to imagine what comes next, I always go back to what is and was.

Last summer, I wrote a piece about my name, my family, and our hometown. I thought now was a perfect time to share it, as a small love letter to my family. I hope you enjoy it . . . .

Meghan Durkin. My name, a combination of Irish names with a slight rhyme, is a friendly reminder of why I have blonde hair, pale skin, and freckles. While I love my first name, Meghan, I’ve always adored, even identified more with, my last name. Durkin, with its long history, has become a mark of pride. Even more, I love the sound of it, the way it rolls off my tongue as the crisp consonants give it definition.

It’s nickname friendly, and open to abbreviations like “Durk” or “Durks.”

In my hometown, where my dad grew up too, it’s deeply rooted in the fabric of the town’s past. So, I may be a Meghan, but I’ll always, more

importantly, be a Durkin too.

My mom became a Durkin 30 years ago. She left behind her maiden name: Herrmann. With its double r’s and double n’s, she wasn’t too fond of it. It wasn’t elegant or smooth, but instead harsh and hard to spell.

“I really upgraded,” my mom would tell me. She loved Durkin too. With only one r and only one n, it was a last name she was thankful to adopt.

She, and I, would bear a name with lots of history in our small town of Maplewood. My dad grew up right outside of our town center, a street fittingly called Maplewood Avenue. My grandparents owned a small travel agency called Durkin’s

Destinations that could be found a few blocks and a slight right from their small house. This history extends through my dad’s siblings. My aunt worked at Maplewood Middle School, where she taught math to eight graders. Maplewood has raised three generations of Durkins, and our name is etched in memories of the town.

Most importantly, it is a history and name I share with my brothers. My brothers, to their friends, are known solely as “Durkin,” or sometimes “Durks.” So, I am often known as “Durkin’s sister,” a name I am happy to embrace. To me, being called Durkin is a sign of friendship, of familiarity. Even more, Durkin, in

a way, is the name that defines my siblings and I as one; it’s how we, no matter where we are, are connected to each other.

As the only girl of the family, I am the only one expected to give up the name Durkin if I marry. Although it seems a long way off, I’ve made up my mind: I will always, no matter what, be Meghan Durkin. My last name is a part of my fabric; it is the essence of who I am and the people who I love.

Unlike my mom, I know there is no upgrade. The rolls-off-your-tongue, perfect-for-nicknames Durkin is too good to let go.

Photo Credits: Monica Chan (VI)

4

THE PINGRY RECORD

COMMENTARY MAY 4th, 2021

THE PINGRY RECORD

With all of the turmoil that has transpired in the last few weeks at Pingry, the community has been offered an opportunity for selfreflection and for consideration of what it means to be part of a group of people with shared values. I am, of course, talking about trust, and specifically about the role of trust in each other that each member of the Pingry community must have.

Whenever we talk about trust, I think we tend to fixate on the aspect of trust that relates to the veracity of information. Trust is more than having confidence that the words a friend is saying are correct and accurate; trust is also about believing that everyone in the community is acting in the best interest of the whole. Pingry has frequently brought this topic up, especially when it comes to COVID restrictions how actions that flout those rules can endanger the health of the whole community.

But it is now April, many many months into the school year, and I feel as if whatever trust is built in each encouraging letter and every motivational Form Meeting is knocked down every time a new detail emerges. One particularly frustrating event was

the closure of the school for the last week before Spring Break in March. After several months of commanding students to be safe and avoid spreading COVID in off-campus gatherings, most of the student body was notified that their adherence was essentially irrelevant, because it only took a small group of students to break those rules and lead to Pingry’s closure.

The idea that shared trust is something that rests on the whole Pingry community is one that, I think, has had poor effects. When we minimize the individual’s role in assuming responsibility for the safety of several thousand other people, we tacitly allow rulebreaking to happen. The general message over the school year has, in my view, not sufficiently focused on the impact that one student can have, instead emphasizing that it would take a group of students to truly negatively impact the School. Pingry has a track record of shielding individual wrongdoing by attributing it to a larger group, which works well in developing feelings of guilt, but it relaxes pressure on the main culprits.

I don’t think Pingry needs to implement public humiliation or a list of individual wrongdoers;

rather, I think there needs to be some transparency into the drivers behind major decisions like school closures. It’s laughable to assume that the entire School can be blamed for an increase in COVID cases, so when the burden of a school closure falls on the entire school, the student body feels as if nobody is held accountable.

Just as the School cannot give every student a detention, every student cannot be expected to feel bad when a concentrated problem is diffused over the entire student body. If Pingry were to provide details as to the causes of these major decisions, there would be a much faster restoration of shared trust after one of these lapses of judgment. Nothing draconian or invasive needs to be done—simply an anonymized description of events leading to the decision.

Saying absolutely nothing about what happened actually makes the problem worse—it drives gossip among students as they excitedly try to dig up the true culprit for an increase in cases.

And this extends beyond COVID. The new Math Department policy mandating in-person tests is far too late to restore the trust that has been trampled since September.

Every time a whiff of a cheating

5

Understanding Our Subconsious

Through the Looking Glass ANEESH KARUPPUR (VI)

COMMENTARY MAY 4th, 2021

scandal arises, there is a great deal of gossip as to which students are contravening the Honor Code and how it was done. It leads to animosity and yes, erosion of trust in the protection of a level academic playing field. Again, just a modicum of transparency is necessary to achieve this change—a brief and timely note, explaining the actions and assurance that disciplinary action has been taken.

But by far the most concerning one of these shared trust erosions is the recent spate of faculty and staff departures. Explanations offered for these are so unsatisfying and so poorly elucidated that there are multiple different theories for each administrator’s exit. For figures who have anchored the Pingry community for decades, it’s bewildering to students to see them disappear so quickly and suddenly. I think this affects students the most—the purpose of these administrators is to preserve the collective trust of the Pingry community, and the loss of these administrators without any kind of reasonable explanation makes it impossible for any student to trust that Pingry will recover, welcome a new person, and move on. Yet again, we don’t need specifics. Just some inkling of the

rationale behind such a significant departure would help assuage fears of administrative turmoil, antagonism within the echelons of Pingry leadership, and other unfounded theories that are so easy for everyone to latch on to and discuss.

Nothing about the lack of transparency for discipline and administrative decisions is productive, helpful, or unifying.

Pingry’s modus operandi of letting dramatic events blow over has been exposed for its Band-aid approach to the wounds in community trust.

Providing no clarity on these major issues only serves to drive more and more stakes into Pingry’s ground, dividing us all until we each become alone.

SARINA LALIN (III) A father and a son are in a car accident. The man dies instantly at the scene, while the son is rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

The boy needs emergency surgery to survive; just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon looks at the boy and says, “I can’t operate on him, he’s my son!” How is this possible?

If you’re like any of the countless people who’ve heard this age-old riddle, you probably guessed that the boy had same-sex parents.

Maybe you picked up on the fact that the riddle failed to specify if the little boy was even the man’s son. Or, if you're like my

7-year-old sister, you assumed that the surgeon was God since he is “everyone’s father”. I’ve even heard my fair share of complex solutions involving sperm donors and convoluted lineage. But, did you consider that the surgeon could be the boy’s mother? If so, you are a part of a surprising minority.

Why would so many people not think of this solution to the riddle? Unconscious bias. This phenomenon causes people to create stereotypes of certain groups of people outside of their own conscious awareness. Everyone has implicit assumptions about different social classes and identities, which derive from our innate propensity to categorize social worlds. To put

it another way, they are completely normal. Our brains have a natural tendency to find patterns and draw associations between things. By making assumptions on people based on traits we would expect them to have, our brain is able to navigate the world without being overwhelmed by the abundance of information.

The influence of personal experiences and the media can serve as an explanation for implicit biases, especially in a time when we thought gender stereotypes were reduced. Exposure to recurring images of specific types of people in particular classes or roles causes our brain to identify anyone who fits in that category as similar. For

example, if you always see pictures with a man as a surgeon, you will automatically assume the surgeon is a male when confronted with the riddle above. This idea emerges in other fields with male-dominated roles. Take the example of female CEOs: unless you are often exposed to pictures of female CEOs, you will very likely think of a male when asked to conjure up an image of a CEO. Today, there are only 41 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, making up less than a mere 8% of all CEOs. The lack of female role models, therefore, significantly contributes to the unconscious beliefs we form.

Unconscious biases are difficult to entirely eliminate since they

form at a subconscious level, but the first step to reducing these assumptions is to acknowledge them. Psychologist Patricia Devine, said that the difference between prejudice and non prejudice is one’s ability to resist these stereotypes.

I believe that creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable talking about their own implicit biases will ultimately lead to fewer biases overall.

The world we live in is constantly changing and we should be proud of the progress we have made to reduce inequalities and establish roles for typically underrepresented groups. But our work is far from finished. Acknowledging the truth about ourselves is the first step to

Breaking the Cycle MIRIKA JAMBUDI (IV) In the depths of night, after my neighbors and household members have long gone to bed, you can usually find me hunched over my dimly-lit laptop or scribbling into a notebook with my earbuds in.

During school nights, you might find me frantically trying to finish an essay or problem set due the very next day, which I managed to procrastinate away until the eleventh hour (quite literally).

However, the nights where I have no excuse for staying up so late, I’m probably mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and finally ending up watching dog videos on YouTube. Essentially, I’m doing everything but sleeping, even on the rare nights where I don’t have to stay up so late.

I’ve realized it’s not intentional, and I’m not the only one. Just before winter break, two other Pingry students and I started tracking the times we went to sleep every day in an attempt to motivate ourselves to go to sleep earlier and “win.” After five months of doing this, I was shocked to see that we had only gone to sleep before midnight twice between the three of us. Even though we have pretty busy lives, we weren’t doing homework or focusing on our extracurriculars most of the time either. As Pingry students, we tend to be very high-achieving, filling our schedules with sports, clubs, volunteer work, extracurriculars, and more—all on top of our classes and the hours of studying we have to do.

Often, it seems like the load we

Extracurriculars-first Education: The Pingry Model NOAH BERGAM (VI)

bear also comes at the expense of our mental and physical health.

With such jam-packed schedules, it feels like we barely even have time for ourselves anymore. Using the data we collected and surveys with other Pingry students, I’ve found that we all are fighting for more private time at the expense of our sleep; we simply want a few more positive moments before we pass out and have to repeat this cycle of constant sleep deprivation.

With that, the concept of “revenge

bedtime procrastination” comes into play—something I stumbled upon during a late-nighter.

Revenge bedtime procrastination is when people will unintentionally refuse to sleep because they feel a lack of control in their daily lives. Even though people feel exhausted, they might stay up until an extreme hour to avoid ending the scarce free time that they have.

It’s always a continuous battle for one more episode, one more text, one more moment to feel awake,

happy, and free.

This toxic cycle of “freedom” creates a significant impediment to our mental and physical wellbeing, putting us at risk for illnesses and reducing cognitive function. This problem needs to be urgently addressed. I’m not arguing that you should drop all of your extracurriculars, or take a lighter course load, but that you should only do things that, in the words of Marie Kondo, “spark joy.” Stop focusing on the outside

expectations and pressures in your life, and instead, “declutter” it of the things you don’t enjoy.

If you direct your focus and efforts towards something you are passionate about, then you’ll feel much more content with yourself and your life. Coming from someone who went through the same process, I can’t say I’m sleeping significantly more, but I know I’m sleeping much happier than I was before.

Photo Credits: Olivia Hung (V)

The college prep culture has undergone a slow but decisive transformation over the past few decades. At least, that’s the sense I get from teachers who reminisce about the days when students could stomach a C on an English essay; years when Honors Physics could teach magnetism and AT German could teach the passive voice. It’s the sense I get from my parents, who say that, in the 1980s, students conducting research in high school was practically unheard of and anyone with a score exceeding 1500 on the SAT was truly a genius.

I’m in no way qualified to speak about those “good old days.” I don’t really know if the rigor of Pingry classes has declined or if students

have just become smarter. And I certainly cannot extrapolate my anecdotal evidence to describe the greater college admissions industrial complex as it exists today. But I’m pretty familiar with the Pingry student experience, pre and post-COVID, and I can say one thing with certainty: as students, we spend a striking amount of our energy––oftentimes a majority of it––outside rather than inside the classroom.

The growth of extracurriculars has become an unquestioned part of student culture. You know the trope: high GPAs and test scores are necessary but insufficient for success in the college admissions game. While trite, this is a hard statistical truth in a world of grade inflation and prep books. It’s only

natural we focus on activities and awards, prematurely cultivating some sort of “spike”––whether in sports, policy debate or linguistics––in hope that the Fates will notice.

Of course, it’s pretty amazing to see young people successfully specialize, so long as they actually enjoy what they do. I’d encourage any Pingry student to aim big at national tournaments rather than fret over a third of a letter grade on their transcript. The unfortunate truth of the matter, though, is that Pingry often doesn’t facilitate productive specialization, particularly in academicallyoriented extracurriculars.

Sometimes it’s because of a lack of school support, as is the case with our glaring lack of a

stable speech and debate team; more often, though, it’s an issue of student culture, of chronic overcommitment and triplebooked conference periods. I direct you to Avi Shah’s (VI) op-ed for further discussion of this issue.

Now, when specialization fails, there’s still a case to be made that the extracurriculars-first model allows the student to explore their passions more effectively.

This, however, is a much weaker argument, as the classroom is essentially designed for rigorous intellectual exploration in the first place. Classes demand a baseline level of commitment that most (not all) extracurriculars offered at Pingry could never match with one or two measly flex periods a week.

Unfortunately, students cannot

make and almost certainly do not want to see classes consume more of their lives. The extracurricularfocused model of education is popular and thus is likely here to stay, at Pingry and beyond.

However, it should be noted that this model puts more pressure on the student to find their own way as a scholar, to delineate their interests and commit to them. Commitment in particular is key. Whether you are a specialist or an explorer in the realm of extracurriculars, be aware that your time is a very limited resource.

Spend it with equal parts care and curiosity.

Photo Credits: Olivia Hung (V)

THE PINGRY RECORD

6

INVESTIGATIVE MAY 4th, 2021

THE PINGRY RECORD

Pingry Athletics: Collected or Cultivated?

JESSICA LIN (VI) Pingry has always worked on bringing new sources of athletic talent into the student body.

Although Pingry places a priority on academics, Pingry also emphasizes the value of athletics programs by investing resources, space, and time into sports. So in order to gain some insight as to how Pingry cultivates their athletic talent, I spoke to three seniors who have almost completed their Upper School careers.

Carolyn Coyne is a senior who has played multiple sports within Pingry throughout her high school athletic career. Not including this spring season, Coyne has been a dedicated three-sport athlete at Pingry: field hockey in the fall, basketball or ski team in the winter, and lacrosse in the spring. Her athletic skills have been solely developed by the Pingry sports programs, as she has never played any of these sports outside of school.

Coyne credits these sports programs as what helped her take her love for these sports to new levels, regardless of whether she played them for three seasons or recently joined senior year. When asked what resources at Pingry helped her strive for athletic excellence, she highlighted the BAC as a major benefit of the Pingry athletics programs. She stated that having access to the BAC and the coaching staff there, both in and off season, was very helpful. She also emphasized how the team culture at Pingry shaped her high school athletics experience. Pingry takes great pride in the close communities that the sports teams build over the years and thus takes great efforts to maintain that sense of togetherness, such as with the participation policy that debuted in 2018. This policy aims to foster school spirit and athletic excellence by requiring students who play sports outside of school to also participate in the school team.

However, Coyne’s love of the team culture, specifically in field hockey, has long-existed independently of this policy. She stated that “being on PFH and having that kind of

genuine team culture has deepened my appreciation for why we play sports. I’ve also been lucky to have some great coaches there, as for other sports too.” She also noted that while she improved the most in field hockey over her high school career, she got better in every sport she played and is grateful for the opportunities that Pingry athletics has had to offer.

Some students at Pingry play sports for the school team and continue on to the college level. Henry Wood, a high-level runner and senior at Pingry, has been a student at Pingry since kindergarten. He ran on the Pingry cross country, winter track, and spring track team in middle school, and then started taking it more seriously as he entered high school. He continued participating on these teams for all four years. Wood is an example of a student-athlete

who does not play outside of school but found extraordinary success with his sport. His career at Pingry helped him be recruited to Brown University for their Division I track and cross country programs. When asked about how Pingry shaped his athletic career, Wood, like Coyne, credited the extensive facilities like the BAC as well as the trainers who are experts in sport-specific strength and conditioning. Wood also largely credited his cross country and track coaches for cultivating him into the runner he is today, as they provided him with workouts and advice that gave him better race results. He also mentioned the value of having his teammates by his side throughout all four years, who have now become some of his closest friends. While Coyne emphasized how team culture made her appreciate field hockey

more, Wood noted the importance of having teammates that would push each other to new heights.

Wood’s story is just one example among many other student-athletes whose talent Pingry has elevated to the college level.

Most of the student-athletes at Pingry who later continue their sport in college play both outside of and in-school. Sophia Cavaliere, a senior at Pingry who excels in soccer, has played the sport since she was in kindergarten and joined Pingry in ninth grade. She plays for PDA, a top soccer program in the country, as well as for the school’s varsity team for all four years. By sophomore year, she was recruited by Columbia University to play for their Division I women’s soccer program. Training at her club was the main factor that helped her take her soccer skills to

higher levels and eventually to the college recruitment level, but she stated that Pingry helped her in other ways than developing her technical skills. The soccer program at Pingry taught her leadership skills and how to effectively work as a member of the team. She also stated that being on the Pingry team helped her learn how to put the team first.

While it’s true that Pingry does recruit students to the Upper School to enrich their athletic programs, Pingry’s athletic programs simultaneously cultivate and are cultivated by the talents of existing studentathletes. Pingry sports programs have something to offer every student athlete, whether they want to try a new sport or have been playing for years.

With the COVID-19 pandemic at full force this school year, Pingry’s hybrid learning model has proved itself as an integral way to deliver a comfortable and effective learning experience to students.

By having the option to attend school in-person or online on a daily basis, students can learn in an environment that best accommodates their needs; with each choice, they receive an educational exper ience similar to that of a normal school year, thanks to the myriad of resources dedicated by Pingry. However, there are still many drastic differences between fully in-person and hybrid learning, which begs the question: what learning model will Pingry implement in future years postCOVID? According to Dr. Reid Cottingham, Director of Teaching and Learning, no definitive decisions have been made yet. However, the perspectives of students and teachers, which

will undoubtedly factor into the final decision, can be considered in predicting the future of hybrid learning.

Although the online aspect of hybrid learning is essential during the pandemic to allow students safe learning, it has educational consequences, un li ke t hose of a regular school year. A s many students have experienced during f ully remote -lear ning per iods, studying in front of a screen all day can cause Zoom fatigue, lack of motivation, and an overall shorter attention span. “I often feel fatigued by the end of the day, and it is harder for me to focus throughout classes,” Aviv Cohen (III) said. As a result, remote students usually have greater trouble understanding course material than their in-person classmates, which can lead to a gap in comprehension over time.

To further compound the issue, “[i]t’s very difficult [for teachers] to provide the same experience for people at home as the students in the

classroom,” Dr. Morgan D’Ausilio, a biology teacher, said. Not only do remote students experience factors that lead to poorer comprehension, they also receive a different learning experience from home. Evidently, remote learning is less effective than in-person learning; combined w it h its a llure of comfor t and extra sleep, this learning model can unnecessarily have a negative impact on students’ education. In a 30 -student sur vey conducted amongst Form III students, 26 individuals reported that they would occasionally learn from home even if they had the resources to go inperson that day. Thus, any future hybrid learning model will most likely implement strict rules limiting the scenarios applicable for choosing online learning.

From a teacher’s standpoint, hybrid learning makes it more difficult to plan lessons, especially when implementing hands-on activities.

As noted by Dr. D’Ausilio, “There’s no way that [teachers] can r un

[hands-on activities] where the people at home are getting the same experience,” as these activities are impossible to replicate for online students. In addition to remote students being unable to physically interact with any materials, factors such as glare, camera quality, and audio clarity also make it difficult for them to observe activities. As a result, teachers end up planning less hands-on activities to prevent these students from losing out on educational value as compared to their in-person peers. Since most interactive, physical activities aid in the understanding of course concepts and the development of problemsolving skills, all students are now consequently missing out on these crucial academic experiences.

Despite its educational consequences, hybrid learning is not w it hout its benef its in cer tain scenarios. For instance, students who are leaving school a couple of days early for vacation, or students who are injured and unable to attend

in-person school, can benefit from a hybrid model. “Online learning helped me ease back into school life after my concussion because I could learn from the peace and quiet of my room,” Michael Caratzola (III) said.

In these scenarios, attending online classes is better than not attending classes at all and falling behind.

However, these benefits would only apply in specific circumstances, where students are genuinely unable to attend school in-person.

Due to the many educational consequences of online learning, the hybrid model will undoubtedly see immense change in post-COVID years. Although returning to fully in-person learning is definitely a possibility, it is more likely that hybrid learning will exist, albeit with more rules enacted to prevent st udent s f rom unnecessa r i ly staying home. For now, however, Dr. Cottingham shared that hybrid learning will likely continue into the beginning of next school year.

Photo Credits: Olivia Hung (V)

7

Pingry Anywhere: A Branding Moment?

KEIRA CHEN (III)

The Future of Hybrid Learning, Post-Pandemic EVAN XIE (III)

INVESTIGATIVE MAY 4th, 2021

Pingry Anywhere has ingrained itself into the Pingry ecosystem.

Beyond simply being a website where students and parents can find quick information regarding the School’s COVID-19 safety precautions, the name has spread to trademark the entire remote learning experience.

But Pingry Anywhere is more than just a name; it’s a branding technique, setting Pingry apart from other schools. Look around the halls and you’ll see its marks: the Pingry seal on masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, even social distancing stickers on the floor.

I talked to Mrs. Allie Brunhouse ‘00, the Director of Institutional Advancement, regarding the optics of Pingry Anywhere’s branding efforts. As someone working in the Department of Communications and Marketing, Mrs. Brunhouse oversees a wide variety of school decisions.

Marketing at Pingry isn’t quite what one might think it is. It is less an effort to advertise and more a conscious decision to let the school’s reputation spread through word of mouth. “Everything you do is marketing,” Mrs. Brunhouse explained. “If the students are happy and the families are happy, they’ll tell people. [We try to be] thoughtful about spending money; our focus is ensuring we deliver what we say we’re going to deliver, which is a great educational experience.”

The Marketing Department has only been official for about 17 years; before that, marketing would’ve fallen under Admissions or Development. Currently, Pingry does not have a Director of Marketing or Communications—the

EVAN WEN (IV)

previous one left last summer, and a replacement hasn’t been found yet. “We’re treading water,” Mrs. Brunhouse said. “We haven’t been able to be as strategic as [we would be] if there was somebody in that role.”

Pingry Anywhere was created over the summer, with the name chosen by Upper School Director Ms. Ananya Chatterji during an administrative meeting. In the beginning of the summer, other schools were preparing static

presentations such as slideshows and PDFs to display their plans for the year. However, Pingry had other ideas. “I felt strongly that it would be in the best interest to have something that could be constantly updated,” Mrs. Brunhouse said. She

recommended that Pingry build a microsite (pingryanywhere.org) separate from the normal Pingry website that could evolve and be continually added to as needed.

That way, when life returns to the new “normal,” the microsite can be put away without affecting the original Pingry website.

A question that many students have is: “Why is the Pingry logo on everything?” Mrs. Brunhouse explained that Pingry has a desire for consistency. Pingry’s intention was to supply personal protective equipment to the students to ensure the students’ safety, while the seal and logo are part of the Pingry Style guide. All the colors, fonts, seals, and other branding are predetermined according to guidelines in that manuscript, to maintain consistency of appearance throughout everything. “We don’t know how not to put our name on some things,” Mrs. Brunhouse joked.

Of course, there remains the question of what happens to Pingry Anywhere once the pandemic is over. “That’s a conversation that’s happening,” Mrs. Brunhouse said, “and there’s not yet an answer [as to] what next year will look like because some things are still unclear. I envision that, forever, we will have a hybrid model of some things happening, in terms of our programming, but it remains to be seen what our educational model will look like.” With the pandemic, Pingry still has to adhere to the governor’s guidelines, but one thing is for sure: in the past year, we’ve all learned a lot about what it means to learn, and what it means to be a community.

How Do Contact Tracing Fobs Work?

Pingry’s contact tracing fobs have been a topic of heated discussion.

Many students were worried that their GPS data was being tracked. Some students took out the batteries of their contact tracers, fearful for their privacy. Are these concerns warranted? To answer some of these worries, I spoke with Systems Administrator Mr. Dave Azar, and Systems Engineer Mr. Apu ‘93, to learn more about these contact tracing devices.

The contact tracing fobs do not have a SIM card within them, meaning that they do not have access to GPS data. Instead, the contact tracing fobs have a Bluetooth connectivity device. Using the ID on the back of the devices, the sensors contain a Bluetooth unit designed by Laird Connectivity. The specific module Pingry uses is the Sentrius BT510 long-range Bluetooth 5 sensor.

The Laird Connectivity company also developed custom firmware designed specifically for the contact tracing fobs. The fobs themselves were designed by the POM Tracer company.

Physical proximity is measured based on the Bluetooth signal between devices. If two sensors have a strong signal, the proximity is assumed to be closer than if two sensors have a weaker signal.

However, many factors not related to physical proximity can impact Bluetooth signals. Sensors will work best when they are unobstructed and in the open. Placing the sensor in a backpack, in an ankle sleeve, or a wrist sleeve will tamper with the accuracy of the Bluetooth sensors.

Each sensor has a MAC address— essentially an ID number. When two sensors come into contact, the system will store the two MAC addresses as well as the time of contact. The data travels from the contact tracers to either a Gateway device or a Check in/Check out

tablet. Next, the data is sent to the POM Tracer Database before arriving at a dashboard where Pingry administration can estimate risk of exposure.

Time of contact is measured within a 24-hour window. The tracers measure total distance each day before the time is reset for the next day. When an individual tests positive with COVID-19, administration can see contacts with over 15 minutes of exposure per any of the last couple of days.

These contacts will be notified that they have been traced and will have

to spend two weeks in quarantine.

However, other factors are also considered for contact tracing: Administration looks at a student’s class schedule and other potential areas of risk to accurately trace contacts.

Another major concern was whether the fobs would work off the Pingry campus. The fobs always give off a Bluetooth signal meaning that they should work anywhere.

However, they can only interact with other fobs in the system.

On the bus ride home, fobs will contact trace people sitting next

to each other. If you put your fob next to a sibling’s at home, this will also be recorded by the contact tracer. Finally, contact tracers only measure one level of proximity; they do not account for intermediate connections. Two people are only contact traced if they had direct exposure to each other. Now, I wanted to figure out how accurate Bluetooth based contact tracing really is. On the surface, Bluetooth appears to be a good measure for contact tracing. It’s a lowpower signal and preserves people’s privacy. It can measure signals from other Bluetooth devices, making it seem like an ideal candidate for contact tracing applications.

However, there are many discrepancies in the accuracy of Bluetooth signals. Walls, human bodies, pockets, sleeves, or proximity to several tracers at once can taint their accuracy. In large spaces or outdoors, signals in might be too strong and cause overestimation of risk. Another issue exists when the signal passes through human bodies; the signal that comes out could be too weak and thus underestimate the risk.

These flaws show that despite our precautions to prevent COVID-19, there are always risks.

It is important to remember to wear masks and socially distance to see an end to this pandemic.

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Rhea Kapur (VI), Monica Chan (VI)

THE PINGRY RECORD

8

INVESTIGATIVE MAY 4th, 2021

What is an NFT?

HANSEN ZHANG (III) High schoolers usually see STEM AP courses as the pinnacle of STEM learning in high school, but in some cases, we can go beyond these AP courses. Students can dive deeper into subjects by taking “upper level” STEM courses. These courses are considered to be college-level courses.

I investigated the “upper level” STEM courseware of three schools to find out how Pingry fares against them.

These schools include Newark Academy (NA), Phillips Exeter, one of the nation’s top private schools, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), one of the top-ranked schools for STEM in the United States. In this article, I will define “upper level” as being college level.

steady rate. Not only has Ethereum reached new heights, in which it is currently sitting close to its all-time high, but other cryptocurrencies including the classic Bitcoin and the somewhat lesser-known LiteCoin have both increased in price and popularity, causing the cryptocurrency market to grow and indirectly cause the spread of NFTs to increase.

Lastly, one of the most important concerns that may cross one’s mind when thinking about the safety of investing in an NFT is the question of whether or not these non-fungible tokens will continue to increase in value. There are several factors that will decide the future.

These include their popularity as well as the value of cryptocurrency.

If celebrities continue to add to the popularity of the NFT market, then NFTs will continue to be stable

or even grow in value. They also have the opportunity to do well based on the given price of the Ether cryptocurrency. However, according to Saloni Sardana of Moneyweek, “the biggest risk to NFTs is whether the bubble bursts. NFTs may be the white-hot phenomenon of the moment, but, as with any new technology, they still have some way to go before they are widely accepted and become truly mainstream.” What this means is that, although these tokens are currently hot, they have to change in some order to accommodate the forever-changing economy. To conclude, the future of NFTs is yet to be decided, but factors such as its inherent popularity and the crypto market at large will continue to mold the success of non-fungible tokens.

Word in the Halls

What are you looking forward to most post COVID-19?

Isabel Zarbin (III) “Being able to see friends again, because right now there are a lot of restrictions.”

Evan Wen (IV) “I don’t know.”

Leila Elayan (V) “Definitely traveling.”

Science Courses (S): When I first looked at the science courses of the other schools, two things caught my eye. First, I noticed the lack of official AP courses that Exeter and NA had. At these schools, one would take the course, and then you would be given the option of taking the AP test because the course would usually cover most of the content in the official AP course.

Second, I noticed the sheer amount of science courses Exeter offers; they offer a total of 34 science courses.

Exeter unsurprisingly has the greatest variety of advanced courses out of the three and provides interesting ways students can interact with the course material. These courses range from Advanced Astronomy Methods, Evolution, Organic Chemistry, and much more. In Evolution, students can record their DNA to compare to DNA sequences of Neanderthals, Otzi the Iceman, and modern humans.

Another interesting course that Pingry could offer, although a little expensive, is Astronomy. Exeter students work at Grainger Observatory, Exeter’s facility for astronomical research, and can conduct research at other observatories. NA has around 12 “Elective or Advanced Courses’’ in their Science Department. In Biotechnology, students can publish their research findings on GenBank, an international database for all gene sequences. I’m not sure if Pingry Science courses do this, but publishing your findings on a website could encourage students by making them feel as if they had contributed to something. Finally, TJ had no overviews for their courses, so I couldn’t gather much course-specific information, but they did have a few science courses unique to them. For example, Bionanotechnology and Geospatial Analysis are just two of the many courses unique to TJ. Technology/Engineering/ Computer Science (TE): After searching online and in school websites, I wasn’t able to find official Technology or Engineering courses offered by Pingry and Exeter.

NA has two engineering courses that are to be taken together in the 11th grade (fall + spring semesters): Engineering, Technology, and Design along with Engineering, Advanced Technology, and Robotics. The former covers engineering and its different branches (civil, electrical), and the latter focuses on robotics and AI. A robotics course at Pingry would not only introduce many to robotics but it could also strengthen the school robotics team. TJ, on the other hand, has a whopping 17 technology courses.

Some examples are Automation & Robots and Specialized Computerassisted design. NA has 2 Computer Science courses. Unlike Pingry’s

CREATIVE MAY 4th, 2021

9

Spring Crossword!

Evaluating Pingry’s High Level Coursework

VARED SHMULER (IV) In just the last few weeks,NonFungible Tokens, or NFTs, have received an increase in supply, demand, and overall internet traffic.

However, this commodity is not very well-known in sectors such as the stock, real estate, and mortgage markets. Josie Thaddeus-Johns of The New York Times describes NFTs as an “asset verified using blockchain technology,” meaning that they utilize cryptocurrency and are owned solely by the buyer.

“The current boom is mostly for digital assets, including images, GIFs, songs or videos” that are irreplicable, making it singularly scarce and thus of monetary value in cryptocurrency. This sudden surge in the NFT market has prompted people such as the general public, artists, and even celebrities to invest their time and money into creating, buying, and selling digital pieces of artwork. According to Business Insider, celebrities such as NFL player Rob Gronkowski, rapper Ja Rule, Lindsay Lohan, and Mark Cuban have jumped on board, but the craze surrounding these tokens does not stop there. Never-beforeseen websites such as OpenSea and Super Rare, platforms upon which to list these NFT products for sale, have exploded in popularity.

However, a large question still remains: how did these figments of digital imagination become so popular and will people continue to buy, sell, and create them?

Although, a portion of the infatuation with NFTs is due to the growing user base consisting not only of the public but celebrities as well, there are several other reasons why such growth occurred. One of these reasons is the renewed interest in cryptocurrency in the past year, as it is the primary payment method for NFT buyers. This resurgence of interest is evident in not only the markets but also the incremental increase in the price of Ethereum.

Since the start of the year 2021, the price of Ethereum has risen over approximately 55 percent at a

THE PINGRY RECORD

Jessica Lin (VI)

Computer Science Courses, which are mainly focused on Computer Science Concepts such as data structures and algorithms, NA will offer a software development course next year centered around mobile application design. Upper-level Pingry courses such as Advanced Topics in Computer Science and Programming Languages and Design do cover Web Development along with other topics such as Artificial Intelligence and scripting languages. But a course solely centered on software development could offer some experienced coders the freedom and opportunity to bring their ideas to life. Both Exeter and TJ also have 2 individual courses for mobile application development and web development. The highest level Computer Science Course in Pingry is Advanced Topics in Computer Science; some examples of core topics covered in the course are Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Exeter and NA seem to be lacking in this area because both did not have courses like this one. As expected, TJ had advanced Computer Science courses. Although, instead of incorporating a group of topics in one course as Pingry had done, they had individual courses for each topic. For example, they have a Computer Vision 1 course and an Artificial Intelligence 1 course. As I stated earlier, courses centered around a topic could benefit more focused students, but would also limit opportunities for those who want to branch out and gain introductory experience in multiple concepts.

Math Courses (M): Exeter, TJ, NA, and Pingry all offer AP Calculus courses. After taking any of the AP Calculus courses, students have more freedom in choosing math courses. These schools allow students to choose between courses such as discrete mathematics, statistics, and linear algebra. All schools offered Linear algebra, some form of statistics, and discrete mathematics. Additionally, I researched the more unique courses that were offered. Number theory was offered by Pingry and NA, Exeter has a Mathematical Physics course, Mathematical Seminar/Advanced Mathematics is offered by Pingry and TJ, and Multivariable Calculus is offered by Exeter and partially offered in Pingry. In general, the upper-level math courses were mainly the same.

Conclusion: After browsing way-too-hard courses for too long, I can make some final claims. TJ has the highest concentration of upper-level courses (upper-level courses/amount of total courses), Exeter has the most variety of upper-level courses, and NA and Pingry are around the same level. When asked about upper-level courses, Mr. Brian Burkhart, the department head of Computer Science at Pingry, said that they are designed for students already familiar with the subject. I believe that Pingry should continue to challenge and inspire these proficient students by expanding advanced coursework whenever possible.

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Google Images, Emma Drzala (V)

Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the Future of DC Comics ROHAN PRABHU (V) The 2017 DC Comics movie, Justice League, was a film that was doomed to fail. While the film appeared to initially have promise, with Zack Snyder at the helm to begin production, a family tragedy forced him to step down as its director. Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers, was subsequently brought in to direct the film: a staffing decision that inevitably proved a disaster.

While many avid followers of the recently-minted genre of “amusement park” films (as Martin Scorsese deemed them) were quite happy about Warner Brothers’ decision to hire Whedon, his leadership on the job proved abusive and immature. Whedon took it upon himself to destroy Snyder’s existing infrastructure, firing many music directors and editors, while also changing the tone of the film. Reports accused Whedon of threatening to ruin careers, filming unnecessary reshoots of certain scenes, and misusing his power during this process. Ultimately, the work laid down by Snyder and the work that Whedon had done following Snyder’s departure proved incompatible and incoherent.

Whedon’s mistreatment of those who made Justice League a possibility

combined with the disarray that was the film’s plot led to a grassroots, fanmade campaign for Snyder’s unused work to be released for the fans.

Facing public scrutiny about whether the ‘Snyder Cut’ existed, Warner Bros. announced in February 2020 that they would be releasing Zack Snyder’s originally envisioned version of the film on its streaming platform, HBO Max. A retooling of a few of the 2017’s film’s shots, coupled with new scenes filmed and directed by Zack Snyder in October 2020, provided DC fans with an ultimate experience of dark, gritty action straight from the homes. The film was released in March 2021, and was widely lauded by fans and critics as being far superior to the 2017 film.

The success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League was due in part to his experience and knowledge of the DC Extended Cinematic Universe (DCEU). Whereas Whedon’s attempt to create a lighthearted, humorous flick was limited in its capacity, Snyder’s dark movie fit like a puzzle piece into the trail of movies that had already been established by the DCEU. The first area of improvement for Snyder was in his color grade. The color graders of the film deadened the brighter tones in each shot and focused on bringing out darker ones.

This allowed any brighter tones to

be mellowed out and eliminated any outwardly colorful images, a problem with the Whedon Cut. Such a subtle change went a long way, as Snyder was allowed to create a darker story arc with the darker tones used.

This darker story arc is perhaps the most crucial of Snyder’s changes to the film. Without the time restraints that he was initially chained to, Snyder could now focus on character development. Cyborg, played by Ray

Fisher, became a main character with a complex backstory. A comic book-accurate relationship between Darkseid (the most powerful villain of the DC domain), and his henchmen, Desaad and Steppenwolf, was fleshed out in a beautiful story. Snyder was even able to humanize Steppewolf by making him a servant of both Desaad and Darkseid, tasked with finding the Anti-Life equation, a construct that brainwashes entire civilizations, to

return home.

Although fans praised the Snyder cut, which was released to wide acclaim, they were disappointed when Warner Bros. announced there were no plans for another Snyder film in the DCEU. However, at one point, when the Snyder Cut seemed like a farce, fans made it a possibility. There is no saying the Snyder-verse cannot be restored.

Photo Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

THE PINGRY RECORD

10

COLUMNS MAY 4th, 2021

THE PINGRY RECORD

PARK AND WONG DEBATE FREE SPEECH ON SOCIAL MEDIA Social Media Bans are Ultimately for the Benefit of the Internet CALEB PARK (IV) Social media is a mess. Anyone who has not lived under a rock for the last twenty years knows that a large portion of internet users use social media as a place to spew the thoughts that they are too scared to say to someone’s face. Social media has not only contributed to the spread of radical opinions, but also misinformation. The misinformation spread by social media has led to the spread of wild conspiracy theories, including movements such as the anti-vaxxer community and the recent QAnon theory. The spread of, for a lack of a better word, garbage content on social media has created platforms that emphasize radical opinions and put misinformation on a pedestal. Naturally, the companies that run social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have to step in.

Let me make this clear: I am not against free speech. Free speech is an essential American right and it should be protected in many cases. The First Amendment protects the voices of people and is universally regarded as one of the most important aspects of our freedom. The issue here does not lie in people solely voicing their opinions, but in those that actively work to promote violence, hate, or defamation. Ultimately, taking down content that creates social disruption is in the best interest of social media companies and the people that use them.

Social media is not under direct control of the government, but rather by a wide variety

of companies. These companies work to please shareholders, increase profitability, and keep their user base intact. This has resulted in the creation of a wide variety of social media platforms and has largely prevented government censorship. None of these companies have complete control over the industry, and t he re is f ie rce comp e t it ion between them. As a result, there is no reason that social media bans will prevent users from expressing their opinions. The average active internet user has accounts on multiple platforms, and it is extremely easy to switch platforms. A social media ban does

not block a user from expressing their opinion through the medium of social media, but merely bars the user from using a specific platform.

This is not an infringement on an individual’s rights, and bans are completely a decision of the social media platform.

Bans are an extreme measure, but social media companies need to maintain a certain level of control on their platforms. As seen in the recent Capitol riots, uncontrolled social media discourse can lead to dangerous outcomes. Ultimately, it is not in a company’s best interest to ban a user for merely expressing their opinion on their platform. It simply does not make

sense to restrict speech when it does not have much effect on the public image and safety of the platform. Constant bans on individuals simply expressing their opinions would merely decrease the platform’s popularity, and the nature of capitalism would decrease the platform’s user base and profitability. However, when a user starts to spread dangerous and radical content, it becomes a danger to those using the platform.

The spread of misinformation and radical, dangerous content has become rampant on social media, which has become the main source of news for many.

The speed at which news is spread

causes many, including some credible news sources, to pick up misinformation. Young, easily influenced people, who make up a majority of the users on social media, are constantly being fed fake news. Although Generation Z is generally well versed in sifting through false information, the amount of untrustworthy information on some platforms can influence some to act radically.

Social media bans can help prevent false information from spreading and discourage many from intentionally spreading lies.

These bans can also help suppress some of the extreme political views that can be mixed in with misinformation, providing space for more moderate voices, which are largely ignored in the current social media landscape.

Although companies have to be wary of who and when they decide to ban, social media bans can ultimately improve the current state of social media platforms without completely barring an individual from the medium of the internet. Those who spread misinformation and are deemed a threat to the interest of social media platforms should be banned in order to maintain social order and protect other users. Without bans and regulations, the internet could become a breeding ground for dangerous and radical activity.

ANDREW WONG (V) Social media is the public square of the 21st century. That is an undeniable fact in our modern world. The recent actions of Twitter, Facebook, and other private social media companies to deplatform individuals or organizations, most notably former President Donald J. Trump, presents a clear and present danger to the future of free speech in the 21st century. Thanks to regulations such as Section 230, these companies and individuals have largely been given a free hand to define what constitutes free speech on their platforms, granting them untold amounts of power to control public discourse.

This arrangement has recently come under intense scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats, who criticize the amount of power so-called “Big Tech” has been given. As Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) opined in late March, “yesterday it was Donald Trump who was banned, and tomorrow, it could be somebody else who has a very different point of view.

I don’t like giving that much power to a handful of high-tech people.”

Before I go on, let me clarify a point. Free speech as guaranteed

by the First Amendment does have limits. Speech or expression such as obscenity, credible threats of violence, and defamation, is not protected under the First Amendment. The definitions of what constitutes these forms of unprotected speech have been clarified by countless Supreme Court cases (Miller v. California, Watts v. United States, Brandenburg v. Ohio, and New York Times v. Sullivan, to name a few), all of which now serve as the basis of First Amendment jurisprudence. It does make sense for social media companies to take down content on their platforms that do violate these legal definitions of free speech. The issue with free speech online comes when social media companies overreach, and take down content or ban individuals that do not violate these definitions of protected speech. Therein lies the problem.

Social media companies have previously justified their bans and takedowns of First Amendment protected-content by asserting that because they are private companies, they are entitled to

regulate what goes on on their platforms. However, given their keystone role in public discourse today, are these private companies really just private companies anymore? Shouldn’t they be regulated as public utilities that all Americans use? The history of telephones and broadcast television regulation tells us that is true. Telephones and cable companies are both regulated under common carriage laws, which essentially treat them as public utilities that facilitate the exercise of First Amendment rights. It is illegal for carriers or broadcast networks to forbid a certain individual or channel from using their services.

In an era when social media has become even more prevalent and crucial in public discourse than the telephone or cable TV, shouldn’t we be regulating social media just like phone carriers and broadcast networks? US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently highlighted the need for the law to consider these difficult questions. In a non-binding concurring opinion to dismiss the Knight First Amendment Institute

v. Trump case, Justice Thomas mentioned potential conflicts between existing laws and new regulations treating social media platforms as common carriers, noting, “It stands to reason that if Congress may demand that telephone companies operate as common carriers, it can ask the same of digital platforms.” Such a shift in regulation would legally mandate companies to ensure all their users can exercise their right to free speech equally. This also ensures individuals would still be legally liable for what they say on social media, just as how we are legally liable for what we say on the phone or on television. This solution kills two birds with one stone. Free speech by law-abiding users can continue online, while speech that is not protected by the First Amendment can be potentially taken down by moderators of these platforms.

There will be no more amorphous rules dictated by Big Tech on what is allowed and not allowed on social media: all the rules of what is and isn’t allowed is concretely dictated by the law.

Whether or not Congress will

NFL Free Agency Recap CAYDEN BARRISON (IV) The NFL free agency period has always been a long-awaited time for football fans everywhere. This is a stage in the NFL offseason where players are allowed to negotiate contracts with teams. It is usually full of exciting moments, surprising signings, and questionable decisions. Let’s recap this year’s free agency period and break down exactly what happened.

The Patriots finally splurged. Bill Belichick and the Patriots, who were considered perennial light spenders, almost spent as much money in the first two days of free agency as they did in the last ten years combined. The Patriots guaranteed a total of more than $137 million to their players, the second-most in NFL history. Their biggest signings included tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. They also signed linebacker Mathew Judon, wide receiver Nelson Agholor, and safety Jalen Mills to name a few. This massive spending spree was met with mixed

consider these questions remains to be seen. However, it is clear that something must be done in order to rein in the powers of social media companies to bar any speech on their platforms that they do not like. Today, it is only a small cabal of Silicon Valley elites that have the power to completely shut down discourse, an extremely dangerous proposition for a nation that enshrines free speech as a right in our First Amendment. It is in everyone’s interest that social media be a space where ideas and opinions can be freely and openly shared. Allowing Big Tech to dictate our rights of speech in the public square of the 21st century will only lead to the functional extinction of our First Amendment rights.

Photo Credits: Google Images

feedback. On one hand, the Patriots put themselves back into a solid position to win more games next season, but on the other, the Patriots may not have the money to build a well-rounded team in the future.

Former Patriot Joe Thuney became the highest-paid offensive guard in the NFL on March 15 when he signed a 5-year, $80 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was among the most enticing offensive lineman in this free agency, seeing significant interest from the Chargers, Jets, and Bengals, to name just a few. Ultimately, he will join Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to try to take home another Super Bowl.

New York City has just claimed some of the best available wide receiving threats free agency had to offer. The Giants signed arguably the best wide receiver (WR) itsin this year’s free agency in Kenny Golladay, while the Jets were able to entice underrated Corey Davis to join Gang Green. The Giants went all-in on Golladay, signing him to a questionable four year, $72 million

Joe Thuney, former Patriots guard, signed with the Chiefs on March 15 during the NFL free agency period.

COVID-19 has affected everyone, even those of us who haven’t contracted the virus. By now, we are familiar with the physical symptoms of the virus and the psychological impact that anxiety and social isolation may have on our daily lives.

During the pandemic, we have all experienced the loss of enjoyment and the feeling of loneliness that resulted from the ongoing quarantine shutting away family and friends. For many people, these feelings, combined with worries about contracting the virus, losing their jobs, or the risks of inperson school days, have spiraled into hopelessness that only worsens with each passing day. In fact, depressive symptoms are three times more present in Americans than before the pandemic hit, and according to Nancy Liu, a clinical professor at the University of California, “all of us may be at risk for depression during the pandemic.”

What you may not be aware of, however, is that COVID-19 has now been proven to directly affect the mental health and brain function of a small percentage of people who, prior to contracting the virus, had no history of mental illness. Many of these people recovered from the virus after only mild physical symptoms, but then faced more serious mental health problems.

The first case was reported in mid2020 where a 42 years old woman contracted COVID-19 but then developed symptoms of psychosis — a severe mental disorder that

causes someone to lose contact with reality. Scientists were uncertain whether her symptoms, which included hearing voices telling her to kill herself and her children, were related to COVID-19 or to a separate mental illness. However, the woman never had any previous psychiatric symptoms. In addition, people rarely develop psychosis in their 30s-50s, and they don’t usually understand that there is something wrong with them and they have lost touch with reality.

In another case, a 49-year-old man from Seattle began having intense paranoia in mid-December 2020, after only a mild case of COVID-19. He believed that people were outside his house spying on him, even crouched in bushes in his front yard. According to the New York Times, the man described the paranoia as having come on like “a light switch” and that it was “singlehandedly the most terrifying thing [he’s] ever experienced.” By midJanuary, and after being hospitalized and medicated, most of the paranoia seemed to have left him, and he began to recover. However, in February, “the paranoia came screaming back,” he said, and he is still recovering.

In a third case, a 55-year-old British w o man h ad halluc i nati ons of monkeys and a lion, became paranoid about the color red, and thought the hospital nurses were devils who wanted to harm her and her family.

With more research, scientists have come to believe that COVID-19 can affect not only the respiratory system but also the neurological system and

11

Kapur Talks “Ophelia” by The Lumineers

deal. For an injury-prone WR, this contract may backfire for the Giants, but if Golladay can remain healthy, success may follow in the Big Apple. The Jets signing Corey Davis was a tremendous addition to the debatably worst wide receiving core in the NFL. He will grant some much-needed help to whoever the Jets quarterback is next season.

There was a fair share of horrible contracts given out this free agency, but one sticks out in particular. The Chicago Bears, without a true quarterback next season, brought in Andy Dalton on a bizarre 1-year, $10 million deal. Dalton is a semi-average quarterback at best, and this signing shows that the Bears were not willing to tank to get a better draft pick but were also unwilling to go all in to find a new franchise quarterback to lead them to the promised land. The Bears are stuck in limbo once more, being neither good nor bad. This signing makes it seem like the Bears have no sense of direction for the future, which makes this signing so peculiar.

It was a successful free agency for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, too, as they essentially re-signed their entire Super Bowl winning team. Among others, the Bucs were able to retain wide receiver Chris Godwin, linebackers Shaq Barrett and Lavonte David, and of course everyone’s favorite tight end Rob Gronkowski. This brings the Bucs back as Super Bowl contenders next season and gives Tom Brady a realistic chance to win his 8th NFL championship at 43 years old.

This NFL free agency was full of exciting moments as it is always intriguing to see where each player ends up. As a football fan, I am eager to see how next season plays out and which team will hoist the coveted Lombardi Trophy.

Mental Health During COVID-19 GRACE FERNICOLA (III)

Social Media Bans and Takedowns are a Threat to the First Amendment

COLUMNS MAY 4th, 2021

cognitive functions. This means the virus can cause symptoms like “brain fog,” memory loss, and difficulty concentrating. In some severe cases, it may also cause psychosis, causing people to be obsessively paranoid or want to harm themselves and others.

Doctors are still uncertain how long those effects will last or how to treat them. Some people have to spend weeks in the hospital; some patients seem to improve but then deteriorate all over again. A neurovirology expert at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine explained that in some cases, these symptoms might result when people recover from the physical effects of COVID-19 but retain an active immune system because of “delayed clearance of a small amount of virus.”

Despite these scary stories, not everything in the news about COVID-19 is terrible these days. More than 40% of adults are vaccinated, and the number continues to grow with each passing day. The future is looking up, and hopefully, our spirits are being lifted by the sense of change coming. Though we are all susceptible to feeling down these days, it is critical to understand and identify the effects of anxiety and depression and what we can do to prevent it. Do not be afraid to seek professional help if you feel you need it.

RHEA KAPUR (VI) For the record, I don’t usually play songs on repeat for long. I’ve even tried to make it a personal music-listening rule, because whenever I do do this, I inevitably end up ruining the song for myself; a tune I once loved becomes something I can no longer stand, something irritatingly etched into my mind, something boring, monotonous, and horribly trite. I estimate that I’d gone about three years of consciously listening to music without encountering any exceptions to this rule—exceptions being songs that remain fresh favorites even after I loop them to my heart’s content. However, that track record finally shattered this month, when I revisited The Lumineers’ “Ophelia.” I came across an excellent slowed and reverbed version of this 2016 hit single on TikTok a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’d heard “Ophelia” before that—with over 574 million streams on Spotify, how couldn’t I have?!—but for some reason, the song truly stuck this time, five years after its release. Yes, “Ophelia” is the infamous exception to my no-repeat rule—the melody that, as my Spotify followers will be able to attest, I have streamed multiple times a day every day since seeing that TikTok! I can’t shake it; “Ophelia” gets better and better every time I listen. I have to applaud.

I have two theories on why “Ophelia” has stood my test of time. First, there’s the reverent construction and grand execution. The Lumineers fill the song’s first few seconds with a period of stomping (literally—it sounds like the band’s collectively stomping their boots on the ground!) that soon gives way to both a striking series of lingering lefthand chords played on the grand piano as well as the opening vocals, sung by Wesley Schultz. It’s a sound unlike any other, haunting and reverential, wellcomplemented by Schultz’s equally deep voice and well-balanced by the folksy, high-pitched flourishes of the righthand piano. The musical production of “Ophelia” smacks of history, of grand, dramatic, and powerful stories that scream themselves to the masses and inevitably persist.

That leads to my second theory, and for this one, I turn to the song’s story and subject: Ophelia. To anyone who has read Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it’s immediately obvious that The Lumineers’ Ophelia is modeled after his own character of Ophelia, the famous ingénue of his timeless play. I’ll highlight a couple similarities between the song’s key lyrics and Shakespeare’s story.

Schultz sings, “Oh, Ophelia / Heaven help a fool who falls in love.” Well,

Hamlet bears no shortage of fools who fall in love! And the two greatest of them all are, unsurprisingly, Hamlet and Ophelia herself. One time, Hamlet enters Ophelia’s room flustered, disheveled, unannounced, and gives her longing “look[s,] so piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell…” (2.1.9293); clearly, he is drunk on “the very ecstasy of love.”(2.1.114) And then there’s Ophelia, the gullible, innocent, “green girl” (1.3.110) who succumbs to Hamlet’s ways one day and then immediately retracts her feelings the next, at the suggestions of her father Polonius and brother Laertes; torn between her lover and her family, she is seemingly incapable of an opinion or stance of her own, leading to her sad, tragic, and foolish death.

The Lumineers allude to the aftermath in another lyric: “Oh, Ophelia / You’ve been on my mind girl since the flood.”

The word “flood” references Ophelia’s death; after learning that Hamlet, her lover, killed Polonius, her father, Ophelia is driven mad and ultimately drowns in a brook. And Hamlet, at her funeral, says, “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum” (5.1.285). Clearly, she’s been on his mind since the flood! In drawing on the revered, tragic love story of Hamlet and Ophelia—in drawing on Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play, and a story with themes that have stood the test of time—The Lumineers’ “Ophelia” itself remains timeless. That’s not to say that the band does not reimagine the story at all, because they do—note the mentions in the lyrics to the more modern concepts of drugs and paychecks—but ultimately, these modifications are what make The Lumineers’ message in “Ophelia” accessible in present day, rendering it an even more timeless, dynamic, and unforgettable a song.

I leave you with a final take on this single from Abby Parrish (VI), to shed a different light on the song and also the band itself: “I was so lucky to get the chance to see The Lumineers in concert at the Sea Hear Now music festival in 2019. When they performed ‘Ophelia,’” the lead singer walked through the audience, coming so close to my group of friends. It was incredible. So many of my most beautiful memories were made while listening to “Ophelia” or any of The Lumineers’ other songs. Getting to see them perform live, blasting the song while driving through the Colorado Rockies, and bonding with someone new over a shared love for the band, are all experiences that have made this song (and the band) hold such a special place in my heart.”

Mental Health Hotline: 1-866-572-7233 Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Google Images, Rhea Kapur (VI)

THE PINGRY RECORD

12

COLUMNS MAY 4th, 2021

THE PINGRY RECORD

Current Fashion Trends ANJOLA OLAWOYE (IV)

Vol. CXLVI, No. IV

Editors-in-Chief Noah Bergam Meghan Durkin Senior Assistant Editor Eva Schiller Assistant Editors Aneesh Karuppur Brian Li Brooke Pan Copy Editors Keira Chen Emma Drzala Dean Koenig Sarah Kloss Emily Shen Mirika Jambudi

Digital Editor Andrew Wong Photography Editor Rhea Kapur Cartoon Editor Monica Chan Layout Editor Justin Li Junior Layout Editor Kyra Li Faculty Advisors Dr. Megan Jones Mrs. Meghan Finegan

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the world has witnessed a plethora of “new” fashion trends. However, these trends are not new: they are actually inspired by trends in the 1900s. In addition, many of these trends have historical background and origins which make these items even more interesting.

The Sweater Vest: During the 90’s, people began to see this clothing item in television and media, where the sweater vest became more gender inclusive.

In the comedy movie Clueless, Cher and Dior are depicted wearing these stylish vests. Today, the sweater vest has taken over fall fashion. Many high end designers showcase sweater vests in their collections, and models like Bella Hadid wear this outfit on the runway.

The sweater vest can also be seen all over Instagram, Tiktok, and other social media outlets in different patterns and designs. Many people love the versatility of the sweater vest. For example, it can be layered over a button-up shirt, or worn alone with a skirt. All and all, this trend might actually be here to stay, with fashion experts predicting that the sweater vest will soon become a closet essential.

The Puffer Jacket: Puffer jackets range in a multitude of colors, patterns, and styles, and have intersected with

streetwear in the past decades. Some of the best stores to find these jackets are Aritzia, North Face, and Patagonia, which all have a large variety. You can style your puffer jacket with jeans or pants, complemented with a sweater underneath! It is now a “winter-style essential” and something to keep an eye on for next winter.

The Bucket Hat: The bucket hat has evolved into a major fashion accessory, and has continued to trend in 2021 on the runways. Colorful styles, patterns, and even logos can be seen on bucket

hats in many stores. Unfortunately, fashion bloggers have stated that the bucket hat may lose popularity in the coming years. But, on the positive side, bucket hats are known to complement almost every outfit. So, give it a try while it’s still trending!

What do you think about these fashion trends? Are they here to stay, or do you think they will continue to come in and out of style? Almost all fashion trends have some kind of unique history or old purpose that will continue to change with time.

In our everyday lives, we rely on various thought processes to better understand the world around us. Minor details such as knowing that too much sun will give you sunburn or that a particular flock of birds will return to the same spot every year are thoughts automatically processed through our brain. Unbeknownst to some, these generic thoughts are inductive and deductive reasoning at work behind the scenes. Here at Pingry, the Science Department offers courses that incorporate inductive and deductive research into the curriculum to educate students on the process of thought and experimentation. Though it may be challenging to differentiate between the two at first glance, fully understanding the concept is simple with a bit of effort.

Here’s a simple breakdown: deductive reasoning is about testing existing theories, while inductive reasoning works with new ideas or generalizations.

In a typical project, inductive and deductive reasoning work together to confirm or invalidate a hypothesis.

Deductive reasoning is based on an established premise, so it is easier to predict and get results. On the other hand, inductive reasoning requires more time and is all about trial-and-error since the results are unknown. Adding to the idea of the inductive process, Albert Einstein famously said that “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right, but a single experiment can prove me wrong.”

Because inductive reasoning is typically used first, here are some helpful distinctions to keep in mind: when there’s little to no research on a particular topic, using inductive reasoning is more beneficial because it isn’t reliant on a proven theory. This brings us to our first step in conducting inductive research: making general observations. For example, if you are analyzing animals drinking at a watering hole for a biology project, you can notice animals drinking water. The observed animals depend on water for survival, so you can state that all animals need water to survive based on this pattern. A pattern is a key to figuring out inductive reasoning because you can base your

theory on it. From this pattern, you may conclude that all biological life relies on water for survival; however, this is a very general statement with little evidence.

Inductive reasoning tends to be more unreliable in this context because it is hard to generalize an entire population based on a small observation sample.

KEIRA CHEN (III) On February 16, the annual Lunar New Year assembly was held as a combination of pre-recorded and in-person performances in Hauser Auditorium. Most students watched from their advisories, enjoying the various performances and more, as the event strived to provide an experience “just as good as in previous years.” Typically, the Lunar New Year celebration includes multiple performances by students

and guests alike, such as the Dragon Dance performed by Middle School Chinese classes. There are also festivities after the assembly, such as a buffet of Asian food brought by students, games, and presentations pertinent to the holiday. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions, community members had to get creative with this year’s assembly. Recorded performances by many students were edited together into a video, with the entire assembly hosted by Milenka Men (IV) and

Charles Jiang (IV).

The event started out with the Taiko Drumming Club performing Matsura, a traditional Japanese piece, in Hauser. Then, students from both the Middle and Upper School made their appearances in the assembly video as they sang, danced, and more. “The Plum Blossoms”, a Chinese song, was sung by Vinav Shah (II), and “The First Day of Lunar New Year”, a Chinese poem was recited by Jasmine Zhou (Grade 6) with Ava Maloney (Grade 6). Ram Doraswamy (V) and Natalie DeVito (V) sang a contemporary love song

by Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng called “Tian Mi Mi” (“Sweet on You”) together. Zoe Wang (V) and her mother performed a cello and piano duet for the popular Chinese folk song “Mo Li Hua” (“Jasmine Flower”), which was followed by clips of students singing, dancing, and playing instruments to the viral Chinese song “Xue Hua Piao Piao.”

A guest performer, Gao Hong, was invited to the assembly and played

It’s been a little bit, and we’re back at it again with another serving of technology dish!

First, an update from the Student Technology Committee (STC). STC is currently working on completing team tasks for this year and transitioning leadership of projects as Form VI students graduate. Almost all of the current project groups are headed by an experienced senior class student, and these leaders have been working diligently to ensure that. There have also been new partnerships—the STEAM After School activities for Middle Schoolers are working with the 3D Printing group to offer tutorials for Middle School students.

A perennial favorite of this tech column, Apple launched several new products in April. The ones that I found

the most interesting were the new iPad Pro and, surprisingly, AirTags. First, the new iPad. The takeaway is that it’s much faster than before, as Apple has implemented the M1 central processing unit (CPU, the brain of the computer) that debuted in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air late last year. This chip is extremely fast and power efficient, so it makes the iPad Pro much more powerful than before (and comparable to many premium laptops). The rest of the improvements to the iPad Pro—a higher resolution display, a better camera system, 5G cellular connectivity, and a Thunderbolt 3 port for greater connectivity to monitors and other devices—all seem to be a little bit excessive for a student or even most professional jobs. I would stick with the lower range iPads unless you need these top of the line features.

AirTags are essentially digital trackers

that can be attached to a bag or an object, and using an app on your Apple device, will tell you where the bag or object is. This digital luggage tag of sorts is helpful if you lose the item its attached to. This is by no means a new idea—Tile is a product that does the exact same thing and has existed for many years prior.

The rest of the new products are cool, but not especially relevant to students.

The new iMac desktop computer has a better display, the aforementioned M1 chip, a new design with snazzy colors, and other improvements, but I would still recommend the added portability of a laptop over a average-power desktop like an iMac. Also, the iPhone now comes in purple (I wonder who asked for this), and the Apple TV 4K got a new remote and refresh.

Outside of Apple Universe, cryptocurrencies are an interesting

a song called “Dragon Boat” on the pipa, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. The assembly closed out with various faculty, staff, and students saying “Happy New Year” in multiple languages.

The assembly was successful because of the hard work Mandarin Teacher Weiwei Yu put in, as well as most of the Chinese teachers.

Students from the Taiko Drumming Club, East Asian Affinity Group, and Chinese classes also helped bring the assembly to fruition. Franklin Zhu (V) said that “[his] role was to approach students, faculty, and administration to have them try to say a celebratory phrase in Mandarin.”

When asked about the assembly’s importance, Zhu explained that the assembly “provide[d] Asian Americans a platform to celebrate their culture, [which] allows us to be seen at Pingry.”

The students’ impression of the Lunar New Year assembly was generally positive. “I thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the different

expressions of art in the assembly,” Sarah Gu (III) said, “and I really appreciate all the hard work that went into its creation.” According to Zhu, “the fact that many people... showed enthusiasm was very heartwarming.”

In the midst of the ongoing pandemic and the recent rise in AAPI hate crimes, it’s more important than ever to gather together and celebrate as a community, even if not all of us could be together in person. Despite the constraints, Pingry found a way to honor cultural traditions and create an assembly everyone could enjoy.

Happy Year of the Ox!

Pingry’s Annual Black History Month Assembly in the Wake of 2020 SANIYA KAMAT (III)

When using deductive reasoning, there are four helpful steps to consider. First, you want to make an initial assumption or a general statement that is already proven accurate. Take chemistry, for example. It is a general principle that strontium produces a red flame when held over a flame. This brings us to our next step, which is relating the first

true statement to the second. In this example, when strontium is placed on a Bunsen burner, we can expect the flame to turn red. You can predict the outcome, showing how there is a second idea in play. When you are using inductive reasoning, there is no central principle upon which to base your second premise, so having information can differentiate the two. The third step in deductive reasoning is to test this theory and see if it is true. Because we deduced the scenario enough, we have specific results to expect. When you try the experiment, the flame turns red, thus proving this theory correct.

Based on the differences discovered in inductive and deductive research, it is evident that even though they are used in similar situations, the process and the outcome are quite different. Our brains’ wiring is so complex... interpreted using the above methods, showing a realworld application of science learned in the classroom. Simple actions such as looking outside and observing our surroundings allow us to get a step closer to better understanding the world around us.

On February 5, Pingry had its annual Black History Month assembly. The preparation for this assembly was a monumental undertaking which involved the collaborative effort of faculty, staff, families, and students.

In light of the glaring racial injustice which occurred throughout 2020, including the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the assembly sought to display Black strength and unity during these difficult times. Middle School Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Ms. Bria Barnes, helped lead the assembly’s planning process, stated that “the student organizers, ‘wanted to show’ the joy, happiness, and strength of the Pingry community despite the trauma and hardships of the year.”

The final product was a combination of segments created by students and

faculty. Ms. Barnes then went on to edit all of the videos together, thus producing the 50-minute assembly video.

The assembly started with a rendition of the song “Stand Up,” performed by Cynthia Erivo from the movie Harriet.

Performances of the poems “I, Too” by Langston Hughes and “You Came, Too”

by Nikki Giovanni were accompanied by pictures of Pingry’s Black community members.

Next, Hanah Abdi (I), Jordyn “J.J.” Jefferson (I), and Jordan “J-Mac” McDonald (I) performed a powerful dance to the song “Formation” by Beyoncé.

Black-owned businesses were highlighted and shared by their respective entrepreneurs; the featured companies included names such as Dirty Soles Footwear Group, Sounds of A&R (S.O.A.R.), and Al-Shams Abayas.

Afterwards, William Francis (II) talked about the Black artist Titus Kaphar.

To spotlight Black cuisine, several freshmen filmed a cook-off called “Smackin’ or Lackin,’” which was hosted

by Kennedy Sharperson (III), Ngozi Nnaeto (III), and Josh Woodford (III).

Competitors included Dami Shote (III), Monroe Russel (III), and Aiden Blow (III). Mark Mason (III) was eventually declared the winner with his classic Southern dish of collard greens.

The cooking show segued into the 2021 Black History Month fashion show, presented by the Black Student Union. This fashion show displayed popular styles from Black culture decade by decade from the 1970s to 2020 and finished by featuring outfits influenced

by Afrofuturism.

What followed was a meaningful discussion between Permanent Substitute Teacher Mr. Marquis Ormond and Associate Athletic Director and DEI Coordinator for Athletics, Ms. Taunita Stephenson, about the difference

tech topic that has risen in popularity thanks to the investment geniuses of Reddit. Cryptocurrencies are interesting alternatives to normal currency because of their anonymity and security, but face challenges in adoption and official recognition. A lot of the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, such as blockchain, have many other applications. A particular one that made the news is NFT-tagged Art. An NFT (non-fungible token) is essentially a digital certificate of veracity for the associated piece of media. Having a secure NFT gives clear and undisputed ownership of the object to one person, so while you could take a screenshot of some digital art and claim you own it, the real owner could show their NFT for solid and complete digital proof of ownership. I recommend you read more about these topics if you’re interested— cryptocurrency and blockchain have big

EMMA DRZALA (V)

potential for our economy!

That’s all for this tech column! Thanks for tuning in, and see you next issue!

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Google Images

between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. They explained that cultural appropriation is only doing or wearing something because it is considered a trend while cultural appreciation is digging into its roots and understanding the origins.

Caleb Polanco (I) shared his thoughts on the harsh truth about the Black community’s difficulties with systemic racism and injustice before the assembly ended on a more positive note, with an

informational and appreciative segment detailing the evolution of Black hair through time.

This was the first time Pingry’s Black History Month assembly has featured families and brought in the outside community. This enabled the assembly to take students on an educational and celebratory journey through Black culture as a whole.

Students Speak of Atrocities in This Year’s Holocaust Assembly

Karuppur Talks Tech ANEESH KARUPPUR (VI)

13

A “New” Year Assembly: Pingry Celebrates Lunar New Year Virtually and In-Person

Chinese artist Gao Hong performs “Dragon Boat” on her pipa

Jones Talks Inductive Reasoning ALLIE JONES (IV)

ASSEMBLIES MAY 4th, 2021

(Left to Right) Max Watzky (IV), Monroe Russell (III), Zara Jacob (VI), Natalie Devito (V), Sam Wexler (V), Jack Martin (V), and Alex Kaplan (VI) at the assembly

On Friday, April 9, Form IV students silently entered Hauser Auditorium, while Forms III, V, and VI gathered in their advisory groups to livestream this year’s Holocaust assembly. Every year, Pingry holds the Holocaust Remembrance Assembly to honor the millions of citizens who died as a result of the mass genocide that took place during World War II. The assembly also serves to educate students about the rise of the Nazi party and the consequences of the war that had unimaginable consequences for 20th century.

This year, the student speakers included Monroe Russell (III), Maxwell Watzky (IV), Samuel Wexler (V), Jack Martin (V), Zara Jacobs (VI), and Alex Kaplan (VI). The students began the assembly with a slideshow that described Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, detailed the Nuremberg laws, illustrated how schools were indoctrinated with Jewish hate in Germany, and demonstrated the overall separation of German Jews from the rest of society. They also explained how Hitler determined a Jew at the time, saying “he believed that if three out of four grandparents were Jewish, then one was ruled a Jew.” The speakers

touched upon Black soldiers returning home, and the discrimination they faced after the cessation of World War II. However, most of the assembly was dedicated to acknowledging the parallels between racism in the 1940s and in the 21st century.Students defined the terms anti-Semitism, discrimination, genocide, hate crime, and racism; they then spoke about how most of these are still present in society today, as seen with the recent anti-Semitic hate crimes as well as the prevalent violence against Asian Americans.

The assembly concluded with a video from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with activist John Lewis advocating for change. This was followed by a Jewish prayer (given by Kaplan), and the annual lighting of the candles. The array of speakers also quoted Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel saying, “what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander,” emphasizing the importance and influence someone can have if they speak up. Once again, the Pingry community would like to thank Director of of Community and Civic Engagement Mrs. Shelley Hartz for organizing this year’s Holocaust Assembly.

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Pingry Communications, Google Images, Pingry Communications

THE PINGRY RECORD

14

SCHOOL NEWS MAY 4th, 2021

Dr. Lisa Damour Delivers Pingry Carver Lecture

KEIRA CHEN (III)

Psychologist and two-time New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lisa Damour joined Pingry for this year’s Carver Lecture Series. Her lecture tackled mental health topics like stress, self-care, and coping amidst a slowly recovering pandemic.

The assembly opened up with a description of the Carver Fund establishment and goals by Assistant Head of School Dr. Delvin Dinkins and Ms. Anne Delaney. After a quick introduction, Dr. Damour began her presentation with a discussion about how the pandemic has drastically altered students’ lives. According to Dr. Damour, high school is a time for students to become increasingly independent, yet the pandemic has prevented them from doing so. She also talked about the many opportunities, such as plays and sports, that students have missed.

Dr. Damour then transitioned into talking about stress and the many misconceptions that surround it. According to Dr. Damour, psychologists see stress as a natural part of life that people encounter when they have to adapt to new conditions. Per Damour, one of the benefits of stress is that it is essential for growth. To support her argument, she proposed an analogy to a weightlifting program where heavier weights, although harder to lift than light weights, help develop strength. Although stress is conducive to growth, Dr. Damour pointed out that trauma and chronic stress should not be ignored by students.

Dr. Damour then talked about coping strategies. According to Dr. Damour, negative coping strategies, like substance abuse and avoiding social contact, develop into problems when utilized in the long term. She also talked about positive coping strategies, like self-care and happy distractions (television, video games, books). Dr. Damour also brought attention to a concept she called soft fascination: “Soft fascination activities are basically boring things that we do automatically. All of this open bandwidth allows us to reflect on and resolve things that have been bothering

During the week before Spring Break, an Upper School Chess Tournament was held over the course of four days, with students from all forms and skill levels participating. The tournament was the result of coordination between Student Government and the Chess Club, with notices sent out in February extending an invitation to any students and faculty who would like to join.

Chess Club has long been present within Pingry’s extensive list of extracurriculars, but this year brought a special focus to the classic game of strategy. Hansen Zhang (III) attributes the recent surge of interest in chess to the influence of streamers on the Twitch social media platform, such as xQc, GMHikaru, and Magnus Carlsen, among many others. Chess has become increasingly popular as a form of entertainment in recent months as more and more content creators play chess on-stream, in YouTube videos, and beyond. “Plus,” Zhang added, “with quarantine, no one has anything else to do.” Because of the pandemic, people can’t engage in the activities they might usually do under typical circumstances. So, why not learn a new skill in the meantime?

The Chess Tournament was organized into two rounds. The first round, as Leo Xu (IV), one of Chess Club’s leaders, explained, was a “Swiss tournament.” Everyone played five games, and the top twelve players at the end of the round remained. The second round was a single-elimination bracket tournament, and the winner of each game could proceed to the next game in the bracket. The two players left at the end of the second

During the Q&A section, Dr. Damour argued that in-person learning is more beneficial to people’s mental well-being because there are so many distractions on the computer and at home. In a question about a lack of motivation during the pandemic, Dr. Damour said that people should use strategies like a reward system as extrinsic motivation.

“I found Dr. Damour to be very warm and personable, not at all detached or miles away—how admirable, considering this lecture was held over Zoom! She captivated my interest throughout. In a time where distance learning, plexiglass barriers, masks, and several feet of separation rule— in the time where we most needed it—it felt like Dr. Damour was really speaking to Pingry,” said Rhea Kapur (VI). “Pingry has worked to keep us safe and bring us back in person in every possible way, shape, and form— and has undeniably done an excellent job there—but the constant threat of our case numbers going up, or the possibility of being contact traced after a single conversation with a friend… it’s stressful. I found comfort in Dr. Damour’s acknowledgement of such effects of the pandemic on our Pingry lives, and her advice on coping with them was sound.

round would play against each other in the finals, held a day after the bracket eliminations. The tournament was held entirely online, keeping students’ safety and convenience in mind, through a combination of Discord and lichess.com.

Of the twenty-seven participants, only one could emerge victorious.

Andrew Overdeck (IV), Julian Lee (VI), and Mirika Jambudi (IV) were the top three of round one, and moved on to round two along with nine other students. In the end, Nikita Kogan (III) won the tournament, defeating Jacob Morin (VI) in the finals. The tournament saw a “roughly even spread [across all grades],” according to Xu, “although there were a lot more sophomores.”

Students generally enjoyed the event, with Alan Zhong (III) describing the tournament as “well organized” and “fun.” “It was...cool to watch others play,” he said. Shaan Lehal (IV), another one of Chess Club’s leaders, described the tournament as a “resounding success,” and he was “delighted that [the] community is so engaged with chess.” Lehal is hoping to “expan[d] Chess Club’s offerings to meet community interest.”

With the unique struggles that a global pandemic brings, students continue to find new ways to adapt to the current times. Boredom, of course, is no exception. Online entertainment has been skyrocketing, and many people have chosen to use this time to teach themselves new skills. With chess quickly rising in popularity as more and more people take up the game, the Chess Tournament is surely a sign of future adaptations to come.

After losing the Spring 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pingry Athletic Teams are starting off this spring with high levels of energy and excitement. The season

The Pingry Boys Baseball Team

is already in full swing, with all sports already having started their preseason. Unlike the fall and winter sports, all spring sports are expected to resume competitions with the sense of normalcy that students and coaches were accustomed to pre-pandemic.

The Boys’ Tennis Team started their preseason on March 29, with competition beginning on April 19 and the last match scheduled for June 20.

The Prep Tournament is scheduled for May 15th, and Counties will be held on May 21 and 22. Additionally, there will be an individual state tournament for singles and doubles. According to Head Coach Marion Weber, “The team is really excited to play this season, especially since we lost the season last year. We’re looking forward to getting back on the courts for a fun and competitive season!”

The sport with the least changes this year is golf. As a result of golf not being classified as a strenuous sport, the preseason is shorter than all other sports; however, golf’s season is considerably longer than that of all other sports. Although the golf preseason began bright and early on April 1, with the first competition taking place on April 9, NJSIAA spring

15

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Pingry Research Exhibit was transformed into the first-ever Pingry Research Week, held from April 19 to April 23. Every day, during flex and CP, students presented their projects and exhibits for the entire school community to visit and learn. A few of the research programs spotlighted were Independent Research Teams (IRT), Humanities IRT, SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) Team, Journal Club, and AP Biology.

IRT - 3D Scope Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular algae with an eyespot that can detect and interact with light. The team sought to analyze and understand the algae’s ability to move towards light Using a 3D microscope, the team recorded the movement of the algae in the presence of light. This video footage was then fed to several C++ data analysis algorithms to try and model the movement of the algae. Since the algae also has applications for creating cheap and renewable biofuels, the team’s work in learning how the algae’s movement works can be further applied to manipulating the algae to become a biofuel.

Julian Lee (VI)

Molecular Biology - Plastic Degrading Enzyme The rapid and excessive production of plastic has major environmental impacts, adding to air, ocean, and terrestrial pollution. Though traditional recycling methods allow for the reuse of plastic, more than 91% of all plastics are not recycled. A growing body of research suggests that microbial plastic degradation methods may produce reusable plastic of equal quality to virgin plastic (plastic made from raw materials, not recycled). Localized strains of bacteria have been found to successfully break down plastic polymers into monomers. Structure characterization is an important next step in understanding the kinematics of microbial plastic degradation and confirming the function of these plastic degrading enzymes, or PETases. Our goal is to purify these putative PETases after expression in E. coli and send the protein samples to a crystallography lab to determine their structures, which can then be used for further bioinformatic analysis of enzyme activity.

Jemma Kushen (VI)

4DIU & 3HO4 Protein Analysis The 4DIU and 3HO4 Protein Analysis project aims to analyze data collected in the Molecular Biology Research class. The main objective is to predict the function and classification of proteins 4DIU and 3H04, which are currently unknown. Using tools such as BLAST, Pfam, DALI, and PyMOL, we were able to complete computational analyses and compare the sequences and structures of our proteins to others in these programs’ databases. Currently, the team’s results indicate that both proteins are likely to be metabolic enzymes from the hydrolase family.

Spring Athletics Returns!

SARAH KLOSS (V)

RESEARCH WEEK MAY 4th, 2021

Pingry’s New Research Week!

Pingry Chess Tournament

ALLEN WU (V)

us.” She offered the classic example of people getting sudden inspiration in the shower or on neighborhood walks.

Dr. Damour also talked about social connections and belonging.

She says that everyone should have a confidante and feel a sense of belonging. Dr. Damour brought up the idea of a “belong-o-meter” to illustrate how it is important to notice when and where someone has a high sense of belonging or a low sense of belonging. She said to be aware of others’ sense of belonging and to notice how your actions affect them.

Towards the end of the lecture, Dr. Damour focused on racism and its relation to belonging: “Institutional, systemic, and structural racism are belonging structures. That is not belonging brought to scale.”

Dr. Damour also spoke about the pandemic and stress. She talked about how stress is based on contextual factors and how the pandemic will redefine what people constitute as a crisis. “When you find yourself in college with a professor that is super annoying, I want you to say to yourself, ‘You know what, if I can do a year plus in a global pandemic, I can do a semester in your class.” Dr. Damour ended her presentation by refuting misconceptions about mental health.

THE PINGRY RECORD

season requirements mean the team will be playing all through June. Team practice for all other spring sports, such as baseball, lacrosse, softball, and spring track, began on April 1.

Competition for most of these sports will start on April 19, and their seasons will end on June 20. The NJSIAA postseason will start on June 1 and end on June 20. Teams not participating in the postseason may continue to play regular games through the end of the year, as long as they do not exceed the maximum number of regular season games permitted.

In a letter from the Department of Athletics, Director Carter Abbott explains that, “After a somewhat rocky winter season, I am thrilled for the start of the spring season and a return to outdoor practice and games! While all activity will occur outdoors, it is still important that we continue to adhere to all healthy and safety guidelines.”

Coach Abbott went on to describe the

safety protocols that are in place for this year (such as no indoor practices during inclement weather and no snacks to be shared in the presence of unmasked spectators). The most exciting update for spring athletics, however, is the addition of spectators for all sports. For the winter season, a maximum of two guests per athlete were permitted to attend home and away games. Now, all spectators are welcome to come, but they must be masked, remain socially distanced, and are encouraged to bring their own form of seating.

The return of spring sports is tremendous news, especially for senior athletes who are looking forward to their last season in their high school careers. Their hard work and dedication for Pingry spring teams are highly appreciated by their teammates and coaches. Good luck to all Pingry athletes for the upcoming spring season!

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Google Images, Pingry Communications

Francesca Rainuzzo (VI)

SMART Team 2020-2021 The 2020-2021 Pingry SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) Team investigated the structure and mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by creating structural models of the protein and researching previous studies that analyze several aspects of SARS-CoV-2. The team focused on three specific topics: interactions between the spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor, variants of the spike protein, and druggable targets on the spike protein. The team also researched the S-protein fatty acid binding pocket which may be a druggable target.

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Keira Chen (III)

16

THE PINGRY RECORD

RESEARCH WEEK MAY 4th, 2021

Keynote Speeches (Clockwise, from top left): Rhea Kapur (VI), Carolyn Coyne (VI), Noah Bergam (VI), Julian Lee (VI)

Luc Francis (VI) presenting IRT - Artificial Collagen

FYI Sci

HIRT: The Future of Free Speech

Independent Project: Sustainable Urban Design

Photo Credits (Top to Bottom): Brian Li (V), Keira Chen (III)