Issue V

Standard

the

March-April 2014 | Volume XXXIX, Issue V

CASUAL

Support is the message I would give to those students [who feel victimized]. We support you.

I support you.

Jack Phillips, Principal

RACISM The Standard investigates the casual, everyday actions and conversations that are seemingly benign but inherently racist JAMES MALIN | Sports Editor • IAN SCOVILLE | Opinions Editor A degrading culture on pages 18-19

I don’t laugh, it’s not funny. I can’t sit there and giggle with everyone else like it’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard.

Maalik Mbatch (’14)

[While at ASL I was called] ‘coon’, ‘n***er’, ‘n***a.’ I don’t know how many times someone would say ‘n***a’ and then try to justify it by saying ‘well I didn’t say ‘er’, I said ‘a’ which makes it OK’.

MD Shelton (’15)

The American School in London | One Waverley Place | London NW8 0NP U.K. | standard.asl.org

News

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Syrian refugee camp

Assistant Principal to depart

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Alternatives change

Form versus function Fares Chehabi looks into the thought process behind the aesthetics of ASL

H

ead of School Coreen Hester notices a sharp contrast between the school’s interior during her first stint at ASL, as High School Principal during the 90s, and the school’s interior nowadays. “In the mid-90s, the whole inside of the building looked like the outside of the building. It was all brown brick,” she recalled.

Brown has since turned to white, for the most part. Such a change may seem trivial, but with the construction of a new building – consisting of a new art wing and fitness center – set to break ground this spring, awareness of the signifance of aesthetics within an eduational instution has been renewed.

Hester’s mindset concerning the appearance of the school has markedly changed since her first tenure at ASL. “I used to think that if you had a great teacher, it didn’t matter what the building looked like, but I’ve actually gotten to the point where it has to be both. The form has to follow the function,” she said. “You have to have nice classrooms. It attracts better teachers, and it makes students and families more interested in coming here.”

The appearance of the building is only one small cog in the machine of a school, but it is a vital one, as Hester expressed. The responsibility of ensuring the functional performance of this cog belongs to Director of Operations and Technology Jim Heynderickx, who oversees any potential redesign.

His most notable recent accomplishment is the renovation of the Commons this past summer. The design was completely overhauled. The cafeteria section was relocated and the ceiling was made higher, among a host of other changes.

The balance between form and function is one that Heynderickx must strike. “I think what I like about aesthetics in a school like this is that you always tread the line between what’s practical and nice and enjoyable and pleasing and what’s over-the-top,” he said. “We can put crystal chandeliers throughout the building, but we don’t need them.”

In terms of the new building, Heynderickx must first find function before turning his attention to form. “The first and primary goal is always to have good program spaces. They have to work first as art galleries and as mini-gyms and as exercise studios,” he said.

Substantial natural light is a key component for a school, especially one based in a city, to achieve. Heynderickx outlined natural light as the next priority for the new building. “The second priority is natural light, that there’s a lot of windows in there and huge skylight and there’s stacks of glass and sets of glass on the sides of the building so there should be many more times natural light in them than the current art spaces,” he said.

Meanwhile, the introduction of “art galleries” in the new building is music to the ears of Visual Arts Teacher Erik Niemi. “One advantage of the new building is actually the gallery it-

Top: The potential look of Waverley place, with the existing building and the new building present. Bottom: A concept design of a new art room. TOP GRAPHIC BY HAYES DAVIDSON, BOTTOM GRAPHIC BY WALTERS & COHEN self because we’ll be able to have formalized art shows where the community can come together to see student work, and where students will really get much more involved in the presentation process, which is a huge part of making art,” he said.

The new art wing will be slightly more separate from the rest of the school, and Niemi foresees the challenge associated with the detached location. “We will be more distant from the rest of the school, so we’ll have to think of new strategies and ways to bring artwork to the rest of the community and to continue to change the aesthetic of the other part of the school, even though we will have new spaces to use in the new art building,” he said.

The Mellon Library is “the next big project,” Hester said. Following the culmination of the construction of the new building, Heynderickx

will turn his attention to overhauling the design of ASL’s home to 35,000 books. “In terms of budgeting, this building change is huge. We don’t want to do a fiddling job in the library and do something quick and something that we’ll regret later on,” Heynderickx explained.

Head Librarian Karen Field recognizes several difficulties with the current layout of the Mellon Library, including the monitoring of such a big space. “Five entrances to monitor is impossible,” she said. Additionally, the shelving, while “gorgeous,” “doesn’t fit a lot a books.”

Field, however, finds the acoustics to be satisfactory. “Of all the libraries I’ve worked in, this one is loud because it is kind of a social place… but it can be a quiet library, so acoustically I don’t think it’s horrible,” she said. “I’ve been in much worse libraries as far as that goes.”

The computer area in the back of the Mel-

lon Library, where Middle School students are taught by the librarians, is set to be converted into a formal classroom over the summer. The change leaves Field and her fellow librarians without a regularly available space to teach the Middle School classes. The plan for now is to move these classes to the silent area, but Field fears further issues down the road. “I’m worried we’re not going to have enough quiet space eventually, but we’ll see,” she said.

Fortunately, redesigning the Mellon Library remains firmly in Heynderickx’s plans. “In a couple of years, we’ll have a more holistic review with the librarians and some specialists coming in. The Commons took a full year of studying and planning before things really started. We had to have a budget plan, and the same thing has to happen with the library, but it’s kind of a sequence,” he said.

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

D

uring February Break, Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, was filled with thousands of anti-government protesters fighting for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Anti-government protests began November 24, three days after Yanukovych abandoned an agreement to strengthen relationships with the European Union (EU) in favor of keeping ties with Russia.

Russia, which supplies Ukraine with large amounts of natural resources, threatened to stop supplying Ukraine if they signed the agreement, which would create closer ties between Ukraine and the EU. For more than two months, the unrest between the two parties were only nonviolent protests by political leaders, which was nowhere as extreme as what would happen next.

Violent protests began on February 18. Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the independence square in the center of Kiev, became the site of violence and devastation when at least 18 people were killed on that day. Truces between Yanukovych and the anti-government party were short-lived, leading to more violence on February 20.

With protests out of control, protesters are paying a price: At least 77 have been killed, many of them shot to death. While Yanukovych has been ousted from power, Ukraine will have to undergo a long process of development in order to become the country it used to be.

Currently, unrest has expanded throughout the entire country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has employed troops in Crimea, a south-east peninsula of Ukraine where a majority of the population is pro-Russia.

Obama has spoken with EU member leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron about how to sanction Russia. As these talks are ongoing, the area of Crimea continues to be hostile.

Journalists have also been targeted by Pro-Russian troops in Crimea. According to CNN, a Bulgarian journalist was attacked by Russian military and held at gunpoint in Simferopol, Crimea. A CCTV camera shows their equipment was taken and the journalist was beaten.

These gruesome events led up to the referendum-- on March 16, when 96% of Crimean voters are in support of joining Russia. The EU said in a statement that the referendum was “illegal and illegitimate and its outcome will not be recognised.”

U.S. and EU leaders began to impose sanctions on March 17, targeting both Russian and Ukranian leaders who are linked to the unrest in Crimea.

While protests in Ukraine are drawing the attention of the majority of global publications, over 6,000 miles away college students in western Venezuela began pro-

testing against President Nicolas Maduro over lack of security and the country’s poor economy since early February.

Mariajose Nebreda (’15) has been following these events closely because her relatives live in Caracas, Venezuela. Before living in London, Nebreda spent her entire life in Latin America until she moved in 2009. “I moved to London because of the lack of safety in Latin America. That is why I’m here,” she said.

Nebreda is very passionate about what is going on due to her immediate ties to the situation: “Everyone is getting involved with these protests. It isn’t just a political party or a group of students anymore. My uncle, my grandma, everyone is getting involved,” Nebreda said.

Director of Curriculum and In-

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News

Revolution ignited Online Editor Will Muoio explores the current revolutions in Ukraine and Venezuela, and what effects they render on the school community

PHOTO FROM FLICKR/REALIDADVENEZUELA A protester in Venezuela blocks riot police. Protests began after the rape of a student earlier this year and have spread. struction Roberto d’Erizans also has connections to Venezuela, having lived there until he was 10. While most of his family now lives in Miami, he is still closely following the uprising due to his

“

Everyone is getting involved with these protests.

It isn’t just a political party or a group of students anymore.

Mariajose Nebreda (’15) family. “Certainly it affects me. I worry about what is going on, and the safety of those I care about,” d’Erizans said.

This is not an issue that only af-

fects the South American country.

CNN was threatened to be expelled

by Maduro after showing footage depicting a civil war. Nebreda says that no local media can be trusted.

“News is controlled by the government. They’re showing soap operas on television. You can’t rely on the [local] news for anything. In some parts of the country, they are cancelling internet so people don’t find out what they’re saying outside of the country,” Nebreda said. d’Erizans agrees with Nebreda that the news is being controlled by the government, and is surprised by the lack of response from the world in regards to the potential expulsion. “For the past few weeks all that has been on the front page has been Ukraine, but why not Venezuela? There are few journalists there,” d’Erizans said.

Student protests in Venezuela began due to the rape of a young

student in San Cristobal as an example of the lack of security.

These protests have escalated dramatically after the government responded with violence. According to Mary Murray of NBC News, a person is murdered in Venezuela every 21 minutes and 1,000 citizens have been killed so far, up 10 percent from regular statistics before protests. Nebreda hears from her relatives that it’s “basically a civil war”, but the lack of media coverage and global knowledge is not enough. “No one knows about Venezuela. There’s so many things going on. This is ridiculous. People are getting kidnapped, and it is not being talked about,” Nebreda said.

Maduro has used varied ways to try and end these protests. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Maduro hosted a “national peace conference” on February 27

in an attempt to end protests. He also called an unexpected six-day national holiday from February 27 to March 4 to accompany the national Carnival festival.

In a recent interview with Fox News, analyst Ellen Ratner stated that this issue has been going on for a while, however there has been no media coverage until recently. “This issue has been going on for six months to a year, and where has the press been?” Ratner said.

Nebreda agrees with this both at a global level as well as at ASL. Even though this is an event that recently has had a lot of coverage, the overarching issues have just barely begun to be covered. “In general, people know very little.

People are so corrupted and know so little because they think it does not affect them directly. That annoys me.”

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

News Addressing the refugee crisis Assistant Photo Editor Maya Jotwani reports on three ASL parents who travelled to Jordan to aid Syrian refugees

There are currently over 2 million Syrian refugees in Jordan. PHOTOS FROM FLICKR/SAVETHECHILDRENAUSTRALIA

A

total of 2,373,855 refugees waiting. Waiting to live a life in security that is not marked by the struggle to survive each day. Fleeing from the bloody war that has been consuming their country, millions of Syrians have crossed the border into Jordan as refugees in the hope that they will one day be able return to their homes in Syria. With no signs of peace in sight, millions more are projected to leave Syria by the end of this year. Striving to aid refugees and learn about the current situation in Jordan, ASL parents Rasha Elmasry, Karen Conway, and Robin D’Alessandro recently visited the country to “understand the realities on the ground in delivering education in a refugee situation,” D’Alessandro said.

D’Alessandro is currently CEO of the Vitol Foundation,

dren to school.

The low registration is partly due to Jordanian law. The Jordanian government has made it mandatory to teach only a Jordanian curriculum and to employ only Jordanian teachers.

However, their pool of teachers is stretched, and as a result they are giving recently-graduated university students teaching jobs. Many Syrian refugees are complaining seeing as among the 2 million refugees, there are unemployed teachers, who are in great need of work. Vitol is pushing for the right to employ Syrian teachers, which will in turn reassure parents and create jobs among the refugee camps.

Jordanian law presents a second conundrum for Vitol: The age at which students must end their formal schooling. All

The organization integrates its programs into local schools with the aim of providing children the opportunity to play.

This makes the school more engaging and interactive, increasing attendance rates. During their time spent in Jordan, the parents visited a community center in which Right to Play had organized informal education. Upon entering the building, one would not be able to tell that it was a formal school holiday.“There were hundreds of them. That was the most incredible thing—there were five floors of full packed classrooms on a holiday,” D’Alessandro said.

To continue its work, Right to Play recently received a $5 million grant from the Canadian government to work with Syrian refugees within the host communities. Planning

What the Syrian parents are screaming out for is that their children do not become a lost generation.

Robin d’alessandro, asl parent

which provides funding for emergency situations, such as the refugee crisis in Jordan, and supports global projects to bring children out of extreme poverty. The foundation originally sponsored projects that provided medical supplies for treating those injured in the conflict. However, Vitol realized that “access to real education, real quality education, was missing from almost all of the emergency programs we were being asked to fund.” Vitol in response began to focus their work towards a more long-term issue: Education.

When D’Alessandro planned the trip to Jordan, she invited Elmasry to join her. She has a personal connection to the conflict in Syria as she is of Syrian nationality. Her immediate family still resides in their home in Aleppo, Syria, despite the ongoing dangers they face. “It’s not easy for them, they are safe, they are okay, but it’s hard. They are in their own home and they don’t want to leave—you have to respect that,” Elmasry said.

Vitol is currently supporting projects that are being undertaken by a non-governmental organization, Warchild.

Warchild works with and facilitates existing education programs in Zaatari camp, the second largest refugee camp in the world. At the moment, only 8,000 to 12,000 children are registered in the camp’s schools out of the possible 37,862 children of school age. Warchild is trying to encourage increased registration in the schools by distributing supplies and facilitating transportation systems to bring these chil-

four schools currently end at 13, an age when education becomes increasingly impactful and important. “The one thing that is woefully underfunded and not prioritized is secondary education. It is almost non-existent. What is the hope for a kid having no school after 13? No hope for peace, no hope for good governance,” D’Alessandro said.

In order to tackle this problem, Vitol is striving to push for mandatory education by the introduction of secondary schools. “Everyone recognizes a fundamental right to primary education, but it is so rare that people prioritize secondary education in any other development or humanitarian context,” she added.

The same problems with education exist outside of the camps in the local Jordanian communities, where as many as 80 percent of Syrian refugees reside. Local schools are operating on double shifts to accommodate both Jordanian and Syrian students. As Jordan scrambles to accommodate the continuous surge of refugees, tensions are escalating between the refugees and their host population.

Addressing this issue is Conway. She is on the U.K. board of Right to Play, an organization that focuses on using sports to teach lessons on conflict resolution and peace-building, skills that are crucial in the relationship between the displaced refugees and their host population. “[By teaching this, we are] hoping that we can teach the children to cooperate and in doing so teach the host community to cooperate,” Conway said.

ahead, the organization plans to further expand their reach by opening more programs in places such as community centers.

Meanwhile, Vitol is planning to open more community centers specifically for the Syrian refugees. Although a vast number of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and foreign governments are providing aid, the cohesive effect is not as strong as it could potentially be. There is a lack of coordination between different organizations, allowing for unnecessary attention in some areas while other areas are neglected.

“We met some amazingly smart, competent, really important people, and nobody had the full picture, which was depressing,” D’Alessandro said. “If even the head of some serious charities and the head of the camp didn’t have the full picture, how are the refugees going to know how to access services for them and their families?”

Vitol’s next step forward is the submission of a letter to the Department of International Development, a U.K. government department devoted to eliminating global poverty.

They are proposing several changes in regards to the Syrian conflict. Currently, 1.2 percent of the budget is dedicated to education. Vitol is pushing for this figure to double. They are also looking to establish minimum standards that all refugee education programs must adhere to. In establishing this, Vitol hopes to increase both the quality and access of education in Jordan.

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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News

New Assistant Principal chosen Charlotte Young News Editor During February Break, Assistant Principal Annie Leonard finalized her decision to leave ASL at the end of the school year and move back to Massachusetts after being at the school for four years.

The idea of Leonard and her family moving back to U.S. only came up recently in February, after her husband received a job offer. “My husband is not an educator so we’re not a family who can move from school to school. The last two moves that we’ve made as a family were led by my job, and this job possibility that came up for him is really amazing and so we decided that it was his turn,” she said.

Because their move is spurred by her husband’s new job, Leonard has yet to find a job for herself for when they move back. “I knew the first question that was going to come up from people was going to be ‘what about you, what are you doing?’ I definitely have some hopes, and then I have some things that are starting to become possible plans,” she said.

At the same time, Leonard is trying to focus on something she learned from a conference she attended in January. “[The speaker] was talking about career changes and described it as being on a trapeze and the way a person is swinging on a trapeze and you know there’s a trapeze bar out there, but you have to jump. It’s not like the monkey bars where you can reach bar to bar. I was thinking back to hearing him talk about that moment where you’re letting go of that bar you’re holding onto; I’m trying to enjoy that leap,” she said.

For Leonard, that leap of uncertainty for when she moves back is very different than what she has grown accustomed to. “Even though in a lot of ways I’m not a conservative person, I’ve actually been employed by a school since 1993. I’ve always worked

in schools, and so maybe next year I won’t be working in a school for the first time in a long time. I’m still not sure what I think about that.”

While Leonard just recently confirmed her move away from London, she has already started thinking about what she will miss most about ASL and what she has come to appreciate. “I love getting to know students over time and seeing what develops as they go through High School. I’m actually going to be leaving with the class that started as ninth graders for the year that I began being Assistant Principal,” she said. Leonard will miss seeing students within the school change over time. “I’m going to miss seeing what changes happen as the students go through what I really think is a really transformative educational experience.”

With the departure of Leonard comes the arrival of Science Teacher Karen Bonthrone to fill Leonard’s place. The process for Bonthrone to become the new Assistant Principal went very quickly, with Bonthrone having interviews with both administrators and other teachers within the High School.

“Because of the way hiring works in international schools it was helpful for the school for this process [with the applicant pool being from ASL] to be completed fairly quickly because now they have to hire a new physics teacher,” she said.

Bonthrone is very excited about her switch in positions due to the changes in education in the near future. “The previous model of education where teachers had all the knowledge and they transmitted the knowledge to the students has changed in the past few years. I’m really excited to lead the High School through this period of changes of what education is,” she said.

Bonthrone is looking forward to challenging the current educational model at ASL. “I’ve seen schools that have gone through periods of change at different times Everything has to take time but we want to make

Science Teacher Karen Bonthrone will be replacing current Assistant Principal Annie Leonard next year. Photo by Jessica Haghani sure that you [students] are prepared for a future that you [students] have.” She continued to explain that her goals are not to excessively change the current educational

model that is being used. “The sort of question is can we make it even better? You don’t do change just for change’s sake, you do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

Former StuCo president reflects on tenure

VARUN SARUP Staff Writer

1. What motivated you to run for president of the Student Council? What did you hope to accomplish during your tenure?

It had been something that I had been hoping to do throughout high school. I had been on Student Council all four years of high school, and before that middle school.

The most inspirational of my peers had happened to be the StuCo presidents before me. I really respected what they had done, and I felt I could do a good job My overarching goal was to better the relationship between members of our community, and the relationships our community has with other communities outside of ASL. I wanted to leave a positive legacy behind and to make sure that students were having the best possible high school experience that they could have, and that the administration and the students were working together.

2. Looking back at your time as Student Council president, what is your greatest accomplishment?

I am most proud of watching all the work that Student Council members have done, and seeing how that work affects our school and their peers, and I am really proud of the dedication I have seen from council members, and I would like to think that maybe I have set a precedent that has inspired them to do work or they have taken initiative to follow through. I am proud of my council.

some of the grades we had a lot of people running, which was great to see, but in some of the other grades there was just the minimum (four people) running. So if I could do it again, I would do more to encourage everyone to run. I think I would also try and spread the message even more that our meetings are open, and anyone who wants to go can go to them. So it’s to get people who aren’t necessarily on the student council, to be involved in the student council.

3. Is there a specific reason why you are so proud of that?

I find that in all the projects we work on, we are always going to get more done if there are more people involved. I feel as if people feel ownership over a task, then it is more likely that they will work hard.

5. How was your professional relationship with other StuCo members?

I think of all of them as my friends. We started the year with a retreat and I had everyone over to my house, and it was nice because it was a chance for us to figure out what our goals for the year were, also to get to know each other and share a meal, and to get excited about working together for the year.

4. If you could do it again, what would you change? Why? I would encourage even more people to run for grade rep positions, because in

6. Is there any specific person that in-

spired you to try to become StuCo president?

I would say watching Morganne Howell (’12), who was a senior when I was a sophomore. Watching her be president inspired me, and she was someone that I really respected and looked up to. I think that she was probably my greatest inspiration for running for the position.

7. If you had to give a piece of advice to the next StuCo president, what would it be? Why? It would probably be that it is important to look forward and look at the long term, but its also important to take it a day at a time, because there is a lot that’s asked of you, and sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but just remember that if you take it a day at a time, then it will all get done, and it is important to rely on other members of the council and know that you are not doing it alone, but there [are] 20 members that are all working together, so they will share the tasks.

Opinions •••

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Cliques

Stress culture

Philosophy

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Standard

the

CLAYTON MARSH Editor-in-Chief

THOMAS RISINGER Lead News Editor CHARLOTTE YOUNG News Editor SEBASTIAN MAYR Assistant News Editor IAN SCOVILLE Opinions Editor ZACK ASHLEY Assistant Opinions Editor MINA OMAR Lead Features Editor ZACK LONGBOY Features Editor TYLER SKOW Assistant Features Editor KATE KENNEDY Culture Editor GABRIEL RUIMY Culture Editor NADIA SAWIRIS Assistant Culture Editor NIKOLAI BIRCH Sports Editor JAMES MALIN Sports Editor NOAH ABRAMS Assistant Sports Editor YARRA ELMASRY Assistant Sports Editor HAMISH STEPHENSON Creative Director JESSICA HAGHANI Photo Editor MAYA JOTWANI Assitant Photo Editor ALEX PABARCIUS Design Editor WILLIAM MUOIO Online Editor ANKIT MEHRA Assistant Online Editor SVENA BHASIN Copy Editor LAURA GALLIGAN Assistant Copy Editor FARES CHEHABI STAFF WRITERS

Cartoon by Caroline Tisdale

Reconfiguring our core values

Character – any student will agree, and any administrator should confirm – is not only an accumulation of integrity, responsibility, decision-making, and other rigid qualities; it encompasses so many other virtues that, in different magnitudes, allow for the unending spectrum of human personality.

And yet it seems that this false message about character has been expounded upon by the administration. At the start of this year, it seemed as if every assembly was used for the sole purpose of promoting our new core values: Respect, responsibility, kindness, integrity, and the courage to act.

These five values, while idyllic, are extremely rigid. If one was to follow them exclusively, there would be little room for laughter, fun and, most worryingly, personality. This is not the sort of environment that the school should be promoting. Quite simply: If learning is more lighthearted, people are more inclined to work hard, and in turn, achieve greater results.

The problem lies in the unoriginality of these words and their creed, and of the bland, overused quality they possess. It is no coincidence that the “courage to act” a phrase that gives students a tangible charge and possesses a unique quality, is one of the values most remembered by students. They don’t depict the true personality of the student body or what the school actually is, but more what the administration wants outsiders to perceive the school as being.

A revision to include more words that revolve around students’ personalities and interests is imperative. Such a revision needs to include room for students to have a real high school experience. Because a core value cannot only be something that the administration believes in, but also something that the whole community believes in.

The “world-changers” the school is seeking to create cannot be the nicest, most responsible people in the world. They can, however, be genuine individuals. We as students can have a fun, interesting high school experience, filled with the events we care about, and the core values must reflect that.

It seems that a value – one that could easily be taken to heart more by the student than the adult – has been overlooked. For learning is only conducive when there is a joy to learn, a desire

to learn, and what can make a passion for education more hardy than genuine fun?

Expecting a desire to learn rather than stimulating a desire to learn has become too commonplace, and this error can be so fundamental. Yet such an error is one that is extremely remediable.

In fact, a solution was inadvertently presented when we first selected our core values. Students of the High School were handed a short passage from which we selected keywords that, we believed, defined the essential ASL student. But the pool of words from which we could choose was limited by an overly-defined idea of the model student. Words like honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, and perseverance were easily found – as they should have been – but words that embrace a more open environment, where experimentation is nurtured, were not to be found.

A handful of words that should have been within the passage are fun, lightheartedness, amicability, conviviality, or geniality.

We could all be kind, courageous, responsible, and respectful, but still, perhaps, not look back at high school with any fondness. These words seem detached, and that needs to be changed.

What about curiosity and celebration? What about spirit and zeal?

If the student body were to truly tailor the core values to their desire, it wouldn’t be from a pre-selected passage; if the student body were to truly tailor core values to their desire, they would be more pervasive to the entire school. It is a question of allowing the students to craft their own constitution of personality – of who they are, of who we are.

Let us experiment, let us explore; and make sure it is understood in the core values and mission statement on which the ASL community prides itself. Let our education be not a lecture but instead a conversation; let what defines the students be a mixture of what we value and what the faculty value.

In order to draw the community together into a cohesive unit, we need to embrace what makes us a unit and what is distinctive about us with specific values that express ASL’s personality. We need to describe what knits all the individuals and sub-communities together into one school with words that truly resonate with students. And, most importantly, it needs to be us.

Lev Cohen, Claudia Costa, Lorenzo Maglione, Max Roth, Varun Sarup, Maria Tavierne, Allie Zirinis CARTOONISTS Nicole Adams, Caroline Tisdale Shannon Miller Adviser MISSION STATEMENT The Standard staff and adviser are dedicated to creating an open forum that strives to promote productive dialogue within the School community by publishing exemplary student news media according to the strictest standards of journalistic integrity.

CONTENT The Standard covers news related, but not limited, to the School community. Issues-driven coverage that aims to explore ideas, themes, concepts, trends and recent developments beyond the campus that are relevant to members of the community are also included.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send submissions to the journalism lab, room O-329, or to the_standard@asl.org.

These must adhere to the same set of ethical guidelines that all staff content is held to, and will only be published at the discretion of the editorial board and the adviser.

The Standard retains the right to edit letters for length and AP/Standard style. All letters must be signed in order to be considered for publication.

EDITORIALS Articles published without a byline and presented in the same location issue-to-issue represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. They are unsigned.

COLUMNS Articles with a byline and a photo of the author in the Opinions section of the newspaper are opinions articles. They represent the view of the writer only, and not necessarily the staff of the newspaper or any other individual or group in the community.

ENGAGEMENT WITH READERSHIP The Standard encourages all readers to submit their thoughts through letters to the editor, guest columns, online comments, and story ideas. Contact the appropriate section editor(s) for submissions.

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Page 7

Opinions

Advocating for the five minute break Adam zschach

adam_zschach@asl.org

“

A five minute break increases students’ productivity in the other 75 minutes of class.

Every High School student at ASL has experienced the strenuous 80 minute class period. It is not only painfully long, but can also be counter-productive. At times, staying focused in class is more challenging than understanding the material on the board.

Up to four times a day, teachers challenge a student’s mind for 80 consecutive minutes, consistently expecting their best work.

This expectation is more than challenging; it is unrealistic. But, with a simple schedule change — introducing a five minute break into ASL’s normal 80-minute class periods — students’ concentration and productivity would undeniably improve.

Some teachers at ASL already use a five minute break in their classes. “I try to remain sensitive to students’ needs, so if they have had an assembly during conference time, I take this into consideration and will probably give a break. In other words, when I sense there is a general need, I call a break,” English Teacher Kimbalena Zeineddine said.

“The break is to make people more comfortable and able to concentrate in class, which is good for everyone.”

Progress Report Dazza

clapping

st. anton

spring

Skeptics might say that this policy takes five minutes away from class without yielding any clear advantages. However, a five minute break increases a student’s’ productivity during the other 75 minutes of class.

Some students agree that a five minute break increases their efficiency in class.

Surely teachers would sacrifice six percent of class time for the other 94 percent to be more constructive.

It’s not as if students are sitting through the whole 80 minutes without a break under the current schedule. Students can already take a break from class by asking to go to the bathroom; it is common for students to ask to use the bathroom as a break from concentration. They often take longer than strictly necessary to return.

When students leave in the middle of class, they miss part of the lesson. A planned five minute break would provide a set time for students to use the toilet or stretch their legs, meaning that no one would miss material.

Teachers might fear that students would abuse this freedom by confusing it with a

right to dictate the class schedule.“If students returned on time and genuinely used the time to get a quick bite or go to the loo, then the break was productive,” Zeineddine said. “If students took more than five minutes or used the time to check their phones or had trouble settling back into the lesson, then the break was an obstacle to class progressing. Or, if students saw the break as a ‘right’ and watched the clock so that they got their five minutes, it became a problem.”

A five minute break should always be the teacher’s decision, and as long as this is made clear, there should not be any complications. If the teacher sets a time for students to be back and sets a consequence for failing to meet it — say removing the five minute break from the next class — students will be incentivized to come back on time and truly learn.

With careful implementation, five minute breaks during ASL’s 80 minute classes would increase students’ learning by making them more focused — students would definitely benefit if more teachers incorporated five minute breaks into their classes.

Photo 1 and 2 by Hamish stephenson, Photos 3 and 6 by Jessica haghani, Photo 4 from flickr/Diekatrin, photo 5 by maya jotwani

1

2

3

4

5

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The Standard staff gives 1.

ASL its third quarter Progress Report. 2.

Standard Crew Chemistry (A+) This is our last issue together as a staff, and it’s safe to say that the bond we have created will endure a lifetime. Long live The Standard’s 2013-2014 Editors. Jessica Haghani St. Anton Nightlife: (A) It’s no secret that the day in Austria peaks at Krazy at 4 p.m., but from Kandahar to Bobo’s to Bah Cuba, the nightlife in St. Anton exceeded our already ridiculously high expectations. You gotta give the people what they want, and St. Anton surely did that. Clayton Marsh

coming early: (A) Spring, and the weather that 3. Spring comes with it, opens up a whole new world of possibili-

ties. I look forward to the re-emergences of both the Secret Garden and Patrick Collins’ (’14) full salmon outfits.

The grass is always greener during spring.

Clayton Marsh

4.

Bacon Muffins: (F) On the outside they look like an innocent fluffy decadent delight, but its interior couldn’t be more different. These ‘cupcakes’ consist of a brackish cake laced with meaty nuggets that explode on impact, bursting into a hellish flavour reminiscent of expired dog food. At least my experience taught me a valuable lesson: don’t ever trust anything on the basis of face value.

Alex Pabarcius

5.

Dazza is (Vice) President: (A+) You can expect emotional speeches, football tournaments, rants about goons and dodgy facial hair. Welcome to the Daz era.

James Malin

6.

People who clap along to music at assemblies: (F) You know who you are. James Malin Post Scriptum: We Dem Boyz.

Page 8

Opinions

•••

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Cliques create superficiality

Zack Ashley

zack_ashley@asl.org

“

The idea that the glue holding a social group together is based on image or popularity can cause fake and disingenuous friendships.

When I arrived at ASL as a freshman, I had trouble making friends. This was not a result of my lack of social skills (or at least I would like to think so), but more a result of having to adapt to the social setting at ASL. The social scene at ASL is primarily made up of cliques and groups, and although there is interaction between the groups, they are set in stone. While my previous school had its own faults, its clique mentality was not quite as extreme.

For me, this idea of being in a certain group presents a problem, one of exclusivity. It is hard to be involved in social events if you aren’t part of a certain group of friends.

Of course those groups come together at larger social gatherings, but unless there is a school-wide party, if you are not part of a group, inclusivity in these events is less likely.

There are not many “floaters”, so to speak, or people who are just friends with everyone. At least from my personal experience everyone is considered to be a member of this or that group of friends. This is where some of my troubles originated from when first arriving at the school. Instead of trying to gain entry into one of ASL’s social groups, I tried to make random friends. I eventually caught on to ASL’s social norms and was able to find myself a group of friends that suited me.

These groups, along with image, can be formed based on being part of a sports team, being involved in theater and music, where people are from, or simply because all of the people in the group have deemed the other members to be “popular.” While admittedly some of these topics express common interest, they can also bring up issues of exclusivity.

The idea that the glue holding a social group together is based on image or popularity can cause fake and disingenuous friendships, those that are more focused on appealing to others than on enjoying camaraderie amongst themselves.

This is not to say that I don’t love my friends and hanging out with them, nor am

Cartoon by Nicole Adams I saying that I don’t experience similar instances of camaraderie in other groups of friends in the school.

I don’t think this concept is specific to ASL either, although it is more extreme here. Maybe this is an argument that needs to be aimed at a larger audience – at young people in social situations in all schools. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is prevalent at ASL and that it is something we can benefit from analyzing.

It’s not an easy issue to solv: How can one completely change the social structure of an entire community? I’m not naive enough to suggest that this problem will ever be com-

pletely eradicated, but like all issues, it can be improved.

I’m calling for a heightened self-awareness, in that one realizes when they are excluding someone, or even a group of people, on the grounds of image. It’s not a matter of teaching or forcing inclusivity like the administration may want or aim to do. It’s more about students looking within themselves and deciding whether a person is your friend because you enjoy their company, or as a result of less genuine qualities.

Actions like these would greatly benefit the High School social structure and the wider ASL community.

The college process: What matters?

Mina Omar

mina_omar@asl.org

“

It’s OK if your path diverges from where you thought it was originally heading.

First semester senior year was a lot like what I had been expecting: The nights were long, the work was difficult, and the college application process was grueling. I went into the year knowing that I would have to push myself harder than I ever had before, and I was prepared to do so.

What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the slew of emotions that came alongside the process as well as the lessons I would learn along the way.

I, similarly to many of my peers, set ridiculously high standards for myself at the start of the year. It is difficult not to at a school as academically competitive and excellent as ours. I started high school with the mindset that the next four years were geared towards me getting into a fantastic college in the United States and that was that. You can imagine my surprise when my parents informed me that they wanted me to stay in the U.K. to study. I was allowed to apply to one school in the United States, but that was it.

I did just that. I applied to my one school in the United States and was devastated when

I wasn’t accepted. I felt as if everything I had accomplished over the past four years had been a waste. What was the point of it all if I hadn’t been able to achieve what I had set out to do?

I was mad. I felt cheated. Everything I had worked so hard for was going to waste. Except, it wasn’t.

Speaking to an old friend of mine over winter break about her college process was an eye-opening experience. She had been saving up money by working after school for the past two years and still didn’t have enough to afford the tuition at the schools she wanted to apply to. She told me she didn’t want to burden her mother with the high costs of college tuition and that her plan was to attend a community college until she was able to save up the funds to transfer to a state school of her choice. After hearing about her predicament, my mind cleared and my own problems were put into perspective.

We are attending one of the best educational institutions in the world, and, at times, alongside that excellence comes dis-

appointment. While ASL does a fantastic job of preparing us academically, the mentality it fosters leaves little room for failure.

What I’ve learned is that it’s ok if your path diverges from where you thought it was originally heading. It’s OK if you don’t get into your first choice school, or even your second choice school, for that matter.

Of course, I would have loved to have gotten in right off the bat. Nobody likes rejection. But the fact of the matter is, what happened helped me learn in a way that an acceptance never could have. It was my first time experiencing disappointment on such a large scale, and next time something like this happens (and it will, as no one gets everything that they want), I’ll be better prepared.

I was able to overcome my dismay over rejection, and by doing so I took a step forward into adulthood. I’ve now applied to other schools in the U.K. and will be studying international relations at a school I love in the fall.

Although things did not work out the way I had originally planned, I can confidently say that I would not have them any other way.

•••

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Page 9

Opinions

Praising the English department Jessica Haghani jessica_haghani@asl.org

“

It would take a hard heart indeed not to fall in love with literature as revealed and presented by ASL’s wonderful faculty.

My English class experience: 301 classes.

400 hours. 35 books. 42 essays. However, it stretches far beyond this, for English isn’t a subject comprised of numbers, equations, facts or formulas. Rather, it is an 80-minute period of the day that stretches the mind and forces one to think in a different way.

My underclassmen English years were spent in the hands of English Teachers Eve Ellis and Miles Dunmore, where I studied classic texts from Homer’s Odyssey to J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and much in between. For two years, my English skills developed: I learned how to deconstruct a piece of literature and how to annotate a book thoroughly. I was drilled in grammar and had my writing constructively taken apart and analyzed. I became an active participant at the Harkness table, always willing to share my thoughts and never hesitating to engage with the views of my classmates.

At the end of sophomore year I was prepared to jump into my first English elective: Shakespeare. We tackled King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing and Julius Caesar. What a treat to be able to see these works brought to life in West End theaters! I spent second semester in Middle Eastern Literature with

English Teacher Peggy Elhadj. Being partly of Middle Eastern heritage myself, I felt a special connection with the subject matter, which made the class that much more enjoyable.

First semester senior year I landed my first class with English Teacher Stephen Potchatek, another high school student favorite.

I’ll be honest, I was hesitant to take Dramatic Literature and Performance, as I feared that word ‘performance’ might not pertain to me.

I needn’t have worried. After reading our first play: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, I never looked back. We travelled far and wide to watch performances, tapping the theater scene well outside the West End. I will finish high school in a few months having enjoyed another Potchatek offering, Literature of Fact. Our first book was Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, a decadent nonfiction murder mystery that I just couldn’t put down, and when I did put the book down, I still couldn’t get the story out of my head.

Potchatek diverts his students away from a focus on the grade they earn in his class, and more so on the texts that we read and participation in discussions. His classes are the perfect antidote for even a strong case of

‘Senioritis’.

It would take a hard heart indeed not to fall in love with literature as revealed and presented by ASL’s wonderful faculty. They taught me the tools and the concepts to analyze what I read, but more importantly they showed me how literature can be brought to life: The smell of a new book, the emotions, the suspense, the beauty.

Whether sitting at home with a cup of tea, relaxed and completely enthralled in a book, or furtively scrambling to read the last few pages of an assignment under the heavy wood of the Harkness table, I will always be conscious of reading for the sake of enjoyment and engaging with the text for the advancement of my learning.

The English department places emphasis on finding your niche and crafting your individual path through reading and writing. This unorthodox approach to learning in such a competitive and grade-driven environment allows students to come to love reading and writing because they approach it from a different perspective. With that, my eyes will remain forever open to the bounty of literature, which I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

Confronting a culture of stress Ian Scoville

The solution starts, perhaps surprisingly, not with teachers, but with students. Students are the ones who are experiencing this stress and they must be the ones to deal with it.

by the numbers

“

Stress

ian_scoville@asl.org

There’s no way around it: Our school is a fiercely competitive place. Along with all the negatives and positives of this culture, comes one great side effect: Stress.

ASL is a place consumed by stress. Whether it be during crunch periods (finals, midterms, and often the week before a break) or just an average day, a normal high school student is probably stressed, to say the least.

ASL has a stress problem, and everyone knows it. The question is: How do we solve it?

At present, ASL has an impressively committed yet sadly failing stress management program.

Health Teacher Joy Marchese’s program in health class is a great start. The techniques she teaches students, ranging from organizing work to breathing techniques, definitely provide students with a source of relief from their problems. And these techniques, which are taught across the community, are able to help students.

27%

But the problem is, there’s only so much organizing one can do until there just is not enough time in the day to get the work done.

There are only so many breathing techniques that can be practiced until students just need sleep. When stress has become part of a culture, like it has in our school, a more comprehensive approach must be taken to deal with the problem.

The solution starts, perhaps surprisingly, with students. Students are the ones who are experiencing this stress, and they must be the ones to address it. Students finding realistic ways to manage their stress is key. The student response continues beyond just tactics.

Communication and being realistic about what’s possible to complete are all steps students have to take too.

But the place where the most impactful change can happen is amongst teachers. We all know that students need to work; we all know that students need to be tested and we

Of United States high school students have experienced extreme stress.

32%

Of United States high school students feel as if they could cry because of stress.

all know that students need to be challenged, but currently the pressure being placed on students is just too great.

A giant calendar – in which all teachers can put planned assessments – is an easy solution. Say, a World Civilizations II teacher is wanting to give a test on one day. If it can be seen that an English 10 teacher, an Algebra II teacher, and a French III teacher all have similar ideas, is it that hard to delay a test by a class? Or simply offer an alternate test date to students so they have more flexibility? More responsive curriculum scheduling could save students a world of stress.

Unfortunately, stress is an inherent part of any high school experience. Stress can be beneficial too – a little bit of stress can provide a motivating factor for people to get things done. But when stress comes to the insurmountable levels that it comes to for so many high school students, well, then things go horribly wrong.

40%

Of United States high school students are consistently irritable or angry as a result of stress.

Statistics From USAtoday.com

Page 10

Opinions

•••

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Th e lost art of

Philosophy

Culture Editor Kate Kennedy calls for a re-evaluation of the importance of philosophy in the development of students and the school’s curriculum

The ancient Greek theater Epidavros, built in the 4th century AD, was host to many performances and philosophical discussion. Photo by Kate Kennedy

W

hen Learning Specialist Greg Cole asked our Modern Philosophy and Literature class why we get out of bed in the morning, and went around the table asking each student their answer, I was a little bit dumbfounded. I get out of bed because I do, full stop. I couldn’t comprehend the point of our conversation: The fact of the matter is that every one of us does get out of bed, so it’s irrelevant to ask why.

However, as we went around and said our answers – “because I have to,” “to go to school,” “to get to college eventually,” “because my alarm is ringing” – I realized that our conversations mostly evolved around theories and hypothetical situations that were impossible to find answers to outside the confines of our own heads, filled with our own biases and experiences. The repercussions of these discussions were very real.

The reason we get out of bed affects how we get out of bed, just as the way we view the world affects how we live. It isn’t enough to go through the motions and live as we are expected to; I believe that it is important for every single student to make some attempt at understanding where those expectations come from, and to put their conclusions, or lack thereof, within the larger reference frame of a worldview, and that’s what philosophy is all about.

T

here is no doubt that religion and philosophy have been moving forces in the world throughout history. Our actions are motivated, at their core, by how we perceive the world around us. It is hard to defend an action or belief without a fundamental worldview to put that belief in its place: Are we selfish because we truly believe that the world is ruled only by our own egoism and there is no higher order? Are we giving because we believe that a God is telling us to give? I think that without confronting these questions it is hard to understand our motivations on a deeper level and to confront our decisions.

I’m not saying that every high school student should understand the mysteries of the universe. I do believe, however, that it is important for students to be pushed to come to a greater understanding of the world around them and the great questions.

T

his quest is important not only because it will help students have greater conviction, as it would help us to understand why we are passionate about the things that we are passionate about and why certain issues are important, but also because it would help us learn how to think critically and to empathize with others.

Philosophy consists of a lot of deep thinking and issues. Throughout our lives, we will

encounter plenty of problems we will never 100 percent know the answers to, and we will be confronted with a lot of tough challenges. The kind of deep and theoretical thinking that philosophy requires is the kind of thinking that will serve us well for the rest of our lives.

Another thing we will encounter in our lives is people who believe different things from us, and who are guided by a thought, religion, or philosophy that we disagree with. If we don’t truly understand how they came to that conclusion or why they believe what they believe, or even what it is exactly that they do believe, it will be much harder to understand and empathize with that person. By learning about a variety of worldviews, we are inevitably opening ourselves up to not only a deeper understanding of the world, but also its people, no matter what we personally believe.

We are at a crucial point in our development and the views that are forming in our minds now will have a significant effect on the way that we think for the rest of our lives. If the unimportance of philosophy, or religion, or the study of epistemology, has been ingrained in us throughout our studies. If we are only taught about how the world functions around us, and not why, I think that a disinterest in and lack of value attributed to philosophy and the meaning-

ful repercussions that comes with it will stay with us just as much as all the chemical compounds or important historical dates we’ve learned, and those things aren’t enough.

W

ithout seriously being pushed to examine our role in the world, all of our knowledge would give us the toolbox but not the ability to exercise those tools because we haven’t tried to conceive the best and most proper way to apply our knowledge in the world, or even what knowledge is in the first place.

With everything else going on in our high school lives, it’s reasonable that we aren’t spending all of our free time contemplating the meaning of life, which is why I think it is so important that the study of philosophy becomes a bigger part of the school curriculum, with the semester-long English class becoming mandatory.

I’m not saying that we all need to discover what the meaning of life is before mid-June of the year of our graduation, but I am suggesting that it is a serious mistake for us to not be pushed to apply ourselves to consider that question, even just a little bit, as we are developing in high school. By considering deep questions we can become more thoughtful, compassionate, and empathetic people.

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

•••

Page 11

Opinions

Throttled individuality

Culture Editor Gabriel Ruimy discusses how an inherent dedication to college forces students to forgo their passions

H

igh School has become, in the course of freshman to senior year, a marathon where the finish line is university, and in this race every step forward is an assessment completed, a box checked. We neither have the time nor the will to step back and embrace a path that hasn’t been, and isn’t being, trodden by generations of students.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” American essayist and 19th century poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said. So why is it that at a dinner I attended some time ago a family friend, who is a Harvard alumnus, told me, “Sell yourself not for yourself, but for who you think the college admissions will like most?”

And this is not an isolated instance – it is indicative of a whole culture at work.

We read textbooks, write essays, conduct experiments, support communities, play sports, produce plays, sing, strum and dance; yes, some of it is passion, yes, all of it is educational, but no, seldom has it led on to construct individuals. Most of us pass the class, hope to get an A, and complete our graduation requirements. But when the bell rings and high school is nothing more than a diploma and a memory, we will walk out into the world with a certain skillset with which ASL has endowed us, but not the passions ASL should have given us.

For four years, we dedicate ourselves to selfexploration, and, though benevolent in and of itself, this virtuous goal is tainted by the motive behind it: Students – in England, in America, in public school, in private schools, me, you – seek more to be someone who universities want them to be than who they truly are.

It is deplorable of the education system we belong to inadvertently promote this message.

We are tailoring ourselves so that in the fall of our senior year we can craft a compelling application that details a persona we sell. From this can never arise — excuse the metaphor — Joseph’s coat of many colors, only a series of monotone blue or black or red or yellow coats.

A tremendous shift in mindset is required to move from a college-centric culture to a self-identification culture. But the shift should be pervasive at all levels and continuous: Individual classes should excite initiative. Teachers should provide off-assignment opportu-

nities. Assessments should judge innovation and not memorization.

In short, conformity should be challenged.

For years the school system has slowly morphed, back and forth, to welcome changing tides in our society. But today, education faces its most defying, grandiose challenge ever: The potential of the younger generations — whether it be a result of the internet or a simple coincidence — has materialized in an unprecedented way. It would only be a self-destructive shame for this potential not to be realized.

Students must be allowed to strive “outside of the box,” and for years school has left the door open, but now, to create the most autonomous and productive generation of thinkers yet, school needs to kick us “outside the box.”

The opportunity is adequately provided: Students can participate in anything from a cappella clubs to the rugby team, can study anything from Shakespearean literature to polar graphing functions, and establish clubs that can do anything in between. No, the error lies not in what the opportunities provided to us, but in the subliminal, unmentioned spirit in which these activities are undertaken. It lines our thinking, underlines our motives, and emboldens our fervor; it is the most self-throttling question we can ask ourselves and paradoxically the most productive: “Will this help me get into college?”

The change required is colossal but at the same time minute: Change the prevalent mindset, so that we can be pulled in a direction of productivity, not necessarily university.

It is a movement no one individual can begin, but one a certain community can embrace.

When I bid ASL goodbye, and I leave Waverley entrance for the last time next year, I would consider having failed myself, and having been failed by the system, if my highest accolade – that which brings me the most genuine pride – is the résumé I have created rather than the person I have become.

College funnels our time and energy away from the things that make us. Cartoon by Nicole Adams

Features •••

Page 12

Marijuana usage

Third culture kids

10 Questions

Meet Celia Mitchell & Dariush Yazdanpanah Following the recent Student Council officer elections, Editor-InChief Clayton Marsh sits down with newly elected President Celia Mitchell (’15) and Vice-President Dariush Yazdanpanah (’15) to discuss topics including past failings, StuCo’s public perception, and the future Describe the other uaing a quote or a metaphor.

Celia Mitchell (CM): Daz is: “Strong as rock, but not as strong as ice. Cannot be cracked.”

Dariush Yazdanpanah (DY): Celia is epitomized by the quote: “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”

What inspires you in this job?

CM: I’ve been on Student Council (StuCo) for three years now, and I think something that can get lost along the way that inspires me to want to be a huge part of StuCo are the changes that we can actually implement and the power we are actually given. We are truly this group that can motivate, facilitate change, and inspire others in our High School.

What don’t you know? What scares you?

DY: What scares me is receiving criticism from the student body. We need to make sure we are perceived in the correct way by everyone. I don’t want people to be negative or to think that we can’t handle our roles.

CM: Or that StuCo doesn’t do anything. There’s nothing worse than your beliefs and your desires for everything this could be to just kind of waste away or never fully be seen. I think there’s always the unknown in terms of the limit of what we can and should do.

Where did the council fail last year?

CM: I think we failed in, or need to improve in, maintaining that connection with the student body because often there’s an image of StuCo that the students don’t necessarily want to be that involved in what we do. To have that connection in which students are happy to come up and tell us what they would love to have changed and to fully foster that community spirit is something we can always work on. There are more things to do than just have two events and I think that’s where we can push ourselves next year.

DY: It’s still frustrating for me to be asked the same question: ‘What exactly does StuCo do?’

We’re not taken seriously enough; that’s a main failure of ours at the moment. We aren’t appreciated enough. It’s not about blaming that perception on someone, but I think sometimes the way we come across in front of the school doesn’t reflect the hard work we put in.

How do you think the average ASL student would describe StuCo and the work it does?

DY: I think the average ASL student would say: ‘StuCo just plans events.’ They wouldn’t really know about the initiatives we do to improve ASL. They would think of us as a party planner.

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Drinking

Photo by Jessica Haghani In a year’s time, how do you hope the average ASL student would describe StuCo and the work it does?

DY: Reliable. Most importantly, that we get the things they want done.

CM: Useful. People in the past, such as The Standard, have questioned the usefulness of StuCo and whether or not we are a necessity in the High School. We want to exhibit to the student body that it is important to have that group that ties everyone together and works to keep that community together.

Do you believe that StuCo is granted enough power by the administration?

CM: I do. I think that [Principal Jack] Phillips and [Dean of Students Joe] Chodl have been extremely welcoming and are two parts of the administration that have always wanted to be involved and support us in our endeavors. We are always the ones that the administration looks to first; for example, with the interviews for applicants for the Director of Student Life. The power that we are given and the capabilities that we have are extremely immense and we need to take advantage of that. What the students want is what we push for, and [the administrators] always accept.

What are your thoughts on the StuCo officer election process?

CM: For years, the argument has been that for officer positions the student body doesn’t necessarily know the work that each representative does within the council and therefore it’s better for the council to simply vote on who earns those roles. Then, of course, the counter-argument is that representatives who are potential candidates should be able to present their work to the High School and be recognized by their peers and not just by their grade representatives. The first argument is the safer one. The presidential elections this year were extremely close, and it’s daunting to think that the 400-or-so kids in the High School could decide that, but we are always open to opinions of the student body and if that’s what they think is best, we could take that into consideration.

DY: I don’t think the voting process should be turned into a popularity contest. That’s the big risk when you open it up to the High School student body.

What’s most different about this year’s StuCo team from last year’s?

DY: The spirit within the council is much better. Last year, it took us a very long time to really gel and become one, but this time, we all get along very well and are pretty much all friends in there. Meetings are a very nice place to be.

What does your dream StuCo look like?

DY: My dream StuCo is a group of highly motivated students who are efficient and have ideas and the ability to execute them. The ability to execute is something we have had a problem with in previous years. There have been very good ideas but not people who could see them through. We want to be a group who has solutions to the problems that students bring to us.

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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Page 13

The Mellon Library:

Features

A wealth of unread books Staff Writer Lorenzo Maglione investigates the evolution of the Mellon Library as a result of technological integration

L

ibraries have always played a central role in society as symbols of culture and learning. The burning of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt in 48 B.C. which was known to be one of the largest and most significant libraries in the world, is considered a tragedy because of the colossal amount of knowledge lost when it was destroyed.

In the age of the internet, the centrality of the school library appears to be rapidly changing. The Mellon Library represents a key resource for students, hosting a collection of 35,000 books; by the standards of most schools, ASL boasts a world-class library.

But are these library resources being used? Mellon Library records show a substantial decline in annual book checkouts over the past 20 years. From 1973 to 1981, students were checking out 26,686 books a year on average. In 1981, when book checkouts reached their peak, students checked out a total of 33,950 books.

In recent years, annual book checkouts have declined dramatically, especially in the High School, where book checkouts are currently at less than 1,000 a year. In fact, audio visual equipment, including chargers, headphones, iPads and calculators, are being checked out at almost three times the rate of books. However these ASL statistics are merely a microcosm of similar trends that have been reported on a much larger scale.

According to a study by Library Public News, book checkouts at libraries across

the U.K. are down more than 50 percent from levels 15 years ago. In 2012 alone more than 200 libraries were forced to shut down due to lack of business.

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Roberto D’Erizans believes that most of today’s research has moved online, explaining the decrease of book check outs. “I think the function of the library is going to change. Librarians are going to be crucial people in helping us to learn how to value and access that online information, and how to determine the best sources,” he said.

On the other hand, Librarian Joan DyerWestacott sees the possible negatives of a library moving more online. “Maybe you don’t spend as much time thinking about what you need and getting a lot of varied opinions, because it’s so easy to find exactly what you’re looking for,” she said.

Dyer-Westacott also believes that students may not go into great depth when doing research if they only rely on online databases.

D’Erizans notes that when students Google search a topic, the top five links that appear aren’t necessarily the best links related to their research. Those links are simply the ones that have been paid for the most by advertising companies. “It’s a problem because you’re not necessarily going to get the best research out there you’re going to get slanted information,” he said.

Although the library has attempted to promote reading amongst High School students, so far their efforts have not produced results. In a survey of 115 High School students, more than 90 percent said that they

never check out books. “We don’t have time to come into class to promote reading,” Head Librarian Karen Field said. “In the past we’ve tried to have book talks during class meetings, but often those meetings are so busy that we never have any time.”

Field now faces the discouraging dilemma of determining if books should be bought even if they’re not being read. “We still do buy the award-winning High School books, and kids just aren’t reading them,” she said.

“So the question is, do you consider buying it even though no one is checking it out? It’s hard to spend money on something that just sits there.”

Because almost everything that is printed can now be found online, the role of the Library seems to be changing, as many students use the library solely as a workspace rather than taking advantage of the extensive resources that can be found there. Of the students surveyed, 70 percent use the library space to work more than once a week.

So, is the Mellon Library being reduced to a comfortable workplace with rows of books only there for decor?

For those who believe these developments are a cause for concern, there is some good news. Mellon Library records show that Middle School annual book checkouts have been increasing over the past seven years, perhaps because of initiatives like a recent middle school reading competition. In fact, Field believes that nine-year-olds are reading at a higher level than they’ve ever read in the U.S., and this is certainly consistent with the recent trends at ASL.

By the Numbers: In 1981, when book checkouts reached their peak, students checked out a total of 33,950 books in the Mellon Library

Book checkouts in the High School are currently at less than 1,000 a year in the Mellon Library Audiovisual equipment, including chargers, headphones, iPads and calculators, are being checked out at almost three times the rate of books.

Photo by maya jotwani

Departing Advice Part 1: The Standard’s seniors give advice regarding the college process

1.

BE YOURSELF

Clayton Marsh (’14): Be genuine. Don’t try to be someone or something you’re not in your applications; try to give your application reader as true and honest an image of yourself as possible. On a more practical note, taking full-length, 3-hour SAT practice tests on the weekends helps an incredible amount.

Doing a couple sections per sitting doesn’t work. Also, starting your essays in August, as well as finding people to read your essays who aren’t your college counselors whether they be parents, siblings, friends, or professionals is essential.

YOUR OWN 2. MAKE DECISIONS Fares Chehabi ('14): Do not let your course of action be altered by the choices of others.

Seventy seven percent of the current senior class applied early, and I was one of the 23 percent who only applied regular decision. I made this choice to take more time to work on my Common Application and improve my SAT scores, which was especially important as the colleges that are applied to early generally hold SAT scores in higher regard. I am yet to identify a top choice after applying to nearly 20 schools, but the idea of putting all of my options on the table on April 1 and taking things from there relaxes me. I never had one “dream school” in mind.

END JUSTIFies 3.THE THE MEANS Kate Kennedy ('14): Be aware that while this is an incredibly exciting process and that everyone will end up in great places for them, either you, or one of your friends, will get rejected at some point. Always remember both of these things: Everything will work out and the end will justify the means, and also that whether you’re devastated or ecstatic, you are surrounded by people who are feeling the exact same things and you should be conscious of them.

4.

don't overcomplicate

Hamish Stephenson ('14): Be simple. Be bold. Be effective.

Statistics from the Mellon Library

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Third Culture

Kids

Features Editor Zack Longboy and Assistant Features Editor Tyler Skow examine the difficulty for several ASL students to define home

ill Sayre (’17) leaned back in his chair, squinting his eyes as he struggled to answer a question that would roll off the tongue for most of his friends: “Where is home?” He pondered, looking at the ground. “Well,” Sayre finally explained, “I was born in Mexico, then moved to Chile, then moved to Peru, then moved to Costa Rica, then moved to Japan and now I’m in London, but when you look at me, I’m American. I don’t look like I’m from any of those places.” For people like Sayre, feeling a strong sense of belonging to one place is difficult. At an international school, with people commuting and moving all the time, it is tough for many students to identify one place to call “home.”

Some students have noticed the development of certain social barriers with constant movement.

photo by maya jotwani

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

T

he term “Third Culture Kid” was coined in the 1950s to describe children who were raised by their parents in a foreign society.

This term can also be used to describe a substantial population of international students. These students are often caught in a gray area, struggling to identify a definitive place as home.

Sayre’s explanation of home is “a place I go during summers and winters, and where my family lives.” He is amongst a population of people who appear as if they grew up in one culture, but live in another, and for him, this has often presented challenges. “People who move around a lot are not used to a set of cultural rules,” he said.

Sayre both experiences and observes the fact that sometimes it is difficult to be accepted by a culture when you are used to different norms.. “When I would go back to

•••

While living in Peru, Katja Kukielski (’15), who has also lived in the U.S., Canada, and now the U.K, experienced similar problems.

“I don’t think I ever felt Peruvian, I mean I was only there for a year. I was very isolated,” she said. Kukielski also believes that being so used to an American lifestyle prevented her from immersing herself into the Peruvian culture.

Many students have identified that home can be especially hard to place at ASL. Jack DeNoma (’16), was born in Kentucky and has since lived in Singapore, Taiwan, Pennsylvania and now the U.K. However, DeNoma does not view London as his home because of the environment he is immersed in at ASL. “I don’t view it as a home because many of the people here aren’t from London, they are [expatriates] and people who have moved around a lot,” he said.

Similarly, Sayre believes that the frequent

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her life, and have made her feel more at home in the various places she has lived. “Being in your comfort zone makes you feel at home,” she said. “For me, it’s definitely sports and especially soccer, that have helped to make me feel more comfortable.”

Making connections has been a large part of Dibble’s movement from country to country: creating friendships add to her definition of home. “Home is wherever my friends and family are. I was born in [Washington] D.C. so I consider that a home, but I have friends in Rome and London so they are homes for me as well,” she said.

Kukielski agreed that creating relationships is a defining factor that shapes the places she considers home. One such place for Kukielski is her summer camp, mainly because of the friends she has there. “I feel equally as comfortable and equally as safe and at home [at camp] as I do here,” she said.

I’m moving here for one year so I don’t care what people think of me, I don’t care if I make friends,’” she said. “You’re setting yourself up for failure.” Oliver is a strong proponent of “making connections” to help avoid this attitude.

As highlighted by Dibble and Oliver, it is connections that often act as home for those who live in ambiguity. Although having a clear definition of home is not seen as that important by Advaney, she believes in living in the moment and embracing the situation at hand. However, she also acknowledged that some can struggle with their identity.

“I think a lot of people associate their home with their identity and you can be lost as a person if you don’t know where your home is,” she said.

Kukielski, who has tri-citizenship from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., was just 2-years-old when she moved from the U.S to

When I would go back to America [after living in Japan], I remember I would bow when I bought gum at Target.

Will sayre (’17) America [after living in Japan] I remember I would bow when I [bought] gum at Target,” he added.

As well as creating a cultural identity crisis, moving from place to place can lead to social differences and isolation. Tara Advaney (’15), who has lived in France, Holland and the U.K., has experienced this isolation. “In [the U.S.] people always say, ‘Your accent is so European,’ but when I’m here people ask, ‘Why is your accent so American?” she said.

Advaney has also noticed certain social barriers created by her constant movement. “If you stay in one environment for a long time, you really get to know the people around you, get closer to [the] environment and to being your true self,” she said. “But because I have moved, and been [immersed] in different people often, I can’t show my real self because that would be too time-consuming or difficult.”

Caroline Dibble (’16) has lived in four different countries and has attended eight different schools.

Will Sayre (’17) has lived in six countries and holds passports from the U.S. and Mexico.

Katja Kukielski (’15) has lived in four countries and holds passports from the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

movement of ASL students is fosters a different attitude. “I feel people who move around see the world in a different way,” he said. “I want to learn as much as I can, but I don’t feel I am as big a part of the ASL community.”

Counselor Stephanie Oliver underlines frequent movement as a problem in our community. “I think we could do a better job of really creating an inclusive community so that people feel very welcome,” she said. In comparison to other international schools, Oliver has learned from students that ASL has “more of a barrier” which makes it more difficult for new students to become integrated into the community.

For some students, like Caroline Dibble (’16), whose parent’s job has taken her across the globe, there are key factors that help new students assimilate into a community. For Dibble, who has lived in the U.S., Italy, Syria and the U.K., sports have been a constant in

When Kukielski moves to a new place it does not feel like home until she makes friends. “I didn’t consider [camp] my home, but when you make friends you become closer with those friends than you do with your friends from the other place,” she said.

However, if students struggle to find their niche and to feel more comfortable in a new environment, it can be disorienting. “If someone can’t identify a sense of community then I think it can leave a hole in them,” Oliver said. “But that does not mean that a person who travels around a lot can’t feel complete in a new community or can’t feel like a past community is [their home].”

Oliver believes one of the most harmful situations for someone’s identity is when they relocate, knowing they will only live in the new country for one year, before moving on again. “If you know you’re only going to be there for a year, you can say, ‘Well,

Peru. A year later she moved to Canada where she spent her early childhood. Although inwardly confused about which nation to call her home, Kukielski adamantly defined herself as an American to her Canadian friends.

“I didn’t know that much about America and I had barely lived there, but I just thought it was cool to be from somewhere else,” she said. “I would always just be like no, I’m American, I don’t need to sing this national anthem, I’m not from here.”

However, after seven years in Canada, Kukielski moved to the U.K. where she has been ever since. In London, her definition of home changed yet again, leaving her in a state of confusion that has continued to plague her and many other third culture kids. “Initially I was really adamant that I was Canadian just because everyone here was American,” she said. “But now I don’t really know. I am sort of in the middle.”

asdasdasd

Alcohol and the

MINA OMAR | Lead Features Editor • Charlotte Young | News Editor

Photo by Hamish stephenson

*Editor’s note: Names have been changed in order to protect students in this article who wish to remain anonymous.

Jeremy* (’16) was not having a good week.

The combination of an increased workload and grueling rugby tryouts had left him both high-strung and exhausted. Physically and emotionally drained, he was looking forward to the weekend more than ever.

He arrived at a party on a Friday, like many other students, looking to relieve the burden of stress he had been carrying throughout the week. He started off with one drink. Then one become two, and two became three – he continued to drink throughout the night, eventually losing track of how much alcohol he had consumed. “I just kept going,” Jeremy said. “I didn’t really think of stopping, and nobody told me to stop.”

Unfortunately, Jeremy’s actions resulted in a trip to the emergency room. He remembers people calling his name and then waking up in the hospital. Although his memory of the night is vague, Jeremy clearly remembers how

a partner she had not known intimately. “I just kind of wished that I had thought through [my actions] more and I think the reason I didn’t [think them through] was because I was drinking,” she said.

Ski trip, a senior class tradition, is known for the large amount of alcohol consumed during its duration. The week-long escape to Austria provides second semester seniors with an adult-free environment and a chance to relax after completing the college application process. Although regarded as a bonding experience for the class, it is a week during which many students make mistakes similar to the ones made by Violet and Jeremy.

Betty* (’14) went into the week with an attitude similar to that of many of her classmates.

“It was an opportunity to have complete freedom for an entire week,” she said. “In my chalet we started drinking at 8 in the morning and we would keep drinking until 8 at night.”

Whilst on the trip, Betty found herself getting swept up and made decisions she would not have otherwise made. One night in particular stands out in her mind. She, while under the influence, decided to have intercourse

themselves when alcohol is involved. Oliver is well aware of the things that have the potential to go wrong at a party and thinks that some mistakes made while under the influence cannot be erased. “I think rape happens, sexual harassment happens, and people get sick.

Sometimes the consequences follow people around,” she said. “Sometimes these things stay with you forever.”

Jeremy agrees with Oliver’s sentiments and said that his hospitalization has radically changed the way he views alcohol. He especially regrets the way that the decisions he made impacted his mother. “It must have been so hard for her not knowing what was going to happen to me,” he said. “I drink very little now.

I’m just not really into it anymore.”

Taking into consideration the prevalence of students consumption of alcohol in the high school, the mandatory health class that is taken for most during sophomore year focuses heavily on the negative effects of drinking from an early age. For the past five years, Prevention Specialist Brenda Conlan has spoken to High School students about the effects of alcohol and other drugs by sharing her own

for her to attain due to being on prescription medication. “Prescription drugs, especially the type that I’m on, if you take alcohol with them, you are much more out of control than you would be if you weren’t on the medication,” she said. “Being on medication and drinking is a completely different thing than what would happen from just drinking.”

While Daisy only stopped binge-drinking alcohol a few months ago, she believes that all of her experiences with alcohol produced negative results. One instance in which Daisy regretted her actions when under the influence was when a video circulated of her kissing another girl, who was also inebriated. “The first thing that I heard the next morning was from one of my closest friends, and he said, ‘Your reputation is ruined’,” she said. “When I found it was caught on camera, it made me feel horrible because I knew I would be judged, but most of all I was afraid that people who I cared about would think differently of me.”

Looking back, Conlan wishes she had chosen to abstain and partly accredits her troubled relationship with alcohol to how early she started drinking. Part of her message

Sometimes the consequences follow people around. Sometimes these things stay with you forever.

Stephanie Oliver, Counselor worried his mother was. “She got really scared because she had no idea what was happening to me,” he said. “Before the party, everything was normal. We were eating dinner together and then a few hours later I was in the hospital. It must have been really tough on her.”

Jeremy’s negative experience with alcohol, although extreme, is not irregular amongst the student body. A majority of students in the High School have experienced the downsides of alcohol or know someone who has. A poll of 100 High School students found that 91 percent of students know someone who has vomited because of alcohol consumption and 18 percent of students polled have vomited themselves.

Violet* (’14), can relate to Jeremy’s negative experience with alcohol as it has caused her to make choices she now regrets. In this past year, Violet had sex with a fellow classmate at a party, a decision she does not think she would have made had she been sober. “I didn’t really know him that well to go that far with him and afterwards it was just weird,” she said. “I usually don’t go that far so quickly.

I had only hooked up with him once before so we weren’t experienced together.”

After the party, Violet realized she had made a mistake and regretted having sex with

with a male student at her chalet. “It wouldn’t have happened if we had been in London,” she said. “Everything was just too easy on ski trip.

We had too much freedom. There weren’t any consequences for our actions.”

Sexual behavior taking place at parties or while drunk is commonplace in High School.

In fact, 90 percent of students polled believe that sexual activity is more likely to occur when alcohol is involved.

Counselor Stephanie Oliver believes that people tend to make bad sexual decisions when they drink, regardless of what age they are. “When people’s inhibitions are down, it makes them more confident,” she said. “I don’t know if most sexual acts in high school occur with alcohol, but I would not be surprised if it were true. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case for everybody in the world, not just high schoolers.”

Oliver, rather than telling students what to do, tries to provide them with information on how alcohol harms the human body. “I help students process how much of their decision was influenced by drinking and about the way alcohol and drugs metabolize in the body,” she said.

She does, however, believe that students should be careful with how they conduct

personal battles with addiction at an early age.

As a result of her father’s alcoholism, alcohol has been ever-present in Conlan’s life.

She, as well as four of her siblings, ended up abusing both drugs and alcohol while still in high school. “[Alcohol] shipwrecked my adolescence, I didn’t finish high school,” she said.

“It made going to college very difficult and unlikely, but I did it. I started college when I was 21. I had to take a year of classes for no credit, and then I matriculated when I was 22.”

Conlan first experimented with alcohol when she was 12 years old. She was at a friend’s house when her friend’s older sister brought the two young girls a case of beer. “It was about 15 times what we needed,” she said. “I just remember feeling giddy and my skin feeling warm and relaxed. We were laughing and just having a wild, funny night.”

Daisy* (’16) also began experimenting with alcohol when she was 12. Since Daisy started abusing alcohol at a young age, she initially kept it a secret from her peers. However, when she first started drinking she did not drink because she liked the taste of alcohol. “I wouldn’t just consume it because I liked the taste of wine or vodka, I would consume it for the specific reason that I wanted to feel different,” she said.

For Daisy, feeling different was an easy high

to the students she speaks with in the High School is to drink carefully and to delay drinking regularly for as long as possible. “A person in high school hasn’t completed all of the emotional tasks of adolescence and if a person starts drinking when they’re young, they may not learn how to socialize, problem solve, or be comfortable without alcohol in the future,” she said. “My message on alcohol is one of postponement.”

Daisy agrees with Conlan on the negative effects of drinking in high school. “In no way is alcohol meant to be abused. If I had known how I would treat alcohol these past few years I would have never started drinking... Being a teenager isn’t always about pushing limits.

One should feel safe and know what scares them. That’s why we have fear, to keep us in check,” she said.

Students experiencing difficulties regarding either alcohol or sexual abuse are encouraged to reach out to a member of the ASL staff, such as Counselor Stephanie Oliver or a faculty member whom they trust.

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

ADegrading

Culture

Sports Editor James Malin and Opinions Editor Ian Scoville explore students’ struggles with derogatory language in the High School *Editor’s note: The following article contains derogatory language; reader discretion is advised.

Maalik Mbatch (’14) was sitting in the music studio with a few friends, hanging out: “They were joking around and rapping, and I was of course the only black guy in the studio. Then one guy goes, ‘He knows what he’s doing, just look at the color of his skin.’ It just blew me away,” Mbatch said.

Mbatch’s experience is not a unique one at ASL; it is not a rarity for students belonging to minority races to be subjected to racial abuse. To Mbatch, the term “casual racism” can be defined as: “References to stereotypes in conversation. People associating you with something much bigger than yourself.” And it is important to be clear that racism – or the explicit action of saying something and intending to cause offense based on someone’s race – is difficult to be truly “casual;” it is the setting and the friendly intention that sets casual racism and racism apart.

This is not a problem that is limited to ASL students, or for that matter, the greater London community. In a recent Time article, it was revealed that 10,000 racial slurs are tweeted each day. The problem of casual racism is truly one of a global scale.

Casual racism is not limited to social media, though. According to an Associated Press (AP) poll conducted in 2012, 51 percent of Americans have racist tendencies, this number having risen 3 percent from a similar poll conducted in 2008.

The casually racist culture at ASL typically manifests itself in the form of a joke, in relaxed, non-malicious conversations between friends. An ASL junior deems casual racism acceptable if it’s used in the right context. “I’m [casually] racist all the time. I don’t actually hate all black people. I don’t actually think all black people should leave America. It’s kind of a conversation lubricant,” he said.

This junior identifies the presence of malice and genuine hatred as the

distinction between what is OK and what isn’t. “It’s not OK to hate people just because they have black skin or dark skin or something like that … It’s OK to hate people if they murder people [or] steal things,” he said.

Luke Bandeen (’17) uses racist jokes, but solely when referencing his own stereotypes in a humorous manner. “I feel like I’m not naturally that funny of a person so sometimes I try to compensate for that with racist jokes,” he said.

Bandeen is quarter-Chinese, quarter-Korean and half-Canadian, and he often makes himself the subject of his own jokes. To Bandeen, this is OK. “Sometimes I’ll be like, ‘I know everything, I’m Asian.’ I say it in the sense where everybody knows that I’m joking so no one will take offense to it,” he said.

Irrespective of the intention, it is agreed amongst students that casual racism is prevalent within the High School. Mbatch experiences casual racism on a “daily basis”. He is subjected to stereotypes based on things he cannot control – primarily his skin color. “I think people have taken it to a point where they’ve made assumptions based on the color of my skin. I’ve been associated with drugs, I smoke, clearly I drink because of the culture I come from,” he said. “People just assume that of me, people assume I know people who do all sorts of [illicit] things. True or not they will assume that of me.”

MD Shelton (’15), a former black student, had a similar experience to Mbatch during his time at ASL. Shelton attended the school from Grade 5 until the completion of his freshman year. Throughout his time at ASL he, like Mbatch, experienced racism on a daily basis. “[While at ASL I was called] ‘coon’, ‘nigger’, ‘nigga’,” he said.

“I don’t know how many times someone would say ‘nigga’ and then try to justify by saying ‘well I didn’t say ‘er’, I said ‘a’ which makes it OK’.”

While the notion that casual racism is an issue within the student body is commonplace, there is no Student Faculty Disciplinary Board (SFDB)

precedent relating to racism, according to faculty advisor to the SFDB and English Teacher Peggy Elhadj: “Ninetynine percent of our cases are issues of academic integrity. We’ve never had a case of or relating to racism,” she said.

Principal Jack Phillips believes that despite the lack of an SFDB precedent, casual racism is an issue that the school has to combat. “Remember, [if ] things go to SFDB, that means that they got caught,” he said.

Jack Roberts (’15) reaffirms Phillips’ point that there does not necessarily have to be an SFDB precedent for there to be a problem. He cites students’ recognition that casual racism is an inappropriate thing to do, therefore that they are careful when and where they use potentially inflammatory language. “If you’re dumb enough to say it in front of somebody who would care and would inform the administration or a teacher, then you should be punished for it,” he said.

Phillips hopes that there will be improvement with regards to the casual racism problem at the school. “I am already engaged in brainstorming with faculty and will begin with students, and even parents, thinking about how we make this environment even more inclusive and more supportive and safer. And not just in terms of racism but in other ways too that erode the community,” he said.

Phillips’ ideas are not uncommon amongst the community. Members of the Unity in Diversity club, a group that seeks to improve how the school handles diversity, also believes that the first step in addressing racism involves changing the community – albeit in a different manner.

Alec Ashley (’15), Head of the Unity in Diversity club, agrees that ASL’s lack of diversity contributes to the problem. “The amount of casual racism in the community is based on how the community values diversity. If it’s considered racist, then people won’t say it because ASL likes to maintain its political correctness,” he said. “When you don’t have to worry about being racist because there’s no one of a different race to you in a room, then you’re

able to say it and have it just be casual conversation.”

Angie Kukielski (’15), a member of the Unity in Diversity club, sees increasing ASL’s diversity as the best solution to the problem. To Kukielski, it seems “[ASL has] more black cleaning staff than we have [black] High School teachers.” Accurate or not, this perception is indicative of the problem the club is trying to combat: A distinct lack of racial diversity. Similar to Ashley, Kukielski feels that the casually racist culture can be partially ascribed to the lack of diversity within the school, “I think ASL isn’t diverse and it is not appreciative of the value of diversity … It’s definitely one of our [Unity in Diversity’s] goals to change how the community views diversity and micro-aggressions,” she said.

Shelton also agrees with this sentiment. “The presence of more African Americans, or just black people in general, would call for a better treatment of that race. But because of the lack thereof, in terms of population, it’s a much harder thing to be cognizant of,” he said.

Mbatch believes that due to the lack of diversity, racist jokes are more personally offensive, to the point where he feels that retaliation could potentially be warranted. However, he values the opportunities afforded to him by ASL more than any satisfaction that could be gained by retaliating. “None of the actions that I would’ve taken prior to coming to ASL, violent or nonviolent, would have been worth losing the opportunities that I have now so sometimes I just have to walk away,” he said.

“Being on the SFDB is so important, tutoring kids is so important, teaching foundations is so important to me and it has taken me so many different places.”

Despite his continued ability to abstain from retaliating, Mbatch harbors deep resentment towards students’ casually racist ways. “I don’t laugh, it’s not funny. I can’t sit there and giggle with everyone else like it’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard,” he said.

While racism is most severe towards black students, other forms of

derogatory language – whether that be racism towards other groups or anti-semitic language – are present in the school. Adam Koren (’14), a Jewish student and co-president of Middle East club, thinks anti-semitic language is present, though not a severe issue. “The types of jokes you hear at ASL are really dark stereotypical jokes about the Holocaust, about Jews being known as greedy and stuff like that. I don’t think it’s a problem within ASL, the only times I’ve heard the jokes are really rare, I do think that the word ‘Jew’ is used a lot [in a derogatory manner],” he said.

Tamara Masri (’15), a female student of Arab heritage, has both experienced and heard offensive comments be made about her culture, “‘Keep your woman in the house,’ I’ve heard said to my brother about me. Or ‘what are you doing? You’re an Arab man, you shouldn’t let her talk to boys,’” she said.

What is apparent though, to perpetrators, victims, and sources of potential resolution, is that an attitude of derogatory and offensive comments is present within the school.

Phillips is saddened by the prevalence of casual racism – and other forms of derogatory language – within the school, but he offers a message of support to those afflicted by this culture. “Students need to know if they hear it or if they’re saying it, or if they’re on the receiving end of it, that it’s not OK. We don’t condone this, and they should feel comfortable talking with us about it, identifying it, writing articles about this, we need to bring this to the forefront of our community dialogue,” he said. “It is the only way we’re going to get at it. So support is the message I would give to those students. We support you. I support you,” In the future, Phillips plans to redouble the administration’s efforts to further diversify the school, in the belief that this will help tackle the current problem of casual racism. “If we can humanize each other, we intrinsically value one another, that is the foundational work that allows us to address racism or intolerance of any kind.”

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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Maalik Mbatch (’14)

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Lighting up the scene

Photo by Hamish Stephenson

In the April 2011 issue of The Standard, it was suggested that marijuana usage is neither prevalent nor talked about in the ASL community.

However, in a recent survey sent out to the student body, approximately 34 percent of the 125 students surveyed have consumed marijuana, and a further 15 percent would have if they had the opportunity to.

Assistant Culture Editor Nadia Sawiris and Staff Writer Claudia Costa look into the rising prevalence of marijuana usage at ASL

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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Features

Photo by Jessica haghani

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ody* (’14) and a group of his friends sat indoors, eating pizza and smoking a joint, the distinct smell of marijuana fumes trapped within the closed doors. Cody began smoking during his freshman year after being pressured into it by his friends. Nowadays, he said that he smokes marijuana because it is pleasurable and “it makes you feel good.”

With the recent legalization of the recreational consumption of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, usage of the drug has become more accepted and is beginning to be considered normal. In addition, 21 states, since 1996, starting with California, have passed laws legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana to treat illnesses.

As society progresses, a previously illegal substance has become not only accepted, but sold by the government such as in the states of Colorado and Washington. The sale of marijuana is also lucrative. Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper told the Denver Post that he estimated a revenue of around $1 billion from the sale of both medicinal and recreational marijuana for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Over the past few years, the use of marijuana both within the student body and in the United States has drastically increased. The White House reported that the number of consumers from 2007 to 2011 increased from 14.4 million to 18.1 million; In the April 2011 issue of The Standard, it was emphasized that marijuana usage isn’t as prevalent or talked about in the ASL community as it is in the U.S. Yet, in a recent survey sent out to the student body, around 34 percent of the 125 students have tried it and a further 15 percent would have if they had the opportunity to, which suggests an increase in its use.

The controversial topic of marijuana legalization brings out strong opinions within the student body. Over half of the students surveyed support the legalization of the substance, while 21.6 percent believe that it should not be legalized. Nate* (’16) supports the decriminalization of the drug. “The good thing about legalization is that

you will have less people going in for a stupid crime. It’s ridiculous to just throw someone in jail for that,” he said.

However, he is fearful that its legalization would result in the industry emulating the tobacco industry, “I’m worried that if they legalize it, it will turn closer to the tobacco industry,” he said.

As a regular smoker, he spends on average £40 a week on marijuana, which raises concerns for him. He worries that legalization would result in the drug being highly taxed.

The fear that the marijuana industry would mimick the tobacco business is a common one in some. Adriana* (’16) agrees with the drawbacks that come with legalization. “I do not think that marijuana should be legalized because, like the tobacco trade, if marijuana

way that I could relieve some stress and up my mood,” she said. Although she no longer smokes regularly, she once felt as though she was wasting her time if she was not high.

Nate believes that he suffers from anxiety, so he uses marijuana as an instrument of relief. “It makes me a better person. It kind of helps calm me down because I’m usually really anxious but it helps me at that. I can just deal with everything as it comes, as opposed to being worried about what’s going to happen next,” he said.

Marijuana, though often seen as benign, can harm the brain with longterm effects. The use of marijuana retards cerebral growth when used during adolescence. This damages memory ability and performance on

himself in his schoolwork.. “If I were to write something creative for like English I would probably do it high,” Nate said, as these assessments require more creative thinking.

Cody said that if he were to do math homework or something as definitive, he would not do it under the influence of marijuana. However, some people do work high, but only in certain subjects like arts or creative writing. “It helps you relax and be creative,” he added.

Marijuana use is also related to the concept of fitting in within certain niches of the student body. Grayson* (’15) said that “the two main reasons why people smoke are to look cool and to fit in.” The use of marijuana as a social lubricant causes problems like

“[Marijuana] makes me a better person. It kind of helps calm me down because I’m usually really anxious but it helps me at that. I can just deal with everything as it comes” Nate (’16) were legalized then it would be manufactured with all these chemicals and it would be less about the quality of the substance and more about the number of blunts,” she said.

Although the vast majority of students use marijuana for recreational purposes, some students illegally use it to enhance their mental health. The drug is considered to be a temporary remedy for depression, anxiety, and other similar mental disorders.

In the U.K., marijuana is medically legal under the form of Sativex if prescribed by a doctor, and also under the form of the synthetic cannabinoid Nabilone. Patients are treated with Sativex if they suffer from nausea and vomiting caused by special chemotherapies, and Nabilone, marketed as Cesamet, is mainly used for the same issue.

Adriana, a student diagnosed with chronic depression, illegally self-medicates with marijuana every week as it is the only way she can be content. “I used to be very stressed out and I was very unhappy. I felt like this was the only

tasks. According to Time Magazine, teens who smoked have abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory – an anticipation of weak academic performance and impaired everyday functioning – which leads to them performing poorly on memory-related tasks.

Counselor Stephanie Oliver said that she has seen students, not necessarily at ASL, who suffered from depression and anxiety self-medicating with marijuana as a way to relieve symptoms.

Oliver’s biggest concern is the damaging mental health aspect. She focuses on the safety of the student body along with whoever else is in possession of or uses the class B drug. “My concern with drugs and alcohol is always is it going to cause harm to somebody… The thing I’m most concerned about is that [the consumers] aren’t causing harm to themselves or putting other people at risk,” she said.

Nate believes that smoking marijuana helps him further immerse

exclusion and is a reason for some to partake in its consumption.

It often happens that a group of students hang out purely to smoke, and if someone does not smoke they are bound to feel excluded. Cody, who has been a regular smoker for his four years of High School, agrees with the sentiment that if someone is not smoking marijuana, they may feel excluded.

A personal anecdote of his is a weekly gathering at a friend’s house where the sole purpose is smoking.

The desire to fit in can often be dangerous and lead to eventual peer pressure into this habit. Out of the 125 who were surveyed, around 23 percent said that they started smoking marijuana because of peer pressure.

Some people have joined friend groups that are entirely smoke-free to shy away from the marijuana culture at ASL. Richard* (’15) is against smoking marijuana and surrounds himself with close friends that share the same opinions on the use of the substance: “I wouldn’t feel excluded, as my close

friends don’t smoke,” he said.

Others simply believe that they would not gain anything from the experience. Chace (’14), said “I wouldn’t really benefit from trying it so I haven’t even thought about it.”

However Chace feels that, over time, there has been a shift in the social dynamic around the consumption of marijuana. “As a junior I did feel excluded when I was [the only one not smoking] because sometimes my friends gathered just to smoke, but now I’m just comfortable just being there without having to smoke.”

His friends respect his choice to abstain from smoking due to the negative effects associated with marijuana.

“I don’t want to lose control of myself, that’s one thing I don’t want, to lose my senses and to not have control over how I feel and my actions is not something I want to do,” he admitted.

However, when it comes to knowing their limits, students are usually disciplined. Few students choose to smoke on weekdays and others temporarily quit their smoking habits due to involvement in a sport team.

Marijuana, whether legal or not, has been present for decades in communities, including ASL’s. The drug has notoriously and tenaciously entrenched itself in a position where its consumption is neither conspicuous nor scorned at public events, like high school house parties. But whether it will keep this reputation – one of an undisturbed yet present drug – in the ASL community is left to speculation, as governments across the world start recognizing not only its medical capacities but the idea that it is not as detrimental as some would think.

It is impossible to speculate where, or if, marijuana will next be legalized and welcomed by communities; all that can be taken away from recent shifts in social trends is that whatever happens, marijuana will be at the forefront of a long, global legalization controversy. *Editor’s note: Names have been changed in order to protect students in this article who wish to remain anonymous.

Culture •••

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Arts I

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Culture Editor Kate Kennedy analyzes the contrasting role of arts and sports in the student body

lthough these three elements, of education, academics, arts, and athletics, are all very visible in the form of spirit assemblies, ceramics classes, or seemingly ubiquitous assessments, they vary in the way

Students often have to choose between devoting their time to arts or athletics as they juggle their commitments.

PHOTO BY JESSICA HAGHANI

Oscars debrief Corrupt media iPhones

sports

n October 2013, The Atlantic published an article damning the American high school system’s emphasis on sports, highlighting the amount of time, money, energy, and value that is taken away from other pursuits, namely academic ones, and funneled into the football team. It advocates the divorce of sports from school, claiming that test scores will go up and students would no longer feel pressured to organize their entire life around an extracurricular activity that interests some but not others.

This article calls into question the foundations of the typical American high school and therefore the holistic education that ASL emulates, promising in its mission statement “an outstanding American education.”

It is hard to deny the prevalence of sports at ASL when the project to create a new weight room and swimming pool is underway, assemblies are hosted celebrating our athletes, games are attended, and formally dressed students preparing for competition walk the halls. At the same time, however, as athletics pervades the school, the halls are covered in student artwork and the new building will house new facilities for arts.

It is clear that the holistic American education that ASL offers balances not only academics, but also athletics and arts. Principal Jack Phillips believes that the arts and athletics are integral to our model of schooling. “They are essential parts of what an American education is, in terms of a recognition that school isn’t just the cognitive elements,” he said.

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they are valued, their goals, and their benefits. The role of sports and arts in particular is very divergent; one a collaborative extracurricular endeavor, the other a more individual activity that is scheduled into the school day.

These two differences alone deeply affect the way that these two activities are perceived. Varsity field hockey player Sarah Dolan (’14) feels that athletic accomplishments are more widely celebrated. “You see a lot more talk about sports, whether in assemblies or social media,” Dolan said. Although enrollment in the two programs is more or less equal, Dolan feels that a greater value is placed upon sports. Phillips echoes this sentiment, saying that, “It appears to me that the athletics are more visible here than the arts.”

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he reason for this stems from a couple of issues, mainly the greater value that the American education system places on sports and their collaborative nature. “Within the American context, sports, in society, have a higher status value than the arts,” Phillips said, adding that in order to counteract this, it is important that arts be scheduled into the school day in order to generate excitement and interest.

The team element of sports also makes it easier for the entire school to get involved and excited in sports in a way that is a little harder with arts. “It’s easier to support a team rather than an individual,” Dolan said.

Dolan is not alone in this opinion. Peter Skow (’14), a cross country and track and field runner and actor chooses not to be a part of the fall play and is only able to pursue theater in the advanced acting class because he feels loyal to his sports teams.

“I feel a greater responsibility to my teams,” Skow said, “for me, and the student body, sports take precedence as an extracurricular.” Given the strong collaborative element of sports and the greater availability of athletic pursuits to do outside of the school day, sports are strongly dominant in school culture.

Despite this, Emily Lovett (’15), who has been involved in the theater program and is a member of writer’s seminar, feels that art has a privileged place at ASL, noting that “there is a really supportive community, especially with the teachers.” The art program has been influential in her life throughout high school, and for her, she does not see sports as necessarily dominating the cultural value at school.

Aya McCarthy (’14) agrees with Lovett. “I think that it is less important here since we are a city school,

and that it is a bigger deal at a place like Cobham,” McCarthy said. She has been heavily involved in the visual arts program throughout her high school experience.

Varsity Soccer Coach Greg Gerken has observed a similar problem. He views ASL’s location as a major hindrance to the school’s ability to build community.

Whereas other school sporting events are an opportunity for the school to come together, many sports at ASL, such as soccer, softball, rugby, swimming, and track, have athletic facilities which are far away and encourage the student body’s subdivisions to diverge instead of coming together.

This mitigates the effect of sports on the overall student body, something that The Atlantic advocates but Gerken laments.

Nicole Adams (’14), who is in the AP visual arts course this year and has traveled out to the school’s Canons Park

“[Art and sports] are an essential part of what the American education is.”

Jack Phillips, Principal

facilities to play varsity soccer every fall since sophomore year, has also observed this trend: “The sports program is definitely less dominant here than at my old school and the arts are a lot more accessible. I didn’t even take art classes at my old school because there weren’t any good opportunities,” she said. Nonetheless, she still feels that “sports are much more important here [than art]. They are just more talked about and visible.”

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he holistic American education is about educating not just the student, but also the person, and academics, athletics, and arts are all integral parts of that education.

Striking a healthy balance between these three, both for the community and the individual, is the task at hand.

Whether the sports community needs to be more present, with practices and games occurring at the school across the board, or less present, with fewer formally scheduled sports and practices, depends on the future of the American educational system. However, the equal enrollment in both arts and sports and the separation of ASL from the location of many of its sporting teams already seems to indicate the direction that the school is moving in, although the importance and high value of sports in our community is still clear.

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

off the beaten path

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Culture

At The Royal Opera House Culture Editor Kate Kennedy reviews The Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden

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he Royal Opera House’s tall facade stands unimposing amongst the narrow bustling streets of Covent Garden. It seems almost to blend in with the restaurants and shops around it, which is why it is so surprising when you walk through the revolving doorway into a cool, serene lobby, and then into the gilded theater surrounded by 2,256 reverently hushed people and leave those streets, and real life, behind.

I went to see The Sleeping Beauty in the Royal Opera House, a three-hour ballet comprised of four parts: a prologue and three acts, which is playing until mid-April. When I somewhat naïvely found out that the entire ballet has no dialogue and was three hours long, I was worried that I would be bored and confused the whole time.

I wasn’t disappointed in my confusion. What was supposed to be a cohesive story looked to me like an endless swirl of shimmery costumes, dancing, and elaborate set changes that signaled absolutely no narrative to me. Howev- The Sleeping Beauty poster showcasing the Princess Aurora. er, those elements in it as themselves Photo courtesy of the Royal Opera House

were captivating.

It hurt my feet to even just watch the entire performance, especially during Act I when the main character, Aurora (identified as such only by the program), stands unsupported with one leg in the air and the other en pointe for five minutes or so, waiting for different characters to spin her around.

This sequence, called the “Rose Adagio”, is one of the most difficult moves in all of ballet. As you watch this, it is evident that an incredible amount of strength, endurance, and precision is present, not only in the “Rose Adagio” but in every single move the ballerinas make. Throughout the performance, an incredible attention to detail and precision hallmarks its success.

It is not just the beautiful dancing that defines the ballet, but also the score, which serves almost as the narrative backdrop to the ballet. Composed by Tchaikovsky, the score has won critical renown and might even be vaguely familiar for the parts of it that Disney borrowed for their own version of The Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky

was one of the first Russian conductors to gain international respect and recognition, and his work in The Sleeping Beauty plays no small part in that.

The fact that there are two intermissions, both 20 minutes, helps to dissipate any boredom as well. As the viewers make their way down to the Paul Hamlyn Hall – a large iron and glass structure which used to be Covent Garden’s floral market, but now functions as the main pavillion for the Opera House – they can buy programs or a selection of different ice cream flavors, on each floor. The pavillion itself is impressive, flooded with natural light and stocked with ample food and drinks.

Walking through the building, there is a tangible excitement surrounding the subject of the ballet itself. In 1946, The Sleeping Beauty was the first ballet to be performed after the opera house closed down for World War II. Since then, it has been revived, and stands as a symbol of the resilience and power of ballet in the face of distress.

The iPhone generation Assistant News Editor Sebastian Mayr and Staff Writer Max Roth look into the consumption of the iPhone within the ASL community

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T Clement (’16) looked up at his friends during lunch, waiting for any signs of interaction. All three were staring at the retina screen of their iPhones, scrolling through an endless onslaught of social notifications. Instinctively, he reached for his own iPhone, but decided to hold himself back. They were out to lunch after all. “I almost never [use my iPhone], I go for two or three weeks without using it,” Clement said.

Although Clement does not feel ostracized by the growing impact the iPhone has on his friends, he strongly believes students rely on the iPhone too much socially.

Contrary to numerous friends, Clement confesses that he simply does not have enough time to spend on the iPhone. “I’ll talk to people on Facebook but it’s kind of a hassle to carry it around everywhere and its battery life is poor, and I’d probably lose it anyway,” he admitted.

Clement is a special case in the sense that 82 percent of 100 surveyed use their iPhones for at least two hours a day. According to Apple Insider, 59 percent of all teenagers in America have an iPhone.

Since the iPhone came out in 2007,

it has taken the American phone market by storm, with 270,000 units sold within the first 30 hours of release. The market then spread to other countries including the U.K. Mobile network Everything Everywhere (EE) Vice President of Program Office Rui Pereira said “The iPhone and Samsung phones are the most popular manufacturers, with others far behind.”

The popularity of the iPhone on a global scale demonstrates the shift to a more accessible phone. “Many other phone manufacturers try to emulate the iPhone, they simply can’t, even the way it feels in your hand makes you think it’s a quality phone,’ he said.

Out of a poll conducted of 100 students at ASL, only one student stated that he would not buy another iPhone if he was given the chance to.

Sean Norris (’15), an exception to the movement of the growing consumption of iPhones throughout the High School, thinks that the trend to get the iPhone is brought on by other students and the media that surrounds the iPhone. Regretting his decision to buy one, Nor-

ris claims iPhones are generally too expensive and a major contributor to procrastination.“I [got the iPhone] as a result of the massive advertizing campaign, and, by that time most of my friends had an iPhone,” Norris said.

The iPhone has not solely just become more popular at ASL, but worldwide too. The iPhone has managed to dwarf its worldwide competitors. For years, the Asian phone market has been dominated primarily by Samsung and LG, but with the introduction of the iPhone 5 in 2012, it has changed dramatically. In Japan, the iPhone 5S has turned the phone manufacturing market upside down; in 2013, the iPhones share in the market rose from 14 percent to 34 percent in the short span of a month, according to Tech In Asia.

With the iPhone seemingly dominating the world market, it has created what many feel is a more connected world.

Ariadne Letrou-Papamarkakis (’17) admits that the iPhone comprises a large social factor of her life. “I guess if I didn’t have [the iPhone] I would feel disconnected, out of the loop,” she said. Papam-

arkakis commented on the iPhone’s ability to disseminate information quickly, allowing her to constantly stay in touch with friends, regardless of their distance.

The notion of being disconnected from others has had a heavy social impact on our society, Noah Silberwasser (’16) believes, “Kids in society feel so pressured to show that they have friends they immediately turn on their phones, searching for them,” he said.

The fear of being disconnected has been recognized by EE, whose mission statement is to become the trusted brand for connecting people’s lives beyond their smartphone. The constant angst that many get when they feel separated from others highlights this social change. In the eyes of Clement, however, the change is not for the better: “I feel that people depend on their mobile phones socially, I prefer face-to-face communication – it’s more human,” he said.

The iPhone has become a worldwide connection, linking people internationally through its apps and various networks. Its success at ASL proves its growing appeal throughout the High School.

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Culture

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

orrupt Media orrupt Culture

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ovies have become more realistic, video games have become more immersive, TV shows have become more violent and advertisements have become more appealing: Media is becoming more compelling. Yet, the connection between media and violence is still a matter of controversy. Some psychologists claim a causal relationship is present between violence and media whereas others label it as a coincidence. In short, no one, for now, can look at media with a plaintive look and say, “Look what you’ve done.”

Nonetheless, a few instances have resulted in national lament and public outcry at the actions of deprived individuals. On July 20, 2012, avid Batman fans made their way to the Century 16 Aurora, Colorado, eager to see the masked vigilante save the city of Gotham.

It happened that one of the movie-goers, though, was a fanatic of Batman’s fictional archenemy; he would execute a crime that would claim the lives of 12 civilians in a way that eerily emulated a Joker crime from Frank Miller’s 1986 comic series The Dark Knight Returns.

Is media, or whoever glamorized the Joker, to be blamed? Were the authorities ineffective in predicting

Culture Editor Gabriel Ruimy explores the prevalence of a deceiving media in society today

the crime? Do the people that James Holmes, the Century 16 shooter, interacted with before the incident hold the blame for not reporting anything unusual? It is in no one’s authority to make such a judgment, or to lay the blame specifically. What is understood, though, is that media evidently and overtly had an affect on the cognition and development of an individual.

Correlation vs. Causation

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ounselor Stephanie Oliver is still undecided as to whether violence or other unacceptable behaviors are directly related to forms of media – whether advertisements, TV, or video games. “I’ve had parents bring their kids to me [after violent inci-

and video games in 2010, that “evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.”

Yet Associate Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M International University Christopher Ferguson refuted this point in 2010. Though the data Ferguson collected is similar to that of Anderson’s, he undermines the evidence in saying that the results are different in the controlled, laboratory environment in which the experiment was conducted and normal, day-today life.

And so, information present but conclusions varying, the scientific

this with a cross-generation anecdote: “Did I learn from Tom and Jerry that when you hit someone it’s funny? I don’t think I took that away but when I think of it now, it’s what it was teaching. However, you can’t compare Tom and Jerry to Grand Theft Auto. Look at how realistic these games are now; that’s what’s so scary.”

Visual Arts Teacher Erik Niemi agreed that a presence of causation in media and violence is most probably present in video games rather than film: “Film is essentially passive, you’re always watching it. Video games, you are part of it. I’m not a psychologist, but I guess that through acting through those roles you end up having stronger identification with these roles.”

greed with this idea. People can admit that they are influenced, the problem lies in combating this influence: “I think I have the ability to block my subconscious, for example, when I watch TV and ads come up and I really want it, I can tell myself I don’t need it and I forget it after a while. Your mind feels like it wants everything, but after a while you can filter those wants into what you actually need,” he said.

The existence of media influence, whether it be in film, ads, or video games, whether it be convincing you to go to Thorpe Park, buy a new car, or simulate drive-by shootings, lies in a controversial area, but nonetheless is something to face: Why did teenagers in the U.S. take up archery by the hundreds after Jennifer Lawrence brought the “Hunger Games” Katniss Everdeen to the screen? Why did a Korean couple forget and inadvertently kill their firstborn while taking care of a virtual baby in a cyber cafe? Why did a 17-year-old brother have, and execute, the impulse of murdering his younger brother after watching serial-killer TV show “Dexter”?

“Whether or not it’s a correlation or a causation remains to be seen.

But we need to think about it,” High School English Teacher Lindsey Fairweather said.

Whether or not it’s a correlation or a causation remains to be seen. But we need to think about it.

LINDSEY FAIRWEATHER, ENGLISH TEACHER

dents], thinking it is because of video games. Parents think it’s making their children more violent, but there is not much scientific evidence that this is true,” she said.

Scientists, too, have been at the heart of the controversy. Professor at the Department of Psychology of Iowa State University Craig Anderson concluded after extensive research on kids

community is at a loss in giving a concrete answer to whether video games and other violent media result in violent behavior.

For Health Teacher Joy Marchese, though, there is an evident connection between the two and, furthermore, what media is teaching today is much more potent than what was seen years ago. Marchese explained

The essential problem, it seems, is that society cannot move forward and face the problem for we cannot even acknowledge it. “People don’t want to admit that they’re influenced,” Marchese said.

Tarush Gupta (’15), a student who has had his fair share of exposure to horror movies, violent video games, and compelling advertisements, disa-

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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Culture

Despicable Me minions teaching the wrong thing. *Editor’s Note: This is a conceptualization and not a an actual feature of the films.

CARTOON BY CAROLINE TISDALE

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Boys vs. Girls

hy is it that children in Bhutan started practicing wrestling moves on one another after the introduction of television in their previously secluded community? The scientific answer is that what we see, what we read and what we experience teaches us what to do. No baby is born with the desire to chokeslam their older sister; we subconsciously process doing so as ok because we see it on TV. And that is where many psychologists argue a gender divide is generated: Boys see men act violently on TV, girls see women take silently to themselves on TV – and then they emulate it.

“When we are growing up and learning to identify with one gender or the other, and we see these images on television or movies, we learn how to deal with our feelings and our emotions based on what we see on TV. So if I’m a little boy and I see something on TV I think, ‘Oh that’s how we react, that’s how boys should be,’” Oliver said.

And so boys will be boys, “For this reason I never see a boy crying, or talking about his feelings, or coping with his problems healthily. And that’s because that is what is expected from media and our society,” Oliver continued.

And girls will be girls, “I see girls retreating into themselves, not wanting to cause a fuss, and not wanting to talk about their problems,” Oliver finished.

What is it doing to us?

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imes change, people change, and so, media adapts. The way it affects us has become more potent and more effective for the mindsets that have already been ingrained in us. Take models in a fashion magazine for example: “You always had

pin-up [sized] models. But if you look at how those models have changed over time – there’s a huge difference.

Not only with the use of Photoshop, but the sexualization of those images has gotten much more explicit, there’s less clothes,” Marchese said.

As we become used to seeing a certain norm in magazines, we somewhat become numb to it, and so the madness grows; if we aren’t enamored by skinny girls in advertisements, then we will like skinnier girls, “It went from average-sized women, to stick-thin women, to anomalies [created] using Photoshop that are anatomically impossible,” Marchese said.

The effect is a two-sided detriment: We are persuaded to purchase something out of self-pity and, as logically proceeds, our self-pity grows.

Advertisements show us perfection.

We see magnificent burgers, beautiful women, fix-all skin lotion – but these things really don’t exist. “People are looking for perfection, and [marketers] are using Photoshop, not even just with people, even with food,” Marchese said.

“But [the products] don’t exist. And therefore in people’s minds they keep seeing images of perfection, and so everyone wants perfection, and when you strive for perfection, you’re never happy, you never feel good about yourself. You cannot reach that point because it doesn’t exist,” Marchese explained.

After years of teaching media literacy in Health, Marchese finds even herself prone to such subconscious manipulation: “You give me a Vogue magazine and I start leafing through it, I may start to feel really crappy about myself. Even though I know these images have been Photoshopped, but still it’s one beautiful woman after the next, and you start to feel really insecure about yourself.”

This problem is prevalent amongst

the High School student population, “Ads are encouraging me to buy something or try something, so that is focusing on my own view in the way ‘I really need that product’. That just affects me because it’s kind of urging me to buy something,” Abby Ball (’17) said.

Furthermore the influence on everyone is present in other forms than ads, such as TV shows. Ana SalitanAlvarez (’16) concedes that, “Media definitely influences me because it makes me think about the way I dress, the way I act and how I should be. I think it influences everyone in the sense where you feel like you should be the same as the people in [TV] shows.”

The marketers have free reins to do anything, to create anything with imagery programs today – and they capitulate on that by appealing to what we cannot control: Our subconscious.

A similar phenomenon is happen-

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egulation, today, is virtually impossible; perhaps with film, but which regulatory institution could ever take on the internet and its innumerable crannies? The solution seems not to be only in limiting exposure but in also preparing for exposure. That is why countries have regulatory agencies, like the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). And though the BBFC’s mission is just and protective amidst a daily onslaught of perverting media (one of their missions is to “protect the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks”), they can never hope to do enough. For though films are rated, and video games are too, who is monitoring the subliminal messages that daily advertisements send out? Since we can’t quantify the subconscious effect scientifically, can we really start regulating it?

Niemi believes that yes, we can regulate it, but times change and so policies should too: “If you had a film like Pulp Fiction come out in 1950s, it would have gotten an X rating.

But that has changed. That is not necessarily the film industry, but also the regulatory industry and the government in choosing what you can or cannot show in a theater,” he said.

Fairweather noticed that film and TV regulation is not something homogeneous throughout Europe and the U.S., with the U.K. being more accepting of sex and its Atlantic neighbor being more accepting of violence. “The rating system over here seems to be more accepting of sex in film but not of violence. An R-rated film in the U.S. will be a 15 film here, without question and I think it’s easy to do that over here if its not incredibly violent,” she said.

However Fairweather, a mother, is happy that an entity such as the BBFC

No baby is born with the desire to chokeslam their older sister; we subconsciously process doing so as ok because we see it on TV. ing in the film industry: With everyone now holding a camera, everything imaginable is coming to fruition.

“Whereas it used to be something very difficult to do technically, everyone has the ability to make a film. And so it lets people tell stories that are important to them. But all the stories that are important aren’t always easy,” Niemi explained. Not only that, but not all the stories created and published, whether on the internet or in cinemas, convey themes that are monitored and acceptable for all audiences.

The Way Forward

exists to limit what reaches and potentially affects her child.

That said, Marchese believes that to curb the corruption of media, a two-pronged offensive is required: “It would be nice to see depictions where men can learn it’s ok to be assertive and be ambitious and, at the same time, be kind, be compassionate, and be soft and caring; where women can be nurturing, but they can also be leaders. Where the two genders can meet in the middle.” Not only should we limit what is corrupting from reaching audiences, but we should also promote what can be educative in reaching audiences.

Colin Stokes, a TEDx speaker whose videos have reached hundreds of thousand of views online, promotes a message that can be summarized as so: Create more characters like Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) and Glenda the Good Witch (Wizard of Oz), and popularize them.

For Oliver, the solution takes a similar path, but with a further-reaching medium: “I think we need to expose people to different types of people.

I think diversity is always the key in that we always need to see people with a wide range of emotions – with a wide range of dealing with things – that are not just anger, not just violence.”

“And I think the more that we can see that wider range, the more kids will learn to express themselves. So that they have more than one particularly violent way of expressing themselves,” Oliver continued.

It might be redundant to praise education as the holy solution to all. But, in a controversial debate such as media in society, it seems that empowering each and every individual would allow us to prod many paths and find a solution that cohorts of scientists and psychologists have not found yet.

Laura Galligan contributed to reporting.

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Culture

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

The Oscars Members of the ASL community talk about The Oscars in retrospect

Lucia ProctorBonbright Senior

Award season in our household is a very involved experience. Every year come October the DVDs of nominated movies will start coming in the mail, and, to my particular joy, the film screening invitations.

My mother, being a member of the British Academy of Film and Television, votes for the BAFTA awards, which, almost universally forecasts the winners in the Oscars which takes place a week or so later. I remember the years by the movies and performances that stood out. When I was eleven, The Last King of Scotland emerged as a standout piece of work with an extraordinary performance by Forest Whitaker. The next year the erudite Daniel Day Lewis won his second Academy Award for There Will be Blood and claimed his place along side Meryl Streep as Oscar royalty. There are good years for films and bad years, years more focused on women or historical drama, inspiring years and years where the crop of films are more pedestrian.

There seemed to me to be a great deal of jus-

tice served at the 86th Academy Awards. Actors were not rewarded on their skill alone, but for their bravery. They had the courage to step outside of themselves, their lives, and their public personas. The two best actors, Jared Leto and Mathew McConaughey physically transformed themselves by losing a great deal of weight. It was not the weight loss alone, however, that was their great triumph. They then went on to live the lives of marginalized characters, leaving every shed of allure and sparkle behind before our eyes in Dallas Buyers Club.

The first time I saw 12 Years a Slave was at an industry screening a month or two before the release date of the film. When I walked out of the theatre I was positive, without having seen a single other nominated film, that it would walk away with best picture. I felt like I had been witness to both an art installation and a deeply real human story, for which I think the credit goes to the film’s director, Steve McQueen. It was clear in every frame that this was a fine artist working in the medium of film and that these images cut together on the screen were exactly what he wanted them to be. Harrowing is what most people will call it, and yes, it is not easy to watch; his movie slices through flesh until it hits bone. But it is worth it for what we learn and what we feel. Dallas Buyers Club too, with its disease, injustice, and trauma is an intense experience for an audience.

This year, there was no room for excess.

That is where movies like The Wolf of Wall Street and even Oscar favorite American Hustle lost out. Anything that cushioned or glamorized within a movie dimmed in comparison to the brutal honesty. I think Cate Blanchet said it best in her acceptance speech for Best Actress this year when she said: “As random and subjective as this award is, it means a great deal”. There is no quantitative way to decide what is the “Best” among these pieces of work, it is all subjective and dependent on the year, the competition, even the economic or political climate of the time. But what I love about the Academy Awards is that it creates space for great work and commitment to honest storytelling to be recognized.

This year the Academy saw through the

industry’s more superficial offerings and awarded the rawboned, real stories, that illuminated human suffering. That is what we can take from this year; work that reflects the darkest places that people can go, can and will find recognition in a glittering theater in Los Angeles hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

Fares Chehabi Senior

Ah, the Oscars. The most prestigious awards ceremony in showbiz usually surprises and splits opinion. This year, however, I think the Oscars got it right. The rightful recipients were awarded for their incredible, heroic work.

Alfonso Cuarón, somehow, achieved his spectacular vision for Gravity, and then some.

The film was a masterpiece in the art of cinematography (for which the film’s cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki rightfully landed his respective gong) and put its viewers right on the edge of their seats throughout its running time. The film was the director’s dream put into motion, and every shot affirmed this notion. Cuarón’s receiving the Best Director award was fully justified.

12 Years a Slave deserved Best Picture, how-

ever, for brilliantly dealing with the issue of slavery in 20th century America, an issue too long tucked under the rug of American cinema. I’ve watched Steve McQueen’s previous two feature films Hunger and Shame, and his career progression and outstanding improvement as a filmmaker was cemented by his receiving the night’s most-coveted award. His next project will be keenly anticipated.

Chiwetel Ejiofor was the charismatic leading man for McQueen and deserved his nomination for Best Actor, but the award was handed to Matthew McConaughey, whose performance in Dallas Buyers Club I am yet to see. Part of me thinks McConaughey was awarded more in recognition of his upturn in quality in recent years. From playing the typical rom-com heartthrob to stealing the show in Magic Mike and, more recently, Mud, McConaughey has certainly come a long way.

It should be noted that McConaughey beat out his Wolf of Wall Street co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who continues his wait for Hollywood’s most famous golden statuette. I need not remind you that the consistently phenomenal Gary Oldman has only ever been nominated once for an Academy Award, and lost.

But back to DiCaprio, whose performance in Wolf was nothing short of electric. He’ll get his Oscar sooner rather than later, I’m sure.

Best Actress was awarded to Cate Blanchett, but I have yet to see her performance in Blue Jasmine. Of the performances nominated for Best Actress, I have only seen Sandra Bullock’s in Gravity. For my two pence, I think she only played the role of a small cog in Cuarón’s wonderfully gigantic dream machine. Any talented middle-aged actress could have played her role. The film did not need any carrying on the acting side of things, even though Bullock was alone for most of the movie.

On a different note entirely: When does the whole shabang go from tasteful to tasteless? Are we not just watching a bunch of rich folk achieve further recognition on top of the millions they receive in paychecks every few months or so? I tip my hat off to this year’s host Ellen DeGeneres for humanizing the whole affair. Apparently, Brad Pitt eats pizza.

And he doesn’t care how messy he looks in front of his dearest Angelina.

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Ray Blanch

Math Teacher The Oscars have been presented, winners have gone home smiling and losers have demonstrated that they can indeed act. The Academy Awards Ceremony was viewed by over 43 million people around the globe and if you missed the event there is a selfie circling the world to remind you of some of the celebrities that graced the stage that night. Are you a true cinephile? Do you recall the winner of last year’s best film? Who hosted the evening last year? I enjoy movies —each Saturday I clutch my Cineworld card firmly and wander into a midday matinee —however, I don’t recall many of the previous year’s winners. The winners, to me, are not the films or the actors that received the most nominations, or who walked away with a 13.2 inch statuette. The winners are the films, and the actors, that made me cry, think, laugh, spill the popcorn in fright or just allowed me to imagine for one shiny moment that a man can fly.

A night at the Oscars is like a movie in itself. The length of the ceremony gives The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit a run for their money. The price of the ticket is free so you get a true bargain that usually includes a laugh, a song, several trailers and the stray tear during the In Memoriam.

It is difficult to compare one actor to another. There is no first past the post, no winning number of baskets shot or the highest poker hand shown. Each performer is in a different role with different directors using different words. Nonetheless the Academy members make their selections and so do film buffs around the world. We all get caught up in the hype. We all cast our votes – some of us probably have our own acceptance speech rehearsed.

The numbers don’t always tell the story.

Gravity may have won seven Oscars but failed

•••

to be given the title of Best Film. American Hustle received 10 nominations but didn’t hear the magic words “and the Oscar goes to…” The Great Gatsby was nominated for two awards and walked away with two awards. A perfect score!

I too had my own preferences. 12 Years a Slave truly deserved to win the Best Picture.

I was happy with the result. The movie was powerful, the performances excellent. Gravity was a close second in my mind. When Sandra Bullock’s character looked as though she was floating off to Neverland, I was hooked.

The terror expressed in her face and the camera work with the tumbling sequence certainly brought gravity to her situation. Although there were other parts of the film in which the scenarios were less plausible, the film was outstanding. Alfonso Cuarón deserved his Academy Award for Best Director for Gravity.

I was disappointed with Matthew McConaughey winning the Best Actor. Although I admire and respect his talent, McConaughey seems to only play one type of character. Admittedly his weight loss was impressive. I was barracking for Chiwetel Ejiofor from 12 Years a Slave or Christian Bale in American Hustle. I must confess I haven’t seen Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Ejiofor was outstanding as Solomon Northup and Bale, well, what a talent, the dark knight did indeed rise.

I almost applauded and hollered, only to realize I had neighbours, when Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress for her role in Blue Jasmine. She delivered the character of Jasmine, the worn out, deeply troubled socialite with gusto. Bravo. The category of Best Supporting Actor had me torn between Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) and Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips). Both gave wonderful performances, although I thought Abdi had the edge with his ability to portray the desperate Somali pirate – a man trapped in a no-win situation.

The Best Supporting Actress was another category in which I was torn. I would have presented two statuettes. The first to Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle, who showed that there is more to her than her Katniss Everdeen character, the second to Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave. Nyong’o was the Academy’s choice. She is tipped to have a bright future.

There were other awards that could be debated. Why didn’t Despicable Me 2 get the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film? I saw it twice! Technical awards and honorary awards were quickly mentioned. The Gordon E. Sawyer Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award were awarded to Peter Anderson and Angelina Jolie respectively.

Now that the red carpet has been rolled up and stored for another twelve months, it is our turn to be the winners. We have the chance to view the wonderful creations that filmmakers and actors can throw at us for the next twelve months.

Page 27

Culture

86th Academy Award Winners Best Picture 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Animated Feature

Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)

Best Cinematography

Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)

Best Directing

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)

Best Documentary Feature

20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)

Best Documentary Short

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)

Best Film Editing

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)

Best Foreign Language Film The Great Beauty (Italy)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)

Best Original Score Gravity (Steven Price)

Best Original Song Let It Go - Frozen

Best Production Design

The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)

Best Animated Short Film

Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares) A collection of moments from the past year’s Oscar-nominated films. The awards ceremony was held on March 2.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WARNER BROS, PARAMOUNT PICTURES, COLUMBIA PICTURES, FOCUS FEATURES, AND FOX SEARCHLIGH PICTURES

Best Live Action Short Film

Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)

Best Sound Editing

Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)

Page 28

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Sports

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Alternative sports

Assistant Opinions Editor Zack Ashley sits down with students who are pursuing nontraditional sports

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Josey Troyer (’17) Water Polo

osey Troyer’s (’17) endeavors as a water polo player stemmed from the location of his birth. He grew up in Southern California where he says almost everyone plays the sport. Instead of dropping off like the majority of kids, Troyer stuck with it. It has led to a considerable amount of success for him. He is currently on the Middlesex Water Polo team, which travels around the country playing other club teams. The team consists of several players on the Great Britain National Water Polo team. Troyer himself says it’s more than just a hobby for him. “I would consider it a sport I try to do my best at and one that I think I excel at it to some extent,” he said. While Troyer is not competing at the moment, he just finished a season on the varsity swim team which he believes will help him with his water polo skills. He plans to play competitively again in the fall to continue to strive for his ultimate goal which is to play competitively in university in four years’ time.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEY TROYER

Sophie Clark (’16) Trapeze

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or Sophie Clark (’16), a career as a trapezist began during the summer when she was 11 years old. “I have always been into daredevil sports and my mom signed me up for this flying trapeze class with these people called Gorilla Circus,” Clark said. “I basically went when I was 11 for a few weeks and ended up staying there all summer.” Clark has continued to practice trapezing since that summer, attending a weekly circus class every Friday at Circus Space. Regarding circus sports, Clark sticks to the aerial arts, practicing mainly the flying and static trapezes. The flying trapeze is an art in which the participant jumps off of a platform with the trapeze and performs various tricks such as hanging upside down and flips. Alternatively, the static trapeze consists of the participant doing tricks on a trapeze that mostly stays in place. Clark has an immediate ambition in mind as she will be trying out for the London Youth Circus this September. The group puts on multiple performances throughout London. While she does not consider trapezing to be of paramount importance to her future, she does consider it as something of a back-up plan. “I obviously want to do other things, but it’s a great back-up job. If you ever get stuck, you can just join the circus. Why not?”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIE CLARK

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André Purits (’15) Sailing

ince he was 8 years old, Andre Purits (’15) has been sailing with the Royal Swedish Sailing Club every summer. He has continued to improve his sailing skills each summer and has progressed to more difficult boats. Unlike many athletes, Purits does the sport solely as a hobby, as he only sails on his own time for fun instead of on a competitive level. Despite his love for sailing, Purits finds the accessibility difficult in London as the only lakes are far away, so he mostly sticks to sailing in Sweden. “In Sweden I have a little boat which I sail on my own and sometimes with my dad and friends,” he said. Purits stresses the fact that he often sails with his father, not only in Sweden but also on the Mediterranean sea, where he sails a larger boat. Purits’ love for the sport comes from the feeling he gets on the boat, a feeling he is almost unable to articulate and he says only people who sail could understand. “Being on a motor boat is fast and fun, but [there is] something about sailing and how it’s so silent. It’s just such a cool feeling,” he said. Purits hopes to continue sailing at an amateur level, and says it will be a bonus to have sailing accessible to him when he goes to university. “When I look at universities, [sailing] is a bonus ,but it’s not a deciding factor,” he said. “It’s just a cool skill to have.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDRE PURITS

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

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Page 29

Sports

Lloyd to depart, Farmer named Interim Athletic Director Assistant News Editor Sebastian Mayr investigates upcoming changes in the athletics department

After five years of working in the Athletics department, Athletic Director Sandy Lloyd will be leaving ASL following the culmination of the 2013-2014 school year. Lloyd admits she originally was not looking to leave ASL, but she was unable to turn down the incredible opportunity presented by the Stamford American International School (SAIS) in Singapore to continue her role as Athletic Director.

Since Lloyd’s appointment in 2009, substantial improvements have been made within the Athletics department. Lloyd believes there have been major strides in the quality of the coaching staff as well as the girls programs during her tenure at ASL. “When I arrived, the turnout for some of the girls programs was not very good and now we’re in a really good place for all of our programs, for both genders,” said Lloyd.

Part of Lloyd’s main focus dur-

head up the P.E. and Athletic Program and basically build a program from scratch. Right now they have seven programs in seven sports, but we’re going to focus on expanding those programs and getting them a very competitive schedule with highly competent coaches.

That’s my charge and I’m really excited about creating something,” Lloyd said.

Despite implementing numerous elements into the Athletics program, Lloyd acknowledges an athletics department as a perpetual “work in progress.” Whether it’s finding new suitable coaching staff or organizing a variety of different schools to play against, Lloyd admits that there is always room for improvement.

“You can never sit back and just say things are great and play the same schools all the time. You just really have to always focus on how we can make it better for our kids,”

My goal has always been to provide the best opportunity for our student athletes in every possible way.

Sandy Lloyd, Athletic Director ing her time as Athletics Director was to improve the quality and consistency of some the coaching staff.

“It was very inconsistent when I got here. Some programs had really quality people while other teams and programs had coaches that had minimal backgrounds,” Lloyd said. Arranging assistant coaches to maximize opportunities for students to get involved club programs, has always been a priority for Lloyd too.

Currently, Lloyd oversees the athletic program throughout grades 5-12, providing coaches, facilities, equipment and other aspects pertaining to all those programs. Lloyd admits that her position at SAIS will differ greatly, offering a disparate array of opportunities from those available at ASL. “It’s going to be a very different situation in Singapore. It’s a new school and I’ve been brought in to

Sandy Lloyd is leaving ASL at the end of the school year, and is moving to head up the P.E. and Athletics Program at Stamford American International School in Singapore. Photo by Maya Jotwani

John Farmer has been named as Interim Athletic Director for the coming school year. Photo by Maya Jotwani

Lloyd said.

Lloyd continues to arrange competitive matches against British schools as well as expanding travel opportunities for athletic programs and teams. Lloyd has managed to establish connections with US colleges and facilitate the recruitment of several of ASL’ athletes.

“My goal has always been to provide the best opportunity for our student athletes in every possible way. We’re all one big family and we need to support each other and do everything we can do help ASL excel,” Lloyd said.

Although Canons Park offers facilities unparalleled to any other venues at ISST, Lloyd acknowledges the extensive strain the long travelling hours have on both athletes and coaches. “Canons is wonderful but it’s a ways away. It’s a challenge in terms of travel but it’s worth it”, Lloyd said.

Citing the Varsity Basketball

Teams visit to Canons Park to watch the Varsity Rugby Game as an example, Lloyd is impressed by the cooperation and solidarity amongst teams at ASL. Optimistic towards the future, Lloyd is convinced the ASL Athletics program will continue to progress from it’s current position. “I think we’re in a really good place and I’m sure it’s going to continue.

We’re highly respected and everybody looks to us and wants to come to London because the two best schools in terms of competition, ACS Cobham and ASL, are both here. In terms of leaving, I’m going to miss the people here the most, including the coaches, the students and other teachers in the school. In my opinion that’s the best part and Canons Park and the travelling with the teams. Everybody has been really fantastic and everybody wants to help out with the program.”

Replacing Lloyd as Interim Athletic Director is current Assistant Athletic Director, John Farmer.

Farmer views the new Interim role as an opportunity for growth as well as a chance to implement his own ideas and philosophy into the Athletics program.

“I love the Middle School and I love doing Middle School Sports, but obviously it’s a whole different situation with High School sports and the travel that’s involved, and I want to be a part of it,” Farmer said.

Currently, Farmer is in charge of running and administering the Middle School Athletics programs and activities. Working with coaches and students, Farmer coordinates scheduling as well as ensuring that all Middle School programs take place.

Looking forward to working with members of the High School as well as being part of the High School Administrative team, Farmer looks ahead to the prospect of collaborating with High School Principal Jack Phillips, as well as Director of Academic Advising and College Counseling Patty Strohm.

“Being a part of the High School Administrative team as well as being a bigger part of the High School is something that’s really exciting to me,” Farmer said.

Despite Farmer’s appointment as the new Interim Athletic Director, his succeeding Assistant Athletic Director is yet to be named.

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Page 30

Sports

THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Swimming wins ISST gold

Assistant Online Editor Ankit Mehra and Online Editor Will Muoio cover the swim team’s recent ISST success

Once it was announced that Cairo American College had placed 2nd overall at ISSTs, Emily Gossett (’16) and fellow swimmers were ecstatic. ASL swimming had achieved first place overall, ending Cairo’s eight-year streak of consecutive first place finishes. “My whole team instantly felt the feeling of victory and the rest of the day was 10 times brighter,” Gossett said.

Omar Elmasry (’14) agrees with Gossett regarding their reaction to knowing they had won first place overall. As a co-captain, he was incredibly proud of all the hard work that the team had done throughout the year and knows that it resulted

competitive since his first ISSTs in Grade 7. “Not only were there many swimmers from several schools that swim year-round on a club team, the athletes who just train with their school really stepped up their game as well this year,” Rittenhouse said.

For the Thursday afternoon session, the entire High School had a shortened schedule to travel to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where swimming ISSTs were taking place. As this was the only home swim meet ASL has ever hosted, the support that ASL had was something that no one had ever experienced before. “We have never once

It’s hard to pick my favorite part, because there were so many points during the meet that made me proud to be a captain.

Omar Elmasry (’14)

in them winning gold. “It’s hard to pick my favorite part, because there were so many points during the meet that made me proud to be captain,” Elmasry said.

All four of the ASL teams finished top three overall, with eight individual swimmers earning medals. William Rittenhouse (’14) placed first in three individual events, and highlighted this ISSTs as the most

had spectators besides [Physical Education Teacher] Mrs. Williams and it felt so good to look up in the stands and see all your friends,” Gossett said. “Although half the school may not have understood what was going on and was probably dying of heat, it means more to us than you understand.”

Rittenhouse also found it to be an amazing experience swimming

Top: Tara Advaney (’15) dives into the Olympic Pool in her event.

Middle: Swimmers wait for results.

Bottom: Teams from 12 different schools competed this winter.

Photos by Maya Jotwani and Rasha Elmasry

in the same pool that was used in the 2012 Olympics. “The pool itself is fantastic and the facilities [are] top-of-the-line, which I believe contributed to the fast times achieved this year. Never before have I thought, ‘Michael Phelps won his last Olympic medal here’ while standing behind the blocks waiting for my race,” Rittenhouse said.

This accomplishment was swimming’s first overall gold medal since 2001, and Gossett knows that it will not be easy next year to build on this achievement. “I’m ready for next year. Who knows what the competition will bring, but I plan on training hard throughout the year when I can and trying to keep in shape to bring home another gold next year in The Hague,” Gossett said.

Olivia Halsted (’17) described the season as a “surprise” and that the best thing about the experience was the JV girls’ performance.

“I was really happy that the JV girls

came first, and that we all had such an amazing season and great ISST swims,” Halsted said.

JD Costello (’17) said that the ISST win was the “main highlight of the season” and could only have been accomplished because “we spent so much time together in and out of the pool, we became very close to each other.”

Elmasry echoes the idea of the team’s special bond as the key reason why they were able to come together to win. “We are much more like a family than other teams because we spend so much time practicing together. The swim team environment allows everyone to do their best and in a friendly atmosphere,” Elmasry said.

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Page 31

Sports

WINTER SPORTS SEASON REVIEW ANKIT MEHRA | ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR Varsity girls basketball finished 16-4, proving to be a force to be reckoned with. This season was a huge success, as they had a strong season prior to a strong run in ISSTs. Chrissie Timbers (’14) and Louisa Phillips (’15) earned all-tournament honors at this years ISSTs and the team placed second in this year’s ISSTs. Riley Evans (’17) called the season a “success” due to the fact that “our record was solid with only four losses over the whole season.” For Evans, the only “roadblocks or variables” were the injuries that players got. “This made the team unable to practice with all players at times which limited what we were able to accomplish in practice,” Evans said.

Girls Varsity Basketball Record: 16-4 ISSTs Tournament: 4-1 (2nd Place)

JV girls basketball finished the season with a 10-0 record as well as a LSSA tournament victory. Sweeping the two games against ASL’s rival, ACS Cobham, ASL JV girls basketball proved to have the most successful season amongst the basketball teams competing this season. Sophia Linkas (’17) said that, “the LSSA victory was the biggest highlight of the season, as well as the team’s regular season performance.”

Girls JV Basketball Record: 10-0 LSSA Tournament: 4-0 (1st Place)

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Varsity boys rugby proved to have a more successful campaign, running rampant finishing the season with a strong 7-3 record proving to be forces on the field in both the regular season and ISSTs. Paul Rozenbroek (‘14), Patrick Collins (’14), Tristan Burke (’15) and Pierre Roux-Lafargue (’16) earned all-tournament honors at this years rugby ISSTs. Varsity rugby placed third in this year’s ISSTs. Erik Skattum (’15) called the chance to play on a professional pitch at Saracens as a “highlight,” with the “added bonus” of beating Cobham. With the positives came negatives, though, as “we suffered some minor injuries during ISSTs that potentially hampered our success,” said Skattum.

Varsity Rugby Record: 7-3 ISSTs Tournament: 3-2 (3rd Place)

Due to flooding in the Thames, both boys and girls crew had minimal competitive races.

Both teams maintain that the season was both productive and successful, as they grew closer as a team.

For the developmental crew teams, races were not a big factor, but success has been reached in the aspect of team bonding in the lead-up to the spring sports season.

Despite the lack of races, Jonathan Cirenza (’14) still views this season as a success. “We haven’t had too many races because of the flooding, but for me personally I’ve had some solid training and getting to know the team better this year,” said Cirenza.

Crew Record: N/A

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Boys Varsity Basketball Record: 17-5 ISSTs Tournament: 4-1 (5th Place)

With this season being Head Coach Joe Chodl’s last prior to leaving the school at the end of the year, boys varsity basketball shined during their regular season campaign. Varsity boys basketball finished with a 17-5 record over the course of the season with success coming overseas with a second-place finish in Doha. Varsity boys basketball player Nelson Boachie-Yiadom (’17) earned all-tournament honors at this year’s ISSTs. Ben Abrams (‘14) called the season a “success” due to the fact that, “moving on from last year we only had two starters return in Foy (’15) and myself, so it was a success because of the bonding with a whole new-look team.” Varsity basketball placed fifth in this year’s ISSTs.

Boys JV Basketball Record: 8-2 LSSA Tournament: 4-0 (1st Place)

For boys JV basketball, the season was a success as well as finishing the regular season with a strong 8-2 record alongside a perfect 4-0 record to win the LSSA tournament. With the team consisting of freshmen and sophomores, many were either new to the school, or new to the intensity of High School sports, making this season even bigger of an accomplishment. Some highlights of the season included “only losing two regular season games, and all the games we won were blowouts, while the games we lost were close,” Will Sayre (’17) said. “The winter break hindered the team’s success.”

JV Rugby Record 3-2: LSSA Tournament: 2-1 (2nd Place)

JV boys rugby’s season proved to be frustrating as they went 3-2 over the course of the regular season, but positives could still be taken out of this season in the shape of big victories. “The main highlights of this season included winning against Cobham and Hillingdon,” Farid Sousou (’17) said.

“Though we didn’t win the majority of our games we have had many successes. Our biggest success was winning against ACS Hillingdon 65 - 10.” With the season not having as much success as intended, Sousou said, “The only variable that did affect any potential success is that people either didn’t come to practice or people got injured throughout the season.”

Swimming ISSTs Tournament: 1st Place overall

ASL swimming had a successful season, with a strong essence of team bonding and a strong ISST run resulting in the JV girls finishing first, JV boys finishing third, varsity girls finishing third, and varsity boys finishing second. ASL won the tournament as a whole, finishing first overall. “A highlight of the season was everyone going to the meets and bonding. We spent so much time together, we became very close to each other, and it paid off with the ISST win,” JD Costello (’17) said.

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PHOTOS 1-5 BY COLIN BRIDGEWATER, PHOTO 6 COURTESY OF BOBBY COLLINS, PHOTO 7 COURTESY OF JOHNATHAN CIRENZA AND PHOTO 8 BY MAYA JOTWANI

For more details on the swim team’s ISST success, see page 30.

Sports Page 32

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THE STANDARD | March-April 2014

Lloyd to depart Alternative sports Winter season wrap-up

ASL WINS GOLD AT OLYMPIC pool Assistant Online Editor Ankit Mehra and Online Editor Will Muoio report on Swimming’s recent ISST success Swimming ISSTs on page 30

PHOTO BY RASHA ELMASRY