The Blade, Volume 113, Issue 2

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Letter From the Editors As the year comes to a close, that means two things: the spring issue of The Blade and the end of another school year. This past year has been a major learning experience for our staff. From grueling peer editing sesions to figuring out the complexities of InDesign, creating the magazine has had minor road-blocks and obstacles along the way. Juniors and sophomores put their first issue together, so we hope you enjoy.

This issue focuses around our generation. We are the first generation to be plugged in for our whole lives. How are we going to use that access? Will we use technology to hide behind our glowing screens, or will we develop it to save the world?

The development of our generation goes beyond wires and coils; technology has changed the face of how we handle ourselves and others. From these new devices sprouted a new age of people more conscious of their words. Our generation may be more focused on upholding all cultures than the past. But this hasn’t just made us politically correct; it’s made us more culturally aware.

We are experiencing and forging history. The 2016 election opened the door to a slew of polarizing candidates and has become one of the most interesting elections of all time. From loud and proud Donald Trump to social media-dominating Bernie Sanders, the format of politics has drastically changed because of new methods of communicating with the public and satisfying our culturally awake generation. Parts of society admire Trump for not filtering his opinion to accommodate others. Will attitudes about political correctness change the face of our nation as a new president is elected into office this year?

In schools they can sometimes be better-equipped to handle diversity and the problems associated with diversity. Affinity groups have been created in some schools as a new way to raise unity while emphasizing the individual. It upholds everyone’s culture without having a discriminatory environment. Not only have students adjusted to diversity, but there are bigger pushes for faculty to mirror it.

Perhaps we are so politically correct because we have adapted to what we have seen from the internet and adjusted our behavior to accommodate everyone. Even in the coming years with more advancements, our generation has to face its two biggest influences– technology and cultural awakeness– and choose whether to use those assets as a way to save society physically, mentally and spiritually, or to fall into compromise without growing because we are so caught up in acknowledging everyone’s opinions. Our generation has the option to save the world by creating global peace through our understanding of the world and its cultures. The choices is ours.

Staff: Erin Edwards ‘17 Erin Harris ‘17 Maddie Ledet ‘18 Garrett Oberkfell ‘17 Nija Packer ‘18 Aly Shakoor ‘17 Andy Sun ‘17

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Woodward Academy 1662 Rugby Avenue College Park, GA 30337 Advisers: Mrs. Rebekah Goode-Peoples Mr.Nicholas Widener

Follow us on social media: @wastpress Scan the QR code on the back to get to the website: www.woodwardblade.com

Table of Contents

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17 21 26

the politically correct generation Author | Andy Sun

Anyone born after the mid-90s is granted the honor of belonging to the renowned generation of Millennials.This generation is populated by people Time Magazine deems to be “lazy, entitled narcissists.” Our new generation of up-and-comers ranges from children too naïve to participate in politics to newly graduated young adults beginning to navigate their ways into broad occupational fields. What’s next for Generation Z? - an opinion

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“There is a lot of gray area between being politically correct and being too sensitive. It is better to be labeled too politically correct” Cassie van Orden ‘16

Our post-millennial generation, Generation Z, of up-and-comers ranges from children too naïve to participate in politics to newly graduated young adults beginning to navigate their ways into professional fields. The progress and diversity, however, results in political and ideological tension. In a generation that takes huge leaps forward every day in personal rights and strives for universal acceptance, why is it so difficult for everyone to get along?

Anyone born after the mid-90s is granted the honor of belonging to the renowned generation of Millennials, the generation the media just will not stop covering. Populated by students and young adults, Time Magazine deems members of this generation “lazy, entitled narcissists.” People rely on handouts and are not willing to work hard for rewards.

Generation Z can not afford to be lazy and entitled. Competition for college, jobs and general privilege continues to grow in professional life, all while society becomes increasingly polarized and tense. Political correctness has become the motif of the past few years, as progressive liberals continue to spar with traditional conservatives.

Everything seems to be changing nowadays from technology to politics to fashion, but what has not changed is people’s inability to reconcile differences.

Being politically correct should be a simple thing to do that results in everyone’s satisfaction and perhaps the occasional rendition of Kumbaya, but it seems that any attempt at political correctness is immediately beat down by a torrent of prejudice, offense and general unhappiness that thrives in our generation.

For example, at a recent Donald Trump

interview, a Hispanic man spoke up against Trump’s offensive comments toward Hispanics. This man was immediately put down by other people in the crowd.

“There is a lot of gray area between being politically correct and being too sensitive.

It is ‘better’ to be labeled too politically correct than racist, so people choose to be on the safe side,” said Cassie Van Orden ‘16.

Political correctness is avoiding discriminatory forms of expression, but it can be taken to the extreme. Political correctness should be exercised in order to maintain basic etiquette, but when it is taken to extremes, it can prevent freedom of expression and promote hypersensitivity. As a result, any statement can draw opposition from some group of individuals. The continuing rise of political correctness is damaging to the flow of opinions traded between free minds capable of individual thought.

We can continue this discussion by investigating the need for people of our generation to fit in. Post-millennials will try to be accepted in any way possible. Perhaps that is why this generation will flock to any fad, such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, like flies and disperse as soon as it is no longer cool. Fads such as this challenge blow up on social media overnight, but just a few days or weeks later, they are no longer considered current. The speed and connectivity of social media make any fad ephemeral.

An Upper School poll showed a common belief that kids in high school feel the need to fit in in order to be accepted. The growth of the internet in the past decade has led to the proliferation of all kinds of social media platforms. It is these platforms that fuel our need to be accepted. Everyone feels

these effects because social media is so prolific and affects everyone’s lives.

“Social media helps to build connections and keep ties with people,” said Joseph Rafshoon ‘17.

Social media sites and apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram give Generation Z, the opportunity to present their best image, hiding their insecurities behind filters and inspirational quotes in order to fit in with other people who do the exact same thing.

Everyone on social media only posts about the best parts of their lives because no one is interested in mundane things. Instagram, for example, is full of pictures of beaches, music festivals, parties and selfies. Behind this image of blissful happiness and perfection, individuals still harbor their personal beliefs and will never really feel as if they fit in, and that is okay. Social media provides a false environment of widespread acceptance that is unparallel to the real world.

“In school, looking like you don’t care about your future and being obsessed with yourself is popular. Teens today are a lot more narcissistic,” said Jay Sanders ‘18.

Media also tends to make people self-centered about their beliefs. However, any statement is often met with offense from one group or another because people are not nearly as welcoming to new ideas as they pose to be.

Another way in which our generation differs from past generations is who we chose to idolize across social media platforms. Poll respondents named idols ranging from reality stars to musicians to political figures. Most of our idols are Millennials themselves, ambitious and privileged people who have taken advantage 5

“This is one of the most diverse places I’ve ever been to. Different cultures and races bring their own ideas into the mix.”

Briana Fernandez ‘17 6

of their situations. They recognize the benefits of being born in modern day America, a place relatively free of war and poverty, and these Millennials seize opportunities in the aptly named land of opportunity.

Rapper DJ Khaled skyrocketed to fame in the past year. Surprisingly it is not his music that has made him a pop icon, but rather his Snapchat stories. Ask any “hip” social media user nowadays, and he or she is sure to be able to quote some of DJ Khaled’s legendary sayings such as “another one” or “we da best.” The way he uses technology and social media to achieve mass stardom is admirable to members of Generation Z because we live in such a social-media reliant society.

Celebrities on other platforms have also modernized their messages to appeal to newer generations. Musicians have become extremely influential because music reaches all kinds of people.

“Future is making music a lot of people listen to, and it influences how people view the world. Although he is an adult, he raps about things that affect our generation,” said Josh McCullough ‘17.

Such messages include rising tensions over racial discrimination that are surfacing in a time that is generally thought of to be accepting and progressive. Many decades have passed since Martin Luther King Jr. made leaps forward in equality, but tensions still remain. Movements such as the revolutionary Black Lives Matter movement are sweeping the nation and proving to the public that racial tensions are alive and kicking.

“The civil rights battles of the 60s hit a certain point, but the gap remained unquestioned by previous generations, so now people realize there is still a gap that needs to be fixed,” said Mary Grace Lecesne ‘17.

Many people believe that racial tensions have always been present, but the exponential growth of media is finally allowing these conflicts to come to light.

“All these conflicts that happen, people should see them instead of having them happen in the shadows where no one pays attention,” said Jackson Payan ‘17.

Now that information is readily available, people can begin to have conversations about racial tensions. People are able to see conflicts from everyone’s different points of view. The amount of information on the internet is phenomenal, with millions of people writing about their opinions.

Arguments on the Internet are rarely onesided, and almost everyone has something to say. This benefit makes social media and technology a double-edged sword.

Despite tensions, diversity is a key factor of American post-Millennials. According to the 2010 Census,only 63% of Americans are non-Hispanic whites, a number that is constantly decreasing. Talk to 100 people on the street, and statistically none of them will be the same when considering race, sexuality, socioeconomic status, gender, political ideology or religion.

America allows all affinities to come together, but recently many differing ideologies have not been meshing in public opinion. There are simply too many different ideas and views for everyone to agree on one singularly correct position.

The narcissism of Generation Z prevents compromise and reconciliation, and modern day America is riddled with different views contesting with each other. When it comes to the multitude of ideologies today, no one person is right, but we have to learn to overcome narcissism and accept everyone.

The student body has an opportunity to practice political correctness in a safe, insulated environment. School is a much safer platform to develop ideals than in this contentious society. The body as a whole is extremely diverse in all senses of the word, and most ideas will at least be heard without violent counteraction.

“There are all types of people here to represent a variety of different opinions,” said Cassie Van Orden ‘16.

Because most members of Generation Z are still students, schools are an excellent training ground for students to prepare to face ideological opposition in the real world. “This is one of the most diverse places I’ve ever been to,” said Briana Fernandez ‘17. “Different cultures and races bring their own ideas to the mix.”

One thing our generation must not forget is that we are not the only generation populating this planet. Perhaps we do resemble the Millennials when it comes to narcissism. We consist of a relatively young population- we are the babies of the world yet we tend to believe we are in charge. We forget that many other people with much more experience than us have real power and influence.

“We don’t put value on certain things such as technology,” said Jackson Payan ‘17.

We have not had the same experiences as others or the same struggles. This explains why members of Generation Z are labeled as so narcissistic; they think the universe revolves around them because many things in life are simply handed to them.

We as members of Generation Z can learn from their mistakes and be humbled by our position in society. Otherwise, we will apply to older generations’ stereotypical

What makes our generation unique?

“We are a very diverse, understanding, and openminded generation. We are all pretty educated about the world around us, making the world we live in a better place.”

Kennedy Lollis ‘17

views of us as being self-centered.

“People nowadays mouth off to their elders way more, and I notice that on a day to day basis,” said Tam Wheat ‘16.

Post-millennials tend to think they are hugely important simply because of the great opportunities offered to them. People who are born to families with privilege and opportunity have the chance to receive a decent education and gain a valued place in society. However, this makes them blind to the struggles previous generations had to face and to the struggles of their generational peers who were not born to the same privilege.

Political correctness becomes difficult when any opinion is instantly shared to masses of free thinkers. The double-edged sword of technology has been bestowed upon our generation. Improvements in technology and communication allows us to spread worthy ideas extremely quickly and connect with anyone instantly, but interactions over the internet definitively lack face value. Extreme partisans hide behind blogs and forums in order to spew provocative comments for the sake of starting arguments. Virtual communication takes away from intelligent debate by removing credibility and personal interaction.

“I believe the technology we’re exposed to makes us think we’re better than other generations,” said Josh McCullough ‘17.

Although technology has proven to be a tool for people to be open about their opinions, it has not done so in the best way possible.

Hope for acceptance remains in major reform such as the legalization of gay marriage.

“I completely support gay marriage. I

“Our opportunities, our creativity and our out of the box thinking ability.”

Brennan McDaniel ‘17 was happy about the marriage ruling by the Supreme Court,” said Joseph Rafshoon ‘17.

Many more poll respondents joined Rafshoon in accepting national gay marriage. Political triumphs such as the victory of love represent the beginning of wider acceptance of all ideals. Despite the victory in the Supreme Court, it is still notable that four out of nine justices dissented. There still exists gaps in society over such contentious issues The most optimistic of poll respondents attest to our generation’s diversity of music, art, ideas and technology. These optimists also praise the fact that everyone has almost equal opportunities and the right to express themselves without consequence.

Kids in America do not have to deal with the same struggles as their ancestors, such as world wars or economic recessions.

Social progress and widespread acceptance give optimists every reason to hope our generation will aspire to wonderful things.

“We’re innovators, and we can change the world,” said Grayson Prince ‘18.

Many generation members believe there is an underlying drive to achieve great things.

“Because the stereotype of laziness is on us, we’re gonna strive to break it,” said Jackson Payan ‘17. While some are inevitably lazy and entitled, a significant proportion of this generation has big dreams of surpassing previous generations and changing the world.

However, pessimistic poll respondents argue this generation is too politically sensitive and offended by everything.

People who do not like this generation

“Our generation is uniquely blessed and cursed with a highly interconnected world through the Internet and advanced technologies as well as social media.”

Alanna Pearson ‘18

compare us to the infamous lazy Millennials.

“There are a lot of people in our generation who do not understand the value of work,” said Briana Fernandez ‘17.

This entitlement results in young adults who are not willing to work to achieve their goals.

Those who dislike our generation also see technology as a curse rather than as a blessing, a distraction that contributes to laziness.

Post-millennials want to change the world but are neither qualified to nor have the drive to.

“Problems such as war, disease, hunger, lack of biotics, etc. have made it our generation’s responsibility to find solutions,” said Tam Wheat ‘16. Despite the variety of opinions, there is no doubt the generation of Post-Millennials is truly different than all preceding generations, and it will be very interesting to see where we go from here.

Despite tension and negativity, our generation can only move forward past conflict by learning from others’ mistakes.

There remains hope for everyone’s diverse views to be heard and accepted by open free thinkers. In order to do so, we have to stop being distracted by petty social media and not be afraid to have difficult conversations in person.

The world is changing around us, in good ways and bad. Gay marriage is now legal, racial tensions are rising, political races resemble reality television and technology is developing at an exponential rate. This generation has the opportunity to peacefully have such difficult conversations and set a precedent for future generations and perhaps change the world for the better in the meantime.

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Beyond T

Insight on the importance and Author | Photographer |

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he Board difficulty of a diverse school faculty.

Erin Edwards Nic Huey

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N

early every American who is 18 years old or younger goes to school eight hours a day, five days a week. During this large expanse of time, schools are not only charged with fostering academic excellence, but preparing children for global competitiveness as well.

One important factor for ensuring adequate preparation is promoting awareness of cultural and ethnic diversity. The United States becomes a more culturally and ethnically diverse nation every year. By 2060 the Census Bureau predicts the current minority population will exceed the majority.

Therefore, it is valuable for students, regardless of their identity, to be able to interact within a diverse environment.

Woodward, with students who commute from more than 20 metro Atlanta counties and belong to an array of religious, racial and ethnic groups, is

diversity as it is committed to student diversity.

“Personally, I have tons of friends and they’re all different according to how they act, behavior, race, sexual orientation, all types of stuff,” said Justin Clark ‘17. “I’ve been at Woodward since middle school. But I’ve only had two black teachers, and that really brings me down because not only should we have black teachers, but we should have teachers of all different types of ethnicities.”

According to data from the National Association of Independent Schools, 28.5 percent of students enrolled in independent schools are students of color, while 16.2 percent of staff are of color.

President Stuart Gulley made a conscientious effort to encourage faculty diversity in his five-year Strategic Plan focused on Mission,

schools. 40 percent of the student body are students of color. Therefore, the faculty diversity still does not mirror that of the student body.

Some teachers are also displeased with the lack of faculty diversity. “As a teacher, when I look out onto my classrooms, I see a lot of diversity. I feel like my students are really diverse, but by and large, the faculty are very homogenous,” said Ms. Lindsay Reid, a science teacher. “I can count on maybe two hands the amount of diverse faculty in the Upper School.

It’s not really an accurate portrayal of our student body. Our faculty and our student body do not align.”

Ms. Stephanie Stephens, who teaches Government, Civil Liberties and Multicultural, Ethnic and Diversity Studies, said she was shocked by the lack of teacher diversity when she first started at Woodward.

“I feel like my students are really diverse, but by and large, the faculty are very homogenous.” one of the most diverse private schools in Georgia. One of the aspects of the Upper School that Dr. Chris Freer, Vice President & Dean for Student Life and Upper School Principal, is most proud of is how the student diversity enhances learning.

“When people come to Woodward, each and everyday, there is such a diverse grouping of individuals that the thinking that goes on has to be diverse,” said Freer. “In terms of politics, sexual orientation, in any way that you could cut diversity, we have diversity.”

He, alongside the administration, makes an intentional effort to maintain a diverse student body and embrace differences with programs such as the Week of Understanding, No Place for Hate and the Anti-Bullying Policy.

However, many students question if the school is as committed to faculty 10

Community, Sustainability and Athletics.

“One of the stated goals [of the five year plan] is to assemble a professional staff more closely mirroring the ethnic diversity of the student body with a goal of 15 percent administration, faculty and instructional support of color by 2016,” said “The student needs to see somebody who looks like them in order to feel like they can achieve that same task and that same outcome,” Freer. “I’m proud to say that we not only got to 15 percent, we exceeded it.

We got to 16 percent. We were at 10.

That’s a huge increase when you talk about a teaching faculty of 350, 130 in the high school.”

Although 16 percent is impressive in comparison to independent schools nationwide, the student body is more diverse than most independent

“Nine years ago when I was looking for a school for my daughter, I looked and I loved Woodward’s diversity in the student body,” said Stephens. I wasn’t real thrilled about the diversity of the Upper School faculty, but there was great diversity at the lower levels, and she was a baby then. I don’t think we’ve improved much at the Upper School since then.”

68.9 percent of the 492 students who responded to a survey said they would prefer a more diverse faculty.

“You can always benefit from having different backgrounds and different viewpoints,” said David Neil Daniell ‘16.

The remaining 31.1 percent said increasing faculty diversity did not matter to them because all the content teachers teach is the same.

According to Michael Goodman,

What Upper School Students Want a More Diverse Faculty Out of 492 survey respondents

Three in Five Black Students

Three in Five Students Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Students

Two in Five Middle Eastern Students

Two in Five Students Hispanic/Latino Students

7% No Two in Five Students Asian Students

38% No

One in Five White Students

62% Yes

93% Yes

60% White Students

40% Students of Color

Student Body Racial Demographics

7%7% No No 38% 38% No No 93% 93% YesYes

Do students think the student body is diverse?

62% 62% YesYes

Do students think the faculty is diverse?

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Program Manager for Equity and Justice for the National Association of Independent Schools, students learn more in the classroom than just the curriculum. For minority students, having a teacher they identify with can be the difference between success and failure in the future.

“The student needs to see somebody who looks like them in order to feel like they can achieve that same task and that same outcome,” said Goodman during a phone interview. “There are a lot of articles out there about trying to get more black men to be teachers, because our young black boys need to see black men in their lives as teachers and as folks who are educators so that they can then believe that they can achieve that same education. For students to see those people who look like them, or act like them, or talk like

Reid.

Faculty diversity is also very important to parents, especially parents of color or parents with children of color.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve had so many parents of color come to me and say, ‘We are so glad you’re here. We are so glad our students see someone of color at the Upper School,’” said Stephens. “A large part of our student body is African-American, and it’s nice if they can see people that look like them.”

A diverse faculty benefits all students, not just students who identify with the diverse teachers.

“A diverse faculty and a diverse administration provides perspective for people who come from all different backgrounds, whether it’s race, religion, socioeconomic status, ability, gender or sexuality diversity,” said

now to have faculty with a variety of experiences to engage students,” said Ann Springer, associate counsel of the American Association of Professors, in an interview with University Business.

“Collaborating with colleagues who bring different viewpoints is also essential to education. You need [to hire] people who are in touch with different segments of our population.”

If K-12 schools, such as Woodward, as well as major colleges and universities, have displayed interest in having a diverse faculty, why is it that faculty diversity is still lacking?

“It is surprising to me that in a city like Atlanta we don’t have a more diverse Upper School faculty, but I do think that Woodward has greatly educated faculty, and that might be part of it,” said Stephens.

Although there are qualified

“The student needs to see somebody who looks like them in order to feel like they can achieve that same task...” them is part of the growing process.”

According to Goodman, a diverse faculty provides a wider variety of role models who can provide unique guidance based on their experiences and shared racial, gender, or religious identity with a student.

With a more diverse faculty, Marcus Lin ‘17 said, “I would be able to identify with more teachers, other than just based off ideas. I would be able to actually identify with them.”

Having role models young people can identify with can help shape their perception of themselves as they go forth into society.

“That can be challenging for some students as they try to figure out what their role and their place is in diverse communities and their place in our larger Woodward community, to not have a role model to model after,” said 12

Goodman. “Those are all important for people to have different opinions brought to the table. I know in higher education, there is a giant conversation happening about faculty diversity.”

In 2015 there was a nation-wide, student-driven movement to increase faculty diversity in universities. From the University of Missouri to Yale, students and educators alike pressured their institutions to promote diversity, inclusivity and tolerance in both the student body and faculty.

While a private K-12 school, it is also a college prepatory school, preparing students for college life.

Therefore, Woodward is also tasked with preparing students for the diverse climates of colleges and universities across the country.

“We are in a global economy, an evershrinking world. It’s more important

candidates of every identity, most are white, and the reason for this may be rooted in their education. 91 percent of American students are in the public school system, minorities making up 51 percent of the student population.

Therefore, the majority of our future leaders and teachers are molded by the public school system.

Public schools in which the senior class has 60 percent or fewer students who entered as freshmen, also known as “dropout factories,” are rapidly growing. While representing 51 percent of all public schools, minority students make up 57 percent of the population in “dropout factories.”

Furthermore, the student-to-college pipeline is nothing in comparison to the student-to-prison pipeline, which is defined by the American Civil Liberties Union as “the policies

and practices that push our nation’s school children, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.”

Contributing factors to the studentto-prison pipeline are underfunded public schools with overcrowded classrooms, under qualified teachers and a lack of counselors, special edu­ cation services and student resources.

All of this and more boosts student disengagement and dropouts, resulting in increase of court­involvement.

Although the rate of high school graduation is notably lower amongst minorities, even fewer minority high school graduates go on to a two or four year college. According to the U.S. Department of Education, minorities make up 19 percent of undergraduate enrollment, but only 14 percent go on to earn bachelor’s degrees. In graduate schools, minorities make up 12 percent of enrollment, but only eight percent earn a graduate degree.

Minority students are said to have

Asian/ Pacific Islander

100 White

80

Hispanic Black

60

an equal amount of opportunity to succeed, but their backgrounds can prevent them from reaching their full potential, thus rendering a large number of minority applicants unqualified for professional work requiring a solid foundation of knowledge, such as teaching at Woodward.

Furthermore, on average, schools with larger minority populations have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who are less likely to be certified. In a report from the Center for American Progress, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization, a 10 percentage point increase in students of color results in a decrease in the amount of money spent per student by $75.

Less money often equates to fewer course offerings. Even core classes, such as math and science, are restricted.

Fewer hispanic and black students have access to a full range of math and science courses, including Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Calculus,

80 American Indian/ Alaskan Native

70 60

Asian/ Pacific Islander

Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

“I think there are certain fields where, as a whole, there is less minority representation in those fields,” said Dr. Jonathan Merrill, Upper School Assistant Principal. “Particularly with science and math, not only does it tend to be fewer minorities in those fields, but there tends to be fewer females in those fields as well. That has an impact on the number of people of color that may be applying for those positions.”

According to Merrill, competition also plays a role in Woodward’s ability to recruit diverse candidates. “We will tend to get fewer applications for math and science generally,” said Merrill. “Part of that is people with math degrees and science degrees have opportunities in the fields outside of education that can be lucrative, and so I think that nationally there is a difficulty in hiring math and science teachers that are really qualified.”

Ms. Kelly Rambo, the new Director of Human Resources, confirms Merrill’s theory.

White Hispanic Black

50 40

40

20

30 20 10

0

U.S. Rate of High School Graduation by Race/EthRate of High School Graduation by Race/Ethnicity nicity 2013

0

U.S. Rate of Access to Full Range MathCourses and Science Rate of Access to Full Science andofMath

by Race/ Classes by Ethnicity Race/Ethnicity 2015 This information is from the U.S. Department of Education 13

“We’re a gigantic school, but in the grand scheme, schools are not all we compete with. When we’re competing for talent, we’re competing with nonschool organizations,” said Rambo.

“That being the case, we end up being a very small fish in a big pond when it comes to getting diverse talent when you’re looking at major national organizations.”

Part of the controversy associated with actively seeking a more diverse staff is that it may compromise the quality of teachers.

Despite the acknowledged need for a diverse faculty, the administration remains extremely selective in the hiring process.

“It’s something that we’re always cognizant of, to have a diverse faculty that reflects our student body, but we have to also make sure that we’re hiring people for the right reasons as well,”

room for improvement in terms of identifying recruitment pipelines that would have candidates of diversity, that we might more aggressively seek those sources filling our vacancies and hiring needs.”

Rambo, who oversees hiring, also explained other factors that limit Woodward’s ability to hire more diverse faculty. “Part of the thing we have to consider is that our staff tends to be very tenured and stays a long time, so when your staff stays a long time, you don’t have the opportunities to replace that staff with a diverse population. I really think that’s probably the strongest reason, because if you don’t have any openings we’re not really an organization that can add positions just to balance numbers,” said Rambo. “You also have to put forth the effort to bring in diverse talent when you do have the opportunity. I think

Temple University, said schools nationwide are employing more aggressive tactics to attract qualified, diverse candidates. Temple, in particular, is using new marketing strategies advocating for diversity, offering more competitive benefits for all teachers and encouraging current faculty members to network with colleagues of color at other schools.

“We reached out to minority faculty to help us find others to recruit and involved them in the recruiting process to encourage minority candidates to apply,” said Schwartz. “Many of them are aware of doctoral minority students coming in to our school. We are also offering competitive packages because every university in the country is after minority candidates. We have to be able to offer candidates a competitive package.”

At the end of the day, the

said Merrill. “In the ideal world, we’re going to hire master teachers, people who know their subject matter, people who have achieved academically in their area fields at a very high level, and then people who have a good amount of experience that would fit us.”

According to Merrill, there are diverse candidates qualified for teaching and administrative positions, but Woodward needs to improve their technique for recruiting them. “I’m convinced that there are qualified diverse candidates out there, but I think one of the things Woodward can do a better job of is identifying how to proactively seek and recruit more qualified, diverse candidates,” said Merrill. “Traditionally, when we have a job opening, we post it on the internet.

We’re relying on people to come to us and apply. I do think there is some

we’re quite comfortable. I think we’ve sought diverse candidates, but have we actively sought diverse candidates?

There is a difference. I think there’s some more work we can do.”

To bridge the diversity gap among the faculty, Rambo will implement succession planning, which is the process of identifying faculty who will be retiring in a few years and scouting diverse potential replacements in advance.

“We need to actively pursue educators of color when we know that we’ll have some openings. Being more intentional when we do have opportunities to replace teachers. I’ve done [succession planning] elsewhere, and I think that’s one of the things that’s going to get us to where we need to be,” said Rambo.

In the interview with University Business, Ira Schwartz, provost at

administration can’t always hire diverse staff. Whoever is the most qualified candidate, regardless of their identity, is selected. Candidates should not be required to be diverse, but, according to Goodman, they should be required to be culturally competent.

Cultural competence is defined by the National Education Association (NEA) as “having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families.”

“If you are hiring the straight, white, Christian male, are they at least culturally competent? Are they at least understanding of different cultures and the value of different cultures,” said Goodman. “If a teacher exists in a world where they assume every

“...one of the things Woodward can do a better job of is identifying how to proactively seek and recruit more qualified, diverse candidates.”

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Cartoon by Katie Denson ‘17 student has a mom and dad, twoparent household and their parents are able to help them with homework at night, that may be a lack of cultural competence because there are students who may only have one parent, or they may have a parent who works at night and when they go home, they don’t have a parent who’s able to help them with that assignment just like a student who has two dads.”

A way to measure the cultural competence, diversity and inclusivity of a school is the NAIS Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM) survey.

“It’s an opportunity to assess your school climate, so to see how people receive your school and how they experience your school operations,” said Goodman. “It looks at the entire school experience and breaks it down.”

Woodward will be taking the AIM survey next school year, and the administration can expect to learn a

lot of valuable information about how our school measures up in terms of diversity concerning both the students and faculty.

“Schools learn a lot from that experience. A lot of schools will use it in strategic planning. A lot of schools will use it in addressing serious programmatic needs or admissions needs. Some schools will address a specific part of the climate, whether it’s student safety or student perception of well-being,” said Goodman. “It’s a pretty complex survey, but a lot of schools use it to plan ahead and to figure out what’s next in addressing diversity and inclusion on their campus.”

Although the community is not yet where they may want to be as far as inclusivity and faculty diversity, great advancements have been made over the past couple of years.

When Freer first started at Woodward, he said the administration was comprised entirely of white men.

Now out of the six Vice Presidents, four are women, two of them being women of color.

The school’s work is far from over, but there is a serious effort being made to reach and eventually exceed our expectations regarding faculty diversity.

“Like everything else, we want it now, but it takes time. But I think we’re doing it purposefully, intentionally and thoughtfully, and we’re spending a lot of time and effort to find the best candidates to teach our students,” said Freer.

As of now, Freer and the rest of the administration are aiming for the faculty of color to reach the 20th percentile.

“There are a lot of folks who don’t want to put numbers into a strategic plan because if you don’t meet that goal, then somehow you’ve failed, where to me, anything going up is improvement,” said Freer.

15

The New Era of Police Brutality

16

OPINON Author | Nija Packer Photographer | Nick Huey

“It’s sad because we are well into the 21st century, and we should be better than this...

But it just tells you that racism has not ended, it will never, never die.”

- Jordan Meachum ‘16

It is well into 2016, far beyond the days of the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws Artwork by Katie Denson and segregation, and America has clearly emotional responses from people. Before the taken huge strides toward equality since the popularization of social media, it was possi1950s and 60s. However, there has been a ble for people to believe that police brutalsudden resurgence of the old practices and ity was a thing of the past and didn’t have tactics of the Civil Rights Movement: proany real place in society today, but turning tests, riots, die-ins, the black power fist and a blind eye to such violence is becoming signs printed with phrases like “End Police increasingly harder.

Terror” have all made a comeback.

“It’s sad because we are well into the There is also a revolutionary new slogan “Black Lives Matter.” Created in the midst of 21st century, and we should be better than this. We should be having equal rights and this social media frenzy that has defined the protection from everything, said Jordan decade, the Black Lives Matter movement has transformed the way that people see po- Meachum ‘16. “But it just tells you that racism has not ended, it will never, never lice brutality. The reason for these outbursts die.” Meachum is one out of several students of protests is not that our country is somewho believe that videos and stories of police how reverting back to the days of the Civil brutality have an emotional impact.

Rights Movement, nor that the amount or Danielle Young ‘18 said, “I feel angry. I severity of police brutality greatly increased. feel like I could be targeted at any moment People’s voices have just gotten louder. just because I’m African-American, because of my skin color.”

Make it go viral Amplified by social media outlets like #BlackLivesMatter Twitter, formerly silent people now have the First appearing in 2012 after the murder ability to speak up about the injustices of the law enforcement system in the United States. of Trayvon Martin, the #BlackLivesMatter movement made it very clear that police Social media also allows the actions of brutality in America is not a thing of the police officers to be broadcast to the entire past. There has been considerably more world thanks to camera phones. Seeing a coverage in the media about it recently.

NYPD officer choke a man to death resoAccording to Mapping Police Violence.com, nates far more deeply than simply reading about it in the newspaper and elicits a great- there were at least 1,152 people killed by the police in 2015. er response from the masses.

While people of all races are killed by the Videos depicting an officer pinning a police, black people are three times more 14-year-old girl to the ground at a pool likely to die at the hands of an officer, and 30 party, or another officer dragging a high percent of black victims are unarmed versus school girl from her desk and throwing her 19 percent of white victims. Furthermore, violently to the ground fuel the movement these numbers omit the countless number of and show the severity of police brutality. people that have been victims of assault or Such videos going viral prove that this is a unnecessary force by police officers. Conreal problem with our society, and triggers

sidering that black people make up roughly 13.2 percent of the population, but nearly 30 percent of those killed by the police, there seems to be a trend regarding police brutality ––police target more black people than any other race.

Students generally have mixed feelings about the movement. Some support it and feel that it’s important, like Young.“I think Black Lives Matter is important because all I see in the media is black people being killed by police officers, people that are put in place to protect us,” she said.

Taylin Morris ‘17 also supports it. “I look at that hashtag all the time,” said Morris. “I think that the hashtag Black Lives Matter is very important in today’s society and needs to be brought to more attention.” Social media has made it considerably easier to raise awareness for movements like Black Lives Matter, as people can now simply tweet out their support.

Marshall Simon ‘18 said, “I do think Black lives definitely do matter. I think it’s a tough situation because there’s definitely been some discrimination. Cops also have a tough job so it’s pretty tough...I think something should be done.”

Discussion about the movement tends to be polarizing, making police brutality an issue of cops versus citizens, even though it is much more complex than that.

Some critics of the movement point out that it has stirred up animosity towards all cops, even though not all of them are to blame for police brutality.

Wil Bruce 18’ said, “The inciting of violence and [being] anti-cop definitely doesn’t make [cops] feel good, because 99% of them 17

A man leads the crowd of protesters in downtown during the Black Lives Matter protests of late 2015. are there to help us.”

There are also other critiques of the movement pointed out by students like Sam Hickey ‘18, who said, “I just don’t really agree with it. It’s cool if you’re kind of showing out for your race and stuff, but I mean when people take it to the extreme and they hurt people for it, that’s kind of dumb.”

Another critique is the movement’s percieved lack of action.

“I think it brings more awareness to the problem, but the fact that none of us are doing anything to actually initiate it and bring it to the higher grounds...I mean it’s working to bring awareness but it’s not doing enough,” said Brennan McDaniel ‘17.

While Black Lives Matter has succesfully organized plenty of rallies, they are less well known for finding solutions to the problem of police brutality.

Blame game The presence of police brutality in the year 2016 brings up an array of questions about why it’s still such a prominent issue.

The underlying reason could be a lingering hate for the black community, or simply a few bad cops that give the entire police force a bad name. Truthfully, there could be a multitude of reasons why. Every case is different and so is every police department– there is no one-size-fits all solution. However, police officers can shoot an unarmed citizen multiple times and face essentially no punishment for it, such as Darren Wilson, who was not indicted for the killing of Michael Brown, which sets a scary precedent.

“We don’t really think about the police 18

force as someone that could hurt us, but I think arming the police and not determining whether or not the police are racist leads to that type of violence,” said Arjun Srinivasan ‘18.

Media circus The media has always been key in forming public opinion. A slight change in how a headline is worded can subliminally sway the way a reader feels about a topic. Black

“There is no such thing as a perfect victim, and victims shouldn’t have to be perfect for their death to be a tragedy.”

police brutality victims are consistently discredited in the media after their deaths, painted to be thugs or criminals. 17-yearold Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman while walking home one night.

After his death, articles were written about how he was suspended from school multiple times for skipping class, graffiti and having an empty bag with marijuana residue in it, even though his parents denied this was

true.

18-year-old Michael Brown was unarmed while being shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. When he died, a video of him stealing from a convenience store surfaced. Back in 1991, after Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers while trying to evade arrest, news outlets let everyone know that he had been convicted in a robbery a couple months earlier.

We are surrounded by media virtually all the time – television, newspapers, magazines and radio. The nature of the media is that it’s ubiquitous, ever present, and therefore has an unwavering influence on us without being too noticeable. Most people get the majority of their news from social media, which we carry around in our pockets 24/7.

By writing stories that portray victims of police violence as wrongdoers, it subtly suggests that perhaps they deserved to be punished. It is harder to feel sorry for someone who was “no angel,” “accused of stealing,” and “grappling with problems,” as the New York Times described Michael Brown.

After consuming these news stories, people are then relegated to be a part of juries that decide whether the police officers who killed these citizens should be sent to jail.

The problem with the media’s depictions is that it shouldn’t matter whether the victim was an angel or not. It would be a lie to say that Michael Brown never made any mistakes in his life, but everyone has made mistakes. There is no such thing as a perfect victim, and victims shouldn’t have to be perfect for their death to be a tragedy. Crimes

like stealing cigarettes are not punishable by the death penalty, and should not be treated as such.

Some police officers jump to use their gun rather than trying to physically restrain people, which is also an issue. “You can’t use you taser first? I just gotta be shot and killed? That’s your solution to the problem?” said Velanie Crowley ‘16.

All lives matter...right?

The popularization of #BlackLivesMatter also led to the creation of hashtags like #AllLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter and #WhiteLivesMatter, mainly used to counter the movement by saying that black lives are not the only ones that that matter. However, Black Lives Matter detractors miss the entire point of the movement.

Arjun Srinivasan ‘18 said, “The hashtag Black Lives Matter is responding to the disproportionate killing of innocent black civilians by white cops, and the death of a lot of black people for no reason. But #AllLivesMatter isn’t really relevant because white people aren’t being killed innocently by the cops.” Many people who take offense to Black Lives Matter don’t know the underlying cause of the movement, which is the continual mistreatment and killing of black people by police officers.

Young said, “I think all lives matter, like it’s nice and all, but it’s still taking away from the fact that there’s a problem in America, which is still, although people don’t want to say it, segregation and racism.”

LaQuan McDonald was shot 16 times by police officer Jason Van Dyke after being suspected of carrying a knife and breaking into cars, and he serves as another example of why the Black Lives Matter movement is still thriving in today’s society. An officer should not have to shoot someone 16 times, no matter the circumstances. Meachum said, “All lives absolutely, definitely matter, but just recently with LaQuan McDonald, and Trayvon Martin all those years ago, it just makes it so important that black lives are what’s important right now because innocent people continue to lose their lives over innocent things.”

The next step Civilians have more power than they think. Even President Obama agrees that the recent rallying and protests have brought awareness to the police brutality issue.

They have also led to body cams and more accountability for police officers. However, many students seem to think solving police brutality won’t be fixed by the citizens alone; direct government action is also necessary.

“I just wish that our government would

kind of step in because they’re so laid back about it, and they keep letting it happen in these different situations,” said Yolanni Lopez ‘16. She isn’t the only one who thinks the government should do more.

McDaniel said, “I feel like we don’t have an institute or a system in place where we put the right people out in the field to take care of business and make smart decisions everyday. I feel like because A protester marches with his hands raised, symbolic of we prioritize enter“Hands up, don’t shoot.” Many protesters cover their faces tainment and things to hide their identity. like that more than education and safety, that’s why we have the problems that we have today.” Though the use of dash cams and other similar devices has become more widespread, police officers still don’t always face major repercussions for their actions; that is usually when people call on government action.

Srinivasan said, “I think we should racially educate police officers, we should fire racist police officers, McDaniel added, “Until we start giving [and] we should change government policy towards it so that the police or the police department...more respect, we’re not gonna get it in return, you we prosecute those police officers and put feel me? So I think we are making strides as them in jail for killing people.” Many people far as getting cameras on the policeman and support this form of direct action against putting more discretion on them on their police officers, especially since in so many parts, but I think we gotta do the same if we instances of police brutality the officers wanna build that bridge.” walk free, like in the case of Tamir Rice. The Racism and police brutality will never grand jury declined to charge officer Timocompletely disappear. There will always be thy Loehmann with anything, even though bigoted people in the world and people who he shot a 12-year-old boy wielding nothing abuse their power. However, what we can do but a toy gun. is hold police officers accountable for their Chloe Adams ‘18, who blames racial actions, and social media is proving to be a issues on the lack of representation in the very effective way to do this. Now that cell government, said, “Think about who’s in power: old white men. You can’t get changes phones can easily capture a police officer’s mistreatment or even murder of a citizen if the same old mindset is in power. And and put it on the Internet where the entire they’re teaching their sons and their grandworld can see, they may think twice before sons who are going to come up to be our using brutal force to restrain people. Social politicians, our senators, all of those people media has helped publicize the issue greatly who are supposed to represent the black – now the next step is to figure how to fix it. community.”

NEW REGION

NEW CHANGES Photos | Nicholas Widener & Warren Bond Author | Garrett Oberkfell 21

As the final whistle sounded at the football game on Sept. 4, 2015 at St. Pius X’s George B. Maloof Stadium, students, parents and players all roared in celebration. Defeating our arch-rival gave everyone a special feeling like no other. No one could wait for next season when the football team would take on St. Pius once again. Yet, the Georgia High School Association instituted region changes throughout all GHSA sanctioned sports, and with the new schedule, the annual football game against St. Pius will not occur in 2016. We will compete against all new region opponents and mostly new non-region opponents.

Beginning in 2016, the GHSA will change from six to seven classes and will sort schools by how many students are enrolled. For example, the school with the most students will be in the highest classification, 7A, and the school with the least students will be in the lowest classification, 1A. The new 7A classification will have the largest 48 schools instead of the 64 it had last year in 6A. The GHSA wanted a more competitive top classification, so they shortened the gap between the largest school in 7A and the smallest school in 7A. Dubbed the “Super 48,” These 48 schools are supposed to be the best schools in Georgia athletics.

Also, instead of reclassifying regions every two years, the GHSA will now only reclassify every four years, creating more consistent regions.

Due to many city schools and private schools illegally recruiting at an unprecedented rate, the GHSA tried to level the playing field by instituting a new multiplier counting student population.

Instead of counting as one person, all students from outside the school’s county will count as one and a half students. There are many students outside of Fulton county that attend Woodward, so there are more students here according to the GHSA than are actually enrolled.

After having similar region opponents for many years, the GHSA overhauled the region completely. A region contains a small division of six or seven teams in the same classification in the same area. Our new region includes Druid Hills, Eastside, Henry County, Luella, North Clayton and Salem.

Due to the new multiplier, we have the second least amount of students in our new region with 1,096, according to the GHSA. Meanwhile, the highest, Eastside, has 1,384 students. Woodward is actually a 3A school in size that was bumped up to 4A with the new multiplier. Most other schools with roughly 1,000 students are playing in the 3A classification, but due to the many students from outside of Fulton county, the GHSA assigned Woodward to the 4A 22

classification.

Athletic director Dr. Jose Fernandez downplayed the new region change. “We were 4A already, so it really won’t affect us that much,” said Fernandez. He said it is mostly just a matter of new opponents.

“We are in a new region with schools we haven’t competed against in the recent past.”

Coaches of all sports will have to adjust to the new opponents and their different playing styles. Fernandez said a major

“

We were 4A already, so it really won’t affect us that much. -Dr. Jose Fernandez benefit of the new region is that there will be less travel time for athletes. With no more travel to Carrollton and Troup County, the farthest school, Eastside, is only one hour away by bus.

The new region change will affect Fernandez’s job and the coaches’ jobs. In the past, Fernandez knew and had relationships with all of the other athletic directors in the region. He has not met most of the other

New Region: Druid Hills Eastside Henry County Luella North Clayton Salem

athletic directors in the new region. “It’s an opportunity to meet new people,” said Fernandez. He plans to establish and build relationships with the new athletic directors until the region changes again, which will

not happen for at least another four years.

Another major change is that the non-region schedule will also be altered.

Individual sports will do their best to maintain private school and old region rivalries, but the new changes will limit those matchups.

As mentioned, the football team will not play St. Pius this year, at least in the regular season, and one of the most highenergy and highly anticipated games on the schedule every year will no longer occur due to the GHSA region realignments.

Also, current region rivalries such as Sandy Creek will basically disappear in almost every sport. There will likely be no more heated battles with schools like Carrollton or Fayette County.

“We try to schedule private school teams as much as possible,” said basketball head coach, Dean Anthony Thomas.

The problem is finding dates where both schools do not have an opponent already scheduled.

Another effect of the new region is the addition of another team in the region. Next year, Woodward will have six other teams in the region, and last year there were only five other teams. Many sports will have to drop a non-region opponent in order to fit the entire region play into the schedule.

The new region football teams have struggled in the recent past, so there

is a reason to be excited for next year.

Woodward will most likely play all new teams next year with Westminster and Marist replacing Lovett and aforementioned St. Pius X. None of the new region teams made the state playoffs last season.

Head coach John Hunt said a schedule with all new opponents will not affect his team and his coaching.

“Our focus will be on our team until game week in which our preparation is for that particular opponent.”

While the GHSA seems to focus on football and basketball as they realign regions, they seem to neglect the possible logistics issues with other sports such as cross country. The new region change affects the cross country team drastically. In the past, Sandy Creek’s cross country course always hosted the region meet. However, Sandy Creek is no longer in our region. No school in our new region has their own cross country course.

“

“We will do our best to schedule a meet on whatever course will host our region meet in cross country next year,” said Head coach Tim Hamling.

Softball head coach Greg Mooneyham will continue to use a certain scheduling strategy with the new region. Without much knowledge of the new region’s teams and strategies, Mooneyham said, “We will play a very competitive nonregion schedule which hopefully prepares us for our region play.”

Mooneyham will try to schedule the toughest non-region teams before region play starts.

Girls soccer coach Tonia Webb plans to institute a similar strategy when scheduling opponents.

“I always try to schedule a

Our focus will be on our team until game week in which our preparation is for that particular opponent.

-John Hunt

very strong non-region schedule, so we are ready for playoffs and have played the best teams in the state to prepare and test our strengths and weaknesses,” she said.

The teams want to be prepared before region play and the state tournament.

Overall, the new region’s strongest sport is probably tennis. The new region play should be competitive in both boys and girls tennis. Girls head coach Eileen McWhorter said she does not like changing regions, but she will adjust accordingly.

“You just get used to playing certain schools and get to know the coaches and where their courts are located, etc., and then you have to start all over,” said McWhorter.

She plans to make the adjustments necessary in order to successfully coach a tennis team that hopes to make a run at the region and state title once again.

Many sports at Woodward are not affected at all by the new region change because they are not GHSA sports. For example, the clay target team and ultimate frisbee do not follow the GHSA proceedings and do not have the same rules regarding regions. Those sports will continue to operate in the same way because they are not bounded by the GHSA rules and regulations.

The new region will be a great opportunity for coaches and players alike to compete against new teams and new competition.

Every team is set up for success with the new region, and the change benefits the athletes more than it hurts them. The addition of new competition, as well as shorter bus routes, should result in a more enjoyable and successful athletic experience.

23

Ground Common An Exploration of Affinity Groups Author | Maddie Ledet Photographer | Nic Huey

At a young age, people begin to discover the differences between themselves and others. Noticing differences is not anyone’s fault; acknowledging physical differences lies within human nature. However, in children, their small filters can create a lack of sensitivity to diversity. Everyday, children cry as a result of hurtful, vulgar or merely thoughtless words shouted on playgrounds and in school hallways.

The problem does not fade away as soon as children depart elementary school. High school students to adults still hear similar degrading words they once heard when they were young.

Even incredibly diverse settings can be home to malicious comments. “I am Iranian and one time heard a classmate say ‘Allahu Akbar’ in the middle of biology class while implying that all Muslims are terrorists,” said Ariana Sharafat ‘19. Statements such as this one stem from people’s refusal to acknowledge or accept diversity.

As a way to become an inclusive environment, affinity groups help highlight experiences of people who share one of seven identifiers: race, ethnicity, gender, religion, LGBTQ, socioeconomic background and age.

The groups are either exclusive to only identifiers, or they are open to advocates of that group. Either way, affinity groups exist to create strong links within communities and tackle some of the difficult questions people of those affinities face.

Schools across the nation prove that affinity groups can be successful. Kim Ridley of the Gordon School in Rhode Island has seen the positive effects that have occurred in her own community.

“It can be seen as an institutional step to deal with institutional racism that we are not aware of. It has been a pretty successful program,” said Ridley in a phone interview.

Inclusion is one of Woodward’s biggest goals. The administration attempts to foster it through different avenues. National acclaim denotes it as one of the most prominent schools in the Atlanta area

as well as the country. With 40 percent students of color and 2800 students schoolwide, larger numbers can mean larger amounts of diversity. Even though they have vast student diversity, few programs exist to nurture its spectrum of backgrounds Pre-existing diversity clubs such as Five Points, religious groups and Woodward Equality Alliance (WEA) focus on a broader scope of many of society’s pressing issues, but these groups do not help each individual decipher his or her own viewpoint based on their specific background, lived experiences and belief system.

Students have tried in the past to propose affinity groups, but so far, they have not received approval.

Rosetta Lee works as the Seattle Girls’ School’s diversity director and travels the country speaking about her experiences at the school in order to clarify the purpose of affinity groups and share how they have been helpful at her school. The fear of affinity groups usually disappears as people begin to understand and better grasp their purpose.

“I actually see more mixing across differences in the lunchroom than before we had affinity groups. It was like students were already in affinity groups.” said Lee in an interview. Providing an area for students to meet and talk about themselves makes them want to experiment and talk to people of other affinities. They want to explore and see what other people experience daily.”

As the Vice President of Diversity for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), Caroline Blackwell has an extensive understanding of what affinity groups are and their national effect.

“Affinity groups are natural gatherings of people who share common values or traits. They have been in existence for as long as humans have been socializing,” said Blackwell in a phone interview.

Even though they have been part of society for millenniums, schools just started formally adopting the groups.

In 1997, Beverly Tatum’s book “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” brought to light the necessity of affinity groups in schools.

“The author, in this case, helped educators and others understand that affinity groups and the presence of affinity groups really have to do with schools themselves not feeling like welcoming places,” said Blackwell.

After the book highlighted the need for affinity groups, the national trend of affinity groups has increased. More journals and books have been published about affinity group success stories.

Affinity groups can benefit the mass populous because by understanding one’s own culture, people become more knowledgeable about current issues and other aspects of society.

“The role [affinity groups] can play in individual students and groups of students allows for them to both explore their own identity development as members of groups, but also have that support for their academic self-conscious,” said Blackwell.

Society already congregates in their affinities from lunch tables to sports teams.

“The biggest misunderstanding of affinity groups is not realizing they already exist,” said Blackwell.

Most of the time society does not notice when white students congregate together.

People tend to push aside Caucasian students gathering but focus on the students of color because they can physically tell that they are together because of affinity.

“It is easier to tell if people of color are joining together because of the color of their skin. They get accused more often of separating themselves from the other students,” said Blackwell.

For an affinity group to function, people have a mutual understanding that students are already in affinity groups whether anyone notices or not.

The idea of affinity groups is not revolutionary.

Even so, lots of large and well-known schools with diverse populations have not adopted affinity groups. Woodward is the largest private school in the continental United States as well as the “most diverse demographically” private school in Atlanta.

With this level of prestige and diversity, one of its major goals is to foster an inclusive atmosphere. Over the years, it has taken many steps to accommodate and nurture its faculty, parent community and student body.

“What I love about Woodward and what attracts a lot of people’s attention to Woodward is diversity. We have have a goal to be a more inclusive community, a place where everyone feels more included in the conversation, where everyone feels like they have a voice in the direction of the school,” said Chris Freer, Principal of the Upper School and Vice President of Student life.

identify who will be its audience, what activities would the club do, who would sponsor the club, why Woodward should adopt this club, why can this club not be incorporated into other clubs, what is the club’s mission and how sustainable it would be.

Affinity groups have the ability to pass the nine requirements, but misunderstandings about what affinity groups are makes it difficult for the school to approve these clubs. In the past, other diversity clubs and programs have not been approved because many believed those affinity groups could be housed inside pre-existing clubs such as Five Points. However, some of those clubs believe that affinity groups should be their own standing groups.

Many pre-existing groups do not wish to incorporate affinity groups because of their different purpose than affinity groups. All of the current clubs are open to everyone

Because of Five Points, students have received a better understanding of current issues and the spectrum of ideas that lie present in a variety of conflicts; however, Five Points is open to everyone, making it difficult for some to open up about their inner feelings.

“Affinity groups are safe places that are like the family dinner table. You can come to this place and explain your baggage and history, and you are just part of the group. Five Points is much more outward-focused, and we educate people about our city,” said Hipp.

Even with the creation of Five Points, after riveting events or troubling times, students wander the campus trying to discover a place to process their feelings. Of course, the school offers assemblies for the school and diversity clubs, but these mass meetings accomplish a broad idea of the issue rather than focusing on how it affects the individual.

Over the past few years, with the explosion

A diverse student body allows for a multitude of rich cultures and ideas, but at a school as large ours, it can make it difficult to feel included in the school’s activities. As a way to corral and support all students, administration made adjustments to the curriculum and student life to accommodate all students.

“For six years, we have been a No Place For Hate school which was created by the AntiDefamation League,” said Freer. “We also did something to the curriculum five years ago which was to re-name our CP classes.”

Student Activities has also approved lots of clubs for students; however, they only approve clubs with a legitimate purpose in order to have a productive environment. WEA and Five Points are two of the original diversity programs.

“Students who have different sexual identities didn’t feel included in the Woodward communities, so we spent a lot of time thinking about and studying what best practices were for that community. We decided to start a Gay Straight Alliance that is now known as the Woodward Equality Alliance,” said Freer.

Creating a club is not an easy task. In order for a club to be approved, it has to incorporate nine qualifications. It must

and meet during lunchtime. Even though all of the groups allow for dialogue about pressing situations and a positive place to talk, they are not like affinity groups because of their policies about membership and their more general conversations.

Five Points is one of the most prominent, diversity programs. Teachers such as Mr. Timothy Hipp sponsor the club, while students do the majority of the leadership. By having the students lead, the club’s main focus shifts every year.

Five points was created around ten years ago when a group of students wanted to address problems about diversity. After hearing this initial complaint, the school dove into the situation, trying to figure out why students were feeling isolated and alone.

The answer to this issue was to create a club lead by studnets to discuss issues with other students, which is known as Five Points.

“One of the things we have enjoyed the most about Five Points is that ––if you chart it over the past ten years –– in the beginning, it was for racial discourse and discussing those issues. As time has elapsed, the leadership has changed and so have the topics to religious, educational and socioeconomic diversity. So Five Points is really an educational outreach,” said Hipp.

of social media, there are way more social justice issues with people feeling as if their words on the internet do not matter. In today’s time, affinity groups are crucial to helping re-sort the dynamics of the student population online and in person because no one wants to be alone. Affinity groups create a space that allows everyone’s deep intrinsic values to shine through.

“I feel like affinity groups at Woodward would benefit us as a community. It would give us time to breakdown into people with who we are or are not familiar through religion race, or other things,” said Justin Berger ‘17.

Some students see a duality in affinity groups of both separation and unity. Many students also feel that Woodward’s classrooms and overall environment already foster a positive and healthy environment for discussion.

“Affinity groups can lead to growth but can also be limiting. It does not lead to a very closed response, but you might not have a space to express the feelings you want to express that you want to in an affinity group because you do not have societal pressures.” said Tam Wheat ‘16.

Woodward’s student body has mixed opinions, and the administration continues to support students who are trying to discover the world of affinity. This year Dani Maner ‘17 and Sydney

Burke ‘16 attended SDLC (Student Diversity Leadership Conference), and they emerged confident creating an affinity group program would benefit the community.

Maner and Burke were both already incredibly interested in forming their own groups, a black student union and a feminist club respectively. However, after attending SDLC, their desires turned into great passions.

“I was in the black affinity group in SDLC and really saw how impactful and positive that experience was,” said Maner.

Before attending the conference, Maner had an idea of what an affinity group was, but she had never experienced the empowering feeling of being surrounded by people who looked like her and

prevents its creation is the debate about whether having a closed group would take away from non-affiliating students.

“Maybe Five Points or another club would be where the different affinities come together,” said Maner.

Like Maner, Burke has to deal with the issue of possible exclusivity and previously created clubs such as Girl Up, which indirectly pose a threat to creating a feminist club.

Girl Up’s mission focuses on the specific issue of sex trafficking rather than women’s rights in general. A feminism club would focus on discussing issues facing women from the wage gap to sexism.

“Girl Up is wonderful and really great, but they are very philanthropically oriented,

as if their safe space to talk is violated by the guys. Therefore, she would want a few real talks focused solely on women.

Though students like Maner and Burke exist, finding student leadership is a key part of the creation of these groups and helping develop student ties to the different groups is the next process.

At conferences such as POCC or STLC, diversity coordinators Anita Sanchez and Kit Tennis from the NAIS inspire students to become more involved with affinity groups and plant their seeds of change into the community. Most of the people Sanchez and Tennis work with are people who have already expressed their desire to cultivate their knowledge about affinity groups.

“ Talking biologically, it is like a moth metamorphosing into a butterFly..It undergoes complete disintegration of what was and emerges as something else on the other side.”.” who could relate to many of the same issues she encountered on a daily basis.

Coming back to school, Maner felt empowered by the conference and wanted to share that feeling with the rest of her community.

“I have wanted to start a black student union probably since my sophomore year, last year, and I think it is important for Woodward to have a black student union, so students who identify as black have a place to feel that they can speak about certain things and to have a safe haven where they feel empowered,” Maner said.

Her views about the format of the Black Student Union shifted dramatically after attending SDLC. Before, Maner accepted the idea of an open affinity group, which meant anyone could attend; however, experiencing a closed group changed her mind. She wanted to be able to channel the power of being surrounded by people who can relate.

“This group would be closed, but only because the definition of affinity groups is whoever comes identifies with the affinity. It would not be something that is exclusive and cutting other people out of it,” said Maner.

Even though the black student union has a lot of momentum from both students and Maner, its sole issue that

which is wonderful for helping women in developing countries. In Five Points, they have real talks about gender, but in those meetings, the topic gets shifted to things that a lot of people don’t understand like transgender and gender-fluid,” said Burke.“This year when I went SDLC I met a bunch of students who went through the same thing and discussed how they had clubs like [a feminist club and others] and their effectiveness.”

Burke started trying to make a feminist group last year, but the student leaders she met at SDLC re-energized Burke to continue her project for feminist advocacy.

The feminist club would take a different approach than the black student union because Burke decided the club would most likely be open. Burke wants to support its male advocates, but at the same time help comfort members who are shy towards people who do not affiliate with them.

Burke’s group would be more of a modified affinity group. A true affinity group is just the meeting of one community, but Burke’s is more of a congregation of multiple communities to recognize a specific need.

“It is very important for guys to be aware of things girls face,” said Burke.

However, she does not want girls to feel

“The people who come are committed to their own development and their own self awareness. Most of the attendees are like I’m coming here for me, and I get to experience this,” said Sanchez.

In its situation, a majority of the student population does not know what affinity groups are because of no prior education about the groups. There is not fault in not knowing, but it does diminish student interest in the groups.

Introducing affinity groups into student life or the curriculum would be a major process for Woodward. Even though starting up a group sounds simple, creating affinity groups requires a lot of careful planning.

The most difficult part is producing schoolwide interest. Sanchez and Tennis agreed getting people through the door the first time always is difficult. However, there are many techniques to attract attention. “‘I cannot motivate anyone else. They can only motivate themselves, but I can create a space, the environment where they are able to come and motivate themselves,’” said Sanchez, describing a mantra she tells at her seminars.

Even though one cannot motivateotherstoshow. up, whether physically or mentally, by creating 27

a safe space, more people are likely to come. If people have somewhere to turn to as a place of comfort as well as an area to answer their questions, that is an advertisement in itself.

A s long as people come one time and see the nourishing environment, then people can formulate a better grasp of what affinity groups are.

“A lot of times, we think of affinity groups as a place to work. We forget affinity groups are also place

of celebration and joy,” said Tennis For the first few meetings, Tennis advises students to invite a beloved or respected teacher, who will show that this club is legitimate and help people discover their passion for the group.

“It does a couple things: it gives people a chance to interact with that favorite teacher outside of the classroom and other spaces but specifically around your affinity group membership. It gives you a certain legitimacy,” said Tennis.

During the meetings, students also should try to enforce a brave space as well as a safe area. Instead of cowering away from discussing difficult topics, they must make sure to address uncomfortable questions and feel comfortable expressing their own opinions.

“All learning and growth occurs with some tension. Talking biologically, it is like a moth metamorphosing into a butterfly. It undergoes complete disintegration of what was and emerges as something else on the other side.

Discussing and confronting difficult topics results in something beautiful and a stronger, better person,” stated Blackwell.

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Dani Maner

SYDNEY BURKE

A group should not be a place of sorrow and sadness but of revelation and happiness.

“If you don’t pay attention to your higher purpose, it could be a time where people spend their time complaining and where people take care of their pain. It does always have the potential to raise talks in the community of if it is us versus them,” said Sanchez.

But if people properly foster their group, wonderful things can happen. People who are quiet and struggle to share their burdens become freed from their heavy load. Students have enough to carry. They need to focus on their studies. Unburdening themselves allows freedom to do just that.

“It’s an opportunity for people to refresh, to rejuvenate at a safe place and to grow but also to share what’s going on in their lives with other people, who they don’t have to do any work to explain their situation,” said Tennis.

Administration views affinity groups in a very positive way and hope to see them in its future.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea.” said Freer, “We just have to figure out how does that fit within this wonderful Woodward community. Are we there yet? Absolutely not, but we’re definitely on that journey to becoming more inclusive. I think affinity work fits in it. We just have to figure out how.”

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Race for the 50%+ 1 Authors | Erin Harris and Aly Shakoor Illustrations | Julia Du

The general election is now only a matter of months away. Amidst the partisan races for the nomination and the various campaigning, the event has become a much talkedabout issue in society, and not just among the traditional voters. Young people in their twenties or even teens have been buzzing with thoughts and opinions about the candidates and various political issues confronting the nation today. Social media especially has been filled with everything from verbose opinions to rallying one-liners, in support of or against various candidates. During this election, students have gotten involved and voiced their opinions more than ever before, shedding a whole new light on an event that in the past has been dominated by water cooler talk and paper newspaper columns.

Donald Trump From threatening a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” to receiving an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, presidential candidate Donald Trump, has been making quite the waves in not only the news, but also the presidential election.

Trump’s presence in this year’s election has definitely made it one to watch, so much so that even the up-and-coming generation of youths have tuned in to the presdential debates and taken to social media to discuss.

It takes less than five seconds for Donald Trump’s name to be echoed throughout the school walls in any conversation about the election. The reason why: his sheer attitude and demeanor, though there are both positive and negative feelings regarding it.

Wil Bruce ‘18 and Trey Turner ‘18 are both, more or less, proud Trump supporters.

“I love Donald Trump,” said Bruce. “He is a proven success story in everything he has tried. He has the skills needed to improve the economy and be a strong face against the war on terror.”

While Bruce was seemingly a lot more “gung-ho” for Trump, Turner 30

valued his lack of political correctness in comparison to the other candidates.

“I think that he is extreme at times,” said Turner. “But I respect him a whole lot more than any other candidate because he is willing to say what needs to be said. He has the right ideas and the right plan to put America on top once more.”

Emma A. Gallagher ‘19 and Ariana Machen ‘19 are clearly on the opposition.

“Donald Trump reminds me of Hitler in many ways,” said Gallagher. “He promises to make the country great again, is discriminative against one race of people, and is just generally arrogant. He is not someone who should be the leader of the most powerful country in the world.”

In comparison to the conservative Trump supporters, both Gallagher and Machen were in complete agreement in their opinions.

“I think he is an idiot,” said Machen. “That man should not be president. He does not have the experience, intellect or the compassion to do the job. Not only is he a blatant racist, but he is homophobic and just an overall bigot.”

Though opinions about him are generally extremely polar, many of them don’t include his policies. One of his well-known and controversial plans includes wanting to build a wall between United States and

Mexico because Mexico is exporting people to America who are “bringing drugs.

They’re bringing crime. They are rapists.”

Despite his most controversial policies, he still has 954 Republian delegates as of April 27. Both of his opponents are mathematically eliminated from winning through the primaries.

Ted Cruz While he’s famously known for his southern twang and wanting to carpet-bomb ISIS, Ted Cruz has become known as the diet Donald Trump. Regarding his actual policies, he is much more caffeinated in his beliefs than his Republican counterpart.

They align on the spotlight issues like the characterization of abortion as a woman’s restricted right, prevention of legally requiring hiring women and minorities and pure disgust towards same-sex marriage.

Some students absolutely despise Cruz and thought he was more or less the bane of Satan.

“I would vote for Trump over Cruz,” said Payton Scott ‘17. “Cruz is everything I hate about politics in one human.”

“He is like Trump Jr.,” said Machen. “He is just as bigoted and has an even more annoying voice.”

Others didn’t like him too much but thought

the bigger problem was that he would have a problem with support in the election.

“Ted Cruz to me is not even a candidate because if he were to win in the primaries he would have absolutely zero chance against Hillary,” said Julia Yarbrough ‘18. “Cruz is too far left for our country in 2016 and I worry often about what he might do if, by God, he was elected.”

Both Yarbrough and Ben Marcus ‘16 commented on his extreme conservative views.

“I think he is far too conservative to get anything done in the White House,” said Marcus.

Students also had a large number of backhanded compliments for Cruz.

“His economic views are strong and his tax plan is outstanding,” said Josh Sherman ‘17. “However, he is too socially conservative and won’t be able to win a general election with those views.”

While Sherman focused more on his social conservatism, Daniel Gallups ‘18 thought more of his debate technique.

“He is quite a snappy character,” said Gallups. “His quick responses in presidential debates make him seem like the man full of answers. Although some of his remarks can be offensive, I have a generally positive view of this candidate.”

One compelling difference between the

comments of Cruz and those of Trump is that there are more grey areas opinion-wise on whether or not people like him. Generally, people just don’t know him as well. People weren’t as familiar with his policies as the fact that he is indeed a die-hard republican.

With his pro-life, pro-gun,pro-carpet-bombISIS-and-build-a-wall-to-keep-illegalimmigrants-out ideology in his Republican bandwagon, Cruz’s ascension to the Oval Office is unlikely, but not yet impossible.

John Kasich Early in the race for the Republican nomination, John Kasich was just another relatively moderate and nameless candidate in the jumble of candidates. Yet, as other less controversial candidates like Rick Santorum and Rand Paul dropped out of the race one by one because of disappointing performances, Kasich remained hopeful and stayed strong in his course, joining Trump and Cruz as part of the final three.

It seems that his performance has been too little, too late. Apart from his vital win in Ohio, his home state, Kasich consistently falls behind his more left-leaning competitors.

Kasich lays claim to only about 153 delegates, compared to Trump’s 954 and Cruz’s 562.

His performance confuses some because he seems to have more appealing characteristics than his opponents, including his less radical beliefs, gubernatorial experience and support from other politicians. In addition, as Kasich likes to point out, national polls routinely show he would do better in the general election than either of the other Republican candidates.

“Kasich appeals to me because he is a strong leader with executive experience,” said Kristin Wadsworth ‘18. “He shows clear plans for what he wants to do in the Oval Office and how he is going to accomplish those goals.”

“I like John Kasich even if he does do poorly on TV. I like his points and how he can point to examples of how his ideas fared in Ohio. I like his experience,” said Garrett Oberkfell ‘17.

It’s impossible for Kasich to win the nomination in the primaries; too few delegates remain for him to win a majority.

Since it is unlikely that either Trump or Cruz will win a majority either, a “brokered” Republican National Convention in July may prove necessary. In that situation, Kasich would have a chance to change the votes of the attending delegates, and he’s confident that his experience and electability will get him through the haze.

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Bernie Sanders By now, everyone has heard one of Bernie Sanders’ famous rants about the one percent on Wall Street and the political establishment in Washington. The independent senator from Vermont has managed to build an impressive campaign against the once-clear choice for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.

What makes the campaign impressive is the revolutionary stance Sanders holds on many issues, more liberal than Clinton or any other Democrat favorite in recent memory. He wants to make college free for all Americans. He wants to more than double the minimum wage to $15. He wants to drastically raise taxes on Wall Street executives. And through all of his policies, he proudly labels himself a “Democratic Socialist.”

Like Trump, Sanders has tapped into the minds of those who are simply tired of Washington’s establishment politicians. He’s highlighted problems like politicians getting paid off by special interest groups and Wall Street executives getting away with reckless decisions.

“Even if you do not agree with the ways he plans on doing this, you will have to agree that Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate openly addressing the social problems of our country,” said Scott.

It’s not just policies that make Sanders different. All presidential candidates try to create a connection with their voters, but Sanders seems to take it to a new level. Many get the feeling that he doesn’t just want your vote. To many of his supporters, he seems genuinely concerned with issues like income inequality and corruption, and he brings a sense of passion for fixing those issues.

“Bernie Sanders wants to take the corruption out of politics and take care of every single human being in America equally,” said Scott. “How could you say that that is a bad idea?

“He is honest, understanding, and genuinely wants to make the United States a better place,” said Machen.

While his revolutionary liberal policies attract many, his far-left stance definitely has its detractors. For one, his critics see harm in increasing the role of the government in the economy because they fear its damage to the free market.

“He’s a socialist, plain and simple,” said Turner. “He clearly never took an economics course or had a job in business because he doesn’t 32

understand economics and business.”

“He wants to destroy big businesses, therefore leaving millions without jobs.

His healthcare plan hurts the middle class through more taxation,” said Gallups.

“Although not as extreme as Marxist theory, both fail in pragmatic situations.”

Whether his policies are good ideas or not, many remain skeptical that he can actually get them through Congress.

Not only would he have to change a lot of conservative minds in our Republican-controlled legislature, but he would also likely face considerable opposition from moderate Democrats.

“I can appreciate Sanders’ ideas, but I just don’t believe they are feasible in a real world environment,” said Henry Trotter ‘16.

Many working-class Americans are still recovering in the wake of the Great Recession. It makes sense, then, that some are worried how successful Sanders radical economic ideas would be without complete stability.

“Bernie Sanders’ ideas would be good in theory.

However, in the current socio-economic period of America, his ideas fail,” said Gallups.

Even those who don’t fully support Sanders agree he’s caused youth voters to become more involved in the political process.

“I think he is too radical to be a real candidate and that he is only useful at getting the 18-25 crowd to be more interested in politics,” said Marcus.

Hillary Clinton When Hillary Clinton last ran for the presidency, we were all about seven or eight years old, ten at the most. Now, after two terms of Barack Obama, who upset her back in 2008, she’s back at it again as the favored candidate. This time, she has four years as Secretary of State under her belt, and it’s clear that she’s not going to allow another upset.

Clinton has taken a stand on several issues confronting the nation. Many are continuations of Obama’s platforms, which for better or worse often earns her the label of “Obama’s successor.” She’s voiced her plans to tackle immigration policy, improve and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, fight ISIS and reward the working-class, among liberal stances on many other social and economic issues.

“She is head-strong and determined.

She is open-minded and very accepting of others,” said Allie Robinson ‘19.

Clinton is running a much more traditional campaign than Sanders. She

supports most of the liberal ideas and policies as Sanders like free health care and Wall Street reformation, but she generally takes a less extreme stance on those issues. She defends these positions by claiming Sanders’ policies won’t translate into any actual legislation.

She believes that while promising less, she will get a lot more done.

“She has the most government experience of all the candidates,” said Robinson.

“She knows how to get the job done and how to make efficient compromises.”

What may give her a leg-up on Sanders is her diplomacy experience. She served as Secretary of State during one of Obama’s terms, most notably navigating the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and working towards strengthening women’s rights around the world. Foreign policy continues to be an urgent area, especially with the rise of the Islamic State.

“She is the only candidate on the playing field with the political experience worthy of the presidency,” said Marcus. “I believe she is the only rational candidate and the only one who understands foreign policy.”

Clinton has been labeled as the “establishment candidate” by Sanders’ campaign, which would supposedly prevent effective reform of issues like Wall Street speculation and campaign finance.

“I think she is more in the pocket of big business than any other candidate,” said Scott.

The claims of being too “friendly” with Wall Street only add to the mistrust of Clinton. Clinton has come under fire for several controversies in recent years. For one, she has been accused of using a private email server to discuss classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State. Republicans also accuse her of allowing security weakness in the American embassy in Benghazi, leading to an attack in 2012.

Republican candidates have used these scandals to attack the senator ever since she announced her candidacy.

“Clinton is too much of a liar if I were to vote for her,” said Gallups. “Sniper fire in Bosnia, government emails, the list goes on. I would rather have Trump in power than Clinton because I love transparency. Legitimacy is the one thing I must have in a president.”

Her supporters, though, either are willing to look past the scandals or believe they were blown out of proportion.

“I’m not saying there wasn’t any wrongdoing on her part, because there was.

But I thought the Benghazi and email

situation were extremely speculated and brought to an obnoxious level by the Republican Party,” said Yarbrough.

“She is able to lay out and explain her plans as president. She has been involved in politics her whole life. She knows the law better than anyone,” said Gallagher.

“Although Hillary has made some mistakes, she is able to realize her mistakes, correct them, apologize and move on.”

Many high school students have developed informed opinions on the candidates and the current political landscape. But when November rolls around, only the current seniors and some juniors will be old enough to actually cast a vote. The rest will have to wait four more years to make their mark in the election.

Is this a little frustrating to some who have followed the primaries, watched tons of political commentary and otherwise gotten involved? Sure. Does it warrant a change in the voting age?

According to most students, probably not.

Though many younger students would have liked to have been able to vote, most of them agree that only adults should hold the privilege simply because it affects them the most.

“Eighteen is a good age because many other things occur at eighteen, like entering the military,” said Sherman.

“If you don’t pay the bills or live on your own, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote,” said Bruce.

Some even want the voting age raised for those reasons.

“At 18, most people are graduating from high school. Most of them have not had the experience of actual living and working conditions,” said Gallups.

“The age of 22 should provide a better way to give people the time and experience to learn for themselves.”

Finding a good balance is what really matters.

“Too young, and you would have more ignorance voting. Too old, and you would lose valuable voters,” said Scott.

Voting is not the only way to get involved, though. Many young people have shown their support in other ways, whether it be by voicing their opinions on social media or attending a local rally for their candidate.

Youth involvement in the election is significant. Even if not all of us can vote, our opinions add a whole new perspective to the election. Active participation has an effect on what we are talking about, how we are talking about it and who will lead our country through it.

Indeed, politics discussions are no longer dictated by middle aged newspaper readers. The kids have arrived.

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The Political Beliefs of Upper School Students

42%

40%

18%

30%

24%

22%

24%

*based on survey of Upper School students with 227 respondents

The Delegate Count As of April 25

Democratic Delegates Allocated

Republican Delegates Allocated

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232 Upper School Students Responded to the Following Question:

Av e 3.4 rage:

“On a scale of 1 (not informed at all) to 5 (very informed), how much do you consider yourself informed about current U.S. politics?�

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