The Black & White Vol. 57 Issue 1

Walt Whitman High School

7100 Whittier Boulevard Bethesda, MD 20817

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Volume 57, Issue 1

Turf field ready after two-month delay

The turf field is ready for use after a four-month installation process. Sunny Acres Landscaping, the installation company, expected the field would be ready before fall sport preseasons in early August, but record rainfall delayed the construction. The football team played their first game on home turf Oct. 5. Photo by ANNABEL REDISCH.

Field delay causes frustration among athletes Students earning Turf costs over $1.5 million, Booster Club contributes $150k more A’s with new grading system

by ALLY NAVARRETE

For senior Greg Shaffer, playing on the new turf field under the lights Friday nights was going to be the perfect way to finish his four-year career with Whitman football. But, due to the field’s two-month delay, Shaffer and the team missed out on a month of games.

But Shaffer will still get to finish his career on Whitman’s home turf.

The field was ready for play Oct. 5 after construction began in May. The first home game of the season took place Friday against Richard Montgomery.

The field was supposed to be completed Aug. 8, but persistent rain delayed construction.

Because of the delay, Whitman teams played no home games in September, leading to frustration and disappointment among athletes and fans.

Football players were especially upset that the homecoming game against Wootton High School was moved to 12 p.m. at Wootton on Saturday, Sept. 29. Turnout at the game was low because students were busy preparing for homecoming.

“There should be a lot of excitement around it. That’s kind of what makes it special,” lineman Tom Wilm-

arth said. “When people don’t come or when we don’t have a crowd, it brings the team down and affects our morale.

But at the same time, we have to play.”

The girls and boys soccer teams

You might not think having a crowd is that encouraging, but it is.

-sophomore Halle Cho had half of their practices at Burning Tree Elementary School and half on the baseball field, complicating logistics and practice dynamics.

“Burning Tree is a really rough field and the grass is a lot longer, so it’s hard to adjust back to a fast field for games,” midfielder Grace Martin said.

“It’s tougher for underclassmen who can’t drive and for transferring gear like water jugs.”

With all of the away games, athletes said low turnout caused a lack of school spirit and made it hard for them to mentally prepare for the games.

“When we have away games all the time, we don’t have the crowd in the stands,” midfielder Halle Cho said.

“You might not think having a crowd is that encouraging, but it is.”

In past years, the field hockey team held home games on the baseball field. The field, however, wasn’t maintained or lined over the summer since the team was expected to play on the turf.

“It’s really frustrating because that’s been the field hockey field forever and we want to keep playing on it, but we can’t,” senior captain Daisy Lewis said.

The delay also created challenges for Whitman’s All-Sports Booster Club. The group began advocating for the field three years ago and agreed to cover $150,000 of its cost, but the delay hindered their fundraising efforts, co-chair of the Booster Club’s Turf Committee Marc Ginsky said.

“The delays cost us a fair amount of concessions revenue,” Ginsky said.

“It’s hard to estimate exact amounts, but a few thousand dollars definitely, and the Boosters don’t receive funding from ticket sales.”

“Community” Continued on Page 5

6

14

by ANNA YUAN

More MCPS students are getting A’s in English, math and science classes, according to data released by the Board of Education Aug. 8.

The spike in higher grades is likely due to a case of grade inflation after the Board of Education changed the grading system in 2016 to alleviate students’ stress and reduce the achievement gap, Board member Jill OrtmanFouse said.

Before 2016, two quarterly grades and a semester exam determined students’ final grades. As part of the new grading system, MCPS eliminated final exams. Now, the grades’ numeric values are averaged and rounded upward.

Ortman-Fouse requested that the Board investigate and report the increase in A’s after receiving numerous complaints from MCPS parents, teachers and principals.

The Board’s data indicated that in the 2014-2015 school year, 16.1 percent of students districtwide earned an A in core math classes. The percentage nearly doubled to 31.9 percent in the 2017-2018 school year.

English teacher Eric Ertman has noticed that his history students are receiving more A’s than ever before.

“What disheartens me as a teacher is that grade inflation devalues the achievement of students who previously would have been the only ones earning A’s,” Ertman said.

“In the long run, the real victim of grade inflation are the students whose legitimate A’s have become cheapened as a result of this incredibly disturbing increase.”

While colleges do factor in grading policies when considering applications, there hasn’t been an effect on applicants’ chances of getting in, college counselor Kelly Fraser said.

“Grading” Continued on Page 4

Kavanaugh

Boys soccer top scorer

19

Covering Florence

Crossword: Crossed countries

17

A high schooler’s take on the historic nomination

WaPo reporter Scott Wilson reflects on covering the devastating storm

After verbally committing to Lehigh University, senior Natan Rosen hopes to lead the varsity soccer team to states

News

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

2

New security measures added after county review and MCPS resource officers, and the effectiveness of security cameras. The protocols are intended to enhance the security measures already in place.

In the front entrance, the vestibule doors are locked from 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. From the front doors, visitors proceed to the main office, where a visitor management system now requires guests to scan their state-issued ID and use a computer to register their reason for coming. The computer takes a picture of the visitor and prints out a sticker with their information.

Secretaries are alerted if visitors appear on the Maryland State Sex Offender Registry or other criminal

by KATIE HANSON MCPS implemented several security measures over the summer to improve safety at Whitman, including security doors to create an entrance vestibule. Now, visitors enter through the main or guidance office. MCPS also installed an updated visitor management system, and administrators plan to hold at least one active shooter drill this year.

These measures come after a system-wide security review that county officials conducted last year.

The review evaluated management of security personnel, partnerships between local law enforcement

hallway entrance

lists.

The active shooter drills are aimed at improving lockdown protocol. The drill is designed to teach students how to act in an emergency and will be different for elementary, middle and high schoolers, Board of Education member Rebecca Smondrowski said. Though the specifics of the drill haven’t been finalized, high school students might practice fleeing or hiding from an active shooter, MCPS spokesperson Derek Turner said.

“People do better when they have an idea of what to expect in an emergency situation,” Smondrowski said. “It’s to make sure that people feel comfortable and know

how to proceed.”

MCPS also supplied magnetic strips for every classroom door.

The strips allow teachers to secure the doors in locked position at all times.

The updates have received mixed reactions from teachers and students. In an informal lunchtime survey of 52 students, 48 said they feel safer or as safe with the new security measures. Others, like sophomore Jessica Solomon, said the new measures do more harm than good.

“The doors are making it seem like there’s more of a threat than there actually is,” Solomon said.

“Now, it’s just harder to get out.”

hallway entrance

Psychology teacher Sheryl Freedman said she feels somewhat safer but thinks it’s still easy for anyone to enter the school through a back entrance.

“The front entrance is definitely safer,” she said. “But I don’t know if the school itself is that much more secure.”

Security team leader Cherisse Milliner is more confident.

“We’re doing a great job.

We’ve really stepped up,” Milliner said. “I know it’s an adjustment. It’s something that everyone has to get used to, but if everyone took security as seriously as I do, they would understand how important the safety of the school is.”

Whittier Woods entrance

vestibule doors

preschool entrance

(locked during school day)

Guidance office

Main office main entrance

f enoyer tra nc e

ent

ran

left entrance to school

main entrance

ce

propped open during sixth lunch without a security guard present. Another day, the vestibule was left open for 15 minutes after first period started and between first and second

”

Nine out of 10 students say they feel safer or as safe at school as they did last year.

period that day. Anyone who entered the main entrance could have continued through to the school without checking in at the main

office. School resource officer Dana Schoup said it’s difficult for the security team to monitor every door.

In the main and guidance offices, secretaries are supposed to monitor the flow of students entering the building during lunchtime. In three out of four of our observations, the guidance office secretary was absent, and main office secretaries either weren’t at their desks, were talking to people or were working on their computers. The doors leading directly to the gym were open one out of the four times we checked, and the auditorium side entrance was unlocked three days during lunch.

In Whittier Woods, the main door of Alef Bet Montessori School was propped open after school on two occasions. Though Whitman doesn’t control Whittier Woods security,

um

gym

er ce foyntran e

A

fter MCPS installed new security features at Whitman this year, over 90 percent of students say they feel safer or as safe at school as they did last year, according to an informal Black & White survey of 52 students. To understand why, we investigated whether the measures achieved their intended outcomes.

Over two weeks, we observed the presence of security guards and the security of the vestibule and exterior doors, checking every exterior door before, during and after school. During the school day, we checked doors between first and second period and again between third and fourth period, making additional checks during third period and both lunches every two to three days.

With a few exceptions, the security team followed the main entrance protocols between 7:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., when all outside doors and the vestibule are supposed to be closed. Throughout our observations, we found all other entrances to the school were locked a little more than half of the time.

One day, one of the vestibule doors was

vestibule

ori

by KATIE HANSON and MAX LONDON

dit

Gym

Au

Do the security measures work?

r e ig to ntraht sc nc ho e ol

Analysis:

side entrance

the preschool is directly connected to the high school.

When the school day ends, security locks most of the outside doors, but the gym foyer entrance stays open for activities. Milliner said coaches and after-school activity supervisors decide whether or not to lock the doors they use.

Milliner said she’s concerned about the open doors, which coaches often leave unsecured after school. Our overall findings didn’t surprise her, she said, but she wishes teachers and staff members considered the implications of leaving doors unsecured.

“We’re all adults,” Milliner said. “We should know how to do our jobs. It’s common sense.”

Main entrance

Vestibule

Doors unlocked

Preschool doors Auditorium sidedoor Right entrance to school

Doors locked

Graphics by JULIA RUBIN

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

News

3

Whitman welcomes new asst. principals

briefs Executive order issued to improve school accountability

by KATIE HANSON

Assistant principals Phillip Yarborough and Michelle Lipson joined Rainer Kulenkampff and Kristen Cody this year. Both began their education careers 20 years ago. Lipson taught math at Rosa Parks Middle School and Yarborough taught English at a North Carolina high school. Photos by KATHERINE LUO.

by ANNA YUAN This fall, two new assistant principals, former MCPS supervisor of Student Online Learning Michelle Lipson and former Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School assistant principal Phillip Yarborough joined the administration team along with new principal Robert Dodd. Lipson and Yarborough replaced Kathy McHale and Jerome Easton, who retired last year.

Michelle Lipson channels passion for art into education

Before going into education, Lipson designed and manufactured kites, costumes, play houses, puppets and stuffed toys for her own company, Dinosaur. She sold the toys to museum shops all over the world, including the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “A museum shop’s mission is education,” Lipson said. “I became very interested, so I decided to use my experiences and bring those with me into education.”

Lipson has had a variety of careers. Her most recent teaching job was at Rosa Parks Middle School teaching math over 20 years ago. In 2013, she became the county supervisor of Student Online Learning and the supervisor of the Office of Curriculum and Instructional programs.

At Whitman, Lipson oversees the special education and technology departments. She’s also the 10th grade administrator.

Teachers say Lipson is enthusiastic about the departments she oversees.

“She’s very passionate about engineering, computer science and student learning,” engineering teacher Brooke Mallin said. “We welcome her fresh outlook on our program.”

Lipson said she looks forward to attending football games and interacting with students.

Phillip Yarborough emphasizes #onewhitman

Yarborough began teaching English in 1998 at Warren County High school in North Carolina. In 2012, he became a 9th grade administrator at Integrated Design and Electronics Academy Public Charter High School in D.C. He left IDEA in 2014 to help create a D.C. branch of Texas’ Harmony Public Schools, a system of charter schools that teaches STEM subjects to students in low-income areas.

“For me, it was a matter of exposing kids to hands-on learning at an earlier time,” Yarborough said. “Around 90 percent of the school is African-American. Kids of color are not pushed in the math and sciences. Harmony gives them the opportunity to explore STEM.” Last year, he was an assistant prin-

cipal at Wilbert Tucker Woodson High School in Fairfax County.

The shorter commute and Whitman’s positive reputation motivated him to come to the school, Yarborough said.

Yarborough oversees the English, ESOL and fine arts departments, and is the ninth grade administrator. He said interacting with students is his favorite part of the job.

“High school is a critical point in young adults’ lives,” Yarborough said.

“Establishing relationships and truly understanding the influence you have on someone makes my job very rewarding.”

Many staff members said they appreciate Yarborough’s enthusiasm.

“He sounds very energetic and ambitious,” English teacher Eric Ertman said. “I’m happy to be working with him.”

Yarborough said he values a sense of community. He hosted a barbeque for the whole staff the week before school began, a tradition he picked up from Woodson High School. Yarborough is also active on Twitter and uses #onewhitman to promote togetherness.

“I believe that, in a community, everyone supports any and everything that’s Whitman,” Yarborough said.

“Doesn’t matter what it is. It’s just one Whitman.”

High lead levels found in Bethesda elementaries Most remediation plans completed last summer

by ZARA ALI Water testing across MCPS revealed that 94 of the 213 schools tested had at least one fixture with lead levels greater than 20 parts per billion, the state-mandated threshold for remediation.

Inspection company Intertek carried out testing after the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill in July 2017 requiring all school districts to undergo water testing every three years.

In the Whitman cluster, Bannockburn, Burning Tree and Bradley Hills elementary schools had heightened lead levels, requiring further testing and repairs, which were mostly completed in the summer. Prior to the bill, officials only tested renovated and new schools, meaning most schools hadn’t been tested since they were built.

“MCPS was quick to deal with the drinking fountains that had elevated lead levels in them,” Bradley Hills principal Karen Carsocio said. “The county goes in and changes the fixtures and some of the piping relatively quickly.”

County subcontractors

found lead contamination in some fixtures in Whitman’s drinking fountains, but the highest lead fixture was only 11.7 ppb in a kitchen, according to the Whitman report.

Principal Robert Dodd said he’s glad the county is testing lead levels.

“I fully support MCPS’ approach to consistent testing so we can make sure that what we provide at Whitman is safe for kids,” he said.

Bradley Hills had six fixtures above 20 ppb, with some as high as 42.8 ppb.

These fixtures included drinking fountains attached to classroom faucets and faucets in work rooms, but Caroscio said students rarely drink from these fountains.

Many schools outside the Whitman cluster had significantly elevated lead levels. At Einstein High School, one fixture had levels of 700 ppb. Most of the schools with the highest levels repaired the faulty fixtures this August.

Some schools with fixtures with high lead levels have distributed water bottles to students. At the North Lake Center, a Rockville

holding facility for elementary schools that are under construction, students didn’t use any of the water stations to avoid the risk of drinking contaminated water.

“None of the water stations at North Lake were used last year, and we used bottled water for the entire school year,” Barnsley Elementary principal Andrew Winter said. “That’s been done when Wheaton Woods was there before we were

there, and that is still being done for Maryvale since we’ve left.”

Although the elementary schools in the Whitman cluster informed parents about the water testing, schools didn’t notify them about the results. The water testing reports are available on the MCPS website.

“I think parents have the right to know if the lead is high,” a Bannockburn parent said.

Maryland school districts will be monitored for gradefixing, misuse of funds and other allegations of misconduct following Governor Larry Hogan’s Sept. 4 executive order to establish an Office of Educational Accountability. The post will investigate allegations of child abuse, safety concerns and grade fixing.

The order came after an independent audit found that nearly 30 percent of a sample group of students in Prince George’s County’s 2017 graduating class lacked the necessary documentation to prove they were qualified to graduate. PGCPS teachers also made thousands of grade adjustments so students could graduate, the audit found.

Several other alarming incidents, including the imprisonment of the Baltimore County superintendent for not disclosing his outside income, also motivated Hogan to create the office, Hogan said.

“There is a persistent and alarming lack of accountability in local school systems across the state,” he said. “It cannot and will not be tolerated by our administration.”

Hogan appointed Valerie Radomsky, a former Baltimore County teacher and current Chief of Education for the Maryland Comptroller Office, as the director of the OEA. “As a teacher, I saw firsthand how every decision made by policymakers and the school system leaders, directly impacts the quality of education that our students receive,” Radomsky said. “The purpose is to serve as a clearinghouse, where we take in concerns and help people find solutions.”

MCPS was not one of the four counties Hogan had specific concerns about, but Principal Robert Dodd still applauded the state for creating the Post.

OC sees tourism increase after late school start date

by MAX LONDON Ocean City had a successful end to its tourism season for the second year after Gov. Larry Hogan passed an executive order in 2016 mandating that schools start after Labor Day. Although the Maryland Department of Tourism hasn’t released the August to September revenue reports yet, many Ocean City businesses have reported an increase in revenue, said Susan Jones, the executive director of the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association. Jones said these businesses earned more revenue this summer than in summers before Hogan’s order.

“We were thrilled when Hogan announced that schools would start after Labor Day,” Jones said. “Being a resort community, our businesses count on students to help run seasonal hotels, restaurants and attractions. With schools starting after Labor Day, we still have the high school students to help service the guests.”

Glenn Irwin, executive director of the Ocean City Development Corporation, said other factors—like the construction of dozens of parks and plazas over the past few years—may have also contributed to the revenue increase.

“It’s very important for a tourist-based town like Ocean City to look appealing and clean to visitors to attract them year after year,” Irwin said. “That’s what people expect when they come to Ocean City for vacation.”

MCPS central office workers to substitute teach

by JOSEPH FERRARI

Graphic by LANDON HATCHER Stats from 2018 county report on lead levels

Instructional specialists from the county’s central office will serve as substitute teachers this year to ensure schools always have substitutes available. The decision came after Superintendent Jack Smith issued a memo Aug. 1 outlining the pilot program.

Each instructional specialist will set aside two to four days of the school year to substitute teach in schools that don’t have enough substitutes.

Former Student Member of the Board Matt Post proposed the idea to Smith in a June 22 memo. He said he hoped the program would reduce the disconnect between administrators and students.

“Experiencing the daily classroom environment will give our central office staff perspective to how classrooms operate,” Post wrote in the memo.

Post said he’s glad the Superintendent implemented the proposal.

“There are a multitude of reasons why this program is good,” Post said. “The fundamental one is to bridge the divide between central office and classrooms, but we also have a teacher shortage in this county of qualified substitute teachers.”

4

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

News

AP NSL, AP World undergo curriculum changes

College Board plans to cut thousands of years from AP World History

by MATT PROESTEL The College Board announced in July that thousands of years could soon be cut from the AP World History curriculum starting next school year.

The most recently proposed curriculum would start at the year 1200 C.E., but discussions about the curriculum’s timeline are still ongoing. The change comes after college professors, students and AP World teachers argued there wasn’t enough time to cover such a vast amount of history. The current curriculum covers 10,000 years of history. If the proposal is approved, the Board would create a pre-AP World course to cover history before 1200 C.E. “We share the same priorities: engaging students in the rich histories of civilizations across the globe and ensuring that such important content is given the time it deserves,” a statement on the College Board’s website said.

The Board’s decision was met with backlash from prominent historians. American Historical Association president Mary Beth Norton and executive director James Grossman outlined their frustration in a June 12 letter to the College Board. The two said starting the course at the time of European colonization ignores the contributions of pre-colonial civilizations.

“While recognizing the challenges of teaching the current course with its broad scope, the AHA believes that this particular revision is likely to reduce the teaching of precolonial histories at the high school

level,” Norton and James said. “It risks creating a western-centric perspective at a time when history and world history have sought to restore as many voices as possible to the historical record and the classroom.”

The curriculum change has received mixed responses from teachers and students. World teacher Jacob East said he thinks reducing the course’s scope will encourage in-depth analysis.

“The new curriculum would allow for more time to focus on different time periods,” East said. “There aren’t any college classes that cover the entire history of the world. Making the AP World curriculum focus on a selective timeline of events will make the content more manageable for students.”

But AP World History teacher Wendy Eagan agrees with the AHA. Eagan said she’s worried the new curriculum will take away from non-western cultures and civilizations.

“If they do make these proposed changes, the American Historical Association will be against it as well as the World History Association, who are made up of long standing professionals,” she said.

Junior Ethan Singer, who’s taking AP World this year, said he thinks the new curriculum will appeal to more students because it would cover a smaller chunk of history.

“For AP World, I would prefer to focus on a shorter period of time so that we could study a specific section of history in greater depth,” Singer said.

New NSL curriculum focuses on critical thinking, current events

by ANNA YUAN AP NSL classes now emphasize indepth analysis instead of learning key terms after the College Board redesigned the AP exam, forcing teachers to restructure their classes.

The redesigned exam emphasizes critical thinking, analysis and applying principles of government to current events, as opposed to the previous exam, which contained mostly fact-based questions, AP NSL teacher Suzanne Johnson said. The

It’s better preparation for what students will experience in college and in their future jobs.

- social studies teacher Katherine Young new exam also requires that students know 15 landmark Supreme Court cases and nine key foundational documents. Previously, the Board only recommended teachers include these cases and documents in their classes.

The redesigned multiple choice section asks students to analyze qualitative data and compare and contrast political concepts. In the new free response question section, students have to analyze quantitative data, compare two Supreme Court cases and write an argumentative essay.

To prepare for the new FRQs, students have spent more class time analyzing documents and learning writing skills.

“We’ll spend much more time teaching more specific writing skills, which wasn’t taught before,” AP NSL teacher Katherine Young said.

Instead of centering the class around a textbook, the teachers now use a College Board framework that outlines what they’re supposed to teach each day. In the past, the Board provided a general outline for the whole year.

Sophomore Emma Buxton said the activities are tedious, though she enjoys the emphasis on collaboration.

“They’re somewhat engaging because we’re able to work in table groups, which helps me understand concepts,” Buxton said. “Saying things out loud and bouncing ideas off other people helps me a lot.”

Despite some students’ complaints, Young said she’s excited for the new challenge and thinks the redesign will benefit students in the long run.

“Reading excerpts from documents or comparing data from charts are real-life skills,” Young said. “It’s better preparation for what students will experience in college and in their future jobs.”

Grading system unlikely to change despite higher grades It makes it easier to do well in your classes, gives you a bigger advantage and is a really big cushion.

-senior Ava Henderson

“Students” Continued from Page 1 “In our practice, we haven’t seen the grading policy at MCPS have any deleterious effect on applicants,” Fraser said.

In an informal Black & White survey of 37 students, 30 said they like the new grading system because it alleviates stress.

“It makes it easier for you to do well in your classes, gives you a bigger advantage and is a really big cushion,”

senior Ava Henderson said. “Maybe it’s unrealistic to what college will be like, but in terms of getting the grade, it’s a lot easier, and it’s better.”

Ortman-Fouse hopes the Board will reconsider the grading system and look for other ways to reduce student stress.

But Board president Michael Durso said he’s hesitant to reevaluate the system after only two years.

“We would be interested in hearing what the superintendent’s office

might recommend,” Durso said. “The Board is also getting ready to change over this coming election, so it might not happen before the new Board comes in and takes office. I don’t see it happening soon.”

Still, Ertman hopes that the Board will reconsider the system.

“I can’t stand this grading system,” Ertman said. “The people who have decided to change the policy are, in my opinion, misguided and achieving the opposite result of their intentions.”

PARCC to be replaced by 2020 following low scores New test likely to be shorter in length with same emphasis on English and math

by MAX LONDON After next school year, students will no longer take the PARCC test, an exam many students said was “long” and “boring.” A new exam created by the Maryland State Department of Education will replace the PARCC, which was first administered in 2015. Gov. Larry Hogan and state superintendent Karen Salmon announced the change Sept. 4 following an MSDE order.

This year, PARCC is only being administered in Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. To receive a Maryland high school diploma, students must pass the Algebra I and English 10 PARCCs. The federal government requires that every state administer one standardized test for students in third through eighth grade and two for high schoolers every year. Mike Petrilli, the president of an education think tank, said the new exam will likely test the same subjects as the PARCC: English and math.

Teachers generally disliked the PARCC assessments because prepar-

ing students for the test took away from regular classroom instruction. Math teacher Laura Rhodes said it took weeks to prepare her students for the Algebra PARCC. Besides the extended preparation time, the test is also held in May, so teachers have to try to finish teaching necessary curriculum before the test.

“We’ve now lost a quarter of what we used to teach,” Rhodes said. “I would like all that material we lost to come back.”

The decision to eliminate PARCC testing comes after years of low scores throughout the state, starting when the MSDE began administering the test in 2015.

At Whitman, about 16 percent of sophomores didn’t meet state expectations in English, and about 38 percent of students who took the test didn’t meet expectations in math in 2017.

“I’ll admit that I’m disappointed, but I don’t think the state had a choice,” said Petrilli, president of the Thomas Fordham Institute, which has conducted multiple studies on the PARCC. A 2016 Fordham study categorized

the PARCC as a high-quality assessment. The study found that the English section is complex and has a variety of question types. In math, the Institute concluded that the content generally aligns with high school math classes.

Some English teachers said they thought the English PARCC didn’t test the skills students learn in high school English classes.

“They should be taught life skills and good reading and writing skills.

The PARCC test didn’t measure that,” English teacher Melissa Carr said.

“They need educators creating it, but I don’t think that happens a lot.”

Students said that they felt the PARCC exam was too long.

“When I was taking the test, I didn’t think the material was hard itself,” junior Siena Smith said. “It was just so long.”

The MSDE met in August to outline ideas for the new standardized test.

The department’s communications director Bill Reinhard said it’s considering making the new test shorter.

In 2017

16%

of sophomores didn’t meet English 10 PARCC expectations

38% of students

didn’t meet Algebra 1 PARCC expectations Graphic by ZOE CHYATTE and NOAH GRILL Stats from Whitman test results

5

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

News

Condoms offered in school health room as of Oct. 1 Students required to meet with nurse about safe sex and condom use

by MEERA DAHIYA Students can get condoms from the school nurse in all MCPS high schools as of Oct. 1, after the Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Sept. 11. The resolution expands a pilot program at Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill, Wheaton and Northwood High Schools, where condoms became available at the beginning of the school year.

The Maryland Department of Health reported a 17 percent increase in chlamydia cases and a 29 percent increase in gonorrhea cases in 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that, in 2016, people ages 15-24 accounted for the largest number of sexually transmitted infection cases, meaning young people are especially vulnerable to these diseases. Board member Jill Ortman-Fouse and Montgomery County Council member George Leventhal sponsored the resolution to increase students’ access to contraceptives and to curb the in-

creasing rates of STIs in MCPS. “I want to keep all of our students safe so that our students don’t expose themselves to diseases that can have lifelong health consequences,” Ortman-Fouse said.

To get a condom, students have to schedule an appointment with the nurse, talk to the nurse about safe sex and learn how to use the condom, Watkins Mill nurse Nancy Caruso said.

The MCPS health curriculum includes lessons about using condoms, health teacher Nikki Marafatsos said. But Ortman-Fouse believes it’s still important to reinforce this information once a student decides to become sexually active, she said.

“I think it’s one step closer to making sure our children have safe sex and that they are protecting themselves from both pregnancy and communicable disease,” parent Laura Brown said.

The Maryland Infectious Disease Bureau already gives each county 4,000 condoms per

year. If MCPS needs more than 4,000, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services will buy more. Most high schools will receive 100 condoms each month.

“The health center providing condoms

There was a 17 percent increase in chlamydia cases and 29 percent increase in gonorrhea cases in 2017.

-MD Department of Health In 2016, people ages 15-24 accounted for the largest number of STI cases.

- Centers for Disease Control

is a big step forward,” senior Ethan Gilman said. “As the prominence of sexually transmitted diseases continues to grow, adults need to play a supportive role in safe sex among teenagers.”

Student Member of the Board Ananya Tadikonda said providing condoms in schools could increase equity within the county.

High-poverty areas in the county have the highest STI rates because students often can’t afford contraceptives, Tadikonda said.

“This is one step forward that our community can take in ensuring that kids who come from impoverished backgrounds are not deprived of resources they need to stay healthy,” she said.

Students say they are willing to take advantage of this program.

“Condoms are so expensive,” a junior girl said. “If all you had to do was go into the office and talk to the nurse to get a condom, that’s definitely something I would do.”

Community excited for turf field’s opening “Turf” Continued from Page 1 Montgomery Soccer Inc. agreed to pay for part of the turf field in exchange for field time.

Counting on the new Whitman field, MSI had scheduled fall season games to be played on the new Whitman field, which had to be moved. MSI could have moved games on rainy days to other turf fields, but the number of turf fields is limited; when there isn’t one available, games get cancelled.

Now, all Whitman teams have access to the field, and MSI will use the field for evening and after school programs and on weekends. Any other additional time will be available for community use.

“It’s unfortunate that installation of the field fell behind schedule due to the weather,” principal Robert Dodd said. “But it will nonetheless be a big asset to our students and community.”

The turf field was completed after a two-month delay. The delay has complicated scheduling games and practices for fall sports teams. Photo by ANNABEL REDISCH.

MCPS considering excusing absences for civic activism

by JOSEPH FERRARI and KATIE HANSON Missing school to attend protests and marches may soon qualify as an excused absence after the Montgomery County Board of Education gave preliminary approval Sept. 11 to a proposal that would allow students to get three excused absences per year for political activism.

The proposal, submitted by board member Patricia O’Neill, comes in response to the walk-

outs against gun violence last March. Thousands of MCPS students skipped school for the protest, prompting schools to make inconsistent decisions on whether to mark students’ absences as excused. Some schools welcomed the student activism, while others discouraged it.

“The problem is that, while Dr. Goodwin at Whitman was encouraging his students to be civically engaged, that wasn’t universal everywhere,” O’Neill said. “It’s making sure that it’s a fair process

across 25 high schools.”

To get an excused absence, students need permission from a parent, the principal and the group leading the civic event.

It’s up to each high school to determine what constitutes civic activism, board president Mike Durso said. He said he believes the proposal will encourage student political engagement.

“It’s one thing for you to learn about the role of the three branches of government,” Durso said. “But it’s very different for you to be in-

volved in an issue that has some connection to how government is run.”

Congressman Jamie Raskin said he’s happy students are politically active.

“The great thing about politics is that there are so many ways to make an impact,” Raskin said. “I think we’re living in a time of great political energy and commitment.”

Senior Mariana Fajnzylber said she’s glad the Board is promoting student activism. Fajnzylber, co-president of student activ-

ism club Vikes for Action, said that unexcused absences discourage her from participating in civic events, something she’s passionate about.

“I don’t think that [my family] would be happy if I had to get an unexcused absence to take part in activist activities,” Fajnzylber said. “It would reduce the chances of me engaging in these activities.”

No board members oppose the proposal, so O’Neill said it will likely pass. The Board will hold a public comment period until the final vote in October.

Stay up to date with Whitman news at - Goodwin takes part-time job at MCPS Department of Safety - Q&A: former MoCo swimmer and record holder Clay Britt - Lapses in SAT scoring and test security raise concerns

Tighter security isn’t enough to prevent school shootings Staff Editorial Over the past few months, MCPS has mostly reacted to school violence by boosting security systems. At Whitman, county officials installed security doors to create a self-contained vestibule inside the main entrance. Security has begun locking doors more regularly, every MCPS school will carry out active assailant drills this year and the Board of Education is considering installing metal detectors in some schools.

Many of these actions are positive steps toward keeping students safe. But schools should pay equal attention to preventing school violence from happening in the first place. Building relationships, creating a welcoming environment and cultivating support for mental health is just as important—if not more—in preventing school violence.

This year, MCPS devoted $1.5 million more to security than last year.

This parallels a national trend, where security equipment sales to the education sector increased by $200 million in 2017 and surged even more after the Parkland shooting, according to the

New York Times.

But proposals for building more welcoming and communicative school environments have been relegated to the back burner. The benefits of these proposals might seem less tangible than security measures. But, in reality, strong relationships are historically the most important factor underlying the safety of MCPS schools, board member Jeanette Dixon said. A strong sense of community can eliminate the motives behind student violence, and, when that fails, it can encourage students to report danger before it occurs.

Improving school relationships comes in many forms; we should start by maximizing students’ connection with guidance counselors. This could mean encouraging annual visits to the counselor to make students more comfortable confiding in their counselors or asking counselors to inform teachers about troubled students so teachers know who to work with more closely.

In fact, guidance counselors are as pivotal in preventing school violence as security personnel. They’re trained to spot behavioral concerns, help students overcome potentially destabilizing events and act on red flags. All of these skills are critical for preventing violence—but they depend on maximum interaction with students, teachers and administrators. Strengthening those relationships strengthens our front lines against school violence.

This is particularly important because using security as our primary pre-

ventative mechanism has risks. Oversecuritizing can actually increase students’ anxiety and fear of violence. For example, two 2010 studies found that installing metal detectors in schools made students more afraid, which in turn hurts their health and academic performance.

It’s also impossible to make our security totally impenetrable. The Black & White’s analysis of security on page 2 notes some holes in our current security system, like the occasionally unlocked exterior doors.

In most circumstances, this can be addressed with greater vigilance, but sometimes, it can’t. For example, the portables require that the gym doors stay open during the school day to allow for the flow of students. ​As a result, any student familiar with the school wouldn’t have too much difficulty bringing in a weapon. Focusing on relationships and mental health can prevent these incidents and minimize the inherent flaws in school security.

It’s intuitive to meet fears about school safety with increased security.

But police and new doors aren’t the only things that can keep students safe. Strong relationships, and the trust and communication that go along with them, are the strongest defense against violence.

For high schoolers, the Kavanaugh allegations are all too familiar

by EVA HERSCOWITZ Since the #MeToo movement emerged last fall, prominent men accused of sexual misconduct have used varied excuses to delegitimize the accusations.

Some have said they’re avowed feminists; others have claimed their accusers were desperate for media attention and fame. Many have asserted that the movement intended to empower sexual assault survivors is a “male witch hunt.”

Now, supporters of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh have added one more to the long list of excuses: being in high school.

But as a high school senior, I know that the only thing that separates 17-yearolds from young adults is a few months and the ability to purchase a lottery ticket. I can deduce right from wrong, and I expect my friends to do the same. Dismissing Kavanaugh’s actions suggests that our actions in high school are insignificant.

Teachers remind us that our academic performance determines our college outlook, and our college outlook significantly shapes our future. Why shouldn’t our personal conduct—more important than our SAT scores and GPAs—do the same?

When Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a party in the summer of 1982, he didn’t anticipate how his actions would have repercussions 36 years later. Perhaps we take our actions just as lightly.

Artwork by EVA HERSCOWITZ

In fact, not much has changed since 1982. Last year, The Black & White filled a two-page spread with student stories of sexual harassment and assault. Some occurred at parties, some students recalled incidents as early as middle school.

The December spread, titled “Sexual harassment: it’s our issue, too,” reminded readers that the #MeToo movement isn’t limited to workplace harassment and Hollywood executives.

In the story, reporters quoted experts who explained that “society normalizes sexually inappropriate behaviors during adolescence by not taking them seriously enough early on.” One source said “weak responses from adults allow young victims to misinterpret sexual harassment

as something harmless.”

In fact, the story seemed to anticipate the circumstances surrounding Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

For us in Bethesda, perhaps the most striking part of Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Sept. 27 was the familiarity of it all: the recognizable landmarks, the elite private school, and—most of all—the sobering reality that Whitman students could have a similar party in 2018.

But drawing the obvious parallels between Georgetown Prep in 1982 and Whitman in 2018 isn’t enough to combat the dangerous assumption that actions in high school don’t have consequences. The Oct. 6 confirmation of an alleged assaulter reminds us that high schoolers should rec-

ognize the behavior that bred Ford’s alleged assault in the first place. When we hear a questionable comment or a shocking story, it’s up to us to point it out.

For the sake of future victims, we need to amend this assumption before we further normalize it.

Kavanaugh’s appointment has shadowed our city, already known as the Bethesda Bubble. In fact, when one Whitman alum mentioned she was from Bethesda during a class discussion in her freshman gender studies class, she was met with laughter. When students in her class called Bethesda kids “privileged,” she agreed.

Kavanaugh suggested in a 2015 speech that what happens at Georgetown Preparatory—or high school, for that matter—stays in high school.

But as we can see from the chaotic two weeks leading up to his confirmation, it doesn’t– and it shouldn’t either.

Scan this QR code to view a video of students’ reactions to the Kavanaugh allegations.

Opinion

BW &

the

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

6

The Black & White is an open forum for student views from Walt Whitman High School, 7100 Whittier Blvd., Bethesda, MD, 20817. The Black & White’s website is www. theblackandwhite.net.

The newspaper is published five times a year, and the B&W magazine is published biannually. Signed opinion pieces reflect the positions of the individual staff and not necessarily the opinion of Walt Whitman High School or Montgomery County Public Schools. Unsigned editorial pieces reflect the opinion of the newspaper.

All content in the paper is reviewed to ensure that it meets the highest level of legal and ethical standards with respect to the material as libelous, obscene or invasive of privacy. All corrections are posted on the website.

Recent awards include the 2018 and 2017 CSPA Hybrid Silver Crowns, 2013 CSPA Gold Medallion and 2012 NSPA Online Pacemaker.

The Black & White encourages readers to submit opinions on relevant topics in the form of letters to the editor, which must be signed to be printed. Anonymity can be granted on request. The Black & White reserves the right to edit letters for content and space. Letters to the editor may be emailed to theblackandwhitevol56@gmail.com.

Annual mail subscriptions cost $35 ($120 for four-year subscription) and can be purchased through the online school store.

Print Editor-in-Chief Eva Herscowitz Print Managing Editors Jessica Buxbaum Eric Neugeboren Online Editor-in-Chief Thomas Mande Online Managing Editors Hannah Feuer Rebecca Hirsh Print Copy Editors Mira Dwyer Matthew van Bastelaer Online Copy Editors Jessie Solomon Ivy Xun News Editors Zoë Kaufmann Sydney Miller Matthew Proestel Feature and Arts & Entertainment Editors Camerynn Hawke Julia McGowan Yiyang Zhang Opinion Editors Ella Atsavapranee Katherine Sylvester Sports Editors Chris Atkinson Max Gersch Elyse Lowet Multimedia Editors Anjali Jha Maeve Trainor Multimedia Team Luka Byrne Arthur Varner Sam White Print Production Head Julia Rubin Online Production Head Selina Ding Print Production Managers Sophie deBettencourt Jana Warner Graphics Manager Landon Hatcher Production Assistants Zoe Chyatte Noah Grill Alex Silber Joey Sola-Sole Business Managers Matthew Boyer Azraf Khan Buisiness Assistant Khanya Dalton Photo Director Lukas Gates Photo Assistant Annabel Redisch Communications Director Cami Corcoran Social Media Director Naren Roy Head Webmasters Anthony Breder Caleb Hering Columnist Editors Maddy Frank Jenny Lu Senior Columnists Shehrez Chaudhri Ariana Faghani Brooke McLeod Rebecca Mills Elyssa Seltzer Jeremy Wenick Puzzles Editors Cam Jones Eva Liles Editorial Board Ella Atsavapranee Cami Corcoran Meera Dahiya Joseph Ferrari Lukas Gates Max Gersch Clara Koritz Hawkes Jack Middleton Ally Navarrete Hirari Sato Jessie Solomon Katherine Sylvester Ivy Xun News Writers Zara Ali Meera Dahiya Joseph Ferrari Katie Hanson Blake Layman Max London Lukas Troost Anna Yuan Feature and Arts & Entertainment Writers Danny Donoso Jack Gonzalez Aditi Gujaran Isabel Hoffman Clara Koritz Hawkes Anna Labarca Jack Middleton Alex Robinson Emma Shaffer Opinion Writers Will Brown Dana Herrnstadt Emma Iturregui Ted Rock Hirari Sato David Villani Sports Writers Sara Azimi Mateo Gutierrez Harry Kaplan Ally Navarrete Bennett Solomon Isabel van Nieuwkoop José Wray Adviser Louise Reynolds

7

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Opinion

College Board: save AP World, keep current curriculum

by WILL BROWN Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Cyrus the Great are some of history’s most brutal leaders, but it’s hard to deny their influence on the world. Unfortunately, students will no longer learn about them if the College Board goes through with its decision to cut 9,200 years of content from AP World History.

The Board argues that the class’ content is too extensive to fit into one year and that, since college introductory world history is a two semester course, AP World History should be split over two years.

To compensate for the thousands of lost years, the Board plans to create a new PreAP course aimed at freshmen and sophomores. The Pre-AP class would cover the

Students wouldn’t learn about these historical figures if the College Board goes through with its proposal to alter the AP World curriculum.

years 8000 B.C. to 1200 C.E., as well as basic geography, while the modified AP curriculum would start at 1200 C.E. and go to the present.

The College Board should maintain the course’s original curriculum because the new curriculum would decrease historical understanding and promote a narrow historical view.

Some students simply may not have the time to take a two-year-long world history course, and the students who choose to only take the AP course will miss out on years of important knowledge. One core skill taught in the current class is how to analyze the continuity and change of cultures, states and economies over time. But any student who starts studying world history at 1200 C.E.

567 B.C.E. Gautama Buddha

Born in 567 B.C.E. Founder of Buddhism

won’t understand the beginning of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, or the evolution of civilizations like China and India. It would be like trying to understand Star Wars without watching A New Hope.

The proposed curriculum starts instruction at the beginning of the rise of European colonization and imperialism. Introducing students to Africa and Latin America at the pinnacle of conquest, rather than at the emergence of their cultures, taints students’ understanding of these civilizations. The downfall of these civilizations will be understood better than their achievements.

Consider, for example, the case of India, a vibrant culture that was the birthplace of Buddhism, Hinduism, the Indus River Valley civilization and the modern number

3 B.C.E.

It’s time to bring back cursive instruction in elementary schools

by DANA HERRNSTADT It’s no secret that cursive is dying. As technology progresses, more and more people type rather than write with pencils or pens. As a society, we’re mostly apathetic, letting the ancient form of writing disappear without protest.

Following the implementation of Common Core, cursive was removed from elementary schools’ curriculums. Since then, school district officials in 15 states, including Alabama, New York and Illinois, have added it back to their public school curriculums. While some MCPS elementary school teachers still try to teach cursive, they often don’t get through the whole alphabet because there’s no time specifically allotted for it, Wood Acres Elementary School teacher Terese Noenickx said.

In order to reap the benefits of cursive, MCPS should mandate its instruction in elementary schools.

In a 2013 New York Times debate on the merits of cursive, Learning Without Tears presenter Susan Baruch Anderson argues that writing in cursive stimulates balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This is because, when writing in cursive, a student’s hand repeatedly crosses the midline of their body. A balanced brain means students can absorb information easier, leading to increased comprehension. Learning cursive doesn’t just help us read Grandma’s birthday cards; it has tangible advantages that Common Core officials have overlooked.

Academics aside, cursive also has noteworthy cultural value. After many interns at Connecticut’s Danbury Historical Society couldn’t transcribe World War I letters, Danbury executive director Bridget Guertin created a cursive camp for kids in second to eighth grade. While summer camps are a step in the right direction, students shouldn’t have to rely on alternative programs to learn this fundamental skill. Ultimately, discounting cursive diminishes a student’s connection to history and primary documents.

And simply put, cursive is pretty. While cursive’s elegance may not have scientifically proven advantages, there is something to be said

for the nostalgia of the curly, looped script. Dating back to the fifth century, cursive gives us an innate connection to the letters that we don’t see online or even in print. In a world where superficiality is the norm, cursive remains honest and raw. There’s a sense of individuality in each crooked loop—the realization that a person did

In a world where superficiality is the norm, cursive remains honest and raw. There’s a sense of individuality in each crooked loop-the realization that a person did that. that.

Many people argue that learning cursive impedes other essential subjects because the curriculum is already so full. Admittedly, teaching cursive would take time from other topics, but cursive is one of the few personal aspects of education left; each careful pencil mark, unique letter and smudge is different. The cultural—and human—importance of cursive outweighs the thirty minutes taken from other subjects.

Cursive’s era hasn’t ended quite yet. It isn’t something only the Founding Fathers used, and it certainly isn’t something to discard without a second thought. Cursive allows us to refine our learning abilities and maintain our culture. If it disappears, a world of history will disappear along with it — smudges and all.

Genghis Khan Born 1161 C.E. First Khan of the Mongol Empire

Jesus Christ Born 3 B.C.E. Central Figure of Christianity

Alexander the Great Born 356 B.C.E. 356 B.C.E. King of Macedon

Graphic by SOPHIE DEBETTENCOURT

system. These crucial achievements would be ignored if the Board goes through with the new curriculum. Instead, India would be introduced through the voyage of Vasco da Gama, a European who was the first to sail to India from Europe. It sends the unhealthy message to students that Europe and the West are the most worthy civilizations to study.

The proposed changes to AP World would create a large group of high school graduates whose knowledge of history only begins at the modern era—an era of European dominance. The history of the world is long and varied. It’s time the College Board realizes that it’s all worth teaching.

570 C.E.

1161 C.E.

Muhammad Born 570 C.E. Founder of Islam

Condom initiative is positive first step but needs changes Students shouldn’t have to talk to nurse

by HIRARI SATO Getting condoms is awkward.

Whether it’s asking your sibling for one, going out to buy some from CVS or getting one from your pediatrician, it makes teenagers uncomfortable.

Sexual education for teens has become more urgent over the last decade, with rates of sexually transmitted infections in Montgomery County at a 10year high for 15-29 year olds. Untreated STIs can cause infertility, long-term abdominal pain and permanent damage to reproductive systems.

In response, the Board of Education unanimously passed an initiative Sept. 11 to distribute free condoms in the nurses’ offices at all MCPS high schools starting Oct. 1. To get a condom, however, students have to schedule an appointment with the nurse, talk to the nurse about safe sex and learn how to use the condom.

While this is a positive step to reduce STIs, students shouldn’t have to meet with the school nurse to get a condom. Forcing students to do so discourages students from getting condoms entirely.

Contraceptive programs have proven to be effective. Over 400 high schools in the U.S. have implemented these programs, and many have had positive results. One program at Holyoke High School in Massachusetts decreased gonorrhea and chlamydia rates by 47 percent, a 2010 National Institute of Health study reported. MCPS high schools will hopefully see similar results when the programs are implemented.

Although MCPS’ program is a step in the right direction, condoms should be available in a basket at the nurse’s office so students can take them without meeting with the nurse first. In

an informal survey, 21 of 28 students across all grade levels said they would be discouraged to get a condom if they had to talk to the nurse.

The information the nurse is required to give students is too extensive and already covered in health class.

The proper way to use a condom is an uncomfortable conversation; students can learn it with a quick Google search instead.

Some opponents of the program argue that condom distribution programs increase the likelihood that teens will engage in sexual behaviors. However, 2017 research from the National Institute of Health found that condom availability programs at multiple schools had no effect on the number of students who engaged in sexual activities.

It’s clear MCPS is moving in the right direction by giving students access to condoms in the nurse’s office.

But the new program may still make students feel uncomfortable. Getting condoms can be stressful; the new program keeps it that way.

Scan the QR code to view commonly asked questions about MCPS’ condom initiative.

8

Opinion

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Step back, slow down and immerse yourself Prioritizing speed over quality hurts education, relationships

by DANA HERRNSTADT I’m a Math Moron. And I’m not just saying that for the alliteration. I’m confused by cube roots, stumped by simplifying radicals, and disoriented by discontinuities.

Maybe I’m not a “math person.”

Maybe I’m just making excuses.

The truth is simple: I’m bad at math because I don’t take the time to be good at it.

In the first week of school, my pre-calculus teacher gave us a review worksheet. I glanced at the first question and was lost. Instead of exercising effort and patience, instead of chipping away at the problems until I uncovered a solution, I just thought “wow, this is too hard for a Math Moron like myself.”

Growing impatient with my slow progress, I arbitrarily scribbled the number 17 and shoved the problem to the very back of my mind.

This pre-calc predicament extends beyond myself and my second period math class. Prioritizing speed over quality is ingrained in our culture, affecting everything from bedtime stories to communication to education.

“One-Minute Bedtime Stories” is a popular children’s book that reduces famous fairy tales and legends into one-minute snippets.

It’s perfect for busy parents who feel they don’t have 20 minutes to spend reading to their kids every night.

But some of my favorite

memories are of my dad sitting on my bed, a book open in his lap, as the tales of “Winnie the Pooh,” the “Berenstain Bears” or “Green Eggs and Ham” unfolded before my eyes. Our obsession with speed cuts these warm, lamp-lit memories to 60 seconds.

Speed also affects the way we communicate. I used to be a letter nut, writing to family across the country or even friends down the street. But now, I text short messages with a tap on a screen because I supposedly can’t find the time to sit down and hand write a paragraph or two.

Only when we embrace our inner tortoises and realize that our need for speed does more harm than good will we recognize that rushing through life means missing out on human experiences.

Receiving a letter is like recieving a piece of the person who wrote it. Letters are tangible, and they can’t be erased from existence with the click of a button. Even though the internet connects people

Cartoon by JENNY LU

from all around the world, I’ve never felt as linked to my long-distance friends and relatives as when we exchanged letters.

We reject slowness because it takes too long. It’s boring. It’s tedious. But it also strengthens connections.

Now, back to my mathematical mishaps.

University of California, Berkeley education professor Alan Schoenfeld found in a 1989 study that the average high school stu-

Counseling team should split lunch schedule so fewer students miss class

by EMMA ITURREGUI It’s a scenario many students know too well: hurrying to the counselor’s office to make a schedule change or discuss college plans only to find all of the counselors eating lunch together, with none available for a quick meeting.

Counselors alternate their lunch breaks between fifth and sixth period throughout the week. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they eat during sixth period, and on Tuesday and Thursday, they eat during fifth. Though reserving space for one lunch period is helpful, the current system still needs adjustment.

Counselors should eat in two separate groups, with some counselors available during both lunches, ensuring students will always find available counselors to meet with about minor issues during lunch.

Students often see counselors for time-sensitive reasons, like making a schedule change or needing help with a college application before a deadline.

When students can’t visit their counselors during lunch, they have to miss class, raising stress levels and sometimes causing students to fall behind.

An informal Black & White survey found that three out of four students prefer to see their counselors at lunch.

But these students said it took them anywhere from a few days to over a week to schedule a meeting during their lunch period. Splitting up the counselors be-

dent spends about two minutes on a math problem before deciding it’s too difficult. I tested this theory with my own math questions and found that I spent even less time— only one minute—per problem.

Only one minute! I decided to re-examine the problem I had previously cast aside as “too hard,” resolving to work painfully slowly if necessary. It took 18 minutes, but I was able to find the answer. I proved to myself that I don’t have to be a Math Moron if I don’t want

to be.

In math, slowing down is educational. At bedtime, it’s cherished.

When keeping in touch, it’s irreplaceable. Only when we embrace our inner tortoises and realize that our need for speed does more harm than good will we recognize that rushing through life means missing out on human experiences. We owe it to ourselves to step back, slow down and immerse ourselves in a difficult math problem. Or even a twenty-minute bedtime story.

To many college admissions officers, you’re nothing but a number…

After working with Capital Educators, you won’t really mind!

tween two fifth and sixth periods will ensure the office lives up to its “open door policy.”

Each counselor has around 260 to 280 students and usually sees a minimum of three students per day, counselor Bill Toth said. In between seeing students, they attend various meetings or work on solving conflicts for students.

Splitting up the counselors between two fifth and sixth periods will ensure the office lives up to its “open door policy.”

SAT / ACT

Despite counselors’ busy schedules, Toth said splitting the lunch break among counselors is a fairly feasible change because it doesn’t change their eating times.

Changing the counselor’s lunches is a simple solution that guarantees students can meet with a counselor at all times. For the sake of reducing student stress, students should be able to visit their counselors during the school day without having to miss class.

Subject Tests, Application Assistance

301-­‐881-­‐7700

www.capitaleducators.com

Feature

9

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Students in Rep. Jamie Raskin’s, D-Md., Democracy Summer program show their support for Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va. High school and college students canvassed and phone banked for democratic campaigns as part of Raskin’s program. Photo courtesy MADDY FRANK.

Students spend summer getting a taste of political work

by ISABEL HOFFMAN

E

ven though junior Nate Olson can’t vote in this year’s midterm elections—which some experts are calling “the most important in the country’s history”—Olson said he still wanted to have a role in shaping the future of politics. So, when he learned about the opportunity to spend the summer interning with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., he jumped at the chance.

Olson and other students participated in Raskin’s Democracy Summer program, which is designed to get high school and college students involved in politics and local democratic campaigns. Like Olson, both liberal and conservative students spent their summers getting involved in politics leading up to the midterms.

In May, 46 percent of young people thought they could have at least a moderate effect on politics, a significant increase from two months earlier, according to The Associated Press.

“As a democrat who is trying to save the Republic, I’m trying to get as many young people involved in progressive change politics as I can,” Raskin said.

On weekdays, speakers talked to the students about local and national political issues, including criminal justice reform and gun control. Speakers included Montgomery County councilman Hans Riemer and Mary-

land democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous. The students spent evenings phone banking and weekends canvassing for candidates.

Raskin said the program aims to help students gain an understanding of their own power to influence politics.

“We want them to be experts in the critical policy issues of the day, like gun violence and gerrymandering and money in politics,” Raskin said. “Above all, we want them to leave Democracy Summer armed with the knowledge on how to register voters, organize events and make change in politics.”

Most of the students supported Raskin’s campaign and shared high hopes for the Democratic Party in midterms.

“If we did disagree over local issues, we’d try to put that behind us,” Olson said.

“We all shared one common goal, which is winning back the House.”

On the other side of the aisle, more conservative students, like senior Lindsay Keiser, attended conservative conferences and worked for outreach organizations.

Keiser attended two Turning Point USA conferences this summer, one in June designed for conservative young women in Dallas, Texas, and one for high schoolers at George Washington University in July.

Speakers included Donald Trump Jr., Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and British Conservative Nigel Farage. Keiser said

young people are trying to reshape the conservative party.

“There’s a new movement of conservatives,” Keiser said. “I met about 1,500 young conservative people at the conferences who are just fed up with the way the media is treating certain people.”

Despite the energy and enthusiasm of

We have this opportunity to really change the stereotype of our generation just not caring.

-senior Mariana Fajnzylber

young conservatives, Raskin feels confident the young people of his own party will show up at the polls and participate in politics.

“The young people have found their way to progressive politics because that’s where their interests and their values are,” Raskin said.

Students have also gotten involved in local politics. Senior Mariana Fajnzylber worked from April until the June primaries on County Council at Large candidate Will

Jawando’s campaign. Due to the small scale of local campaign teams, Fajnzylber said she was able to play a larger role.

“In the beginning, I was the only high schooler there. I was doing pretty much the same work as the people getting paid,” Fajnzylber said. “I loved doing the work that I know I wouldn’t have had access to if I worked on a higher ranked campaign.”

During the school year, Fajnzylber is the co-president of Vikes for Action, a club dedicated to social justice. With midterms coming up, she helped launch the 16% Project, a voter registration campaign, which refers to the 16 percent of young eligible voters who voted in the last midterm election.

Student activism is also influencing voting patterns. Gail Janensch, League of Women Voters board member, said the organization has seen a rise in high schoolers registering to vote. Many young voters are attracted to politicians who support free tuition for higher education, Janensch said.

“It’s a motivation to follow the issues and being prepared to actually cast a ballot,” she said.

Fajnzylber said she hopes students make a change in this year’s midterms.

“These midterms are critical, regardless of your political affiliation,” she said. “We have this opportunity to really change the stereotype of our generation just not caring.”

(Left to right): Students in Raskin’s Democracy Summer program meet with the chief of staff for Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.); Senior Lindsay Keiser stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial with friends; Keiser met conservative writer Dennis Prager at a Turning Point USA Conference. Photos courtesy MADDY FRANK and LINDSAY KEISER.

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

10

In-D

Big Brother is watching

Technology has given parents

by CLARA KORITZ HAWKES and ALEX ROBINSON A high school senior sat in front of a college interviewer. She had spent weeks preparing and was eager to discuss the brand she had created on Instagram as an influencer with thousands of followers. But instead of asking about what she might bring to college, the interviewer criticized her for photos she had posted of herself in a bathing suit.

She left the interview feeling judged, defeated and confused about how the interviewer had even dis-

covered her Instagram posts in the first place.

In the digital age, Generation Z often finds themselves wondering who’s watching. As colleges monitor students’ social media accounts and parents track their kids through iPhone applications, some students believe their privacy is at risk. In fact, all 30 participants in an informal Black & White survey said they thought their information wasn’t secure online.

Colleges monitor students’ ‘digital breadcrumbs’ Thirty five percent of admissions officers visited an applicant’s social media page, Kaplan Test Prep reported in a 2014 survey. Sixteen percent of colleges said they found something online that reduced an applicant’s chances of getting in. This monitoring, and its potential repercussions, has prompted more students to turn to social media consultants.

In fact, these consulting businesses have morphed into an industry: online reputation management.

Lawyer Bradley Shear is one of these professionals who ensures students aren’t rejected from college or jobs because of their Instagram accounts, Facebook posts or digital footprint.

Shear said almost everything students do online is trackable and can be examined by their high schools,

prospective colleges or future employers. When accounts require a valid email and phone number, he said, information becomes much easier to track.

Harvard University has recently been under fire for tracking applicants’ online profiles and then using this information to ambush prospective students during college interviews, sometimes rejecting those students altogether, he said.

“They want access to your personal digital life and to be able to reject you based upon all of your digital breadcrumbs,” Shear said.

Confirming this, however, is difficult. The Black & White called eight Ivy League schools to ask if they track applicants’ online presence, but none of them chose to comment. Princeton said there was a

35%

of college admissions officers have viewed applicants’ social media

Stats from Kaplan Test Prep

bad connection, Yale hung up, and Dartmouth and Harvard said to email the admissions office, even though we were on the phone with an admissions office secretary. We were unable to contact any admissions officers at any of the schools.

Stanford and Duke University, however, responded. They said they only consider a student’s online presence in the admissions process if admissions officers happen to “stumble upon it,” or if something serious is brought to their attention.

In order to protect your information, experts suggest limiting your digital footprint, keeping accounts as private as possible, and exercising caution when discussing politics.

“Colleges seeing everything I put on the internet is definitely something I need to think about before I post,” senior Ethan Gilman said.

Still, most students don’t see the urgency of taking preemptive measures to protect their information; many say they don’t have anything to hide.

Seniors Celia Shapiro and Natalie Gottret swapped last names on Facebook this year, a measure experts highly recommend. But for most seniors, changing names on Facebook is a tradition rather than a safety precaution, Shapiro said.

“In the past, changing your names was a way to protect your information, but that’s been fizzling out,” Shapiro said. “Now, it’s just a fun senior ritual.”

While some students believe it’s unnecessary to take any privacy precautions at all, having public information online can lead to unintended consequences.

Shear emphasizes the importance of using more technical methods to protect your information. These include buying your domain names, the part of a URL that indicates a website belongs to someone, and using apps like Metadata Remover, which removes the time and date from social media posts, making them less trackable.

Still, there isn’t a solution that’s completely successful. Ultimately, people have to take their privacy upon themselves, Shear said.

“That’s the country we live in,” he said. “We should all have the right to privacy. Kids should feel that they have the right to make mistakes while growing up.”

Depth

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

11

g—and there’s an app for that

s and colleges more access to students’ lives

Parents track their kids through phone apps Technology has also made it possible for parents to monitor their kids at all times by tracking their location through apps like Life360 and Find My Friends. Sixteen percent of parents turn to apps like these to track the location of their kids, a 2016 Pew Research Study found. A majority do so out of sheer concern for their kids’ safety.

But psychologist Britt Rathbone said one factor parents may not be considering is the psychological impacts location tracking may have on teens.

“They don’t like the idea of being tracked,”

Rathbone said. “But when kids know they are being tracked, they feel more comfortable because they were a part of making that decision.”

When kids haven’t given permission or parents track their kids out of mistrust, the relationship between the parent and child suffers, Rathbone said.

“It’s demoralizing to me that my parents don’t trust me to the point where they feel the need to track me,” one junior boy said.

Though some students recognize their parents’ intentions, they still find ways to avoid it. One soph-

omore girl usually turns her phone off when she’s going somewhere she would rather her parents not see, she said, adding that she’s frustrated her parents don’t trust her enough to let her make her own choices.

In contrast, one Whitman family shares locations with one another—not out of a lack of trust but rather as a way to check in on one another. The mom said she doesn’t view it as “tracking,” but instead thinks “it’s all about parent-child relationships.”

Artwork by JOEY SOLA-SOLE

Generations reflect on privacy in 2018 Parents never had to deal with the fear that a college admissions officer might find a compromising social media post, or the concern that their parents might be tracking their location at all times. Over the past 40 years, privacy has slowly become almost non-existent. Whitman mom Stefanie Rothschild recalled what the word “privacy” meant to her when she was younger.

“There is no comparison. We had no issues,” Rothschild said. “The biggest threat we had was that we would pass a note to our friend in class and the teacher would grab it. If they really wanted to humiliate you, they might read it out loud.”

Now, parents acknowledge that technology has thrust their childrens’ lives out in the open.

“Kids have way more public lives, with which comes a responsibility to reflect on what they do online,” Principal Robert Dodd said.

A Whitman father recognizes the dramatic change. When he was younger, people cared more about their reputations and held themselves accountable for their actions, he said. Today, kids use the internet as a way to connect with peers, and often seem to forget online activities can haunt them later, he said.

“Barely anything is private for ourselves,” he

said. “There’s also peer pressure to be in the public domain, so kids don’t see they’re actually sacrificing something.”

To English teacher Todd Michaels, the lack of privacy holds people more accountable for their actions. While he knows actions online can hurt students later on, social media teaches students to post responsibly.

“Privacy isn’t always a good thing,” he said. “It prevents us from understanding that our actions have consequences.”

12

Feature

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Senior applies digital art skills to yearbook design

Maya Valencia hopes to create graphic design consulting firm after high school

By DANNY DONOSO As a child, senior Maya Valencia would often spend time in her mother’s home art studio. But instead of causing a mess or disturbing the space like most elementary school children would do, she would sit wideeyed and silent in her mother’s art classes.

“As soon as I put any type of drawing tool in her hand, she immediately expressed interest,” Maya’s mother, Kristina, said.

Valencia is just as passionate about art today, applying her work ethic and artistic vision to everything from doodling, to painting murals, to graphic design. Most recently, Valencia designed the senior Battle of the Classes “Survivors” shirt.

For Valencia, the world revolves around art.

Her preferred mediums are painting and drawing, and she often combines abstract ideas into one fluid image, she said.

“You want to do something different and creative,” Valencia said. “You’re always looking for a different way to get your message across.”

She’s influenced by the world around her, she said, as well as song lyrics.

“She has a very good eye,” Kristina said.

“She’s gotten to learn that with all of her experiences and exposure to art.”

Valencia discovered graphic design at a yearbook camp the summer before her junior year and quickly developed an interest in it.

“By then, I knew I wanted to go to art school, but I didn’t know why I wanted to go to art school,” Valencia said. “There, I knew I wanted to do graphic design.”

Valencia is now the editor-in-chief of the yearbook. With a staff of 11, she is primarily responsible for designing all 356 pages.

Although being understaffed can be stressful, she appreciates the creative freedom it gives her, she said.

“I can do whatever I want and nobody’s really telling me I can’t,” Valencia said. “It’s really my own project.”

Valencia didn’t follow the typical design path. Instead of taking an introductory class her freshman year, she took Digital Art 2 her junior year. Teacher Kristi McAleese has had her in her digital art classes and said she’s seen Valencia grow tremendously as an artist.

“She’s definitely taken the tools that I’ve given her in class and run with them,” McAleese said. “The great thing about Maya is she doesn’t only create art in the 45-minute

class period; she really applies it to her whole life and dives in head first.”

Maya’s brother, Kai (‘13), is also an artist; she said their love of art has made them closer.

Though they often compete with each other, Valencia said it motivates her to work harder.

Kai graduated from the Pratt Institute of Art in Manhattan and has been a mentor for his sister.

“My brother is a huge inspiration to me,” Valencia said. “He’s super talented and is one of the big reasons I want to go to art school.”

Valencia hopes to go to art school and pursue a design-related career.

“My dream is to one day own my very own graphic design consultancy,” Valencia said.

Senior Maya Valencia has had a passion for art since she was in elementary school. She focuses on graphic design and hopes to attend art school, she said. Artwork by MAYA VALENCIA.

FDA, Maryland legislators crack down on teen e-cigarette use First-time teen offenders will get $300 fine, citation

by JOSEPH FERRARI and ISABEL HOFFMAN His addiction is an endless cycle: the boy, a junior, can’t stop juuling. Over the past six months, he has tried quitting by selling his Juul, only to return to his old habits soon after.

“I’ve probably had, like, four,” he said. “If I don’t juul for a while, I become slightly irritable.”

But teens were never supposed to get addicted to the device.

Juuls emerged in 2015 as a product aimed to help adults quit smoking.

Starting last year, many Whitman students were drawn to their sleek look, assortment of flavors and nicotine buzz. In fact, in 2017, the National Youth Tobacco Survey reported that three million middle and high school students use ecigarettes.

Today, the company has been the target of multiple class action lawsuits claiming its marketing campaigns target teens. The Food and Drug Administration gave Juul and other top-selling vape brands a 60-day ultimatum Sept. 12 to prove that they can keep their products out of teen’s hands. The administration is warning retail stores of the teen vaping “epidemic,” threaten-

ing to remove e-cigarettes from the market if companies don’t stop selling them to minors. FDA officials also raided Juul headquarters Oct. 2, seizing thousands of documents detailing marketing practices.

Health teacher Nikki Marafatsos said she’s glad the FDA is taking action against e-cigarette use.

“Now that we’re starting to see data come back and show that more and more teens are using electronic cigarettes, vapes and Juuls and the ill-effects that they’re having on respiratory systems, I think it’s a great step to try and limit teens from accessing them,” Marafatsos said.

The FDA’s ultimatum has prompted states to follow suit.

Maryland House Bill 1094, which went into effect Oct. 1, increases penalties for the use of Electronic Nicotine Devices. The bill criminalizes minors for the possession of ENDs for the first time and increases fines for selling ENDs to minors.

Previously, school resource officers decided if students caught with e-cigarettes received a citation. Under the new legislation, students will be automatically cited for using or possessing e-cigarettes.

A Whitman parent said he’s concerned about e-cigarette compa-

nies deliberately taking advantage of teenagers.

“Once you’re hooked by the time you’re 20, you can’t quit,” he said. “If my kids are 25 or 30 and decide they want to do something, then fine. But I think this is a vulnerable phase and we have to step in and make sure they don’t get started.”

Assistant principal Rainer Kulenkampff said that staff and students are reporting fewer juuling incidents.

“We’re catching fewer kids,” Kulenkampff said. “I don’t know if that means that it’s less of a problem, or kids are getting better at hiding it.”

Although Juul has tried to limit teen’s access to their products by forcing customers to prove their age with identification information on the website, it’s still easy to buy Juuls off of other websites and through friends, one anonymous senior said.

During last spring’s Talent Show, junior Harley Pomper said students often juuled during rehearsals and backstage despite warnings. Pomper said it divided students based on who was and wasn’t participating.

“It creates an expectation for

A year after Juuls made their way into high schools, long-term health risks are becoming more apparent, with the FDA calling e-cigarette use an “epidemic.”

Photo illustration by LUKAS GATES.

them to do the same thing and follow the path of these other people,” Pomper said. “I think it’s similar to cigarettes in that it can definitely make people feel uncomfortable sometimes.”

Still, juuling is here to stay, the anonymous junior said. Now, stu-

dents are more discreet when juuling to avoid getting caught, he said.

“I think more people have them, they just aren’t as open about it,” he said. “The efforts to curb teen use of e-cigarettes are getting stronger; however, I think that kids will always find a way to get them.”

Feature

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

13

Entrepreneurs balance parenting with owning businesses

Students admire parents’ community engagement, take inspiration from family businesses

by ADITI GUJARAN On a Monday, parent Lisa Colen runs a luxury menswear company with her husband Michael, selling $5,000 calfskin and crocodile running sneakers. On a Tuesday, she comes to Whitman to fit the choral department into their new outfits.

Like the Colens, other Whitman parents juggle the responsibilities of owning a business and parenting. For their children, helping with the business or taking inspiration from their entrepreneurial parents is the norm.

Michael and Lisa have been fashion

There’s a lot of sacrifices, but I’m proud of them

- junior Max Colen

entrepreneurs for 40 years. Known for their highend fashion taste, the Colens have owned several businesses. In 2012, Michael and Lisa partnered with the international menswear company ZILLI to operate and own the Washington, D.C. franchise. For Michael, running ZILLI is an around-the-clock job, requiring him to be a “jack of all trades” in the business, he said. Max admires his parents’ passion for their work, he said—even if they’re gone most of the day.

“With ZILLI, there’s new and old relationships that my parents cultivated,” Max said. “I basically only see my parents in the morning and at dinner time during the weekdays. There’s a lot of sacrifices, but I’m proud of them.”

For parent Carolyn Weinberg, one of the main benefits of business ownership is controlling her own schedule. Carolyn is the CEO of

Quartermaine, a specialty coffee roaster that she opened in 1991. Still, she said managing the store sometimes interrupts her family life.

“I try to be at the sports games or the school plays, but there are times that I can’t because of emergencies,” Carolyn said. “But I try to work around that. I might work late one night so I can be at school in the morning.”

Carolyn’s son, junior Josh Weinberg, helps his mom with her work. He works at Quartermaine from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the weekends and during the summer. Josh says working with his mom has taught him real-life skills.

“I would say I’m proud of her, but it’s more of a good thing to live up to,” Josh said.

“To be hardworking and to choose my own path like she did.”

In 2016, Parent Dan Trainor created Krā, an organic alternative to sports drinks like Gatorade.

Dan, along with Sarah Hardgrove-Koleno and Annie Hesser, started the company after Trainor couldn’t find natural sports drinks for his three kids, Ellie Trainor (‘18), senior Maeve Trainor and sophomore Luke Trainor.

Running his own company is a challenge every day, Trainor said.

“I feel as if I work all the time now. It’s fun and challenging, but time consuming. It’s actually brought my family closer together because they’ve been a huge help to me when I’ve needed it,” he said. “They’ve been there to help me bring product or run in a race that Krā is sponsoring.

We have fun with it together.”

Sophomore Luke Trainor said his dad often brings a cooler full of Krā to his sports games.

Luke is proud of how many Whitman students are familiar with Krā, he said. Most of his friends and his sister’s friends drink his dad’s product.

“He didn’t give up; he had some hard times with the company, but he pushed through them, and now he’s in a great position,” Luke said.

“He’s my inspiration.”

Parent Michael Colen stands with his son, Max, and Washington Capitals player Alex Ovechkin, who frequents Colen’s luxury clothing store, ZILLI. Junior Max Colen admires his parents’ passion for their work. Photo courtesy LISA COLEN.

14

Feature

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Whitman seniors create non-profit theater company Company’s first show, ‘Mamma Mia!’, will debut this December

by DANNY DONOSO Senior Kira Gandolfo noticed a disturbing trend. She had played a major role in “Oklahoma!,” became extremely active in theater groups inside and outside school, and gave one of the standout performances in Talent Show. But when she proposed her own ideas to adult directors in school plays, her creativity was often dismissed.

Frustrated by a lack of artistic freedom, Gandolfo and friends from other theater productions formed their own theater company: The Free Theatre. The company is run by students, for students, she said.

“The whole concept is that it’s a place where high school students are able to be nurtured freely,” Gandolfo said. “They can grow without the confines of a typical high school theater group.”

Gandolfo spent most of her summer turning the idea into reality, forming a core group of 11 founders, including seniors Lily James, Emmy Lane and Julia McGowan.

The group’s 54 members from the Washington, D.C. area now meet every Sunday at the Roundhouse Theater in Silver Spring to rehearse for their upcoming production of “Mamma Mia!” Students are in charge of casting, coordinating choreography and creating sets for the company’s productions. The group, known as The Free, allows student leaders to express their own visions.

“At our founders’ meetings, we got super excited because we were laying out all the ideas we had never been able to say before,” Gandolfo said. “Now, we get to pick our shows and they’re super fun.”

True to its name, the theater is free for all participants. The Free is a non-profit; member donations pay for sets and production costs. Though they’re not required to pay a

tuition, many members donate to The Free to sponsor it. To raise money, members are organizing a cabaret after “Mamma Mia!,” where viewers can donate money. Gandolfo said it was important to her that cost didn’t prevent people from joining The Free.

Gandolfo will direct “Mamma Mia!” which opens in December. She said the company has given her opportunities she wouldn’t find in productions run by adults.

“It’s different because I’m in the directing position, which is something almost always done by adults,” Gandolfo said. “With student leadership, the students can get ex-

The whole concept is that it’s a place where high school students are able to be nurtured freely.

They can grow without the confines of a typical high school theater group.

-senior Kira Gandolfo actly what they want.”

The Free released a promotional video Sept. 9 to spread the theater’s message.

“Everyone here is responsible for learning. Everyone here is responsible for teaching—for making theater together—and we do so freely,” the students said in unison in the video.

Junior Isabela McDonald, who performs

Q&A

Student performers practice for their upcoming production of “Mamma Mia!” The musical is the first Free Theatre production, a company formed by seniors Kira Gandolfo, Julia McGowan, Lily James, Emmy Lane and seven other students in the D.C. area. Photo by DANNY DONOSO.

ballet and modern dance competitively, auditioned for The Free over the summer. She said joining the theater allows her to connect with other performers and dancers.

“In the Free Theatre, you get a different perspective,” McDonald said. “You get to be with your friends putting something together instead of just competing in front of judges.”

Adults with backgrounds in theater have volunteered to mentor the students, helping them improve their performance skills and managing finance and scheduling. But they only step in if needed, vice chair Scott Selman said.

“We don’t want to be making creative

Julia McGowan is a feature editor for The Black & White

Washington Post reporter Scott Wilson reflects on covering Hurricane Florence

by MATTHEW VAN BASTELAER Whitman parent Scott Wilson recently spent six days in North Carolina covering Hurricane Florence for The Washington Post.

The hurricane dropped 11 trillion tons of rain in the Carolinas and left 343,000 people without power. Wilson is a senior national correspondent for The Post, and has previously covered the Navy Seal Mission that led to Osama Bin Laden’s assassination and the Las Vegas Shooting. Before becoming a national reporter, he was The Post’s chief White House correspondent from 2009 until 2014.

Whitman parent Scott Wilson in Lumberton, NC reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. Wilson is a national correspondent for The Washington Post. He normally covers California and the West. Photo by SCOTT WILSON.

decisions. That’s up to the student leaders, for good or for bad,” said Selman, who’s also the treasurer. “It’s on them to create and execute.”

Senior Emmy Lane said The Free lives up to its mission.

“People can create theater freely, they can learn freely, teach freely, be free; that’s what our motto is,” Lane, a lead choreographer, said. “It’s really a place to provide opportunities for everyone no matter who they are.”

The Black & White: How was covering Florence different from covering other natural disasters?

Scott Wilson: Florence was a slow moving disaster, so the aftermath was more dramatic than what was happening during the storm itself. When the skies cleared, and you could see the real extent of the flooding, that’s when it felt like, ‘Wow, this is really something.’

I think a lot of people listened to the evacuations. Every big storm is different. This one took people a lot less by surprise, but I will also say that, for me, the

main difference compared to other hurricanes I’ve covered was that the scope of this was just so huge.

Really, the state has become little islands of dry land in the midst of a huge lake. That was the big difference.

B&W: Were there any particularly memorable moments for you during your reporting?

SW: It’s very hard to convey what it’s like to cover a hurricane or be in that situation. The stuff that’s hard to get into print is things like the Waffle House. It was the one restaurant open in the whole town. Everyone was just walking in, soaking wet, and the place is packed with people because it’s the only place to get food. Everyone in there is so patient, nice to each other, and employees are just working like crazy, having been up since five. Sure, we were paying, but it was nominal, small prices, and they really saw it as a service to their community.

B&W: How do you go about reporting on such a sensitive topic?

SW: The main rule for this type of reporting is to do no harm. This isn’t about embarrassing someone or catching anybody doing anything; it’s just about trying to shed light on what’s going on. It’s

just about honoring their feelings about it.

These are people that aren’t dressed up for The Washington Post to show up, so it’s really just respecting their privacy, first and foremost. If they don’t want you around, go away. They’re going through a really difficult time and you’re there to shed light on what they’re going through, instead of making them anxious.

B&W: What did you learn from Florence?

SW: It reminded me about human nature and how good it really is.

I covered the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, with 210,000 dead in Portau-Prince, an unbelievable number. Six years earlier, I’d been there covering the revolution. It was bloody, it was mean and the government was overthrown, and people didn’t seem to care much about each other at all. Yet in 2010, Haitians were helping each other in every way imaginable.

This is one of those moments: whether it’s Waffle House or neighbors helping neighbors. You learn that, fundamentally, people here or in other countries really want to help each other. There’s something about natural disasters that brings out the best in people.

It’s the man made ones that really disappoint you.

Feature

The Black & White | October 10, 2018

15

‘Here for you’:

Junior paints murals to reduce mental health stigma

by JACK GONZALEZ On the walls of the auditorium stairway, there’s a vivid image of a girl offering the viewer a single yellow flower. Above the image, brushstrokes form a sentence: “A better life is worth fighting for.”

Junior Harley Pomper painted the mural and two others in the school this summer, an idea she thought of with the help of former principal Alan Goodwin, former art teacher Jean Diamond and art resource teacher Nancy Mornini. Through her murals, Pomper aims to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Erin Berman, a Bethesda psychologist who works for the National Institute of Health and specializes in adolescent anxiety disorders, said artwork helps to alleviate negative attitudes toward mental health issues.

“Artwork is fantastic for students to show support and to take the stigma away to some extent,” Berman said.

The mural near the cafeteria is a painting of a face with the inscription, “I am” written above. It’s surrouded by adjectives students have written on post-it notes. In the stairwell near the gym, a mural features two people hugging above the caption, “Here for you.”

Pomper said the stairwell murals are connected. In both, the same yellow flower appears.

“To me, that means your experiences accumulate through having mental illness and the knowledge gained from it,” Pomper said. “Being able to reflect on it and use it to help other people.”

Mornini had seen Pomper’s initial sketches and Goodwin approved

them before she started painting this summer. The mural’s messages are important to stimulate conversations about mental health, Mornini said.

“I think the message is that people are here for you, and to reach out and get help,” Mornini said. “There are friends, teachers, counselors and administrators that are here to help if you are feeling sad or need support.”

Many students said the murals reflect Whitman’s commitment to addressing mental health issues.

“Kids who see it will know they can get help for anything they need,” freshman Shaya Zamani said. “I feel like it’s something really nice to add to the halls of Whitman.”

While the murals have generally been well received, some say the dark imagery is too intense. A junior girl says that she finds the art gloomy rather than uplifting.

“When I look at it, it puts me into a darker place than I would be normally,” she said. “The idea of having murals about mental health is a great idea, but by making these dark, black and white murals—I don’t think it conveys the idea they were going for.”

Pomper said she hopes the murals remind struggling students that people care about them.

“It’s really easy to feel lonely in this school,” Pomper said. “Knowing that somebody is thinking about all of them creates positivity—a small reminder throughout the day that people are there for you.”

Junior Harley Pomper painted three murals this summer to promote mental health awareness. Pomper developed the idea with the help of art resource teacher Nancy Mornini and former art teacher Jean Diamond. Photos by KATHERINE LUO and MATTHEW VAN BASTELAER.

16

Feature

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Multilingualism broadens students’ points of view Students connect with native speakers, struggle with class content

Advantages of being multilingual Improved cognitive skills More employment opportunities Greater cultural awareness Easier to travel

Graphic by JULIA RUBIN and JANA WARNER

by ADITI GUJARAN For junior Angel Zhang, French class is hard. Not because of the forced conversations or the timed essays, but because Zhang thinks in four languages—English, Chinese, French and Polish—often switching rapidly between the four. So when she took an oral exam in AP French last year, it didn’t end as she had expected. Halfway through, she started quickly speaking in Polish; she didn’t even notice until her teacher pointed it out.

with speaking different languages at home and at school.

Zhang associates languages with places she lived and the subjects she learned in those places, she said. She lived in Europe for 11 years, where knowing four or five languages is the norm, she said.

“My entire life has been a mix of languages—I choose whatever is easiest for me. For me, math is easier to do in Chinese,” Zhang said. “For world history, I tend to think more in Polish. It’s association. I grew up in Poland and I learned a majority of

For me, math is easier to do in Chinese. For world history, I tend to think more in Polish. It’s association. I grew up in Poland and I learned a majority of history there.

-junior Angel Zhang For students who can fluently speak two or more languages, learning in the classroom is often difficult.

Multilingualism has helped them make new friends and refine their conversational skills in several languages. Still, these students sometimes struggle to express themselves between languages and have to deal

history there.’’

Sophomore Abby Chen, who’s fluent in Chinese, said her extensive memorization of Chinese characters helps her recall science and math formulas.

But for some multilingual students, English class is harder; these students often experience tip-of-the-

tongue moments, according to a 2010 Harvard University study.

Senior Mariana Fajnzylber, who speaks Portuguese, said it’s because English words often don’t carry the same feeling as they do in other languages. For example, “saudade” in Portuguese means the deep longing for someone missing them; Fajnzylber said it’s difficult to find an English word that conveys the same emotion.

Still, speaking Portuguese has helped her meet other native speakers, she said.

“In sophomore year, I got really close with people who just moved here from Brazil. It was nice to sit at lunch with people who spoke Portuguese,” she said. “I get anxious when I’m speaking to people my own age because when I speak Portuguese, it’s mostly to adults. But this has helped me become more comfortable speaking to people my own age.”

Speaking Spanish has given senior Melissa Romero a new perspective on life, she said.

“I’ve been able to see so many other cultures and viewpoints just because I speak another language,” she said. “Language opens you up to new cultures.”

ESOL department head Sonja Maroni said multilingualism is an asset.

“It opens up pathways that don’t open otherwise,” Maroni said. “I can see it with my advanced ESOL students. It helps them make connections and think in a better way. All humans should speak a couple languages.”

Seniors apply to test-flexible schools to ease stress Test-optional colleges see increase in diversity, applications

by ALEX ROBINSON Senior Sarah Clement remembers sitting in an ACT testing room, scrambling to complete the lengthy test.

Staring at the clock, she struggled to finish the sections in time. She’s a strong student, she said, and doesn’t usually have time management issues.

Clement took the ACT twice, but said her scores didn’t reflect her academic performance in school. So she’s applying to George Washington University, one

sity of Chicago announced its decision to go test-optional, joining schools across the country like Wake Forest University, Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University.

Around one third of U.S. universities are test-optional or test-flexible. Many of these schools hope to increase the diversity of their applicant pools by forgoing standard admissions policies, a 2018 Inside Higher Ed article reported. Since Wake Forest went test-optional in 2008, it has experi-

More test-optional opportunities just makes the college admissions system more even.

- senior Sarah Clement of the over 900 universities in the U.S. with a test-optional admissions policy.

“I did a lot of prep and a lot of tutoring,” Clement said. “Honestly, it led to so many wasted weekends because it’s hard to really raise your score that much.”

This past year, Univer-

enced an 11 percent increase in the diversity of its student body and undergraduate applications have increased by 5,000 per year.

“The test-optional policy should strengthen and diversify an already outstanding applicant pool,” Laurie Koehler, who leads enroll-

ment efforts at GW, told the university’s student newspaper.

Test-optional colleges also hope to level the playing field for students who struggle with standardized testing, college and career information coordinator Anne Hutchens said.

“Colleges are beginning to acknowledge that the SAT or ACT is a snapshot in time and not necessarily the best way to evaluate whether a student will be successful at the given institution,” she said.

Admissions officers at these schools value a student’s high school records, extracurricular activities and community involvement over standardized test scores, a GW admissions representative said.

“I’m glad they’ll be looking at my extracurriculars, because it shows I can do all my schoolwork and get good grades, but also do things outside of school that take up a lot of time,” Clement said. “An ACT score can’t show all that.”

Senior Grace Fisher is applying to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, because it’s test-optional.

Fisher found the SAT difficult because it differed from

tests she took in school, she said.

“You can study all the material and all the strategies, but since every test is different, it was hard to have a consistently growing score,” Fisher said.

Hutchens said the number of schools going testoptional is likely to continue growing. Over 99 percent of universities no longer require students to send the ACT or SAT optional essay, including all eight Ivy League schools. This is representative of a larger trend: more schools are acknowledging that test scores don’t necessarily correlate with college success, education consultant Jessica Brondom said.

Still, most test-optional schools are liberal arts colleges. Gail Ross, a private college counselor, said that although UChicago is testoptional, other research institutions may not follow in its footsteps.

Still, college applicants appreciate the comfort of test-optional opportunities.

“It’s never going to be standardized,” Clement said.

“More test-optional opportunities just makes the college admissions system more even.”

ACT

SAT

There are more than

900

test-optional universities in the U.S. Graphic by JANA WARNER

Some Colleges that de-emphasize SAT/ACT scores in admissions

- Colby College - Middlebury College - Wesleyan University

Crossword

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

17

W C R O S S R D

Crossed countries

by CAM JONES and EVA LILES ACROSS

1. Levine, Driver, Smith 5. Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Escape, Honda CR-V 9. Mountain summits covered by thick vegetation, no trees 14. Silently starred in “Little Miss Sunshine” alongside Breslin, Carell and Arkin 15. Columbus MLS team 16. Spirit who serves Prospero in a stormy play 17. Former French colony made up of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos 19. Kind, comparative adjective form 20. Form of cricket played between two teams with international status, abbr.

21. Battery size commonly used in laser pointers 22. Eurasian snakes covered in zigzag pattern 23. West African country known for blood diamonds 25. Anti-Defamation League, abbr.

26. Soul of a human being or god in Egyptian mythology 27. People of things similar to those already mentioned 30. Treaties that ended the American Revolution and the Spanish-American War 33. Jurgis and Ona from Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” emigrated from this country 37. Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze are all these 38. Heaps of things laying on each other 39. Piece of data, abbr.

40. Country that is home to the tallest waterfall in the world 42. “Lord of the Rings” score composer, Howard 43. Five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, abbr.

44. Sixth letter of the alphabet, as spelled in Scrabble

Linus’ Comics: Ed. 1

by LINUS GHANADAN

45. Card sometimes ranked as the highest in its suit 46. The first country, alphabetically 52. What flowers have 56. Moving aboard, preposition 57. This group gives the blue seal of excellence to companies in the automotive industry, abbr.

58. The upper two cavities of the heart 59. Southeast Asian country with Sept. 28 earthquake 61. Rear part of a ship 62. Often used to make a maze in the fall 63. Luminous point in the night sky 64. Smoked, slang 65. Yggdrasil, rooted in Norse mythology, is one of these 66. If you get these across the board, it’s a perfect score

DOWN

1. Goodbye, in Guatemala 2. Destination of 1930 Salt March, led by Gandhi 3. Starred in “Groundhog Day” alongside Bill 4. What a cow says 5. Louise Belcher on “Bob’s Burgers,” Kristen 6. Long legged wild sheep in Asia 7. Large veins that return deoxygenated blood to the heart, cavae 8. Blue, red and yellow airline, abbr.

9. Strapless undergarment worn by women 10. This Great Zone stretches between Asia and Africa and doesn’t get much rain 11. Wingless insects you don’t want in your hair 12. Animals commonly hit by cars 13. Sign Language Resource Services, abbr.

18. Don’t show these when you play poker

22. Symbols of life for the goddess Isis 24. Lift, elevate, increase 27. Even after all this time, Paramore is Still ____ You 28. Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson and Sasha Pieterse each played one of these 29. Winslet, Moss and Spade 30. What workers do with asphalt 31. Wemmick’s father in “Great Expectations,” Parent 32. What temporary habitants pay monthly 33. Rihanna and Eminem love the way you do this 34. Sick, Unwell, Ailing 35. Boston had this type of party Dec. 16, 1773 36. What wood becomes when burned 38. Cheetos, Reese’s, Smart 41. “The Hobbit” movies were filmed in this New country 42. Discontinued marque of Toyota that started in 2003 45. San Francisco 49ers safety, Exum 47. Mulan’s ancestors expect her to bring them this 48. Famous 7’ 4” Wrestler, Fezzik in “The Princess Bride” 49. Sight, touch, smell, sound 50. Food includes Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.

51. A line only does this to an asymptote; it will never intersect 52. The phrase “I had eaten” uses this type of perfect 53. Italian eatery on 14th Street in D.C. 54. Popular bicycle and cycling manufacturer 55. Air, in Equatorial Guinea 59. Technologies that provide information through telecommunications, abbr.

60. Walt Whitman High Sch. in 1962, United States Naval Acad. in 1845, H.J. Heinz Co. in 1869

18

Sports

The Black & White|October 10 , 2018

Dave Greene reaches 40 years with Whitman soccer

by MATEO GUTIERREZ The rumors aren’t true: boys soccer coach Dave Greene isn’t leaving anytime soon.

After spending 16 years as the junior varsity coach and the last 24 with varsity, Greene is celebrating his 40th year at Whitman. As head coach, he has led the team to 13 regional titles and nine state championships.

“I can’t see not coaching anytime soon,” Greene said. “I still enjoy it and still really like being here.”

In addition to coaching the boys varsity team at Whitman, Greene has coached girls soccer at the Bethesda Soccer Club for 38 years. He maintains the same philosophy no matter who he’s coaching, he said.

“I demand a lot out of them: boy or girl, young or old,” Greene said. “If you raise the bar high, you get them to do things they didn’t think they could. There’s satisfaction in that.”

Greene values team chemistry above everything else and said his most successful teams have had collaborative team dynamics.

Former and current players say his coaching is rigorous because Greene wants his players to succeed.

“Sometimes he’s tough, but he’s smart and he cares,” Oliver

Dave Greene has been coaching boys soccer for 40 years. Greene led the team to nine state championships, including back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997. Photo by LUKAS GATES.

Panlibuton (‘16) said.

Greene’s varsity career dates back to high school, when he was the goalkeeper at Wheaton High School. He went on to play Division III soccer at Frostburg State University starting in 1974.

To improve his coaching abil-

ity, he studied soccer for decades.

Former D.C. United player Judah Cooks (‘95) said Greene is a model for effective coaching.

“He’s probably one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the area,” Cooks said. “Now that I’m a coach, I really use him as a mentor

All for one or one for all?

Alums create sports, culture blog: ‘The Sideline Observer’

Athletes balance competition with team chemistry

by ISABELLE VAN NIEUWKOOP

by SARA AZIMI As junior Elizabeth Sklaire neared the final stretch of her five kilometer cross country race, she focused on the runner standing between her and the finish line. She put everything she had into her last few strides. But as she passed her opponent, she noticed the big blue ‘W’ on the front of the runner’s singlet. The person she was desperately trying to beat was her teammate.

Players on golf, swimming, cross country and tennis often have to compete against their own teammates in practices and competitions.

Despite the individual competition, each team emphasizes team chemistry.

Before every race, coaches encourage each cross country athlete to select a team member to try to outperform. The person they choose usually has similar run times, giving the runner a practical target to beat.

“Comparison within our team is definitely encouraged,” junior Siena Smith said. “It motivates us to run faster if we know there’s someone that’s our pace that we should be able to beat.”

Members of the swim team compete against each other for three available spots in each event to qualify for metros, an end-of-season meet where swimmers from schools across the county compete.

“Since there’s only a certain amount of spots, you’re going to want to beat your teammates,” swimmer Kyle Lawson said. “You’ll still want them to do well, but you want to beat them.”

Players on the tennis team compete against each other at the beginning of each season to determine the team’s line-up. Many players use this competition as motivation, tennis coach Jasen Gohn said.

“That acid in your mouth after you lose a match—that could be your motivation,” Gohn said. “‘I’m going to train harder, and I’m going to beat this guy. He’s never going to beat me again because I’m going to try harder.’ So I say it’s a good thing.”

for my coaching as well.”

Though many colleges have asked Greene to work as an assistant coach, he said he’s devoted to the Montgomery County area and isn’t interested in coaching college soccer. The relationships with the players he coaches are the main

reason he prefers to stay in the area, he said.

Greene said the highlight of his career has been the 1996 season. Starting the season with a losing record, the team came back with an 11-game winning streak, leading to Greene’s first state title as head coach.

“It was really special because it was now my program, and we weren’t expected to win that year,” Greene said. “We were on a roll.”

Now, as Greene heads into his 40th year at Whitman, he hopes to win his 10th state championship. Players want to achieve “La Decima,” which means “the tenth” in Spanish. Originally referring to Real Madrid’s obsession with its 10th European Cup, players use the phrase as motivation.

“Ultimately, it’s a number,” Greene said. “I’ve been to the mountaintop, but these kids haven’t. To me, this is for them. I told them if you win a state championship, basically for the next month at school, you’re a god.”

Greene has made it clear he won’t be leaving Whitman yet.

“I still like being with the kids, still enjoy watching them play, still get nervous for the games, and still like being with them for practice,” Greene said. “When I’m not getting nervous for games and it’s not exciting for me anymore, I think it’ll be time to hand it over to someone else.”

Junior Alicia Lauwers (left) and Breanna McDonald (right) run a 5k at the Seahawk Cross Country Invitaional Sept. 1. Though both runners compete in individual events, they find a team environment on the cross country team.

Photo by EVE STALLARD-WILDER.

Even though members of these teams compete individually, bonding activities foster a team environment and ease the tension that comes with competing against a teammate.

On cross country, runners organize team dinners and breakfasts, in addition to doing a secret sibling gift exchange the day of meets.

Every year, returning players on girls tennis “kidnap” every freshman and new player on the team and take them to a teammate’s house for a team sleepover. The swim team has Friday night socials, where members participate in different theme nights, like karaoke or scavenger hunts.

Tennis player Eve Gold said she appreciates the team’s emphasis on bonding and collaboration.

“I really liked how when I joined the team at Whitman, it felt like much more of a team environment than my club team,” Gold said. “People will stay and root for you while you play your matches, and I feel like that just makes it a lot more of a team sport.”

Still, athletes say competition motivates them to improve their game.

“If you’re trying to go faster, that also makes your teammates want to go faster,” swimmer Oana Mirestean said. “The competition pushes both yourselves and your teammates to do better.”

Mason Robinson (‘17) has always loved to write. After taking journalism and reporting on Whitman Shorts, Robinson knew he wanted to pursue writing in college. So when he discovered The Odyssey, an online newspaper that anyone could apply to write for, he thought he had found a creative outlet.

But after months of half-written articles, Robinson wasn’t satisfied with simply contributing content. So he turned to his friends for help. Driven by curiosity and excitement for both journalism and sports, Robinson created his own sports and culture blog: The Sideline Observer.

Over the summer, Robinson recruited nine Vikings—both alums and current students—to help turn his vision into reality. Starting in May, Robinson, along with 2016 graduates Jackson Parker, Greg King, Oliver Panlibuton, Kieran Kindig, Sean Hannagean, Ezra Pine, Michael Gorman, Matt Baker and junior Mateo Gutierrez wrote, edited and brainstormed. In late May, they launched the website.

“The first version of the site was horribly unorganized and unappealing,” Robinson said. “But, at the time, we thought we had designed the next Mona Lisa.”

As president, Robinson reviews articles and makes sure the five staff writers contribute to the website. King, one of the two vice presidents, helps writers angle and source their stories and uploads them to the site.

As the website gained popularity, Panlibuton, the social media manager, used his expertise in graphic design to improve the layout and logo. Raising money for the website was a team effort, he said.

“We also sold t-shirts as a fundraiser, and I helped out a lot with designing the shirts and getting them ordered,” Panlibuton said.

Writers can choose their own stories and hone in on specific interests.

Though the writers mostly contribute blogs about professional sports games and individual players, they occasionally write personal blogs, reflections on

breaking news and album reviews.

Article ideas often come from books, other news outlets and social media, with the majority coming from events in the Washington, D.C. area, Kindig said.

“I really enjoy the creative freedom that the Sideline Observer offers,” Gorman said. “I’m allowed to write what I want, and having that, as opposed to a school newspaper, is really liberating.”

Writers contribute articles about once a week. Articles can take anywhere from fifty minutes to a week to complete, depending on the staff’s school schedules. Since most of the of writers are in college, they communicate through GroupMe. Editors have also been flexible about deadlines since the beginning of the school year.

The website averages a hundred views per article, with some getting as many as five hundred.

“It can be a little uncomfortable waiting to see how many views an article can get, but the satisfaction coming from people reading an article that is entirely yours is incredible,” Kindig said.

The staff hopes to expand the website by winter by looking for advertisements. In the meantime, they’re focused on improving the blog when members aren’t busy with school.

“I have no idea where we’ll be in four months or four years,” Robinson said. “Our strategies are always changing. But for now, we want to make sure we are providing great content while having fun doing it.”

Mateo Gutierrez is a sports writer for The Black & White.

Scan this QR code to view the blog.

Sports

The Black & White|October 10 , 2018

19

Crew prepares for spring season after fall program returns The crew team’s fall program returned this year after it was discontinued in 2010. It allows rowers to practice on the Potomac River as a team, rather than race with students from other schools, to prepare for the spring season. Photo courtesy MAYA STALLARD-WILDER.

by SARA AZIMI Rowers will prepare for the spring crew season with their own team this fall after the varsity coaches and Whitman crew board decided to reestablish the Varsity Fall Rowing Program.

For the past few years, crew members were part of a club team at the Thompson Boating Center in Georgetown.

The team is made up of rowers from local schools, but some Whitman rowers say it didn’t give them the opportunity to improve their team chemistry because they were racing with students from other teams.

The new program allows the team to practice on the Potomac River together before spring. Fall rowing practices and regattas prepare the team for the spring season.

“Getting to know other people is great,” girls varsity coach Kirk Shipley said. “But now, I’m hoping they can bond with their Whitman teammates from the beginning.”

Varsity coaches discontinued the program in 2010 in favor of joining a club program, but the coaches and crew board decided to bring it back after several years of debate, Shipley said.

Having their own fall program also allows Whitman coaches to control the practice schedule. At TBC, multiple coaches from several schools had input over what the rowers did during training.

“We can do whatever we want to do. We can go as hard as possible, or we can slow down,” Shipley said. “Whatever makes sense to develop the team dynamic.”

Shipley said the fall program also allows coaches to give individualized feedback to rowers, which junior Amanda Kahlenberg said she’s excited for.

“TBC had rowers from a lot of different schools, so there were a lot more boats,” Kahlenberg said. “Now there are only three boats, so we get more more attention from the coaches.”

The team hopes the program will put them in the best position for spring regattas, senior captain Leia Till said.

“I’m really excited because I think it’s definitely going to be a lot of fun starting off the year racing with the people I’m going to be racing with in the spring,” Till said. “It’s going to create a better team dynamic. We had a good one before, but this year might be even better.”

Getting to know other people is great. But now, I’m hoping they can bond with their Whitman teammates from the beginning.

-coach Kirk Shipley

Midfielder Natan Rosen shoots for MD state championship

by JOSÉ WRAY Heading into his junior year, senior Natan Rosen faced a dilemma: he could continue playing for the academy soccer team he had been with for three years, or he could join the varsity soccer team, where he could try to lead the team to a state championship.

Rosen chose to play for the Vikings. Since then, he’s made an immediate impact on the field, leading the team in goals and assists and serving as a role model for underclassmen.

Joining Whitman’s team was the right decision, he said.

“I definitely enjoy it more,” Rosen said. “I think the academy is a great program. I have no bad feelings for them, but I’m definitely happy I made the switch.

At my academy team, the fans at the game are your parents. At Whitman, you have your friends coming.”

Rosen is the starting center attacking midfielder this year after playing last year as striker.

The switch has allowed him to initiate more offensive plays and increase goal-scoring opportunities for striker Andrew Goldsholle.

“Switching it around where I became the striker and he became the center attacking mid let him have a little bit more freedom with the ball, giving him a little bit more time to do his magic and set me up for easy goals,” Goldsholle said.

Rosen also plays for McLean Youth Soccer, a Virginia-based club team that’s ranked top 15 in the country.

This spring, Rosen became the first boys varsity soccer player to verbally commit to college. Despite meeting with bigger schools like the University of

Notre Dame and the University of Pennsylvania, Rosen chose Lehigh University because he said it was a better fit.

“It seems like a program where I can really shine,” Rosen said. “It just seems like a good place. Even socially and academically, it was a good fit.”

Rosen’s teammates attribute his success to his natural athleticism and intelligence. He plays aggressively and isn’t afraid to challenge other players, forward Harmond Cohen said.

“He’s really good at keeping the ball. Someone could give him a bad pass and he’d control it and keep it for us,” Cohen said.

“That’s really useful on the field because it helps us maintain possession which leads to goals.”

Rosen is also a menace for opposing goalkeepers. He scored 16 goals as a junior, and already has three in just four games this season, along with two assists.

Although this is only Rosen’s second season for the Vikes, he’s a respected team leader.

Teammates said that as a captain, Rosen is approachable and welcoming to his new teammates.

“He’s been there for me,” midfielder Aaron Gunther said.

“He’s nice to everyone. He’s a really good leader, a good captain.”

Despite his talent, Rosen is still a humble, team-first player.

He said he hopes to lead the team to its 10th state championship.

“I’d like to win player of the year. I like to set the bar high,” Rosen said. “But wherever winning states takes me is fine with me.”

Center attacking midfielder Natan Rosen fights off defenders during a game against St. Benedict’s Preparatory School Sept. 8. The Vikes lost 1-2 to the team. Photos by CARLA MACHADO.

20

Backpage

The Black & White|October 10, 2018

Students reach new heights, ascend Mount Kilimanjaro

by CAMERYNN HAWKE Freshman Julia Gray struggled to keep her eyes open in the frigid weather. Dizziness and nausea overwhelmed her as she approached the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. But after 15 hours of climbing on the last day, she finally summited, out of breath and in awe of the vista.

Gray climbed Africa’s tallest mountain with her parents; brother, junior Drew Gray; and sister, Anna Gray (‘18) this past July. They spent six days climbing—four days to the summit and two days to descend—on the Rongai route, the only route on the north side of the mountain and the least popular one. Senior Julia Levine also made the climb with Overland, a teen traveling company, on the same route this July.

The Gray family spent two months training for the hike by climbing Old Rag Mountain in Virginia and running up and down thousands of stairs. Levine spent more time mentally preparing for the hike, she said.

All hikers begin at the base of the mountain, where they meet guides to take them up their routes.

At least two guides lead each group, with additional porters to carry supplies, Anna said.

“Even in the beginning when we could hike fast, we still had to hike slowly,” Anna said. “They would say, ‘pole, pole’ which means, ‘slowly, slowly.’”

On the last day before summiting, hikers on the Rongai route begin at 12 a.m. and spend 15 hours hiking.

In the morning, they reach Gilman’s Point, the first peak, where they take a short break before the final ascent.

Despite the high altitude, Levine said her group was relieved and in awe of the views when they finally sumited.

“Everything was pitch black— just our headlamps were lit—and we got so tired because of the altitude,” Levine said. “Then you’re watching the sunrise. First, the sky is pitch black with just the stars, and then you see this orange line on the horizon.

It’s amazing.”

During the Gray family’s final ascent, Julia became sick and didn’t think she would make it to the top, until her sister started cheering her on.

“All of the time, she would be like, ‘you can do it’ and she told me, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to do this when I was your age. You’re doing so well,’” Julia Gray said. “She was really encouraging.”

For Levine, the most exciting part of her hike was when the entire group made it to the top together.

No one had to turn around because of sickness, something that no other Overland tour group achieved all summer. She said her group’s encouragement made it easier to climb the mountain.

For Anna, the most rewarding part was seeing her sister reach the summit after Julia was unsure she would make it.

“I was the first one to the top, but I waited for her. I put her in front of me so that she could be the first one to peak,” she said. “It was really emotional for me.”

The hike was one of the most challenging things Levine has ever done, she said, but she was happy to have made it through with her group.

“I would love to do it again. I think everybody should have the opportunity to do it,” Levine said. “It’s one of those things where it’s so cool to say that you’ve done it, but unless you’ve experienced it and gone through it, you’ll never know what it’s like to be at the top of Africa.”

(Top): Senior Julia Levine celebrates summiting with friends. Levine hiked the mountain with teen traveling group Overland. (Bottom): The Gray family hikes along a ridge. Anna Gray (‘18), Junior Drew Gray and freshman Julia Gray, along with their parents, hiked Mount Kilimanjaro this July. Photos courtesy JULIA LEVINE and ANNA GRAY.

Summer photo contest winners The Black & White held a photo contest this fall, asking students to submit photos they captured during the summer. These are the top three entries:

Junior Cameron Darnell: “Feeding Time”

Darnell took this picture of a Least Tern chick in Cape Cod, Mass. this July.

Darnell was at the shore trying to photograph the seabirds with their chicks for several hours when a large bird swooped in and started feeding a chick, he said.

He used a Canon 7D Mark II camera to shoot the image. He said he hopes the photo emphasizes Cape Cod’s natural beauty.

“I wanted to share the beauty of the seabirds and showcase a great moment,” Darnell said.

“I hope to spread conservation awareness by showing people how precious these birds are.”

Senior Nora O’Prey: “Road to Worship”

Clockwise from top: photos by CAMERON DARNELL, NORA O’PREY and ANNA KRUSH.

O’Prey captured this photo of two buddhist monks on an iPhone X at Namo Buddha, a Buddhist monastery near Kathmandu, Nepal, in June.

O’Prey said she was drawn to

the vivid colors at the monastery.

“I was blown away by all the color from the prayer flags, and I had seen the two monks walking around a lot,” she said. “I wanted to capture them in that environment. When I saw the opportunity, I took it.”

Junior Anna Krush: Untitled

Krush took this photo on the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine on the last day of a 22-day backpacking trip this August. She used a GoPro to capture the early morning fog.

Krush said she thought she wouldn’t be able to summit because there was a chance of thunderstorms.

The photo reminds her of her rewarding summer trip, she said.

“I really like that it shows the ridge we were hiking along and also how high up we were,” Krush said. “I love the memories behind the photo. It makes it really special to me.”