Fourcast November 2016

Nearly 30 years after graduating from Hockaday, Shanda Blackmon ‘87 spends her days as the first female thoracic surgeon at Mayo Clinic.

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Volume 67 Issue 02.

The Hockaday School | 11600 Welch Rd, Dallas, TX 75229 news p2

features p7

cityslicker p11

November 4, 2016 hockadayfourcast.org infocus p12

arts & entertainment p14

sports & health p28

Boxed In

The Student’s Struggle with Identity on College Applications

PHOTO BY LAUREN PUPLAMPU

views p21

castoff p24

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

I just don’t feel like I’d be a good driver with three hours of sleep.

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PHOTO BY AURELIA HAN

Mavs Music Mastermind

Driving Trends p6

➝ STORY BY AURELIA HAN

Alumna deejays for Dallas Mavericks.

“And oh, I’m alive, I’m alive, I'm alive.” The bass of will.i.am’s “That Power” syncs up to the basketball dribbles of pre-game warmup and a series of choreography by the Mavs Maniacs.

A dance cam on the jumbotron catches a scatter of dabs and whips from children and even a elderly couple as the song changes to Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead.”

While the Dallas Mavericks trailed the Houston Rockets in the home game season opener on Oct. 29, the initial “c’mons” and “are you serious!?” with big eyes, open mouths and arms over heads were replaced with claps and cheers as “Let’s go Mavs!” resonated throughout the American Airlines Center.

From the “defense!” chants to a playlist of songs, all the audio that peps up Dallas Mavericks fans, players and coaches alike originates from the brains and beats of Ivy Awino ‘08, commonly known as DJ Poizon Ivy. Awino's Upbringing Decked out in pride with her Mavericks-blue glasses frames, hair, nail polish and a “DJ Poizon Ivy” jersey, Ivy began her first season as the organization’s official DJ this year.

However, although she is new to the team, her history with the Dallas Mavericks originated as a 12-year-old training to be a ball girl through the Mavs Hoop Camp.

“I grew up on these Mavericks sidelines,” Ivy said. “I knew in some way or form I would end up back with this team because it’s home, and it’s still so exciting to know I can combine both my passions of music and the Mavs in one job.”

As a ball girl in the ‘90s, she helped ensure each game ran smoothly by tending to the players and staff ’s needs, including retrieving basketballs and water cups among other assignmennts. Even as the high school responsibilities piled on when she entered Hockaday as a freshman, she continued to serve as a Mavs ball girl throughout her four years in the Upper School.

Music has always been a part of Ivy

since the age of five, when she started learning the piano in her born-and-raised home of Nairobi, Kenya.

Awino at Hockaday But it was in the Hockaday hallways, specifically the first room on the right in the Upper School Commons, where her love for music and seriousness for deejaying was born. Staking out the commons room, Ivy and her best friends made amateur mix tapes of bootlegged songs.

Every week, they would make and introduce new CDs with a plethora of the latest hit songs to the rest of their classmates.

Things got competitive when they tried to see which mix tape reigned supreme.

While Ivy played two years of basketball at Hockaday, she found that her forte wasn’t handling the ball, but leading the team as the varsity basketball team manager alongside coach Meshea Matthews, current Director of Residence Life and Global Outreach.

Since Matthews had a previous history in the radio and television industry out of college, she bonded with Ivy over her growing aspirations to pursue the music industry.

As team manager, a variety of duties came with the position she held, but Ivy added her own: making sure the team had “dope” music.

Before the new audio system that’s currently used was added, Ivy only had a tacky stereo available for use, but this out-of-date machine and its technical difficulties of cutting off songs and going static that taught Ivy the reality of producing music.

“She had a lot of responsibilities on her plate with her role as ball girl, team manager and typical high schooler,” Matthews said. “However, she had drive and passion to thrive in all of that. It just shows the success you can find when you pursue those passions, which is actually pretty unheard of because not many people are brave enough to do that.”

Her love of music also translated off the basketball court and into the arts as she joined the gospel choir under the direction of Lower School Music and Performing Arts

Teacher Sabrina Kessee.

“Hockaday fostered the love for the arts, and that’s why Hockaday ultimately created DJ Poizon Ivy because it gave me the creative freedom to do whatever I wanted,” Ivy said.

She further experienced this creative freedom by collaborating with coach Adaku Ebeniro, Physical Education coordinator, on H3C, or the Hockaday Hip Hop Club. After Ivy cut and edited the club’s music, her same best friends that worked on mixtapes with her choreographed moves to her tracks, and together they performed at assemblies and other showcases. “[Ivy and I] had a great relationship in term of our love for music, dance and sports,” Ebeniro said. “I think she thrived at Hockaday because she was 100 percent herself at all times, and she was very clear with what she loved and what she wanted to do with her time here.”

Coming Full Circle Her time as a Dallas Mavericks ball girl and her overall love for her home team came in full circle when she returned to Dallas, and owner Mark Cuban brought her into the Mavericks family.

Although Cuban holds the official title of ownership, Ivy said that each staff member possesses a piece of this team. For Ivy, the sense of “overwhelming pride,” which she first gained as a 12-year-old ball girl and has now intensified as the Mavs music mastermind, is what makes coming back home even sweeter.

“I want a Mavs game to be a really fun experience,” Cuban said. “Music is critical to that experience, and Ivy has a great feel for what music needs to be played to get our fans rocking. We just know she will be the best.”

Depending on the scenario, from missed to buzzer shots, that pops up during a game, Ivy decides what sound goes where and when.

While she is always on the quest for new music, she is unique in using her platform to add Afro sounds, inspired by her childhood in Nairobi, to her well-round-

JAMS FOR THE MAVS DJ Poizon Ivy preps for the Maverick's season opener on October 28, 2016

ed playlist of favorites by Kendrick Lamar, AC/DC and Pitbull. Not only does she have the boss’s approval, but Ivy is making history as the first female DJ of the Mavericks and only the second one in all of the National Basketball Association.

“Even now when I hear facts like that, it’s honestly hard to believe,” Ivy said. “But I think that shows girl power, and I owe Hockaday, while it was subtle, giving me the confidence to dream and do whatever I have on my mind.”

Empowering Confidence With two of his daughters at Hockaday, Cuban agrees that Hockaday is the breeding ground for women like Ivy who carry on that “girl power” beyond the school walls.

“Hockaday gives all of its students the confidence to excel and the foundation of knowledge to find success in any endeavor,” Cuban said.

“Ivy has the opportunity to be a mentor and role model for others now, especially for young girls in the area looking up to her and her success,” Matthews said. “That is so exciting not only for me but to Hockaday and everyone who loves and supports her.”

To Ivy, the first step of combining success with passion is to dream and to “dream very big.” On her wall at home, Ivy has a vision board where every time she is met with a dream, thought or idea, she writes them down and sticks them on her board.

“You would not believe how many notes I’ve written in the past six months that I’ve taken off because the dreams have come true,” Ivy said. “It shows the power of really believing in yourself no matter the odds because there will always be people who tell you just about anything and a reason why you can’t but focus on why you can and go for it.”

AWINO'S RESUMÉ Into the roles and responsibilities of her DJ career

Became "DJ Poizon Ivy" and Promotions Director for the Marquette University Radio at Marquette University

2010—2013 Worked as Independent contractor in Milwaukee area for Atlantic Records and OSAT Music International

2010—Present Establishes herself as a professional DJ for parties, clubs, and other occasions

2010—Present Adopts DJ position with Dallas Wings (in WNBA)

2015 Becomes personal DJ for Skylar Diggins, a WNBA athlete and the only athlete signed to Roc Nation

GRAPHIC BY JENNY ZHU

2010—2011

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HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

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Sophomore publishes her poetry

HockaBriefs

On Oct. 19, Hockaday Upper School students competed in Math Madness, an online bracket-style math competition, against Jamestown High School from Williamsburg, Virginia.

Senior Elizabeth Zhou, juniors Elizabeth Guo and Effie Guo, sophomore Clara Shi and freshman Hope Fu placed in the top five. Winning by just one point, Hockaday defeated Jamestown 36 to 35, allowing them to progress to the elite round of the top 64 teams in the country.

Following the protocols of March Madness, the teams will then compete in a single-elimination tournament.

Student Council Hosts Advisory Stop-By In order to assess the problems facing Upper School students, members of the Hockaday Student Council visited advisories on Oct. 13 to ask the members various questions, including ways to improve Spirit Week and free dress day ideas.

Student Body President Joy Nesbitt accumulated the responses and hopes to implement these suggestions and to address issues brought up by the students during this school year. Nesbitt said that the main concern among students was their lack of prior knowledge of major student council events, and Nesbitt plans to increase social media presence on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.

Fourward Nov. 4

Head to the Lacerte Black Box Theater at 7:30 p.m. to see Hockaday’s production of the slapstick comedy, “The Boxer.”

Nov. 8

Registered to vote this year?

Go to your nearest polling station to cast a ballot in the presidential election.

Nov. 8

Students will provide Thanksgiving meals to over 20,000 people in Central Market’s Feast of Sharing. To participate, sign up on x2VOL.

Nov. 9

The whole campus will participate in a Day of Service to benefit the greater Dallas community, which will be followed by a One Hockaday event.

Nov. 11

Say thank you to faculty and staff members who have served in the armed forces on Veterans Day.

Nov. 11

Early Dismissal at 12 p.m., which means four more hours for your own personal use.

Nov. 11-12

Hockaday will host its annual Debate Tournament.

Nov. 14

Hockaday Dance Company will perform “Peter and the Wolf” as well as Aesop’s Fables in the fall dance assembly.

Nov. 14-17

St. Mark’s juniors will host McDonald's Week to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas.

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A preview of the upcoming elections

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With the growing number of sexual assault cases on college campuses, Hockaday has implemented a new program: Fight Like a Girl. Taught by self-defense teacher Meg Hinkley, the program is designed to help students learn techniques to protect themselves in case of an emergency. The program was implemented last year with the freshman class, who learned the primary targets as well as reminders such as locking the car door as soon one enters the vehicle. Due to initial success and positive feedback, the program has grown and now includes juniors and sophomores.

Students Progress in Math Madness Competition

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Fight Like a Girl Program Kicks Up

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

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Students start Teen Science Café

Hockaday Students Win Big at the Texas State Fair Sophomore Sara Doward and freshmen Anouska Singhania and Leya Glazer returned from the fair with more than just a full stomach: these students received awards for their artwork at the art contests held by the State Fair. Doward received first place and honorable mention in the ceramics competition, first place in photography and honorable mention in the cut paper competition.

Singhania received second place in the Seascape Category of the Junior Division Oil Painting Competition, and Glazer won honorable mention in the animal photography category and for holiday decorations.

SENIOR TRADITIONS

Halloween Haunts Hockaday

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obwebs drape the walls, while fake spiders and skulls dangle from the ceilings.

Frightened freshmen scurry to their lockers splattered in fake blood, desperately trying to make it to their first period class. Halloween at Hockaday has always been a spirited one, but not without limitations.

Every year the seniors brainstorm their Halloween theme during the end of their August senior retreat at Allaso Ranch, looking to find one that pleases their high expectations of frightening the entire Upper School.

Senior and Halloween Chair Erika Geisler had set goals for this year’s event. “I wanted it to be super scary, but I also wanted it to be memorable for our grade and every other grade,” Geisler said.

Fellow senior and Halloween Chair Catherine Gross said that while the committee members wanted to ensure that the halls were scary, they also had another goal in mind.

“I wanted it to be scary, creative and very our grade. I feel like our grade is a good mosh of people who are different but work well together. I think we did a good job creating this own scene the way we want it to go,” Gross said.

While the theme is the first part of the administration’s moderation of Halloween, the execution also comes with limitations. Form IV Dean Rebekah Calhoun said that the administrative piece is to check that, while the decorating is enjoyable, it is also respectful of the community at large.

“The overarching point is that we have to keep in mind that we are a community of 4-year-olds to seniors. Things if we were just an Upper School are not appropriate because we have little kids walking around,” Calhoun said.

As a result of Hockaday’s extensive community, extra boundaries are also placed when it comes to picking a theme. Both the grade and the Halloween committee must put careful thought into the brainstorming process.

And every year there are themes that the Chairs pitch and don’t make it. Former Halloween Chair Sadie Lidji ‘16 said ideas such as “The Hunger Games” and “The Purge” have been turned down by the administration due to their inappropriate undertones.

“As a grade we threw out a lot of ideas at the senior retreat, but several of them were not allowed to the next round of voting, because the

faculty was wary of them being too scary,” Lidji said.

After a list of ideas approved by Calhoun are compiled, the administration verifies which are plausible and which are inappropriate. A key factor is picking a theme that does not have any offensive implications.

“One of the hardest things to remember is that there are some really popular movies or books that seem like they would be really cool ideas, but then you have to stop and think about the idea behind them.

You have to say: is it appropriate for a school theme?” Calhoun said.

In addition to theme restrictions, there are also safety precautions set in place for the decorating. This prevents complete free reign when it comes to what the seniors can cover up or conceal in the hallways.

“My first year doing this was 2008, and the school’s security priorities were very different. For example, we didn’t have all these security cameras. It shows how much the school has changed over the years,” Calhoun said.

Security requires that the seniors do not cover the security cameras, turn off all the lights in the hallways, or put decorations on the staircases that will impede students’ access or cause potential tripping or falling. In addition, while the walls of the halls can be decorated, students still must be able to get into their lockers for class.

But Hockaday seniors are creative. In conjunction to these restrictions placed by the administration and security, the senior classes have always been able to find innovative ways to execute their ideas in a manner that works best for their individual class.

“While our theme in the end wasn’t a lot of people’s first choice, we all ended up being really pleased with it. We came to realize that a more creepy, eerie, haunted theme actually felt more right for our grade,” Lidji said.

Although the seniors had to make a few adjustments to the planned execution of the hallways, as in all the years before them, they made it work, and Geisler hopes that this year’s Halloween was a memorable one.

“I want underclassmen to remember this. I want them to look back on it and say ‘I want ours to be good as that grade's was,’” Geisler said.

Heidi Kim Views Editor

SPOOKS AND SMILES

NIGHTMARE in the freshman hallway

NURSERY in the sophomore hallway

ENCHANTED FOREST in the junior hallway

BIRTHDAY PARTY/ FUN HOUSE in the senior hallway PHOTOS BY GRACE VOORHEIS

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news

NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

PHOTO BY KATIE O'MEARA

BY THE NUMBERS

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Each year, it is tradition for seniors to decorate the hallways for Halloween. This year, the Class of 2017 chose "Ruin Your Childhood" as the theme. Hallways themes included birthday party/fun house, nursery, enchanted forest and nightmares.

STUDENT GETS PUBLISHED

Barnes & Noble Bound Sophomore Nisha Singh turns her poetry into a book

15 bags of candy

i

t’s no secret that sophomore Nisha Singh loves to write. Since middle school, she has compiled years of short stories, prose and poetry with encouragement from her English teachers. After years of submitting those pieces to various writing contests, Singh officially took her next step in the writing world on June 15, 2016: publishing her work.

Her book, “Rain and Other Mellow Things,” was not a premeditated decision for Singh, but rather a natural progression for her writing endeavors.

“Publishing was never really the goal. It became a question for when I had a lot of poems: Would this look cool in a book?” she said.

Although Singh enjoys diversifying her forms of writing, she decided to make her first book focused on poetry and prose to truly expose herself as an artist.

She was especially scared of writing poetry because of its subjective nature that makes it difficult to understand if a work will be successful in the public eye.

“Publishing was a way for me to get over my fear of what people think of my writing,” she said.

The poems included in the book are a mix of old and new work, but all of them focus on topics involving social justice and racial inequality. Singh drew upon her parents’ journey as Indian immigrants as well as her own experience as a first-generation Indian-American.

“A lot of my poetry stems from the struggle that I have convincing people that I’m American, but convincing other people I’m Indian enough and I capitalize on that struggle because it is something I deal with everyday,” she said.

Singh’s parents were more than elated when they found out their daughter was not only writing a book, but also focusing on social issues important to her. Singh’s mom, Rajita Singh, has always encouraged her daughter to read about Indian culture and the struggles that past generations have faced.

“We have instilled in her a sense of pride for who we are as people, and what great opportunities we have been afforded in this country,” she said.

After completing the writing process, Singh started to work on publishing. Singh admitted that publishing her work was much more exhaustive than she expected, the process spanning from early January to June 2016, when the book came out.

Since she was still in the last semester of her freshman year, Singh relied on her mother to find a publishing house and help her along the way.

After sending samples of her work to numerous publishers, Singh and her mom decided on Author House, a self-publishing firm. Unlike other publishing companies which ensure their writers represent their brand, Author House lets writers publish independently while helping them with the logistics.

Singh was introduced to the world of publishing and realized that, beyond the writing, she had many more stylistic decisions to make. From font to titles to page aesthetic, the book was a series of back and forth suggestions between Singh and her publisher.

“There were innumerable edits: some

ideas were discarded, some were revisited, some were rewritten. There were a lot of discussions and arguments on what should make it into the book,” Rajita Singh said.

Ultimately, Singh conceded some elements of the book to her publisher, while also choosing to fight for her own ideas. For example, Singh allowed the book to be divided into three sections that were more digestible for the reader rather than leaving it as one entity.

However, when it came to the titles of the poems, she wanted it to be at the bottom of the poem instead of the standard position at the top to represent her unique style.

As for the title and cover of the book, Singh admits that not a lot of meaning went behind them, other than the fact that she wanted something that would juxtapose well with her poems.

“I browsed through [pictures for the cover] and ultimately decided on rain because my poems are pretty intense, at least

A SNEAK PEEK

into "Rain and Other Mellow Things"

I will never understand Humans' need For dominance.

Some desire people have To deprive others of their Culture.

Color.

Home.

How do we have the courage To continue to glorify Something so Vile?

Why create A scheme Where nobody wins And everybody Inevitably loses?

We are all people.

We begin And end the same.

Who's to change that?

-centuries and still no one knows

READY TO READ Nisha Singh holds a copy of her book, "Rain and Other Mellow Things," which is available for purchase online in paperback for $13.99 and ebook version for $3.99 on Amazon, iBooks and Barnes & Noble.

the themes that I do talk about so I guess I wanted to make the cover a little calmer and a little less intense,” Singh said.

When the book was finally finished, Singh was incredibly proud of the final result, but realized she hadn’t told many people about it. Even though it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise, Singh ended up telling her friends in summer U.S. government class a week before the book was to be published.

Fellow sophomore and close friend of Singh Ashna Ahuja talked about their reaction to her news.

“Our entire class was honestly just taken aback because no one knew that she was writing a book, and then we started screaming and yelling because we were so excited that she was able to express her love for writing in this book,” said Ahuja.

Ahuja said that after that class, many of the students went straight online to pre-order the book and leave kind reviews on Amazon and iBooks.

They weren’t the only ones. Many of Singh’s family members, friends and complete strangers left praise for Singh’s book on various websites. To a certain extent, Singh expected her community to support her, but in no way anticipated random buyers to applaud her writing.

While she loved receiving those anonymous comments as encouragement, Singh wanted critiques from higher ranked reviewers to improve her writing. She has sent her work out to various editors and has gotten glowing reviews from Kirkus Reviews, a company that specializes in reviewing self-published books, and is waiting for feedback from others.

“I’m happy with my book...because I worked so hard, so that’s why I like people critiquing my writing,” Singh said, “Just because I published, it doesn’t mean I’m a refined, elegant writer. I’m only 15 and I still need to work on things.”

After selling 130 copies of her book, which is print to order, Singh would love to further her writing career, although she acknowledges the stress of managing school with publishing. As for her parents and friends, they will always be supportive of her work and sees great value in her decision to focus on social issues through her writing.

Singh’s mom said that beyond the caliber of her writing, her daughter was able to do more with her words for this generation.

“It was definitely worth all the hard work and time she put into it. She has been able to aptly bring forth some topics that are very hard to talk about even in today's day and age,” Rajita Singh said.

Shreya Gunukula Video Editor

70 masks used

5 gallons of fake blood used to decorate costumes and signs

12 hours to decorate the hallways on workdays

40: the original number of theme ideas forumlated by the senior class PHOTOS BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ILLUSTRATION BY SHREYA GUNUKULA

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HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

YOUR GUIDE TO

ELECTIºNS

Matrix: The Last Debate at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada

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2º16

three BIG TAKEAWAYS

Hilarious

Saturday Night Live released a widely-praised skit depicting the Nevada debate.

Clinton and Trump accused each other of being Putin's puppet.

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Trump referred to Clinton as "such a nasty woman."

Cringeworthy

ELECTION CALENDAR Oct. 24

A Boeing 770-700, carrying Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence and chartered from Eastern Airlines, skidded off the runway during a heavy rainfall at the LaGuardia Airport on Oct. 28. The pilots and emergency responders landed the plane in the grass on the side of the runway.

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Fearing a rigged presidential election, Trump supporter Terri Lynn Rote, 55, allegedly voted twice in Des Moines, Iowa. Rote has been charged with first-degree election misconduct, but she has been released after posting the $5000 bond.

Texas Early Voting Began

Nov. 4

Texas Early Voting Ends

Nov. 8

Election Day in the United States

MICHELLE OBAMA gained media attention after giving a speech on sexual assault

▲ GOOD WEEK BAD WEEK

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JULIAN ASSANGE, the founder of WikiLeaks, remains in exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

On Oct. 28, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reopened the case regarding Hillary Clinton’s emails after finding unreleased emails on the computer of Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and former New York Congressman. The F.B.I. has been investigating Weiner for sending illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.

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that’s what

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they said

“We will create an “I will defend Planned economic machine Parenthood, and the likes of which the I will defend women’s country hasn’t seen in rights to make that decades.” decision.”

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PHOTOS BY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

OPINION

Donald Trump and the Curious Incident of the Lost Election Mary Orsak

o

n Feb. 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson defeated the incumbent president John Adams of the Federalist Party, marking the first peaceful transition of power in the United States from one political party to the other.

However, Jefferson had not yet won the presidency: the American two-vote ballot, created in order to ensure a majority for at least one candidate, resulted in an electoral tie between Jefferson and Vice Presidential candidate Aaron Burr.

Thus, the House of Representatives had to resolve the tie. After 35 votes, neither man had won a majority. Former Treasury of the Secretary Alexander Hamilton was called upon to voice his opinion for who should be the next president. Despising both men, but hating Burr’s mutability more than Jefferson’s policies, Hamilton endorsed Jefferson and swayed the House to choose him in the next vote.

Even though he lost at the hands of his sworn enemy, Burr ceded defeat to Jefferson.

However, after 215 years of peaceful transitions of power, Donald Trump has threatened this legacy of upholding "But neither democracy by claiming in a speech on ThursBush nor day in Ohio that he would accept the outGore come of the presidenquestioned tial election - if and only if he wins. the Democrats have quickly criticized Trump legitimacy for these words, citing of the the unprecedented nature of this statement election." and its reflection upon Trump’s fitness to be president (and more importantly – commander-in-chief).

Hillary Clinton pointed out in the final debate on Oct. 19 in Las Vegas that “There was even a time when he didn't get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged."

While not exactly accurate as Trump never stated that the Emmys were “rigged,” he did criticize the awards show as dishonest, not credible and politically motivated after his reality show “The Apprentice” lost to “The Amazing Race” for the 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program.

Trump, in response, has also cited precedence in his failure to accept the electoral results.

"If Al Gore or George Bush had agreed three weeks before the election to concede results and waived their right to a legal challenge or a recount then there would be no Supreme Court case," Trump said.

But neither Gore nor Bush questioned the legitimacy of the election, and after the Supreme Court ruled that Bush had won, Gore called Bush to concede defeat.

With recent polls showing Trump as far behind as 10 points in the upcoming election, Trump’s comments must not be laughed off as he has a great chance of losing.

We cannot let this man, who believes he has the power to do whatever he pleases without punishment which is evident through the recent accusations of sexual assault, destroy the democratic institutions that have for centuries protected the rights of Americans to determine the presidency and the future of the nation (I completely recognize that African Americans, women and other groups have often been excluded from voting, but even so, these groups have won the right to vote in the last century and thus have almost a hundred of years of voting under their belts).

Even the Trump Organization recognizes the flaws of its owner as it chose to name its new line of hotels “Scion” rather than after the man himself.

If his own corporation feels that using Trump’s name damages the brand, perhaps Trump should reevaluate his most recent statements.

America is fed up with the constant misogyny, racism, lies and outlandish statements.

Ironically, if Trump really wants to win, he needs to cede defeat.

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

PHOTO BY MARTI COPELAND

AROUND DALLAS

The Dallas Zoo Serves Science Hockaday students join steering committee to advance STEM in Dallas

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n a traditional sense, the word “café” conjures up images of lattes and buttery croissants served in a nicely designed and sophisticated setting. But a new café in Dallas does not serve coffee; instead, it caters to teens interested in advancements or careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) field. The location?

The Dallas Zoo. The Teen Science Café at the Dallas Zoo is the first member organization in the city, the third in Texas and the 43rd and newest member of the Teen Science Café Network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. This Network was modeled after the Café Scientifique in New Mexico, established in 2012.

At these national, free cafés, students

have the opportunity to interact with and learn from scientists, engineers and inventors about how science is used in the world around them. The Dallas Zoo Café will host five events annually in which local professionals in the STEM field will speak with participating teens.

These cafés are not usually in a zoo setting. But to Marti Copeland, Director of Education at the Dallas Zoo, Teen Science Cafés are not just lectures—they give teens the chance to truly interact with scientists through engaging activities. According to her, the zoo provides an unique, appropriate setting for a café.

“The Dallas Zoo does science everyday, and we want to inspire youth to be excited about science, to pursue careers in science

Mapping Teen Science Cafés in the US

GRAPHIC BY MORGAN FISHER Source: Teen Science Café

and to be connected to the natural world around them,” Copeland said. “We are not just teaching about science, not just trying to get the science experience out there. It’s actually part of our every-day operation.”

Led by Greenhill freshman Ronak Dhingra, who brought the program to Dallas, four Hockaday students—juniors Elizabeth Guo and Sloane Parker, and freshmen Cathy Ma and Makayla Woods—are members of the steering committee that is organizing the cafés. Each student who joined the team has a strong interest in science.

Parker, who found out about the program through an email sent by Science Department Chair Marshall Bartlett, applied because of her interest in science (especially genetics) and photography, which would help with the team’s advertising through social media pages.

“I submitted an application which included my strengths and talents in order to show I could be beneficial for the team,” Parker said.

Thus, Parker will be using her camera skills to videotape the events. Similarly, Ma applied because of her interest in science, photography and filmmaking, and Guo applied because of her interest in science, event-planning, photography and graphics.

“The idea of a Teen Science Café looked really interesting ,and I’ve always been interested in STEM,” Guo said. “So, I thought this would be a great opportunity to spread my interest in the community.”

Additionally, Ma joined the Teen Science Café team because “it’s a good way to gather the future scientists and talk about science with the professors in the field.”

Each student plays a different role in planning the event. Because the speakers for each event have already been decided by

BRIGHT BRAINS Students from left to right: Elizabeth Guo, Makayla Woods, Cathy Ma, Sloane Parker and Ronak Dhingra meet at the Dallas Zoo for the first Teen Science Café meeting of the year to discuss their first event in October.

Dhingra and Copeland, the team focuses on other aspects of the event, such as organizing the activities and spreading the word.

The first event was held on Oct. 23, and featured Patricia McGill, Ph.D., an ornithologist who specializes in studying Humboldt penguins at the Dallas Zoo. In preparation for this inaugural event, Guo created Facebook and Twitter accounts for the Dallas team while Parker and Ma created a Kahoot trivia quiz about penguins. During the event, Guo took photographs and thanked the speaker, Ma was in charge of food and beverages and Parker videotaped the event.

As being part of the steering committee requires time and commitment, Parker affirms that it has helped with her planning skills.

“Since the Teen Science Café will be a yearlong project, I have to make certain sacrifices for it and plan my other activities around the events,” Parker said.

Students can find information about the next event, which will take place on Nov. 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the zoo, on the Dallas Zoo Teen Science Café Facebook page (www.facebook.com/dallasteenscience).

Morgan Fisher Staff Writer

Hitting the Brakes on Driving

w

hile many seniors waited with bated breath for their parking spots to be announced earlier this year, Amy Jia wasn’t one of them: she’s one of many Hockaday students who have delayed their behind-thewheel adventures.

Jia, who got her driver’s permit in December 2015, hopes to get her full license by the end of 2016. She and her older sister, Lori ‘16, were both learning to drive at the same time, so Jia put her driver’s education on hold and let her older sister take the wheel.

“We only had one extra car for the both of us to drive, and she was using it most of the time,” Jia said. “So I hadn’t really started driving until the summer of this year.”

Now, Jia drives back and forth from Plano to school, with her father as her co-pilot to show her the ropes. Ideally, she would practice that journey every day, but that doesn’t always work out. “What usually prevents me from driving is having to get up early for morning [crew] practice. We have to get there at 6 a.m.,” Jia said. “I just don’t feel like I’d be a good driver with three hours of sleep.”

Although those conditions admittedly aren’t the best for Jia to practice, Plano All Star Driving School manager Don Vinson says that frequent practice is the most important part of learning to drive.

“When I first started teaching driver’s education class, class was three weeks long; you could finish all of driver’s education in less than a month,” Vinson said. “So that was the length of your experience level, one month, and now you’re out there driving a car. That’s just the way the law was.”

Now, young students benefit from getting their

permits at 15 years old, practicing for the mandatory six months and testing for their license when they turn 16. Not all students, however, can stick to that schedule.

Upper School Attendance Coordinator Jessica Kramer acknowledges that time commitments have caused a trend of teenagers delaying their licenses.

Both her daughters, Bebe and Yogi Sullivan (17 and 15, respectively), worked on getting their permits and licenses as soon as they could.

“I do think it’s a time factor,” Kramer said. “It was an issue with scheduling. [Bebe] ended up doing it when she could online.”

Sometimes this works in students’ favors; although in Texas, people can start the classroom portion of driver’s education at 14 (and the practical part at 15), Vinson notes that these young classrooms aren’t always the most effective.

“When we have a classroom that has a lot of 14-year-olds, it’s a very immature class,” Vinson said.

“Oddly enough, they wait a year or six months and then they come back at 15 and they do better.”

In addition to costing time, Kramer also thinks that another reason teenagers tend to wait before driving has to do with cost. “When you look at insurance and the car, that tends to add up too,” Kramer said. “Insurance for [teenagers] is not cheap.

Our insurance almost doubled when we added my daughter’s to ours.”

According to research website ValuePenguin, the average cost per year to insure a 16-year-old driver is $8,226; in less than 10 years of driving experience, that average drops to $2,374.

Adding to external factors like time and money costs, Vinson thinks a lack of internal motivation has

also led to the rise in age of newly licensed drivers.

“I think the biggest culprit of why this is happening is because of social media,” Vinson said.

“When I was a kid, if I wanted to go see my friends, I had to drive and go see my friends. Now you can sit at home and get on social media. People don’t need to drive as much.”

Kramer’s nephews, who are 19 and 16, respectively, do not have their licenses either. While Kramer thinks the rush to get one’s license has certainly decreased from her Hockaday days, she notes that not being licensed can put a damper on life posthigh school.

“My nephew is in college, he’s an instructor on a black belt committee, and he had to get a ride from someone else’s mom to get a ride to a meeting the other day,” Kramer said.

At that age, Vinson said, the push for driver’s education usually comes from the parents instead of the students.

“That really has an impact on the type of student that you have. When I took driver’s education, I had enthusiasm for doing it,” Vinson said. “Now it seems like the ones who are forced to do it, they’re in no hurry at all to get through it.”

Jia agrees that driving gives students, especially in high school, a sense of independence and responsibility, but at the same time, doesn’t regret waiting to get her license.

“I don’t feel like I’ve lacked a lot in my high school experience not being able to drive,” Jia said. “I think it just depends on an individual’s circumstances.”

Maria Katsulos Business Manager

“

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

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Writing a book has been one of the goals on my bucket list.

features

PHOTO BY ALI HURST

Garden Party

Six Questions p8

➝ STORY BY ALI HURST

Lower School students begin a new season of gardening.

As you walk past the Lower School classrooms in the fall months, the aroma of Hockadaygrown basil and oregano permeates the air, and a buzzing crowd of first or second-graders, observation journals in hands, fills the hallway. Once every six-day rotation for a 40-minute Flex period, first and second-graders leave their classrooms and venture into the outdoors to the Lower School Garden.

The garden was the dream of Danny Keller, a former Hockaday music teacher and a gardener.

One of the first Hockaday teachers to be given the Prentiss Grant, being awarded this honor in 2003, Keller traveled to gardens of England as well as “The Edible Schoolyard,” a school-based garden in California founded by Alice Waters, a proponent of the farm-to-table movement.

After seeing and working at this garden, Keller, an avid home cook with a small catering business, hoped to bring a garden to Hockaday and educate the students about the value of fresh foods.

Keller wasn’t able to implement this garden; he died in 2004. After his passing, Keller’s friends who knew of his passion gifted Hockaday the initial seed money to purchase the first plant boxes and light garden, starting the Lower School Garden.

Lower School Spanish teacher Marcela Gerber was a close friend of Keller and remembers his dedication to his work and students at Hockaday and his passion for gardening. “This garden came out of his love,” she said.

In more recent years, Lower School yoga teacher Cherry Fowler used the garden in her classes, and three years ago, Lower School science teacher Lara Guerra took over the maintenance of development of the garden. Since then, gardening time has been included in the first and second-grade schedule.

Harvesting the Garden

But the garden is not simply a hobby are able to learn many life lessons through for the students: it is used as an education- planting and harvesting their own crops. al tool. Besides planting and harvesting the Second grade teacher Kathy Hogan can vegetables, students keep gardening jour- attest to this. nals where they record their observations.

“I like seeing the girls really looking inThe girls also learn how to read a thermom- tently at the plants and the things they have eter and record the temperature. Through grown and I think they love being outside in this, Lara Guerra hopes to collect enough the fresh air and really getting close to nadata to make a graph and study trend lines. ture,” she said.

Lower School Head Randall Rhodus Guerra also believes that gardening believes the gardens are an effective supple- teaches patience, as planting a seed does not ment to the girls’ curriculum. result in instant gratification. Last year, the “It’s a topic in which girls can com- girls learned how to deal with disappointbine lots of different areas ment when one of their of study to enhance what broccoli plants suddenly they’re learning in those died.

This garden subject areas,” Rhodus said.

Lower School sciAnd the students love ence teacher Amy Banks, came out of being challenged by these who helped the girls plant educational outcomes of their crops this year, also love. the garden and are eager to sees the benefit of young plant, harvest and learn. girls learning about the Marcela Gerber “We do science and garorigin of fresh food.

Lower School dening, so it’s difficult, but “You just forget that Spanish Teacher it’s really nice out here in the little people think that garden,” first-grader Maggie everything comes from Hurley said. the grocery store, and When the harvest is when they reach down plentiful, Guerra holds and pull a sweet potacooking classes where to out of the ground, it’s the girls practice several like magic; they had no subjects such as math, social idea that that came from studies, music and language there,” she said. in the making of salsa or vegetable soup.

On Tuesday, Oct. 4 and Thursday, Oct. Last year, for example, the second graders 6, both the first and second-graders spent studied the wildflowers next to the garden time in the garden working on planting by reading about Ladybird Johnson and their crops before the temperature dropped painting watercolors. too low.

“There’s a lot of benefit to being in the Each girl was able to choose from a vagarden. You can tie it into every single sub- riety of crops such as radishes, cabbage, letject. You tell me a direction you want to go tuce, garlic, cilantro, carrots and more and and I guarantee you we can tie the garden to plant their seeds in a square-foot area of a it,” Guerra said about the educational possi- garden bed. And in Guerra’s opinion, the bilities of the garden. planting process teaches valuable skills, like Along with objective skills gained from being exact in seed spacing. work in the garden, Lower School students “It gets them in touch with nature. It

Pink Daisy These flowers serve an important purpose: attracting bees for pollination in the garden

Banana pepper Lower Schoolers enjoy their mild and tangy flavor

Okra Kept on the vine until it dries out to have seeds for a new plant

SEEDS OF CARE On Thursday, Oct. 6, Lara Guerra and Laura Baker help Kathy Hogan’s second grade class plant crops for their spring harvest.

gets them out with their hands in the dirt.

They learn not to be afraid of picking up a worm or not to be afraid of picking up that creepy-looking larva,” she said.

The girls themselves were also eager to plant on these designated work days. “It’s fun to plant vegetables and flowers. I like that you get to choose where you put the plants,” first-grader Anna Gerow said.x Guerra sent an email out to Hockaday’s faculty and staff inviting anybody who wanted to come help in the planting, and she was pleasantly surprised at the turnout.

People from the development office, the front desk and several security officers came out to help the girls in the garden.

Along with participation from the on-campus community, Guerra hopes to include more parent volunteers in the gardening program. While some parents have already signed up, she hopes to build the garden to the point where volunteering spots are in high demand.

When these recently-planted crops are harvested, the vegetables and herbs will be used for a variety of things.

The girls are given trays of their own vegetables as their afternoon snack and they will also attend cooking classes if the harvest yields enough ingredients. And, if there is any surplus, vegetables will be donated to the kitchen.

No matter what is in store for the vegetables, the girls are endlessly excited to see their patience and tender care pay off during harvest time.

“I have never seen more excited girls than the ones that came in last year during harvesting time,” said Rhodus.

Sage Fresh sage is used for cooking classes and dried sage is dried for prolonged use

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features

NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

➝

p.7

Lower School Garden

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

p.9

Mary Orsak in Youth Commission

Art in the Operating Room

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SHANDA BLACKMON

i

t's 4 a.m. She gets on the treadmill and goes for a run. After making breakfast for her 12-year-old twin sons, Sam and Jake, she drives them to the bus stop.

It’s 7 a.m. and she is already at work.

Alumna Shanda Blackmon ‘87, a thoracic surgeon, is the first woman to be on staff in her field at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Blackmon performs four to five surgeries every other day. When she is not in the operating room, she does clinic or rounds and checks on her patients.

On clinic days, she has lunch meetings for research. And when she goes home, at around 5 or 6 p.m., she trades her scrubs for Scrabble. Her kids help cook dinner and they play a game such as Rummikub. Then, it is bed time.

This wasn’t always her plan.

“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. I thought I might be interested in art, so when I went to college, I was an art major,” she said.

However, during college at the University of Texas at Austin in the late ‘80s and in the early ‘90s, she spent a lot of time studying various sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology. She worked in the art sector for a year after college but found that it wasn’t the right fit for her.

“I realized that I liked painting for me,” Blackmon said. “I didn't like so much painting for other people.”

SIX QUESTIONS

andre stipanovic

You’re writing a book.

What’s its subject?

The book, titled “Imperial Tensions,” is about 170 pages. My book is analyzing "The Agricola," which is written by one of my favorite Roman historian Tacitus. one of Roman historian Tacitus’ Tacitus writes really concentrated and vivid Latin that it’s like reading a puzzle.

2

Where is your book in terms of publishing?

I finished the book and sent it into Cambridge University Press.

They’ve sent it out for review, and now I’m waiting to hear back. I’m still working on the fringes of the book to sharpen it.

3

GIRL POWER Shanda Blackmon (left) stands with Christel Benjamin (right), a woman she has mentored from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

in medical school instead.

For her, “It was a better personality fit,” Blackmon said. “I enjoyed the work, and I enjoyed the immediate gratification. I enjoyed using my hands, much like the art.”

Nancy Penn Penson '41 & John G. Penson Distinguished Teacher in Fine Arts and Dean of Upper School Ed Long sees the contributions of an art background.

“In response to art, to notice what is unnoticeable to others, to be particularly visually sensitive to subtleties, that helps when you’ve had an established background like that,” Long said.

Blackmon found her specialty when she had a patient with a complex aortic injury, which is the second most common cause of death in trauma patients, according to the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

“That case was so exciting to me that it made general surgery not seem as appealing anymore,” Blackmon said.

Her training consisted of five years of general surgery at Georgia Baptist Hospital/ Atlanta Medical Center from 1998 to 2003, two more years of cardiothoracic surgery at

Why did you write this book?

Around 2007, a student of mine gave me a gift card to Half Price Books, so I picked up a book about Agricola. Then, I applied for a summer study grant program that Hockaday offered. For about four or five years, I worked on writing the book, which was one of my goals on my bucket list.

4

When did you begin reading Greek?

It started with my professor in college, [Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Seton Hall University] Frederick Booth. For four years, I would have tea and coffee while reading Greek.

5

Senior dance parties

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and a year beyond her residency to do more thoracic cancer and oncology training at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

And Blackmon has been a trailblazer—during her training, she broke many boundaries. In her general surgery training in 2003, Blackmon became the first female trainee in the history of the 50-year-old program. While at Baylor, she became the first cardiothoracic surgery resident to give birth in the program.

However, despite being the first in much of her career, Blackmon has always felt very comfortable working with men. “I tried to outwork the men. I worked just as hard as they did if not harder to prove myself,” she said.

But she never felt that she had to prove someone wrong. “I knew I was smart enough to do anything, and I knew I was very capable,” she said. “It was important for me to achieve something in my life that would make a difference in other people's lives.”

Yet there have been instances in her career where women have outnumbered men. For example, Blackmon’s first job out of her training was at Methodist Hospital in Houston. The chair of her department was a woman and there were more women faculty than men.

“I think that you know that you have reached gender equality not when you have reached threshold, like 50 percent women 50 percent men,” Blackmon said. “I think you know that you've reached a threshold when gender doesn't matter anymore.”

In fact, after she joined there were more female residents in cardiothoracic surgery than male residents.

“Some of the minority groups, when they then become the majority, need to remember what it felt like to be a minority and treat the new minority like they would have wanted to be treated when they were the minority,” Blackmon said. She recently wrote an article on this reverse discrimination in a Mayo Clinic magazine, the Surgical Sentinel.

Now as a woman in a leadership position, she is an advocate of making medical events inclusive to entire families. For instance, at one conference, there was no room for breast pumping. As a result, she advocated for a station, and now this is a national standard for medical conferences.

Blackmon has experienced this need for greater family-friendly accommodations firsthand. She frequently takes her children with her when she travels and this month, her husband and kids are traveling with her to Florida for the 63rd Annual Southern Thoracic Surgical Association.

All in all, Blackmon found a passion and she followed it.

“I kept my mind open, and then whenever I had a really positive experience, and I enjoyed something, I continued to follow that bliss until it led me to where I am now,” she said.

Sonya Xu News Editor

How did you get involved in Cub Scouts?

I’ve been a part of Cub Scouts for 8 years where I went from den leader to cub master. At pack meetings on Tuesdays, the kids are running wild, but it’s fun. A friend of mine and I like to play a couple sing-alongs. The whole troop likes to act crazy, but the [Hockaday] students don’t get to see that side of me at school.

6

What do you and your wife love to do?

My wife is a French teacher. We met already having a love of languages and travel in common.

We’ve been to Europe and to Canada. We love to go to, walk experience a city together.

PHOTO BY MARIA HARRISON

You may know Andre Stipanovic as an Upper School Latin Teacher, but read on to learn more about what he does when he’s not in school.

1

Nevertheless, having an art background has helped her in her career.

“A lot of surgery is being able to visualize the anatomy and understanding complex anatomical relationships, and I think if you are a very good craftsperson, and if you are good with your hands and if you have good 3-D spatial relationship, that you can put together and change in your brain,” Blackmon said.

Senior Maryam Bolouri can relate to this philosophy and is aware of the importance of creativity when studying science.

As a current member of Hockaday Dance Theater, she hopes to pursue medicine as a career, while still continuing to pursue her love of dance in a student organization while in college.

“It’s much more difficult to study these topics when you’re used to things being so concrete and literal, so I feel like tapping into that creative side through the arts opens a window to an entirely different way of thinking,” Bolouri said. “It’s cool to see a woman so successful in her field advocating the joint pursuit of the arts and the sciences.”

Blackmon returned to school to get her master's degree in public health at Emory University in 1994. That same year, she started medical school at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

She thought that she wanted to be a pediatrician because of her love for children, but decided to pursue general surgery

p.10

features

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

.09 PHOTO BY ESHANI KISHORE

LEADERSHIP

Commissioned to Lead Junior Mary Orsak joins the Dallas Youth Commission

s

itting up in the City Council horseshoe at Dallas City Hall on a Tuesday night last month, junior Mary Orsak leans forward into the microphone and voices her concern surrounding the issue of environmental sustainability in Dallas. The room falls silent as Orsak, eyes trained intently on the meeting’s presenter, demonstrates her clear passion for the topic.

In Nov. 2015, Orsak was selected to serve as the Youth Commissioner for District 13 in a competitive process. The Youth Commission was reinstated in Oct. 2015, after a period of five years in which it was not active. Its mission? To have high school students evaluate the youth programs funded by the city.

Orsak first heard about the opportunity when former Assistant Head of Upper School Elizabeth Jones sent out an email that advertised the position.

The email was written by District 13 Council Member Jennifer Gates, who had opened up the position to youth living in her District. Hockaday falls under Gates’ jurisdiction and covers the neighborhoods of Preston Hollow and Vickery Meadow, down to, but not including, Highland Park.

After completing her written application, Orsak was invited to an interview with Gates.

During the interview, Gates recalls being impressed by Orsak’s professionalism and her interest in public policy. “Mary has an interest in government of all levels, and I knew that she would bring her energy and passion to the Youth Commission if she was selected,” Gates said.

where’d he get that?

A look into unique fashions of individuals at Hockaday

Orsak was soon appointed to two positions on the Youth Commission: secretary and Chair of the Education Committee by the chair of the Youth Commission. These roles entail recording the minutes for each meeting and focusing the conversation on ways in which education can be improved in Dallas ISD schools, respectively.

“We are working on an education survey right now where we would go to classes and talk to students to try and address the problems that DISD schools are facing,” Orsak said.

The educational survey will include questions about whether students in these schools enjoy the programs that their school provide and whether there are any services that could be added.

Orsak reports to Gates once per quarter to keep her updated on the Commission’s progress on matters such as this.

During each meeting, Gates informs Orsak on the most important issues that the city faces, while Orsak keeps her councilmembers updated on topics brought up in Youth Commission meetings.

Over time, Orsak has gained much from Gates’ expertise in youth issues and her thoughtful guidance. “[Councilmember Gates] is really a mentor to me,” Orsak said. “People often toss youth issues aside since we don’t have the power to vote, but [Gates] really cares about this,” she said.

But Orsak’s work does not just end there. She also works alongside her peers to address issues, such as homelessness and the problem of rampant stray animals in South Dallas, during the quarterly meetings.

Youth Commission Coordinator Anthony Cao oversees these meetings, ensuring that all 15 Youth Commissioners’ opinions are taken into consideration in the discussion surrounding city issues.

“I try to identify areas of intersection between Youth Commissioners’ interests and city issues and act as the the liaison between commissioners and city staff,” Cao said.

Led by Cao, Orsak and the other Youth Commissioners are currently addressing the issue of privatizing Fair Park, which has traditionally been publicly owned by Dallas and is being considered for privatization. Orsak believes that privatization would lead to more uses for the land, which is currently being used for the State Fair of Texas and little else.

“Fair Park is in a central part of Dallas and it has great resources,” Orsak said. “We want to see it as a yearlong venue that can be used in many ways,” she said.

In an effort to revitalize the area, Orsak and the other Commissioners want to bring economic investment to Fair Park.

“The Youth Commission made a proposal on how we think [Fair Park] should be used,” Orsak said. “We hope to bring things like college fairs and job opportunities to it.”

Orsak wants to continue her work with the Youth Commission and in doing so, continue to improve the Dallas community.

“We’re going to continue to explore how we can best serve the city and figure out what community most needs our service,” Orsak said.

A SHINING STAR Junior Mary Orsak sits at the City Council horseshoe, along with her fellow Youth Commissioners, on a Tuesday night at Dallas City Hall.

Youth Commission by the Numbers

26

percent of Commissioners are Hispanic

25,000

dollars is the annual budget

8

of the 16 Commissioners attend DISD schools

9

number of factors that will be taken into account in the Youth Commission education survey

Eshani Kishore Features Editor

jordan innerarity

J. Crew,

Assistant Director of Debate and Forensics Jordan Innerarity wears dress shirts, slacks and ties to work every day.

Pink Gingham shirt “Sometimes I just reach in and grab stuff. Other times I give a little bit more thought about what would look good today and what I feel like wearing.”

Q: What are your favorite shops?

Perry Ellis, Blue tie

I really like J. Crew, Banana Republic and Perry Ellis, as well as Gilt and Rue La La online.

“I’m always particular to blues when shopping for my clothes.”

Skagen watch, a wedding gift from his wife

Q: What style do you your clothes model?

I'm going for the “The Mad Men style” or “The West Wing style.” I really like men's clothing in the 60s.

Gold toe socks,

Q: How do you find your clothing?

a gift from his wife

“My wife and I always try to give something that you want but also something that is practical for holidays and birthdays.”

Perry Ellis, Slacks

PHOTO BY MARIA HARRISON

“My favorite type of shoe is the sleek classic oxford-cut or capped-toe shoe. For my everyday shoes, I want semi-casual dress shoes that are comfortable and can go with anything.”

I like to walk around Northpark Mall or outlet malls to generate ideas for clothing. When I am looking for clothing, I try to find affordable clothing that is also made out of good material and representative of my style.

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

features

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

PHOTO BY GRACE VOORHEIS

STRESS RELIEF

Dancing to the Beat

Seniors hold dance parties in the new senior commons

t

he past week has been particularly

stressful for senior Vyanka Sotelo, with a test, college applications and homework to worry about. But as she enters the Senior Commons and hears “Cotton Eye Joe” playing on the speakers, the stress slowly vanishes.

Sotelo smiles, leaves her books on a table and joins her class for a dance party.

Former Student Council Vice President Gabria Pearson ‘16 created the senior dance parties last fall after a speaker was left in the former Senior Hallway.

“We thought that as long as the speaker was there, we might as well plug it in and use it,” Pearson said, “We started using the speaker to play music and dance. It turned into a great bonding experience and became an every Friday occurrence.”

“Last year, the seniors could be found dancing on Friday mornings in what is now the freshman hallway outside of English teacher Sarah Traphagen’s classroom.

This year, the senior class hosts dance parties in their own Senior Commons on Friday mornings and during lunch periods.

Parties are also held for special occasions such as birthdays or college acceptances.

“We kick off birthday parties by playing ‘Birthday’ by Selena Gomez, and the birthday girl gets to pick the rest of the songs,” senior and Student Council Vice President Molly Mahowald said.

Since the opening of the Senior Commons, the class of 2017 has been brainstorming ways to use their new space. Mahowald decided that the dance parties were a tradition worth continuing and a great way to utilize the room. She leads the parties, beginning each one jokingly with a warm-up song and stretching, and she then compiles playlists by taking song suggestions from seniors.

“Everyone’s dancing like a maniac and no one really cares. We’re all just having fun together without worrying about anything

THE BOARDER LINE What’s happening in boarding right now On Friday October 28, boarding celebrate Halloween with a contest for best decorated door in boarding, a scavenger hunt around the Hockaday school and a costume contest at dinner.

The costume results Most Scary: Hibah Naviwala Most Convincing: Mo Oni Most Creative: Nicole Kennady Senior and boarder Tori Roy loved the scavenger hunt.

“People were really nice and willing to help us during the scavenger hunt,” Roy said. “My group finished in 45 minutes and sprinted back laughing and covered in blue eye shadow.”

Though boarding generally goes trick-or-treating together for Halloween around the Hockaday school, the boarders did not go this year since Halloween was on a Monday night.

DOOR ART Each dorm room could decorate the front of their door to participate in the best decorated door contest.

else,” said Mahowald, “No one is trying to tear anyone down. We’re all able to just hang out and dance. I’ll dance with people in my grade who I’m not really good friends with.”

And the parties are healthy as well.

“Dance is a great stress-reliever,” Sotelo said, “It lifts your mood. Dancing releases endorphins and makes you happier.”

But to Sotelo, the parties mean more than exercise. “Back home, me and my friends make little music videos, so dance reminds me of home,” Sotelo said, “It’s like, I just woke up at 6 a.m. to finish my essay and just when I think my day is going to be terrible, it gets better.”

Students are not the only ones enjoying the parties. Traphagen likes the sound of students having fun outside of her classroom. When she walks into school on Friday mornings, she hears the music playing and the seniors dancing.

“It cheers me up. It makes me happy,” she said, “I like to stop and dance with the seniors and let loose.”

The parties have helped to create new traditions. For example, most of the senior class has collectively learned a dance to “Cotton Eye Joe.” Mahowald and senior Emma Paine learned the dance at a summer camp prior to the beginning of senior year and brought it back to Hockaday with them. One day, the pair played the song in the Commons and it caught on with the rest of their class. Now the seniors perform the dance to “Cotton Eye Joe” at every major school event, including One Hockaday and the mixer.

A large difference between the parties of classes of 2016 and 2017 is response from the Upper School. The class of 2016 received complaints from faculty about the volume of their music and the songs that were played.

According to teachers and students alike, the creation of the Commons has removed many of these issues.

“The parties do not affect my classes in any way,” said Traphagen. “Last year they were right outside in the hallway and sometimes the parties got too distracting. I have no problems with the parties now that they’re in the Commons.

The seniors are mature enough to know if they’re being rambunctious. If they are, they’ll turn down the music or turn it off.”

Junior Paloma Renteria remembers that the parties made it difficult for students to get to class and could be a distraction, especially if the seniors were celebrating during a class period.

“The cool thing about this year is that the Senior Commons provide a space to have these celebrations in a way that is less distracting but just as fun.” she said.

Traphagen understands that being a Hockaday student comes with many stresses. The large workload, extracurricular activities and college application process are things she sees students deal with every year. However, Traphagen believes that students should be able to work hard while still having time to relax and have fun.

“At the end of the day, the students are still in high school,” she said, “They deserve to have moments where they can be a kid and let loose.”

Ashlynn Long Staff Writer

DANCING ALONG Seniors perform the Cotton Eyed Joe on a Friday morning, a ritual that the Class of 2017 has embraced. The grade often performs the dance at school events, such as Student Council mixers.

Class of 2017 Favorite Tunes

1

"Cotton Eyed Joe"

by Rednex

2

"He Could Be the One"

by Hannah Montana

3

"Sorry"

by Justin Bieber

4

"Crazy in Love"

by Beyonce and Jay-Z

5

"Birthday"

by Selena Gomez

6

"Burnin' Up"

by Jonas Brothers

7

"Lip Gloss"

by Lil Mama

8

"Titanium"

by David Guetta, feat. Sia

9

"No Control"

by One Direction

10

"Fire Burning"

by Sean Kingston

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

november noms

.11 city slicker

While everyone is marking their calendars for Thanksgiving Day, and foodies are doing so in anticipation of turkey, mashed potatos, green bean casseroles and pies, there are other national food days in November you need to add to your bucket list before the big Turkey Day. Celebrate and indulge at these Dallas restaurants and shops on National Sandwich to National Sundae Day.

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Bánh Shop

Whether you are catching a Dallas Fort Worth flight or a Southern Methodist University football game, stop by the Bánh Shop to try out a Vietnamese “street sandwich.” The French baguette combined with classic South Asian ingredients including basil and cilantro will make you rethink your deli meat and Kraft cheese sandwich. A friendly staff and fast service adds to the overall exceptional dining experience.

Jarams Donuts

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This store completes me like how a doughnut hole completes its doughnut. Not only do they serve your average glazed or cake doughnuts, but the family-owned business also fries up specialty cronuts—a fusion of a croissant with a doughnut. For a limited time, fall flavors like pumpkin butter and funnel cake will join their permanent ones like Nutella strawberry and crème brûlée. For the crankiest morning people, the homey atmosphere will perk up your day. After all, their slogan is “customers are like family to us.”

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Yucatan Taco Stand

Yucatan Taco Stand’s tower of nachos is a feat to complete as it’s loaded with queso, garlic aioli, guacamole, shredded lettuce, various vegetables and your choice of protein (or keep it vegetarian!).

Just go to dinner extra ravenous or invite a team of family and friends to help you out in your nacho endeavor. The restaurant itself has both a great outdoor patio seating area to enjoy the crisp fall weather and your Mexican comfort food.

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Local Press + Brew

Words cannot espresso how Local Press + Brew near Bishop Arts District never disappoints with a cup of their cappuccino (trendy heart shape foam design included!), especially paired with their avocado toast. Grab a seat inside to catch up on your procrastination with some procaffeination or just visit their walkup window and order a drink to-go.

With the shop’s minimalistic, white marble tables and succulent wall, visiting Local Press also makes for a great Instagram op.

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SusieCakes

A simple yet timeless flavor sometimes gets lost behind the crazy sounding ones that bakeries invent these days. However, SusieCakes, cornered by other cupcake shops like Hospitality Sweet and Sprinkles Cupcakes, perfects their vanilla cupcake to a tee. Baked fresh every day, their vanilla cupcake, with Halloween inspired frosting, is moist and satisfies a sweet tooth without being overly decadent.

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Remedy

A dinner at Remedy is not complete without ordering one of their specialty sundaes that top unique ice cream flavors with intricate sauces and toppings.

My pick on their current sundae menu is the Billy Corgan: pumpkin spice ice cream with oat streusel, toasted pumpkin seeds, espresso beans and coffee whipped cream.

Besides their sundaes, Remedy stands out with their art deco decoration. Little touches like striped straws, chandeliers and a green neon “Remedy” sign creates a chic dining atmosphere.

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Aurelia Han A&E Editor

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THE FOURCAST | THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

$1.50 — Asian male. $1 — Caucasian. F

T Check All That Apply The Role of Race and Ethnicity in College Admissions STORY BY NEHA DRONAMRAJU AND MARIA HARRISON ILLUSTRATION BY BRENDA LEE

hese were the prices of goods at an antiaffirmative action bake sale at the University of Texas on Oct. 26 that attracted over 100 student protesters.

Organized by a student group, Young Conservatives of Texas, this bake sale protesting affirmative action priced their goods in correspondence to which ethnicities are most affected by affirmative action. The prices of the confections descended from Asian to white to African to Hispanic to Native American.

But, according to YCT-UT chairman Vidal Castañeda, there was a reason for the bake sale.

“Our protest was designed to highlight the insanity of assigning our lives value based on our race and ethnicity, rather than our talents, work ethic and intelligence,” he posted on the group’s Facebook page that day.

In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke in 1978, the Supreme Court prohibited the use of racial quotas in the college admissions process. However, the justices contended that colleges could consider race as one factor in admissions.

Affirmative action, a policy favoring underrepresented groups in the corporate and educational systems, has been long debated since its initiation 48 years ago during the civil rights movement. In its tumultuous history, the policy has been praised for redressing discrimination against minorities and criticized for administering an unfair advantage for them.

The definition of diversity has broadened in recent years from just race and ethnicity to socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality and more. The Common Application, the most widely used application system in the U.S., allows applicants to fill out an ethnicity with which they identify.

This information is stored in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, a system of surveys conducted by the National Center for Education, in which colleges’ demographics can be monitored. According to Forbes.com, some university boards require the university to have a certain demographic ratio. As a result of the diversity ratio some universities are seeking to fill, high school students feel pressured to claim ethnicities to reap the benefits of affirmative action, even if they don’t identify with that ethnicity.

Race Behind the Admissions Curtain

According to Dr. Jedidah Isler, an astrophysicist and the first African-American woman to receive a master’s degree in physics from Yale University in 2014, race and intellect are completely unrelated. In her article, “The Benefits of Black Physics Students,” a reaction to ex-Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia’s qualms about ability of black students to succeed in higher-paced institutions, she addresses the need for affirmative action to afford equal opportunity to minorities.

Senior Addie Walker shares a similar view. Acknowledging that there are faults in the system, Walker said that the original intent of affirmative action is still needed today. “There are minority groups that tend to score lower on those tests and aren’t given the same opportunities. It’s there to level the playing

field,” Walker said.

Statistically, races that benefit from affirmative tion tend to be more disadvantaged in terms of soc economic status and accessible opportunity. Househo income often varies by race. In 2015, the Census Bure estimated that Asian-Americans have the highest av age annual income at over $74,000 and African-Ame cans have the lowest at $35,000.

This information directly correlates to educatio al opportunities provided to students of disadvantag races. A National Center for Education Statistics ce sus shows that in 2015, the average SAT math score black, Hispanic and Native American students was 40 450 out of 800, compared to an average score of 60 650 for Caucasians and Asians.

In response to the statistic, colleges use the Fed al Pell Grant Program to diversify their undergradu class. This program established by the U.S. Departme of Education “provides need-based grants to lowcome undergraduate … students to promote access postsecondary education.”

Not all universities are fixated on their ethnic d mographics. For example, California’s Proposition 20 passed 20 years ago, prohibits the University of Calif nia schools from admitting students based on race. T UC system is legally bound to eliminate diversity quot while private institutions are at liberty to establish qu tas in their admissions processes.

Director of College Counseling Courtney Sker believes that the diversity requirement is no longer so ly about race and ethnicity.

“In the past five years, it’s become less of a conv sation about ethnicity and more about socioeconom backgrounds. A trend that I have seen in the past years is that applicant pools are getting more diverse every way, geographically and in terms of gender a sexual identity,” Skerritt said.

In her years of experience as a college counsel Skerritt has noticed that race and ethnicity do not p as significant as a role in the admissions process as s dents often think.

“My experience shows that if you are admissi to an institution, then you are admissible to that ins tution, whatever color your skin may be,” Skerritt sa “Yes, colleges take race into account, but not as much perceived to be.”

The Student’s Take

The college admissions process is said to be a ho tic one, in which all applicants are considered based their entire application, not just their GPA, test scor personal essays or the race they check on the appli tion. This practice supposedly enables the college to ta into account a student as a whole person, rather th numbers and statistics on an application.

A holistic review introduces subjectivity to a de sion, making it difficult for colleges to explain who g in and why. Sara Harberson, former Associate Dean Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote the Los Angeles Times that, to some degree, the holis system has become a cover for cultural and racial bia that are precepts in the admissions process, calling for a change in the system itself.

Senior Cat Colson also believes that a larger-scale systemic change is needed.

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“I think that it is more of a flaw with the system itself, as opposed to people who are putting ethnicities that they don’t identify with,” Colson said. “You can’t expect everyone to be straight-up honest.”

Conversely, senior and Student Diversity Board Chair Sahar Massoudian finds fault with both the system and students who are not completely honest about their ethnicities. While Massoudian recognizes that this dishonesty does not stem from a place of malicious intent, she regrets the lack of awareness associated with it. “[People falsely claiming identities] disappoints me because that is obviously cultural appropriation, you’re taking somebody’s ethnicity and you’re saying that you have lived through the same experiences that a person of this ethnicity has lived through,” Massoudian said.

Massoudian concurs that if students feel pressured to appropriate another culture, then there must be a defect in the system.

“The part that makes me saddest is that I think the reason people do it is because they believe one ethnicity one-ups another in terms of college admission, and they don’t realize that every type of cultural background, ethnicity and experience you have is unique. You’re always going to be bringing something different to the table,” Massoudian said.

Racial and ethnic ambiguity also presents a complication in the affirmative action system. Many people identify as one or more ethnicity or race, which makes it difficult for them to choose one to report to colleges.

Junior Anden Suárez is both half-Mexican and half-German. Identifying more with the Mexican side of her lineage, Suárez plans to pick Hispanic on her college application.

“With affirmative action, it definitely will give me an upper hand in terms of the quotas that colleges have to fill, but I have no qualms about using that because it’s true, and I’m not going to check non-Hispanic because I’m half Mexican,” Suárez said.

That being said, Suárez acknowledges that affirmative action exists for other purposes, as well.

“There are a lot of Hispanics that deserve more of an extra chance or more of a boost from affirmative action than I do because freckled skin and green eyes give me a lot of privilege,” she said.

Nationwide Affirmative Action Debate

Though the Supreme Court upheld the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permitting consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions under strict judicial standards in Fisher v. UT, there is still a discussion about the role of affirmative action and diversity ratios in the college admissions process.

In November 2014, Students for Fair Admissions and, in May 2015, the Asian American Coalition for Education filed a complaint against Harvard University citing that it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of color, race and national origins in activities and programs receiving federal financial assistance. The lawsuit alleged that Harvard University was discriminating against college applicants on the basis of race, specifically those who are Asian-Americans.

However, the National Asian American Survey reported that 69.1 percent of Asian American/Pacific Islander Americans of California registered voters were in

favor of affirmative action programs.

Columnist for The Wall Street Journal Online Jeff Yang, an Asian-American and a graduate of Harvard University, said that this lawsuit is “just the latest attempt to derail an apparatus that has given hundreds of thousands of blacks, Hispanics and, yes, Asians a means to climb out of circumstances defined by our society’s historical racism” in a CNN opinion article.

Since Proposition 209 passed in 1996, “the minority student admissions at UC Berkeley fell 61 percent, and minority admissions at UCLA fell 36 percent” according to National Conference of State Legislatures. Additionally, there were 46 percent fewer African-Americans and 22 percent fewer Hispanic students in the undergraduate freshmen class at Rice University after Texas abolished its affirmative action program in 1996.

In concordance with Yang, Walker supports affirmative action when it is used to level the playing field in college admissions. However, she believes that people who check on applications an ethnicity or race that they don’t necessarily identify with are furthering inequality and undermining the purpose of affirmative action.

“I don’t think you have the right to use [ethnicity, race or culture] to advance you in your journey to college, because it takes away the purpose of having those things in the first place, which is to increase the diversity of an institution and the equity of an establishment,” Walker said.

Instead of focusing simply on the skin color and the ethnic background of a college applicant, Walker thinks that college admissions should look at the opportunities afforded to the applicants and take what they did with those opportunities into account.

“I think that the purpose of affirmative action is trying to help the people that can have the same amount or more potential but are in a position that they can’t fully express that potential,” Walker said.

Fellow senior Nicole Klein, who checked both Hispanic and Caucasian on her college applications, agrees with Walker that a student shouldn’t claim a race or ethnicity as their own on a college application if it hasn’t played a role in their life.

“Colleges should make it clear that being a certain race will not make or break your admission,” Klein said.

In regards to the affirmative action bake sale, UT Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement Gregory Vincent, Ph.D, issued a statement describing the bake sale as “inflammatory and demeaning.”

As students apply for undergraduate college admissions this year, they must decide what box to check for their ethnicity and race. Skerritt said, “If a student asks me whether or not to check the box, I always tell them ‘if it’s part of your story.’”

The Fourcast reached out to multiple college admissions officers and students for this article, but they refused our requests for interviews.

Statistically, races that benefit from affirmative action tend to be more disadvantaged in terms of socioeconomic status and accessible opportunity.

Massoudian concurs that if students feel pressured to appropriate another culture, then there must be a defect in the system.

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

You could call me a selfie afficionado

a&e

Selfies around the Arts Center p16

PHOTO BY SARAH SCHULTZ

Silent Spectacle ➝ STORY BY MARY ORSAK

Theatre Department Performs "The Boxer" With the rise of “Picture Palaces,” decorative theaters that could seat over a thousand people, movies became a national pastime in the 1920s and 1930s. These movies provided Americans an escape from the growing industrial city, especially slapstick comedies that discussed both the hardships and triumphs of modern life.

Evoking the humor and adversity of these early films, Matt Lwyle’s “The Boxer” will be performed by the Hockaday Theater Department on Thursday, Nov. 3, Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5.

The play tells the story of a young woman, Velma, suffering from hunger and poverty in turn-of-the-20th-century America.

With no opportunities for employment as a woman, Velma disguises herself as a man to obtain a job, and after stumbling upon a large man beating up a much smaller man, she intervenes.

However, little did she know that the small man was the titular boxer and that the larger man was his trainer. This slapstick silent comedy focuses on the subsequent story of Velma and the “Boxer” as they overcome the struggles that many lower class Americans faced during those times.

Hockaday drama teacher Emily Gray selected “The Boxer,” written by her playwright friend Lyle, after encountering it “at a small venue in Dallas where [Lyle] first produced it and directed it. I started laughing three minutes in and I didn’t stop laughing until the very end.”

In an open casting call early this fall, Gray cast senior Emily Christopher as Velma, as well as junior Ashlynn Long as the Boxer. The sole St. Mark's student in the play, junior Dalton Glenn, plays the Bavari-

an Beast, the menacing foe of the Boxer. kel. These artists will remain on stage with Christopher and Long have to convey the actors and produce real-time authentic the story solely through physical action and sounds using common items and percusfacial expression. With a background in sion instruments, including a cow bell, oil dance, Christopher has struggled with this drum and xylophone. style of acting but feels that her previous ex“We just contribute how we can beperience has given her a bit of an advantage. cause it is a silent play so we try to say what “It is different than anything I have done they can’t with the acting with our noises,” before,” Christopher said. “But I actually en- O’Brien said. joy it because you do not have to worry about In keeping with the 1920s movie style, memorizing lines. You just have to worry the costumes will be sepia-toned to reflect about your body and what you are doing.” the tones of black and white films. However, Gray chose this play Gray did not make this to force her actors to feel choice for this reason comfortable in their own alone; the characters in skin. the play live bleak lives “One of the biggest working industrial jobs It is different challenges for teen actors and making meager salis being comfortable physaries. Thus, the color of than anything I ically with their bodies the clothing evokes the have done and with who they are,” grim feeling of the story.

Gray said. “Once you have In order to really before. done that, you can get rid involve the audience in of some of those self-confithe play, Gray chose the dence issues.”

Lacerte black box theWith this type of actater for the production. ing, Gray has given her stu“If the audience is dents more power to wield closer to action, they their own vision for the will feel more involved Emily Christopher scene by letting them deand realize much sooner Senior velop the choreography. Afthat they are allowed to ter the actors come up with laugh, that it is part of the moves, Gray adapts it the thing that they can and makes slight changes. respond vocally to. It is definitely a more in“I have given a few of them a little lee- teracting feel,” Gray said. way to direct or choreograph a moment.

Utilizing the Lacerte black box, Gray They have done it superlatively,” Gray said. has incorporated film into the production, Because of the lack of dialogue, the screened on the walls of the theater. These majority of the sounds in the play are pro- short, black-and-white, silent films include duced by the two foley artists, freshman training montages as well as the appearance Abby O’Brien and sophomore Helena Hin- of Eugene McDermott Interim Headmistress

day a k c Ho eatreent Th rtm 17 pa De 16-20 n 20 easo S Fall Play: "The Boxer"

US Musical: "Beauty and the Beast"

IN THE RING Matt Lyle visited the cast of "The Boxer" to assist them in some scenes, including this training scene with junior Ashlynn Long and senior Emily Cristopher.

Liza Lee as the sickly grandmother Velma.

Junior Shelby Schultz, who filmed the scene involving Lee along with sophomore Emily Ma, believes this is a great opportunity to combine the two disciplines of film and theater and to cross-promote two departments that Schultz feels are often overlooked.

“The people work so hard on the play and don’t always get the recognition that they deserve, so I hope that we can bring more attention to both theater and film through these clips as well as through the secret guest appearance,” Schultz said.

This silent play is the most recent example of Gray’s unconventional and bold work as head of the Hockaday Drama Department.

“I would really like to put our name on the map,” Gray said. “People go to certain schools because they do certain things well and I want theater to be one of those things.”

Ultimately, Gray hopes to give as many interesting opportunities to students as she can, especially in an art form traditionally dominated by males. For example, in the spring, Gray will produce Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which will feature an all-girl cast.

“I am a big believer in gender-blind and color-blind casting. I believe an actor is an actor,” Gray said. “In 2016, you should have a good actor play a role and play it well and tell a story.”

Spring Play: "Hamlet"

arts & entertainment

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

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THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Art Portfolio Ready for College

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Battle of the Best Burger

Return of Lady Gaga with "Joanne"

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MICAH LYLES

TEACHER HOBBIES

One Man Show

Lyles Partakes in Dallas Theater Scene

theater community because of the people, an aspect he believes is reflected in his main career at Hockaday.

“When I choose work that I am going to do, it is something that draws me to the characters in it. I guess probably having a psychology background and a counseling degree, that draws me to characters more than production, which is funny because I do more of the production side of things,” Lyles said.

According to Gray, smaller theater companies tend to have trouble, despite bustling production.

“Both of those theater companies, unfortunately, eventually folded under money issues. Raising money for a small theater is very time consuming and very difficult,” Gray said. However, Gray, Lyles and Galloway have all continued to work inside the theater scene.

Presently, Lyles is working with Galloway on a new project called “Self-Injurious Behavior.” Additionally, Lyles serves as a volunteer at the AT&T Performing Arts Center as an usher.

Lyle's History in Theatre

o

n most weekends, with the exception of his “busy season,” Associate Director of College Counseling Micah Lyles trades in his correction pen and standing desk for a soundboard and spotlights to pursue his lifelong passion: theater.

Lyles first discovered his thespian side when attending East Texas Baptist University in the early ‘90s. Lyles grew up in Ivanhoe, a small town in East Texas, and was unaware of the “exciting side” of theater.

“I remember at my college, they did a production of ‘Bus Stop,’ which was so compelling to me because the characters are so interesting,” Lyles said.

From there, Lyles jumped into all aspects of production and theater. After graduating from East Texas Baptist University with a degree in education in 1994 and then returning to school at Texas A&M-Commerce to get his master’s degree in counseling in 2002, Lyles became a one-act play director in his hometown at Sam Rayburn High School.

And as soon as he moved to Dallas in 2002, Lyles joined the theater scene.

“I started reaching out to companies to volunteer. My first connection in Dallas was Frisco Community Theatre, where I went to just help out with productions. And I met someone there, Marianne Galloway is her name, who was directing a show,” Lyles said.

It was 2002 and Galloway was working in her first directing job in Texas since

she moved from Florida with her husband.

Employed at a quaint community theater in Frisco, Galloway was busy at work on Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Nile" when she received an email from a creative director about a man who was inquiring about volunteer opportunities. This man was Lyles.

“Community theater exists so that anyone can participate...there is always something that you can help with, so it was easy to tell this stranger ‘Sure! C'mon down on this date at this time...we'll be building the set!’”

Galloway said.

Galloway notes that Lyles has been an essential part of her career ever since they met, calling him her “right arm.”

Both Lyles and Galloway were new to the theater scene. Most companies look for experience when hiring and are reluctant to hire what Galloway calls “unknown quantities.” In search of high level directing, the two banded together to create their own theater company: Risk Theater Initiative.

“We had no financial backing, we had no experience with running a company, but we just had the scripts that we wanted to do,” Lyles said.

Also new to the Dallas theater scene in 2003 was Hockaday’s drama teacher Emily Gray. Similar to Lyles and Galloway, Gray also started her own theater company, called Classical Acting Company. Gray knew Lyles and Galloway before coming to Hockaday.

“We have known each other through friends so we definitely had a mutual respect

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High school one-act play director

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Usher at AT&T Performing Arts Center

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Actor in "Lily's Purple Plastic Purse"

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Sound controller

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Lyles (left) shooting a scene in the production of "Strange Attractors."

for each other's work. We also both know what it is like to produce high quality work on a shoestring budget,” Gray said.

Gray’s company mirrored that of Risk Theater Initiative, in that they also produced on a small budget and for a smaller audience.

After receiving a glowing review from the head critic Lawson Taitte at the Dallas Morning News for its pilot production of “Waiting for Godot” in 2003, Risk Theater Initiative took off. The theatrical duo eventually moved their company into an old bowling-alley-turned-theater called Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum, the hub of the population of the Dallas theatrical crew, where they went on to produce many shows, including “The Zoo Story” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.”

As for jobs in production, Lyles has had them all. Ranging from acting as Mr. Slinger in “Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse” to sound board controller, Lyles can be found on both sides of the stage. However, he normally can be found behind the scenes. “[Galloway] always took the lead and I was in the background, which is the way that I have always been comfortable,” he said.

Although Lyles does not normally act, he said that he is particularly drawn to the

Put it in your

planner

So, his future in theater (also known as "The Latest Thing He's Said 'Yes' To") is serving as his AD on the development of a heartbreakingly beautiful new script about the experience of mothering an autistic young child by local playwright Jessica Cavanaugh (Working Title is "Self-Injurious Behavior").

According to Galloway, Lyles has forever altered her life in theater.

“Over the nearly 15 years, we've developed a magical kind of symbiosis in the way we approach our script, our actors, our rehearsal environment, and the production as a whole...and as I've gotten older and more experienced, I'm not terribly interested in working on projects that don't involve that,” Galloway said.

By Mary Claire Wilson Sports & Health Editor

✏

WATCH

STOP BY

VISIT

ATTEND

Chicago, 1890: Starring Velma, a buff girl who finds work dressed as a man, and a weak boy whom she teaches to box presented by Hockaday Theatre Company.

A bi-annual event held in Dallas and Houston that hosts 200-300 artisans and small businesses.

Shop a variety of vintage items including furniture, paper goods, clothing and jewelry while enjoying live music and refreshments.

The Industrial Revolution meets the Victorian age in this threeday arts and music festival. If you’re interested in technology and aesthetic design inspired by a 19th century take on post-apocalyptic culture, be sure to attend.

Nov. 11, 5 - 8 p.m.

Nov 12, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Oct. 11-13

Featuring a variety of Dallas poets (or non-poets), everyone is encouraged to bring a poem, short story or any thought. Take part in the literary catharsis or just enjoy some existential conversation to fill the gaping void inside.

"The Boxer"

Nov. 3 at 2:45 (freshmen only) Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 5 at 2:00 and 5:00 p.m.

The Lacerte Family Black Box Theater

Flea Style

Fair Park

1300 Robert B Cullum Blvd.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY NIO_NL, JANNE HELLSTEN [CC], LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Steampunk Festival

The Amber Inn Academy of Arts 492 Cordes Dr., Mansfield

Dram Poet’s Society

Nov. 22, 8:29 p.m.

The Dram

2918 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

Wherefore Art Thou Portfolio?

STUDENTS

t

he classroom that holds Upper School art teacher Emily Bemenderfer’s Advanced Placement Studio Art class is filled with laughter. Eleven seniors are spread around the classroom: some sketching, one on the floor mixing plaster, and some painting on canvases. It is hard to sense that these students are under pressure.

College application deadlines plague the AP Studio Art students. If they are applying to art school or becoming an art major, they are required to submit an art portfolio on top of the required application material.

Senior Catherine Gross, an AP Studio Art student, is an aspiring art major. Gross is only applying to art schools.

“I started really seriously thinking about [art school] at the end of sophomore year,” Gross said. “I always wanted to but was under the impression that it wasn’t a kind of ‘practical’ major, but in reality, it’s not as impractical as people make it out to be.”

Senior Heidi Kim is another art school applicant. She is not an AP art student but takes after-school painting lessons at Steve Ko Art Studio in Lewisville.

“Art has always been something I have enjoyed doing,” Kim said.

Gross and Kim have to manage both the stress of completing the general Common Application while being aware of portfolio deadlines, which typically include 17 to 20 pieces.

Each school has different requirements. For example, the Rhode Island School of Design requires “12 to 20 examples of your best recent artwork.” The applicant has to eliminate any old artwork, then take high-quality photographs of their work and write artist statements.

“College portfolios are looking for technical skill as well as innovation, [and] conceptual artworks that show that the girls have innovative ideas and can create original artwork, and not just work off of assignments in class,” Bemenderfer said.

Putting a portfolio together takes time and work. Bemenderfer suggests that her students start the application process the summer before senior year.

“It’s a really good time to take advantage of some pre-college programs,” Bemenderfer said. “They help them produce a high level of artwork during the summer, and that way if they have October or November deadlines, they’ve got this pool of recent artwork to choose from.”

Balancing schoolwork and artwork can be difficult, due to the fact that it can take a month or more to complete a new piece.

“It’s really hard to manage my time, but it’s all about staying on top of my work,” Kim said.

Associate Director of College Counseling Micah Lyles is working with students who are interested in applying to art school.

“I’m not that involved with compiling the actual portfolio, but what I’m involved with is helping the girls to choose and narrow their list of schools, and then coordinating the application process,” Lyles said.

Balancing schoolwork and artwork can be difficult, due to the fact that it can take a month or more to complete a new piece.

Right now, as Kim is looking at the more business-oriented area of being an art major, she is finding that the application and portfolio-compiling process is just as strenuous as applying to be any other academic major.

“It’s really hard to manage my time, but it’s all about staying on top of my work,” Kim said.

Ponette Kim Staff Writer

End of the First Quarter

By Asiyah Saeed Staff Artist

But First, Lemme Take a (FAB) Selfie

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

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Web Editor Ashna Kumar investigates the best spots to take selfies around the new Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Center for the Arts.

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If you find yourself wandering into the control center of the theatre, make sure you stop by the world's smallest elevator (self-proclaimed by me). While small, this device provides the necessary accessibility for the tiny space—the actual definition of the common adage “small but mighty.”

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If you have time, make sure to stop by the sixth grade drug safety posters in the All-School Visual Arts Exhibition. This is a helpful reminder that DRUGS ARE BAD. The entire room consists of windows, so make sure to take advantage of the amazing lighting.

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Wandering through the halls, make sure you stop by the Upper School Black Box. There are lots of fun props to pose with and structures you can explore. While the lighting might not be optimal for a selfie, flash makes everyone look fun.

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Make sure you head to the orchestra room to take your next selfie. Because of the amazing acoustics, you can’t help but start to jump around and sing, setting yourself up for some great pics. The instruments provide really cool backgrounds and props.

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Bernice the Skeleton in the Painting Studio is also a hot gal to take a selfie with. That smile—wow, it’s dazzling. The lighting in the room makes her bones glow and also your face shine (see my face for reference).

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Finally, the best place to take a selfie in the entire building is the Kaminski Dressing Room. The spot lighting around the room highlights every crevice of your face when you look at the blinding lights.

a&e

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Shake Shack VANILLA MILK SHAKE

PHOTOS BY KATIE O'MEARA

reviews & reflections

Twisted Root STRAIGHT CUT FRIES

TWO SLICES OF BACON

New (York) Best Burger

With the arrival of Shake Shack from New York City, we decided to compare it with Dallas cult favorite, Twisted Root Burger Co., to rule which burger should stand superior.

Shake Shack $$ 2500 N Pearl St. Sun–Thu 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Fri–Sat 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

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estled in the heart of Downtown Dallas, Shake Shack, the New York City cult favorite that has over 100 franchises across the country, brings a mix of a traditional burger restaurant combined with an area for families and friends to spend quality time.

This family-friendly aspect was apparent as soon as I pulled up to Shake Shack. I saw little boys playing cornhole with their dads in the patio area and young adults chowing down on burgers while chatting and watching football. Once you walk in, there’s a menu on the wall with a plethora of different burger types, from the traditional ShackBurger to a Link Burger with sausage from Pecan Lodge.

I ordered a ShackBurger that includes Shake Shack’s signature sauce, crinkle-cut

Lady Gaga, Meet Joanne

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“Joanne” Lady Gaga iTunes

one are the meat dresses, birdcage fask masks and blood-spurting performances, icons of her explosive success in 2008.

Meet Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga. Her fifth and newest album, “Joanne,” is a return to her roots as a performer, characterized by open mic nights and dive-bar performances in New York City. It’s a backward sort of revival after her critically unsuccessful 2013 album “Artpop.”

Not only is “Joanne” Gaga’s middle name, but it’s also the name of her parents’ Italian restaurant and the name of her paternal aunt, who died of lupus at 19. Appropriately, this album is Lady Gaga at her rawest and most vulnerable.

This vulnerability is especially evident

Twisted Root Burger Co. $$ 7300 Lone Star Dr. Sun–Sat 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

s

ince 2008, the Dallas Observer has ranked Twisted Root Burger Co. as one of the best burgers in Dallas.

As soon as I walked into their location at the Shops at Legacy, I landed myself in a 20-minute line. While I went to eat there at 7 p.m. on a Saturday, I was not expecting such a long wait for my burger.

Twisted Root’s decor with mostly red is something that looks hodge-podged together from a mercantile. While this may be some people’s style, I did not find its mismatched feel as enhancing my overall dining experience.

Rather than giving your name to the cashier, Twisted Root picks out a celebrity’s name for you to get your meal.

While they gave me teen pop superstar Hannah Montana,

in “Million Reasons,” track seven and an utter surprise. It displays Gaga’s stripped-down vocals, decorated only with clean harmonies and an acoustic guitar accompaniment. This simplicity gives the song its heart-rending mood—words not typically used to describe Gaga’s previously-recognizable flashy drawl.

It’s a risk, and it works. While Gaga dips her toe in the genre of country, a massive departure from previous electro-dance hits like “Bad Romance,” she exhibits her technical prowess and versatility as a singer.

“Million Reasons” is joined by fellow country-tinged ballads “Joanne” and “Angel Down” to embody the most memorable pieces of the album. Fittingly the titular song of the album, “Joanne” is dedicated to her aunt, whose death Gaga describes as causing a huge loss in her family. Thus, “Joanne” showcases a rare sweetness in Gaga’s voice. This hits you full-force with the potent, opening lyrics: “Take my hand, stay Joanne / Heaven's not / Ready for you.”

However, country is not the only genre that Gaga explores in her new album.

Ouij-ust Got Scared “Ouija: Origin of Evil” Mike Flanagan AMC

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FLUFFY BRIOCHE BUN

French fries and a vanilla milkshake. Out of all burger places I have ever been, this had the most relaxed atmosphere.

Within the first bite into my burger, the juices of the meat mixed with their specialty ShakeSauce to create a well-balanced combination of meat, vegetables and condiments.

Unlike some restaurants, Shake Shack’s burgers are fairly small with a fluffy brioche bun surrounding the meat and savory sauce. But for lunch, this portion was the perfect size. While the burgers taste incredible, the milkshakes take the cake.

Considering that they have “shake” in their restaurant name, I expected the milkshake to taste good. Before this moment, I never thought a milkshake could change my life.

With the perfect ratio of milk to ice cream, I devoured the fluffy shake in under five minutes. I do not think that any vanilla milkshake can ever compare to Shake Shack’s.

Shake Shack is a place where you can grab a burger, throw some bean bags while playing cornhole, bask in the crisp fall weather and hang out with friends.

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other names I heard included Tony Romo, Harry Styles and Dora the Explorer.

In order to replicate my Shake Shack experience, I ordered an All-American burger that consisted of two pieces of American cheese, some bacon, and a basket of fries. Once the basket arrived at my table, I picked up the burger, roughly the size of my head and dripping with grease, and took a hesitant first bite.

While Twisted Root’s burger was not bad, it was not the best burger I have ever had. Because of the plethora of grease, the bun was soggy and the melted American cheese hid the patty. Instead of eating a juicy burger, I felt more like I was eating a bucket of grease.

There’s no comparison between Shake Shack and Twisted Root. From In-N-Out Burger’s arrival to Dallas a few years to Shake Shack’s this year, outof-town burger chains with cult followings should keep coming.

The Dallas burger scene stands no chance against Shake Shack.

Katie O'Meara Photo & Graphics Editor

In her opening number, “Diamond Heart,” Gaga adopts an indie, dive-bar attitude. With a low electric guitar strumming, Gaga exposes the flexibility of the timbre of her voice while blending dark, imposing tones with impressive high notes. Upon first impression, her voice is raspier than in pre“Joanne” is available on vious albums. This is iTunes for $11.99. also heard in “Perfect Illusion,” Gaga’s catchy lead single, which employs a rock-style lead and an invigorating dance-pop key change.

But not all of Gaga’s dramatic genre ventures click. In “Dancin’ in Circles,” Gaga employs spoken chants in the chorus and bridge, and the reggae background music with prominent percussion is confusing. The melody is not memorable, and Gaga’s attempt to blend her signature deep voice with peppy exotic music falls short.

hen I walked into a theatre at 12:30 p.m., I was certain that a movie about an age-old board game wouldn't scare me. Leaving the theatre after watching “Ouija: the Origin of Evil” was a different story.

A prequel to the 2014 poorly reviewed “Ouija”—which earned a four out of 10 stars on IMDb—this fresh take on the mysterious board game leaves its predecessor in the dust. Its nostalgic ‘60s feel, with the throwback studio logo, leaves the audience feeling like they just stepped into another era of horror movies such as “The Exorcist” or “The Shining”.

The film seems to begin with a setup for a boring night at the movies: classic suburbia flavor, the clichéd death of a loved one, the initial jump scares and a determined priest. But the movie diverges from the hackneyed horror movie with interesting camera angles, like sudden twisting, that drew me in.

The movie is set in 1967 Los Angeles on a quiet street, with one slight deviation: mother and recent widower Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) is also a fortune teller and the head of a séance scam business.

Both her daughters, Doris (Lulu Wilson) and Lena (Annalise Basso) help her out with the family practice by conducting acts such as moving the table where Alice’s readings take place or blowing out candles.

The elder, Lena, appeals to the teenage audience, with relatable issues such as babysitting her sibling while her mom is away. Through the character of Lena, “Ouija” ultimately allows the audience, including older members, to connect with a normal individual in a movie focusing on the abnormal.

Even for this quirky family, life seems steady, but when Alice brings the Ouija board, the situation starts to go downhill. An evil spirit possesses Doris and wrecks havoc on her family.

Controlled by the spirit, Doris walks on walls, writes in perfect Polish and even speaks with the voices of dead loved ones—leaving her family, who although are well versed in the workings of the dead, in horror and confusion.

Horror movie junkies may have seen some major components of this thriller such as white eyes, possessed children and haunting voices. But director Mike Flanagan, who directed the box-office hits "Oculus" and "Hush," uses these traits to his advantage, putting them in unique places and leaving the audience to hide under bags of popcorn and soft drinks. "Ouija: Origin of Evil" is the perfect Halloween night movie.

Paige Halverson Staff Writer

Another example of overextension comes with “Hey Girl,” a duet featuring Florence Welch, lead singer of indie band Florence + the Machine. The attempt to integrate a slow disco-funk feel is obvious, but the tempo drags.

While Gaga’s exploration of diverse genres shows her versatility, all of these styles blur when listening to the album. “Joanne’s” biggest flaw is that due to the lack of cohesion, many songs are forgettable.

That said, as an overall unique album, “Joanne” can be the revival that Gaga needs.

Lastly, “Joanne” serves as a testament to Gaga’s pure skill as a singer, the album’s greatest strength. In her one-take demo recording of “Angel Down,” which addresses the Trayvon Martin shooting, listeners hear her very best. From emotional nuances to rich low-register vibrato, Gaga proves she is still a giant in the music industry.

Elizabeth Guo Copy Editor

“

NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

We feel like winning SPC would be a good indicator of how much work we put in.

sports & health

PHOTO BY AURELIA HAN

Let's Play (Fantasy) Football

SPC Breakdown p20

➝ STORY BY AMELIA BROWN

Faculty and Staff come together to participate in fall football fun.

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ingers hovering over keyboards and eyes glued to their screens, 12 Hockaday faculty members anxiously waited for History Department Chair Steve Kramer to select the first player, kicking off their fantasy football draft. However, quite the opposite of a technology guru, Kramer struggled to use his computer for the draft, resulting in a team made up of almost all default players chosen automatically.

In early August, several Hockaday faculty members came together to create the first ever teacher fantasy football league.

The league sparked their competitive nature and acted as a well-deserved break from their long work days.

With an interest in football, Director of Service Learning Laura Day searched for a way to become more involved in sports related activities. When she learned that Director of Debate and Forensics Chuck Walts and Assistant Director of Debate and Forensics Jordan Innerarity had participated in a fantasy football league the previous year, she was inspired. Soon after this discovery, Day worked with Innerarity to create a teacher fantasy football league.

“I wanted the teachers to be more fun and social with each other so I thought this [fantasy football league] would be a great way to accomplish that,” Day said.

Day enjoys these discussions with her colleagues and has even experienced a friendly form of “trash talk” on several occasions.

The league took off with 12 members from diverse corners of the school, including Day, Innerarity, Walts, Kramer, International Program Coordinator Gary Stollar, Director of Libraries and Academic Research Corey Lott, Head Athletic Train-

er Jeanne Olson, Assistant to the Assistant ily from the Dallas Cowboys, a team whose Head of School for Academic Affairs Kelli jersey she sports every Sunday, because her Rortvedt, Director of Residence Life and 1-3 record puts her at the bottom of the Global Outreach Meshea Matthews, Physical league rankings. The majority of her points Education Instructor and Coach Rod Skaife, have come from Cowboy’s quarterback Dak Mathematics teacher Jessica Chu and Physi- Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott. cal Education Coordinator Mitch Clark.

But before selecting her team, she deDay organized a draft at Village Burg- cided to reach out to her brother and dad er Bar. With the first draft pick, Kramer for their recommendations. She also asked had the opportunity to select any player in junior Michelle Mankoff, fantasy football the National Football League, but he was aficionado, to assist her during this process. disappointed to find that an error with his When Mankoff first learned about the ESPN account. Until Innerarity helped teacher fantasy football league, she immehim fix this issue, his picks were selected diately reached out to Innerarity and Day, automatically. He even lost Dan Bailey, a asking to join. highly-ranked Dallas Cowboys Kicker, to When Innerarity informed ManChu, who snatched Bailey koff that there were not knowing he was at the top enough spots for her to of Kramer’s list. participate in the league, When Kramer lived she found another way to "I am a total in California, he developed get involved, dedicating an interest in football as her free periods to teachsports fan." a big Los Angeles Rams ing Day the basic draft fan. However, after the strategy and continuing to team moved to St. Louis, help her with her starting he cheered for some of the lineup each week. older teams such as the “Maybe next year we Green Bay Packers and the could do a joint faculty Rod Skaife Pittsburgh Steelers. He now and student league,” ManPE Coach supports any team playing koff said. “I think that against the Dallas Cowboys. would be a good way to Due to his knowledge have fun with the teachers and background in football, and a good way to bond technology hasn't taken and make relationships.”

Kramer out of the competition.

But Mankoff ’s involvement in fantasy “I ended up with two good quarter- football does not end here. Last year, she backs, Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan,” started the first student fantasy football Kramer said. “I just have to laugh that all league at Hockaday and is planning on cremy draft picks were automatic but I actually ating a club in the future. think I’m doing pretty well with 3-1.”

“I really have a passion for football Day admits her error in drafting heav- and I enjoy pretty much every aspect of the

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game,” Mankoff said. “I find it interesting to be a minority in the grand scheme of fantasy football and even just in football.”

Like Mankoff, physical education instructor and coach Rod Skaife who has had some experience with fantasy football, jumped at the opportunity to get involved.

“I am a total sports fan,” Skaife said. “I watch a lot of it and play as much as I can so anything that gets me involved or gives me reason to watch it is beneficial.”

Skaife selected the players he knew of from a variety of teams, wanting to develop a personal interest in several different games. His team remained undefeated until recently when Kramer’s team, whom he sees as his biggest threat, broke his winning streak.

Skaife feels that this league has served as an icebreaker, connecting him with faculty members outside the athletics department. He has also experienced some of the “trash talk” Day mentioned, which Skaife clarifies as “friendly banter.”

Despite bringing many teachers closer together, only one teacher will receive the winning prize at the end of the fantasy football season. Waltz and Innerarity transformed an old debate trophy to award the winner of this league. May the best team win.

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Bovine Humanoid (Jordan Innerarity)

Faculty Face-Off

GREEN

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Team Chiefs (Meshea Matthews) The Ocelots (Gary Stollar)

Spider2y Banana (Mitch Clark)

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Team Olson (Jeanne Olson)

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Venus Fly Traps (Steve Kramer)

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The Sinners (Rod Skaife)

Gronk Again (Chuck Walts)

Hamilton FCD24 (Corey Lott)

Team J.J.S.W.A.T.T (Kelli Rortvedt)

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Nowhere to Hyde (Jessica Chu)

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Fred Jackson (Laura Day)

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WHITE

Currently, Chuck Walts and Rod Skaife lead the Green and White brackets, respectively. Each faculty member was in charge of drafting his or her own team and coming up with a name for his or her team. Some team names included the name of its owners, such as "The Sinners Skaife," while others simply represented its owners' interests, such as "Bovine Humanoid."

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History Department Chair Steve Kramer gives Director of Service Learning Laura Day the stiff-arm, a move used on offense in football to fend off approaching defenders.

GRAPHIC BY AMELIA BROWN

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PLAY ON

sports & health

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

➝

p.19

A Physics Teacher's Hidden Hobby

Play it Back

➝

2 3

p.20 The Lowdown on SPC

First Half After losing the first set 11-25, the team felt determined to turn this game around.

Biggest Play The team continued to work as a cohesive unit as they won many points in intense rallies. Each set a posed a new challenge, but they ultimately won sets two, three and four by a few points making this a very close game.

Final Score SERVING UP SUCCESS The team celebrates in a huddle after a comeback play on the court.

TEACHERS' HOBBIES

The Physics of Frisbee Science teacher shares his love for an untraditional sport

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is physics and astronomy pupils might think they know him well, coming into his classroom every period they have the chance to finish their Web Assigns and homework. Upper School science teacher Leon de Oliveira is known for bringing energy and fun into the classroom.

But few know that on every Thursday night at around 6 p.m, de Oliveira packs up his physics and astronomy textbooks for the day and heads to his car with only one thing on his mind: Ultimate Frisbee.

“Mr. D,” as his students call him, has racked up an impressive 16 years of experience in ultimate frisbee. His passion for the sport began in 2000 at a previous job as an engineer when a co-worker invited him to participate in an ultimate frisbee practice during their lunch periods.

He started playing once a week, but after three weeks, he was hooked and decided to join a league.

“I find people who are drawn to ultimate [frisbee] kind and thoughtful, while still being competitive and athletic,” de Oliveira said.

Today, he is a part of two teams: the Allen Ultimate League, which he joined recreationally, and the Grand Masters, a competitive team that travels around the Southwest.

Both teams are based in Allen, and they are the closest to his home.

De Oliveira plays with the Dallas Ul-

timate Frisbee Association, a legal entity founded in the 1990s which helps ultimate frisbee enthusiasts rent fields and support the sport. The Association’s president, Melissa Battis, has been playing ultimate frisbee since 1997 and agrees with de Oliveira that the people who play the sport are what make the sport so unique.

“They are very welcoming and friendly, no matter where in the country you are,” Battis said. “There is a high level of honesty and integrity that is called for when playing the sport, even at the highest level.”

And de Oliveira is among the estimated 7 million ultimate frisbee devotees around the world. According to usaultimate.org, the official website of ultimate frisbee in the Unites States, the sport is played in more than 80 countries. It has been for over 45 years, it was started by a group of students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1968.

The recreational team that de Oliveira is a part of has 25 players and practices usually on Saturdays. It is much more relaxed than his competitive team, and the players come to have fun after a long day of work or school.

But de Oliveira has taken his passion beyond the old days on the fields near his engineering company and into the more serious realm of competition. He decided to join a competitive team, which comprises around

p.21 Staff Stance

Resurrection of the Cowboys

Game Background On Aug. 30 the varsity volleyball team fought their way to victory in a challenging game against Prince of Peace. Lacking five of their key freshman players who were away at Mo Ranch, the eight remaining players worked together to defeat their opponent.

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KATIE’S KOURT

PHOTO BY MARGARET THOMSAN

1

Hockaday Varsity Volleyball Game

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

FRISBEE FANATIC De Oliveria shows off his favorite frisbees in his physics classroom.

18 players who come to step up their ultimate game. They practice on Thursdays at Ford Elementary School in Allen and compete in three tournaments each year in the Southwest.

“Teams from Texas tend to compete primarily in the south with our regional competitions, including teams from Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mexico,” Battis said.

Because The Grand Masters came in third in the regional competition, the team’s placement qualified de Oliveira and his team to go to a competition on the national level: the 2016 USA Ultimate National Championships.

But the success of the Grand Masters on a national level was nothing new. In 2015, his team managed to get eighth overall.

“Competition was stiff this year,” de Oliveira said.

De Oliveira has attempted to bring the sport to the Hockaday community and even taught one P.E. class how to play last winter.

Even though this title could go to one’s head, de Oliveira is just grateful for the opportunity “to be able to contribute to such a strong performance.”

Paige Halverson Staff Writer

Katie O’Meara Graphics Editor After a subpar 2015 season that was plagued with injuries ranging from starting quarterback Tony Romo’s broken collarbone to number one wide receiver Dez Bryant’s fractured foot, the Dallas Cowboys revamped their lineup in the 2016 NFL Draft and as a result revitalized their 2016 season, starting with a division-best 6-1 record.

In the 2016 NFL Draft, the Cowboys grabbed Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott with the number four overall pick and drafted Mississippi State quarter Dak Prescott in the fourth round with the number 135 overall pick. After Romo was once again injured during a preseason game, Prescott, along with Elliott, started the season at their respective positions behind the league’s best offensive line.

Within the first offensive drive against division rival New York Giants, Prescott played under center with ease. This play has continued throughout the season as Prescott has not thrown an interception in a rookie-record 155 passing attempts.

While Elliott started off slower with his adjustment from collegiate play to professional, he has broken out as league-best running back with over 540 rushing yards.

Even with their two standout rookies, the Cowboys have suffered losses on both sides of the ball since the regular season’s start. Offensively, Bryant suffered a hairline fracture in his knee early in the season, while a member of the offensive line left guard La’el Collins sustained a season ending toe injury. On the defensive side, cornerback Orlando Scandrick has been sidelined with hamstring issues since their Week Three matchup against Washington.

In spite of these injuries, the Cowboys have started this season resembling the play from the 1990s when the triplets—Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin—won three Super Bowls in a four-year span.

While Prescott has been explosive throughout the first six games of the season, owner Jerry Jones has maintained that once Romo’s back heals, he will return under center as the starting quarterback. Prescott, in all of his media appearances, has repeatedly affirmed that he is merely filling in for Romo as the starter.

“This is Tony [Romo’s] team. I knew that coming in,” Prescott said in a post-game interview after the Cowboys’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals. “I am just trying to do the best I can to give my team a chance to win week in, week out.”

Prescott’s statistics mirror those of Romo at his performance peak in the 2014 season, but Prescott is 13 years younger than Romo and has many more years remaining to play in the league at his peak.

Compared to previous seasons when Romo has been injured, the decision whether to start Romo or Prescott most likely will not be an easy one. But Jones must think where his money is. For the 2016 season, Prescott’s base salary of $450,000 pales in comparison to Romo’s $8.5 million.

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sports

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

Breakdown: Fall SPC 2016

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

As the Southwest Preparatory Conference from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5 steadily approaches, fall sport teams cross country, field hockey and volleyball compete with their opponents for a spot in the tournament and hopefully a chance to claim a winning title.

Reporting by Charlotte Dross

THE PREPARATION

MEET THE TEAM

THE RIVALS

11 seniors

FIELD HOCKEY

6 juniors

Since the beginning of the season, the field hockey team has been following one motto: “Play every week like it’s our SPC week,” according to senior Isabel Smith, one of the team’s four senior captains. The idea behind this motto is to keep their intensity level high throughout the whole season. Another team captain, senior Emily Stallings, focuses on the importance of staying consistent during the entire season. “We try to keep it intense throughout the whole season, not just towards the end when the games really matter,” she said.

3 sophomores

THE CAPTAINS

2 freshmen

Despite the fact that the majority of the team is made up of upperclassmen, the team is very tight-knit. On the field, all players are equally important, regardless of age. “We really rely on the underclassmen’s new energy, and we also rely on the knowledge of past players,” Stallings said.

Going into the tournament, the team will face some challenging opponents, such as The Kinkaid School, located in Houston; the Casady School, located in Oklahoma City; the Trinity Valley School, located in Fort Worth; and the Episcopal School of Dallas. However, if they enter the tournament with the right motivation and mindset, the teams will feel capable in their abilities.

Seniors Maddie Skaife, Emily Stallings, Isabel Smith, and Lauren McDaniels

VOLLEYBALL

3 seniors

With the arrival of new coach Andy Gass, the volleyball program has taken a turn for the better. This new program focuses on the basics and fundamentals of the sport, truly breaking it down for the players, and Gass is abiding by this belief. In addition, a large portion of practice time is devoted towards fitness in order to build the players’ strength and stamina. “Sometimes it really comes down to the fifth game, so we try to make sure that we are in better shape than [the other team] so that we can finish stronger,” senior Charlotte Toomey, one of the volleyball captains, said.

5 juniors 1 sophomore 5 freshmen

THE CAPTAINS

This large amount of freshmen is unprecedented, but this does not stop the team from bonding. In addition to multiple team dinners, the team bonds over out-of-city tournaments, such as in Houston and Oklahoma. “Since our preseason starts so much earlier than everyone else’s, we were already a little bit more bonded by the time the season started,” Toomey said.

“In the past, I would have said that Greenhill or ESD were our biggest rivals but this year one of our big things has been focusing on ourselves and what we can do,” junior captain Sophie Isom said. Gass has encouraged the team to think about winning over being winners. However, the team still considers Greenhill and ESD rivals because they went to four games with them during the regular season.

Senior Charlotte Toomey and Junior Sophie Isom

CROSS COUNTRY Unlike other sports, in the weeks leading up to SPC, the cross country team rests. This is made possible through a tactic known as “tapering”—due to the strong foundation the runners built at the beginning of the season, their workouts tend to be easier right before competition so that they are well rested before the race. Muscle recovery also tends to be a major focus in the weeks leading up to the race, as icing and ice baths are frequently utilized. Because this year’s SPC is located at the same place that it was last year, St. Andrews Episcopal School in Austin, the team knows what to expect, and has thus been going off campus to Flagpole Hill to practice running its large hills.

2 seniors 6 juniors 1 sophomore 1 freshman THE CAPTAINS

Although the team is made up of 31 runners, only the top 10 travel to Austin to compete in the race. Despite this, the team is still very close. “We talk all the time about lots of different things; it’s not all about cross country for us,” senior Carolina Campbell said, one of the team’s captains.

“We have made a lot of progress over the past couple of years, and the team is overall in a really good place, and we feel like winning SPC would be a good indicator of how much work we have put in,” senior Ellea Lamb said, one of cross country team’s captains. The team hopes to beat Greenhill, Hockaday’s biggest opponent as of now, according to Lamb and Campbell.

Seniors Carolina Campbell and Ellea Lamb

Fourward JV basketball game vs.

Hillcrest High School at 5 p.m. at Hockaday

Varsity soccer game vs. John Paul II High School at 5:30 p.m. at Hockaday

Varsity basketball game vs.

Bishop Dunne Catholic School at 6 p.m. at home

Nov. 15

Nov. 17

Nov. 29

JV soccer game vs.

ESD. at 5 p.m. at home

Varsity swimming and diving meet at St. Mark’s at 5:45 p.m.

JV basketball game vs.

Trinity Valley School at Trinity Valley at 6 p.m.

Nov. 30

Dec. 1

Dec. 5

Varsity swimming and diving meet vs.

Cistercian at 5:45 p.m.

Dec. 6

“

HOCKADAYFOURCAST.ORG

THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

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Perhaps opt for the more generic dog filter.

views

Controversial Snapchat Filters p23

ILLUSTRATION BY SARA DORWARD

The consequences of following rules versus the time saved when cutting corners just don’t cancel each other out.

We’re not quite at the whole. “Time to reinvent myself!” season that comes with the New Year, but as we (and hopefully the temperature) shift from fall to winter, it could be time to reevaluate the respect, or disrespect, that we hold for the rules.

It may have been easier to follow these rules in September, when the school year is still shiny and new, but as we round the corner into the second quarter, there’s still time to fix any bad habits that remain.

Rules don’t always make sense and they’re certainly not always fun to follow, but usually, they just make life that much easier, and who could complain about that?

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Time f

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SPC is this weekend, which officially marks the end of the Fall sports season.

Thanksgiving Break is less than three weeks away.

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But we also need to uphold a system of accountability regarding assigned parking spots. If you see an unfamiliar car in your spot, report the occurrence to security and Calhoun, even if the car belongs to a friend or someone you know. Furthermore, if you know the owner of a car that’s inhabiting the incorrect spot, just follow up with them and lightly remind them of the importance of the parking system.

This parking issue is just one example of a more overarching problem that seems to afflict most aspects of our lives. Take assemblies, for instance; another time when we have assigned places to maintain themselves, though then it’s the seats our advisories sit in.

When people don’t fill in the seats all the way, the auditorium turns into a whirlpool of displaced teachers and students. Do you want to be responsible for making Latin teacher Andre Stipanovic stand during a 30-minute long meeting?

No, you do not.

Furthermore, this chaos again disrupts a system that exists for a reason - attendance. By sitting in the incorrect spot, you’re not only displacing teachers and forcing them to stand, but you’re also allowing individuals to possibly skip assemblies without consequence.

It’s not just Hockaday students who have an aversion to following the rules. Has anyone noticed that some adults are allergic to their turn signals? Performing such a small action makes the roads much safer.

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any privileges are brand-new for the students of the Class of 2017 with the induction of their white blazers. Going off campus for lunch? New. Wearing college sweatshirts and T-shirts? New. There’s another privilege, however, that’s an upgrade for the Class of 2017 from last year: parking. At the beginning of the year, the seniors voted for the parking system.

The two choices were having either a system of assigned parking spots, or a firstcome-first-serve mechanism that had been in place temporarily since the beginning of the year. Form IV Dean Rebekah Calhoun sent out a SurveyMonkey in September, requesting the opinion of the grade.

Because the results were split pretty evenly down the middle, Calhoun decided to go with the assigned spots system, announcing the decision via email. Through a lottery system, seniors now have their assigned spots. Or, supposedly they do: there have been a few times when, due to tardiness or possibly lack of desire to make the trek from the mid-70s spots, the system hasn’t quite been followed.

Some seniors might have been considered “lucky” (Peyton Smith, Parking Spot #1) or “unlucky” (sorry Jessica Wang, Parking Spot #83). No matter these external considerations, it was the fair way to do it.

And for the love of all things plaid and holy, The Fourcast would like to emphasize one precept: stick to the rules.

The system exists for a number reasons, in both the realms of security and organization. Even if there’s no formal punishment for deliberately parking in the wrong spot, we need to recognize that a problem exists, always the first step in resolving the issue.

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That Was Easy: Our Aversion to Rule-Following

We Love it, We Love it Not

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STAFF STANCE/EDITORIAL

That’s What She Said

“YO.” DR. LAWSON, Upper School Science teacher, in response to senior Maryam Bolouri’s AP Chemistry question.

“Why watch Physics videos when you can watch cats?”

RICHARD TAYLOR, Upper School Science teacher, to his Physics C class.

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“SEEING PEOPLE HAPPY MAKES ME SAD.” MARIA SAILALE, sophomore, while watching “The Notebook” with fellow boarders.

One quarter down, three more to go.

Fall H ea t

PHOTO BY FLICKR

CYNTHIA JI. senior, during a debate with senior Yiwen Yang about chimpanzees vs. gorillas.

KATE KEOUGH, senior, to her Neuroscience class during a discussion about optical illusions.

Nov. 6 marks the end of Daylight Savings! Set your clocks back one hour and enjoy your snooze.

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“As someone who firmly loves Australopithecus, this is sacrilege to my belief.”

“I DON’T LIKE BEING TRICKED. ”

While the Fall season is known for cool temperatures, this year has been oddly warm.

PHOTO BY FLICKR

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NOVEMBER 4, 2016 | THE FOURCAST

THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

STAFF STANDOFF

Should Consumers Buy on Brand or off Brand?

On Brand

Off Brand

VS. Picture this: you’re walking down the cereal aisle at Tom Thumb, minding your own business, contemplating what delicious food you should buy for breakfast. You reach to pick up a box of Cheerios until you realize that what you’re about to grab is not what you’re looking for at all. The box reads “Honey Nut Scooters”.

First of all, what? What is a honey nut scooter? They’re straight up knockoffs of one of America’s most beloved cereals—that’s what they are. My heart goes out to the millions of unfortunate grocery shoppers who had to tearfully explain to their families that they accidentally bought a box of “Honey Nut Scooters” instead of the real deal.

Secondly, why? Why would you make such a blatant rip-off of such a beloved brand? Anyone who looks at a box of “Honey Nut Scooters” for more than two seconds is going to know that it’s just Cheerios’ sadder, less popular cousin. I don’t know how delusional companies have to be to try to copy something so well-known to the public.

And it’s not just Cheerios that are getting this unfair treatment— this knock-off epidemic is plaguing the world and all its favorite brands. It’s appalling.

What really grinds my gears, though, is the fact that these offbrand products often don’t even try to cover up the fact that they’re copying another company. They’re piggy-back riding on another brand’s hard-earned reputation. I can only imagine the frustration that the original brand’s creator must feel when they see these abominations in stores. Although I know the point of a knock-off is to make it look like the original, these copycats could at least make the packaging look a tiny bit different, or simply change the font of the logo.

Can companies at least put in an ounce of effort? Your dignity is at stake here, guys.

At Hockaday, we live by an honor code, and we understand that plagiarism is wrong. Off-brand products refuse to abide by these laws of human decency. At the end of the day, do you want to be Melania or Michelle? You want to be a Michelle. Don’t settle for a copycat. You deserve those Cheerios.

Amanda Kim Managing Editor

Let's face it, I'm cheap. Before I ever hit the checkout button online, I comb the internet with genius search terms like “2016 Topshop Coupons." I thrive off of scouring shops corner-to-corner, searching for that extra-sweet deal.

But there’s an issue here—although I might be cheap, I like to feel expensive. Premium materials and items evoke a feeling like no other, one of first-class elegance and casual extravagance. Oftentimes, these expensive items are well, expensive, at least while peddled under a name brand. Yet off-brand companies have similar premium items, simply sold without the brand name or expensive price tag.

Why spend more money for products that are ultimately equivalent in quality? This is capitalism at its fundamental core. If two products are the same and one is cheaper, I, the consumer, will purchase the cheaper product. Hard luck.

Indeed, a stigma exists around buying off-brand. But in a society in which college tuitions are only on the rise, will I sacrifice what others might think about me for my wallet? Sure. I’ll take my cake and eat it too, and buy off-brand.

Take my water bottle, for instance. In May 2015, I decided to get a S’well water bottle and found one I liked at an exorbitant $40.

But I also found on Amazon a $20 water bottle nearly identical to the S’well.

I checked the item’s description for any major discrepancies from the original. There weren’t any. I was sold—I bought the generic product and spent the other $20 on a Mother’s Day present.

The lookalike S’well had the original’s features, including its vacuum insulation and premium metal material. Many believe you have to sacrifice quality for a cheaper or off-brand item. Take it from me: you don’t.

Makeup dupes, short for “duplicates” and signifying cheaper versions of a beauty product, are also a great example. If you like the $20 MAC Ruby Woo lipstick, you could also achieve the same color with a $6 Rimmel Matte lipstick. Both products have a similar effect, but one doesn’t break the bank.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t advocate for buying off-brand if it violates intellectual property laws, or if the off-brand product doesn’t have the same quality as the on-brand one. But if two similar products are legally competing, I buy the off-brand one. Success of the generic item forces the on-brand item to differentiate itself and become a better product. For me, I’m just doJenny Zhu ing my part in the grand scheme of the U.S. economy.

Editor-in-Chief

Eternal Conflict of the English Teacher Dr. Sarah Traphagen Guest Writer

Dear Students, Some of you see yourself in the grades you are given.

I wish this wasn’t the case. I cannot change that.

But, what I can do is tell you what you don’t see.

Every paper I return to you lacks the moment when I place a crisp, fresh file of recently stapled essays in front of me, and I take a deep breath, knowing that some of you will experience great joy while some of you will be disappointed. The latter is the hard part.

Every paper I return to you ignores the time I spent thinking about your progress, your strengths, your weaknesses, and your individual circumstances. You. Every paper I return to you refuses to share with you that I thought about your

sentences while brushing my teeth before bed last night and wondered about your emotional well-being as I turned out my light.

Every paper I return to you disguises the internal dialogue between my heart and my mind.

Heart says: I know you want to succeed and I want to see you feel that success; am I being too harsh?; what will their parents say? Mind says: I have to be fair, just and ethical in regards to assignments’ requirements. Being a role model demands it.

Every paper I return to you does not convey the stomach-churning agony that comes with standing before you, scrawled-on stack in hand, as I reiterate to you that process is more important than the endgame. Before lunch is the worst.

Appetite lost.

Every paper I return to you

stays silent on this key fact: the grade I give you is not an indicator of my like or dislike of you as a person. All students are loved equally.

Every paper I return to you fails to reinforce that my ultimate heartfelt goal is to help you become a stronger writer, because at the end of the day, no matter what school you attend or profession you decide to be in, writing clearly will set you apart from the rest.

Every paper I return to you forgets to remind you that perfection is an illu-

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ILLUSTRATION BY WENDY HO

sion and that a “bad” grade is not a reflection of who you are just as a “good” grade is not a reflection of who you are. Your character will always define you – not your English grades in high school.

Every paper I return to you hides that I know that you won’t listen to my advice above no matter how many times I say it.

But, I say it anyway.

Every paper. Every. Single. One. Placing a grade on your paper is difficult.

However, know this: holding you to excellent standards means I care.

After all, if you are not held to such standards, when will you have the opportunity to grow?

If you are not asked to leap, when will you try to jump and fly?

Next time, maybe you’ll see your grade differently.

With love, Your English Teacher

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THE FOURCAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2016

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Filtering Your Snapchats EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jenny Zhu MANAGING EDITOR Amanda Kim WEB EDITOR Ashna Kumar BUSINESS MANAGER Maria Katsulos

particularly Snapchat, has become recently. It has reached its peak of success to the point where the line between appropriate vs. inappropriate has become hazy.

But Snapchat's controversial filters are not new. Another example is the one when, on April 20, the social media app released a limited edition filter with which people could transform into the late reggae icon Bob Marley.

Soon after its release, outraged users complained to Snapchat, accusing the company of creating a blackface filter, which opened up a heated discussion in the media about cultural appropriation.

Snapchat immediately responded, ensuring everyone that the lens was created with approval from the Bob Marley Estate and that its purpose was to honor him, not defame him. Users, however, criticized Snapchat for associating Bob Marley and his face with the date known to everyone as “National Marijuana Day,” which, coincidentally, falls on April 20.

I distinctly remember this filter. While I don’t think Snapchat intentionally released it in hopes of sending out a controversial political message, the lens definitely had offensive implications.

Issues like these need to start being taken with more heed. While the motivation may be harmless, the impact isn’t. Social media characterizes the 21st century, which

Heidi Kim Views Editor

Whether it’s first thing Monday morning or before a fun-filled weekend with friends, millennials are known for pulling out their phone and responding to their Snapchats. While taking snaps seems like a harmless source of entertainment, it has become a part of our everyday culture, and not necessarily a part that is admirable.

To fully enjoy using Snapchat, the filter and geotag are crucial. With a quick tap or swipe, one can transform into anything from a hungry mouse to Donald J. Trump himself.

On Sept. 26, Trump launched a filter on Snapchat nationwide that stated “Debate Day: Donald J. Trump vs. Crooked Hillary.”

It also featured his infamous slogan “Make America Great Again.”

This was a smart, calculated political strategy; however, it also says something about social media and its impact on our generation. By referring to Clinton as “Crooked Hillary” while Trump’s full name was used, the Trump campaign attempted to put Trump in a high esteem while it slandered Clinton’s reputation as a credible leader.

Trump’s method of attack exemplifies how significant the power of social media,

NEWS EDITOR Sonya Xu FEATURES EDITOR Eshani Kishore ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Aurelia Han ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE KLEIN

means we all need to fully understand the effect it has.

While taking selfies or uploading pictures on Instagram or Facebook in hopes of getting likes seems vain at most, social media is powerful, and it needs to be used in a respectful way that does not deride or defame.

Snapchat has also become well-known for its stories feature, where users can watch what people all around the world are up to.

Stories also include quick access to daily updates from popular magazines such as Cosmopolitan and People. Just like all social media platforms, Snapchat has made it easy for anyone to access information regarding just about anything.

While the utilization of media in publicizing and promoting events and public figures is effective and beneficial in some cases, the offensive misuse of social media is not excusable.

And so, next time you open up your Snapchat, rather than face swapping with Kanye West and posting a video on your story of your impersonation of him, perhaps opt for the more generic dog filter.

SPORTS & HEALTH EDITOR Mary Claire Wilson VIEWS EDITOR Heidi Kim CASTOFF EDITOR Emily Fuller PHOTO & GRAPHICS EDITOR Katie O’Meara COPY EDITOR Elizabeth Guo SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR Cheryl Hao VIDEO EDITOR Shreya Gunukula ART EDITOR Wendy Ho STAFF WRITERS Amelia Brown, Neha Dronamraju, Maria Harrison, Mary Orsak.

Charlotte Dross, Morgan Fisher, Ali Hurst, Ponette Kim, Ashlynn Long STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Lauren Puplampu, Genny Wood, Grace Voorheis STAFF ARTISTS Lauren Hoang, Christine Ji, Brenda Lee, Karen Lin, Anoushka Singhania, Hallet Thalheimer, Sari Wyssbrod

I Look Up to Gabriella Montez, and Here’s Why You Should Too Cheryl Hao Social Media Director

Gabriella Taylor Montez from “High School Musical” is my role model, idol and favorite fictional singer. Because she is a multi-faceted, well-rounded human being, when I was first introduced to her in kindergarten, I couldn’t help but be so intrigued with her for various reasons.

She has everything that I do not: a great social life, a beautiful voice, Troy Bolton and an accep

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tance letter to Stanford.

Even though there must have been some off-camera study sessions and stressing, it seemed like shebreezed through high school. This expecation set a false precedent for me, and when I entered high school myself, I had no idea what went wrong.

However, as I go back and analyze why my life differs from Gabriella’s, many reasons appear, but only one thing screams at me: Gabriella was always herself and pursued her passions and interests by joining the school’s decathlon team and auditioning for the musical, while I can honestly say some of what I do is just to try and squeeze my way into a college.

If you can say otherwise, then I applaud you, but this is the inevitable demise of a Hockaday student. Even though I’m not a senior yet and cannot speak on actually applying for colleges, I can attest to the amount of time and thought I’ve already put into it.

Especially in an environment like Hockaday’s, long before students are due to turn in their college applications, they are thinking about college and what they can do to get into the one they want.

Both the Hockaday environment and students create this “college culture”: I believe that Hockaday is here to help us with resources and starting early so we don’t get as stressed when it’s senior year, but if you put 120 students in this environment

who want to do well, we will inevitably get stressed.

High school should be a time for students to really find their passions and interests and pursue that. Because in all honesty, 18 years (even if for most of it I was wearing Juicy tracksuits and Silly Bandz) should be enough time for me to know who I am and what I want to do. It’s extremely important that we use this time to live, because if we don’t find that part of ourselves in high school, we’re forced to make blind life decisions. We can’t complete this task of finding ourselves if we’re morphing ourselves to be someone that we think that our favorite colleges would like to see.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for those who are tone-deaf, high school is not a musical. High school is full of crucial decisions that can essentially determine who we are and what we do for the rest of our lives.

With this in mind, during these times of making important decisions, we must remain genuine in order to live in the future as our true selves.

Hockaday may not always be parallel to East High School, but it is what you make of it. If you pursue your tasks with passion, passion will ultimately come.

However, if you can’t muster out a passion for the material of the subject, find joy in the process. Find joy in the pure fact that you are growing, learning and culminating various experiences, and if you hadn’t named your passion before this, you will soon enough.

Long explanation short, what I’m trying to say here is to BLG: Be Like Gabriella.

FACULTY ADVISER Ana Rosenthal

EDITORIAL POLICY The Fourcast is written primarily for students of the Hockaday Upper School, its faculty and staff. The Fourcast has a press run of 1,200 and is printed by Greater Dallas Press. It is distributed free of charge to the Hockaday community. Businesses who wish to advertise in The Fourcast should contact Maria Katsulos, Business Manager, at mkatsulos@ hockaday.org. We reserve the right to refuse any advertising which is deemed inappropriate to the Hockaday community. Opinions will be clearly marked and/or will appear in the perspectives section. Commentaries are the expressed opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect that of The Fourcast staff, its adviser or any member of the Hockaday community.

Unsigned editorials that appear on the opinions page will reflect the official position of The Fourcast, but not necessarily the position of the Hockaday community.

The Fourcast staff may cover student, staff, faculty or alumnae deaths as the staff is made aware. We reserve the right not to cover a death based on relevance, timeliness and circumstance.

Corrections and clarifications from previous issues will be found as designated in the news section. Any questions or concerns about should be addressed to Jenny Zhu, Editor-inChief, at jzhu@hockaday.org.

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THE HOCKADAY SCHOOL

Hockaday Behind the Scenes Junior Lauren Puplampu photographed places at Hockaday that students and faculty normally don’t see.

1. Greenhouse Flowers and saplings are grown in-house and later integrated into Hockaday landscaping.

2. Staircase Stairway leading to Penson Gym’s roof.

3. Kitchen SAGE’s cooks prepare Hockaday meals on premises.

4. Roof View of the surrounding skyline from the roof of Penson.

5. Conference Room Board of Trustees’ and several administrative meetings take place in this state of the art room.

6. Child Development Center Children of faculty and staff attend the CDC during school hours.

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