Ardmore, PA, 19003
October 9, 2017
The official student newspaper of Lower Merion High School since www.themerionite.org Volume 87, Issue 1
LM almuni visit from first integrated class Kathy Yao ’18 News Editor
Graphic by Sihan Wu ’19/Staff
Conflict arises as teacher and staff contracts expire Julian Ginzburg ’19 Sports Editor
LMSD schools have consistently been ranked as some of the best schools in the state of Pennsylvania and the country. While these rankings can be attributed to many factors such as motivated students, test scores, and a beneficial student-teacher ratio, there is one factor that is often integral to this success: the teachers and staff themselves. The contract for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years officially came to an end on June 30, 2017. All those who are employed by the district work under a contract that is negotiated between the School Board and Lower Merion Education Association (LMEA), the union that represents the employees of LMSD. The state of the current contract is in a “‘status quo,’ which means that the terms of the expired contract are still in effect, including last year’s salary and benefits,” explains LMEA President and Harriton social studies teacher Christopher Santa Maria. Usually, a contract is agreed upon by the beginning of the following school year. However, both parties
say that this year is different. The reason for the stagnancy in the negotiations is the fact that teacher salaries over the past eight years have only increased by an average of one percent annually. The LMEA believes that they finally deserve a significant raise, but the district is only willing to give a slight raise to a percentage of the teachers. Santa Maria claims that “the [School] Board has shown no interest in reaching a multi-year agreement with the LMEA. They presented a one year extension, which amounts to a salary freeze for roughly eighty percent of the 1,460 employees in the LMEA.” The LMEA rejected this offer in April and according to Santa Maria, the district lawyer told the LMEA “Well, status quo looks pretty good to us.” Santa Maria explained that the district showed “no further interest in negotiations, until we went public with our campaign.” A statement released by the district regarding current negotiations refutes claims made by Santa Maria. It reads that “we have offered to extend the existing contract for
Please see TEACHER CONTRACT NEGOTIATION on page 2
Enrollment continues to rise Julia Rudy ’19 With the start of a new school year, LMSD is experiencing some big changes: the total enrollment is higher than it has been in decades, and it is taking a toll on the schools. This year, some classes are being held in trailers or “modular classrooms” on the field between Cynwyd Elementary School and Bala Cynwyd Middle School. The same state of affairs is in effect at Penn Wynne Elementary School. While these changes may seem to have come out of nowhere, the district has been experiencing serious enrollment growth for many years now, and it is getting more difficult to find space for all of the students. In November of 2016, enrollment studies were conducted by the Montgomery County Planning Commission, collecting this data: over the past five years, LMSD has grown by over 1,000 students, and by 2022, new demographic studies predict that the enrollment will grow by an additional one thousand students. Middle schools are predicted to grow by 350 students. This growth will impact high
NEWS Changes to PA vaccine regulations Find out how the new PA immunization laws will affect you. page 3
OPINIONS Is integration always the best answer? D a vo n C o l l i ns ’ 1 9 a rg u e s t h a t segregation itself is not the problem — it’s the chronic underfunding of predominately black schools. page 5
schools, causing a projected growth of 700 students. What is causing this huge increase in enrollment? As of 2015, the Montgomery County Planning Commission stated that one of the biggest factors is the new housing developments that are being built in the district, with 464 units put up in the last two years and almost 1800 expected over the next six years. However, the most important factor, according to this study, was the “overall quality, reputation and appeal of LMSD,” which is drawing new residents. These problems are a big concern to the School Board. Board member, Laurie Actman, had plenty to say on the matter. She explains, “There are many scenarios that we are taking into account, such as building onto the elementary schools, adding a new middle school, making the middle schools 5-8, or creating new Kindergartens. There is a lot for the public to consider…” Much of this decision, Actman explained, is truly up to the public. There have been several Please see HIGH ENROLLMENT on page 3
September 5 marked the first day of the 2017- 2018 school year for the LM school district. On this day, however, students were not the only ones to return to LM. Four alumni from the first integrated class, Ted Goldsboro, Michael Antonoplos, Michael Brokenborough, and Wendell Holland came to visit and share their stories from the first day of the 1963-1964 school year. On August 25, 1963, the LM School Board ruled for the desegregation of LMSD schools after closing the Ardmore Avenue School, a predominantly African American elementary school. Two weeks later, on September 5, 1963, school began, and LMSD elementary schools became some of the first to be fully integrated in the US. Two hundred twenty three black students were integrated to the district’s four previously predominantly white elementary schools. With less than a month to prepare for such a drastic change, there were many difficulties for both AfricanAmerican and white students, parents, and teachers. Holland shares that during his time “at Ardmore Avenue, we didn’t realize it, but virtually everybody in the classroom looked like us, dressed like us, talked like us, enjoyed the same kind of music. When we were integrated, the overriding impression I got was for the first time in my life I felt poor.” At first, the difference in quality and culture of the old and new schools came as a shock to the new students. “When we went to our new [integrated] schools, the quality of the clothes was better, the music was different. Instead of listening to the Temptations and the Miracles, it was the Beatles,” says Holland, “and the academic rigor was perhaps not like what I’ve seen before. Teachers cared about students, and students were very, very bright.” Even though initial reactions were mixed, both the African-American students from Ardmore Avenue and the white students from the other four elementary schools were able to quickly adapt to the changes. “I think it was an adjustment for everybody, because it wasn’t so much about being black or white, it was just new kids. When you’re that young, you’re really colorblind... when the students saw the integration, in their own minds, it was ok,” Michael Antonoplos shares. “When we went to junior high, the kids from other schools that were integrated saw how we got along, they saw the white and black people interacting.” The first day of school will always be unforgettable for all of the students in this historical class. As Holland remembers, “we went out to the field and we saw this beautiful grass, and as young boys, we wanted to play tackle football. Within ten, maybe fifteen minutes of the game, we got marched into the principal’s office. And the rule was, no tackle football at this school. And I’ll never forget what she said.… ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Very simple lesson on a very unique day.” Fifty-four years Please see VISITING ALUMNI on page 3
SPECIAL FEATURE School Spirit at LM
FEATURES Aces Nation app
A&E Political clothing
Has school spirit at LM been plummeting in recent years? How has spirit changed at LM over time? Is it different abroad? Find out in this five page special feature! page 11
LM launches a new app to help the community keep up with school events. page 9
Bethany Eldridge ’18 examines the trend of high school students wearing their opinions on their sleeves. page 17
SPORTS Field Hockey An overview of the season by Shuli Weinstein ’18. page 23
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News
October 9, 2017
The Merionite
The “Mega School” Julia Rappaport ’18 News Editor With each elementary school bursting at the seams, LMSD is trying to find a way to alleviate the overcrowding predicament. One of the schools struggling most severely with this problem is Penn Wynne Elementary School—with 750 students—and it has become extremely difficult for the school to provide for the growing numbers. Not only is this a problem at Penn Wynne, but it has become a problem at every single one of the LMSD schools. One of the potential solutions now confirmed by the district is to build of a contro-
versial “mega school.” This school could cost the district seven to ten million dollars to construct. This would be a relatively large school (as compared to other schools in the district) built at either the site of the Center of Islamic Education in Villanova or Ashbridge Memorial Park in Rosemont. At the moment, no plan has been put in place. Doug Young, district spokesperson, stated in Philly Magazine that the district is “weighing its options.” He also states that “the Board has made it very clear that they’re welcoming feedback, and the feedback
that they’ve received so far has been very valuable.” Despite the fact that no decision has been made, many community members are not happy with the ideas that have been brought to the table. Many signed a petition to stop a “mega school” from going forward. Thus far, the petition has 300 signatures. However, if the district does decide to go through with their idea of building a large school, Philly Magazine reported that “the… construction [will go through] 2020 which is the cusp of the rise in enrollment.”
Visiting alumni
Cont. from LM ALUMNI FROM FIRST INTEGRATED CLASS VISIT, page 1 after the desegregation, our community has made large steps toward becoming a more diverse and accepting environment. Our schools have also made a tremendous effort in creating a more diverse community. When the first integrated class attended LM, there were only one or two African American teachers. Brokenbourough applauds our community, stating, “It’s good now to look back and see that some of those things, [diversity and acceptance], really are in practice. I believe that it has to be something that is ingrained in our humanity, to value one another. Programs like buildOn—I’ve worked with them and I’ve seen how kids of different backgrounds and ethnic groups are coming together and doing a tremendous job.” As we continue our studies at LM, we are reminded everyday of how diverse our community is and how much we have changed. Holland says, “We’re here to celebrate the legacy of civil rights in LM Township and LMSD. It sounds very simple, but you say to yourself, what can a group of civil rights veterans do for LM in these troubling times? What we can do is share our experiences and hope that LM will continue to grow in its own unique way based on our experience or based on others’ experiences.” On the fiftieth anniversary of the integration, a mural was painted outside the counselors’ office by students Kiara Green ’15 and Miles Keller ’15 under the guidance of art teacher Daniel Hazel. As we walk by this mural, let us reflect on what has been achieved, and what work is still before us.
Photo by Molly Cutler ’19/Staff Upon seeing the mural outside the guidance office, created by LM students to commemorate the moment of integration, Holland commented, “This is our wall. I’m very grateful.”
Contract negotiations Cont. from CONFLICT ARISES AS TEACHER AND STAFF CONTRACTS EXPIRE, page 1 one additional year, which would increase salaries by an average of 3.4 percent and maintain all existing benefits.” The majority of those salary increases would be for teachers who are not making the maximum salaries. However, Santa Maria explains that the district, like in past years, was willing to raise the salaries for administrators by 2.4 percent (administrators for the district are in a union separate from the LMEA). Santa Maria expresses confusion in this part of the proposal, saying, “We are wondering why the School Board does not value our contributions to the district in a similar way.” The district explains that problems such as increased enrollment growth and increased costs of educational programs have delayed negotiations. In their defense, the district cites it will not be able to raise taxes above 2.4 percent because of the verdict from the lawsuit brought by Arthur Wolk. According to a district statement, it “has been engaged in negotiations with the LMEA regarding a new contract since January 2017. We will continue to make every effort to achieve a fair and appropriate contract within the context of unprecedented enrollment growth, active budget litigation, increasing pension obligations and rising costs of mandated programs.” The district also counters the LMEA by referencing a report made by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). “A recent media report on salary data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education noted that LMSD staff have the highest compensation in the state by more than 3,000 dollars and out-earn peers in neighboring school districts by an average of more than 10,000 dollars. The average salary in LMSD is 99,253 dollars.” The LMEA believes that while they are one of the most highly compensated groups of teacher in the state, they should have a raise in their salaries because of the value that they add to the district. Santa Maria explains that “Our award-winning school district adds value across the Lower Merion and Narberth community through higher property values, higher rents for landlords, and increased traffic in local businesses. We believe that we contribute a great deal to the total value of what it means to have a LMSD education.” As talks stalled throughout the summer, the LMEA decided to increase pressure on the School Board to resume negotiations. As a result, the LMEA hired a public relations firm and started a campaign to target the community to make its case for higher salaries. The central message of this campaign is to argue to the community that the district would not have its high standards of living without its great schools, and the foundation of great schools is excellent teachers. Santa Maria explains that the message that the LMEA wants to convey is that “the community needs to take advantage of all of the ways to reach out—in print, in the news, on social media, etc.” He explains, “We don’t have the unique skills, and more importantly, the time to do this ourselves (we have classes to teach!).” In a letter addressed to LMSD families, the district states, “We do not want a contentious negotiation process.” It goes on further to state that “While we respect the efforts of LMEA to advocate for its members, we are concerned that tactics that
divide our community may prove counterproductive at a time when support for public education is already fragile.” At LM, there have been discussions from teachers and parents concerning the possibility that teachers may not be able to finish writing letters of recommendations for their students. Santa Maria quells these concerns by saying, “I want to put an end to that rumor. We will happily write recommendations for our students.” However, teachers voluntarily write letters of recommendation, and it would be up to each teacher individually if they would finish their letters. For the sake of students, teachers, and parents, the Lower Merion community is hoping that an agreement will be reached by the LMEA and the School Board in the near future. The lack of an agreement could have far-reaching consequences for the Lower Merion community and impact the School Board Elections in November.
Photo by Julian Ginzburg ’19/Staff The LMEA has publicized its campaign against the School Board with lawn signs that bring awareness of the contract issue to the community.
News
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Increasing enrollment Cont. from ENROLLMENT CONTINUES TO RISE, page 1 community surveys sent out asking members of the LM community which one of these options they would most prefer. Actman also addressed concerns related to the physical space available for these changes. “The way that Lower Merion is laid out, because of the smaller houses and denser population, there is less space compared to the Gladwyne and Bryn Mawr area [...] we continue to talk to the township since we are in search of more land,” she said. Some of these changes “would possibly cause redistricting,” as Actman stated, “and people are very wedded to their neighborhood schools. So it’s complicated, because we have this system in place and we would need
to create a new traditions and new vibe for a new school, which is really hard to imagine.” Predictions for future populations are as follows: for the 2018-2019 school year, LMSD is preparing to serve 8,862 students. The following year they expect 8,987, and by 2020-2021, the district will hold approximately 9,226 students. The rising enrollment growth and the School Board’s ongoing deliberations are leaving LMSD residents wondering, what does the future hold for our district in terms of capacity? Will there be a new school, or will the schools get bigger? And with any of these decisions, will there be a need for redistricting?
Graphic by Christopher de Santis ’20/Staff
Statistics from LMSD.org
“Quarterless” grading systems prototyped Molly Cutler ’19 News Editor Several teachers at LM are stepping away from their ordinary style of grading this year by combining the typical four quarters into one big category. This is intended to create a more accurate, big-picture grade, as well as eliminate the stress and other problems students and teachers face around the end of each quarter. Math teacher Mark Marion Landais has begun to implement this “quarterless” grading system in his classes as have Spanish teachers Sean Capkin and Nicholas Severini, math teacher Michael Bomze, and psychology teacher Jeffrey Cahill. Physics teacher Nora Christman is planning on using it in the near future. Christman first heard about the possibility of such a setup last spring from teachers at Harriton who had already been doing it, and Capkin became interested after hearing Landais talking about it. “Students and parents have access to grades at all times, so I feel that dividing the year into rigid chunks should no longer be necessary,” says Christman. She is still working on putting it into practice, though she has found that “administration has been extremely supportive” of the idea and noted that “Mrs. [Beth] Hampton and Mr. Landais have been very helpful.” However, PowerSchool itself has posed some logistical issues toward putting “quarterless” grading together, and Christman describes the website
as “the biggest hurdle” in the process. In addition, Landais believes that grading without quarters “helps mitigate the stress cycle students experience at the end of each quarter, and it eliminates the possibility of an exam in any of the four quarters being potentially worth more than the midterm exam.” Preventing many important assignments from falling on the same due date towards the end of the quarter was another factor he took into account, and Christman also expects “more forgiving due dates near the end of the first and third quarters.” Capkin also emphasizes that benefit, and says that quarterless grading “helps make the grading system fairer by eliminating quarters that, while weighted equally, could give unequal weight to assignments within the quarters if there were more points in one quarter than in another.” Landais made his decision to employ this system after evaluating whether he was using quarters because it was actively working well or because it was just what he was used to doing. “Some people are resistant to change,” he says, but “fortunately we do not have many of those people here at LM, and everyone is open-minded about new ideas like this.” This new innovation will hopefully achieve its goals in changing LM’s mindset about grading and cut down on high stress levels.
PA institutes new immunization policies Ziwen Zhou ’19 Copy Editor As a consequence of Pennsylvania being one of the states with the fewest students who are fully vaccinated, sweeping changes have been made by the state regarding immunization laws. In particular, students in the Philadelphia area, including in LMSD, are facing some major changes in regulations. While these changes may not seem of interest to many, they are important for community members to be aware of because schools now have the right to exclude students from attending school until the requirements are met. The first change that has been made is that everyone attending school in the district must have an updated immunization record within five school days from the beginning of school. In the past, however, eight months’ time was allotted for getting the forms in. This had the effect of allowing many students to be at risk for these preventable diseases for the majority of the school year, consequently endangering others around them. The standard regimen of shots that include Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) is still in place; additionally, new regulations now call for more supplemental vaccines for all students. Students must receive four doses of the polio vaccine, and twelfth graders must now also receive a second dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine in order to protect against meningitis. These two additions to the regimen are not so much a result of any statewide
deficiency but rather a worrying national failing. A fifth of teenagers are still unprotected against meningitis, and despite the supposed eradication of polio in the U.S., over thirty cases of polio were diagnosed last year. One noticeable omission from this list of required shots is the human papillomavirus shot (HPV), which is nowadays considered a vital safeguard. It is recommended that doctors administer the shots to children before they are sexually active because over 85 percent of the population will be exposed to the virus at some point in their lives; however, it is not required by the district. If one contracts HPV, especially if not vaccinated against it, the disease can wreak havoc by heightening the risk for a variety of cancers. Therefore, doctors suggest that parents and guardians make sure that students not only have fulfilled all the legally mandated vaccinations but have also received a HPV vaccine. As of yet, there have been no repercussions instituted for schools who choose not to enforce the regulations, but it is nevertheless recommended that parents and students themselves make sure that their immunization records are up to date with the new regulations. Currently, students are only exempted from these new laws if they have a religious, medical, or philosophical reason. The new vaccine ordinances will ensure that all LM students now have increased protection from an outbreak of one of these diseases.
Photo courtesy of Josie Blumencwejg ‘18
News
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Inaugural Writing Fellows program launches Samantha Anderer ’20 Academic growth is regularly fostered both in and out of the classroom here at teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, led the Fellows participated in multiple LM. In order to further facilitate that growth in areas of the humanities, the Lower writing exercises centered around the theme of truth. This workshop was ideally Merion School District Writing Fellowship has been established. Beginning this only the first of many. Plans to take a visit to the writing center of a local college or year, the goal of the fellowship is to improve writing skills at all levels. university such as Villanova are already in the works. The program was founded by Robert Copeland the district superintendent, Dr. As put by Dr. Pratt, “The goal of Writing Fellowship is to create schoolwide Scott Eveslage Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Leslie Pratt Supervisor of Second- communities of writers, because there should be something joyful in putting pen ary Humanities, and Nicole Donze to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to exand Brian Mays the English Departpress an idea.” Through the collaborament Chair. These administrators tion between Fellows and their tutees, and teachers are aiming to offer inthe program aims for all students to see creased writing support to students. themselves as writers instead of mereAfter being inspired by LMSD alumly students of writing. While students ni who wished they could have gotten of writing may only write for the sake some more writing experience, they of necessity, writers connect with their decided to investigate a way to prowork and take the extra steps needed to vide that to current students. This improve it. involved researching writing centers Students seeking assistance will be at various institutions, both on the able to meet with Fellows in the Learncollege and high school levels, to find ing Center during the second set of the best elements to use in a writing Lunch and Learn on A, B, and C days as center of our own. Over the summer, of Monday, September 25. Diane Shanmany teachers from the English and non will be the program’s coordinator Social Studies departments of LM for the 2017-2018 school year. Trained and Harriton met to polish the profellows will offer their assistance during gram. They decided that students in all stages of the writing process for any search of writing help would meet kind of writing assignment, including with Writing Fellows, confident writparagraphs, essays, and creative writing. ers ready to assist their peers. Peer editors will focus mainly on asking To get a better idea of what the questions to guide the writers to come up fellowship stands for, you need to with their own ideas, instead of making look no further than the carefully the changes themselves. Lilly McClendon cultivated mission statement, which ’19, a Writing Fellow, thinks that this style Photo courtesy of Molly Cutler ’19/Staff states, in part, “The Writing Fellowof editing “gives students the opportunity ship is about building a communi- Writing fellows look over a graphic organizer in the Learning Center. to not only improve their grades in writing ty of writers who embrace a growth mindset related to writing.... In this spirit, but to also develop and advance their writing skills for life in a stress-free environWriting Fellows and peers are collaborative fellows in the entire writing process.... ment with their peers.” Writers support one another in moving from writing efficiently and effectively to All in all, the program will allow every student at LM to have the ability to furwriting elegantly.” ther their writing skills, be it through a workshop or a tutoring session. Its aim is to On August 8, the Inaugural Writing Fellows met for the first time to learn about move closer to Dr. Pratt’s ideal goal: to “shift the ways that we talk about writing in what their role in the program would be. As the framework was laid out, members academic settings.” The nxt time you find yourself stuck on a writing assignment, were given the opportunity to contribute their own ideas about what they thought don’t hesitate to go to the Writing Center for assistance. should be included. During portion of the meeting Beth Kephart, an author who
Hurricane relief efforts Aviva Weinstein ’19 This year, students and families further south experienced a very different end to their summer. Not only did they see the typical changing of the seasons, but they also began to prepare for a long and disastrous hurricane season. Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on August 25, was one of the most impactful hurricanes to make landfall in the United States, causing devestation similar to Hurricanes Wilma in 2005 and Matthew in 2016. Harvey dropped 40 to 52 inches of rainfall in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane with winds reaching highs of 130 miles per hour near the city of Rockport, Texas. United States continental rain records were broken, and the rain led to flooding, evacuations, and the destruction of buildings throughout Texas and Louisiana. Less than two weeks later, the Caribbean and parts of Florida were preparing for similar natural disasters, Hurricanes Irma and José, which were Category 5 and Category 4 hurricanes respectively. Irma primarily hit regions in Florida such as Tampa and the Keys as well as the Leeward Islands, Greater Antilles, the Bahamas, and other nearby islands. José hammered the Caribbean as well. The series of washouts spread up the United States, and into regions much farther north such as the Jersey Shore, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Cape Cod. Then, on September 20, Hurricane Maria, another Category 5, battered Puerto Rico, knocking out power for the entire island and causing immense flooding. With all this in mind, how can LM students help the people affected? Although these hurricanes have already occurred, the LM community can still contribute to relief efforts. Already, LM students and families have helped by donating clothing to GreenDrop to aid the children and parents affected by Harvey and by participating in other community service projects. Donations are being accepted by organizations such as GlobalGiving at globalgiving.org, United Way Houston Chapter at unitedwayhouston.org/flood/flood-donation/, the Jewish Federation Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, and GoFundMe. The Red Cross is also accepting donations at redcross.org or by texting “Harvey” to 90999, and the SPCA of Texas is organizing pet evacuations and accepting donations at spca.org/give.
News in Brief
Solar eclipse crosses US Eugenia Feng ’20
A total solar eclipse passed over the United States on Monday, August 21, 2017. Crowds from all over America packed into areas in the path of totality, which stretched from Oregon to South Carolina. As Pennsylvania did not fall into that range, anyone viewing from home would have seen only a partial eclipse. Here in Lower Merion, the moon obscured about 75% of the area of the sun at 2:44 pm, the height of the eclipse. Lauryn Holgado ’20 describes her experience “witness[ing] the solar eclipse with my sister. We used water in a basin to see the eclipse.” Many people used different strategies to view the eclipse, including through eclipse glasses, a pinhole projector, or like Holgado, in the reflection of water. A solar eclipse is caused by a particular alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth. It occurs when the moon’s orbit brings it between the Earth and the Sun. This blocks the light of the sun, effectively casting a shadow upon the Earth. Vivian Chen ’20 comments, “I was able to look at the reflection of the solar eclipse. It was fascinating that the moon could cover the sun and produce such a wonderful natural phe-
nomenon.” Although the moon completely covers the sun during a total eclipse, it can be dangerous to look directly at the eclipse without proper eye protection. It is safe to look at the eclipse directly during the few minutes when the sun is completely obscured by the moon, but during any other time, it is just like looking straight at the sun on a normal day. This can cause damage to the retina, resulting in permanent harm to vision and even blindness. For this reason, such varied viewing devices are necessary during a solar eclipse. Though solar eclipses may not happen everyday, they are not as rare as many sources make them out to be. The next solar eclipse, although it will be a partial one seen only in South America and Antarctica, will occur on February 15, 2018, and the next total eclipse will be on July 2, 2019 over South America. However, the next total solar eclipse that will pass over the United States will occur on April 8, 2024, and totality will be visible from Erie, Pennsylvania. The next solar eclipse that the LM area will be able to view in totality will occur on May 1, 2079. Sophie Yang ’20 remarked that she “can’t wait for another opportunity to see a solar eclipse!”
LM spotlighted in National Geographic documentary Hannah Heller ’19 A new documentary titled Without a Net: the Digital Divide in America premiered on the National Geographic Channel on September 26. Directed by Academy Award nominee Rory Kennedy, the film features LM as an example of the “digital divide” between high schools, or the disparities in technological resources. A primary focus of the film is the notion that the lack of reliable internet access in low-income schools limits opportunities and can leave students underprepared for the global economy. Meanwhile, students in well-funded schools have far greater access and thus better preparation. The film features Jameira Miller, a student from Penn Wood High School, who explains to the au-
dience that she will most likely not use a computer during the school day. In contrast, LM students are also interviewed, including alumna Journey Byland ’17, who explains how Dawgma, LM’s robotics team, transfers code from their laptops into their robots, highlighting the high level of technology integration in LM’s culture. Though Byland thinks that “the one-to-one laptop program would have highlighted their point much better” than Dawgma did, she also says “It’s important that people are aware of the digital divide in the US education system, and I’m glad we were able to play a part in highlighting it.” Without a Net is available to view in full on YouTube and on National Geographic’s website.
Opinions
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Official newspaper of Lower Merion High School since 1929 www.themerionite.org Columbia Scholastic Press Assocation Silver Crown 2013 Editors-in-Chief Dora Nathans ’18 Sophie Roling ’18 Managing Editor Nisha Arya ’18 Senior Innovation Editor Michael Cheng ’18 News Editors Molly Cutler ’19 Julia Rappaport ’18 Kathy Yao ’18 Opinions Editors Andres Bermudez ’19 Caleb Shack ’19 Kelsey Stanton ’18 Features Editors Molly Kaiser ’18 Catherine McFarland ’18 Julia Rosen ’18
Editorial: teachers are LM We sometimes find that it is hard to truly appreciate something until we ponder over what life would be like if it was gone. Recently, the Lower Merion Education Association (LMEA)—the union that represents LMSD teachers and staff—has been fighting a battle against the school board over creating a contract for teachers with higher salaries and less expensive health care benefits, as well as several other concerns. This topic is very complicated, and we are merely scratching the surface on what is happening in the negotiations. However, we wish to recognize the teachers who have helped us grow as students, athletes, and human beings. With the continuation of tense negotiations between the LMEA and the administration, there has recently been a threat of teachers working “to the contract” and ceasing activities that they do willingly outside of their required work. This threat has made students more aware than ever of the ways that the exceptional teachers at LM go above and beyond to assure the success of their students. For example, teachers at LM often stay after school to help students who have full
Sports Editors Julian Ginzburg ’19 Zach Simons ’18 Zack Slogoff ’18
Graphics Editors Christopher de Santis ’20 Sihan Wu ’19 Web Editor Jake Gurevitch ’18 Business Manager Eric Bell ’18 Advisor Charles Henneberry Business Advisor Sean P. Flynn, Esq.
The editors believe all facts presented in the newspaper to be accurate. All articles have gone through an intensive, independent fact-checking process to minimize factual errors. The paper acknowledges that mistakes are possible and welcomes questions as to accuracy. Inquiries regarding accuracy should be directed to the editors of the paper. Editors can be contacted via e-mail at merionite@gmail.com or in Room 200A. To represent all viewpoints in the school community, The Merionite welcomes all letters to the editor. Letters can be sent via e-mail or dropped off outside the Merionite office. The Merionite reserves the right to edit letters to the editor for length or clarity. All unattributed images are courtesy of WikiCommons.
LM has to offer. Teachers cement these connections with students not only to motivate them, but also to make high school a more memorable and enjoyable experience. In light of the recent contractual developments, we have gained an appreciation for the teachers who go above and beyond. Our teachers are devoted to our success, and for that, we offer a resounding “Thank You.”
Graphic by Christopher de Santis ’20 Unsigned editorials reflect the general opinion of the staff and not the opinion of any single editor.
One-way integration
Arts & Entertainment Editors Minori Cohan ’18 Claire Ochroch ’18 Grace Wei ’19
Copy Editors Benjamin Schmid ’19 Caroline Spencer ’18 Ziwen Zhou ’19
schedules but still need one-on-one time to fully understand course material. It is also common for teachers to sacrifice the half hour they receive for lunch each day, leaving their classrooms open and making themselves available to assist students for the entirety of Lunch and Learn. Students do not see it as unusual to ask a teacher for assistance during their free time in order to help them master the information taught in class. This is because the passionate teachers at LM do it willingly every single day. Similarly, it is common for teachers to use their free time to write letters of recommendation for their students, a task that students assume is simply part of the requirements of a teacher’s job—it is not. The teachers at LM, each of whom hopes to see their students succeed, do more than is required of them to make sure that students who go the extra mile in the classroom receive credit from college admissions offices and employers. Teachers also serve LM students in a non-academic sense. Forming meaningful relationships, both as friends and mentors, teachers inspire students to get involved in classes, sports, clubs, and everything that
Davon Collins ’19 Over the summer, students taking AP English Language and Composition were assigned to read The Shame of The Nation by Jonathan Kozol. Throughout the book, he highlights the stories of children who were profoundly underserved by their public schools. Kozol advocates for increased integration on the basis that exposure between people of different racial/ethnic backgrounds generates greater comfort with diversity. The problem amongst schools, as Kozol would have us believe, is that they are segregated, and the solution then is simple: integrate the schools. The problem faced by black students in America’s decaying public school system is not a lack of integration. The problem is that these schools are criminally underfunded! The sad truth is that if more white people
attended these school, the local and federal government might not be able to get away with this inequity. Kozol’s solution leaves intact a racist system of distributing resources, in which it only matters if schools are impoverished when they are attended by white students. Why is this disregarded when other races are being affected? The people most responsible for the failure of American public schools are the members of the discriminatory and Apartheid-esque legislature that governs the funding of public schools. The key to building networks of strong and equal public schools is to equalize their funding. Take Lower Merion and Overbrook, for example. According to Zillow, in Lower Merion, the median home sells for $695,000; the median home in Overbrook sells for $141,900. The average household income in Lower Merion is $141,326, while the average income in Overbook is $43,176. LMSD spends $28,495 per pupil, the highest per-student spending in the state and $16,000 higher than the national average. The per pupil spending in the school district of Philadelphia is $13,880. The issue here is that, in the eyes of our government, Lower Merion families are wealthier and therefore deserve more resources and money for their students. Every child in this country deserves the resources and learning environment that
Lower Merion students are allocated. That is true whether the school is fifty, or 75, or 100 percent black. If anything, integration is just a quick fix band aid that is based on some deceptively nefarious premises. Integration of black students into predominantly white schools often alienates the black students, doing the exact opposite of its intended purpose. When black kids enter a white majority school, they are bombarded with questions like, “How does your hair work? Do you live in a ghetto? Can you rap? Why are you so well spoken?” (These are all questions I’ve been asked). Questions like these do a fantastic job of alienating and bothering black students, producing social and emotional stresses that are proven to interfere with learning. The most exhausting facet of this philosophy is that diversity must be constantly sold as a learning experience for white people. Yes, yes, we will allow these black children access to our pristine public institutions. What a learning experience it will be for our white students! It will make them so tolerant, so multicultural, such good, liberal, completely-not-at-all-racist children! They can learn about Kwanzaa! The value of giving Black children well-funded educations is not that exposure Please see INTEGRATION on page 7
Letter to the editor: marijuana special feature I am always happy to flip through the new issue of The Merionite on my way to my classroom in the morning, but the morning in which a pie chart indicated that 37 percent of the student body had come to school high caused me to stop in my tracks and cry out in anguish. Upon further discussion, I realized that the pie chart was a bit misleading; the actual statistic reported that 37 percent of the students who had smoked marijuana (67 percent of the 234 who responded to the survey) had also come to school high. The percentage, regardless, remained troubling. My initial reaction, I will admit, was the wrong one. In the midst of a busy school year, I felt betrayed. I had thought that we— teachers, students, parents—were on the same trajectory, working with full intention and hope towards a rich intellectual foundation, putting all of our energy into building strong brains. The fact that a student would come to school high was an undermining of all of our work and an intentional detour from what I thought was our common goal.
After further deliberation, not consoled by the correction regarding the proportion of students engaging in such behaviors, my reaction was (and remains) one of sadness. I am not a stranger at all to addiction issues. I am aware that addiction is a disease; as they
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In the midst of a busy school year, I felt betrayed.
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The Merionite
say, the only disease in which the afflicted is in denial that he or she has the disease. Perhaps, as a teacher, I have sat in a meeting with the parents of the students who fall into this category; perhaps I have listened to the lamentations of the mother; perhaps the father has broken down and cried. I know that there is nothing but grief for the lost time and lost opportunities, for the loss of the child for whom the parent had dreams, and also a
poignant but strong strand of hope. I cringe at references to binge drinking and drug use, always considering the underside, the as-yetunknown addict or alcoholic who is perhaps in the nascent stage of a disease that will not be evident as a problem until he or she is well into adulthood, or who will perhaps die prematurely as a result of the addiction. The fact that this student sits before me, unknown in my class, is almost too painful to bear. Whatever the true statistic of drug and alcohol use, I know that those students are before us and in our LM family. I also know that there is nothing that we, as a school community, can do to eradicate this situation completely. All that we can do is behave with compassion and awareness of the disease of addiction. There is hope, and there is support, and there are many professionals within our building who have the compassion and the skills to start the process of recovery. -Diane Sweeney Math Department
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October 9, 2017
Opinions The Merionite
One size does not fit all
Nehama Dormont ’19 This year at Lower Merion Honors and CP history and English classes have been mixed into one larger class. Although students are now in class with people of different educational levels, they will still only be receiving the credit for the class they signed up for. This means that some students are forced to match the workload of a class they did not select and then receive less credit than some of their classmates. If the CP students are given different tasks than Honors students, the class will then become segregated based upon which class they chose in the first place, thus making the effort of combining courses completely futile. Additionally, this merger negatively affects the education of all the students in the classroom. Neither the CP students nor the Honors students receive the environment they signed up for, for they will be learning with kids of all ranges of abilities, some prepared for more challenges and others struggling to keep up with the work of the class. Upon talking to teachers across subjects who both do and do not teach mixed courses, the majority agreed that many times this may not catalyze growth in CP students, but rather could slow the pace of the entire class. When asked about the topic, a teacher of non-mixed courses who wished to remain anonymous replied that “given the curriculum outlined for the district there’s a large gap between the two levels that potentially may not be met for an Honors level if the classes were merged.” There’s nothing wrong with struggling with a subject and needing a slower paced class. Overwhelmingly, when a student is recommended for, and chooses, a CP class, it’s because the class suits their skills and goals best. If students can not get the education they need, they are almost certain to struggle and become overwhelmed. Students often know their limits best and should have their class decisions respected. This manipulation of courses seems to state that the pupils who select CP are less of a priority than their peers who selected Honors.
It creates an environment of intimidation, closing students off from the class in many ways. Honors classes often learn to think, and speak write and interact differently, often students will already have knowledge of topics which their CP friends know nothing about, making other students feel like their own knowledge is lagging. Honors students also might be breezing by with little effort as CP students struggle, making them feel like they shouldn’t be, as most of the class is bored or finds the class less than challenging. It divides the classroom, as students needs have a far greater variation than in a class with only Honors or CP students. Within different classrooms, this challenge is being treated differently, which affects how each class learns. Teachers have to choose whether to keep classes separate, push their CP students, or hold back their Honors students in order to allow the CP students to keep up. There hasn’t been a clear address to the student body explaining how teachers are supposed to handle this issue, leaving more confusion and leading to a more inconsistent experience for all students. The failings of this program do not fall on the instructors, though; given this task, everyone would handle it differently especially with no clear understanding of how to do so. This program will thus have many effects throughout the course, and its effects will be magnified during assessments. It will affect student performance on assessments; if the class is being given different assessments, not all students will be able to work together to prepare. On the other hand, if students are given the same test with the same level of difficulty, the Honors kids will have the advantage of being more accustomed to strenuous tests and rigorous class work and will therefore be more likely to achieve a higher score than their classmates. In order to give everyone the education they require, students need to be placed among peers who can match their level of intensity and rigor and who have similar skill sets and abilities. An ideal class is one where the teacher does not have to gear things differently towards half the class and where all students receive the same credit. An ideal class isn’t one where kids are pushed beyond what they can handle. The class each student chooses and wishes to be placed in is that where they believe they can be most successful. It is the job of the school to support these decisions, not to ignore them.
Creating class connections
Sophia Shvayko ’19 Some people are very perplexed as to why we have now combined CP and Honors classes. Even though it may sound unreasonable at first, there are actually a few positive outcomes that come out of having these combined courses. First off, the students who choose to take CP instead of Honors may question the value of choosing CP if they will be in an Honors class anyway. However, although there are Honors students in the class, the CP student will not necessarily be doing the same amount of work as them. Their work will still be formatted for them as a CP student, and vice versa. There is no change in that. Additionally, being surrounded by the work ethic of Honors students will push CP students to work harder. The learning environment will become more beneficial for CP students. Being in a combined course can help students learn more material than is expected from just a CP class. As for Honors students who may think that they won’t be challenged enough, there are many benefits for them in combined classes. They will be given the amount of work a typical Honors class would provide, even if they are in a combined class. They will be able to converse with other levels of students, which is beneficial for both parties. Talking about information and helping others understand it helps them review their own knowledge: it is an indirect form of studying. For both levels, the combined course is not a negative thing. For Honors students, it will basically be the same as a regular course and will have no negative impacts on the
workloads or grading system. The same is true with CP, except they will receive an improved work environment. Everything else has stayed the same. Combined classes also provide the ability to form connections between different types of students that could not be made in a regular CP or Honors class. This is because the different groups of people that take each of these levels often never end up interacting and conversing with each other. Now, there is an opportunity for students to practice social compatibility and work skills by having these classes. The problem with these different levels is that they often segregate people into two groups. Thus, we are so used to knowing the expectations of each of these levels and knowing what classes, clubs, and extracurriculars each will take that we never truly see the other side. We never really communicate with the other level becase we never had the need to. Different grades, different perspectives on learning and working, and different workloads create a division between the two groups that is hard to overcome. It is these very differences Graphic by Sihan Wu ’19 that cause resistance to combining the two levels in one classroom. However, this combination is not impossible, in fact it is progressive. Through these classes students learn how to work with different people that took a different level for different reasons. This is what is important for students in the long run. In the real world, not everybody will have the same work ethics or methods, and the sooner students learn to be comfortable with that, the better. Overall, these combined courses are not something to be upset about or to be seen as a significant change in the CP and Honors levels. Instead, thay are just a minor academic change that will not affect expected grading or workloads. However, they will affect our social environment and working skills in a positive way. Even though some students may not see it now, they will reap the benefits of this academic choice for years to come.
More students, less attention
Julia Rappaport ’18 News Editor As the bell rings, students pile in with books in hand trying to find an open desk on the first day of school. But there are no more available. The aggregation of apartment buildings in the area is resulting in exponential enrollment growth in LM. As a whole, our district is growing by so much that it is now “the fastest growing District in Pennsylvania,” according to the LMSD website. In fact, in the next ten years, enrollment could surpass 9,300 students within LMSD. While many of us will not be here when LM reaches full capacity (and eventually
surpasses it), we are all feeling its effects in classrooms. Students have upwards of 25 to thirty peers per class with only one teacher. This means that there is less oneon-one time with teachers for students who may be struggling or need a little extra help with a specific topic. Also, but because class sizes are getting bigger, Lunch and Learn is going to be even more hectic in the coming years, and we are beginning to see the effects now. As someone who has experienced a smaller environment with smaller class sizes, I can say that the increase in enrollment will harm future classes at LM. When I attended Friends’ Central School during my freshman year, there were about a hundred people in my graduating class, and each class I attended had no more than fifteen students. This ensured that I got to know my teachers on a personal level and was able to receive help with any subject that I needed. Teachers had office hours, much like here at LM. But contrary to what I’ve experienced at LM Lunch and Learn, when I would go to meet with my math
teacher, for example, I was almost always the only person there. Therefore, I was able to understand a concept much more easily because my teacher was able to devote more time to helping me. Also, because my teachers only taught about sixty students, they knew my learning style and were able to teach me to the best of their ability by tailoring their teaching style to my learning style. In a smaller environment, there is less room for students to fall behind because students and teachers can build relationships. Also, with smaller class sizes, students build tight-knit relationships with teachers and feel more responsible for living up to their expectations. This isn’t to say that teachers at LM don’t expect much of us as students, however, in a smaller setting, teachers get to know their students and their capabilities better than those who have twice the number of students to worry about. Another positive to having a smaller community is that you are able to get to know your fellow peers on a deeper level. At
Friends’ Central, I knew everyone by name and would say hi to them in passing. Since I was able to get to know nearly everyone in my graduating class, I felt more comfortable in my classes. More specifically, I spoke up more in class and felt more comfortable asking peers for help. However, in a large school that continues to grow, it is hard to get to know people and it can be a bit daunting at times, especially in class. While enrollment growth will inevitably impact our school, there are many ways in which we as students can ensure that we create a better learning environment. One way to do this would be to reach out to teachers and introduce yourself; let them know that you are passionate about their class or that you aren’t, but are willing to work hard. If you are struggling in a class, ask to meet with them during a free so that there won’t be any distractions. As for getting to know your peers, figure out what hobbies you enjoy and get involved. By getting involved you will be able to meet many great people who have the same interests as you and LM won’t feel quite as large.
I, too, am LM
Michael Cheng ’18 Senior Innovation Editor When I was eleven, my father enjoyed taking me on weekly trips to rural Pennsylvania. We saw not only the tourist attractions, but also the rolling blankets of corn, abandoned train stations, and undecorated churches lining snakelike brick roads. I liked interacting with the people there, and the people liked me back, even though my appearance differed from theirs. Although I was an exotic urbanite, they treated me respectfully, and I rarely felt like I was being prematurely categorized. I escaped the box of preconceptions, for they were more interested in learning about me than reinforcing their biases about who I ought to be. Flash-forward to seventeen-year-old me, a senior at one of the nation’s most high-achieving schools. I am conditioned to believe that I am in a tolerant place, but in many ways, I feel more ostracized than when I was the odd eleven-year-old wading through churches and cornfields. I know that I am perceived to be as part of the “smart” crowd, but I do not feel that way. My peers in AP courses, typically progeny of lawyers, doctors, businesspeople, and professors, spend their weekends going to beaches and concerts, taking selfies, gossiping about the latest breakups, and going to dinners at exquisite restaurants in Rittenhouse Square. They live picture-perfect lives, academically and socially. To be frank, I have not lived that life, which probably explains some of my earlier troubles with friends here. Many people, most unwilling to publicly admit it and break their suave political correctness, have dumped me into a yellow box and stopped looking past that. They have placed me into the box that says I am smart and yellow and different, so I must be a science or math genius, I must be awkward at parties, I must be terrible at sports, and I must be insular and only seriously befriend those who look just like me, or else I am a maverick who rejects outright the construct of who I am. I can be a wild partier, a varsity athlete, a genuine class participant, and a profound friend, but only if I compromise the fragile essence of my existence. That is the false dichotomy that the culture of LM perpetuates. You either fit squarely within your box and accept everything inherent about your box, or you deviate and compromise the parts of your box that form your identity to attempt to fit in with the dominant culture. And too often, we choose to endorse the latter in a lose-lose situation, diluting our identities. We accept having de facto segregated lunch tables, whether segregated by ap-
Opinions The Merionite
pearances or upbringings, and exile those unfortunate enough to deviate into the abyss of loneliness. We accept having club officers and sports captains who look and act essentially alike, often being selected because they mastered the art of fitting the box that looks the part. We accept having a stark divide between AP and CP classes, effectively restricting the pool of people we meet and illustrating the rigid, coldly academic subdivisions of our culture. I acknowledge that I am writing to the narrow box of those who bother to read this newspaper. I am writing to a box complaining about boxes, contradicting myself in the process. I am writing to a box knowing that by challenging the box culture using elevated language, some will be tempted to push me even further into its confines. Yet I have nothing better to do, for writing is my most powerful
Graphic by Sihan Wu ’19 & Christopher de Stanis ’20 escape from the box I inhabit. I write under the vain hope that you will read this and decide to stop participating in the box culture, that you will do something wildly different. Yet I understand that boxes are eternal, reproducing themselves across many different existences and generations, just as they have been doing since the beginning of time. I try to find solace in our culture. I pretend that things are all up to my mind’s delusions. I imagine a world where boxes would not constrain us, but free us. Yet I do so knowing that many are content with loading others into boxes and perpetuating academic, extracurricular, and social divisions, leading to an endless cycle of misconceptions that defines our school. I do so knowing that despite the professed tolerance of some people, and the professed ambivalence of others, I will never truly be able to escape my box. Boxes are made to contain, and very few people under our culture manage to escape the box handed to them by birthright. I want to believe that I, too, am LM; that, with effort, I can move into the box that houses the wider, more popular subculture. But alas, I am only human, and a flawed one at that.
October 9, 2017
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Dream On
Claire Ochroch ’18 Arts & Entertainment Editor Should children be at fault for the decisions of their parents? When many Dreamers were brought illegally into America, they were too young to realize that their parents were doing something wrong. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a policy that protects individuals who illegally entered the country as minors by allowing them to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for a work permit. As of 2017, approximately 800,000 individuals—referred to as “Dreamers” after the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act— were enrolled in the program created by DACA. The vast majority of Dreamers know no other home than America. When DACA was enacted, over 1.5 million people breathed a sigh of relief: they could now obtain a driver’s license, pay in-state college tuition, and open a bank account. However, the policy established during the Obama administration has been rescinded by President Trump, and he has given congress a six-month window to make a law. Congress must protect DACA recipients at all costs. Dreamers are essential to the success and progression of the United States. The Center for American Progress estimated that the US would lose about 460 billion dollars in GDP over the next ten years without DACA, putting our country into financial turmoil if all recipients are deported. Furthermore, since about 72 percent of DACA respondents are in higher education, their deportation would be detrimental to our nation’s intellect in research, writing, and so many other pursuits that can enrich our future. It is also clear that DACA is popular. A Morning Consult poll from April found that 56 percent of registered voters said Dreamers “should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements.” Also, more than 1,800 governors, attorney generals, mayors, state representatives, judges, police chiefs and other political leaders signed on to a letter supporting DACA recipients. If these Dreamers are both popular and beneficial to our country, why would Trump want to throw them out? The answer: to appease his anti-immigrant base. With the wall being determined expensive and inconceivable, Trump need-
ed to prove he was cracking down on illegal immigration. He took the easiest way out: attacking those who had already identified themselves. He even made Attorney General Jefferson Sessions do his dirty work and announce the roll back of DACA for him—chickening out. Trump acts like he cares about Dreamers when he tweets things such as, “Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!” Clearly he wants to throw them out, piling DACA onto Congress’s already packed agenda including debt ceiling, hurricane relief, and tax reform. If the program ends up defunct, it could lead to the deportation of approximately 5,900 people in Pennsylvania alone. People in Philadelphia have already begun to fight back with associations such as the immigrant rights organization, Juntos, that hosted a demonstration outside the Department of Justice building on September 5. The protest served to bring together those who want to support DACA recipients. It is important to remain united when the issue of DACA comes up in Congress, so our representatives know that they must support recipients. The piece of legislation that is most likely to go up for vote is the current Dream Act, sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. While Durbin was highly critical of Trump’s decision, Graham said he believed it was the right one to make, because he thought Obama had overstepped his legal authority by issuing the far-reaching executive action. According to the National Immigration Law Center, the Dream Act of 2017 has many of the same protections in place as DACA does and also creates a path for citizenship or permanent legal resident status that would take at least thirteen years for those eligible to achieve. However, the White House has already signaled that it will not support this bill. According to Trump’s Director of Legislative Affairs, Marc Short, “the administration has opposed the Dream Act and likely will be consistent on that.” The current Dream Act is probably the best bet at a bipartisan agreement in the Senate for helping those affected by Trump’s repeal. However, to sign, the president might say that he wants to push for harsher border laws and less legal immigration, but we cannot let him. The loss of 460 billion dollars in GDP over the next ten years, and future accomplishments of college educated, hard-working, law-abiding citizens should force his hand. We must support DACA recipients and Dream legislations at all costs because no one should be denied the right to live in the only home they have ever known—The United States of America.
Integration Cont. from ONE-WAY INTEGRATION, page 5 to different cultures makes everyone a better person. The value of giving black children well-funded educations is that black children deserve well-funded educations. It does not matter if there are white people around to witness it; it does not matter if the school lacks integration and 100 percent of the students are black. Black children deserve safe, unpoliced, well-funded educations because black lives matter. Black bodies are not learning tools for white people. Kozol advocates that integration will allow space for white people to learn from and become more comfortable around black people. However, that is not always the
case. There is comfort in people who look alike and who share the same cultures: that is perfectly okay. In my zone of familiarity, which is around black people, I do not have to worry about being asked ignorant questions like “Why are you so well spoken?” It is not my responsibility to educate white people, and I have absolutely no interest in existing so that my mere bodily presence can make those around me less racist. Sorry y’all, but that’s work you’re gonna have to do for yourselves. Heck, get a little crazy and read the work of some black thinkers. See where it takes you. School is a place for me to learn, not to be an educator.
This country was built by enslaved black people. The wealth of this nation was built by enslaved black people. The intergenerational wealth that white families have enjoyed for decades was acquired through forcing black people to do labor so that white people could steal the profits. And all along, we have been disenfranchised, stolen from, and kept down. We were not allowed to get married in order to avoid the transfer of wealth if a white person married a black person; we were not allowed to be educated to improve our lives; we were not even allowed freedom until 173 years ago. The effects of purposeful deprivation are still prevalent in the black commu-
nity today. Another major issue with integration programs is that there are always children who, despite (or perhaps because of) the best efforts of gentlemen like George W. Bush, get left behind. These programs cannot accommodate all the underprivileged schools in America. This is an issue with Kozol as a writer: the issue and solutions are oversimplified and overly white targeted. If you’re still convinced that integration will magically dissolve the crisis in American public education, I will leave you with this: why don’t we send white kids to black schools? That’s technically integration, right?
Study spots
Features
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Noah Spergel ’20
Math tests, English quizzes, Spanish exams, and other stressors-we all have them. But how can we balance the stress and keep up the good grades? Studying may not be your favorite hobby, but doing it in the right place can increase productivity and make it more enjoyable. Whether it’s a desolate hallway on the third floor or the popular Suburban Square Starbucks, there are a variety of study spots in our area that are both accessible and A+ producing. I’ll admit, finding a peaceful study spot within LM may seem daunting at first. The cafeteria is often too loud, and the library is usually full of upperclassmen who don’t always create the promised “academic atmosphere.” There are also certain spots where eating your lunch is prohibited. Don’t sweat it; there are many places around the campus where you can get your grub on while cramming for that test. From the classrooms with the cool teachers to the hallways with no crowds, there is always somewhere for you to study and eat your PB&J sandwiches. The administration building is also open. There are new marble desks on the sides of the hallway which typically are not crowded.The music wing, art hall, and wooden benches throughout the school are areas where you can eat. But the problem is that often times those areas get very noisy. If you’re in desperate need of a good quiet spot, the best place to go in school by far is the Learning Center next to the library. It’s food-friendly and probably the quietest place in the entire school. There is usually a teacher there if you need something, making it the ultimate study spot during Lunch and Learn. If you’re the type who likes doing more of your studying outside of school, you’re in luck. The town has many good study spots ranging from libraries to cafes. The “So2Speak” homework club on 131 Montgomery Ave, Bala Cynwyd, is the perfect place to get ready for a test.
Blaise and Michael are out for a run along a circular track. Starting at the same spot, they run in opposite directions at constant speeds and pass each other at a point when the slower of the two had travelled 720 yards. Upon finishing one lap, they each take a ten-minute rest to stretch and hydrate. It is important to hydrate. After their individual breaks, they begin running, again in opposites with the same speeds as before. This time, they meet at a point when the faster of the two was 400 yards from their original starting (and resting) point. How long is the track? Please see Mr. Hawkins in Room 213 to check your answer!
It is a quiet place to study with free wifi. You can also hire an experienced tutor for extra help if you need it. So2Speak is conveniently located across the street from a Starbucks and Domino’s to provide all the carbs and caffeine needed for a good study session. If that’s a little too far and out of the way for you, I suggest the Starbucks in Suburban Square. Prices aside, Starbucks has plenty of tables and a good atmosphere to get work done. You should be aware that this is obviously a very trendy and popular place not only for students but for people of all ages. So if listening to music on your headphones while studying isn’t your thing, you might get a bit distracted. Obviously there are many other coffee shops you can visit, like Green Engine on 16 Haverford Station Road in Haverford. If you want the feeling of being in your own house, without nagging parents and annoying siblings, Green Engine is the perfect spot. The comfortable couches and ceramic coffee cups will make for a “good vibes only” study session. I should also mention that the Ludington and Bala Cynwyd libraries are always a good option to get work done. No doubt, these libraries will be the far the best option for a quiet study spot. If there is anything I have learned from my freshman year at LM, it’s that my house can sometimes be a little too chaotic to study. And, of course, my Xbox seems much more appealing than my chemistry homework. Whether it’s the Learning Center during Lunch and Learn, or the Starbucks in Suburban Square, there is a perfect study spot out there waiting for you.
Features
October 9th, 2017
9
The Merionite
Freshman, I’m talking to you! Julia Rudy ’19 Dear Freshmen, Welcome to the next four years of your life. Maybe some of you got the chance to get to know some of the not-so-scary older kids before the start of school, or maybe you didn’t. Regardless, you probably felt at least a little bit overwhelmed by a few of these things: desperately trying to find your friends amidst a sea of people, wandering the halls of a building that claims to be three squares stacked on top of each other (but isn’t), trying to figure out the rotation of the schedule (not having every class every day...what??), attempting to walk through crowded hallways full of some very tall people, and hearing over and over again countless syllabi, the honor code, late work policies, and things like “you’ll need to work hard” or “make sure you get involved.” But congratulations! You’ve made it through the first month of your freshman year. It probably seems impossible that all of the intimidating upperclassmen once were in your exact same position, but we all were, and we made it through. So, here are a few pieces of advice that have helped many of us get through freshman year: 1: By now you might’ve realized that it is hard to see some of your friends throughout the school day. Make sure that if you see them in a hallway, you scream and run to give them a hug. Nothing shows LM spirit like a reunion like that! Make sure it’s especially loud, and if it can be very early in the morning; that’s preferable. If you really can’t stop to be with them because you are in a crowded stairwell, express your love for your friend by reaching out across other people and trying to hold their hand. 2: Also, when you have downtime between classes, congregate in a very big circle outside of classrooms. Make it so that no one can get by you, and if you are in the mood, sing a song or two really loudly to help start everyone’s morning. On your way to classes, walk in large groups, and be sure to walk at a slow and leisurely pace. It will surely brighten everyone’s day to see such close friendship. 3: Sometimes your classes are far away from each other and hard to get to quickly. To save time, try and bring a mode of transportation that will make everything faster for you: Razor scooters, hoverboards, or maybe wear those
heelie shoes. If you can’t get any of these things one day, you can always sprint as fast as you can down the hallways. You will definitely impress the upperclassmen with your skills. 4: If you ever feel like an upperclassmen is making fun of you, be sure to remind them that they were once a freshman, and ask them to remember how they felt in these situations. They will suddenly have a change of heart and express full empathy. I promise. 5: It is important that you keep up with the latest fashion trends so that you can look your best every day. A few inside sources have informed me that the hottest new shoes to wear at LM are Crocs and the more accessorized the better. In addition, see if you can pair them with any clothing you might have from Justice. The revival is now. Also if you have a rolling backpack, they are much more fun and definitely a fan-favorite here at LM. 6: If you ever see posts or hear about events that say “no freshmen allowed” that is a joke. Juniors and seniors really want you at all of their events. This also applies to sections of the cafeteria and the very front row of the Dawg Pound. If for some strange reason, taking this advice doesn’t work for you in the next few weeks of trying it out, I offer my most sincere apologies. If you didn’t catch on yet you really should do the exact opposite of all of those things. Other things that are helpful to know: if you want a nap during the day, take yoga for gym. Try and get friendly with your guidance counselor. The cafeteria food is not as bad as you think. Not everyone hates freshmen, only some sophomores, who won’t admit it, but do it just because they can. Trust me, there’s nothing a newly minted sophomore loves more than to complain about freshmen. And most of all, try new things, and don’t be afraid of change. Welcome to LM! Love, The Upperclassmen
Admirable Activity For the past year, Lily Dayanim ’18 has volunteered with an organization called HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). The organization provides relief to immigrant and refugee youth who have fled to Philadelphia from a country in crisis. Students come from a variety of places; from Syria to Vietnam, Brazil to Eqypt. Dayanim works with students ages seven to fourteen, helping them learn English, complete their homework, and assimilate to American culture. During the school year, she volunteers once a week, and during the summer, she volunteers every day at the HIAS day camp. Dayanim took her cultural passions to a new level this past summer by venturing to Guatemala for a month. She found the program online and stayed with a host family on the north side of Antigua. She volunteered to teach “los bomberos”— the volunteer firefighters. Dayanim explains that it was really interesting to teach adults, in contrast to her previous work with children. Her favorite part of volunteering is working with comical kids and learning about different cultures. She finds it fascinating and important to hear about the narratives of people who are different from her.
Lily Dayanim Class of 2018
At LMHS Dayanim also plays an important role in our community. She is the assistant choreographer for the upcoming musical Hairspray, co-officer of Photography Club and Model UN, a member of Environmental Club, while also teaching dance classes outside of school. She is more than just an Ace in the Crowd — she demonstrates the values of humility, compassion, kindness and open-mindedness that are the fabric of our LM community.
Favorite Fall Activity Dayanim’s favorite fall activities are going on hikes in local parks and trails. She also loves going to fall festivals, picking apples and carving pumpkins.
Favorite Quote “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” —Nelson Mandela Graphic by Sihan Wu ’20
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Features TEACHERS
October 9, 2017
The Merionite
Ziwen Zhou ’19 Copy Editor
Our new school year has brought several new talented teachers to the LM staff. They bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience to our school, and we are delighted to have them! Students will surely benefit from their energy, dedication, and extensive knowledge. They have kindly chosen to share a little about themselves to the LM community. Our new teachers are: Jessica Margelot Latin Teacher
Saher Masoodi English Teacher
“I am the new Latin teacher at LM. This school year will be my fourth year in total teaching. I knew I wanted to become a teacher due to an epiphany I had while getting ready in the morning in high school. I was a junior in high school, and the thought popped into my head while I was brushing my teeth. The idea felt right, and I was certain of the decision soon after. My first teaching experience was in college at a preschool to pay off the bills, and I soon absolutely fell in love with it.” Andria Johnson Gifted Support Professional
“I will be teaching English 1 Honors and English 3 and 3 Honors. I knew from a very young age that my passion was in teaching. As early as elementary school, I would line up my stuffed animals along my bed and “teach” them my vocabulary and multiplication tables. Cheesy, I know! When my parents asked me what I did in school that day, I enjoyed sharing...so much to the point where my parents probably regretted asking me. This hobby eventually developed into a passion and career. And I’m glad it did, because I love what I do, and LM is an exciting place to be! I grew up just outside of New Orleans in Metairie, Louisiana. I attended college at University of New Orleans and completed my student-teaching at East Jefferson High School in Metairie. After graduation, I moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and taught English at Grissom High School full-time for two and a half years while
“This will be my first full year at LM. I started last year, after transferring from another school district. I teach Academic Seminar, primarily for students in ninth grade. I can’t ever remember wanting to be anything other than a teacher. I love learning and this profession allows me to learn something new every day, whether through graduate pursuits or discussions with my students. Even teachers I considered “bad” in high school have motivated me to be a better teacher so my students don’t have that experience. I started out as an English teacher and worked with at-risk learners. Then, adminPhoto courtesy of LMSD.org istration asked me to manage gifted students. Because I Pictured above are the new staff memebers for both Harriton High didn’t know much about the School and LM. Back row (left to right): William Shirk, Julia Schrader, gifted population, I pursued a Nicole Battaglia, Jessica Margelot, Steven Midzak.Front row (left to Master’s degree in gifted educa- right): Steven Stevenoski, Andria Johnson, Saher Masoodi, Toni Marcelli, tion. I guess the subject matter Dennis Shook. chose me, but I’m glad it did. I have been teaching since 2004, first as an English teacher and now as a full-time gifted support teacher. I completed my student-teaching at Coatesville High School and was immediately hired. In the next twelve years at Coatesville, I attended the NHS Teacher of the Year recognition and the Chester County Citadel Heart of Learning for the district in 2015. I’m going to share with you my life goal of running a half marathon in every state because stating it holds me publicly accountable. I’ve done six states so far: Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey.” Dallas Alexander - History Teacher I teach eleventh grade U.S. History and tenth grade Global 2. As a high school student, I wanted to go into international politics or acting. However, to fulfill a graduation requirement I enrolled in an education class. I loved the professor, a captivating educator, so I enrolled in another of his courses, which kicked off my interest in becoming a teacher…that and both of my parents were teachers. That’s how I got into teaching.
I chose history as a subject to teach because of my original interest to pursue politics. Learning through the lens of history can reveal how other people had lived, the choices they had made, and their failures and successes–it provides bits and pieces for each of us as individuals to learn about others and then apply their experiences to our own lives. This is the start of my sixteenth year teaching. In addition to academics, through the years I’ve enjoyed coaching sports teams and helping students pursue their potential athelticism in field hockey, cross country, basketball, and track & field.
Julia Schrader Spanish and French Teacher “I will be teaching both French and Spanish. I went into teaching in order to share my passion for language, learning, travel, and adventure. From a young age, my parents encouraged us to participate in cultural exchanges. What initially started as hosting foreign exchange students eventually led to my first overseas experiences in England and France, and then Belgium my senior year of high school. It was there that I became fluent in French. The experience in Belgium inspired me to teach French, but also Spanish. While I was a student in Belgium, I was enrolled in an introductory Spanish class at the high school. What an experience! Try learning another language where translations are not done in your native language. Everything was French to Spanish and Spanish to French. I often left that class with a headache. This year marks my 21st year of teaching. I taught for seven years in the Upper Dublin High School District, one in Poland, six in England, six in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, and now LM. My most notable teaching experience to date would be the year I spent in Poland. I taught IB French in an international school in Warsaw. As a linguist, I was very humbled to find out how difficult the Polish language was to learn. So many consonants and so few vowels. Sadly, I can only remember “Hello,” “Thank you,” and the number 8...but that is a different story.”
Aces Nation app Melissa Gingold ’19 Get excited, because student council has a new and improved mode of communication! In recent years, the LM student council has been struggling with the question of how to alert the student body about important events and messages. While Facebook was great while it lasted, a new era of technology is on its rise. This year, the student council officers collaborated with senior Sebastian Connelly to develop a brand-new communication app. Identified by the name Aces Nation, the app is the most efficient way to stay up to date on all things LM. It has various features to help achieve the ultimate LM experience. For starters, upon downloading it, you are automatically shown a student forum where announcements about various events and important matters can be found. Anyone can submit something to this forum to make sure that the school is notified about whatever the event may be. Additionally, based on the activities you participate in, you can join specific sub-forums. These groups will keep you in the know about events and updates specific to your schedule and extracurriculars. The app also features a calendar.
Simply click on a day and you’ll immediately have a rundown on what is happening all around LM any day of the week. Lastly, the Aces Nation app will feature an LM-exclusive rideshare program. This program is part of an initiative to improve student attendance at extracurricular events throughout the school. As underclassmen, it is sometimes difficult to get rides to everything, and it’s hard to coordinate with upperclassmen if you don’t know many. When you open the rideshare portion of the app, you will be asked whether you are interested in giving or getting a ride. Ride givers will be given gifts such as a free ticket into that day’s event or a LM t-shirt. Ride getters will be given a convenient and safe way to get to events throughout the central league. We are super excited to share this app with students! It’s set to go live at the end of September and we hope everyone takes full advantage of all of its features. The app is currently available on iOS devices and can be found on the App Store as “Aces Nation.” A special thank you goes out to Connelly, who coded the entire app over the summer.
Graphic by Julia Rosen ‘18/Staff
Special Feature
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Dear Reader, This special feature explores school spirit at LM, specifically in response to the recent and ubiquitous claim that it is declining. Is this true? Has school spirit declined? Or has the definition of school spirit changed? The Merionite has investigated this claim by tracking how school spirit has evolved over time here at LM. We interviewed LM alumni to gauge how and why school pride has fluctuated over time, foreign exchange students to catch a glimpse of what school spirit is like internationally, and a clinical psychologist to understand the
psychology behind school pride. We also prompted the student body to analyze the popularity of school spirit to see what, if anything, has changed: our spirit, or our definiton of spirit. Please note that The Merionite is not taking a stance either in support of or against our school’s current expression of spirit. Sincerely, Merionite Management Nisha Arya ’18, Dora Nathans ’18, and Sophie Roling ’18
Table of Contents Results of survey...........Page 12-13 Methodology....................page 12 dawg pound glory...........Page 12 Dr.Shack interview...........Page 13
the lm conundrum..............Page 13 Spirit Around the world....Page 14 When I was in high school..Page 14 The gender divide................Page 15 spirit over time..................page 15
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October 9, 2017
School Spirit The following data comes from a survey that was emailed to all LM students and posted in the student “Aces Nation” Facebook group. Over the course of two weeks, 401 students responded. According to the district website, there are currently 1,408 students in the school. Respondents first responded to the question, “How often would you say you attend LM sports games/other LM activities in a given month?” If students answered “never” (112 students), they were then redirected to a specific series of questions, including “What is the primary reason why you don’t attend activities?” If students answered anything other than “never” (289 students), they were redirected to a separate set of questions including “What is the primary reason why you attend activities?” and were asked to check all the activities they have attended. Otherwise, the statistics presented are ones which were asked of all respondents.
dawg pound glory Margarita Vinogradov ’18 The buzzer sounds; the crowd goes wild. Who are we? The Dawg Pound. Everyone leaps off of their seats into the court in a unified crowd, screaming and cheering for a victory over the opposing team. There is no greater feeling than this one, which is just the beginning of the importance of LM spirit to our community. Our high school has always had a culture of spirit. I think spirit is different for every person, but for me, it’s a combination of the hope and faith one puts into their team, as well as the soul and emotion. For a busy LM student, showing up to games and events is more than half of the battle, but the greatness doesn’t stop there. It’s about coordinated cheers and screaming your heart out at the sound of the buzzer. There is nothing wrong with showing the soul of your spirit to friends whom you care about, especially when you can see the effects of your spirit in the performance of the team. From the beginning of freshman year and onward, there tend to be unavoidable stressors which can lead to a sense of negativity about school. And among the hustle and bustle of the daily academic activities, there are many fun events in which you can participate, simply by being present. I’ve heard people say they can’t attend an event because they have too much work, and while I understand that, I think the notion that we deserve a break from our studies isn’t encouraged enough. We attend school for over seven hours each day, and then return home to complete hours of homework and study, and somewhere in that busy schedule, I think we deserve a break. Attending an event can ease one’s mind, not to mention the benefits of prosocial and communitybased activities. In attending these events, you create the memories that you may treasure forever. In addition to functioning as a de-stressor, there is real evidence to suggest that a large crowd does truly enhance players’ performance. As the theory of social facilitation states, if a person is likely to perform a task well—whether that task be hit a tennis ball or sing a song—their performance will be enhanced as the crowd size increases. Knowing this, I see school spirit as an opportunity to truly help
one’s peers. Even if you are just one face in the crowd, your presence matters and can have genuine effects. As our dear principal often emphasizes, character is an essential part of what LM students get out of the “LM experience.” Character and spirit go hand in hand. Character has to do with the mental and moral qualities of an individual. Through being enthusiastic about what others are doing, you show the true colors of your character. Supporting others and keeping a high morale is the best thing a person can do to find a place in their community. This is why LM has kept the emphasis on the quality of our spirit throughout its history. We understand that it is essential to maintain a sense of excitement about what we are doing. We also must remember that this is all one big step to our future, and without spirit, nothing would be quite as exciting. But beyond all other arguments in favor of school spirit comes the main idea: it’s fun! This year, I have the amazing opportunity to be LM Spirit Head. Although I have only been one for a few weeks, I have already realized how big of an impact this job has on the school. As I am the one responsible for spreading the word about what everyone around me is doing, I am essentially the primary source to help others understand how and where to support the school. I take this job seriously, as I see myself as having the task of alerting my peers about opportunities for true bliss and excitement. Some say that the first part of success is simply showing up for whatever you are trying to achieve, and I completely agree. Once you are at a game, you are immediately rushed to stand with the Dawg Pound, and a feeling of happiness and hope overwhelms you. This is enough to not only give yourself the happiness you want out of the experience, but also show the players that you are there for them. No matter whether it is a game, play, or concert, there is a sense of cohesiveness within LM students, and it would simply not be possible without our spirit. So, what now? Get out there. Go to the games. Scream a little. Let out that stress. Get to the plays. Give a standing ovation. The more we support each other, the more we grow. And it starts right here, in high school.
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Feature
e Merionite
October 9, 2017
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An interview with Dr. Shack Sara Volkman Shack, Psy.D. Liscenced Psychologist Certified School Psychologist The Merionite: Why do you think students may feel loyalty to their schools? Is this an innate feeling, or is it a construction of societal expectations and norms? Dr. Shack: I definitely think there is some kind of societal expectation that students should root for their schools. But it also has some natural explanations. If you think about the amount of time you spend in school, which can be more than the waking hours spent at home, it makes sense that a loyalty would naturally develop.
TM: How do you think academic stress facilitates or hinders school spirit? S: I think academic stress hinders school spirit because people feel as if they don’t have the time to do something that they would see as “frivolous,” like cheering for a sports team. In fact, it would probably be better for students to take a break from their academics, get some positive reinforcement and prosocial behavior, and then come back to studying fresh. Returning with renewed purpose would be better in some situations than just attempting to plow through the work.
TM: What psychologoical principles help explain why school spirit exists? S: I think conformity is certainly part of it. The laws of social conformity are magnified by school spirit; we see both on social media and in person that our peers have school spirit, and we naturally feel inclined to mimic that same behavior. I also think disinhibition plays into spirit culture. There is something that happens in a group setting, whether it’s an athletic event where the crowd is cheering, or even a rally or a march: we let loose a bit. And while we often look at being disinhibited as being a bad thing, I think that being in a large group and not focusing so much on ourselves or worrying about our own behavior can be freeing, empowering, and de-stressing for students.
TM: What do you see as the positive aspects of school spirit? Does it boost morale, or enhance a sense of community? S: School spirit definitely boosts morale, which are really good aspects for teenagers. Developmentally, they’re looking for their place, and this progresses through a series of relationships forming and ending throughout high school. When you’re at a high school sporting event, you’re all a part of something, even if you are in a smaller group. This applies for other collaborative activities, not just sports. School spirit builds camaraderie and a shared purpose.
TM:What psychological reasoning is there to justify the claim that having a large crowd may enhance players’ performance? S: Athletes always say that they feed off the energy of the crowd. I think most competitors like the big stage, and many of them live for that. I’m sure it kicks off endorphins and adrenaline, and raises their game.
TM: What, if any, do you see as the negative aspects of school spirit? S: Whenever you get a crowd of people, things can definitely go awry. There can be violence or other forms of negative behavior, but I think that’s much more the exception than the norm. Dr. Shack has over twenty years of experience working in psychology. She specializes in treating children from preschool age through college and young adulthood.
The LM Conundrum Daniel Gurevitch ’20 Before writing this article about the lack of spectatorship at non-sporting events – how the basketball team can get a 200-person Dawg Pound but Dawgma yields no such numbers – I thought this would be very easy and straightforward to write. Yet, after just five minutes of thinking, I realized that the problem with our school spirit isn’t the lack of spectatorship at non-sporting events, it’s the lack of spectatorship at nearly every school event besides football and basketball games. Most people people would rather go see a football or basketball game instead of other activities, and that makes sense. But as a school we need to show our passion and spirit for the other sports and other clubs, which don’t get nearly as much attention. I’m not saying that there should be a Dawg Pound or cheerleaders at non-sporting events. Just imagine someone on the Debate Team presenting their argument and suddenly cheerleaders come running in doing splits and cartwheels and waving their pom-poms in the air. Or imagine that the Dawg Pound went to an Ace’s Angels concert and when the singers started singing, the Dawg Pound started doing the wave. Those scenarios are both ridiculous, and while they might be hilarious, would never work. One club that I think would pair great with Dawg Pound is Chess Club. I mean, come on: two kids playing an intense game of chess and twenty or thirty people in the Dawg Pound cheering them on in the background. I don’t know about you, but I would pay to watch that. In all seriousness, spectatorship at nonsporting events does not mean having cheerleaders or the Dawg Pound come. It means that as a school we need to be more appre-
ciative of the work that other clubs do, and to demonstrate this appreciation, we need to show up. We might not be chanting, “I believe that we can win” in the middle of a PLAYERS production, but we can still attend their performances to show that we support them. School spirit is more than just football and basketball; school spirit is about supporting every club in the whole school. To have good school spirit, we need to support everyone, something we have not done yet but I hope that we will accomplish soon. So, once one decides they want to support the less frequently attended events, how does one do it, practically speaking? How am I supposed to show support for my friends when they have a regatta? How are my friends going to show support for the Mock Trial team when their “event” is in a courtroom? It’s a really simple, two word answer. Just say “good luck,” and mean it. You might not be able to show up to the event, but your support will be invaluable. And that support has real meaning for the people in these clubs: it promotes inclusivity and shows them that they belong, that they’re not cast out of LM, and that their peers care about and take pride in their victories. Show that you care about how your peers do in other clubs and they will do the same for you. It’s all about having a new mindset: one where you’re actually interested in other clubs, and they will be interested in yours. So the next time my friend has a regatta, I’m going to wish him good luck and hope that he will do the same for me when it’s opening night for Hairspray. And whoever organizes the Dawg Pound, please set them up for Chess Club.
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Special Feature
October 9, 2017
The Merionite
Spirit around the world Jerry Lu ’18
1. Can you briefly describe all the schools you’ve attended, and in which countries? 2. How would you say school spirit at LM differs from school spirit in the country in which you used to go to school? 3. In what ways is school spirit similar between here and the country in which you used to go to school? 4. Do you enjoy the spirit that exists at LM? Do you participate in it?
1. I studied in China until I was sixteen. The primary schools in China were similar to those here in the US. The difference is that in China, the last final exam administered at Grade Five is really important, as students want to apply to a better middle school. In China, middle schools last four years, and the last two years are really busy. I went to Huayu Middle School, the best private middle school in China. Although we also had activities, the intense homework took up a lot of time, so we couldn’t always participate in spirit. I think it took most students four-tofive hours to do their homework every day. I went to Shanghai High School for my first year, and then came to Lower Merion. 2. In China, there is less of a focus on sports and more of a focus on academics. Because the rate of college acceptances affects the school directly, there is a lot of pressure on students to spend hours each day doing work. The result is that free time is more dedicated to work than to school events. 3. I think both school are really nice, and I find a lot of community support from students and teachers in both school. 4. Yes, I do enjoy school spirit at LM, and I go to the school events sometimes.
Rotem Shermister ’20 1. I went to school in Israel for seven years. My school in Israel was spirited but in different ways. There was more volunteering and less sports (just soccer, basketball, and volleyball). 2. In my opinion, the spirit at LM is much better than the spirit in Israel! The school is proud, there are a lot of different activities to do, and most of the students are participating in school spirit events. 3. In Israel and in the US, students wear school shirts, and the energy at games is very high. 4. The LM spirit is amazing, and I wish that many countries and schools had this level of participation in spirit.
Micaela Pozo Castro ’18 1. I went to Trilce, a public school in Peru, from seventh through ninth grade. Then, I went to Bonner & Prendie, a Catholic high school in the US, for ninth and tenth grade. I came to LM junior year. 2. For me, the main source of school spirit at LM is sports, but in Peru, most schools don’t play sports against other schools like people do here at LM. 3. In both countries, students feel proud to be part of the schools. 4. I do feel the school spirit in LM but I don’t participate too much because I don’t completely feel part of LM yet.
When I was in high school... James Haglund English Teacher I really enjoyed high school, gave almost zero thought to where I was going to college after I’d decided that the Air Force Academy was out of the picture, and I don’t remember my friends talking about it either. It wasn’t listed in the school paper, I don’t remember anyone crying about college, and I’d never heard of early decision. My guidance counselor asked me why I wasn’t applying to University of Tennessee, the school of my home state. We had a homecoming parade. Each class got together at someone’s house the week leading up to the game to build a float. We had frequent and raucous pep rallies and football was under the lights on Friday. The two years that our team went to the state playoffs, we rode behind the team and the cheerleaders in coach buses with a police escort. There were band geeks and jocks and cheerleaders and nerds and people that weren’t so easily labeled. There wasn’t a pool, but we told the freshman that there was one on the second floor. There wasn’t a second floor. Was there? Prom was in the gym and the junior class rebuilt the place so that it was unrecognizable. They build an entryway with a staircase, a stage, and a tunnel from the outside door into the gym so it felt different. My high school was not as old as LM (it opened in 1982) but it was about the same size. We complained about a lot of the same things. Some classes were hard, some weren’t so hard. Audible flatulence made people laugh. Kids wanted to be liked by other kids; in many ways we were the same. We lacked the overwhelming focus on the next step and this made a surprisingly big difference. Not everyone at LM is caught up in this, but as a school, as an institution, it is hard to ignore the preponderance of evidence
suggesting that this is the only thing “we” really care about. I didn’t know that I was supposed to take SAT subject tests or that it wasn’t recommended to take non-honors math my senior year (but it sure did make the year more fun). I did know that Knox West (our opponent in the first round of the playoffs) ran a triple veer and by the time our defensive coordinator had adjusted to it, the deficit was too big for our run-heavy offense to score enough to come back. I didn’t know that there was such a thing as early decision or worry about who was applying where, but I did know who was asking whom to prom and I worried that one of my best friends was going to ask the girl I was hoping would go with me. I didn’t know when acceptance letters came out (you had to wait until they came in the mail back then.) Instead of going to SAT prep classes, we were busy making noisemakers out of two-liter bottles and pennies and a little packing tape. I don’t remember people signing up for sports because it looks good on a transcript. If you didn’t want to play, you didn’t. Even if you did want to play, sometimes you didn’t, because there were cuts on most of the teams. I didn’t know where my friends were applying to college. I still don’t know where more than ten or twelve of them actually went. I’m sure a lot of them went to UT, but I only really knew one for sure because she was a cheerleader and I saw her on TV once. Maybe that’s what made high school different, why I think back on it so fondly, but maybe that’s just because I am looking back while everyone here seems to be looking forward.
Special Feature
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
The Gender divide Mary Pat Quinn ’18
Support at LM is unequal between boys’ and girls’ sports, and those who deny that there is a difference between interest in girls’ and boys’ sports have likely attended very little, if any, girls’ sports games. In some cases, there are so few people in the stands at girls’ games that you can barely tell if it is a game or practice until you see the jersey clad bodies. Many times, concern and frustration have been conveyed regarding low attendance at girls’ sports games; in fact, there have already been The Merionite articles written about this same topic, but nothing has changed. Last year, Bethany Eldridge ’18 wrote and included photographic evidence of the tremendous difference in the number of student fans between girls’ and boys’ basketball games. The only change I have seen after that piece was published is that now
instead of denying that there is a difference in number of fans, many people have resorted to excuses. More than once I have heard the offensive justification that boys’ sports are more entertaining. I ask those of you who claim this to come to a girls’ game and see if it’s really as boring as you presume it to be. There is a large misconception that the way to show spirit at LM is to dress up in crazy clothes or go to every single event. But spirit is simply support, and it can be shown in a number of different ways. You can say good luck in the hallways to a team that’s about to take on an opponent or express interest in PLAYERS, Science Olympiad, or the many other clubs and activities in which LM students participate. You can even post a good luck message in the Aces Nation Facebook group to any of the clubs that are go-
ing to compete or are trying to overcome a challenge, and that would all be a great demonstration of spirit. For the class of 2018: this is our last year at LM. Some of us are writing college essays showing how we’ve made a difference in our high school community. Answering this question does not require us to have changed every LM student’s life; you only need to impact a few people’s. Showing up can make a difference. Seeing someone dressed for a spirit event on any given school day and telling them that you will be rooting for them even if you can’t watch them perform or compete can make a difference for that person. Spirit is the sense of community gained from knowing that the people with whom you have spent hundreds of hours have your back. As Macklemore said, “I’ve got my city right behind me, and if I fall, they got me.”
school spirit over time A word from LM Alumni
English teacher Jeanne Mastriano reflects on
1968
Kobe Bryant “It seemed to me that then as now, people who care about basketball care about basketball; those who don’t, don’t attend. I had no clue how good Kobe was, really, till his senior year.”
Gigi Grimes “Being spirited was more just a facet of life at LM than “cool.” Virtually everyone took part in some way (athletics, theater, orchestra/band, etc.) and made their spirit within LM their own. When the team was struggling it was definitely challenging to get people to go to games. I wouldn’t say it diminished our school spirit as a whole, it just forced us Spiritheads to be more creative.”
All Special Feature graphics by Christopher de Santis ’20 and Sihan Wu ’19.
1996 2002
2014
Ellen Milgrim “In the fall of ’67 (my senior year), there was lots of school spirit, especially around boys’ sports. Games were always packed with cheering spectators. It was “cool” to be spirited, and lots of people (including me) were active in lots of school activities. However, by the spring of ’68, world events—the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King in April, 1968, and Robert Kennedy assassination in June, 1968—took precedence. For a number of students, school spirit began to take a back seat to what was happening in the world.”
Sean Capkin “School spirit felt pretty similar to the way I think students view it now. I think our students mean well and are positive about LM, but people have busy schedules and when they do get free time, they don’t necessarily want to spend it back at school. The boys’ basketball team would draw big crowds, and the boys’ lacrosse team had won a state championship the year before I started at LM so there was a lot of pride in that program, but school events or other sporting events would not draw big student crowds. I think dances were a little more popular then, but it still was not a huge crowd. I was not very involved in the “spirit culture” through student government, but I did like going to my friends’ games.”
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Favorite school event
Favorite cheer
"My favorite school events are the lunches during Radnor week because there is always something fun going on. Each grade tries to earn points and the activities we do are strictly for Radnor week. It truly brings every grade together and everyone is always so spirited.” -Alexa Berman
"Hey (grade level)... Hey what? Hey (grade level)... What?? Shake your booty!! *insert music,bootys begins to shake* -Eric Ruffin “Come on Aces score some points, it’s really very simple, put the ball into the net and we’ll go effing mental.” -Alexa Berman and Sophie Shaffer “I believe that we will we win. I - I, I believe I believe, I believe that - I believe that, I believe that we - I believe that we, I believe that we will win I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN, I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN, I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN..” -Zack Slogoff and Margarita Vinogradov
Get hype “I am SO excited to bring together the student body and support all the amazing clubs/sports/organizations this school has to offer. School spirit will ooze out of everyone!.” -Sophie Shaffer “I am most excited for Radnor week but also Maroon madness. I am hype to not only lead it but also to be part of the girls dance as well as the swim dance.” -Margarita Vinogradov “I’m excited to have the hypest Radnor game dawg pound of all time” -Zack Slogoff “I am excited to bring back the Dawg Pound and have a crazy year!.” -Alexa Berman
"I love basketball, but I’m too short to play it, so I really like Maroon Madness.” -Eric Ruffin “My favorite school event is Radnor week as a whole. I love the spirit days because it is one of few times everyone truly comes together to do something fun and crazy. I love dressing up that whole week and the anticipation leading up to Powderpuff.” -Margarita Vinogradov “Hallway Wars is one of the coolest things at LM: for the entire week the school has a completely different feel to it. ” -Sophie Shaffer
“I’m excited to be a spirit head and get the Dawg Pound lit, and have a lot of fun with the entire school"-Eric Ruffin
Melissa Bell ’20 Summer: the time of the year when students have the freedom to do as they please. Without the confines of school the options are endless. Many choose to spend it vacationing at the beach, others go to camp, and some take summer classes. However, some students do truly extraordinary things over the summer. Unknown to most of us, a few LMers spent their summer vacation travelling the world and partaking in truly amazing and innovative activities. These do-gooders are an important part of our community, helping to make a difference in the world. Three Lower Merion students: Daria Podell ’19, Gween Greene ’20, and Mitchell Huffman ’21 among others, decided to take the road less travelled. They took the less well-traveled road and took part in some extraordinary adventures. Junior Daria Podell went to Santo Domingo and Barahona in the Dominican Republic on a global health initiative. She provided medical assistance to citizens in a community where proper medical care was not always accessible and affordable. Podell took vitals, weighed patients, and prescribed medicine. She also took the time to talk to them, and gave them a full debriefing of their health. Podell decided to embark on this trip upon the realization that she wanted to pursue a career in a medical field, and most importantly, to make a change in the world and to help people who are less fortunate. Even though her adventure was just two weeks long, she still feels that it was an invaluable experience. Podell believes that her perspective on the material wealth in her own
life that many other people aren’t fortunate enough to have has shifted drastically. Her involvement in this program was utterly “emotional and heart lifting.” Overall, she proclaims that it was a positive experience and she would willingly do it all over again. Gwen Greene, additionally, did admirable work in Kauai, Hawaii. She went for two weeks, spending one week time doing service, and the other week exploring Hawaii for her own enjoyment. In addition to hiking, surfing, swimming, exploring towns, and relaxing, she did some remarkable community service. Greene helped restore Hawaii’s native culture by restoring the dwindling traditional shrubbery that used to serve as a plentiful natural resource for the island. She also worked as a camp counselor for the Boys and Girls Club and aided the Salvation Army by sorting clothes and toys. Finally, she assisted the homeless by meals. From this trip Greene realized that places that seem touristy and flourishing from afar can still have deeply impoverished areas. She vividly remembers the less than favorable conditions. The fact that children had to live with such a lifestyle particularly upset Greene. She said that she would love to do something like this again and plans on doing another service trip newxt year. Mitchell Huffman served as a representative of the freshman class in a unique service trip to a Native American reservation. He went to Crown Point, New Mexico to lend a hand to the Navajo people. His group helped rebuild one family’s house on the reservation. Although
Huffman admits the work him and his friends participated in could be difficult at times:- sanding, painting, and polishing the house for extended period of time- they still were able to find joy on the reservation. In addition to the service, the students had the experience of being immersed into the Navajo culture. They went on hikes in rocky deserts, ate traditional Native American dishes, and even had time to bond with some of the Navajo people. Huffman decided to take this opportunity because he thought it would be beneficial to be exposed to a culture he isn’t familiar. The key lessons Michell took away from of his journey to New Mexico were learning “how to serve others, how to take advantage of what you have, and how to commute by airplane without help.” Overall, he considers it a great experience, and would definitely do it again if the opportunity presented itself. Summer is a wonderful time to get involved and help make a difference. If your resources or time are limited, you don’t have to go far or do much to help. You could volunteer at your local hospital, garden, park, or even just in your very own neighborhood. Some good places to look in order to help our community could be your church or synagogue, programs students in this article participated in such as ARCC or Global Leadership Adventures, online, or even buildOn. Huffman, Greene, and Podell are great examples to follow on the path to building a better and brighter future!
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Stella Eisenberg ’20 Philadelphia became the first city in the United fest began only as a miniscule block party spread we come to support them, the people at the heart States to have an annual National Coming Out Day solely by word of mouth. As the festival grew of all the ridicule for simply being themselves. (NCOD) event in 1990, called the “National Cominto a world-renowned event, acceptance of the National Coming Out Day is, in its rawest form, ing Out Day Block Party.” The so-called Outfest has LGBT community grew right alongside it. The the day in which we celebrate the brave people been an event that is watched and anticipated by Outfest has encouraged tolerance among our nawho identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenmany in the nation. The idea for the Outfest was tion and helped members of the LGBT commuder, queer (LGBTQ) or as an ally. Coming out still born from the second march for gay and lesbian nity feel accepted for who they are. Freshman matters and takes incredible courage. When peoequality on October 11, 1987, in Washington, D.C. Isaiah Gaffeny even goes as far to say “Going to ple know someone who is LGBTQ, whether it is a and the idea has blossomed into a thrilling realiOutfest and [Philly] Pride for the first time, it felt family or a good friend, they are much more likely ty. The Outfest first began as a small block to come out to the Outfest and othparty on 12th and Pine St. It now rougher LGBTQ events and support them. ly covers an eight to ten block area, from One out of every two Americans Walnut Street to Spruce Street, and 12th has someone close to them who Street to 13th Street. The main stage is identifies as gay or lesbian. For on 13th and Locust Street, the location of transgender people, that number is the legendary rainbow crosswalks, with one in 10. With such a large numa food court at 12th and Spruce Street. ber among us, we can all be advoOutfest 2017 will take place on October cates, for every voice that speaks 8th, marking the 27th celebration of Naup against homophobia changes tional Coming Out Day. Everyone should minds and helps the equality of come out to the heart of the gayborhood LGBTQ people. David Rosenblum, for this incredibly fun event. This magical legal director of the Mazzoni Cenevent is the largest LGBTQ event in Philter says, “To see young people and adelphia, and the largest NCOD event in older people, coupled and not and the entire world! It consists of drag shows, racially diverse and [transgender] games, bar crawls, music, outdoor bars, people…It is pretty darn amazing dance parties, and shopping, much of to see this sort of connection,” “So which is hosted by local buinesses. Also, you see people with stars in their a main stage located on Locust hosts live eyes because they’re seeing the opentertainment of all sort all day long, portunities.” The Mazzoni Center, from drag queens to circus performers. which has provided services such Photo courtesy of Visit Philadelphia as HIV testing, legal help, and counHowever, what makes the Outfest attract over 30,000 people every year isn’t the en- Local Philadelphia residents celebrate at the Gay Pride block party seling, is just one of many supporttertainment, food, or even the artfully craft- in Midtown Village, which consisted of games, bar crawls, music, ive businesses that participated in ed rainbow flags, balloons, and banners; and shopping. the Outfest and in the LGBT comit’s the feeling of acceptance that weaves in munity. Through the years, and on and out of all aspects of the event. With all of the like home.” Even if just for one day, every sinNational Coming Out Day, Mazzoni employees daily hatred and judgment in our lives and online, gle human has the right to be exactly who they will be front and center, showing their support. the LGBT community deserves a day where they are, surrounded by the people they love, and the The Outfest is an event you don’t want to are honored. In fact, on this day in the heart of the Outfest provides this opportunity year after year. miss! Take this opportunity to change your comgayborhood, the people of this community are not The Outfest has become an enormous festival munity and your world for the better; and enjust accepted, they are celebrated and respected. spilling over with people of all different ethnicjoy some gayborhood fun at the same time! This may be difficult to fathom, but the Outities, sexual orientations, ages, and genders, and
The newest trend: politics Bethany Eldridge ’18 In elementary school, it was Silly Bandz, in middle school, Soffe shorts, and in high school—political clothing? LM has seen an increase in political clothing—clothing that promotes a political group, idea, or move-
A woman passionately advocates against Clinton by bearing a “Hillary for Prison” shirt. ment—since the presidential election last year. The LM boys basketball team, for instance, sold Aces Nation T-shirts that raised money for the American Civil Liberties Union in addition to sharing a message in support of refugees and Muslims facing conflict with recently enacted legislation. Even now, you can see LM students sporting these T-shirts or clothing with similar messages. This gear not only increased support for the men’s basketball program, but also bolstered discussion and recognition of issues prominent in our school and our country’s culture. Many other organizations raise money and recognition for their respective causes through selling political clothing online. The Human Rights Campaign and Black Lives Matter movement are
both examples of this. Also, during the presidential campaign last year, politically conservative gear such as the “anti-politically correct” T- shirts and “Make America Great Again” hats and pins raised money for Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party. Although politically liberal messages such as “Black Lives Matter” and “Love Trumps Hate” from Hillary Clinton’s campaign are prominent in our community, it is not solely liberal clothing that persists, since messages on the other end of the political spectrum can also be seen amongst our students, according to ninth grade English teacher Laura Stiebitz. Alexandre Crosbie ’18 notes, “I think political clothing is pretty hip at LM so a lot more people are comfortable wearing it.” In other places, showcasing strong political slogans on your T-shirt may not always be so readily ac-
Photo courtesy of Claire Ochroch ’18/Staff Claire Ochroch ’18 displays a feminist shirt that calls for “females of the future.”
cepted. As English teacher Laura Stiebitz puts it, you have to be ready for “civil, informed discourse” when wearing politically charged clothing. Students must be prepared to endure negative reactions when outwardly espousing ideas considered controversial or contentious. For many, these reactions are difficult to contain because of the perceived offensiveness of some of the messages that students wear. Many viewed Donald Trump’s campaign’s gear as insensitive to marginalized groups, promoting the ignorance of injustice and oppression. While LM is viewed mostly as a progressive-minded school, Nehama Dormont ’19 remarks that still, “she gets crap for” wearing her favorite feminist shirt. Dormont says that “people seem to be offended by her feminist and liberal views.” Expressing what you believe through clothing can break ceilings and preconceived notions in a culture by challenging and promoting different students’ beliefs. It does make sense, then, that a school as “collaboratively-spaced” as ours has a surplus of students who wear clothing with political messages. However, this does not mean LM was an oasis for this type of expression. Lunch and Learn last year was a prime time to witness banter or even organized debates by clubs like Amnesty International and AGSA (All Genders and Sexualities Allied). The effect of political clothing building off of last year’s election have monumental potential. As Stiebitz says, “[Political clothing] should promote civil, informed, tolerant discourse,” and if done correctly, it is a great way to showcase our beliefs. Hopefully, our student body will not take Stiebitz’s words lightly, and we can try to argue through the different lenses of our varied convictions, while maintaining respect for our fellow classmates.
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Mason Famiglio ’18 American Horror Story is a show that touches on the psychological concept racist. After watching the election, he continues to grind up cheese curls and of fear and connects it to the story through romance and crime. It has a differrub them on his face in an attempt to emulate Trump. Sarah Paulson and Evan ent storyline every season, but many Peters step into the roles of characters cast members appear in multiple seathat display reactions from the opposite sons to play different characters. Seasides of the spectrum, which provides son Seven of the show, titled American a view into the political divide that is Horror Story: Cult, entered the pubsplintering America. lic consciousness with such force that An initial viewing of this episode audience members quickly turned to may have made viewers suspicious social media to make sense of the situof its political intent. However, when ation. Season Seven has been the most one further investigates, the show recontroversial yet, which touches on veals much more about American polwhat some may call a real-life horror itics than just one biased man’s point story: the 2016 presidential election. of view, instead offering commentary Before it was revealed, creator Ryan on how the election has affected the Murphy was questioned about the American people. According to The theme of the season, saying that was Hollywood Reporter, executive progoing to “be a response to the election ducer Alexis Martin Woodall says, that we just went through.” He also “It’s more about what’s going on in said, “It is not about Trump or Clinton. our world around us, that idea of paraIt really is about the cult of personality noia.” He adds, “The world we’re livthat can rise in a divisive society—and ing in is ridiculous. So, I think that the I hope that people can figure that out.” show, in some ways, is reflecting the During the opening scene of the idea that nothing makes sense, and first episode, real footage of both presthe only way to get through it is to try idential nominees Donald Trump and and have some degree of humor about Hillary Clinton is shown. Ally Mayit, so it is not about Trump or Clinton. fair (Sarah Paulson) is revealed to be It really is about the cult of personala Clinton supporter when she watchity that can rise in a divisive society– es the election and has an emotional and I hope that people can figure that meltdown after Trump is announced out.” The show wants to expose how as president. Mayfair later confides after the chaotic election, people from Graphic by Christopher de Santis ’20 /Staff to her psychologist that after the elecboth sides are at each other’s throats. tion, she found that her old phobias have reentered her life worse than before. The remainder of the season is expected to continue the horThis gives the audience a bad impression of President Trump, as the proror and complete a complex story about politics and the fear it brings. tagonist of the show shows great fear and distaste for him, a hint at Murphy’s The show is raking in more viewers each week by putting up a mirown opinion. To further this conclusion of Murphy’s aversion for right-wing ror to our daily lives. The newest episodes available on the channel politics, the antagonist of the show, Kai Anderson (Evan Peters), is an aggresFX when they premier, and the season will be on Netflix soon after. sive Trump supporter who is portrayed as a raging homophobe and violent
Minori Cohan ’18 Arts & Entertainment Editor Say goodbye to the old Taylor Swift, an innocent teenager searching recent Saint Pablo tour. The arguably awkward and odd line, “The old Tayfor her white horse, pining for her Romeo, and dwelling over life’s simlor is dead,” seems to be reminiscent of her recorded call with West as well. ple complications and miscommuniObservant and zealous fans have cations. Say hello to the new Taylor: picked up on the more cryptic dea vengeful, darker, self-satirizing pertails from the video. For examsona first revealed in her new single, ple, Rolling Stone noted that the “Look What You Made Me Do.” The words “Et Tu Brute” can be seen days leading up to the song’s release written on the columns adjacent to back in August were filled with esher golden throne. Latin for “Even calating anticipation, and the single you, Brutus?”, this infamous line has since taken the world by storm. was uttered by Shakespeare’s JuThe timeline goes as follows: lius Caesar as he was stabbed to A week prior to the release, Swift death after recognizing his friend wiped all posts from her social media Brutus from among the assassins. accounts, as well as her official webDespite making no comments site. A few days later, she had posted since the release of her song, Swift a series of clips of a snake, referencing will be dropping the rest of Reputapast feuds with celebrities Kanye West, tion on November 10. It appears that Katy Perry, Calvin Harris, and Kim she won’t need to work too much Kardashian. Less than a week later on for publicity—the chatter and buzz August 25, “Look What You Made Me surrounding the album generates Do” was released as the debut song of enough promotion already. Even Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation. though the album has yet to be reThe single instantly shattered numerleased, and concert tour dates are ous records, including the most Spotifar from being announced, the Unitfy streams and YouTube views in a 24 ed Postal Service is already encourhour period by any artist. It generated a aging fans to take pictures of trucks view count of 43.2 million on YouTube and post images on Twitter with a in that span of time, easily breaking hashtag for an “improved opportunithe previous record of 27 million views ty” to buy tickets. Other companies, on Adele’s video for “Hello” in 2015. such as Ticketmaster, are offering The music video stirred controversy, a service where fans can be put on a when fans immediately began analyzing wait list to purchase tickets. They can Graphic by Christopher de Santis ’20 /Staff Swift’s hidden messages. Rolling Stone secure priority through various methsubsequently published an article atods, including purchasing merchanAfter a Snapchat of Taylor Swift filmed by Kim Kardashian tempting to decipher some of the meandise and pre-ordering Reputation. surfaced of her agreeing to the lyrics of Kanye’s song “Faings by connecting certain lyrics or vidIf you are interested in what they mous,” many called her a snake because she lied. eo captures to Swift’s past history of bad made her do or if you are ready for it, blood. “I don’t like your tilted stage,” one of the first lines of the song, is these are just a few ways to increase your chances of obtaining concert tickthought to be a direct reference to Kanye West’s notable tilted stage on his ets in the future. Who knows, you may be on the list in red and underlined!
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Lonnie Davis ’19
Sarah Cohen ’18
What do you do at LM related to the arts? I am in the Orchestra, The Jazz Band, The Jazz Combo, Ace the Ram Records, and the Drum Line.
tion, arrangement, and orchestration for jazz, rock, pop, and classical music, as well as recording, engineering, and producing my own and other’s music.
What is the best thing about being involved with music? The best thing about being involved in music is the people you meet and interact with. This is especially true when they are better at their instruments than you because you can learn a lot from them.
How have music/the arts impacted your life outside of the music classroom? Music has been an awesome way for me to meet people and find groups that I really enjoy being a part of. Personally, I have met most of my friends through music and friends of musicians, which Do you plan on continuing to has worked out great for me so far! play/sing in college/the future? I plan to continue with music forever, potentially majoring in Jazz Composition or Music Education for my undergraduate degree. What is your favorite memory related to the arts/music? My favorite memory involving music is touring Italy with the LM Jazz Combo/LM Jazz Band. It was an amazing trip with amazing people. Do you participate in any outside of school music or arts related activities? If so, what? Yes, I am with Settlement Music School for Jazz, I take private lessons outside of Settlement, and I lead two music groups: one rock, one jazz. I also spend a good chunk of time with composi-
Photo courtesy of Lonnie Davis ’19 If you were trapped on a desert island and could only bring five things, what would you bring? 1. Water, 2. Trader Joe’s, 3. A Piano, 4. Sibelius, 5. A bunch of money so I can buy things at Trader Joe’s.
What do you do at LM related to the arts? I am involved in PLAYERS and Orchestra.
Noises Off. This was the show where I really fell in love with set design. I worked with an awesome senior, and even though the set was incredibly complicated (two stories and rotating), it was worth all of the work because it pushed me to my boundaries and allowed me to work very creatively.
What is the best thing about participating in your art form(s)? The best thing about participating in PLAYERS is that it has opened me up to all aspects of theater. Although I have never acted on stage, I have If you were trapped on a desert participated on three different crews. island and could only bring five things, what would you bring? What is your role in PLAYERS A tarp for shelter, a box of waterproof and what is your favorite thing matches to make a fire, the Harry Potter about it? I am the President of PLAY- series for entertainment, a water purifier ERS, which deals with overseeing the to make my water safe, and a hammock. organization to make sure that everything runs smoothly. In the past, I have set designed three times (Noises Off, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Addams Family), and this was probably my favorite position. As set designer, I feel that I can be very creative, as the set adds so much to the story of a show, even if it isn’t the first thing that the audience picks up on. Who is your biggest inspiration? Pam Halpert What is your favorite memory related to the arts/music? My favorite memory related to PLAYERS was working as assistant set designer for Photo by Claire Ochroch ’18/ Staff
PRIMETIME’S UNSUNG HERO Kathy Wei ’19 “Stop—put your hands where I can see them and don’t move.” In a world that has become increasingly wary of its police officers, these words can send a chill down your spine. However, there is nothing to fear about the officers of the New York Police Department’s 99th precinct on FOX’s hit show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The award-winning show captures your heart with its witty sense of humor, relatable characters, and unique ability to portray several characters of minority groups without falling into the trap of overused stereotypes. What makes Brooklyn Nine-Nine so special is that it boasts one of the most diverse casts on current television. The cast includes two Latina women and two black men, who nonetheless play characters in the highest positions of the precinct. The show successfully avoids the “token minority” trend that plagues most “diverse” casts on television now. In fact, characters of the same ethnic background could not be any more different from one another. Stephanie Beatriz plays Detective Rosa Diaz, the tough, mysterious heroine with an affinity for aggression. Melissa Fumero plays Detective Amy Santiago, a pantsuit-wearing nerd obsessed with earning her captain’s approval and outperforming the competition. Terry Crews’s character, Sergeant Terry Jeffords, is the incredibly muscular, soft-hearted older brother of the precinct who loves and cares for his wife and three daughters dearly. He projects the same near-paternal affection on his co-workers, is always willing to help out his fellow police officers, and gives meaningful advice. Andre Braugher stars as the stoic, no-nonsense Captain Raymond Holt, who is strict in his dry and boring ways. The rest of the cast includes Andy Samberg as Detective Jake Peralta, a notoriously messy, juvenile, all-American goofball; Joe Lo Truglio as Jake’s best friend, Detective Charles Boyle, a strange but endearing man who loves with his whole heart; Chelsea Peretti as Jake’s childhood friend Gina Linetti, an outwardly
self-centered woman who hides a heart of gold; and Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller as Detectives Michael Hitchcock and Norman Scully, respectively, whose prolonged careers at the precinct are often questioned due to their continuous mishaps. Brooklyn Nine-Nine portrays its extensive cast of different cultural backgrounds with casual, realistic human characterization that breaks stereotypes like “the flamboyant homosexual” or “the spicy Latina.” In addition to race, it also discusses sexuality through Holt and his relationship with his husband, Professor Kevin Cozner, played by Marc Evan Jackson. So far, Holt and Cozner are the only prominent homosexual characters, but there have been recent rumors regarding giving Diaz a female romantic interest, a movement supported by Beatriz, who identifies as bisexual. The show builds meaningful relationships between the vastly different characters, such as the strong and supportive platonic friendship between Diaz and Peralta and the loving, slow-burn interracial relationship between Santiago and Peralta. In the real world, the NYPD is an iconic staple of New York City. However, with that constant spotlight comes controversy surrounding police brutality, racial profiling, and corruption. This is a stark contrast from their hilarious fictional counterparts who can be seen as fumbling and flawed, but nevertheless, they always stay true to their morals and care for all of the citizens and the city of New York. The show is not afraid of confronting issues such as police brutality, which was explored in the Season four episode “Moo-Moo.” It is possibly one of the most devastating episodes, not because of a blatantly depicted tragedy, but because it provided a simple understanding of the reality of racial profiling. To those who had not been able to understand the issue before due to inexperience with and detachment from the issue, this episode provided the right insight for an important wake-up call. The story begins with Jeffords looking for his daughter’s favorite toy on the
sidewalk outside his house when he is stopped by a white police officer, Officer Maldack, who pulls a gun on him before he can explain the situation. When the officer finally listens, he only apologizes for the incident because Jeffords was a high-ranking police officer. Maldack believes—and outright says—that if Jeffords were an ordinary citizen, what he did would be the correct response. He responds to Jefford’s request for apology, “I’m not apologizing for doing my job.” Jeffords wants to report the officer to the NYPD authorities. However, Holt encourages him not to report the officer due to his own experience as a publicly gay black officer who rose through the ranks by his perseverance throughout decades of harsh discrimination. Throughout all of this, Peralta and Santiago are tasked with taking care of Jefford’s young children, which proves to be extremely difficult as the girls ask why their father got in trouble. Watching the couple figure out a way to explain racial profiling to the toddlers sends a sobering message to the audience, showing millions of viewers what news stations cannot. For once, we are able to experience the emotions and reactions of being forced to go through these trials and tribulations, and we come out at the end of the episode with a deeper, personal understanding of issues that the news stations can only scratch the surface of. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is what the rest of the entertainment industry should strive to be: inclusive and illustrative with the perfect balance of side-splitting humor and tough but important messages. The show creates several realistically complex relationships between its diverse characters, but the most important one is the relationship between the detectives and the audience. In a world that is mistrustful of its law enforcement, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is not only an example for the entertainment industry, but for all police officers too. Like Peralta says, “That’s how we do it in the Nine-Nine, sir. Catch bad guys and look good doing it.”
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Broadway comes to Philadelphia Analiese Gale ’18 The dark stage lightens with impressive, green lights as the red curtains part. My first broadway show, Finding Neverland, was a life changing experience. If a Broadway show gains enough popularity, it can be sent on tour for people across the country to see. The tour provides an opportunity for people to view shows without having to travel to New York City. Beginning this year, the 201718 season of Broadway in Philadelphia will include twelve productions that have won a combined total of 31 Tony Awards. This upcoming season will include various shows that are fun for and inclusive of all ages. The first show to be featured will be the aformentioned Finding Neverland, a show about the origins of the story Peter Pan. This show explores serious issues, such as death, but has lighthearted aspects, too. Next, School of Rock will tour in Philly. This musical tells the story of a forgotten rock singer who pretends to be a substitute teacher in a prep school, who starts a band with his students, and prepares them for the Battle of the Bands contest. After School of Rock, the iconic The Sound of Music is in town! The Sound of Music is an exciting story about a family before and during World War II. Another well-acclaimed musical coming to Philly is Disney’s Aladdin, a family-friendly classic. Lastly, Stomp! is a show put on by an amazing percussion group that is less like a play and more like a concert. It utilizes percussion, movement, and comedy to make a really unique production. There are also a few musicals coming to Philadelphia that are slightly more mature. The musical Waitress deals with domestic abuse and an unexpected pregnancy, but it still provides a good
Mom Jeans Simply saying “Mom jeans are so hot right now” would be an understatement. Mom jeans are only steps away from taking over the world. These pants are great because you can actually breathe in them and they look flattering on almost anyone. They can be matched with almost anything, including loose shirts, tank tops, bodysuits, crop tops, and just about anything under the sun. To put it simply, mom jeans look good with pretty much everything. However, they are most commonly worn with shirts bigger in size tucked in the jeans with a thick belt. Another item that also falls under this section is high waisted jeans. High waisted jeans aren’t exactly mom jeans, since they tend to be tighter, but they are also an amazing bottom to pair with any top that you already own.
laugh and an unexpected romance between the main character and an unexpected love interest. The following show, Something Rotten, takes place during the Renaissance era and features William Shakespeare. The musical focuses on the Bottom Brothers, who are on their journey to create the first musical in history, amidst charming romances and alluring feuds. The next show to Philly, On Your Feet!, is an interactive show about the 26-time Grammy winning couple, the Estefans, a Cuban-American pair of musicians from the early 2000s. The 2017-18 season will also include shows that are more intellectual than the previously listed ones. Broadway in Philly will take a more serious route by including The Color Purple, the powerful and touching story of a young African-American woman in the South during the mid-twentieth century. The main character, Celie, attempts to protect herself and her sister from their abusive father. Kinky Boots will be touring in Philadelphia as well! Kinky Boots is about an unexpected duo that teams up to make stilettos for cross-dressing and transgender individuals and highlights the struggles of people who are simply different than those who we are normally exposed to. Then, Phantom of the Opera, a classic show that premiered in 1986, will also play. This show revolves around a beautiful woman who becomes intrigued and almost obsessed with a mysterious Graphic by Amy Xi ’19 man. Finally, Les Misérables set during the June Rebellion in Paris in the 1820s, follows the tragic story of an ex-convict. If none of the shows mentioned seem like the right fit for you, you could always wait for Hamilton to come to Philadelphia next year!
Old is The New Gold Inayah Johnson ’19
It seems as if almost every single article of clothing that was deemed the height of fashion back in the ’80s and ’90s are making a bold return. Almost all of them are school-appropriate and great for the autumn season. From customized denim jackets to velvet chokers, get ready for a fashionable journey through the good old days when almost everything related to clothing was way more stylish and creative. Hopefully you’ll learn a few new tips and maybe even gain some inspiration for new outfits to rock this season. Fashion is an ever-changing phenomenon. The clothes we currently think are “in” most likely won’t be in the next few years, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring it back. In fact, it will make its way back around again and again and, well, again. So why not sprinkle a little 80s and 90s into your outfits every now and then?
Chokers When chokers were first invented around the 1800s, they were initially used by women to protect their necks. Red chokers were worn during the French Revolution in order to to commemorate the victims who were guillotined during the Reign of Terror. In this day and age, chokers can be used in any outfit. Additionally, they come in many different styles, colors, and materials. There are chokers made of leather, velvet, lace, and there are even some that resemble dog collars. Overall, they are a fun accessory that is capable of spicing up any ensemble.
Customized Denim Jackets These are definitely one of my favorite items because denim jackets are comfy and chic at the same time. My customized denim jacket is pretty much a staple piece for me. Mine has many patches including the typical kissy face emoji, lips, and sayings like “Love you, love you not.” Along with those patches, there are also roses embroidered into the back. As you can tell, this item of clothing is pretty adjustable, considering that you can have just about anything on it. Anyone can quickly throw on their personalized jacket with a regular pair of jeans and their outfit is quickly more unique and fashionable.
Fun Tip: Have any pairs of jeans that don’t quite touch your ankles (also known as highwater jeans)? Quickly roll them up and they are highwater jeans no more.
Fun Tip: Oversized denim jackets are quite easy to find in many thrift stores for relatively cheap prices. Pick one up and buy some patches, which are sold in various stores such as Forever21 and Urban Outfitters or craft stores like Michaels or Joann. chael’s and make it distinctively yours. chael’s and make it distinctively yours.
Jumpers
Flannels
There are so many things to love about jumpers. For those of you who don’t know what jumpers are, they’re basically collarless dresses (normally looser) and are meant to be worn over shirts or blouses. You have so many options when it comes to these dresses. They are made in many different colors, materials, and lengths and most have suspenders. They are extremely stylish and a modern take on the ’90s look.
Flannels were originally used to keep farmers safe from harsh weather while at work during the seventeenth century, but they have now made their way into many of our closets. Usually worn tied around the waist, buttoned up or unbuttoned, they are an incredibly versatile clothing item to own. These photos were taken in 1993 (L) and 1995 (R), and show how fashion is similar to now. Both outfits are trendy, with pieces such as flannel and a chocker.
Fun Tip: Red flannels look AMAZING with leather jackets.
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Sports
October 9, 2017
The
Girls’ soccer making strides Isabella Peterson ’19
In past years, the LM girls’ soccer team has demonstrated a solid ranking in the Central League, however, not as outstanding as some might hope. Last year, with a 9-8-1 record, the girls had been
Photo courtesy of The Enchridion Masotti dribbles through the defense on her way to the net.
able to achieve victories against wellknown teams such as Springfield, Ridley, Plymouth Whitemarsh, and Pennwood. This year, the team is striving for wins against teams like Strath Haven, Garnet Valley, Conestoga, and Harriton, which has proved challenging in past years. When asked about the team’s goals for this year, Coach Kevin Ries explained, “The goal for this year’s team is to return LM girls soccer to the District One playoffs. They have reached it for ten straight years, but have missed out the last four.” By welcoming eight new freshmen Ella Braunfeld, Lily Garton, Laura Getselman, Maya Masotti, Bridget McCann, Ryan Lynch, Hannah Shalaby, and Ellie Ward, Coach Ries believes that this young group can work together to achieve the goal of returning to the playoffs. Along with seniors Alexa Berman, Jennifer Dean, Molly Kaiser, Lindsey Palish, Sophie Riverso, Kaitlin Vagnoni, and Marli Weisman, who are setting high standards for their teammates, the LM girls’ soccer team is optimistic as it continues to compete this fall.
Water polo comes to LM Caleb Shack ’19
For the first time in LM history, water polo is being introduced to the student body and will be hosted in our very own natatorium! It began October 5 and will continue until the end of this month—October 27—as this is a preliminary stage for the sport. Based on the success of these next four weeks, water polo may be able to have a longer season and eventually evolve into a school sport if enough interest is demonstrated. Our goal during this time is to lay a foundation for the sport for those who want to play but do not know how as well as to recruit already proficient water polo players to help us start the team. The prac-
tice requirements thus far are very lenient, and we are accepting new recruits during the season for those who did not sign up but are still interested in joining. Mr. Walsh of the art department, who is very well-acquainted with the sport and who has played on the Villanova club team, is the coach. These next four weeks will provide an excellent opportunity to gain ability in the pool, for water polo is a lot different than swimming and will pose a challenge for even the most talented of our record-holding swim champs. Looking ahead, I am excited to see what level we, LM, can take this sport to— the goal: instated as an LM PIAA sport.
Boys’ soccer starts strong Zach Drapkin ’18
The LM boys’ soccer is on a re- much like that team they “want to be.” demption campaign. After losing to Nine wins and a loss, and 5-0 in the Conestoga in last season’s final match, Central League, LM has once again the Aces have had a couple of goals in been one of the area’s best programs. mind, neither of which includes avengHaving allowed just four goals in ing their no longer undefeated record ten games compared to the 22 they’ve or taking down a close rival. The objec- scored, the Aces are firing on all cylintives this year are the same as they’ve ders as Conestoga and the playoffs apalways been. proach. Not “Win the only has the league and defense and win states, goalkeeping those are our been airtight, two goals,” but unlike senior Max last season, Shapiro the attack said. “We has showed don’t care its prowess about ‘Stoas well, with ga.” There juniors Harremains a rison Bloch striking difand Wyatt Photo courtesy of LM Boys’ Soccer Joseph tallyference, however, between Joseph prepares to strike the ball with a ing seven and this cam- powerful right foot. four goals, repaign and the spectively. “ last. Whereas the Aces flirted with an Harrison has scored some goals. Wyunbeaten record throughout last sea- att Joseph has scored some goals. Max son, there is no such possibility this Shapiro has done well. Kirk Robinson season not after LM picked up a 2-0 loss has done big time in the middle with at Penn Wood four games in. The Aces Isaac Brainsky. Our two center backs, were caught off guard and unprepared Zach Goldstein and Ethan Blouin have in that defeat, but now that they’ve had played big and our goalkeeper Sebasthat losing experience and seen that tain Connelly has played big, coach they are not invincible, it might spell Nico Severini stated. If the team, which more trouble for the rest of the Central has stayed afloat despite players comLeague as the postseason approaches. ing and going from the active roster “That loss kind of helped us bounce due to injury, keeps up this high level back. I think we’re playing better as a of play through the final stretch of the team, playing harder,” Shapiro said. year, Conestoga had better watch out. “We know we can lose.” “We definite“We still have a couple more tough ly realized where we were as a team,” games ahead of us,” senior Sebastian senior Kirk Robinson added, “and now Connelly said. “We hope to win those we have some strides to make until we in order to get us a good spot in discan be the team that we want to be.” tricts and potentially contend for the Clearly, the Aces didn’t take too kindly Central League title.” “We’re winto losing: since the Penn Wood game, ning the Central League,” Robinson they haven’t lost since, and looked very made clear. “We’re coming for ‘Stoga.”
Philly Sports Preview Zach Simons ’18 Sports Editor
Birds taking flight As the cool autumn air breezes through Philadelphia, it is apparent that Eagles football is here. The Eagles 2017-2018 campaign has started off strong with a 3-1 record. This can be attributed to a revamped offense. Prior to the season, Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman wanted to give second-year quarterback Carson Wentz more pieces to help him grow. So far, he has done just that. Wide receivers Torrey Smith and Alshon Jeffery have completely altered the face of the Eagles’ wide receiving core from a mediocre group to a top-tier group that will keep defensive coordinators up at night trying to set a gameplan against them. Another intricate piece of this offense is the array of running backs, which include new addition LeGarrette Blount, along with Darren Sproles and Quarterback Carson Wentz trots Wendell Smallwood. This offense looks onto the field ready for action. to score consistently this season as they have already scored 30, 20, and 27, and 26 points in their first four games. additions to the defensive secondary Although the offense has made great like cornerback Ronald Darby, the Birds strides in the beginning of this season, hope to tame some of the talented wide it is the Eagles defense that has turned receivers in the NFC East and get back to heads so far. Their front seven is argu- their rightful spot as division champions. They are in for a difficult season ably one of the best in the league. This group is led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle as the rest of the division has also elFletcher Cox. The sky’s the limit for this evated their game from a season ago group as they are youthful, talented and but with the talent this team possessready to take the league by storm. With es there is very little doubt the Ea-
Trusting the process Another team that the city of Philadelphia is expecting to change drastically this year is the 76ers. As many people already know, the past few years have for this franchise been disgraceful. But as this year inches closer and closer to starting there is a new beacon of hope for this city and it comes in the form of three first round picks: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz. This trio of talented young players are looking to transform this team to a championship contending team. The three have never played together in an actual NBA game yet so there is even more excitement. Many want to see the return of Embiid after injuries cut his All-Star level rookie season short. In addition, after being drafted as the number one overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Ben Simmons looks to show his ball handling skills that made him the top pick. The number one pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, Fultz, is also expecting an enormous season. When asked how he thinks this season will fare he said, “We’re going to be in the playoffs this year.” That type of confidence has been missing from the Sixers locker room for the past few years. The Sixers have a great group of current role players including Jahlil Okahor, T.J. McConnell, and Robert Covington. In addition to these play-
ers, the Sixers acquired J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson in the offseason, who were brought to balance the youth with experience. The team is trending in a positive direction and with lofty goals for this team, many are starting to “trust the process” and believe once again that basketball in Philadelphia is a force to be reckoned with.
Joel Embiid pumps up the home town Philly crowd at the Wells Fargo Center after a great play.
Sports
October 9, 2017
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The Merionite
Dedication to improvement Shuli Weinstein ’18
Harrison Klevan ’18
Waking up for the first day of school first few games and added areas in which must have felt easy for the girls’ field hock- the girls could improve: “We’ve done reey team after their many 6:00 a.m. pre- ally well uniting as a team. However, we season practices throughout late August. need to work on staying intense through Just like many other fall sports at LM, all sixty minutes of the game. We have field hockey devoted hours to preparing really great plays but we need to stay for their upcoming season through ardu- consistent throughout the whole game.” ous preseason workouts. Their preseaOn September 12, the team’s luck son consisted of two practices everyday: changed. LM girls’ field hockey crushed one at the crack of dawn and the other Upper Darby with a 5-0 win. This inijust before the sweltering summer days tial confidence booster carried the girls’ came to a close. through their Before school game against officially began, Strath Havthe field hocken, which in ey team had alturn resulted ready spent hours in a 1-0 win. bonding, and even These wins not scrimmaged a loonly boosted cal school. Captain the girls’ conSophie Shaffer ’18 fidence but elaborated on the also showed cohesiveness of them that their all members of the continuous efteam, saying, “LM fort and team field hockey is one bonding was of the greatest Photo courtesy of Euna Carpenter ’19 paying off. sports at LM. The Catherine McFarland ’18 gets into posiA dedicatunity of the team tion, preparing for a thunderous strike ed group of can be felt through on the ball. seniors have everyone, and stepped up to underclassmen can rely on the upper- help each player improve upon their classmen for help in almost anything.” deficiencies that the coaches have obPreparing these talented players for the served throughout the first few games. 2017 season are three knowledgeable and Shaffer shared some insight regarding supportive coaches. Head coach Danielle senior leadership and team goals. “The Parker played Division II field hockey at team has a common goal to grow and Millersville University, assistant coach show the Central League the powerhouse Kylie McDevitt played Division III we've become in the last two years. Our field hockey at Cabrini University, coaches put a lot of emphasis on senior and the JV and assistant coach Callie leadership saying it can make or break Fisher played Division III field a team.” During their high school years, hockey at the University of Rochester. the seniors’ energy and passion has nevFor their first three games of the sea- er wavered. The upperclassmen have son, the field hockey team played enthusi- and will continue to show their progresastically against Avon Grove, Haverford, sion as a unit throughout the season. and Plymouth Whitemarsh. While the Fueled by the drive of the senior girls did not walk away with a win, their leaders, it is clear that the field hockey various fluid and direct plays showed as team will continue working to impromising signs for the seasons pro- prove some of their weaknesses and gression. Captain Katie Berg ’18 shared strengthen their existing talents in orsome of the team’s successes from their der to achieve a successful season.
Freshman Sage O’Connor What sport(s) do you play? Field Hockey and Lacrosse What is your favorite fall activity? I love to go hiking with my family and dogs. If you could have dinner with someone dead or alive, who would it be? It would be with my grandparents because they are very supportive of me and give great advice. What is your spirit animal? My spirit animal would be a cat.
Football: a team in the making
Sophomore Jon Goldstein What sport(s) do you play? Football and Track What is your favorite fall activity? Buying parking passes for $400 If you could have dinner with someone dead or alive, who would it be? Carson Wentz What is your spirit animal? Randy Cheloha
Photo courtesy of Ben Rubin ’18 Wheeler and Rubin make a huge defense stop against a Chichester running back. With four games in the books for the 2017 LM football season, the Aces check in at one win and three losses. Although their record may not be the greatest, they have played four hard-fought games and have shown an immense improvement from an injury-ridden 2016 campaign. There has been a lot of change this season. The team, with help from the coaching staff, has inserted new offensive and defensive schemes as well as new leader at the helm from a season ago. Senior Marek D’Alonzo has been stellar in his play as quarterback with junior Matt O’Connor out due to an injury. D’Alonzo has thrown seven touchdowns and only three interceptions on the season. However, D’Alonzo is not doing so alone. He is surrounded by senior running back Elijah Smith, wide receivers Deion Davis ’18, Jalen Goodman ’19 and Jaden Helton ’19. D’Alonzo says that he has “the best receiving core in the Central League.” Specifically, Davis has been exceptional in his three games of play. Davis, a Division I recruit who has shown major growth from last season, is “unguardable,” according to D’Alonzo, and is the first target on almost every passing play. As far as the defense is concerned,
Junior Harrison Bloch
they have also showed improvement. The defense is led by seniors Ben Rubin, Tahj Wheeler, and Davis, with Davis being one of many players who plays both sides of the field. Unfortunately, Rubin, who is the anchor of the defense as middle linebacker, is missing time due to a nagging knee injury. He is hoping to return in time for big league games against rivals Harriton and Radnor. Rubin, a four year varsity player, believes that experience is a major factor in the lack of success this season. “I think experience is a huge factor in competitive sports,” says Rubin, “and we are working to gain experience playing alongside each other at the varsity level.” The main goal for this season is to make a run at the District 1 playoffs. They will need between two and three additional wins in order to have a chance at that goal which would be a first under Head Coach Brian Scopelliti. With six games remaining, the Bulldogs look forward to key matchups against teams in the Central League including the aformentioned Harriton and Radnor.
Photo courtesy of Ben Rubin ’18 The team lines up to shake hands after a victory over Delaware Country Springfield. This was the Aces’ first win of the 2017-18 season.
Senior Marie Hamilton
What sport(s) do you play? What sport(s) do you play? Volleyball Soccer What is your favorite fall activity? What is your favorite fall activity? Going to Linvilla Orchards Representing LM on the soccer team. If you could have dinner with someIf you could have dinner with someone dead or alive, who would it be? one dead or alive, who would it be? Obama because I think having a converLionel Messi because he is the best sation with him would be very interesting. footballer on the planet. What is one tip you would use for your What is one tip you would use for your school survival guide? school survival guide? Make a good first impression with your Go to as many school activities as you can. teachers. You can get away with stuff if they You don’t want to feel like you missed out like you. on those experiences.
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Sports
October 9, 2017
The Merionite
Photo courtesy of the Enchiridion
“For our first invitational, we traveled out to Hershey, one of the toughest courses in the state. With the heat index in the mid-to-high nineties, our main goal was to finish strong and be standing at the finish line. This goes along with our motto: run fast and finish faster.” - Boys’ Cross Country Team
Photo courtesy of Michelle Morgentstern ’19
“My favorite moment so far this season was our first meet. It was amazing to get to see so many new faces finishing their first LMXC race. There were some funny expressions too, which of course is how you know that everyone was pushing as hard as they could.” - Annabelle Van Rawley ’18, Girls’ Cross Country
Photo courtesy of the Enchiridion
Photo courtesy of the Enchiridion
“LMVB’s best moment so far was definitely our win against West Chester Henderson, a team we were ‘supposed to lose to.’ Varsity VB is best of five sets and we ended up playing all five sets, winning the last one 1512. The energy on and off the court during that fifth game was absolutely indescribable; JV girls were cheering, coaches were cheering, varsity players were jumping up and down. In that moment, we were all one big family. And that win, against that team we should’ve lost to, has driven us to great success this season.” - Captain Marie Hamilton ’18, Girls’ Volleyball
“This year, the dynamic of the tennis team changed completely. We lost nine seniors and our coach retired. As seniors, Tiffany, Chloe, and I didn’t know what to expect for the upcoming season. Luckily, the new coach, Tracy Tooke, has really risen to the occasion. Bringing in a completely new energy, Coach Tooke has really begun to turn the Girls’ Tennis program around. We have had some great wins this season and are on track to hopefully make District playoffs. Although this may not qualify as a ‘moment,’ we are all extremely happy with the new coaching.” - Captain Kloe Rosenberg ’18, Girls’ Tennis
Editors Picks Zach Picks
Julian Picks
Zack Picks
LM Boys’ Soccer vs. Conestoga October 27 @ 7 p.m.
Cross Country Central League Champs @ Rose Tree Media Park October 14 @ 2 p.m.
LM Football @ Harriton October 27 @ 7 p.m.
The Aces are looking to get revenge after an overtime loss last year. With the offensive star power that the Aces possess, it should be a fun home game to watch.
The boys and girls are looking to capture the Central League Championship, with the boys going for their third straight.
With many of their injured players returning, LM looks capture a much needed win as they continue on their playoff hunt.