Main Street Winter 2022 - Edition 8

EDITION NO. 8

MAIN

WINTER 2022

STREET

THE BEMENT SCHOOL STUDENT MAGAZINE

BEMENT INSIGHTS

COVID SAFETY TIPS

SUBMISSIONS

A new, fresh look into Bement's student life

Tips from our team on how to avoid infection

Lots of artwork from our eighth graders and winners of the Scholastic Arts and Writing contest

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor's Note

02

Bement Insights

03

Ninth Grade Self-Portrait Projects

05

Boarding Through Winter

07

Covid Safety Tips

16

The Halo Effect

17

Submissions

19

Winners of the Scholastic Awards

22

Contributors

23

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Sports at Bement

08

Student Council

14

Mini-term

15

Editor's Note From athletics to academics, from classrooms to skiing resorts, this is a flashback to this past wonderful winter term.

This special year, with Covid alongside, students have experienced many actions. As the class blocks were shifted, more activities are provided including downhill skiing, circus, and horseback riding. These special events provided students a mixture of academic and leisure, also offering students the convenience to socialize or try something new to them. There are also many other amazing events happening thanks to our faculty members. With that being said, flip the pages and enjoy the memories from Bement's winter term.

GORDON '22 Editor-in-Chief

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Bement Sports Awards

MVPs

Leadership Awards

Most Improved Awards

Squash: Neo '25

Squash: Flora '23 Squash: Gordon '22

Ski Team: Wylie '24, Ying-Kay '23

Ski Team: Sophie '25, Finn '24

Ski Team: Campbell '22, Ying-Kay '23, Hayden '24

Swimming: Adriana '25

Swimming: Miyu '22

Swimming: Josie '23 Girls Basketball: Maya '23

Girls Basketball: Sophia Girls Basketball: Ella '24 '25 Boys Varsity Basketball: Boys Varsity Basketball: Richard '23 Boys Varsity Basketball: Luka '22 Henry '23 Boys JV Basketball: Boys JV Basketball: Ethan '24, Gabriel '25 Boys JV Basketball: Ezra Amitav '24 '24 Most Popular Lunch Dishes (from 60 upper school students)

Lunches

Number of votes

Details

Popcorn (7), Tenders (6), Patties (5),

Chicken

30

Nuggets (4), Coconut Curry (4), Wings (2) Sweet & Sour (1), Broccoli (1)

Mac & Cheese

14

X

Pizza

11

X

Potato

10

Baked (8), Mashed (2)

Famous Bowl

9

X

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Insights Sports News

Swimming: Josie '23 breaks eight Bement records.

Ski Team: Bement places 6th for boys and 3rd for girls overall in the 2022 New England Prep School Class C Alpine Ski Championships.

Squash: Flora '23 wins seven consecutive matches, challenging neighboring schools.

Boys Varsity Basketball: Richard '23 scores a total of 100 points this season, leading a victory against The Williston Northampton School, a historically strong opponent.

Boys JV Basketball: Gabriel '25 leads the team with 16 points this season.

Girls Basketball: Maya '24 leads the team to victory against Stoneleigh Burnham School and the Hartsbrook School.

How many students in Band/Chorus/Strings ?

band

chorus

strings

48 20 32 (excluding 6th grade)

Contact us at magazine@bement.org to let us know what you want to know about student life at Bement!

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Ninth Grade SelfPortrait Projects

This project provided everyone a chance to reflect on themselves and illustrate through the form of art. There are many insights and challenges throughout the process, but each of the ninth-graders has persevered and made their own piece that represents their personal identity.

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-Gordon '22

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Boarding Through the Winter -Gordon '22 Situated in Western Mass., each year Bement experiences a substantial amount of snowfall. This year is not an exception. While enjoying nature's masterpiece filled with the color white, students are occupied with many events provided all centered around snow. One of the major activities over the winter for boarding students is skiing. Most of the boarders take this as an opportunity to learn what they have never done before.

Throughout the term, many memorable experiences were made up at Berkshire East or Bousquet. While skiing with friends, some have challenged themselves to do something more advanced, taking their skills onto another level. For those who are less confident, Bement provides an opportunity for lessons up at Bousquet. It is comparably a smaller mountain compared to Berkshire East, but for our beginners, it is just right for them to start. As for boarding students who are not skiing, Bement also provides a lot of other options, each week different than the last.

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Sports at Bement After last year's temporary restrictions because of Covid, this year, we are lucky to have Deerfield Academy providing their facilities for us again. With practices before lunch and games against other schools, everything seems to be back on track.

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Boys Basketball Basketball has been one of Bement's traditional sports and we are very lucky to use Deerfield's facilities again. This year, we are also very lucky to have excellent coaches. Mr. Cady and Mr. Paulding have assisted many developments on the boys' varsity side and provided many players who have not played the sport before the game time for them to learn.

Being a new coach this year, Mr. Cady has led the team well and many younger athletes have gained their confidence playing.

-Gordon '22

Boys V Basketball

Boys JV Basketball PAGE 9 | MAIN STREET

Girls Basketball This season, Girls Varsity Basketball had been through a lot. Considering that our team this year contained a lot of players who never played competitive basketball before, this has been a pretty rough season for us. Each day during practice, we worked on lay-ups, passes, getting rebounds, and scrimmages. We played eight games in total and we won three of them. A lot of the teams we played were usually bigger and stronger than us, and we would work on things that we did weakly in the previous game the next day during practice. Sometimes there were only one or two referees on the court so we really needed to learn how to play on the whistle.

Everyone did an awesome job on that and showed great sportsmanship. Although we only won three games out of eight, we still had a lot of fun playing, worked really hard, and everyone improved a lot throughout the season.

- Josephine '24

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Swimming & Diving Swimming and diving have been some of the strongest sports at Bement.

After an undefeated year in 2019, unfortunately, this program could not continue with the Covid situation. We are very lucky to have the team back together this year. The team has competed against many high schools, including Deerfield Academy and NMH. Even with no overall victory against their opponent, the team has worked hard following the guidance of a new coach and broke eight Bement school records. Michelle, Bement's only diver, worked hard with her coach on both diving and swimming, improving a lot despite competing against herself.

- Gordon '22

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Squash Among the many sports offered at Bement, squash is one of the most popular and fun.

The Bement squash team has participated in many matches in which everybody is supportive of each other, cheering on their teammates, and trying very hard in every game we play. With the help of Amherst College coaches, who came three times each week, the team, in general, has improved a lot. During practice, we would practice drills provided to us by the coaches. More towards the second part of the practice, we would challenge each other and play friendly matches. In general, this year has been phenomenal for squash. Many of the players entered this season fresh to the sport with only some experience in tennis. After the practices and the guidance from professional coaches, the squash team has finished the season strong, and most of the players gained valuable lessons.

-Flora '23

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Ski Team For many students during winter term, we have sports before lunch, but for the ski team, it is a different case. We leave classes five minutes early to get ready and enjoy a cold quick lunch before we hop onto the bus to Berkshire East. We train on Monday and Tuesday, and compete in the Mountain Institute Ski League (MISL) on Wednesdays, then are off sports on Thursday to catch up on school work. The ski team works hard on efficiency because one slip up from one person can lead the whole team to be late, shortening the time everyone spends on the mountain.

- Jamie '23

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Winter Track Bement Winter Track has been a unique and exciting experience at Bement. Due to Covid's impacts, we were unable to use our training venue at DA after the winter break, which pushed us to think creatively about how to use our time productively. Mr. Belcher, has led our small group of 7 through adventurous hikes on Pocoumtuck Ridge and fun sledding trips in the woods. As well as brought us to the trails up into Greenfield and checked out the Bear’s Den Cave. During warm days, we would take advantage of the weather and go out for runs around Deerfield. Throughout this term, there were countless moments of laughter and joy bringing our team closer every second. No matter if it was looking out at the beautiful landscape after the challenging climb filled with snowball fights or the unforgettable highlights as we sled down the snowy hill with each other, would always remind us of the winter of 2022.

- Serena '23

Ski Trips

DURING WINTER TERM, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO SKI WITH THEIR FELLOW CLASSMATES AND TEACHERS ON FRIDAYS. DURING THIS PERIOD OF TIME, WE SKI AT BERKSHIRE EAST, A MOUNTAIN QUITE CLOSE AND VIABLE FOR BEMENT, SINCE THE SKI TEAM SKIS THERE ON A DAILY BASIS. MANY PEOPLE ARE QUITE EXCITED ABOUT FRIDAY SKIING SINCE IT IS A TIME TO RELAX AND ENJOY THE WINTER FOR WHAT IT IS. WE SEPARATE INTO GROUPS THAT FIT OUR SKILL LEVEL, TO HELP TEACHERS AND STUDENTS HAVE THE BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE FOR EVERY LEVEL OF SKIING. ON FRIDAY SKI, SKI TEAM ACTS AS A SKI PATROL LOOKING OVER EVERYONE AND MAKING SURE EVERYONE FOLLOWS THE RULES, BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE LAY OF THE LAND, AND ARE QUITE USED TO THE CONDITIONS ON BERKSHIRE EAST. - MELANIE 25' JAMIE 23

STUDENT COUNCIL The student council has organized many events for Bement students and faculty.

This term, Bement has been focusing on raising donations to Make-a-Wish Foundation for medically eligible children with fun, engaging activities, and competitions. Activities include Penny Wars, Bad Fashion Day, an Advisory Versus Advisory Trivia Challenge, Hoodjama Day, a Raffle, and a Candy and Bake Sale. For the competitions, Bement Merch and Pizza Parties were awarded to the winning advisories and students as prizes. These events were announced at Morning Meetings. By the end of the Winter Term, the Bement student council had reached over 3000 dollars, tripling their original goal of 1000 dollars, and would like to thank everybody on behalf of their participation. - Iris '24

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MINI TERM

The mini-term theme this year was the Beauty of Mathematics. In addition to upper school lower school collaboratives, which included but were not limited to coding, card games, ball games, origami, dance, and tessellations, some electives encapsulated the theme, such as the mini-term musical, logic puzzles, and learning how to solve the Rubik's cube.

One of the highlights of the mini-term was when the National Museum of Mathematics visited Bement, showing students how to play Topological Tic Tac Toe. We have had another visit from Dr. Arthur Benjamin, the mathemagician renowned for his TEDx Oxford presentation, Faster than a Calculator, which has more than 23 million views. This miniterm experience truly edified our community on how versatile, fun, and neat mathematics can be, and for which the descriptor "beautiful" is fitting.

- Fumi '22

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Covid Safety Tips

By Jessica '24

As COVID-19 evolves daily, it has affected us in so many ways, such as lockdown, quarantine, and unemployment, making it extremely difficult and exhausting. The virus is known for causing excruciating yet common symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath, and a runny nose. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggests social distance, getting the vaccine, and wearing a face mask. Looking ahead, the best way to deal with COVID-19 is to monitor your health every day and be mindful of large gatherings as well as your surroundings.

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The Halo Effect

By Fumi '22

Published over ten years ago, Thinking, Fast and

At a glance, avoiding this fallacy seems

Slow, remains a strongly relevant book. Partly,

simple. Yet, to disprove us, Kahneman

because both the book and its author Daniel

introduces one of Solomon Asch’s

Kahneman, were the recipients of wide acclaim

experiments. Take a look at the following

within the last two decades; Kahneman won the

diagrams, and judge the personalities of

Nobel Prize of Economics in 2002, and Thinking,

Amos and Dan:

Fast and Slow became a New York Times Bestseller. But more personally, because the heuristics (something like mental shortcuts) that Kahneman informs us of are everywhere, it is practically important for us to remind ourselves

Amos: Competent—compassionate— reckless—caustic—clingy Dan: clingy—caustic—reckless— compassionate—competent

of them.

If you have had a better impression of Amos, you have fallen victim to the halo

One of these heuristics is exaggerated effect. In effect, the adjectives describing

emotional coherence, the halo effect for short. both Amos and Dan are the same. Asch’s

Kahneman defines the heuristic being “the experiment illustrates how much the

tendency to like (or dislike) everything about a person—including things you have not observed.”

Here’s a quick scenario that Kahneman provides: at a party, you find Joan amiable. If you were asked to assess whether Joan would give to charity, it would be fallacious to make any judgment. “What do you know about Joan’s generosity?” Kahneman asks.

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sequence of how we see people’s characteristics matters. “The halo effect increases the weight of first impressions, sometimes to the point that subsequent information is mostly wasted,” Kahneman reveals the brutal truth.

The threat that heuristics pose us is that

So, how do we counter the halo effect?

we may not expect them in institutions or

“Decorrelate error!” Kahneman says. By this, he

processes conventionally considered or

means to diversify the biases (which lead to

expected to be impartial—for example,

errors) in each individual judgment to reach a

academic institutions. Grading, especially

precise conclusion. A widespread example of

in the humanities or on participation may

this is the rule restricting contact between

be swayed by the halo effect. Kahneman,

suspects in a murder interrogation. Likewise,

a professor himself, recognized flaws in

Kahneman decorrelated his grades among a

his grading process. Previously he graded

student’s essays in his new method. This time, he

multiple essays of the same student in

divided the essays by question— he would grade

succession. Upon noticing the

all essays on one question, and move on to the

homogeneity of his students’ grades,

next—and concealed his previous grades so he

Kahneman suspected that his first scoring

would not be unconsciously biased. Kahneman

heavily influenced the latter. Suppose he

affirms, “I was now less happy with and less

gave a student a perfect score for their

confident in my grades than I had been earlier,

first essay. It is probable for him, then, to

but I recognized that this was a good sign, an

mark the same student’s second essay

indication that the new procedure was superior.”

leniently higher.

Given that the halo effect is a heuristic, it is improbable that the Bement community could fully avoid much like anyone else. However, there are steps like the grading procedure that we could take for various purposes. For instance, during in-class discussions or club meetings, the teacher (or leader) could make each student (or member) write their thoughts down, and present their sentences as they are without prior discussion. This method prevents the correlation among each student or member’s biases.

To be sure, the question of whether or not impressions are part of the grading system would be posed. But as a school that values Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

resilience as one of its core values, a grading system that may discount and discourage effort must be avoided.

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STUDENT SUBMISSIONS

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Eighth Grade Poetry Heather '23- Change Sucks a lot Stanza 1 (I know) I know how people come and go like birds in the sky Each one leaving faster than the last I know how the seasons change Like how cars pass each blurring scene, not remembering what we just passed I know time is not to be wasted Grasp each moment and not waste a second

Stanza 2 (I thought) I thought people would stick around longer They would be here when I look around I thought the seasons would last longer Enjoy the scenes just a little longer I thought I wouldn’t procrastinate In the end, I didn't get anything done

Stanza 3 (I wish) I wish people would stay just a bit longer Be a little more patient I wish the year would go by Slower with more patience I wish things would stay the same Not change at all

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CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE

Heather '23- Acceptance I dream of a world where butterflies could fly the skies freely without being chased where people could talk freely without being judged where friendships last forever where you’re not judged by one single mistake I dream of a world where snowflakes could fly down from the sky without being disturbed where people could make mistakes and people would understand, and forgive not just forget where love is everlasting and things never change a world where mistakes are accepted not judged

Simone '23 - MLK & How you dream a world I dream of a world where material items hold no value.

Where you are free to be your true and utter self.

Breathing out stardust of pain Only to remain blissful peace and equanimity.

I dream of a world where hearts come together and break with easy repair.

Where weeping willows create a sanctuary for those without a roof.

When greediness grasps the eyes of all receptive bodies, The only truly happy people are the ones with nothing.

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Winners of the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards (From The Look Ahead)

Writing Iris ’24: Honorable Mention, Flash Fiction, Resilient; Honorable Mention, Short Story, The Crushed Sunglasses Mia ’23: Gold Key, Poetry, facet; Honorable Mention, Dramatic Script, SEE YOU AGAIN Cleo ’23: Silver Key, Science Fiction and Fantasy, A Letter From the Future to Myself; Silver Key, Short Story, A Shoe that Freed the Curious Children of Rose Valley; Gold Key, Short Story, Her Choice; Gold Key, Personal Essay and Memoir, A Step Forward

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Art Rose ’23: Gold Key, Painting, Untitled Katherine ’22: Honorable Mention, Digital Art, Tibetan Girl; Silver Key, Digital Art, The Fox Mask Girl; Gold Key, Digital Art, Bitong

WINTER TERM- 2022

Main Street T H E

B E M E N T

S C H O O L

EDITOR IN CHIEF MAIN PUBLISHERS GRAPHIC EDITOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS COPY EDITORS

S T U D E N T

M A G A Z I N E

Gordon '22

Fumi '22

Katherine '22, Justice '23, Tianni '23,

Richard '23

Cleo '23, Serena '23, Rose, '23

Miyu '22, Jamie '23, Flora '23

Jessica '24, Iris '24, Vickie '23

NON-EDITORIAL BOARD CONTRIBUTORS Katie MacCallum

PHOTOGRAPHERS bement.smugmug.com - Special thanks to Alice Gearheart, Margit Walker, and Matthew Plager.

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MAIN STREET WINTER TERM

Please contact us at magazine@bement.org for any inquiries