The Bolles Bugle February-March 2021

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Iss. 005 / February 2021 / The Women’s History Month Issue

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Women in Leadership / pg. 026 The Women’s History Month Issue

Table of Contents 06 — The Women of History Megan Howard 10 — Go Play Outside Riya Kar 12 — Review: Promising Young Woman Not so Promising Isabel Bassin 14 — The Making of Jane Eyre

the Tik Tok Musical Sarah Scherkenbach

22 — Taylor Richardson Sheds Light on

Racial Literacy

Ian Peiris 26 — The History of Female

Leadership at Bolles Amber Bansal 28 — Stronger Together

Sara Wasserman

16 — True Justice at Bolles Aisha Hasan

30 — Christine Gaitantzis: Bolles Alum Takes to the Skies Ian Wilkinson

18 — The Age of Ford Su Ertekin-Taner

34 — Reaching for the Stars Amber Bansal

21 — Plaque Stats: Tyler Schimpff

36 — Tubman on the $20 Avani Bansal 38 — Colorblind Casting Clariss Valdivia 40 — Junior leadership

in Lacrosse Elliana Emery 42 — Emma Stasiak: Behind the Friday Night Lights Katie Creveling

44 — Team Moms: Taylor Ford 46 — Annie Ruperto:

Acing a Gap Year Atticus Dickson 48 — Girl Scouts Go for Gold Cameron Gratz 50 — Water Guns and Roses:

The Senior Assassin Game Taylor Ford 52 — Beyond the Square:

A San Marco Tour Grace Albaugh 54 — March Multimedia Thomas Keaveny

55 — Crossword:

Complete and Submit the Crossword for Giftcard!

The Bolles Bugle Staff Co-Editors-In-Chief: Avani Bansal Sarah Scherkenbach Online Editor: Ian Peiris Technology Editor: Thomas Keaveny Copy Editor: Taylor Ford Design Editor: Ava Sickler Creative Director: Su Ertekin-Taner Social Media Editor: Megan Howard Contributing Writers: Grace Albaugh Amber Bansal Isabel Bassin Katie Creveling Atticus Dickson Elliana Emery Cameron Gratz Aisha Hasan Riya Kar Tyler Schimpff Clariss Valdivia Sara Wasserman Ian Wilkinson Advisor: Ms. Jacobson Questions or comments, contact: jacobsona@bolles.org or bollesbugleonline@gmail.com Editorial Policy: The Bolles Bugle is the newsmagazine created by the journalism class at The Bolles School. Our publication focusaes on increasing community awareness of in-school events and topics relating to the five news values: relevance, proximity, timeliness/ novelty, conflict/controversy, and human interest.

Content in the Bugle is the responsibility of the editorial staff and not meant to reflect the views of the school’s administration or the student adviser. Please reach out to our faculty advisor, Ms. Jacobson, with any questions or comments.

She can be reached at jacobsona@bolles.org or at bollesbugleonline@gmail.com.

Copyright 2009-2019, The Bolles Bugle

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Editors’ Letter Dear Readers, Earlier this year, we submitted our entry to the FSPA Leadership Challenge. As two young women in leadership positions, we brough all that we have learned about working with our peers to our answers and were honored to receive an All-Florida rating, the highest a submission can get. With every issue, we prove that given the chance, women can lead, write, design, and make our voices heard to better our communities.

Because March is Women’s History Month, we chose to seize the opportunity to highlight women in our Bolles community. Some of our favorite articles feature Taylor Richardson (‘22), alum Christine Gaitantzis (‘14), and Emma Stasiak (‘22).

You will notice that each divider also aligns with our theme of Women’s History. Each divider is designed with “female firsts” in mind. For example, on our diversity divider, we display the diversity of the Biden Cabinet; on our sports divider, we spotlight the female firsts in the NFL; and below you will see a graphic of influential women that inspire us as a staff. See how many names you can recognize!

As a reminder, Cultural Coffeehouse is coming up on April 9 at 7 p.m. on the river campus, and there will be a live-streamed version for those who choose to view it from home. Due to social distancing restrictions, tickets will be used to dictate capacity limitations, so sign up ahead of time!

Thank you so much for picking up this issue of The Bolles Bugle!

Avani Bansal Sarah Scherkenbach Co-Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor-in-Chief

ACADEMICS “Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow.

Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human.”

— Malala Yousafzai

The Women of History

Meet Mrs. Chandler, Mrs. Gomez, Mrs. Dividu and Mrs. Fluegel Megan Howard Social Media Editor

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hat do history, law, education and psychology have in common? Our teachers. The female force of the history department includes Mrs. Chandler, Mrs. Dividu, Mrs. Fluegel, and Mrs. Gomez, who all teach a variety of history courses and love the study of people.

Mrs. Chandler in Guatemala

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Mrs. Chandler and Mrs. Gomez went to school for history and psychology - both subjects that study people. “In college, I started as a double major – psychology and history. I thought psychology would be my career, but those history classes had me hooked!”

Mrs. Chandler said.

“I thought psychology would be my career, but those history classes had me hooked!”

— Mrs. Chandler At UNF, Mrs. Chandler focused her studies on Latin American history, specifically in Bogota, Columbia.

In Bogota, Mrs. Chandler went through the archives and “dug through the sources and read these letters that were written in the 1500s to try to piece together what these people’s lives were

like, how they navigated,” Mrs. Chandler explained.

As well Mrs. Chandler is interested in a subject known as “historical silences.” A historical silence is information that was left out of history normally due to the fact that history is written by the winner. “That’s my favorite part – uncovering those silences. History isn’t finished. There is always more to uncover and to understand,” Mrs. Chandler recounted.

For the last fifteen years Mrs. Chandler has taught a variety of world history classes. Now, she teaches Ancient World History and AP Comparative Government and Politics. “I really like AP Comparative. Ironically, what I like is that it’s not a history class.

It gives students a chance to see what’s going on in the world right now, with a focus on 6 countries (China, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, and the United Kingdom) they might not otherwise study,” Mrs. Chandler said.

When Mrs. Dividu made it to Bolles, she started as an advisor and then a history position opened up. She teaches 9th grade Ancient World History, while working as an advisor. She continues her mock trial passion. “Last year, I took over the team, and I have been coaching mock trial for eight years,” Mrs. Dividu explained.

While in Guatemala, Mrs. Chandler went hiking on a volcano with student group Cooperative for Education.

Mrs. Gomez has been practicing yoga for eight years!

However, Mrs. Dividu and Mrs. Fluegel were more interested in law as high school and college students. As a high school student, Mrs. Dividu participated in mock trial, which led her to begin coaching a mock trial team in New York and later here at Bolles.

Mrs. Fluegel on a night out for dinner.

Mrs. Gomez and her family at a beach wedding.

But for Mrs. Gomez, the passion to study history flows through her bloodline. “My dad, he majored in history, so I ended up following in his footsteps,” Mrs. Gomez revealed.

Mrs. Gomez also received her undergraduate degree in psychology. “I feel like they must all be interrelated in some way and maybe the bottom line is that we’re interested in human stories and people. There’s a psychological element in all of these different disciplines,” Mrs. Gomez explained.

At UNF, Mrs. Gomez received her masters degree in history and soon began teaching at Bolles.

Currently, she teaches U.S History and Yoga. Together, Mrs. Gomez and Mrs. Stam applied for a grant that allowed them to develop a yoga class. “We wanted to help students with stress management,” Mrs. Gomez explained.

When not advising, teaching, or coaching at Bolles, Mrs. Dividu also works at Pure Barre.

Once in college Mrs. Dividu went on to study education and worked part time as an advisor to student athletes. At her first teaching job, Mrs. Dividu recalled, “I taught US history, AP and honors for juniors, and then I taught economics and personal finance for seniors.” At that same time she coached mock trial and kickstarted a law class - which she described as “an extension of mock trial.”

Before becoming a teacher Mrs. Fluegel worked as an attorney at Barnett Bank for 13 years.

Coming from a family of teachers, and graduating during an era in which every career was truly open to women, Mrs. Fluegel did not see herself as a teacher.

“Teaching had been one of those traditional careers that my mother, my aunt, my grandmother had done, so I decided I was going to do something different,” she described.

After working as a lawyer for 18 years, she decided it was time for a career change. “ I thought: I love my job, I love the people I work with, but I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life,” Mrs. Fluegel explained.

“I thought I love my job, I love the people I work with, but I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.

— Mrs. Fluegel BOLLESBUGLEONLINE.COM

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So, Mrs. Fluegel went back to school, received her Master’s in history, and went on to teach at Bolles and UNF. Now, she teaches ninth and tenth grade world history. “‘I’m really happy teaching what I teach, but I have a particular passion for modern European history, which is why I love my sophomore class,” Mrs. Fluegel explained.

Mrs. Fluegel at a wedding.

When reflecting on her experience in Mrs. Flugel’s class, junior Ananya Sridhar said, “I love Mrs. Fluegel’s sense of humor. My friends and I always looked forward to history class to hear her jokes and her light hearted personality. Mrs. Fluegel is always there for her students and does various projects to make history interesting to learn. She also gives former students candy, which is a plus!”

Favorite Female Figure or Role Model?

Chandler: “Not a famous figure, but a woman kept pop-

ping up in the archives while I was doing my research on colonial Colombia. Catalina. She was an indigenous woman who learned to use the Spanish institutions to her advantage. When local Spaniards and local indigenous rulers tried to control her life, she wasn’t having it. She’d write to the Crown directly to demand her rights – and the Crown always sided with her.”

Gomez: “Kamala Harris, breaking down barriers. I think

she is such an inspiration for women. I feel like she’s someone who could have a really good conversation with and connect to. I think it’s so important for my daughter to be able to see women in positions like that. It is important for young girls to believe that they can really do anything that they want that there are not any doors close to them.”

Dividu: “My mom. We have the same birthday, she’s a very

strong minded, strong willed woman who immigrated here with my grandmother from the Caribbean. She never got to go to school because she had to work, so when my brother and I came along, she became a stay at home mom who worked so hard for us.”

Fluegel: “Elizabeth the First of England. she goes on as

a single woman to get an education and to be, you know, probably the greatest monarch in English, history, she never married, she managed to make the break with the Catholic Church final understood the power of kind of propaganda and image. It kind of gave herself as the virgin queen to Protestants. In, in place of the Virgin Mary, so I just think that she was an incredibly savvy woman in a time when not a lot of women had power.”

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ARTS “I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art. I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live.”

— Yayoi Kusama

Go Play Outside

Drama Takes Shakespeare onto the River Campus

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Riya Kar Contributing Writer

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he stage dims as Lysander and Hermia stare at one another tenderly. A blinding light breaks the loving moment.

‘Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield/ Thy crazed title to my certain right.’ says Demetrius, as he haughtily approaches Hermia.

In recent months, Mrs.Rippel, director of fine arts, and the theatre club have been working on Midsummer Night’s Dream.

From the very beginning, Rippel had a love for Shakespeare’s plays.

“Over ten years ago, which is crazy, I went to the Globe Theatre in England. I studied Shakespeare.

I just loved Midsummer’s because I think it is really accessible.”

When asked to give a synopsis of the play, Rippel laughs “Try to explain Shakespeare quickly.”

Suffice to say: Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander form a love square.

Jake McGraw, gives a small

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insider as the actor of Demetrius.

“Demetrius is kind of forced on this journey of self-realization and becoming better.”

McGraw admitted Demetrius is not the good guy. “ Demetrius is a very complicated man. On the surface, he seems to be another romantic, but deep down he’s really out for himself for most of the play.”

McGraw feels Shakespeare’s universality makes it easy to emotionally connect with the character. We’ve all been where they are. it’s like a more intense version of when that person you don’t want to talk to won’t leave you alone no matter how many signs you give them.”

Ultimaely, McGraw confesses, Lysander is his favorite. “People call me a romantic, so that’s probably how I relate to Lysander.”

Rippel and the cast have changed the subplot arises paralleling the lovers. Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, The original version had Oberon drugging Titania to have her fall

in love with the first thing she sees with the ultimate motive for ther to give up the boy. “We’ve actually changed the characters so that Titania drugs Oberon.” Ripel said.

She explained how this change helped pronounce the character’s motives. “It solved some of the complicated issues that Oberon should not be drugging Titania to make her fall in love with someone.”

“So by turning it on its head and taking it out of a romantic relationship and just the manipulation,” Rippel said, “I think it’s really interesting so I like that relationship.”

Rippel said. “Shakespeare really likes to take you on a journey. You experience a road trip of feelings.”

With many twists and turns, the story continues as the lovers both go through many tender moments as well as hardships. On their trek they are constantly faced with situations that require them to reflect.

This is a Caption.

This is the Credit.

It can be seen how the same scene can be done in different ways. One includes the original with Oberon drugging Titania with the flower while the other has Titania drugging Oberon.

Rippel deepens the understanding of Midsummer’s setting and theme, “Midsummer’s is a pastoral where everything is so miserable in the court and so happy in the woods.

But I think there is a sense of that everything can be better through play and through getting back into nature.”

After all, Shakespeare Stratfordon-Avon to balance out his life in London. Rippel said, “You can take a step out of your problem….When faced with an insurmountable problem, everything looks impossible in that moment. Going out into nature and really just taking the time to let everything go and trying to reframe the problem really can help make things better.”

With COVID still around, Rippel reveals she aims to have Midsummer’s performed outside.

She encourages people to bring their friends and lay out a picnic.

Families can bring their lawn chairs and enjoy a night of amazing performance and comical humor.

.In rehersal, Titania (Grace Maroon) pours nectar from the flower into Oberan’s (Kris Stam) eyes. Jake McGraw brings out his inner mean guy and Brenna Hughes embodies Puck.

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Review: Promising Young Woman May Not Be So Promising Isabel Bassin Contributing Writer Warning: this article contains spoilers along with mentions of sexual assault and suicide.

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romising Young Woman continues to trend on the iTunes “Top 25 Movies” chart and received 4 Golden Globes nominations.

Starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, and Alison Brie, Promising Young Woman tells the story of a med-school drop out (Cassie) working in a coffee shop

by day, and entrapping men by night. She feigns intoxication to catch predators in order to overcome an unspecified trauma involving her late best friend (Nina).

Casie is attempting to dismantle a society in which becoming a victim of sexual assault is effortless by confronting one predator at a time. This exceedingly dangerous act constantly puts her in vulnerable situations, allowing herself to be taken home by potential rapists.

When she falls in love with an old college acquaintance (Ryan), it seems as if she has left her strange hobby behind her. But, when it is revealed that the man who is the source of the trauma she suffered is back in town and soon to be married, a quest is incited within her to seek revenge on him once and for all.

Carey Mulligan as “Cassie.”

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As the movie progresses, it is revealed that the man and his

A notebook containing the names of all the men who attempted to take advantage of the “drunk” woman. friends drugged, raped, and recorded the protagonist’s late best friend as a sort of cruel joke.

The victim filed a lawsuit, but was bullied into dropping the case by members of a corrupt legal system. It is then implied that she committed suicide, and left the protagonist on a downward spiral ending with her quitting the school they all went to and moving in with her parents.

When Cassie gets concrete evidence of the assault, she discovers her current love interest

this genre if films criticizing abuse of women result in abuse of women.

Promising Young Woman’s success, I believe, is largely credited to its director, Emerald Fennell. While female directors are already uncommon, it is all the more powerful that she directed such an unprecedentedly bold film.

If Fennell’s goal was to strike her audience in a deep manner that leaves them thinking days after watching the movie, then by all means she succeeded. But was the end the ideal outcome of the film?

Cassie faking drunkenness in a night club to entrap a predator. was there. She severs ties with him, sending the message that he does not deserve forgiveness, nor do any people who have been complicit bystanders, accomplices, or even cheerleaders to such a heinous crime. The protagonist continues on to dress as a prostitute and crash the bachelor party of the rapist. She handcuffs him to a bed and attempts to torture him, only to be murdered.

Her body is hidden, and it seems to be the end of her quest for justice for her friend.

Until the rapist (and now murderer) is arrested during his wedding, and the ex boyfriend receives prewritten texts promising his demise.

So what does this all mean?

When I, unbeknownst to the plot beforehand, first saw the movie, I was shocked. The film speaks to the strong truth of sexual assaulters getting away unscathed, yet ends with a twist of revenge and retribution years after the crime. The only issue is, the one person determined to seek true justice dies in her attempt.

victim to criticism of cliche content or weak execution. It feels as though these films receive extreme scrutiny that is often undeserved.

Kill Bill (volumes 1 and 2) is the most well known female revenge saga.

Since its initial glory and limelight, however, information regarding the relationship between Quentin Tarantino, the director, and Uma Thurman, a writer and the star actress, has put many people off of the movies.

15 years after their releases, Thurman told of her experience filming the movies - including Tarantino forcing her to work through an almost fatal car crash, stories of the director spitting on and choking her in the place of actors during certain scenes, and “dehumanization to the point of death.”

This raises the ironic question as to if we should continue to patronize

Many sexual assault survivors have vocalized their dislike and discontent with Promising Young Woman. It has been said that the film picks at the barely healed wounds of their trauma. Especially because only about 3% of rapists face conviction. The list of rape victims who never receive justice grows by the thousands every year.

It is said that Promising Young Woman inaccurately portrays an idealistic world in which the only justice a woman can get is revenge served 7-years cold. But she still gets justice when in the real world, most women don’t.

Overall, Promising Young Woman is an intelligently directed movie that may force some sexual assault victims to suffer the consequences of unresolved trauma. It is a plot full of twists and turns that ends in a deep and dark place for the revenge-seeking protagonist, but a just place for the late rape victim.

(That is, as just as any place can be for a rape and suicide victim).

The film is powerful yet melancholy.

I was left with a sick feeling in my stomach - but maybe that was on purpose.

The female revenge genre is difficult because while the intention behind the movies is to be empowering, most end up falling

A promise of revenge sent to Ryan’s phone from the grave(s).

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We Tried Making A TikTok Musical CAST/CREW Director/Executive Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Scherkenbach Head of Music and Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ian Peiris Male Principal Cast/Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Atticus Dickson Female Principal Cast/Music and Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Su Ertekin-Taner

ACT I Lights dimmed, cameras clicked off, and action ceased. The stages are quiet.

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heatre lovers everywhere were devastated when Broadway closed due to COVID-19, but their love for musicals merged with social media to create the trend of TikTok musicals, ranging in forms from Ratatouille to Bridgerton.

The virtual production of Ratatouille the TikTok Musical streamed for 72 hours starting January 1, 2021, and ultimately, raised over 2 million dollars for The Actors Fund, an organization that supports performers and other workers in the entertainment industry.

The newest TikTok musical to face the spotlight is based on the Netflix series Bridgerton, which was an adaption of Julia Quinn’s novels, and this musical collaboration formed from the collaborative efforts of artists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

Broadway has always been a symbol of resilience and expression. Through the emergence of TikTok musicals, the theater community has been able to stay together and continue creating in spite of all the challenges spanning the past year.

ACT II Chattering students gather in a board room off of the Bolles Hall courtyard.

Here at the San Jose Upper School campus, with an available cast of twenty-one people, the staff of The Bolles Bugle began producing a TikTok musical adaptation of the English II Honors classic, Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre the TikTok Musical is not our first iteration of a Jane Eyre musical adaptation. In November of 2019, Ian Peiris (‘22), Atticus Dickson (‘22), and I started playing around with the idea, introduced it to others, and collectively, with the help of the group, wrote two songs. The original idea died, though, due to an increase in apathy until its most recent resuscitation.

Currently, our experience of writing, producing, and staging a musical is much slower than other TikTok musicals because, regrettably, we are unable to dedicate full days worth of time to the project.

However, we plan to continue with this endeavor over the next few months, and all progress will be posted on the official Bugle TikTok, @thebollesbugle. After all, the show must go on.

The Bolles Bugle TikTok

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Official Playbill design of Jane Eyre the TikTok Musical

Sarah Scherkenbach Co-Editor-in-Chief Ian Peiris Online Editor

DIVERSITY “Let’s speak the truth: People are protesting because Black people have been treated as less than human in America. Because our country has never fully addressed the systemic racism that has plagued our country since its earliest days. It is the duty of every American to fix. No longer can some wait on the sidelines, hoping for incremental change. In times like this, silence is complicity.”

— Kamala Harris

The documentary highlights the horrors of the justice system and how we can make a change.

True Justice At Bolles Students and teachers share open discussion in the classroom Teachers encouraged their classes to prepare for discussions that might pull up strong emotions.

Aisha Hasan Contributing Writer

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ach of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,” stated Bryan Stevenson in the True Justice documentary Bolles presented on February 16th. The documentary shows an overview of systemic racism in the justice system as well as Bryan Stevenson’s career of fighting for equality.

The initiative was originally proposed about a month earlier

by DEI Director Mrs. Twyla Ashman.

Prior to the viewing, English teachers were asked to have a pre-viewing conversation with their students. Laura Lane, a freshman English teacher, immediately started preparing, reading and researching. She explained, “The first thing I did was go ‘well, I have to get educated, right?’ I didn’t think it was right of me as a teacher to not do my research.”

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“Mr. Stam taught us that stuff is going to get real, like he already gave us a warning,” Anastasia McHayle (‘23) revealed when talking about her pre-discussion.

Regarding her experiences with the pre-discussion, Avani Bansal (‘21) (full disclosure: Bansal is a Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Bolles Bugle) shared, “It’s difficult feeling comfortable with certain people in certain environments.”

One challenge most classrooms faced involved our current hybrid model. Bansal said, “Also having half the kids virtual didn’t help either.”

Bryan Stevenson’s book on the challenges he faced in his career.

Credit: Google

Bansal did feel that the previewing disucssion made her more aware of her classmate’s experiences. “It was eye opening to hear a lot of people’s experiences.

Because there was this question

about personal experiences with bias or racism, I was able to hear multiple different perspectives.”

murder of people of color. “I was quite disturbed by some of the things that we saw. But I also felt satisfied in the sense that we at Bolles were required to watch something like that. We kind of had to understand the message behind it, which was racial bias in the criminal justice system,” Bansal expressed.

Similarly, McHayle described, “I felt the shock of this is what happens in America and people know that the justice system is not fair.”

History teachers held the postdiscussion for students to express their opinions on the documentary.

“Lynching in general is not an easy thing to talk about, right? I don’t think any of the topics weren’t difficult to discuss,” Yeakel said.

Just Mercy the movie adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s book, won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Credit: Google In a prolonged convocation, students and teachers watched True Justice with their second block classes. “For me, my main concern was the graphic imagery of the actual people that have been hanged, but that is because I am very sensitive visually, so I was kind of concerned that there might be some students who internalize that,” Lane said. “But this is high school, and I do think that the stark reality was kind of necessary in order to bring home the message of the documentary.”

Dr. Jeff Yeakel, a history and latin teacher, described his initial thoughts, “It was interesting. The history of the United States was especially interesting. I thought the lawyer who put the documentary together was a really interesting guy with a fascinating history to argue all those Supreme Court cases. He was impressive to me.”

While the documentary had a historical approach, the historical images underscored our country’s past history of violence and

“I do think that the African American population, especially right now during this time period is hurting and we need to really focus on healing and trying to be better and more sensitive. What needs to happen is we need to reevaluate the textbooks that we’re teaching from.”

— Laura Lane

The question of what is the future of Bolles convocations and the school’s support of diversity initiatives still remains.

“It’s just a shame that these things are just starting to happen as I am leaving the campus, but it’s a start. And generally, yes the school needs to continue bringing awareness to issues like these,” Bansal added.

“I think it’s really important that Bolles makes an effort to implement conversation like this for future years.”

Ms. Lane said that conversations about our violent past may just be the beginning, “I do think that the African American population, especially right now during this time period is hurting and we need to really focus on healing and trying to be better and more sensitive. What needs to happen is we need to reevaluate the textbooks that we’re teaching from.”

Walter McMillian was set free from death row in March of 1993.

Credit: Google

elaborated. “I thought it was one of the better class discussions I’ve had after a convocation. I think having them in our history classes was a big positive for my group of students.”

Meanwhile, the seniors who do not take history had their discussion with their advisors. “I think out of 10 or 11 students only 6 or 7 showed, so I have no idea what the others who didn’t show are going to be doing,” Bansal said.

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The Age of Ford D’yasia Ford’s Contributions to Our Future

Washington Post’s Article: The disturbing reason some African American patients may be undertreated for pain.

Su Ertekin-Taner Creative Director

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’yasia Ford remembers one of her first conversations about race with her parents: “Even though it will seem like you’re less than, you never are. They told me that the world was a big misunderstanding, but that you will never be less than anyone.”

A younger D’yasia Ford (‘22) didn’t expect to have an easy life. Especially after her parents’ first mentions of racial division that still plagues our country. Along with the birds and the bees conversation, Ford was audience to a conversation about racism.

Looking back, she recognizes it was unfair for her to have to put on armor in the event of racism; she finds herself in preparation of battle everyday, but “that’s not the way the world has to be.”

However, the self-defined activist fuels herself with a reminder that she started life in what she claims is a “downplace,”or as underestimated black female leader. “Being a minority helps me,” Ford stated.

But the true cause of her academic and extracurricular successes is her desire to make Bolles a better place for her siblings.

Ford is very family-oriented as any child who lived

D’yasia Ford (second from left) attends the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade with the Bolles’ Black Student Union (BSU). Her goal in bringing the BSU to the Downtown parade was to “promote black excellence for Black History Month.” in a family of six siblings would be. Living in an extensive nuclear family has taught her patience and selflessness, Ford laughs through her words, while trying to tame the siblings behind her. And it has led to some self-questioning regarding her sibling’s well-being: “How can I leave the world better for my siblings?”

Changes she hopes will be enacted in time for her siblings’ enrollment at Bolles include a system of affinity groups for different cultures to share their roots and an in-depth celebration of all ethnicities in history classes.

“You’re only learning about white history in classes, I want to learn about myself too.”

Eventually, she hopes her siblings will carry on her trailblazer legacy.

Now, Ford’s perspective on racism allows her to start laying down building blocks for these projects influenced by her own experiences with racism.

As a middle school student at Darnell Cookman, racism was not on Ford’s radar. Going into Bolles, she did expect to be underrepresented but assumed best intent for all students even after her first encounters of racism at the upper school.

Ford has since experienced insults about her braids, racial slurs, and a steady intution of a sense of displacement at Bolles, and yet, as a black female leader, she was brought up with the notion that any change would have enemies and so, she vows today to make

a change in the racial dynamic of the country.

This year, Ford became the president of the Black Student Union (BSU) and “turned it around.”

Instead of the token “black kid group” that Ford admits the club could sometimes be known as, she created a community of excellence.

Under Ford’s leadership, the BSU this year has participated in this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade in Downtown Jacksonville and organized the black-owned business fair the beginning of Black History Month for Bolles.

On top of this, she is one of eight juniors elected for student council.

But she says, “I don’t think I’ve done that much.”

Her favorite BSU activity was the

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the MLK Day parade. Her “excellent” and “joyful” experience in the streets of Downtown Jacksonville reflected the history of the day.

“There was so much beauty in everyone coming together to recognize someone that did something great and see how his legacy keeps going.”

But right now, Ford is focusing on present in-school discrimination and how she can change it. As a victim of racism, Ford holds its weight heavily. It is heavier than any classwork she has had to conquer and heavier than every course load she has ever taken. “You can be a happy person, but you’re taking all this stuff in.”

All MLK paraders gathered together with eight members of the BSU in their midst for a picturesque afternoon that indicated both Ford’s selfhappiness and the happiness of the group.

Change is imminent, Ford muses, but only for a school that does not deny its racist present.

It is safe to say that this Renaissance woman is building her own path...a path that didn’t begin in the near past and surely will not end in the near future.

We want them to know that we are not trying to tear Bolles down, but lift it up. I want accountability.

In fact, Ford hopes to continue her activism in an HBCU, as her older sister D’yanjel Ford did, and beyond. After watching Grey’s Anatomy, Ford was not so much influenced by the unnecessary doctoral romance, but more by the heavy racial issues that the medical world houses.

She notes that there is a stigma that Black patients do not feel as much pain as other races.

Unfortunately, Washington Post confirms the TV stigma with their own research which shows that medical students inaccurately believe that Black patients have fewer nerve endings than white patients and therefore, feel less pain.

Ford hopes to continue to dispel this stigma and create her own medical program for underdeveloped Black communities.

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history at the Bolles school by making sure Black voices are heard. Denial of the Black voice is no longer an option for her. As a pillar of female black excellence, Ford is also focused on shaping a Black future.

Ford knows that the people who have spoken out about their

— D’yasia Ford ‘22 confrontations with racism may be seen as implying a negative view on Bolles, but “we want them to know that we are not trying to tear Bolles down, but lift it up...I want accountability.”

The “too big of a conversation” excuse is no longer an excuse, but a method of discrimination.

The only truly affected populus, by policies that enforce racial diversity or policies against discrimination, is the students who experience racism. Ford notes, referring to the Pollyanna curriculum, “They keep stopping these things that are happening because it makes other people uncomfortable. Imagine how the people that it’s actually affecting feel.”

Ford wants to shape Black

BIPOC Women In Power BIPOC women have been rolling in tides towards their individual successes in fields of science, writing, politics, etc. As a BIPOC female leader herself, Ford looks back on the women who have inspired her. Stacey Abrams, American voting rights activist and former Representative, and Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureat and activist make Ford’s list of top inspiring BIPOC women.

“I love to see women in power. They’re not afraid to speak out about the things that matter,” she affirmed.

Tyler Schimpff Contributing Writer

21

Taylor Richardson’s

Book Project sheds light on racial literacy

Ian Peiris Online Editor

A

t just five years old, Taylor Richardson (‘22) developed a love for space and the stars. She has attended multiple United States space camps and aspires to be the first Black woman to land on Mars.

These dreams, however, are coupled with her more serious goals of eliminating racial inequality.

“I will continue to face racism in every facet until those who feel differently change it,” Richardson stated in an email. With much racial tension existing in the world today, Richardson just wants to be judged for herself. “If I am to have any legacy, it would be not what but who I impact, engage, inspire and, most importantly, leave a seat at the table [for].”

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To accomplish her goals, Richardson implemented drastic change in the community with projects such as launching 18 GoFundMe campaigns, raising over $250,000, and donating over 11,000 books internationally.

However, she believes her advocacy work is far from over.

“Until all people, especially those who look like me and [those who are] marginalized and oppressed, are treated equally and fairly, there will always be work to do,” she said.

Richardson continues to inspire change today with her latest project, The Black Friend Book Challenge, a proposal of racial literacy and education that began on January 15, 2021.

The idea sprouted after Richardson first read The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person, a book by Frederick T. Joseph. The text contains

Photo Credit: Taylor Richardson

a collection of the author’s personal stories that spotlight racial inequality. “I related to everything that was being said and felt that this book would be a great resource to read for our generation,” she commented.

With the ambition of collecting 100 copies of Joseph’s book to donate to local middle and high school libraries, Richardson created her GoFundMe page. Before a week had passed, she had already raised $16,000. “I was completely surprised how quickly the campaign funds grew,” she said, “but that also told me that there are good people of all races who feel like I do.”

Interestingly, Richardson’s history with Joseph began long before her latest project. He grew inspired by one of Richardson’s first major projects, a screening of Hidden Figures for low-income girls, and decided to start his

own fundraiser entitled The Black Panther Challenge, which shared a similar goal of taking children in Harlem, New York to see the trending Marvel film. In the end, his project collected over $50,000 via GoFundMe. According to Richardson, after learning about her project to promote The Black Friend through social media, Joseph gave Richardson “his full blessing.” She said, “He’s such a nice man. He’s like a big brother now to me.”

I think Bolles is trying, but as James Baldwin said, “How much time do I need for your progress?”

— Taylor Richardson Richardson’s fundraiser recently achieved its latest goal of $22,000, but she continues to reach for the stars. “I’m working to get the author [Joseph] to do a The Black Friend panel with me in late March,” she said.

Furthermore, Richardson aspires to instill the book’s reformative power into the Bolles curriculum.

She stated, “My big goal would be to make this book a required summer reading for incoming ninth graders. Still working on that one, but I got a year to make it happen before I graduate next spring. So, fingers crossed.”

Richardson’s passion for community service has run in the family for generations.

Richardson continues to stay in touch with the author of The Black Friend, Frederick T. Joseph, whether “it’s by cell or email or social media.”

Photo Credit: Taylor Richardson

“My mom is known as the connector of people; she literally knows everyone. And I’ve been volunteering with my Nana since I was six years old,” Richardson said. “So you can say community service is in the Richardson blood.

Three generations of it.”

However, Richardson’s role models include more than just family members. Other than a handful of people who each influence her in a different way, a community Richardson says her mother entitled “the village,” Richardson idolizes Mae Jemison, the first Black astronaut to travel to space. She recalled, “I’ve now met her twice, and her drive, determination, and perseverance inspire me every day. And it’s not that she is the first [Black astronaut in space], but that she works hard.”

At Bolles, her primary goals match those of a determined student and leader. “I am grateful

Richardson’s Book Recommendations: Nine Days: The Race to Save Dr. Martin Luther King Stephen and Paul Kendrick

Unless We Tell It... It Never Gets Told!

Rodney L. Hurst Sr.

Long Time Coming Michael Eric Dyson

to the teachers and faculty who are teaching us and challenging us to put our best foot forward academically, and so my biggest accomplishment is ensuring I make them and myself proud of the work I do academically and the character of being a good student and friend. That’s what I think the Bolles Way should be.”

Richardson emphasizes that Bolles must continue working to form a legacy of racial equality synonymous with the school’s academic and athletic prestige.

“My mom recently said we have to be on the right side of history. I think Bolles is trying, but as James Baldwin said, ‘How much time do I need for your progress?’”

While she has individually initiated a plethora of service projects, Richardson believes it takes a united community to end widespread racism altogether. She encourages everyone to “find a cause or purpose and go after it yourself to make change. Whether you raise $22,000 like me or $22 for two books, it all matters and is equally important.”

To anyone who is eager to foster change within the community, Richardson’s advice is to “put yourself out there. Let’s face it. The world is changing and we, youth, are not waiting to change the future; we are changing it now!”

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Heroes, Leaders, Inspirations Students’ Most Inspiring Female Role Models

Ian Peiris Online Editor

My greatest female role model is Jacinda Ardern. I think Ardern is very inspiring how she was raised in a poor family in a bad neighborhood.

However, she didn’t let this define her.

Ardern worked her way to the head of the Labour Party and subsequently Prime Minister of New Zealand. She is passionate about the environment, improving poverty in the country, and doesn’t let being a woman inhibit what she can do or her beliefs.

Meagan Donovan (‘21) One of my greatest female role models is Sheryl Sandberg. Sheryl has had an absolutely astounding career; she was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, chief of staff for the United States Treasury Department during the Clinton presidency, and she is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook.

As an adult, I would like to either work in finance or tech, and she has showed me how to excel at work while also taking pure joy in it. To me, Sheryl is the definition of a hard worker. Her commitment and range of abilities serves as an example for all.

Raina Swani (‘24)

My greatest STEM role model is Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black female astronaut to go into space. I’ve now met her twice, and her drive, determination, and perseverance inspire me every day.

And it’s not that she is the first, but that she works hard, and I also try to do that as well, which ensures that there is another and another and another.

Taylor Richardson (‘22)

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NEWS “Citizenship is a tough occupation which obliges the citizen to make his own informed opinion and stand by it.”

“I followed the war wherever I could reach it.”

— Martha Gellhorn

Women Lead the Way...

The History of Female Leadership at Bolles Amber Bansal Contributing Writer

W

omen in leadership is a recurring theme on the Upper School campus.

It started with the first female principal, Mrs. Julie Babcock, a former Bolles teacher and staff member who served as principal for over 10 years. And now, she is joined by Mrs. Marks, a former teacher, international coordinator, department chair, and now the head of Upper School.

“[Mrs. Babcock] exemplified her leadership through her relationships with colleagues and students...”

— Mrs. Erin DuChanois Babcock started working at Bolles in 1970. “I worked there for 42 years, I said I would do it until I got tired of it.” During her time here,

she held a variety of positions. “I was never part of admissions and alumni raising money efforts: — those were the only 2 roles I never had,” Babcock said.

Babcock started as a part-time typing teacher and went on to work for the headmaster.

She created her own curriculum for a class called Business Survey and became an advisor, and then went into Mrs. Marks preparing a lesson for her ESL class. college counseling for Credit: Bansal researched past volumes of Turris about 5 years. She moved to the academic office, where she was Bolles, commented on her time at incharge of academic records and Bolles, “Mrs. Babcock cared deeply testing. about Bolles and about students and that is what motivated She became principal twice over her work. She exemplified the course of about 20 years, her leadership through her alternating between her registrar relationships with colleagues and role and principal. During most of students,” she said. these roles, she continued to teach typing and Business Survey.

Mrs. DuChanois, who knew Babcock while she worked at

“I worked there for 42 years, I said I would do it until I got tired of it.”

— Mrs. Julie Babcock Mrs. Marks started at Bolles in 1989.

First, she was an ESL and Spanish teacher. “I saw that we really had a need for an international student advisor, so I recommended that we start an international student advisor program, and we did,” Marks said.

Along with those positions, a “new language lab was added, and I became the coordinator of that.”

She also proposed that one person

Mrs. Babcock with the senior advisors in college counseling.

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should coordinate all of the travel abroad programs, which she took on in addition to her other positions.

“Do you know what mansplaining is?”

was female,” Babcock explained.

When asked the same question, Marks responded with, “Do you know what mansplaining is?” She proceeded to explain: “Well, at one of our leadership meetings, we all brought articles to discuss, and mine was about mansplaining.

None of the men knew anything about what it was, then one man

— Mrs. Moya Marks The language department chair left and she took on that position.

“As department chair, I also did the coordinator, I did the international student advising and taught one class at the time,” Marks said.

For the past ten years, she has remained the head of the Upper School campus.

Marks was motivated to become head of Upper School because, “I like to consider myself as someone who can give a voice to the faculty, staff, and to the students, of course, to the administration, so I can convey to the faculty, staff, and students why policy is a certain way or why it has to be influenced,” Marks said.

Along with this thread of leadership, Babcock and Marks have experienced struggles as women in leadership. “At the time, the Board of Trustees was all male and they thought I wasn’t all that capable for my position because I

CFO about it, but I wanted to be anonymous, because this person was my superior, and could get me fired pretty easily” she said.

“And, I don’t know how the school dealt with it, but it never happened again, which is what my goal was,” she concluded.

However, despite these struggles, Babock and Marks encourage women who want to go into leadership positions to work for it. “Girls/women need to find a woman leader whom they respect, and watch how she handles herself, her tone and her dress,” Babcock said.

While Marks believes it is easier for women to be in leadership positions, she advises women who are interested in the field to “not put up with jokes or having your opinion discounted.”

Mrs. Julie Babcock and Mrs. DuChanois at the Anchor Club “Welcome back” dinner. even proceeded to explain the whole article without even letting me do so.”

“I like to consider myself as someone who can give a voice to the faculty, staff, and to the students...”

— Mrs. Moya Marks

Marks had to listen to a male superior make a derogatory comment about a female teacher; with this information she “went to talk to the

Mrs. Babcock looking at student test scores in the academic office.

Mrs. Marks going over an assessment with a student in the 90’s.

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Ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of The Living Room pop-up shop All Photos courtesy of Gabrielle Magid

Stronger Together Bolles graduate launches mental health nonprofit Sara Wasserman Contributing Writer

W

e had to change the campus culture around asking for help.” said Gabrielle Magid ‘11.

Gabrielle Magid graduated from Bolles in 2011. “When she entered a classroom, people could not help but notice her bright smile, sparkling eyes, and warm spirit.”

Mrs. Pamela Clubb recalled.

She is remembered by her teachers as always radiating a bubbly personality around campus, but high school is a difficult time for many.

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After graduation, Magid’s own experiences with anxiety and depression inspired her to create Stronger Than Stigma (STS), a nonprofit that advocates for mental health awareness.

“It shouldn’t be a big deal to say I’m not feeling like myself and I need to go talk to somebody.”

Magid insisted.

At UF, Magid realized that students were struggling with their own mental health and not reaching out for help. After a student took their own life on campus, she knew she had to take action.

Magid describes her understanding as to why students

were struggling alone. “Either they didn’t know what the help options were or they felt ashamed.”

The summer after her sophomore year, Magid went on her Birthright trip, a trip to Israel for young adults of Jewish heritage. There she met two friends who were also passionate about mental health, and the idea for Stronger Than Stigma was born.

“Maybe people think of it as a weakness, but reaching out for help really is a strength.” explained Magid. “It’s always a strength and not a weakness.”

However, when she pitched this idea to UF during her sophomore

year, they declined the proposal.

While it was sometimes a discouraging experience, Magid didn’t let this stop her. She grew the project into a nonprofit during her time at UF. “So when I graduated I had a job and a mission.” Magid said.

While her original team pursued other paths following graduation, she proceeded to grow the organization to what it is today.

“I was like, well it lives or dies with me, and so then I took off and continued the journey.” Magid recalls.

Stronger Than Stigma works to dismantle the stigma and misinformation surrounding mental health, as well as creating a community that brings people together. They normalize conversations about these topics, “making the experience more social and less shameful”, as explained by Magid.

“We had to make it cool to talk about your mental health.” Magid said.

STS is branded “for millennials by millennials” with an emphasis on college students and young professionals. While colleges might have counseling options available

to students, those who have already graduated are likely to have a harder time finding guidance.

“We’ve been told to believe we have to figure it all out by the time we graduate college and that’s what we’re going to do for the rest of our lives, when really that’s not true at all.” Magid said.

Stronger Than Stigma hosts comedy events that establish a sense of relatability in viewers. In 2018, Magid took STS on an east coast comedy tour. The Nobody’s Happy Comedy Tour let people share their experiences through laughter in a comfortable and friendly environment.

“Like hey, let’s laugh about it, we’ve all been there. Let’s make it less of a serious or painful ordeal and laughter just brings everybody together.” Magid said While young adults are the focus for STS, they haven’t forgotten about Gen Z. In their How to Be A Feelings Ninja program, STS works with students and trains mental health professionals in schools.

“Basically we use improv comedy games and techniques to teach people coping skills.” explained Magid.

In 2019 the nonprofit created the first pop-up shop around mental health awareness. Located in downtown Jacksonville, Magid and her team created The Living Room, a space where people could gather for interactive and thoughtful conversations.

“They could just sit on the couch and meet strangers and just talk, talk about mental health or anything,” said Magid. “It gave people the opportunity to dig deeper and have meaningful conversations.”

Gabrielle Magid ‘11, Founder and CEO of STS

Before the pandemic, Magid hoped to take The Living Room on the road. Now they’ve created a stronger online presence than ever before. They introduced weekly Un-Meetups over Zoom where people could discuss whatever

Magid with comedian Josh Novey on the Nobody’s Happy Comedy Tour. they wanted, as well as hosting a 31-day virtual event marathon.

“It grew in a really cool way as we adapted.” remarked Magid.

Magid is eager to continue with in-person events once it’s safe.

The nonprofit’s mission is sharing the value of knowing you’re not alone, something that is difficult to convey via Zoom.

“There’s just a buzz and a feeling of togetherness and support that you can’t really get online.” admits Magid.

The team behind STS is carefully constructed to provide the best programming possible.

“There’s eight that serve on the board and then I have an advisory council where it’s licensed clinicians, and a psychiatrist, and a lawyer, and somebody in the finance world.” describes Magid.

Magid suggests that in an uncertain time, it’s especially important to surround yourself with people who can positively impact and reassure you.

“A hug can just do wonders,” said Magid.

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Christine Gaitantzis Bolles alum takes to the skies

T

Ian Wilkinson Contributing Writer

he daily rush-hour-like aerial activity at Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS) had just begun and this nerdy, adventurous Junior’s soul was soaring. “I’d sit out there during my free period and visualize myself doing that one day,” Christine Gaitantzis said, reminiscing on her “Top Gun” dream. But “I was not the one you’d expect to go to a military academy.”

Fast forward 7 years, and she is flying the T-6 to NAS Jax, right over Bolles, practicing landing and taking off on that runway.

However, her journey to piloting wasn’t without its turbulence.

“My motto was always, ‘if there’s a will, there’s a way,’” Gaitantzis said, “It turns out, that’s false.”

Here’s why.

At the Naval Academy every Junior gets measured, physically, as a part of their medical exam.

“I found out that my arms were too short to be a pilot, so I was completely disqualified from aviation,” Gaitantzis said. “It rocked my world. I had the will, and I did everything humanly possible to become a pilot, all for that dream to be crushed over the length of my arms.”

“Yet, I persisted. I would hang from a pull-up bar every day and

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I stopped lifting weights in an attempt to stretch my arms out. I got re-measured—still too short.”

Gaitantzis’s last chance was to get measured in Pensacola. So, over spring break, she flew home from Maryland to Jacksonville, picked up her car, and drove five hours to Pensacola to meet with an anthropometrist in a “last ditch effort” to make the arm length quota.

And... still too short.

“Getting told I’d never fly, after only making my life decisions around being a pilot, was a huge obstacle to overcome,” Gaitantzis reflected. “I turned down the Air Force Academy to go to Georgia Tech and do NROTC because I specifically wanted to be a navy pilot.”

Nonetheless, “I couldn’t hang my hat on something that might never happen, when it seemed like the universe was clearly telling me to move on.”

That very summer Gaitantzis changed direction, starting her summer training on water in preparation to serve as a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO).

“In that time, I did a lot of soul searching.” Questions like, “why was I at the Naval Academy if I wasn’t meant to be a pilot?” ran through her head.

“That’s where I realized that the Naval Academy is not about

making my personal dreams come true. It’s about becoming a leader and serving this country.”

“I finally came to terms with my new reality, and even became more proud over time just to have the opportunity to become an officer at all, no matter which capacity it was in. I truly came to a place where I wanted to serve wherever I would make the most difference.”

Thus, Gaitantzis realigned her opinion on becoming a SWO. “I am a Floridian born and raised—I love the ocean and being out at sea. I started reorienting my mind to become a sailor. I spent

I had the will, and I did everything humanly possible to become a pilot, all for that dream to be crushed over the length of my arms.

— Christine Gaitantzis (‘14) a collective two months at sea throughout summer training and got to go to California, Oregon, and Hawaii. I loved the adventure.”

Even so, her heart still resounded to the thrum of engines, her soul still ready to take flight...

The summer after her time at sea, Gaitantzis was obligated to attend

the French Naval Academy for a semester abroad. But, before she left she “got a text from my friend who I did NROTC at Georgia Tech with.”

Her friend was in Pensacola being measured for her pilot medical qualifiers, and “while she was getting measured she saw my name on a sticky note on someone’s computer and wanted to let me know.”

Talk about nerve-wracking.

“I emailed the measuring lady just to check in and see if the rule had in fact changed, and she said it did and that I was qualified!”

The only problem was, Gaitantzis had to be at the Naval Academy when school started back up to get re-measured. “I [had] found this out the same day that I was supposed to be leaving on a plane to go to France for the entire semester.”

“I didn’t get on the plane.”

“I gave up those sixth months for the chance to get measured in one day,” remembered Gaitantzis, “which didn’t even mean that I’d be selected to fly anyways. I had spent a whole summer on a ship, after all, instead of training with aviators, so I wasn’t exactly high- I’d priority to be selected for pilot.”

But she knew, if she left for France, that she would always wonder what would have happened if she stayed. If she had chosen to be a Navy pilot over a SWO.

Gaitantzis proudly standing on the wing of her T-9 while it is being fueled and checked out for readiness.

Photo Credit: Christine Gaitantzis what I do doesn’t make me who I am.”

Once “I got to the point where I was just so grateful to be attending college for free, and to be on the path to serve as an officer, then the opportunity to fly presented

out what to do!” Gaitantzis remembered, reminiscing about her first experience in the air.

“The very first time I had to fly by myself, I remember thinking that the pilot school was crazy for trusting me with an airplane by myself.”

sit out there during my But “when you get on that runway free period and visualize and look straight down it, there’s else you can think about myself doing that one day. nothing except the task at hand: getting — Christine Gaitantzis (‘14) off the ground… It’s always a great

“I needed that whole saga to happen to me,” Gaitantzis reflected “I only saw the Naval Academy as a stepping stone for me to accomplish my dream. But the truth is, even if you have the will, it might not be what’s meant for you.”

In fact, “it’s about serving in whatever way I’m needed. I feel I needed to learn that lesson, as well as fully lose my “identity” as a pilot, to have it given back to me

by God or the universe or whatever you want to call it. Now I know that

itself to me again. And I chased it again. Except this time, becoming a pilot wasn’t the end all be all. I was finally grounded in who I was as a person that I was ready and excited to accept whatever service selection I was given.”

Before she knew it, Gaitantzis was sitting in the pilots seat of a T-9 Turboprop, revving up for her first flight after hours of studying charts, frequencies, altitudes, and “chair flying.”

“I honestly don’t remember too much from my first flight because I was so focused on figuring

feeling: just leaving everything else on the ground and focusing on one thing for the next hour and a half. It’s almost like meditation in that sense. High speed meditation.”

Even now, Gaitantzis’s favorite flying memory occurred close to home, with her flying one of the planes she saw almost eight years ago. “I flew from Pensacola to Jacksonville, and then landed at Jacksonville International to meet up with my mom for a quick hour before I had to take off again and keep training.” She knew that, just 22.8 miles away, across the river from NAS, was the spot where her dream began to take flight.

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Gaitantzis Offers Four Pieces of Advice to Help You on Your Own Journey 1 ) Remember that whatever is meant to be will be. I definitely believe in manifesting your dreams—as you know I’ve been manifesting being a pilot since the days I would sit out on the Bolles lawn and dream. But that doesn’t mean everything you dream up is meant for you. If it’s not where you will grow the most, serve the most, and become the best person you were meant to be, then you have to be able to keep moving forward in a new direction. I know it sounds like I got everything I wanted in the end, but I actually always wanted to fly jets and got E-2’s.

And I couldn’t be happier. However, maybe down the road I will try for jets again.

2 ) I never achieved anything on the first try. But I honored my dreams with perseverance. I always kept in mind something Ms. Jacobson used to tell our class: “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

3 ) For people that want to become a pilot or be in the military, it’s important to really ask yourself why you want to serve. What are you willing to sacrifice? What gives your life fulfillment? Then, keep those reasons close to your heart to help you through the difficult times.

4 ) No matter what occupation you choose, find a mentor! Someone who has walked your path and knows what is up ahead. vilicae is.

Many hours have been spent in this chair, practicing for flight. In this photo, her dog is training to fly a T-9 Turbocrop.

Thoughts to Live By ~Quotes and Motivation~

“There is more in us than we know if we could be made to see it; perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.”

“Honor your dreams with perseverance.” “[I’ve said] ‘fall down seven times, get up eight,’ to myself a lot over the years. If you look back on the last 10 years of my life, I think that sums it up pretty well. Lots of falling down, falling short, and trying again. I am not a natural at really anything. But the success comes in the sixth, seventh, or eighth rising. I may not be a natural, but I am resilient.”

Christine Gaitantzis is with her mom at Jacksoville International Airport.

For her, this was a full-circle moment.

Photo Credit: Christine Gaitantzis

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OP-ED “History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”

— Marsha P. Johnson

Reaching for the Stars Amber Bansal Contributing Writer

H

ave you ever wanted to talk to the people we see on screen, on stage, and online? And just feel noticed by the famous people we all look up to?

Well, the Bugle Staff decided to DM (direct message) 75+ celebrities on social media to see if they would respond, so you wouldn’t have to.

DMing celebrities is a vicious cycle.

You may start with one celebrity, but then see the recommended accounts and end up messaging another, and another, and another, until you end up with 30 sent messages, and two hours of your time wasted.

The process can be stressful, as you question the prospect of rejection. As I was writing my 30+ DMs, I thought, “what if they don’t respond?” and “Will they like the message?” I figured, you have to add a fair amount of flattery and a few questions to even have the possibility of them responding.

So, for every DM, I talked about what an inspiration they were and so on. And, one by one, I carefully crafted funny and engaging

“But, one Bugle staffer recieved a response... from Rabbi Sandra!”

— Amber Bansal

messages, doing everything in my power to be unique to get them to see the message.

Now, every morning when I wake up, and any time I have during the day, I check my Instagram for an expected response. But, sadly, I

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have yet to receive one.

But, one Bugle staffer received a response from Rabbi Sandra!

Rabbi Sandra is “a rabbi who creates Jewish content on TikTok,” Contributing Writer Atticus Dickson said. Her content mostly centers around Jewish songs and parshah, a weekly Torah portion analyses.

Rabbi Sandra has about 24,000 followers on TikTok! Though DMing celebrities seems impossible, it is an opportunity to talk to successful people and form connections. And, while it is a longshot, there’s no harm in trying!

Here is an example for Nick Jonas!

Nick is my favorite celebrity so, using the tips to the right, I will write a sample DM… Hey Nick!! My name is Amber and I am a highschooler in Florida!

I am a HUGE fan of the Jonas Brothers! I came to the Happiness Begins concerts in Orlando and Jacksonville!

I love your music and I can’t wait for the “Spaceman” album to come out! You did an amazing job on SNL and your new song “This is Heaven” was great!

I can’t wait for The Voice to premiere! Who is your battle advisor for this season?

I know this is a longshot, but if you are willing, I am on my school newspaper and would LOVE to interview you for my story!!

At this point, I could attach some fan art to try and get him to share the art on his account. Or, I could keep commenting on his posts and be active on his IG lives.

Here are some tips on how to get celebrities to respond!

Introduce yourself… Try to soften them up by talking a little bit about yourself.

Add some compliments…

Show them that you know a little about them and are not just DMing them to get noticed.

Ask questions… Ask things that they will want to answer.

For example, if they are a singer, ask them if they are working on a new album.

Message during the right time… DM during the window of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to try to be polite.

Try to get them to follow you… This is the golden rule in celebrity DMing; if they follow you, then your message will show up in their inbox, not in their requests. To do this, do not ask them directly, instead share things that get noticed, use hashtags, and repost their posts.

See an example of a celebrity DM to the left!

All pictures on the facing page credit: Google Images

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Pedro Pascal - Ellen Degeneres - John Legend - Awkwafina - Madame VP - John Krasinski - Michelle Obama - Patrick J. Adams - Anil Kapoor - Harry Styles Shah Rukh Khan - Shay Mitchell - Rabbi Sandra - Mark Wahlberg - Zoe Saldana - Sofia Vergara - Bbebe Rexhxa - Lilly Singh - Ariana Grande

Chris Evans - Dan Levy - Kevin Jonas - Taylor Cummings - Jenna Fischer - Henry Golding - Hank Greene - Andrew Barth Fledman Bobby Flay - Lupita Nyong’o - Gabby Douglas - Rainn Wilson - Deepika Padukone - Priyanka Chopra Jonas - Chris Cuomo

Shawn Mendes - Naomi Osaka - Beto O’Roarke - Nabela Noor - Joe Jonas - Jon Ossof - Anderson Cooper - Mark Hamil - Mindy Kailing - Zensaya - Simone Biles - Tom Holland - Greta Thunberg - Gal Gadot - Lana Condor - Noah Centineo - Julie Andrews - John Mulaney - Annie Murphy - Paul Bettany

Elizabeth Olsen - Patrick Dempsey - Lilly Collins - Alexandra Ocasio Cortez - James Corden - Selena Gomez - Phillipa Soo - Kelly Clarkson - Ellen Pompeo - Demi Lovato -Nick Jonas - Constance Wu -Justin Bieber - Jimmy Kimmel - Barack Obama

Tubman on $20

Above: Proposed look of the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson Photo Credits: NY Times

Efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill Avani Bansal Co-Editor-In-Chief

H

ave you noticed that the historical figures presented on the United States currency, the dollar bill, are all white males?

The current figures on US dollar bills are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Franklin, and William McKinley. Most of whom supported slavery and were slave owners themselves.

In 2016, the Obama administration proposed that Harriet Tubman, a former slave and abolitionist, should replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. Her life as an enslaved person who then gained freedom and her work towards achieving racial equality prove that Tubman is beyond worthy of this honor.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew from the Obama Administration explained, “our currency will now tell more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well

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as men to our great democracy.”

One of the Biden Administration’s campaign points was that, if elected, they would resume the campaign to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. This initiative, originally set in motion by the Obama Administration, was halted by the Trump Administration.

“Our currency will now tell more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well as men to our great democracy.”

— Jack Lew

Treasury Secretary Former President Trump disagreed with the idea of putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, but felt that it would be more appropriate to put her on the $2 bill. He said as the $2 bill circulates less than any other dollar bill. According to the

US Department of the Treasury, as of April 2007, the $2 bill circulates about seven times less than the $20 bill.

Now, the Biden Administration is trying to accelerate the process saying that the circulation of this new $20 bill will begin in 2028.

Tubman will be the first black woman on a dollar bill and the first woman on US paper currency in over a century. The current figures on the bills are all white males.

According to CNBC news, “redesigning a bill is an intricate process that will take time and require more changes than a simple face swap.” A redesigned bill would probably make an appearance sometime around 2025.

The primary reason for the delay is that extreme caution needs to be taken to prevent counterfeiting.

$5

Martin Luther King Jr.

Sojourner Truth

Harriet Tubman

Abraham Lincoln

Alexander Hamilton

$10 Andrew Jackson

$20

Susan B. Anthony

Marian Anderson

Some potential currency changes in the works: - Adding Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul to the back of the $10 bill - Adding Civil rights icons Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Marian Anderson on the back of the $5 bill.

Additional Female Abolitionists: Maria W. Stewart:

First woman to address an audience of men and women where she spoke out against slavery.

The Forten Women:

A mother, her daughters, and her granddaughter financially supported the abolitionist movement for 3 generations and assisted runaway slaves.

Sojourner Truth:

Supported and educated the general public on antislavery and women’s rights after having been born into slavery and experiencing slavery for 29 years. Even though she could not read or write, she made sure to spread her message to better the state of racism in the United States.

Mary Prince:

Black woman who wrote a book showing the harsh reality of the Carribben Slave trade.

Sara Mapp Douglass: Founding member of the bi-racial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.

BOLLESBUGLEONLINE.COM

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Colorblind Casting: Curse or Blessing?

Clariss Valdivia Contributing Writer

R

acially-blind casting, or colorblind casting, is defined as “casting that does not take race or ethnicity into account.”

On the surface, this seems like a positive to a lot of people. One of the most popular examples of this is the Broadway musical Hamilton, where POC, or people of color, are cast to play historically white characters. Colorblind casting is very prominent in entertainment being adapted from a predominantly white historical background, even seen in the popular Netflix series ‘Bridgerton’.

“Colour-blind casting is dangerous in the same way the phrase: ‘I don’t see race’ is dangerous.”

So is color-blind casting good or bad?

There are multiple layers to it. Some say “acting should only matter,” but in that instance directors could get away with an all-white cast.

Diversity plays a large role in the

(Above) Brandy Norville (Left) (Cinderella) and Whitney Houston (Right) (Fairy Godmother)

directors are whitewashing the material and taking away the role from a minority.

This is a Caption.

This is the Credit.

According to The New York Times, this is to make it clear that “such time-honored stories belong to all of us, regardless of race.” But is colorblind casting really all that progressive? A lot of people seem not to think so.

“It’s dangerous to not see race.” said The Guardian, describing one specific instance when the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People cast three main characters of color to be the antagonists. For this reason, Diep Trans, an arts journalist specialising in the morals of diversity, claimed that:

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(Above) Chicago Hamilton cast

entertainment industry, and while colorblind casting was initially termed to aid in that effort, it can also work against POC. Whitewashing is a factor to consider when colorblind casting is being discussed. Emma Stone, Scarlett Johanssen, and Natalie Portman, all very white, have played characters that were of Asian descent in the source material. All of these could be examples of ‘colorblind casting,’ a concept designed for more diversity and inclusivity, but in reality,

On the other side, colorblind casting gives actors of color the freedom to portray certain roles they might not have been able to otherwise. One example of which is the live action reboot of The Little Mermaid with Halle Bailey playing the role of Ariel, or the 1997 Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, with Brandy Norwood as Cinderella.

Both are actresses of color cast as originally white princesses. In these instances, representation is crucial, so young children see themselves represented on screen as heroes and princesses. Of course there are major downsides to colorblind casting, but ultimately it does more good than evil if used correctly, but it is a risky situation, and can be used against POC. So what should we do if there are dangerous downsides to colorblind casting? Diep Trans suggests an alternative: “color-conscious” casting. This way, directors can keep in mind diversity and inclusivity, while also being careful to not cast based on harmful stereotypes unconsciously.

SPORTS “You were born to run. Maybe not that fast, maybe not that far, maybe not as efficiently as others. But to get up and move, to fire up that entire energy-producing, oxygen-delivering, bone-strengthening process we call running.”

— Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo Jo)

Junior Leadership In Lacrosse Elliana Emery Contributing Writer

W

omen’s lacrosse is one of the sports at Bolles that does not get a lot of recognition despite winning the district championship in 2017, “but also not a lot of people come to our games so we don’t really get the hype,” junior Isabelle Gurtler said. Gurtler joined the Bolles lacrosse team in 6th grade and started playing for the high school in 7th. Some virtues she has gained are her ability to manage time better and “make new friends that I wouldn’t be friends with otherwise.”

This year, Lindsey Blisko (‘22) became the team captain for the school team. Blisko has one main goal this season. She wants “all of us to just gel together faster than we used to and just see an overall increase in our accuracy on the major skills.” She is in her 10th season playing lacrosse for two clubs: Ponte Vedra’s club and Beaches Lacrosse. This is also her sixth year for Bolles.

“I think that’s what makes us really special as a team. We just all think the same way.”

Lindsey Blisko playing at a lacrosse tourney during the summer going into her sophomore year.

Photo Credits: Lindsey Blisko

- Ridhi Harmani

reminds them they can still come back. “It’s just reminding them, we’ve done this before we can do it again,” she said.

Being the team captain comes with great responsibility and leadership but Blisko already knows how since she was the captain on the JV cheer team freshman year.

Her main goal is keeping her teammates encouraged and leading by example. When there are times they are losing she

However, Ridhi Harmani (22’) is not a six-year lacrosse player but has been playing for three, and “it just stuck,” she said. She has been a part of the Bolles lacrosse team for 3 years, playing in the attacking position, and has loved every part of it. She especially loves the relationships she has gained through this sport. Ridhi said, “I

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think that’s what makes us really special as a team. We just all think the same way.”

To prepare for games, Harmani hangs out with some teammates and eats a healthy meal.

“The better you eat the better performance you’ll have in a game,” she said. Doing this helps her have a good mindset going into the game so she feels less pressure and stress. In highpressure environments, she likes to tell herself “when you make a

Gurtler also likes to use this sport as a way to release emotions that may be cooped inside during the day. She said, “you can get angry, I guess, and a lot of that aggression comes out.” Her aggression also factors in high-pressure games.

Even if she doesn’t need to calm down “it’s such a fast game that you don’t have the time to realize there’s a lot of pressure. You just go, and then it’s over,” she explained.

Ridhi Harmani (left), Brooke Koons (middle), and Rylie Righaver (right) take a mirror selfie prior to a game.

Photo Credits: Ridhi Harmani mistake you should acknowledge it and make sure you don’t do it again and then get over it.”

Along with leadership opportunities for Blisko, this sport is also her way of expressing emotions. “If I get a test grade I didn’t want or I get an assignment I’m not excited about or anything like that I take it all out on the field,” she explained. “It’s my escape from the school day.”

Ridhi’s mindset with handling tough scenarios plays a great role with her being a junior on the team. Even though the team is very close, she also knows the younger players are the future of Bolles lacrosse and wants to teach them what they know so they can carry it on. She said, “I feel like we’re pretty close but there also comes a sense where like, we’re upperclassmen now and it kinda comes with a responsibility.”

The team has bonded extremely close, joining old and new members. “Even the new people are kinda absorbed into it,” Isabelle said.

With the strength and intelligence of these three junior leaders, the female lacrosse season is heading in a great direction. The season has just begun and this team has a intense journey ahead.

Q+A with senior girls Lacrosse players: How long have you been playing for Bolles? In general?

Somerset Acosta-Rua: “I started playing lacrosse when I was a freshman in highschool, so this is my 4th year.”

Leila Roberts: “I have been playing lacrosse for Bolles since 6th grade.”

What is your favorite part about lacrosse?

Somerset: “Everyone on the team is super friendly and were all super good friends. In practice not everyday is hardcore so we can make some fun tik toks and you can watch at @bgldiarys.”

Leila: “My favorite part of lacrosse is being with my teammates.”

What position do you play?

Can you explain what it does?

Somerset: “The position I play is middle and this is both defense and offense, so basically I’m just running the entire time which is good exercise.”

Leila: “I play midfielder, this position plays defense, offense and carries the ball across the middle of the field.”

How do you mentally get into the game mode?

Somerset: “Listening to a good playlist that Leila Roberts made for the team!”

Leila: “I like to listen to our warmup playlist (BGL warmup on spotify) and make some tik toks on our BGL tik tok account (bgldiarys).”

What virtues have you gained from lacrosse?

Leila Roberts (left) and Somerset Acosta-Rua (right) posing after a home-game.

Photo Credits: Somerset Acosta-Rua

Somerset: “Good sportsmanship and always trying to make people laugh during games and practice.”

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Behind the Friday Night Lights A manager’s dedication to the game Katie Creveling Contrubuting Writer

A

mid all the corona chaos in the fall of 2020, you may have overlooked a new addition to our decorated football team. Emma Stasiak (‘22,) a transfer to Bolles from St. Johns Country Day, brought her experience with the game to the field.

Stasiak is the only female member of the football team or staff. One might wonder if this presents any challenges, but Stasiak says that she doesn’t even notice it.

Stasiak said, “Once I am around them, my mindset just entirely changes. I just go into football mode, and it’s like Emma does not exist anymore.”

Stasiak has been intrigued about football ever since she was a child, which led her to become the team manager at her previous school.

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When transferring to Bolles, Stasiak wanted to continue to manage football. On top of that, she knew managing would be a great way to meet friends, “It was very very helpful in the beginning because I didn’t know anyone.”

“It’s so fun just to interact with people and know that you’re doing something that is helping them.”

— Emma Stasiak (‘22) Stasiak points out that being a new student in a time of hybrid learning could have been challenging, “Like I came into Bolles knowing one person, and so it was really helpful to have...especially with the blended thing.”

Stasiak refers to her position as, “a little bit like a glorified watergirl and mechanic. But I absolutely despise being called a watergirl. I do more than that.”

Which makes sense because her responsibilities as a manager are endless.

She attends all practices for both JV and Varsity, attends both JV and Varsity games, helps hydrate the players, tapes up injured wrists, fixes broken equipment, disinfects surfaces, and pretty much everything in between.

Some of Stasiak’s challenges have included cracked hands from wearing gloves, dodging in and out of the locker room, sprinting to run errands for coaches and going through canisters of Clorox wipes.

“Anytime anyone tells you that you don’t have to actually work to be a manager,” Stasiak said, “They’re lying.”

While the football season does have a definite beginning and an end, Stasiak has never managed this long of a season, “I’m just exhausted honestly. It’s just exhausting because at my old school we never went past like October, and then this year we went all the way up until Christmas break.”

Stasiak continued,“So it was way more than I have ever done before, and for a lot more people, for a lot more time, and it was just a lot.”

Coach Toblin commented that Stasiak was “Simply awesome. She is awesome. That’s all. Awesome.”

“I just have the most respect for them and I like to think that they have a lot of respect for me.”

— Emma Stasiak (‘22) Stasiak did initially struggle to establish authority during her first season at Bolles. “I just have the most respect for them and I like to think that they have a lot of respect for me. Because I do work hard to make their job easier. I just tell them all the time it’s like I’m here to help you do your job so you help me help you.”

that you’re doing something that is helping them.”

The football team had an impressive season, and competed in the state championship, placing second to Cardinal Gibbons High School.

Stasiak’s passion for the sport and dedication to the team has without a doubt helped lead the team to success.

Stasiak said the best feeling is, “Whenever I hear that one of them gets an offer or one of them commits. I’m just so proud of all of them because I know how much work they put in. I see every single day how hard they push themselves.”

Stasiak feels that her work with the team makes her an advocate for viewing high school football players as transcending stereotypes of jocks. “I just have the most respect for all of them and I think it does a lot for me because I know that they don’t fit the stereotype of just like ‘Oh, like this stupid football player jock dudes.’”

Stasiak considers her most important accomplishment the bonds that she has created with members of the team. “They’re all amazing, I would defend all of them to my last breath, they’re great.”

Emma wants to make sure that the team manager legacy continues to live on, “I’m actually trying to like find some freshman or sophomore who will like to continue it. It’s so helpful to the coaches and it’s just such a good experience in general.

You just learn how to manage things and very smelly boys which is an extra challenge.”

Next year, Emma will be a senior and the 2021 fall season will be her last managing season.

Stasiak said, “I’m so excited to come back in a couple of years and see how much they’ve grown.

I think it’s just so exciting to be a part of somebody else’s life like that. It’s just really awesome to be able to kind of tag along for the ride.”

Despite the difficulties presented by the coronavirus during the season, Stasiak viewed the challenge positively, “It kind of made me more focused because I wasn’t just thinking about my health and safety, but I was thinking about, like, 75 other people’s health and safety.”

Stasiak’s dedication to the football team probably comes from her commitment to helping others.

Stasiak has aspirations to study sports medicine in college, and eventually become a physical therapist. Over the summer Stasiak interned at a physical therapist’s office, “It’s so fun just to interact with people and know

Stasiak on the sidelines with members of the football team and staff.

Credits: Brandy Stasiak BOLLESBUGLEONLINE.COM

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About Team Moms What It’s Like Behind the Scenes P. Taylor Ford Copy Editor

Team moms are like the stage managers in a huge Broadway play. They’re the back bone of the whole production so nothing falls apart and everything goes according to plan.

Being a team mom is no joke and is a serious commitment.

When questioned how long she, Roxanne Epstein, had been a team mom she took a pause and said “their whole lives” and ended with a chuckle.

Being a team mom is not a chore for Epstein and Robyn Roberts. It is a chance to be closer to their own kids and to the children surrounding them.

“I like being a team mom just because it still allows me to be involved with my kids and be connected to the school. I just enjoy that part of it,” said

Before the playoffs was the playoff send off and the parents all decorated the trunks of their cars on Thaksgiving and the team walked through.

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Roberts who has been a team mom for Bolles since 2014.

Epstein also commented on this topic saying, “You always know all of the kids and you know most of the parents or at least you know which kid goes with which parent and you get to know the coaches and things like that.”

“One of the hardest things about being a team mom is making sure you get the communication part down. So, gathering all the emails, gathering all the parents phone numbers and getting all their information to make sure that everyone is getting communicated with so that people aren’t left out,” said Roberts.

Along with trying to communicate with everyone team moms also organize snacks, but each sport does it a little differently. For football Epstein said that they have pre game and after game meals

while Roberts, who is in charge of girls lacrosse, said “we try to divide up the snacks between the parents but I end up doing it a lot.”

Epstein commented on what it means to her on being a team mom, “It’s just being that extra help since they [the coaches] are so busy with the whole team and coaching you get to do all the fun party stuff.”

For Homecoming week the moms brought pizza and treats for the football team.

This was the morning of the championships. While the busses rolled out the parents stood on the sidewalk with signs, fat heads, and balloons for their kids.

STUDENT LIFE “We have to build things that we want to see accomplished, in life and in our country, based on our own personal experiences ... to make sure that others ... do not have to suffer the same discrimination.”

— Patsy Takemoto Mink

Ruperto Aces Gap Year Atticus Dickson Contributing Writer

W

hile most of her peers migrated online for their freshman year of college, alum Annie Ruperto (‘20) has taken flight in 2020-21 by going on a gap year, with two internships and plans to go on a service trip to Costa Rica starting in April.

Ruperto is truly a polymath, as co-valedictorian with plans to double major in physics and classics at Harvard starting in the 2021-2022 school year.

Over this past year, she has done an internship at the Ackerman Cancer Center over the summer, “[doing] computer coding.”

Surprisingly, Ruperto said working in the Cancer Center during COVID-19 was not as stressful as most people would imagine, because all of the patients and staff are normally masked the whole time due to the delicate nature of cancer treatment.

Ruperto said she will likely go into a similar business via medical physics. To become a medical physicist, you need to either major in applied or theoretical physics.

In most places, you only need a masters degree, but Ruperto plans to get her PhD, because many of the medical physicists at her internship said it will likely be necessary in most places to be involved in patient treatment.

Ruperto said, “I’ve always been super interested in physics, and I like the idea of saying, ‘Hey, here’s like a hands on way that I am helping people.’”

Ruperto is currently finishing up her second internship of the 2020-2021 school year at a local investment company.

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Ruperto skating in a game.

Photo Credit: Annie Ruperto She asks questions. Ruperto said, “Logical thinking skills and research skills [I learned in high school] have been very helpful.”

“I feel like taking a year to do whatever, volunteer, work, travel, spend time with family, etc, helps decompress your mind and takes a lot of the pressure and stress from school and entering a new phase of life off of you.”

— Annie Ruperto ‘20

Ruperto said that some of the most valuable things she learned were the expenses of running a startup.

“Like, the overhead costs here for all the different kinds of things you need insurance for, and like,

why are office chairs so insanely expensive? Oh, we need new office chairs, each office chair costs over $700.”

Although she has enjoyed the research, Ruperto said it’s not likely something that she wants to do with her life. “I don’t think I enjoy it enough to want to keep it as a backup plan and I need to look for other options.”

This is the benefit of internships, letting people “try on” careers.

Ruperto said, “So, while it’s [investment] not what I want to do, it’s helped me figure out what I don’t want to be doing.”

Overall, she says that she enjoys the experience. “It’s a small office there’s 12 of us so it’s a pretty close environment. I think we all get along pretty well.”

But, she has also realized that highschoolers often take the amount of freedoms we are given for granted. “It’s hard to appreciate, like how much freedom you have what school.”

Ruperto said students focused on tests and quizzes and final exams don’t always realize “how interesting it is to learn all these things.”

Another thing Ruperto says students should appreciate abotut school is the variety. “Until you start working and then you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be working for the rest of my life and I won’t have the same amount of freedom.’”

Ruperto has been savoring the freedom of playing recreational hockey over the gap year with the adult league at Jacksonville Ice and Sportsplex. “We just won our last game three-two and overtime.”

Ruperto has been playing hockey for ten years and currently plays left wing. “The best part is the feeling you get when you score.”

After her second internship ends, Ruperto heads out on a Costa Rican service trip. “It’s with a program called EF Gap Year. “Okay. And we basically do two months there, like one month of learning Spanish.

And then one month of, like, service, Conservation Service, like replanting trees, cleaning up beaches, stuff like that.”

She says part of the reason why she chose to go to Costa Rica is because she already speaks some Spanish “So if something happens, I wouldn’t feel totally helpless.”

Ruperto said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll go somewhere in South America or Central America, and I can help out, and it’ll be a good time.’”

As for college in this coming spring, Ruperto is excited to return to some semblance of normalcy.

“I’m just really looking forward to meeting new people and, like, getting back into classes.”

Ruperto at graduation.

Photo Credit: Annie Ruperto extending far into my adult life, because I really enjoy tutoring,” as well as liking Latin poetry.

“I like the way that structure goes, and I think like it’s so different from English poetry, just with verb placement and everything like it completely changes the way your brain processes it, so I like that a lot.”

She especially likes Catullus even though “He’s mainstream but there’s a reason he’s mainstream.”

Ruperto says that overall she would absolutely recommend a gap year to anyone considering taking one.

“I feel like taking a year to do whatever, volunteer, work, travel, spend time with family, helps decompress your mind and takes a lot of the pressure and stress from school and entering a new phase of life off of you.”

Top: Ruperto on the ice pregame.

Photo Credit: Annie Ruperto Bottom: Ruperto celebrating victory with a teammate.

Photo Credit: Annie Ruperto

Ruperto plans to major in physics because “Physics is going to take me on multiple different paths.”

She’ll continue her study of classics because “I’ve been tutoring someone in Latin, so I can see that, BOLLESBUGLEONLINE.COM

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Girl Scouts Go for Gold Juniors Pursue Service Awards Cameron Gratz Contributing Writer

F

or Lindsey Blisko ‘22, the Gold Award means inspiring women and girls to succeed in the world. Recognizing Girl Scouts who organize and lead projects to benefit their communities in a sustainable way, the Gold Award is the highest award in the Girl Scouts program.

Blisko hopes that through her project, she can help economically struggling women. She described her project, saying, “It’s going to be kind of a seminar-type deal with multiple different speakers and then maybe a panel talking about various topics. So I’ll have like women that started their own businesses, a girl that started her own club at a school, things along those lines.” Her hope is that by

providing positive role models, she can encourage generations of women to fulfill their goals.

Blisko reflected on her experience leading the GenWOW Club at Bolles and how it inspired her current project, saying, “I went to one of their major events, which at the time was in person but they had

“And so what I figured is we have to have it built in a way that it’s sustainable, and so I am allowing the GenWOW Club to continue the event after I leave.”

a panel and speakers and things along those lines. And so what I figured is we have to have it built in a way that it’s sustainable, and so I am allowing the GenWOW Club to continue the event after I leave, and so I figured it should be something that deals with the club.”

Julia Peiris ‘22 has had to make adaptations to her project due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “Originally I wanted to do family portraits for veterans because I know a lot of people can’t afford them because they’re pretty pricey.

And so I think they’re something everybody cherishes. Photos last forever and they’re really good for record keeping, and so I feel like it would be a good memory.”

— Lindsey Blisko ‘22

Blisko ‘22 (left) and Peiris ‘22 (right) have both been Girl Scouts since elementary school. They are seen here selling cookies.

Photo via Julia Peiris.

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people like that who don’t get to have a lot of visitors often.”

“And so I think they’re something everybody cherishes. Photos last forever and they’re really good for record keeping, and so I feel like it would be a good memory.”

— Julia Peiris ‘22 However, with the pandemic limiting her ability to do a project in person, Peiris has developed a new project.

Her new plan is to host Zoom meetings so she can hear elderly people, especially veterans, tell their stories. She said of her idea, “I know a lot of people like to talk about their stories, and a lot of the time, we neglect listening to them.

And so I feel like this is a good way to capture their stories, because I know they have a lot of interesting stories. And I’m a person who really loves to listen to other people’s stories. Everything about people, I just love listening to it.”

Peiris described her inspiration for the project, saying, “We were brainstorming and one of my troop members’ mom was like ‘Oh yeah, my grandfather, he tells a lot of stories and we always love listening to them, so you could do something with that.’ And I was like, ‘Oh wow, I never thought about that. That’s actually something really interesting.’”

Emily Rohan ‘22, meanwhile, is working on an environmentally conscious effort to reuse flowers from special events. She described her project, saying, “I’ve noticed that when there’s big events, big weddings and stuff, there’s a lot of leftover floral arrangements. And I think especially during times like this with COVID, it would be really nice to gather all the extra floral things that aren’t being used and bring them to hospitals and bring them to kids and sick adults and

Her idea was inspired by personal experience, as she said, “I know when I had surgery on my appendix over summer my parents weren’t allowed to visit me and stuff, but it was just nice to have flowers so I’d at least know someone was thinking of me.”

In addition, she hopes her project will help eliminate waste, saying, “Another big planning thing for me was just I really hate wasting things. I hate wasting things so I think this was just a really good way to not waste such a beautiful aspect or floral arrangement.”

What is Your Favorite Girl Scout Cookie?

Lindsey Blisko: Tagalongs Julia Peiris: Thin Mints and Trefoils Emily Rohan: Thin Mints

She hopes to begin her project over the summer, since she is currently helping with fundraising for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. Also, Rohan plans to work

“I really hate wasting things. I hate wasting things so I think this was just a really good way to not waste such a beautiful aspect or floral arrangement.”

— Emily Rohan ‘22 with hospitals, caterers, and event planners to complete her project.

In addition, she plans to ensure the sustainability of her mission by starting a club or student group to oversee it after her graduation.

She discussed her vision for the plan’s future, saying, “And then with the help of the group... that way I would have people there all the time. So that way, the club, I’m able to keep it going. I’m able to pass it down to other people who are able to keep it going.”

Each of the Girl Scouts plans to complete their project before senior year, since, as Julia Peiris said, “Most Ambassadors want to get it done before senior year so they can put it on their college resume.”

What is the Gold Award?

The Girl Scouts Gold Award recognizes leadership and community service. It is awarded after the completion of a service project that is: •

Connetected to national or global issues.

• Sustainable, and can be maintained after the recipient’s participation.

• A time commitment of roughly 80 hours total. It is recommended that time be planned in increments of two to three hours.

• In relation to an issue the recipient cares about.

Projects are individually led.

Gold Award Girl Scouts are recognized at the annual Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital celebration. The award also makes Girl Scouts eligible for the Gold Award Scholarship, a 1000 dollar educational scholarship awarded to at least 10 Girl Scouts every year.

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Water Guns and Roses P. Taylor Ford Copy Editor

H

alf the senior class is rolling out of bed each morning, grabbing their water guns, and trying to kill each other. Sort of.

Disclaimer: This game does not take place on campus as it is against the rules. Parents were also notified that this game is being held and that their child is participating in the game.

Each team paid $20 to enter the game. There are 38 teams with two people on each team.

The winning team will get the pot which is around $800.

has a horseshoe driveway and that blocked off one of her possible escape routes. It also happened to be recycling day.

Boree quickly grabbed one of the recycling cans and put it in the driveway, which blocked in Caron, to make it seem like someone had accidentally put it there.

Anderson and Boree quickly hid to wait until Caron came out from her house. And finally, their moment came, Caron’s garage door opened.

Heading into spring break the top eight have been finalized and have been trying to eliminate one another.

This game is creating the highlights of 2021.

They parked in an empty lot and walked over to her house where the gardener had just pulled up which actually helped with their plan because she

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Tyler Gesek and Cam Neal were outside hiding in the bushes at Maya Gopal’s house trying to get her eliminated when all of a sudden Gesek sprayed water at who he thought was Gopal.

When in reality it was her mom.

The game is played Monday through Friday with Monday through Thursday being the days where all the rules apply.

Friday is purge day where all the same rules still apply, however, they can be bent a little. For example, if garages are off-limits Monday through Thursday, they’re free game on purge day. School is still offlimits on that day.

Seniors are at each other’s throats trying to win this game as if it was an actual life or death scenario. Cars have been blocked in by trash cans, water guns are being taken everywhere (no excuses), and parents have even become coconspirators.

Gunnar Boree and Matthew Anderson one late start Wednesday morning set out to go and eliminate Sofia Caron. Boree went and picked up Anderson and they set off.

When they got to Caron’s house they realized she had three garages and they didn’t know where she had parked so they did a drive-by to figure out where she was parked.

got her, she was so shocked,” said Boree coming to an end on their victory story.

Students have to get parent permission before entering someone else’s house, but there’s no rule against being outside their house waiting for them.

Boree leaps out from his hiding spot in the bushes to eliminate Caron.

“We waited for about a minute a minute and a half, or at least that’s what it felt like until finally, she came strutting out of the garage with no water gun in sight to get the recycling can and we charged out and

George Duffy, our senior class president, was innocently at his monthly Outback dinner with two of his buddies when after their waiter left from taking their order Finn Murphy and Matt Chaffin came running into the restaurant and soaked Duffy in the middle of the restaurant.

“I sat the rest of the dinner, wet and disappointed.”

— George Duffy

The Rules •

If law enforcement is involved you are disqualified

•

There are to be no eliminations held at school

•

If you break a rule whether it is intentional or not, the commissioner will remove you from the game.

•

•

•

Purge Rules •

Most of the normal rules are off however you still may not eliminate someone at school

•

You are also not allowed to enter the homes of other players without permission

•

Snapchat locations are required to be turned on throughout the day. If you choose not to go on Snapchat for the day, that is up to you.

Keep in mind you will want to see where your opponent is in order to eliminate them.

You may not use your parents as a defense. Please tell them you are playing the game and what it all entails.

If one member of your team is eliminated, you are still alive. Both members have to be eliminated for the team to be out People’s house interiors are off limits unless you have written proof of permission to enter the house

•

All Bolles sporting events are off limits, even away games

•

Stores/restaurants are considered fair game but keep it under control

•

You may not go through property of any neighbors or that does not belong to your teammate or opponent

•

All eliminations must be done with a water gun or hit by a balloon. No bottles, buckets, or cups of water can be thrown

•

Each elimination must be visibly recorded and sent to the commissioner to be confirmed. Either during the elimination or or proof after of them being wet

•

You only target your assignment each week.

You are assigned a team, once you eliminate them you are safe until your next assignment

•

Drive safely in neighborhoods. No car chases and NO shooting in and out of cars

•

The goal of the purge is to eliminate players. We would like to avoid coin tosses if at all possible. So, attempt to find and eliminate the team you are matched up against for that week

•

Garages are free game along with shooting in and out of cars

•

You are still not allowed to go into house without written permission, and/or any Bolles sports event

Kurt Greiner showing off his water gun after successfully eliminating Brett Stambaugh.

Reminders •

This game will continue throughout spring break, so there will be a break in the game for our spring break

•

Updates will be posted daily on the bracket, eliminations, disqualifications, etc.

•

TURN ON POST NOTIFICATIONS so you can keep up with the game

•

HAVE FUN

•

The goal of the game is to be an assassin. Don’t cause any disruptions in neighborhoods.

•

NO refunds

Caitlyn Boyer and Abby Lynch were waiting outside Bobby Crouch’s house to leave for basketball practice. When Crouch came out the door he saw them and sprinted away from them. In this process his shoes came off while he was running away. Lynch ended up stealing Crouch’s shoes and her mom ended up taping them for Crouch to get.

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Beyond the Square

Follow our Bugle writer to the retail frontiers of San Marco

03.

Grace Albaugh Contributing Writer

01.

During your day in San Marco we will start at the ends and work our way towards the square.

The first shop we are stopping at is Rusted, a vintage market. They have many antique items ranging from teacups and light fixtures to jewelry made out of silverware.

02.

Next we will venture to Fifi’s a fine resale store. They have clothes ranging from all ages and genders including wedding and prom dresses. You cna spend a lot of time browsing through their expansive selection of affordable clothing items.

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A few stores down we will find Yesterday and Today Records and CDs. They have a really cool collection of both new and old music along with vintage record players for sale. They also have a cllection of plaques displying signed records from bands such as The Wallflowers. The layout and atmosphere of the store will make you want to spend hours browsing their bins full of music.

05.

After eating we will make our way into the square. The first store we will stop in is The Write Touch. This shop is a stationary store that also sells customized greeting cards. The owner of this store is the mom of a golden retriever that can be seen and played with in the store.

06.

04.

After browsing through three very intersting stores we need to stop for lunch. Florida Juice and Bowl is the perfect place to rest our feet and eat a healthy meal. Their menu consists of acai bowls, poke bowls, and smoothies. The store is equiped with an outdoor patio and seating.

The last stop on our tour of San Marco is The San Marco Bookstore. It is an independantly owned bookstore with a variety of books ranging from childrens picture books to the classics. They have a new section for every month/holiday and during the month of February they had a collection of books honoring Black History Month.

San Marco Restaurants • • • • • • • • • • •

Green Erth Bistro European Street Sara’s Bakery Cafe Good Dough Bold Bean The Loop Southern Grounds Taverna The Bearded Pig Bistro AIX Maple Street Biscuit Company • The Southern Grill • Flavors of Thai • Clara’s Tidbits BOLLESBUGLEONLINE.COM

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March Multimedia Thomas Keaveny Technology Editor

FIELD DAY 2021

Photo Credits: The Bugle Staff Video Credits: The Student Video Production Club Video can be seen at:

bollesbugleonline@gmail.com

January 18th, 2020 was the 40th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Jacksonville. Hundreds took to the streets, socially distanced, to celebrate Dr. King’s life, legacy, and values. Among the participants were Bolles’ very own Black Student Union members. The following images are notable highlights from the BSU’s attendance.

On February 19th, The Bugle hosted an activities period root beer taste test, inviting staffers and students to taste a variety of brands and flavors, and rate them. Here are some highlights.

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Issue 005 Crossword Amber Bansal Contributing Writer Across: 3. What plane was Christine Gaitantzis selected to fly? (pg.

30-32) 6. How many years has Roxanne Epstein been a team mom? (pg.

44) 8. What grade did Ridhi begin to play lacrosse? (pg. 40-41) 9. What club is D’yasia Ford the president of? (pg. 18-20) 11. Is Emma new to Bolles? (pg.

42-43) 12. Who will Harriet Tubman replace on the $20 bill? (pg. 3637) 13. What Netflix show has a TikTok musical adaptation in the works? (pg. 14) 15. How do you eliminate someone in the pretend assassin game? (one word) (pg. 50-51) 17. What subject did Mrs. Babcock first teach? (pg. 26-27) 18. What is the first name of the actress that played Cinderella in Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)? (pg. 38) Down: 1. What is the last name of the director of Promising Young Woman? (pg. 12-13) 2. What award does Bolles present “to the teacher who is most innovative with technology in the classroom?” (pg. 21) 4. What is the name of the stationary store in San Marco that is home to a golden retriever? (pg. 52-53) 5. What club did Lindsey Blisko ‘22 found at Bolles? (pg. 48-49) 7. Which celebrity responded to a DM? (no spaces) (pg. 34-35)

9. What is the first name of the author who wrote Just Mercy? (pg. 16-17) 10. What field was Mrs. Fluegel in before education? (pg. 6-8)

The first 3 people to submit the correct finished puzzle with the QR code will get a gift card!!!

14. Who drugs Oberon in the Bolles play? (pg. 10-11) 16. Where did Gabrielle Magid go to college? (abbreviation) (pg. 28-29) 17. How many years has Annie Ruperto played hockey? (pg. 46-47)

Bonus Questions!

In what city in New York did Frederick T. Joseph take young children to see Black Panther? (pg. 22-24) What is the name of the Florida Senate bill currently in motion on “combating public disorder”? (pg. 54)

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