The Bolles Bugle November-December 2019

THE BOLLES BUGLE November-December 2019

ALSO FEATURING:

A World of Music: Chorus Goes Global

Fall and Winter Sports: Review and Preview

Robotics Team: Rocky Start to Smooth Sailing

The Bolles Bugle Staff Co-Editors-In-Chief: Avani Bansal Gabriel Bassin Online Editor: Su Ertekin-Taner Copy Editor: Thomas Keaveny Writing Coach: Ellie Anderson Design Editor: Ian Peiris Perspective Editor: Sarah Scherkenbach Coffeehouse Promoters: Taylor Ford Soraya Rafat Condributing Writers: Kloe Brill Katie Creveling Atticus Dickson Hannah Edwards Daniel Fewell Cameron Gratz Megan Howard Ashley Khoo Camden Pao Tucker Sharp Ava Sickler Clariss Valdivia Nina Zhao 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 focuses 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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Letter from the Editor Dear Reader, Thank you for picking up this latest edition of The Bolles Bugle. This issue marks the second beat-organized news magazine of the year, and our staff had plenty of news to cover.

After the recent announcement of the RDT program, we decided to put together a collection of articles in response. I hope you find the variety in this special section informative and useful in navigating the new system.

Aside from the RDT program, we addressed other events affecting student life, but there were many we could not cover. A year out from a presidential election, politics flood our current stream while an impeachment inquiry takes place in our nation’s capital. Meanwhile, I’d like to address a current issue that has not received much attention in our community.

Last month, our government removed military aid from the Kurds in the Middle East. For context, the Kurds make up a nation of about 35 million people without a country. They provided necessary and crucial aid that allowed the US military to end most ISIS operations and its control of territory. However, the Kurds are now unprotected and suffering horrible violence.

This horrific situation exists among many crises across the world including the massive refugee crisis in Europe, the Middle East, South and Central America, and Africa. I encourage you to consider these global dilemmas as closely as you consider events close at home.

Lately, The Bolles Way has echoed in my mind. The principles of “courage, integrity, and compassion” define us. What actions and thoughts reflect our shared values?

Going forward in the coming weeks, I also urge you to consider that if we cannot immediately fix the suffering, we can at least pay attention, understand, and make our voices heard.

Once again, enjoy this edition and the dedicated time, work, and effort our staff has put forth in its production. I hope you find it both informative and engaging. Over the coming breaks, have a happy holiday season, but stay connected to the world.

Gabriel Bassin Co-Editor-In-Chief

Avani Bansal Co-Editor-In-Chief

Table of Contents Student Life: pg 4 Students Stride With Style Megan Howard pg 5 New Employee Spotlight: Mrs. Stone Sarah Scherkenbach

pg 6 Transportation Speaks: Bus Drivers’ Route to Bolles Kloe Brill pg 8 How Well Do You Know Your Teacher’s Catchphrases?

Taylor Ford pg 9 Exploring the Infirmary Nina Zhao

pg 10 Bolles’ Environmental Clubs Leave Carbon-Free Footprint Ashley Khoo

News: pg 12 Career Choices at Bolles Ava Sickler pg 14 A Walk Through Nature Clariss Valdivia pg 15 Q&A With the Psychologist/ Psychiatrist From the Boys’ and Girls’ Convocations Avani Bansal

pg 16 Hollander Speaks to Mock Trial Gabriel Bassin and Cameron Gratz pg 16 Bolles Democrats and Republicans Share Goals and Ideas Gabriel Bassin and Cameron Gratz

Random Drug Testing:

pg 28 Who’s the Mistress Real of Evil?

Su Ertekin-Taner pg 29 A World of Music Tucker Sharp

Sports: pg 30 The Fall Sports Spectacular Katie Creveling, Daniel Fewell and Megan Howard

pg 18 Test Your Knowledge on the Random Drug Test- pg 36 The Winter Sports ing Protocol Soraya Rafat Spectacular Hannah Edwards, Tucker Sharp and Clariss Valdivia pg 19 Drugs and Testing: An Explanation Ellie Anderson pg 20 Mythbusters: The Rumors on RDTs and Vape Detectors Camden Pao pg 22 RDT Protocol Considers False Positives Avani Bansal pg 23 Perception, Prevalence and Pressure Ellie Anderson, Atticus Dickson, and Ashley Khoo

Arts: pg 25 Dancing Through Mamma Mia Su Ertekin-Taner pg 26 Kanye West: Jesus is Kings Kloe Brill pg 27 Parasite Shows Social Problems Nina Zhao

pg 43 Op-Ed: Convocation Controversy Soraya Rafat

Academics: pg 38 Willis Examines the Testing Scene Daniel Fewel pg 40 Debate Team: Aiming for Albuquerque Atticus Dickson pg 41 Robotics Team: Rocky Start to Smooth Sailing Atticus Dickson

Op-Ed: pg 42 Seniors Share Thoughts on 2020 Election (Video) Gabriel Bassin, Taylor Ford and Thomas Keaveny

Cover Design: Ian Peiris

Congratulations to the winners of Perspective’s November art and writing contests!

Art Winner: Multigenerational Hands by Thearika Phat Writing Winner: The Shadow of the Moon by Sophie Grace Check out our social media accounts!

Our website: bollesbugleonline.com

@thebollesbugle

The Bolles Bugle The Bolles Bugle 3

STUDENT LIFE

Students Stride With Style Megan Howard Contributing Writer

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The beginning of the 2019-2020 school year brought changes to the shoe dress code for both girls and boys. According to the Upper School Dress Code, “Athletic shoes are permitted if they are a conservative, solid color with no contrasting logo, stripe or pattern.” Within these narrow parameters, students have expressed themselves through different styles and colors of athletic shoes. While it is noticable that students largely wear black, white and burgundy, pops of color do make appearences

Photo Credit: Howard

New Employee Spotlight: Mrs. Stone

Recently, there has been a new addition to her family. They adopted a 12-week-old Boxer named Tank.

Stone explained the challenges of adopting a dog, “You have to remember, ‘we have a dog; we have to take care of the dog. We have to come straight home and let the dog outside.’”

Sarah Scherkenbach Perspective Editor

“I think that [giving birth to my son] would be the biggest thing in my life.

When you walk into the transportation office, the first thing you will notice is Brittany Stone’s smiling face. The second discernable thing in the room are images of her husband and son framed on her desk, on the wall across from her desk and even on her desktop background.

Mrs. Stone became the Assistant Head of Security, Safety, and Transportation in January of this year. She moved to Jacksonville from Wesley Chapel, Florida where she worked for 17 years.

“Moving to Jacksonville was a big thing for me.

But, I love it here. Everybody is great, and my son loves it here. I only knew one person [in Jacksonville]. I think it [moving] made me stronger than who I was, knowing that I can make new friends.”

She explained, “moving to Jacksonville was a big thing for me. But, I love it here. Everybody is great, and my son loves it here. I only knew one person [in Jacksonville]. I think it [moving] made me stronger than who I was, knowing that I can make new friends.”

STUDENT LIFE

Being a mom; becoming a mom.”

Mrs. Stone in her office. Her moniter displays the security tapes from various cameras on campus. Her son, Colt, is the desktop background of the computer.

Photo credit: Scherkenbach Every morning Stone arrives at Bolles around 7:30 a.m., and her day consists of events including scheduling drills, fixing alarms, adjusting door sensors, and general troubleshooting. Her favorite aspect of working for Bolles is “working with people. I get to work with all of the people here at Bolles, not just a certain department or certain office.”

When she goes home at 4:00 p.m., she loves playing with her son outside. Her son, Colt, attends kindergarten here at Whitehurst.

She explains her most memorable experience of her life was with her son: “I’ve had some trouble having children; I had lost four. I think that [giving birth to my son] would be the biggest thing in my life. Being a mom; becoming a mom.”

Besides Assistant Head of Security, Safety, and Transportation and fulltime mom, Mrs. Stone is also an avid shopper. She goes Black Friday shopping every year with her mom. One time, she bought a Louis Vuitton wallet priced at around one thousand dollars for only $10.00 at Goodwill.

Stone’s style is usually inspired by the weather and various ideas from Pinterest.

With her gorgeous outfits now with maybe a little puppy fur, she wears a gold necklace with her son’s name on it every day. Mrs. Stone says that she especially loves Colt’s, “personality and love for everyone.”

Every day of her life begins and ends with her beautiful family.

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STUDENT LIFE

Transportation Speaks: Gilbert Hernandez: An Asset Wherever He Goes George Steinbrenner, I told him I don’t want to do anything, I just want to be a regular bellman.”

Contributing Writer Kloe Brill Every Bolles sporting event he drives teams to, he buys a hat. He now has a cap for crew, baseball and football.

The tall man wearing a black plaid shirt, black-rimmed glasses and a Bolles crew hat, Gilbert Hernandez, has always improved the efficiency of the workplaces he’s been in.

From getting his radiology license and working in major hospitals in Miami, to hotels, to Bolles, he is constantly making his environment a better place with his ideas and actions.

To coordinate an efficient bus schedule, everyone has to pitch in to do different tasks.

He says, “A lot of the stuff that we [come up with is to] kind of make life easier for everyone here. Come up with ideas and put it together and get everyone’s opinions on it and see, hey would this work? That’s what I do and whatever they need.”

Hernandez is originally from Cuba but has lived in Florida for most of his life. He has lived in Miami, Tampa and now St. Augustine.

Hernandez began working as a bus driver at Bolles in 2015. He left for a little while and then came back. He says he enjoys his life.

In his early life, he had a passion for photography, which he later pursued in college. He used to spend copious hours in red rooms in hospitals processing film. He says, “Back then radiology is nothing like now, it’s all digital. Back then it was all handson. So you had to be in the darkroom, you had to know the degree,

6 The Bolles Bugle

Gilbert Hernandez has conversations with students about how their day is going and often helps them with their ties. you needed to know the exposure and everything.”

In high school he “would take a picture, then take the exact same picture, then I would overlap it with the negative, and then I would print it out, and you could see the past to the present and that’s what I would do. I would do the same thing with people.”

Hernandez mentions that his photos span generations, “I take a lot of pictures of my mother. My mother is 93 years old, so I got to keep a story about her over time.”

“Even my son,” Hernandez continued, “I’ve been taking pictures of him from the first day he was born all the way till now.”

However, out of all his past jobs, working in hotels has been his favorite.

His first job in a hotel was working as a telephone operator. Nonetheless, he made drastic technological improvements by interfacing the computers from the hotel and the airport thus making the guest’s experience more efficient. After this improvement, he became the assistant general manager. After his job as assistant general manager, he started working at George Steinbrenner’s Hotel.

He explains, “By the time I got to

Hernandez described the situation, “Steinbrenner said, ‘How can you come from a five-star hotel and just be a regular bellman? I know who you are, I know what you can do.’ I said, ‘No problem. Give me 6 months I’ll turn around and make this a number one hotel and I did.’”

Hernandez says he made it possible because “it was the ideas that I had, the support that I had, the training that I had with another five-star hotel.”

At Bolles, “It’s a change every day I come in. You don’t know anything.

I get up at 5:30 in the morning and come here. I’m happy with what I do. I enjoy it. It’s like when I worked in a hotel: every day something different,” he says.

In his spare time, Hernandez likes fishing, photography, traveling, and computers. He lives in St. Augustine with his wife and his 14-yearold son.

Driving, he enjoys the rapport with the kids. By talking to them, Hernandez takes a paternal role by talking to the kids on the bus about school, their problems and fixing ties.

He explains, “We are not just bus drivers. We are transportation counselors.”

He says that his greatest achievement is “I met the right wife, and I have my son.”

“My son always tells me you have to focus on where you want to go. When you finally get there it doesn’t mean that’s where you stop, just keep going.”

STUDENT LIFE

Bus Drivers’ Route to Bolles

James Council: A Man of Many Trades James Council has been working as a bus driver at Bolles for almost 3 years.

Council was originally born here in Jacksonville, and at the age of 4, Council’s family moved north to St. Simons Island, Georgia.

When asked what was it like growing up on an island he says, “I think it was good because at that time there was segregation, but on that island, the whites played with the blacks. So it was like you got along well together, you kind of bond together.”

Council said that the island remained a place of bonding even when he encountered prejudice in other places. “Now, when you left there, it was a different story. But, I remember growing up there and it was like you really didn’t know much about segregation at all.”

From that tiny island of 20,00030,000, Council joined the vast nation-within-a-nation that is the military. He spent 2 years active duty in the army and 3 years in the reserves.

When Council got out of the service, he went to New York and stayed there for a total of 40 years. He was able to go to college there under the GI Bill and majored in advertising art.

He got married there and now has a son and grandson.

He later became an Art Director on Madison Avenue, the famous street in New York. He says that this is one of the largest accomplishments he has ever achieved.

“As an art director, you are kind of involved in the accounts that you’re working on and making sure you get everything out on time. It’s a fast fast fast fast thing. And you don’t really last a long time in advertising, not

James Council inside of his bus, on his way to drive kids from the lower school campus on a field trip.

Photo Credits: Brill at all; you burn out because of the pace.”

the band at his church and playing the organ.

During his time as an Art Director, working for accounts such as PepsiCola and Winston-Salem, he met copious amounts of famous people, something he enjoyed. He used to travel to three different agencies.

One in Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York.

After he retired from Allstate, he felt that he needed something to do with his time, so he decided to become a part-time school bus driver.

He drove busses for public schools for 5 years, then came to Bolles.

After his time as an Art Director, he became an Allstate salesman of insurance. He lived in Chicago with his family for 8 years but then decided to move back to Florida because “it just got too cold there for me.”

While he was in Chicago, he became more involved in the tennis world.

Not only did he play in tournaments, but he umpired professional tennis matches. Unfortunately, he got overruled by the Chair Umpire about 4 to 5 times which made him stop.

A friend suggested that he drive the tennis players around and that’s when he became the bus driver for Serena Williams. Since then he has been friends with the Williams family for 10 years.

He says, “Kids here at Bolles are disciplined, and they show you a lot of respect, which is the key to relating to kids. I’ve got to show you respect; you’ve got to show me respect.”

In earlier jobs, Council had less positive experiences. “When the kids get on the bus you have no control over them at all. They want to control you.”

“It makes a big difference dealing with a person if they respect you, and it makes life much easier,” Council said.

“My job is a piece of cake. I love it.”

In retirement, Council enjoys his life and hobbies which include: painting still lifes, playing the bass guitar in

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STUDENT LIFE

How Well Do You Know Teacher Catchphrases ?

Taylor Ford Coffeehouse Promoter

A catchphrase is a phrase a person is known by, like Walter Kronkite’s famous sign-off, “And that’s the way it is,” or Superman’s cry of “Up up and away!”

Teachers, who spend so much time talking, often develop a whole library of catchphrases. Sometimes these sayings become so common that even students that don’t know the teacher have heard about the teacher’s famous phrase. How many of these can you identify?

Who says “Oh, boy.”?

Who call his/her students “AP Snootlets”? a. Mrs. Clubb b. Mr. Mulvey c. Mrs. Curran d. Mr. Stam

a. Mr. Hilf d. Mr. O’Riorden c. Dr. K d Mr. Ferrari

a. Mr. Bullington b. Mr. Lipp c. Mr. Brewer d. Mr. Murphy

Who says “No purple crayons!”? a. Mrs. Willis b. Mrs. Hazzard c. Dr. Halloran d. Mrs. Moyer-Shad

Who says “Oh, the homework you didn’t do...”? a. Mr. Tepas b. Dr. K c. Mrs. Fluegel d. Mr. Ferrari

Who says “I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing.”?

Who does *claps* and then says “How’s everyone?”

Who says “If you do your homework, you’ll pass this class.”? a. Mrs. Stone b. Mrs. Reinschmidt c. Mrs. Marrionneaux d. Mrs. Mendelson

a. Mr. Lyons b. Mrs. Marrionneaux c. Mr. Kreis

Who says “Alright, discipuli, let’s go, we have caca facienda.”?

Who says “Have a day.”? a. Mrs. Jacobson b. Mr. Creter c. Mr. Dickson d. Mrs. Lane

Who says “I don’t know, I just work here.”?

a. Mrs. Kendall b. Mrs. Greenland c. Sensei Braren d. Rothschild Laoshi

a. Mrs. Ezzell b. Mrs. Stam c. Sra. Soud d. Mrs. Kendall

1. A 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. C 6. A 7. C 8. A 9. B 10. A

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STUDENT LIFE

Exploring the Infirmary

Collecting data from the nurses

Nina Zhao Contributing writer

The Bugle collected data from the infirmary about how many students come to the infirmary, the most reasons used, and the busiest time fot ten days. Here, we reveal the secrets in the nurse’s office.

Nurse’s cabinet Antibiotic

Aloe lotion for sun burn Vaseline

Sugar-free throat drops

Throat Cough

Vitamins

Allergy Salt for dehydration

Tylenol

Ibuprofen

Painkillers for headache

Number of Student visits per day

Reasons for going to the infirmary Pain Cold symptoms, sore throat, cough

Headache

Cold symptoms with cough Cold symptoms with cough and congestion

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STUDENT LIFE

Bolles’ Environmental Clubs Leave Carbon-Free Footprint Ashley Khoo Contributing Writer Cue Greta Thunberg - the 16-year-old activist heading the movement to stop climate change. She could find friends at Bolles.

Homegrown at her high school in Sweden, her movement has exploded into a worldwide campaign. Following in her footsteps, environmental clubs have sprung up in Bolles over the years.

This year, Bolles has five environmental clubs: the Surfriders Club, Go Green Club, Outdoor Club, Environmental Club and the Save Our Seas Club. While most of these clubs have similar missions, each of them their own niche in the community.

Two of Bolles’ environmental clubs have cast their lines out at sea, focusing on the marine

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ecosystem. The first one, the Save Our Seas club, was born out of a passion for marine life and leadership; then blossomed into a 70-strong force that holds beach clean ups around Jacksonville every month. “I’ve always loved animals and being able to help them indirectly is really important to me,” says Halle Gold (’20) the founder and president of the club. The Save Our Seas Club has also dabbled in plastic drives and fundraisers for Marineland Park.

“This year is our third year,” Gold says, “and we are hoping to expand. We have to spread the word so that people are aware that everything they do affects the

environment.”

The second club, the newly minted Surfriders Club, established by the Lee brothers, Nick Lee (’20) and Chris Lee (’23), focuses on educating people rather than taking the hands-on approach of the Save Our Seas Club. “Basically we want to make the world a better place,” says Nick Lee who hopes that by raising awareness for ocean and the environment, they can create a community that cares.

While Save Our Seas has their Greta Thunberg moment as they scour beaches to save marine life, the Lees have theirs by gaining a deeper insight into their community in order to better gage their plan of action for the years to come. “We lived on both coasts, the west coast and east coast, so we have seen first-hand what plastic pollution looks like,” the younger Lee notes. Their list of initiatives begins with talks at the Lower School and ends with talking to restaurant owners about the detrimental effects their waste has on the environment.

STUDENT LIFE Somewhere out on land, The Outdoor Club, Environmental Club and Go Green club have divvied up niches. The Outdoor Club, created and led by Will Camp (’21) at the start of the year, aims to cultivate a love of the outdoors. “We focus on the love and appreciation of the outdoors and hope that would in turn move people to want to save the environment,” Will Camp says. So far, this young club has held camping trips, Chick-Fil-A sales and nature walks.

hands on approach with education “As you know recently, climate change has become very huge issue and it is the existential crisis facing our generation so we have sort of taken a lot of our efforts to focus on that.” The Environmental Club combines aspects from the Go Green Club and Save Our Seas club. Their mission is to promote awareness and implement environmentally friendly

The new Go Green Club, on the other hand, is a club that has started their own version of a Greta Thunberg movement in the Lower School.

The Go Green Club plans to give talks to a different Lower School campus every semester and other initiatives centered The Save Our Seas Club at Jacksonville around education in the upper Beach after their first beach clean up of school. Their talks to the Lower the school year School would center around the effects of climate change and how to use more sustainable materials. Gentian Fairman (‘20) the founder and President of the club, wants to start the education process early, “when those kids get to high school they will remember it and hopefully take our advice to mind.” Based on the 4Rs - Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, Renew - the club targets the future of our world, hoping that their seeds will eventually blossom into environmentally aware The Environmental Club at the Alexandria Oaks Park Initiative at San Marco citizens, “raising awareness is definitely more important [than hands on activity],” says Fairman, “I feel that when people know, they will take opportunities to do hands on measures.”

practices within our community.

Recently, they conducted a tree planting initiative in San Marco called the Alexandria Oaks Park initiative, planting about 50-60 trees in total. As for the awareness aspect, the club is hoping to invite a few professionals to give the Upper School a lecture on climate change. Through extensive research and a passion for the environment, Mishra has big plans for the club, hoping to collaborate with other clubs in the future to make an even bigger impact within the school.

In light of alarming news headlines like “Great Barrier Reef corals are being bleached” and “Three Islands Disappeared in the past Year,” trying to make a difference in that area seems like a tall order.

Fortunately, with the same fearless courage Greta Thunberg possessed as she sails across the Atlantic, Bolles’ environmental clubs have cast their ships out into the waves of the climate change movement. By starting at their local communities and implementing small changes, these clubs aim to leave their carbon-free footprint in the world. Whatever it is, as long as there are groups of people fighting for change, there is still hope in the world.

Lastly, the oldest existing environmental club in Bolles, the Environmental Club continually makes their mark inside and outside of Bolles. Their president, Rishi Mishra (‘20), couples the bollesbugleonline.com 11

STUDENT LIFE

Career Choices at Bolles

What’s motivating our generation?

Ava Sickler Contributing Writer

#1 Reason for Pursuing Your Career

We’re the newest generation on its way to the workforce-- Gen Z, or, as some call us, the iGeneration.

Okay, Zoomers.

Born between 1996 and 2010, most of us are still in school. We’re not quite millennials, and we’re most certainly not boomers. However, as we begin planning for college and thinking about careers and our future, even more nuances and differences are coming to light.

Other generations certainly have conjectures and opinions about where we’re heading and why, but there’s only one way to truly know-- ask us!

#2 Reason

This a collection of data taken from the Career Choice survey the Bolles Bugle conducted amongst our students via Schoology.

Many adults-- even Ms. Jacobson, our mostly idealistic adviser, included-- often think that we’re in it for the money, the status, or the fame.

But here is the truth. ______

To the immediate right, there are three pie charts that display what people selected as their main motive behind choosing a career.

To the far upper right, there is a bar chart of what professions students would like to pursue.

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#3 Reason

STUDENT LIFE

Top Career Choices of Survey Respondents:

Did something specific make you interested in pursuing this career?

“There was a young elementary school boy who I came in contact with that really sparked a passion for something I had already been interested in. This young boy asked me to hunt for lizards with him around the San Jose campus, and while we did so, I got talking to his mom about his situation.

She told me about his experiences with cognitive behavioral therapy and the amazing things it had done for her son, who struggles in social situations. This was one of the happiest boys I had ever seen, and it was amazing to hear about where he had started and the amazing things that his CBT therapist had done to help him. I had already been interested in psychology somewhat, but seeing first hand the tremendous amount of good that could come from aiding children who are in need of the kind of therapies he receives-- I love kids, and I think it would be amazing to have a job where I get to change kids’ lives for the better every day.”

- Emma Bole ‘21

“My mom recently passed away, and she always wanted me to have a low-stress job because her job as a doctor created a lot of stress of her. She emphasized the importance of mental health and tranquility in life so much that I think it’s best for me to enjoy life as I have it, and have a job that will allow me to have financial security and happiness at the same time.”

- Sushmita Udoshi ‘20

“I have been performing in shows since I was in fifth grade and discovered my passion for it eighth grade year.

The stage feels like home, and every time I go to see a production it reminds me how right performing feels to me.”

- Jake McGraw ‘20

“I want to have a job that will allow me to help my parents when I get older, because they gave up everything to come to the United States for me and my brother.”

- Fapianey Alexandre ‘21

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NEWS

A Walk Through Nature Mrs. Hazzard’s Nature Preserve Clariss Valdivia Contributing Writer

Established in 2000 by Mrs. Hazzard, Bolles’s nature preserve is a place of relaxation and meditation. Hazzard wanted to protect the land. She said, “I saw the area, I was afraid that it would be encroached upon by practice field, parking lot or new building.”

Hazzard’s priority was to conserve a natural space close to the San Jose campus. Hazzard explained, “When you have a natural space and natural place and animal community, right here in your own backyard, in your own campus, it’s very important, I thought to preserve it.”

And so, Hazzard proposed the nature preserve in 2000. She described the proposal as a “slam dunk” because the project “was so beneficial and it’s such a lovely place.”

Hazzard won two Ottenstroer fellowship awards for establishing that nature preserve.

In the course of 19 years, the nature preserve needed repairs. “In the past year or two, the boardwalk itself was actually damaged. And some trees were leaning way over and they closed it down, they closed the boardwalk down,” Hazzard said.

“So that was 19 years ago and you can imagine over 19 years, things grow, things fall, storms come through.” Hazzard commented, “So it was really a resource that was not being used.”

Over the summer of 2019, Hazzard fixed up the nature preserve. “(At) the end of the summer we had an arborist come in and decide which trees were leaning, and some of them were dead and which ones needed to come out. And that cleanup was done.”

Hazzard explained. “We also took out fallen trees and things like that, and they cleaned up the garbage and debris and removed stockpiles of things from near

the entrance and exit and just spruced it up.”

It’s a great place for any class to go.

“Dr. Yeakel took Latin classes over there, and they walked through recently this fall because they were learning terms and words about nature. And so it was kind of an out of the inside classroom experience for them.” Hazzard recalled, “I hadn’t thought of that particular application for Latin, they’re learning vocabulary and that’s a great place to do it.”

In addition, the nature preserve is a great place for relaxation and meditation. There are families of barred owls living within the nature preserve, which goes to show what a natural sanctuary it is. “I mean, it’s an outdoor classroom. It’s a place for reflection.

It’s a place to study all manner of things,” Hazzard stated.

So next time you’re feeling stressed or like you have a lot on your plate, a stop by the nature preserve may be just the thing you need to get yourself back on track.

(Top) Barred owl in its natural habitat (Bottom) A class at the nature preserve

Student Nadia Niang (‘21) at the nature preserve 14 The Bolles Bugle

Q&A with the Pschologist/Psychiatrist from the Boys’ and Girls’ Convocations

Avani Bansal Co-Editor In Chief

NEWS

The Boys’ and Girls’ Convocations regarding mental health took place over the last few weeks to provide advice for difficult situations regarding mental health. The boys had a psychologist, Dr. D’Arienzo, and the girls had a psychiatrist, Dr. Fallucco, speak to them.

Dr. D’Arienzo’s Responses Dr. Fallucco’s Responses

1, What are the benefits of speaking to a single gender?

It is often difficult for high school students to be completely genuine and open to these types of discussions when both their friends are present and the opposite sex is present both of whom they are typically trying to impress.

We know that young women have a much higher risk for both depression and anxiety than do young men. In addition, young women are more likely to struggle with certain issues (such as body image, self-esteem, peer acceptance) than their male peers. As a group of young women, we can speak openly about some of these issues.

2. What are the best ways for a student to help a peer out if they are facing anxiety or depression?

The most important step is awareness of dramatic shifts in moods or behaviors of friends or schoolmates. The second step is to talk and ask questions when you notice significant changes in a friend. Talking should occur in a quite and private location. You need to set the tone, use open body language, and be relaxed and empathetic. The third step is to get them talking and you listening without minimizing what they are experiencing. The fourth step is to immediately reach out to an adult, teacher, parent or school counselor, or other professional to ensure the person gets the help they need. The fifth and final step is to follow up with them when you see them and check in with them in a compassionate, interested, and calm manner to ensure they are getting the help they need.

Use the “Share, Care, Ask” approach. When people struggle with these issues, they can feel really alone and even ashamed. One of the best things you can do, as a friend, is to reach out to your classmates who are struggling and let them know that you have noticed that something is different (Share), that you care about them (CARE), and then ask how you can help (ASK).

3. When schools begin mental health and wellness initiatives, in your experience, what mistakes do they make? What have you seen schools do well to address mental health issues?

Often there is some funding available, or a tragedy has occurred, or a great speaker is heard about and then there is a single initiative event and then things go back to normal, meaning no more mental health programs...until the next catastrophe. Schools do well when they build upon program after program and begin mentoring and peer coaching initiatives that teach interpersonal skills like kindness and emotional intelligence.

It is so inspiring to see that the students at Bolles are interested in promoting mental health across the campus. For a school initiative such as this to be effective, it really has to be student-driven and student-focused. I think this increases buy-in and makes the students feel more open to talking about this subject.

All images are derived from Dr. Fallucco and Dr. D’Arienzo’s presentations. bollesbugleonline.com 15

NEWS

Hollander Speaks to Mock Trial Defends Due Process; Asks for Accountability Gabriel Bassin Co-Editor-In-Chief

fair trial from the government.

“It is not my obligation to judge people.”

The discussion also delved into specific legal tactics. For example, Hollander told the story of a gyneCameron Gratz cologist accused of sexual assault.

Contributing Writer When selecting a jury, she felt having a majority of older women would be more likely to defer to a doctor and therefore provide a higher chance of Nancy Hollander, soon to be played acquittal.

by Jodie Foster in an upcoming film based on the book Guantanamo DiaHollander said that in oral arguries, has defended clients on “every ments, winning a trial is a matter of possible crime you can imagine.” Imhow you tell the story. In order to mortalized in a book, the Supreme improve your concise storytelling Court, and now in a movie, Holability, Hollander had a suggestion. lander’s career consists of numerous “Listen to country music. Seriously. accomplishments. She has defended Even if you hate it, if you want to be the likes of accused terrorists, rapists, a good story teller, listen to country and murderers. She has also defended music to see how it’s possible to tell innocent people held against their a story in three minutes.” will and tortured by the government including Mohamedou Ould Slahi With all her stories and strategies, and worked on well-publicized cases Hollander provided the team with such as that of Chelsea Manning. plenty of encouragement to become a lawyer. However, Hollander’s On November 21, the Bolles Mock experience with Guantanamo Bay Trial Team had the opportunity to extended another motive. While replisten to an expert in the field. She resenting two prisoners from Guanspoke about her big cases, her learntanamo Bay, Hollander grew well ing experience as a lawyer, and how aware of the atrocities committed in she won a unanimous decision in the the prison. Her message: “When we Supreme Court. go complaining about human rights in other countries, we need to look Hollander’s presentation was filled at our own back door.” with interesting questions from the team that provoked stories about The night proved inspiring as the career-defining cases and legal strateMock Trial Team heads into its wingies. Hollander’s common theme: beter and spring seasons with renewed ing a defense attorney always seems energy. to be “an uphill battle. Though people are presumed innocent; you’re really not starting there.”

Hollander also explained what many view as a dilemma for defense attorneys: does it concern her when she gets someone who is guilty acquitted? For Hollander, the answer is no.

Hollander believes her sole obligation is to ensure her client receives a

16 The Bolles Bugle

Bolles Democrats and Republicans Share Goals and Ideas We interviewed the leaders of the Bolles Republicans and Bolles Democrats Clubs about their club’s values, their plans for the future, and the importance of having these groups at Bolles. Their responses are recorded below.

What are your plans for the year?

“We’re discussing setting up a round table so we can inform people on the awesome Democratic candidates… We’re planning to open it to the public, because I think a lot of people don’t know who they support yet or who they want to vote for.”

“We’re hoping to link up with Duval Democrats… and help raise some money for a cause, maybe like climate change, environmental change, voting- we had some ideas of maybe collaborating with the Young Voters of America.”

- Richa Goel (D-Co-President) “The Bolles Republicans club focuses on educating the community on our beliefs as a party. The club wants to correct negative connotations of the party… We also want to participate in more fundraisers than previously, donating the money to Honor Flight, an organization that transports veterans to D.C. to see their war memorials.”

-Makayla Stone (R-Vice President) “This year my biggest goals for the club are to educate the student body about our core values as Republicans, to keep our members updated on the political status of the U.S. and the world, and to raise money for veterans.

-Aurora Bernhardt (R-President) What is the core mission of your club?

“I think having these clubs in schools starts the habit of voting when you’re 18… and I feel like our voice matters, and we have to use it to do our civic duty.”

- Richa Goel (D-Co-President) “With such a large divide between the two political parties it is easy to lose yourself within the tension and be drawn towards the hate. What I hope to teach my fellow students is how to have a civil discussion while acknowledging varying opinions and accepting each other’s views.”

- Aurora Bernhardt (R-President)

Photo Illustration: Gabriel Bassin

R

ANDOM

D

RUG

T

ESTS

FEATURING: [Test your Knowledge on the RDT Protocol] Soraya Rafat [Drugs and Testing: An Explanation] Ellie Anderson [Mythbusters: The Rumors on RDT + Vape Detectors] Camden Pao [RDT Protocol Considers False Positives] Avani Bansal [Perception, Prevelance, and Pressure] Atticus Dickson, Ellie

Anderson, and Ashley Khoo

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

Test Your Knowledge On The Random Drug Testing Protocol

Soraya Rafat Coffeehouse Promoter 1. Who is eligible for the random drug testing program?

A. Freshmen B. Sophomores C. Juniors D. Seniors E. All of the above 2. How will students be selected for the test?

A. Names B. Student numbers 3. True or false: If you take a prescription medication, you will not be tested.

A. True B. False 4. Who will administer the tests?

A. A certified member of the nursing staff B. Mr. Hodges

5. Which of the following is NOT part of the school’s action plan to respond to a positive drug test?

A. Intervention with a licensed professional in the mental health field.

B. Suspension from school activities C. Activities duty D. Meet with the Head of School 6. What percentage of students will be tested each academic year?

A. 5-10% B. 20-25% C. 50-75% D. 90% 7. Q - Do all Juul pods contain nicotine? If so, how much nicotine?

A. Yes. Each cartridge (called a “Juul pod”) is about 5 percent nicotine — which is roughly as much nicotine as is in a pack of cigarettes B. Yes. Each Juul pod is 20

percent nicotine.

C. No. Juul pods are made without nicotine.

8. Which of the following is NOT a drug that will be tested?

A. Alcohol B. Barbiturates C. Cocaine D. None of the above 9. True or false: you can be tested based on suspicion.

A. True B. False 10. What happens to the brain when vaping THC? A. It can lead to cognition loss and psychosis.

B. Nothing happens.

C. It makes you smarter.

ANSWERS; 1. E 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. B 7. A 8. D 9. A 10. A

C. Mrs. Marks D. Mr. Newman

Studying the Studies: How Bolles Decided on RDT To make the decision to implement next year’s Random Drug Testing program, the leadership team consulted many data-based studies done by federal and independent organizations.

One joint study performed by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance took seven years to survey 36 high schools in the South and surveyed 4,723 9th through 12th grade students.

The scientists conducting the surveys were most interested in preventing drug use in high school. They found that the most effective way to do so was to combine RDT with continuing education.

When schools that had RDT were compared with control group schools, 16% of students subject to RDT reported using substances covered by their school’s RDT policy in the past 30 days, compared with 22% of comparable students in schools without RDT. While not a total deterrent, RDT does seem to make students, especially those involved in athletics and other extracurriculars, avoid drug use in high school.

18 The Bolles Bugle

However, the studies acknowledged that 34% of students subject to RDT reported that they “definitely will” or “probably will” use substances in the next 12 months, compared with 33 percent of comparable students in schools without RDT. Both this joint study and one commissioned by the National Institute of Health emphasized the implementation of other substance use prevention strategies.

The programs most recommended by NIH focus on three main skills, known as Life Skills Training: 1) Drug Resistance Skills enable young people to recognize and challenge common misconceptions about substance use, as well as deal with peer and media pressure to engage in substance use; 2) Personal Self-Management Skills help students to examine their self-image and its effects on behavior, set goals and keep track of personal progress, identify everyday decisions and how they may be influenced by others, analyze problem situations, and consider the consequences of alter-

native solutions before making decisions; and 3) General Social Skills give students the necessary skills to recognize that they have choices other than aggression or passivity when faced with tough situations.

According to NIH, one long-term study followed a cohort of predominantly White suburban students from seventh grade to the end of high school. Students who received LST were compared to controls six years after the intervention, and findings revealed these students had significantly lower rates than controls for use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and multiple drugs.

NIH also encouraged schools to practice normative education, helping teens understand that the overestimation of the prevalence of smoking, drinking, and the use of certain drugs, which can make substance use seem to be normative behavior is just that-- an overestimation often facilitated by Instagram or Snapchat. Educating youth about actual rates of use, which are almost always lower than the perceived rates of use, can reduce perceptions regarding the social acceptability of drug use.

Drugs and Testing:

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

Formal Language made Conversational

Ellie Anderson Writing Coach

Behind next year’s RDT policy decision lie many studies regarding both health effects and benefits of testing. The Bugle took excerpts of these studies and articles and simplified them to provide a more conversational and comprehensive explanation of risks of drugs and benefits of random drug testing. The words in italics are from a

series of surveys that the school used to determine that they were going to do the drug tests.

Research shows that e-cigarette advertising uses many of the same themes that have led to cigarette smoking among young people. In 2016, nearly 7 out of 10 US middle and high school students saw ads for e-cigarettes in stores, on the Internet, on TV, or in magazines or newspapers.

heated liquid can explode—in your mouth or near your eyes! Or, gentlemen, in your front pants pocket.

E-cigs are being advertised everywhere! Fun fact: that’s only one of the various reasons why Juul Labs Inc. is facing lawsuits!

This is called the idiot light. This way, one mindless consumer can find another.

Nicotine is especially harmful to young people. The human brain keeps developing until around the age of 25.

Using products with nicotine under age 25 can harm the part of the brain responsible for memory, attention, and learning.

Basically what the CDC explains here is that there aren’t any pluses to vaping or starting nicotine use.

Nicotine infiltrates the part our teenage developing minds and makes school, or adult life, even harder.

The part of the e-cigarette that heats up may also explode or cause serious burns.

When you take a hit of any vaping device, the liquid heats to from aerosol, which while being slightly better than cigarette smoke, it still contains metal and cancer-causing chemicals which saturate your lungs. The

In case you wanted to find a fellow nicotine addict, all you need to do is take a look at a Blu eCig, which lights up blue when another user is nearby.

For decades, tobacco companies did everything they could to convince smokers that cigarettes weren’t killing them—insisting the jury was still out on the science despite dozens of studies that linked smoking with lung disease and cancer. As one tobacco executive famously wrote in 1969, “Doubt is our product…the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the minds of the general public.”

What are the odds that vape manufacturers are anything like cigarette manufacturers in their desire to hide the consequences of vaping?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nicotine, which stimulates the pleasure and reward pathways in the brain, is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.

According to the 2015 report on nicotine and heroin, addiction can begin with a single use and withdrawal symptoms can last for days, or months, depending on the individual.

Warning labels for e-cigarettes state that“flavoring agents, propylene glycol, and toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm”.

Consumer Reports on warning labels: Businesses are not required to use this exact wording (as long as it still provides a “clear and reasonable warning”), so it can vary somewhat between labels.

Companies do not have to specify which chemical(s) of concern were in their products.

This past January, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that exposure to the carcinogen formaldehyde—produced when the propylene glycol and glycerol in e-cig solutions are heated, sometimes at upward of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit—could reach levels five to 15 times higher than formaldehyde levels in cigarette smoke.

For comparison, solid bronze melts at the same temperature. So, that’s fire AND cancer...near your face, which holds your brain. Get it?

bollesbugleonline.com 19

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

: The Rumors Fact #3: There would be no

reason to do this, and it’s just a saliva-based test so it is discarded afterwards. Analyzing and keeping DNA is a very complicated biological process that Bolles isn’t interested in. Instead they are just looking for any of the drugs, in the 15-panel drug show up, in someone’s system. There is not any interest in DNA.

Camden Pao Contributing Writer With the introduction of vape detector and random drug tests in Bolles there have been some circulating rumors. With the help of Mike Drew, the Associate Head of School, and John Newman, the Dean of Students, the top rumors have been asked and answered. In this article you can learn the truth about the changes.

Myth #1: There are

cameras in the mirrors and microphones in the detectors

Myth #2: Detectors are not

in every bathroom

Myth #3: The DNA is

saved after the RDTs

Myth #4: Students patted

down if they are caught

Myth #5: Poppy seed

bagels will test positive for the RDTs

Myth #6: The drug test is

not actually random

Myth #7: You get searched

if the detectors go off 20 The Bolles Bugle

Fact #4: If a “vaping” alert is recieved, students are not searched “on the spot,” instead Bolles

makes every effort to meet priFact #1: It would be illegal to vately. Students don’t get frisked put cameras in a bathroom and is or patted down, but clothing and completely unethical. There are cameras around campus that record backpacks can be searched. different aspects of the campus, In many cases, it’s these searches including in Bent, but none are that help to confirm the student inside bathrooms. There are noise was not responsible for setting off detectors that pick up on loud the sensor and the Deans can get sounds, as the vape detectors also them back to class as quickly as work as bully and harrassment possible. detectors. But there are not microphones that would record and allow people to listen to conversaFact #5: While neither Mr. Drew tions. nor Mr. Newman are experts, their understanding is if you wanted to test positive for opium through Fact #2: Detectors aren’t in every poppy seeds, you would have to bathroom at this point, just a few. eat more poppy seeds than probBolles is are looking at increasing ably anybody would want to eat. the number of areas that have them According to Mr. Drew, a student and not just necessarily in would need to eat, “Somewhere bathrooms. They are going to around a sack full of poppy seeds be put in the places that the in order for it to show.” school thinks would be the best deterrent for students making those bad choices on campus.

Mr.Drew in his office.

Photo Credit: Pao

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

on RDTs and Vape Detectors Fact #6: Bolles will be randomly

Newman’s Note on Alerts:

selecting 20-25% of the body, absolutely, but there are also students who will be in a suspicion-based protocol. So, if they have ever violated the policy or they have randomly tested positive in the past, they will be put in a non-random testing protocol.

“The Deans’ Office does our best to see every student who is in the designated area when we receive an alert. Even if we aren’t in the vicinity at the time, we have the ability to go back and review the cameras to identify students we need to see.

Students who are placed in the non-random testing protocol should be prepared to be tested more frequently. However, it doesn’t mean they will be tested each time a group participates in the program. Students put on the suspicion-based list will remain in the non-random testing protocol for the duration of their time at

It’s also important to differentiate between the types of alerts that the sensors provide. In addition to detecting vaping chemicals in the air, the sensors can also alert us to excessive noise and when someone is tampering with them.”

Bolles.

Fact #7: There have already been

situations where the detectors have gone off. In these cases the Deans have followed Bolles’ normal procedure for if there is suspicion of somebody doing something against school policy. The school always has the right, based on the Student-Parent handbook, to search students.

Any possession: backpacks, lockers, cars, electronic devices, and everything a student has on campus is within the school’s right to look at.

Mr.Newman at his desk.

Photo Credit: Pao

Other Facts to Know: What other testing was considered before the saliva-based test?

There are many different ways you can test for drugs. Urine is a very common one, you can also use blood or hair. Bolles opted to go with the saliva-based test based on the work with those at Episcopal and Bishop Kenny. The teams that each school put together all agreed that a saliva-based test was the best way to go.

What if you test positive, but for a different reason such as medication?

If you are taking a medication through a prescription and you test positive, you just need to show proof you were given that prescription by a doctor and you will be cleared of suspicion.

What happens if you are searched because of the detectors and miss part of a class or test?

While the Deans try to avoid it, there are times when they have meet students during their academic classes. In those cases, the absence is excused, and the teacher is notified that the student was with the Deans. If the student misses a major assignment, test, etc., they would be able to make it up without a penalty.

What happens if the detectors go off on accident while you are in the room?

There is no accidental going off. The best thing to do is that if you are in the room where students are doing something they’re not supposed to be doing that violates school policy, you should remove yourself from that situation as quickly as possible. Then you can avoid any confusion of what you were doing in the room. bollesbugleonline.com 21

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

RDT Protocol Considers False Positives

Avani Bansal Co-Editor In Chief As Bolles embarks on mandatory random drug testing, what is the contingency plan for a false positive result?

Screening tests are used in a variety of situations as a way to be able to screen a large volume of people and get quick results. In doing so, there is a rate of error in 2 ways - false negative and false positive tests.

A false positive drug test occurs when the tests indicates that the person has illicit drugs in the system despite the person actually being drug-free. An example is the over the counter drug Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) causing a false positive

result for amphetamines or methamphetamines.

parents have already let us know about those.”

Mr. Tyler Hodges, Head of School, was interviewed to verify if this scenario has been considered and what the protocol would be to ensure the test is indeed accurate.

Mr. Hodges said that he envisions false positive situations where a student has a short-term medication that the parents forgot to let the school know.

Mr. Hodges explained that this situation was discussed quite frequently in the planning process with Episcopal, Bishop Kenny, and Bolles.

“There is no perfectly accurate test out there, it is impossible. These companies try to minimize the false positives. The case of false positives with us would be if a student is taking a prescription medication. We are going to do a ton of communication with parents to say that ‘it is really important that you let us know if your student is on a prescription medication.’ And more importantly, it won’t be the kid that is on something they take all the time, their

The protocol for a false-positive test result explained by Mr. Hodges: “Whenever there is a positive test, two things will happen. First, we will wait and we will do a retest 20 minutes later. This will help determine if there was the off-chance that something happened. If you get 2 positive tests, then the next step is to reach out to the parents to say we got a positive test and ask if there is anything going on with the student that they forgot to tell us. If the parent responds that they just forgot to tell the school about a new medication that the student is taking, then we know the reason.”

Research shows it is not only prescription medications, but also many over the counter medications that can affect the test. Families will need to be aware of the following prescription and non-perscription drugs that could alter the drug test:

22 The Bolles Bugle

RANDOM DRUG TESTS

Perception, Prevalence and Pressure Drugs and Alcohol in College and High School Ashley Khoo Contributing Writer

Atticus Dickson Contributing Writer

Ellie Anderson Writing Coach

Eventually we all leave the Bolles bubble to be spewed out into the real world. While we might encounter aspects of drug use and partying in high school, a common perception about college is that it is an array of weeknight parties, binge drinking, and drugs as far as the eye can see. We interviewed recent alums to find out the reality of college partying. In this article, we reached out to Frankie Collier ‘18, Stefanie Mendizabal ‘17, and Barbie Goldstein ‘19.

Is partying different in college than in high school?

Collier: It’s the same level of extremity and the same in regards to normalization of party culture.

Mendizabal: It is definitely more common in college.

Goldstein: I remember I went clubbing and there was some really weird guys, like, coming up to my friends and we were trying to, like, back them off, you know, but like, it’s a lot harder because everybody’s dancing, there’s not that much space to move. So they kept trying to get like closer. And then there are the two random girls that helped, like, step in, they were older, they have more experience and they just pushed them aside and we all just like hung out for the rest of the night. So, people will always look out for you.

Collier: It’s about the same usage [of marijuana and vaping], but a tad more in college.

Mendizabal: It is more common in college, because in high school you have a lot of people who don’t want to do those stuff yet but in college more people drink and do drugs than in high school because they are older. In high school people are not yet at the age to drink. There are a lot of alcohol stores near colleges who don’t care if you use a fake ID because they want the money. Getting alcohol in college if you’re 21 is not an issue. People bring their own alcohol, very rarely do people supply alcohol, at high school parties people do bring their own alcohol too so you know what you are drinking and you aren’t scared people put something in it. Alcohol is also very expensive. If there are drugs it is always done in private. Compared to alcohol that is drunk openly, people would sneak off if they wanted to do drugs.

Are alcohol/drugs more or less prevalent?

Do you feel pressured to drink/ do drugs at college?

Goldstein: A lot of people have better places to hide it. Like, you’re at college. Your parents don’t know what you’re doing 24/7. People are a lot more relaxed when they’re 20 about alcohol. There’s not that much stigma around it.

Goldstein: [pertaining to the consumption of marijuana] So I just don’t. Whenever people do it, I just don’t hang around them when they do it. Not like it’s not treated as some sort of big thing. It’s not peer

pressure. It’s, like, honestly, college is a lot more relaxed with the atmosphere. There’s really not much peer pressure Mendizabal: People just mind their own business. I think that they take into account that some people have family history of alcohol or drug abuse so lets say someone’s grandma or mom had a history with alcohol abuse they are less likely to drink because they are more prone to it, and people respect that. If you don’t want to drink it is fine. There is honestly a huge misconception around that.

Perception of drugs/alcohol at parties in college?

Mendizabal: Parties are more fun in college. And I am more likely to go to one than in high school. Because then you were always afraid you’ll get busted by the cops. But if it does get busted they would just tell the college kids to shut it down but in high school the cops would make everyone stay and get their IDs checked and they would call your parents.

Goldstein: So a big thing here, is people go clubbing on Thursdays. I personally don’t do that because I have like 40 classes. Also it’s a weekday.

bollesbugleonline.com 23

ARTS

Dancing Through Mamma Mia Su Ertekin-Taner Online Editor My funniest moment within Mamma Mia was the section in “Dancing Queen” where I crawl on the floor in a pink dress and feather boa. The original inspiration for this piece of choreography was a scene in the 80s movie Flash Dance in which the main character crawls on the floor during the song “Eye of the Tiger.”

During rehearsals I was instructed to pretend to fall into the crawling. I even ended up bruising my knees for this fake fall. Staring all the audience members in the eye, I would crawl towards them hearing the nervous laughter of teens and parents alike.

The bruises were worth it.

Mamma Mia has 26 dance numbers.

You’d imagine it would be hard to learn all these pieces, but these dancers have been working for about three months. Despite the amount of dancers numbers, not every cast member dances in them.

I played Tanya Chesham-Leigh, one of Donna’s old friends, member of a girl group band, and recent divorcee.

For my character, learning choreography has been anything but challenging. Having been a dancer for 10 years, I picked up the choreography easily as most cast members did. The sharp movements and liquidity between the character and motion are no stranger to me. I felt that my past experience in dance, prepared me for the fast-paced nature of the show.

The main challenge that I, along with the ensemble have is dancing while singing. Because most of the breath is contributed to the dancing aspect of the play, not much is left for singing. Breath is essential in being able to make a sound, let alone sing. I found myself straining my voice to get out any sound because of the lack of breath. This especially occurs in my song, “Does Your Mother Know?”

“Does Your Mother Know?” is the piece that is heaviest on choreography and also the only piece that includes the help of Dance Company.

It is about a 4-minute song without any vocal or physical break for

During “Honey Honey,” (left to right) Emily Lekas (‘21), Katie Fites (‘21), and Aynslee Hopkins (‘21) perform about Sophie’s possible dads.

the two main characters Tanya and Pepper, who have a flirty dynamic throughout the piece. Through lifts, jumps, and intricate footwork, Tanya takes on the role of a seductress while singing about Pepper’s temptations.

In this piece, there is an opportunity for interpreting the movement of the choreography and being able to choreograph parts of the song. I was instructed to choreograph about a one minute section of “Does Your Mother Know?” with Kenny Sogbesan (‘20) who played Pepper. Within this section, I am being lifted and spun around in a split while singing for Pepper to… ‘take it easy.

The choreography in Mamma Mia is easy but effective in large group numbers. For example, “Money Money Money”, the song about Donna’s tough financial state, is composed of small but sharp movements carried out by the ensemble while rallying in with Donna about her troubles.

The overall choreography is inspired by the 80s’ fast-paced movements, high arm movements, and passion.

With the play, the main goal is to have fun and make the audience want to dance with the actors. At the end of each show, seeing the audience dancing with our finale performance was amazing. To see our performance bringing joy to students and family alike was the greatest gratification that any actor could have.

bollesbugleonline.com 25

ARTS

Kanye West: JESUS IS KING Kanye West: Hip-Hop turned Christian rapper?

Kloe Brill Contributing Writer

One of the biggest pop influencers of the 20th century, Kanye West has blessed us with his lyrical uniqueness since the early 2000s. While he’s known for churning out hip-hop hits like “Gold Digger” and “Lights,” he’s recently been singing about God. The juxtaposition of his old sound to his new JESUS IS KING released October 25 shocks the listener.

West has found God and although we won’t be hearing hits like “Birthday” or “Mery” anymore, we do have the sound equivalent to the golden gates of heaven opening to look forward to.

The Good: “Every Hour”: JESUS IS KING kicks off with an up-spirited gospel choir tune accompanied with soulful, playful piano. This song makes me want to close my eyes, face my palms straight into the air, and sway. This song transports you to church Sunday morning. Praise!

“Selah”: To say the least, West’s choir takes your breath away in Selah. The gradual half-step ascend into the hallelujah acapella transports you to a spiritual and vulnerable realm. The bare voices reverberating in the air radiate a grandiose and regal sound.

“Follow God”: “Follow God” has a similar sound to his signature trait of fusing Motown with old-school hiphop. It echoes kindred sounds from College Drop Out and “Bound 2.”

Gold star, West.

“On God”: “On God” makes you want to bop your head and vibe to the beat. This one is definitely an anthem played in stadiums, meant

26 The Bolles Bugle

for everyone to feel united. This one will definitely get the party going.

The track has a repetitive Tron-like futuristic feel which will make you want to get up and dance.

“God Is”: West gifts us a slower ballad, beginning with that antique nostalgic Motown noise. This song screams the pain on the way to the path to redemption. He defines his Album cover for JESUS IS KING. faith. You can hear the genuine nature of his voice and his commitment door beep and a boring melody. The to his relationship with God. best part is Pusha’s lyrical poetry and the smooth sax solo at the end.

The Bad: However, unfortunately, West decided to spoil it by bassing-out just “Closed On Sunday”: I was disapbefore it ends. Why, Kanye? pointed with “Closed On Sunday.”

The track was spectacularly boring.

“Closed on Sunday, you’re my Chick- “Jesus Is Lord”: “Jesus Is Lord” is underwhelming: West repeats the fil-A” #Awkwardlyrics. same handful of words over a steady stream of trumpets. I’m begging for “Everything We Need”: “Everya little variety and depth! thing We Need” is supremely okay.

The simple beat and lyrics bore the The Verdict: listener into wanting to change the song. Come on Kanye, a little more My greatest take away from JESUS effort. This song doesn’t even give IS KING is the stunning gospel some of what we need. choir. My go-to songs on this album “Water”: “Water” has a similar effect are hands down “Every Hour” and to the prior song. The incorporation “Selah.” They transport me to a refreshed and spiritual place. Adof the gospel chorus makes it more vice: these songs are best appreciated interesting, however still it’s repetiwhen blasted through your speakers tiveness urges the listener to dive for on a clear weekend morning. “On the skip button.

God” is another one of my favorites because of it’s party-anthem “Hands On”: “Hands On” takes on nature. All in all, I’d say that West the same repetitive boring threedid a good job on his first album as chord beat with monotonous lyrics a Christian rapper. Will West ever which makes the lister scream “I’ve diverge from his newfound religion had enough!” and put their hand on and turn back to making bangers the skip button. like “Ye?” “Use This Gospel”: “Use This GosOnly time will tell, until then, happy pel” just sounds like noise. One of listening! my favorite rappers, Pusha T, makes an appearance on this one. The whole song is irresponsibly anticlimactic: it teases the listener into thinking there will be a ‘big reveal’ or something big like the acapella part in “Selah,” but no. We are left Photo Credits: kanyewest.com listening to the noise of an ajar car

ARTS

Parasite Shows Social Problems

Bong Joo Ho’s Palme d’Or movie of 2019

Nina Zhao Contributing Writer Biologically, parasite refers to an organism that lives in or on its host.

They steal nutrition from their hosts to sustain their living. However, Bong Joon Ho’s latest movie Parasite gives the term another thoughtprovoking meaning—humans could be parasites.

The outstanding movie immediately received public praise in Asia when it was released in May 2019, and later it won the Palme d’Or—the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. Bong Joon Ho is the director, producer, and writer of the Parasit and he also directed Snowpiercer, Okja, and Memories of Murder.

The movie tells a story of two families—the destitute Kims and the wealthy Parks. The Kims live in a basement. They steal Wi-Fi from neighbors, leave the window open when the pest control truck spreads pesticide along the street to kill the bugs in their house, and take whatever they can to survive.

Changes happen when Kim Ki-woo, the son of the family, finds a job as an English tutor for the Parks by faking his college diploma. He then introduces his sister Ki-jeong into the family as an “art therapist.”

The siblings frame the driver and housekeeper to put their parents in the family as well. Ironically, the gullible Parks have no idea that the four new employees are from the same family.

Here is where the idea of parasites comes in. The Parks are the hosts, whereas the Kims are parasites.

When the Parks go camping, the Kims occupy the mansion. They take expensive food and alcohol from the fridge, drop glasses on the floor, and act like they own the house. The arrival of the former housekeeper Moon-gwang ruin their family party.

She loses her elegant look, knocking on the door in the rain. After the Kims let her in, she opens a secret basement which has been her husband’s home for four years.

Parasite reveals a severe social problem in South Korea—the unequal wealth distribution. The movie is 100% recommended for its great quality and intriguing plot.

The fact that people find conflicts between social classes in every country makes the movie apply universally.

Good movies make people laugh, better movies make people think.

The Kims gathering around a pizza (top).

Parasite posters (bottom left and right).

bollesbugleonline.com 27

ARTS

Who’s The Real Mistress of Evil?

Maleficent Mistress of Evil: Movie Review Her horns are tangled in Aurora’s marriage and sometimes, her own garments.

Su Ertekin-Taner Online Editor Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, is the long-awaited sequel for the first Maleficent movie. Released on October 18th, the movie celebrates the 60th anniversary of the original Sleeping Beauty released in 1956. The last movie ended on the note that Maleficent is no longer seen as a villain because she is the godmother of a human child. Now, as Aurora plans her marriage with Prince Phillip, his mother, Queen Ingrith, plots against Maleficent and her kingdom; Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, we find out that she is once again seen as a villain within Queen Ingrith’s kingdom.

The theme of alienation continues.

Maleficent 2 tends to milk this theme. Maleficent is alienated from the humans. Magic is alienated from human nature. Nature alienated from technology. Perhaps, the negative aspect of the movie will alienate viewers from this series. While this theme is tied throughout the movie, many viewers were expecting a more positive sequel. Perhaps, there wouldn’t be a second movie without this negative aspect.

The theme of motherhood tends to continue on from the first movie as well. Maleficent’s goddaughter, Aurora, is proposed to by Prince Phillip. Maleficent, seeming to be characterized by her horns with her every entrance in the movie, does not see Prince Phillip to be good enough for her goddaughter (as most mothers believe).

28 The Bolles Bugle

Queen Ingrith, introduced in the second movie, is Phillip’s mother and vengeful queen. She seems to be supporting this mariage. Her true intentions lie in taking over the fairy kingdom which Maleficent rules.

As a young princess, her kingdom neighboring the fairy kingdom was denied food while in a famine. By taking over the fairy kingdom, she would make sure to get ample food for her own kingdom. Her first intention was killing the king and putting the blame on Maleficent to turn her soldiers and kingdom against Maleficent. Then, she begins to exterminate the fairies in order to take over their land.

Too much dramatic irony if you ask me. I would have preferred a little bit of a plot twist.

Aurora also becomes alienated from Maleficent following her curse on King John, whom we know is killed

by Queen Ingrith. Further in the movie, Aurora is aware of her mistake in trusting a human mother instead of her own fairy godmother.

This occurs when Queen Ingrith begins to exterminate the fairies with their true weakness, iron, combined with a flower called the “Tomb Bloom” that dissolves the fairies immediately upon contact instead of solely injuring them. Not my favorite rhyming combination. Personally, I think this is very cliche for many movies. We’ve seen it in Avengers: Infinity War, Where Have All the People Gone, and Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows 2.

Along the journey to discover that her true mother was not her kind, human, but her kindred spirit, the

true star was Queen Ingrith played

by Michelle Pfeiffer. I must say her dedication to killing the fairies was superb. She not only used her servant to play an organ filled with dust that killed the fairies, but bribed thousands of soldiers to create iron bullets to kill the fairies, and faked a wedding to gather the fairies in one place. To kill them some more.

Who’s the Mistress of Evil now?

While Pfeiffer’s incredible acting made me despise her thoroughly, one aspect of the movie I truly despised was the inconsistency in explanation of Maleficent’s past. In her quest to save the fairies, Maleficent encounters more winged and horned fairies: her kind. First, where did they emerge from? Why hadn’t they come to Maleficent’s aid in the first movie?

There seem to be two groups of these winged-horned fairies as if it wasn’t complicated enough. One group wants peace between the fairies and humans, while the other wishes to annihilate all the humans that wronged them. Once the leader of the fairies that want peace dies, the overwhelming majority fight to kill the humans. So, what side is Maleficent on? She might need a scorecard to keep track of all the sides.

Through the unnecessary amount of deaths and unexpected fight scenes following the fairy-human conflict, Queen Aurora utters a form of one of the most cliche mottos every teenage girl has plastered in the form of a poster on their wall, “We must all practice kindness.”

I apply this statement to the viewers; I encourage them to practice kindness to their wallets and wait until this movie shows up on Disney Plus.

ARTS

A World of Music:

A First Look Into the Upcoming World Music Concert

Tucker Sharp Contributing Writer This February, the Chorus department will be doing its first World Music Concert. The songs are not that of your typical chorus concert.

Most are in languages other than English.

Meredith Mormann, the chorus teacher described the concert saying, “We’ve got stuff from India, stuff from Iceland, Nicaragua, China, lots of places. I decided to do it for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons being that there is a lot of music that comes from around the world that in our very American little bubble we don’t get to experience a lot.”

She decided to change the theme of the concert to challenge her students.

“When you are singing music from all over the world, you have to do a lot of different things with your voice, it’s not the same type of singing.”

“It’s really different, especially because this is my first year in the chorus. I’m only used to singing pop songs and rap or something so I didn’t expect to sing songs from a different culture but I like it. It’s a change,” said Isaac Jubran ‘22 and a baritone in the men’s choir.

The concert will be filled with cultural music along with thematic performances connecting to the music’s origen. One going to the concert can expect stories made by sounds.

The opening piece, a Brazilian song, Tres Cantos Nativos, will start with a rainstorm of sounds made by body percussion. One Indian piece will even have Bollywood dancers and a sitar.

Chorus Calander Dec. 5: Upper School Winter Concert Feb. 27: Upper and Middle School World Music Concert April 21: Upper School Chorus Concert

About 120 Bolles middle and high school students have been working on these pieces since the second week of school. This concert will not be one to miss.

On the topic of song choice, Mormann explained, “Selfishly, some are my personal favorites. But I did choose them coming from an educator’s standpoint… I chose pieces that I thought would stretch their idea of what choral music is.”

Mormann says that as students rehearse the pitches and rhythms, the language aspect becomes easier. But some songs need more practice. She explained that the Icelandic piece is particularly difficult. “I didn’t even know Icelandic was its own language until this year,” she confessed.

Vocal students use an alphabet of sounds called the international phonetic alphabet that helps them when singing in different languages. IPA is the main tool students use to learn how to sing songs like the Icelandic piece. Mormann explained how students can write out any word in IPA and understand exactly how it is pronounced.

Examples of the International Phonetic Alphabet hanging around the chorus room.

Students rehearse primarily in class under the insturuction of Mormann. bollesbugleonline.com 29

SPORTS

Bolles School Fall Sports

Katie Creveling Contributing Writer

Football

Simon Brackin ’20, linebacker and tight end, reflected on the many changes in leadership the football program has experienced. Brackin, who has played football since 7th grade said, “Routine is something that you would like to have in football.”

Under the leadership of Coach Toblin, the team’s routine has changed. Daily film screenings during Activities now happen once a week. Brackin detailed the team’s schedule, including days of heavy workouts but also walkthroughs before game day.

Brackin stated that Toblin’s routine has expanded the team’s repertoire. “Each head coach is so unique and with Coach Toblin especially, he’s a lot younger than Coach Rogers and Belger, and he just brings a new energy and a new thought process to the team that wasn’t there before.”

“Our offensive line has really, really developed from the beginning of the year at our first game until now, said Brackin.

“We used to be kinda soft and not really wanting to attack the whole, but now, the offensive line is a bunch of monsters down there.” Brackin attributes this development to both hard work and good coaching.

Brackin’s overall impression of the football team’s season is one of resilience and recovery. “Obviously our team going 8 and 1 and being able to come back from adversary after losing that first game, which we probably shouldn’t have lost, but it was good for us. It kinda reset us and led us down the right path.”

For several games, the Bulldogs weren’t favored to win. Brackin recounted several victories that fit this category, such as, “Beating Mainland who we were underdogs against. And St. Augustine who we were underdogs against.”

His father’s role as quarterback at Georgia may have inspired Brackin’s own versatility on the field. “For me, personally, just probably playing both offense and defense and being able to make an impact on all aspects of the game,” Brackin said, “That’s something that I really pride myself in and love doing it.”

While football players thrive on routine, the best routine of all may be yet to come, when the current seniors have long graduated and look back on their glory days. “Hopefully, when we have our 25 year anniversary, or something like that, we see a few guys and say ‘Oh yeah, we brought our rings out. Remember that year? That was Coach Toblin’s first year.’

The Football team receiving an ecouraging pep talk.

30 The Bolles Bugle

The Football team during their afternoon practice from 3:30 until 6:00.

SPORTS

2019 Spectacular Girls Golf

Boys Golf

The Bolles Girls Golf Team had a phenomenal season.

Boys golf had a difThe team’s coaches, Coach Caruso and Coach Redding have trained the girls to be some of the best in the ficult season this year.

The team lost two of state. their most experienced players, Cade Black and Girls Golf won all their tournaments, with only one Andrew McLauchlan, exception. They dominated the District Championone through graduation ships, won the Regional Championships, and placed and one through trans8th overall at the State Championship Tournament. fer. Team captain Ober Theam ’20 said, “We’re The team is filled with successful golfers, but a key okay, we’re having a competitor on the team is Chloe Schivanoe (‘20). rebuilding year.”

Schiavone has played Varsity Golf for Bolles since the 6th grade. She has also balanced her academic and athletic schedule with club golf outside of school.

Schivanoe has many achievements, including but not limited to, “Florida Girls Champion, Florida Girls Match Champion, Florida Women’s Champion, West Virgina State Amatuer Champion, and World Champion.”

The team finished their season 3-8.

Thomas Keaveny (Full disclosure: Keaveny is on the Bugle editorial staff) stated that the team faced a challenging match when they played Ponte Vedra High School on Pete Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass because the team was in new territory, not knowing the course very well.

Schiavone credits her successful career to her support system. ‘It’s just really awesome to have such a great Although the place was new, Keaveny said, the biggest support system behind me. I have my coaches and the golf team and my individual coaches and my Dad. challenge was the mental game of competing against They’ve all been really influential in my game and have state champions with our team being in a growth phase. helped me grow.”

In order for the golf team to score well, Theam said, the team needs to “make a lot of birdies and pars, a Even though the Girls Golf Team is losing Schiavone in the 2020 fall season, it still has a bright future ahead. minimum amount of bogies or no bogies, and then just avoid any other number besides eagles.” Keaveny said, Shiavone says to, “Watch out for Tori Mouton (‘22). “the basis of golf is that each hole comes with a certain Because she’s fire.” amount of allowable strokes to get to the hole.” If a player goes beyond the amount of strokes, called par, then that is how points are accumulated.

Theam said, “On average, you play 9 holes. Lowest score wins and you usually shoot below 40. Between 34 and 40 and have a couple of those for a six-man team.”

Despite their challenging season, the future looks bright for boy’s golf, as the team is set to receive some new blood next year. Theam said that in the future, the team will look to “play well, putt well, and hit well.”

Katie Creveling Daniel Fewell Contributing Writer Contributing Writer The Girls Golf team (from left to right; Tori Mouton, Chloe Schiavone, Tiffany Lewis, Emma Joost, Madison Balaskiewicz.) bollesbugleonline.com 31

Sports

Fall Sports Recap: Swimming The Bulldogs Swimming and Diving Team dominated their meets this season. Although considered a fall sport, most of the team practices year around with Bolles School Sharks swim club. Coach Peter Verhoef coached the team to success at the Florida High School Athletic Association 1A state championships.

Megan Howard ContributingWriter

The Bolles Swim team is a tight knit group of people. Danis Khizriev (‘20) said the highlight of the swim season was their annual Halloween party. The party takes place a few weeks before the state meet. Khizriev said that the Halloween party “helps a lot in team bonding.”

Weeks after the team bonding experience, the swim team headed off to Stuart, Florida for states. Khizriev recapped the meet where both the girls and boys team won. “Carly Schwab, committed to the University of Florida, and she beat the school’s 100 breaststroke record and she almost broke the state’s with a 1:01:76.”

The Bolles diving team did well this season making it all the way to the state diving meet. Winning many of their in-season competitions, the girls worked hard all the way to the end.

The 5 girl team are a valued powerhouse on the swimming and diving team.

Our Swimming and Diving Team maintained their legacy of success.

Avery Lambert (‘22) swimming backstroke during practice.

Credit: Katie Creveling

Nick Lee (‘20) Leaving the wall at the start of a new set.

Credit: Katie Creveling

Ellie Anderson (‘20) preparing to perform a dive.

Credit: Katie Creveling 32 The Bolles Bugle

The swim team cheering on their teamates at states.

Credit: Ashley Khoo

ng, Diving and Volleyball

Sports

The volleyball team worked hard this past season with a fairly new team.

The varsity team welcomed three new freshmen to their family. Senior Cali Furyk described how hard the freshmen on varsity worked this year, “We had freshmen come in having to play new positions and they did very well.”

Although the varsity girls did not move past the regional quarterfinal, the girls bonded and had fun together this season.

“Before every game we would interview a few girls on the volleyball Instagram and they would all be funny interviews,” Ella Schellenberg (‘21) described.

The girls created memories, worked hard on new drills and skills, and developed their program for future years to come.

The varsity girls after receiving runner up Credit: @bollesvolleyball via Instagram

The varsity girls before their first home game Credit: @bollesvolleyball via Instagram

“We had a tournament in Orlando and we came second in the gold bracket and we beat a team called Manatee by three sets.”

-Schellenberg (‘21) Junior varisty before their first game.

Credit: @bollesvolleyball via Instagram

The Bolles Bugle 33

Sports

Girls Cross Country Katie Creveling Contributing Writer

Six Months of Success, a Season in Numbers

When a team is as decorated as the Girls Cross Country Team, it can seem intimidating to younger runners to join.

The Cross Country Team’s success is built upon the team’s leadership and ability to bond with every girl regardless of age or ability. Team Captain Hadley Hodge (‘20) says, “There’s always been a really strong sense of belonging and community on the team. It’s cool to be the senior that I once looked up to as a 7th grader and kinda get to foster that sense of community to the younger girls.”

Hodge’s early challenges as an athlete give her insight into some of the struggles younger runners experience.

Hodge has been a member of the team since 7th grade and is now a team captain. Although Hodge has had a strong career in the sport, it 34 The Bolles Bugle

has not always been that way. “I was a really chubby child, so athletics did not come easily for me. Especially long distance running. So, it was really physically tough for a short little chubby girl.”

However, “As I practiced more and more my fitness started to improve.”

The team had a great opportunity to travel to New York City to compete in the Manhattan Invitational. Hodge says, “The highlight to me from this past season was New York for sure. It was a great bonding experience for the team and we all got to know some of the younger girls well and it was just really a great experience.”

The Girls Cross Country Team crushed the competition this past fall season. They managed to not only win the District Championships, but also secure the Regional Championship title, and finish 2nd overall at the State Championship Meet.

As of press time, their next competition will be the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals in Cary, North Carolina on November 30th.

Sports

Boys Cross Country Daniel Fewell Contributing Writer

An Absolute Banger of a Year

Above: The Bulldogs top seven preparing to race.

Top Right: View from behind the starting box of the district race Bottom Right: The top ten after winning the district The Bolles Boys cross country team has a history of success. With an all-star top five consisting of graduates: Charles Hicks, Chase Rivera, Ben Foltz, Kamren Khan, and Xander Hastings, the Bulldogs won two consecutive class 2A state titles and went to Nike Cross Nationals in 2017 and 2018.

However, with the graduation of that group of boys last year, few people believed the Bulldogs would be competitive in the 2019 cross country season. Yet, under the leadership of Mike Rivera and Steve Stam, the boys team worked its way onto the podium yet again and concluded their season with an exciting second place finish at the state cross country championship in Tallahassee. A feat no one expected just a few months prior.

Sophomore Will Brady and Junior

Cole Rutkowski, stepped up as leaders within the program and were the two fastest men on the team, both breaking the 16-minute 5k barrier. Sophomore Colin Duhnoski and junior Aidin Hasan both had a monster season, with Duhnoski dropping well over a minute from his 2018 5k personal record, and Hasan dropping almost four minutes from his. Dan Fewell, one of two seniors, ran a 16:49. Junior Will Camp had a great season as well, breaking the 17-minute barrier and going from a 17:54 in 2018 to a 16:59 this year. Sophmore Matthew McClure and Freshman Matthew Thomas both came up big this season, moving out of the 18-minute range, and into the low 17:00’s. Mayank Nihalani went from a 21:52 to a 18:56, and is aiming to drop more even more time next season.

It was a great year for the Bolles Boys cross country program and the future looks incredibly bright for the young team. Retaining all members, except two, and developing young talents such as Cole Bruer and Chris Joost, the Bulldogs are set to remain one of the top teams in Florida, for many years to come.

Aidin Hasan during practice All photo credit: Kim Rutkowski and Katie Creveling The Bolles Bugle  35

SPORTS

Winter Sports Clariss Valdivia Contributing Writer

SOCCER So far, both varsity soccer teams are off to a great start this year with the boys winning their first season game on Nov. 10, and the girls’ team winning their first games of the season on Nov. 13 and 15.

According to boys’ varsity captain Caleb Cohill, more winning games are sure to follow. When asked about the team, Cohill said, “this year since we have 11 seniors, yeah we’ve kind of just come up freshman year, we have a tight all-around good group.” Cohill explained that this is different from two of our rivals, Bishop Kenny and Episcopal.

“Some places like Episcopal have two or three stand out players but they don’t really have a full team they can work with. Bishop Kenny is the same way, they have about three or four playmakers and that’s it.”

Bishop Kenny is usually the girl’s team biggest rival as well. However, things are different this year. “They [Bishop Kenny] moved up a class so we won’t be competing against them.

Out of district, there’s Saint Johns which is a challenge because they’re equally competitive. Then, there’s south Florida schools We have to worry about. […] It’s so new and everything is changing.”

36 The Bolles Bugle

Hanna Edwards Contributing Writer

In past years, the teams have had great success. The girls’ team won States in 2017 and 2018, and Candelino plans on the team winning again this year. The boys’ team also won States in 2017, but last year they didn’t have the same success. “Last year getting knocked out of regional finals was a bit of a disappointment. So I think that just trying to come back this year, especially for us eleven seniors. Just trying to make the most out of last year is certainly a big goal for us,” Cohill said.

The boys’ team plans to reclaim their state title by maintaining a good work ethic throughout the season. Captains Tyler Park (12), Alonso Munoz (12), and Cohill are working hard to make sure the team stays focused during practice.

As Cohill put it, “Practice first and winning comes naturally.”

Both teams have their own way of ensuring their players are working together to win. For the boys, this means their unique team bonding ritual of shaving “awkward” designs into their hair, as Cohill put it. For the girls, this means their pre-game meal together and their pre-game locker room dancing.

Tucker Sharp Contributing Writer

WRESTLING Wrestling season finally began in November, and wrestler Dalton Posick (‘20) said that every wrestler’s personal goal this year is to get to States.

“We have a good shot at districts, we have at least a chance.” Posick stated.

Over the summer, the wrestlers practiced in Fleming Island, with their practices running from 1 to 3 hours long, during which Posick worked with many of the boys on the team.

This year, Posick stated the wrestling team has some very promising upcoming members, such as Julian

(Top) Julian Morris (‘20) and Jacob Witt (‘22)

(Bottom) Denny Voss (‘22) and Jacob Witt (‘22)

Spectacular

SPORTS

Morris (‘20) and Jacob Witt (‘22).

Posick claimed that “wrestling has the hardest practices of any sport,” because the practices take place in a sauna with stucco walls and “zero ventilation.”

Wrestlers often lift weights before school and have Saturday practices.

Practices for wrestling involve 15 minutes stretching.

After that, it’s drills, then learning new moves and working on techniques, when finally, live wrestling to practice for the actual match.

“Wrestling isn’t like playing chess, it’s more like Pokemon cards. I know I have a fire or a water type Pokemon and I know I can use this card against this guy.” Posick explained, “Each wrestler has different kinds of moves that he has. It’s like chess in that you react to each other, but like Pokemon, (because) not everyone has the same moves.”

“It’s important not to cheat yourself out of wrestling.” Posick explained.

There are 2 different ways to win wrestling: by the total number of points scored by the team, and each wrestler can win in his or her weight class.

“We have holes in our line-up that can be hard to fill.” Posick stated, “If three guys weigh the same amount, we can only play one.”

As of present time, the wrestling team has filled 10 out of the 14 weight classes, but there is still time to join. ”No matter what your build, you can be good at wrestling.” Posick explained.

BASKETBALL The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are off to a great start this season with the boys’ winning their first

pre-season game and the girls’ winning their first two games of the season.

The captains take their roles seriously, and each of them have plans for how to better their teams.

Both teams intend to continue this great start throughout the season.

The boys’ team captains hope to win district championships this year as they did last year, and to continue all the way to Regionals.

For Sanders, being captain means “to be a leader for the girls on and off the court. I’m open to talking to them about anything from plays on the court, to things going on in their personal life.”

One of the captains, sophomore Ben McGraw, stresses the importance of team chemistry in achieving this said, “our team chemistry has got to be really good this year just as it has been in the past.”

For McGraw, captain means, “just being there for each other and making sure everyone is one page and cares about the team. We always make sure we are always together with everything.”

Team chemistry is also important to girls’ team captain, senior Shekinah Sanders, who said in an interview, “I’m so excited for this season with the girls because we work so well together.”

The girl’ team plans on taking their close-knit team to Districts, then Regionals, and all the way to the Final Four.

bollesbugleonline.com 37

ACADEMICS

Willis Examines the Testing

An Update on Ms. Willis’ multiple assessment survey Daniel Fewell Contributing Writer

A screenshot of the collated responses from one question on Mrs. Willis’ initial survey of the multiple assessments topic.

“I teach 2 classes of chemistry and the science of diseases elective and I will be teaching anatomy in the spring. I am a 9th grade advisor, and I also coach middle school basketball and high school softball,” says Jennifer Willis from behind her desk in the academic office.

entire student body. So, at this point just under 40% of the students have responded. That’s not terrible but we left out the other 60%.” After analyzing the responses to her survey, Ms. Willis plans to move into another, more targeted phase of data collection.

Earlier this school year, Ms. Willis added to her already impressive list of responsibilities, and announced that she would be conducting a survey to gauge the number of assessments students were having in a day. As a member of the leadership development program, a professional development program for Bolles faculty, Ms. Willis works with the administration to solve problems that affect our community.

“The survey was kind of that first round of data collection,” she said.

“I have the preliminary results from what we’ve looked at, but the second step we’re going to be doing is randomly selecting a number of students in each grade level to have them give me their school calendars.

I can go through and look and get more objective data as far as how often this (Multiple assessments a day) is happening. We need to get the faculty involved and start having those discussions about the best way to implement change.” By looking at examples of student’s schedules, Ms. Willis will be able to see which days assessment loading happens for each grade, and at what points in the quarter it occurs most frequently.

Many students, from freshman to seniors, report having due dates for their tests, quizzes, and projects, fall on the same day of the week. When asked how well the survey conveyed the number of students affected by the problem, Ms. Willis responded, “we didn’t necessarily reach the

38 The Bolles Bugle

Later in the school year, Ms. Willis plans to present her findings to the administration, where they will decide what kind of changes, if any, need to be made in order to reduce the frequency with which multiple assessments fall on the same day.

Updates on this story will be released as new information becomes available to the student body.

Mrs. Willis on the way to her office.

bollesbugleonline.com 39

ACADEMICS

Debate Team: Aiming for Albuquerque achieved first place in the Congress event.

As for the newer team members, “all the members kind of flowed in with...how we work” says Keller.

Atticus Dickson Contributing Writer This year, the Debate Team had a successful season with their points for high school putting them fourth out of thirteen in the state; with high school and middle school points combined, second in the state.

They had two debates so far, and this January, they are scheduled to go up to Georgia for a tournament. They will then go to a tournament in Gainesville, and then on to the state qualifiers in Fleming Island. After that, they will hopefully go on to a tournament in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and finally, nationals in Albuquerque.

This year, they focused heavily on Congress, which is an event where, like the United States Congress, the objective is to debate and pass bills. But Matthew Keller ‘21 says, “we’ve noticed we might have to switch out to a new set of or a new competition instead of Congress.”

The debate team also participated in the Lincoln-Douglas debates, named after the famous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, with two students, Fapianey Alexandre ‘21 and Dahlia Kirov ‘21 exceeding 40 The Bolles Bugle

Debate Team trophy from the Eagle Scramble.

Photo credit: Dickson their topic on whether standardized test is a fair way to judge students’ intelligence.

They had to argue both sides and placed first two times.

Some other students who did well are Sophie Grace Posick ‘22, Nilesh Patel ’22, Andrew McGraw ‘23, Joe Libby ‘21, Matthew Keller ‘21, Will Stankard ‘22, Tyler Schimpff ‘22, George Duffy ‘21, and our very own Bugle staffer, Cameron Gratz ‘23, who

When asked what the best part was, Mrs. Kervin, one of the two faculty sponsors along with Mr. Hutchings, said “the high points have been the students themselves.”

Throughout the year, the debate team has also been discussing how to talk about complicated and controversial issues like the Hong Kong protests and Syria and Turkey. “Everything current in the world...all of these things that really give them an insight into current politics and current legislature that has been passed already, but we’re always thinking about the Constitution.” says Mrs. Kervin.

Debate Team photo.

Photo credit: Cameron Gratz ‘23

ACADEMICS

Robotics Team: Rocky Start to Smooth Sailing Atticus Dickson Contributing Writer This year, Bolles Robotics had three competitions (the third one has not occurred, as of press time). According to team captain Pranav Kasavaraju (22), “The first meet this season had our team off to a rocky start, however we recovered quickly to find more efficient solutions, and we performed well during the second meet.” In their second tournament they placed fifth with the Voyagers team, and thirteenth with the Patent Pending team, out of twenty six.

bridges and moving blocks. The other portion of the competition is driver controlled, in which each team’s driver controls the robots and makes them complete the same objectives.

In order to maintain their spots as some of the top robotics teams in North-East Florida, the Robotics teams practiced for about ten hours a week, divided up into Wednesday mornings, Friday evenings, and Saturday afternoons.

Overall, members of the team said that they love the experience.

In Kasavaraju’s words “Cocaptains Aman and I are really enjoying this season and highlevel of collaboration the team has had so far.”

Part of the Robotics Team at a competition (left to right: Cameron Gratz ‘23, William Schilling ‘24, Pranav Kasvaraju Aylar Orshava ‘23, Aman Shaik ‘22, Liam Sanborn ‘23, and Stephano Hernandez ‘23 Phot credit: Pranav Kasavaraju ‘22

After their most recent tournament, they will have one on December 15th. After that, they have League Championships on Superbowl Weekend. Then, hopefully they will qualify for the State Championships at the end of February.

Under captains Aman Shaik (22) and Pranav Kasavaraju, and faculty sponsor Mr. Sollee, the Robotics team has shifted their focus more towards the autonomous period of the competition, where the robot “is the most robot like,” according to Sollee. In this period, the robot is not controlled by a driver, and based on pre-existing coding is supposed to complete a series of objectives like going beneath

Team Patent Pending’s robot in practice.

Photo credit: Dickson

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OP-ED

Online Content:

Seniors Share Thoughts on 2020 Election

Thomas Keaveny Copy Editor

Gabriel Bassin Co-Editor In Chief

Taylor Ford Coffeehouse Promotor

The Nov. 3rd 2020 Presidential Election is less than a year away and many candidates are starting to kick it into gear, hitting the road on their campaign trails, spreading awareness for their names, and gaining a following for their platforms. The 2020 Election is expected to have a record-breaking voter turnout and among those new voters are members of our student community.

Thomas Keaveny and Gabriel Bassin, anchored by Taylor Ford, took it to the streets and asked eligble voters of the student body three simple questions: - Do you know what happens less than a year from now in November?

- Are you planning on voting?

- What issues are most important to you, that are sure to be present in the race for the presidency?

Check out the video here! Don’t forget to subscribe to the Bugle Youtube Channel.

Gabriel Bassin interviewing Mitchell Henshaw as seen in “Man on the Street - Seniors Share Thoughts on 2020 Election”.

Filmed by: Thomas Keaveny

If you have iOS 11 or later on an Apple device, scan this QR code with your camera, or use a QR code-reading application.

42 The Bolles Bugle

Op-Ed: Convocation Controversy

OP-ED

Soraya Rafat Coffeehouse Promoter After a convocation, students have opinions. Some might keep their thoughts to themselves as they head to their next class. At the end of the day, some might talk about what they heard. Some might have loved the speaker, while some might have disliked the message. Some people laughed, and, unfortunately, some people cried.

It’s likely the conversations remain brief (Got to get to class!) and primarily among like-minded people.

Without any official opportunity for feedback and reflection, the benefit of the convocation might be lost.

Large groups of students assemble at convocations not knowing what to expect. After listening to speeches about different topics from different speakers, students might not know how they feel at first. It’s hard to reflect when you have to go straight to class and put on your game face.

There are students who might discuss it, but not everyone has the time to get as deep as they want to.

Like most teenagers, our students have strong opinions. Discussions are a great way of exchanging ideas and safely releasing emotions, it would be a great idea to have a period of open discussion the day after a convocation.

For example, the Veterans Day convocation provoked a variety of responses.

On Veterans Day this year, Bolles invited Drew Berquist ‘99, Bolles grad and former counterterrorism officer. Dr. Kostandarithes planned the convocation, and sought help getting a speaker from Alumni Development Officers Ryan Trevett and Rahul Sharma, Mr. Hilf and Mr. Tepas, who have both seen military service.

School convocations often leave students with more questions than answers. While a thought-provoking convocation is great, time to talk would bring clarity and a chance for deeper reflection.

According to Dr. K, Berquist was seen as someone who could relate to the students because of his younger age and previous football career.

Berquist spoke from talking points given by the planners: focus on honor, duty, and the sacrifices military families make. It was an honor for Bolles to bring in its own graduate who experienced military service and intelligence service, and his speech was meant to inspire the students.

“I thought he was awesome,” was heard in the halls.

However, his comments, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi taking a “dirt nap,” interrogations being referred to as “heartwarming conversations,” and generalizing the Middle East as a place filled with terrorists, made some teachers and students feel uncomfortable, especially those connected to Islam and the Middle East.

Throughout the day, some felt confused, disappointed, and offended.

For those students, this speech didn’t have the impact that Berquist may have wanted.

It is understandable that people work hard to plan these convocations, and students respect the effort, but question the effectiveness.

Although a lot of planning takes place in order to bring a speaker to our campus, a little more planning might make convocations more beneficial.

Although speakers might depart from their talking points, the school must consider that students and parents will ask if the speaker’s words reflect the school’s values, especially if the speaker is a Bolles graduate and the speech is on the school’s website. If students or parents choose to further research the speaker, they should find a social media presence that supports the school’s high academic standards and honor code.

Planners cannot control a speaker’s message, so let’s find a way for students to process what we hear.

It’s vital to show a wide variety of perspectives. If students had a chance to talk together, students who loved the presentation might see how it hurt others and students hurt by it might see the positive parts of the speech.

We’ll sit through many different convocations, and to get the most out of them, convocations with an outside speaker should end with an opportunity to reflect.

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