V40 Issue 1

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Alumni giving shows gratitude, engagement

Administration working to increase giving rate in the school community

S tory by Brooke Ebner Staff Writer

When it comes to alumni giving, ESD stands above the National Association of Independent School’s average, but the alumni giving rate is still not quite as high as many of our other peer schools.

ESD trails behind Hockaday’s alumni participation of 22 percent in the 2021-2022 school year and Greenhill’s alumni participation of 17 percent also from the 2021-2022 school year.

During the senior retreat, Assistant Head of Upper School Henry Heil had the class call out their estimate on the percentage of alumni who support and give back to the school.

“Mr. Heil asked the class what we thought was the number of alumni that give back to the school and most of the answers we shouted out were the same,” senior Sally Tomlin said. “We all started throwing out random percentages between 70 to 80 precent. The answer that he gave us was shocking.”

Director of Alumni Asia Hawkins ’13, along with the ESD board and community, is not satisfied with the school’s current percentage, and is trying to find ways ESD can encourage alumni to give back.

“Currently, we average about 9 percent a year of our alumni that give back in terms of making a gift,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins believes that what matters, in terms of alumni giving, is participation.

“We want alumni to participate and give what they can,” Hawkins said. “Gifts of $10, $20 impact what we do daily, and will ultimately help our participation increase from 9 percent to 20 percent”

But financial support is not the only way alumni can help the ESD community there are a variety of ways one can volunteer.

“We have a few [alumni] that volunteer through our alumni board. We have 24 alumni on the alumni board that come to meetings every other month and help create events,” Hawkins said. “And we also have alumni that participate in the WORX program with offering interviews or helping to conduct those and then offering internship opportunities.”

NAIS, a membership organization for non profit private schools, alumni giving average is seven per -

cent, landing us a little over their average.

“We’re above average, but we definitely have work to do to improve that number and be better and on par with some of our other peer schools in the area,” Hawkins said. “Spreading awareness on the impact that giving has on students in our community at ESD is important [to get more alumni involved in giving] along with education in ways you can give.

Hawkins knows that a lot of people want to know where their dollars go and the alumni association wants to be more transparent.

ESD’s percentage of 9 percent is close in comparison to Parish’s range of 6 percent to 9 percent participation, while St. Mark’s alumni giving is over 50 percent. But one reason why our alumni giving rate is lower than our other peer schools is due to how young ESD is.

“Since we’re still a pretty young school and we haven’t even reached our 50th anniversary yet, I would say probably it’s doable [to reach 20 to 30 percent giving] within the next three to five years.” Hawkins said.

nity. She has been more involved since she got back to Dallas from the East Coast, Washington D.C., and law school at the University of Texas.

McKee, who has been part of the ESD community for a long time, feels it’s right for her to give back to the school to help shape other students just like she was.

“[I give back] to show my appreciation and gratitude for a community that shaped me since I enrolled at age 6 for first grade,” McKee said. “I benefit from getting to meet and make connections with our alumni from different class years and that are doing incredible things both here in Dallas and across our nation.”

And Tomlin agrees. “I know ESD is a younger school in comparison to Hockaday and St. Marks, but that number still seems unusually low,” Tomlin said.

Alumni Board President Lauren Bellemare ’05,thinks it essential that the community communicates to alumni about the need for involvement and engagement as they may seem to think that they’re not needed.

“I think that people who attended ESD believe the school is well off and doesn’t necessarily need their support, which is a misconception,” Bellemare said.

Alumni board member Camie McKee ’09 participates in the alumni board and is devoted to giving back and supporting the commu-

But she thinks it is equally important to give back to any other communities that have helped shape her.

“So, In addition to giving back to ESD, I also give back to my undergraduate institution and my law school because each of these communities has helped shape my character and helped me develop skills that have helped me become the person I am today,” Mckee said.

“And I think it’s important to invest in our future leaders by investing in students through educational institutions like ESD.”

It’s essential for our community members including alumni to know and understand what their gifts are being used for when contributing. Funds can highly impact students by allowing them to attend ESD, and awaring alumni of how their funds supports the school, like scholarships for example, could help bring more interest.

“The annual giving represents maybe 6 or 7 percent of the operational budget and so one way of looking at it is, 7 cents of every dollar that the school spends is on faculty salaries, professional development, student programming [and athletics],” Chief Advance -

ment Officer Denis Stokes said.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is a difference maker, in the sense that, without that, there’d be some things we’d have to make some choices about. And so [gifts] give us the opportunity to sort of fully fund rather than having [to] make compromises.”

Stokes emphasized the need to be able to maintain and grow the number of alumni contributors to the school.

“Alumni [have] benefited by what the school has offered. [Some students] spend 12, 13 or 14 years [at ESD] and so in terms of their formation, it’s who they are as individuals [and] is a pretty significant influence in somebody’s life,” Stokes said. “I think it becomes sort of a sense of responsibility and a duty to give back so that those who follow us will benefit by something just as good if not better.”

And Katie Young, director of alumni relations at Greenhill, hopes that alumni understand that their education was partially funded through the generosity of graduates who came before them.

“Alumni contributions show gratitude for their student experience while helping to sustain the same experience for future generations,” Young said. “Alumni continue to be an essential part of Greenhill’s philanthropic culture.”

Head of School David Baad is working with both Stokes and Hawkins to increase alumni engagement. He thinks financial engagement is essential to the community.

“Creating good relationships with our alumni is extremely important, and I want to emphasize to you all that the money giving part of it is nice and, obviously, we all need to remember that what people donate to ESD, does a lot of really wonderful things,” Baad said. “It keeps everybody’s tuition lower, it allows students whose families might not be able to afford to go here.” He also said that donations allow the school to pay teachers “the wage they deserve to do the really good work they do with [students], so donations are really important.”

But to him, it is also important that alumni feel like ESD is home.

“I want you and I want them [alumni] to feel like this is home,” Baad said. “That this is a place that they feel connected to.” Visit esdallas.org/giving for more information on ways to give.

3,320 $142,100

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Since the 2016 election, the GOP has experienced a major shift, affecting school community

DFW becomes the first carbon neutral airport and

ALUMNI WEEKEND ’22

Donny Carty ’17 (left) stands next to classmate William Watson and his fiancee, Ashley, during the April 23 and 24 Alumni Weekend event held on campus . Photo provided by alumni office

DOWN TO EARTH

DFW Airport achieves carbon neutrality

The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport became the first carbon-neutral airport in 2016. In order for DFW to call itself carbon neutral, it needed to be approved by the Airport Carbon Accreditation Program, which sets standards for airports and carbon neutrality.

First, the airport must evaluate its emissions, which includes everything in the airport, except the jets because DFW does not own them. Then, the airport must reduce its emissions as much as possible. A business that is carbon neutral absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits, by utilizing carbon offsets, which are a type of taxes.

Carbon sinks are parts of nature that absorb carbon dioxide like oceans and forests. However, there are not enough carbon sinks to offset global carbon emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, 36 billion tons of carbon were emitted in 2020. However, natural carbon sinks like oceans and trees only absorb 11 billion tons of carbon.

“I would say that achieving carbon neutrality garnered DFW sustainability and environmental programs international recognition,” Sustainability Program Manager of DFW, Sarah Xynomic, said. “Being in the environmental department ourselves, I realize the importance of some of the different programs and initiatives we had. But achieving carbon neutrality, which is this internationally recognized certification that brought attention, that put a spotlight on the airport, and it drove an expectation for us to continue tackling major environmental and sustainability challenges.”

The aviation sector represents about 2 percent or 3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Of that 2 percent, aircraft produce 98 percent of it, while airports are responsible for the remaining 2 percent.

“Airports are a smaller piece of the global puzzle,” Assistant Vice President of Environmental of DFW, Sandra Lancaster, said. “However, aviation is constantly in the news as a source of emissions in the US, and we [want to] lessen that.”

In order for DFW to cut its emissions to 35,000 tons, changes everywhere in the airport had to be made. To reduce both carbon emissions and waste, DFW works to recycle oil from restaurants like McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A. Their cooking oil is recycled and collected, instead of getting thrown away, to be used as the base material to make renewable diesel and jet fuel or sustainable aviation fuel.

“Reusing oil has two benefits, it’s a renewable fuel, but it also helps with our zero waste goal,” Xynomic said. “So we’re taking that waste material and making it something useful. We are looking to see if there are other waste products we have at the airport that could one day be used to make renewable fuel that could be used here.”

DFW is under constant maintenance and construction to keep up with its 80 million annual passengers. Construction produces a lot of waste, and transportation of materials produces a lot of carbon, so DFW reuses material. For example, if they are removing old concrete they crush it up to be reused as the base for a different project.

“We have a lot of projects where the waste from one product became something we needed on another product,” Lancaster said. “We are saving money because we don’t have to pay to haul it off and then pay to bring in new [ma-

99 PRECENT: of DFW

WATERFALLS APEAR NATURALY on the land DFW airport takes up. DFW airport ensures they take care of thier surrounding nature.

provided by

Lancaster

terial]. And we’re reducing our impact on the environment because we’re not sending material to a landfill; we’re actually reusing it and repurposing it. Ninety-eight percent of our construction material was able to be repurposed.”

In order to reduce waste, DFW did a waste audit. They found that 25 percent of their trash was food waste. DFW partnered with Turn, a company that specializes in food waste. Turn works to help DFW create compost.

“Turn collects compost for the restaurants that we’ve onboarded so far,” Xynomic said. “They collect it every day, and then that’s taken to help local organic farms or composting facilities and community gardens. [Turn] also helps educate the restaurant staff on what can be thrown in the compost bin. But one of our early efforts to target waste reduction

from those restaurants is giving them to participate in our compost program. It’s free to the restaurants, so they don’t have to pay to reduce their waste.”

In order to eliminate a large percentage of carbon emissions, DFW switched all of their buses and cars to electric. Additionally, 100 percent of their electricity comes from windmills.

“We have an increasing need for electricity as we’re buying electric buses or electric cars for our own fleet,” Xynomic said. “What happens once we add electric aircraft to the mix one day? That’s a huge demand for electricity. We’re partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory because they’re going to help us analyze what the future demands are going to be and how we can prepare.”

DFW is planning to achieve zero waste. Zero waste is defined as keeping 90 percent of materials used out of landfills and instead reused.

“So we’re not just thinking about how we are reducing emissions,” Xynomic said. “We’re also thinking about how we can use energy more efficiently and optimize our use of it. So conserving energy, using it wisely. As you’re keeping products and goods in motion, you’re not just using it and sending it to a landfill, and keeping items in circulation.”

For a company to be net zero, they must offset the amount of carbon they release themselves rather than paying for that. The aviation goal of net zero emissions is 2050. However, DFW wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.

“We do plan to plant more trees, but that is not that alone is not enough,” Xynomic said. “To really have an impact, we are going to need to find a way to store it permanently. There are a couple of different ways you could do that. [carbon] can be stored underground, but that is very expensive. Another option is building materials. Carbon can be stored in building products like carpet tiles or concrete. So we’re hoping that over the next few years, some of these different technologies that are really promising are something that we can do on our own and that the costs come down because the technology is further developed.”

ESD is not carbon neutral and is not currently planning to be. However, the school still tries to decrease its emissions as much as possible.

“I’m not aware of a policy to be carbon neutral,” Director of Facilities, Jay Michael, said. “However, we try to be energy efficient with our mechanical systems on campus. We try to emphasize ways to reduce use of transportation for deliveries like we bulk purchase items and encourage different departments at school to combine their resources to order similar things such as paper, for example. We use a lot of paper at school, right? Well, we try to get the three different schools to organize a bulk delivery so that Staples doesn’t have three drivers a week coming to deliver the same product.”

ESD’s biggest carbon emissions is the air conditioning according to Michael. On a national level, according to the New York Times, the United States produces 100 million tons of carbon dioxide by use of air conditioning, and air conditioning makes up 6 percent of all electricity used.

“Our air conditioning systems are the biggest energy users on campus,” Michael said. “It would be really energy efficient, to keep our temperature at 78 degrees. However, it would be uncomfortable and students wouldn’t be able to focus and learn. So we’ve got to keep trying to keep those temperatures at 68 to 70 degrees. When we’re not here on the weekends, we kick our air conditioning up to 80 degrees or we turn them off.”

SAGE Dining Services is introducing a program called USAGE. USAGE will be used to determine the amount of food waste being produced, so they can try to lower it. Sage also uses the produce, like basil and lettuce, grown at ESD gardens.

“I personally think [USAGE is] beneficial because no one wants to see food thrown in the trash,” SAGE Service Manager, Rebecca Compton, said. “Our team works very hard to produce great food and want to see everyone enjoy it. We can improve by making sure we don’t over produce and by cooking in smaller batches, which is something we already practice. I believe reducing food waste is a joint endeavor. If, as a community, we can be mindful of what goes in the trash, we can reduce our overall waste together.”

CHARGERS are used to power the electric busses.

Photo provided by Sandra Lancaster.

Photo

by

ELECTRIC BUSSES helped DFW airport cut down on thier carbon emission. All of the the electricty that powers the busses are reneble. Photo provided by Sandra Lancaster.

S tory by Abby Baughman Life Editor

Photo

Sandra

Friend or foe, bobcat on ESD campus

Dallas Animal Wildlife personnel declares animal harmless

S tory by Iris Hernandez News Editor Photo by Fr. Nate Bostian

It was just a normal Thursday morning when junior Tucker Robertson and senior Justin McCray sat down at their usual table in the cafeteria.

It stopped being so normal when a bobcat came around the corner, just outside the window.

“I went into the south dining room to look at [the bobcat] some more, [when] Justin tried to scare me,” Robertson said. “He thought it was funny, but I didn’t find that too humorous.”

Robertson believes they were the first ones to see the big cat, but on Aug. 31, the day before, faculty and staff were alerted of a bobcat via an email sent by Head of Security Jody Trumble. The email contained information on what to do if they encountered the bobcat, who Trumble named as Bob.

According to Trumble, the Dallas Animal Wildlife personnel came to campus and said that the bobcat was not a threat to humans and no action would be taken by them regarding the animal.

“The wildlife specialist that came out said that ESD was doing everything right regarding the situation by having a predator proof chicken coop, secure dumpsters and ensuring no food items were left out,” Trumble said.

Bob was first spotted on Eagle Family Way, in front of Fr. Nate Bostian’s house.

“We saw it right before we started fixing dinner, about 6:30 p.m.,” Bostian said. “We first thought it was a regular cat. Then a very large regular cat. We watched for a while, as Bob looked around for prey to hunt. It was about 10 minutes. After that, I sent the pics to Officer Trumble in case they were a danger to campus.”

While a bobcat might seem like a dangerous animal to have on the

Drug testing update

Over the summer, the school’s administration decided to eliminate faculty from the drug testing pool in the foreseen future; they believe there was no longer any visible gain.

When drug testing was first introduced in 2019, Head of Upper School Henry Heil along with Head of School David Baad decided that including the adults on campus in the launch of the program would be beneficial to the community.

“When the original idea of [drug testing] happened, faculty were not part of the conversation,” Heil said. “Mr. Baad and the rest of us thought we all needed to do it together to give it the buy-in that we thought it needed. And I brought up last spring that I felt it would help us turn the temperature down of drug testing if we did not test the faculty anymore.”

History and ethics teacher Bryan Cupp understands why students are tested.

“As a school community there is a concern of the health and wellbeing of the students, and there is a difference between someone who is 18 or younger and someone who is in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s etc,” Cupp said. “There is an assumption that they are older and more experienced in life to take care of themselves and perhaps deserve more autonomy.”

Further changes have been made toward student testing including testing new students during orientation and requiring parents to resign up their child for saliva testing if they prefer it over hair testing.

Administration wants to make sure parents understand what signing up for saliva testing entails: more frequent testing (a random pool pulled every week), further lab testing for

school grounds, according to Trumble, it actually means that the local ecosystem is thriving. Their presence helps to keep the population of smaller animals in check. Because of this thriving ecosystem, a bobcat is not the only wild animal that has been seen on campus in recent years.

“The campus has had a beautiful red tailed hawk around pretty regularly over the past couple of years,” Trumble said. “We also see the occasional coyote and during the Covid lockdown several bobcats were observed moving around the campus. Red tailed hawks, coyotes and bobcats all thrive on small animals such as mice, snakes and rabbits.”

Middle school science teacher and fifth grade dean Ellen Neill, who is the main caretaker of the school’s chickens, became worried about the chickens after a bobcat killed a mother goose around the time of graduation last year. This resulted in the goose family only having one baby this year.

“I went out [to the coop] and made sure it was very secure,” Neill said. “A bobcat is different from a raccoon or a type of animal that can dig underneath, but if the door was open they would have chicken for dinner. We put extra wire on the walls and locks on the doors. I made sure it was very secure.”

Geese are not the only animals on Bob’s menu. Bobcats are carnivores and eat many small animals, including birds, lizards, rodents, snakes and some large animals such as deer.

“Out by the chicken coop and in [the] garden area, there are a lot of baby rabbits,” Neill said. “So, the population has gone down. We found a couple underneath the coop, sort of hiding. So, that makes us aware that he’s out there. ”

It may seem unusual to have such an animal this far from the country-

confirmed it was a bobcat. sent the pics to Officer Trumble in case they were a danger to campus.”

Photo by Fr. Nate Bostian

side, but according to wfaa.com, the bobcat population has been increasing in the metroplex since 2012. Junior Frazer Knodel has seen bobcats in his backyard.

“In 2018 [I had] a special breed of house chicken, which I imported from overseas at a young age,” Knodel said. “They were like pets to me, and we were very close, like family. One day, I let them out before I went to school, and a bobcat jumped over my fence and ate and killed them. I was devastated, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that they put up a good fight.”

Neill also believes that due to the summer heat, bobcats have begun to come into the city more in search of water, where the quarry would be a great place for Bob. The fifth grade class often goes out to the quarry during recess, meaning they would be in Bob’s territory.

“[The fifth graders and I] talked about [Bob],” Neill said. “One day they said, ‘We think we heard the bobcat back there,’ but it wasn’t. They aren’t going to come around when there are a lot of people around.”

false positives and a smaller testing pool. Hair, on the other hand, does not require further lab testing and has a larger pool that is randomly tested once a month.

Montwood Lane sign remains standing on Eagle Family Way.

“The reason for [re-signing up]... is that saliva testing happens a lot [because] the pool is smaller and many were annoyed they were getting pulled every week for it,” Heil said. “We do want it to be hair for students …it’s therapeutic.”

ISAS Accreditation

On Oct. 2, Independent Schools Association of the Southwest will send a team of 20 ISAS members to visit ESD. They will evaluate the school’s various programs, ranging from the math department to the admissions program. Assuming the school meets the required standards, the school’s ISAS Accreditation will be renewed for the next 10 years.

ISAS is a popular association for 94 schools across Texas, Louisiana and other states; it encourages school wide development and excellence. Every 10 years, each member school must complete a self study, conducted by the administration and staff, in preparation for the ISAS visit. The current self study report has been carefully crafted for the past 6 months, with a discussion of the schools goals, challenges and strengths.

“Every single math course had a walk through where we broke the curriculum down by quarter,” Maggie Ferris, Upper School Math Department Chair, said. “We evaluated scope and sequence, [the] course’s big picture.”

The in-person visit will occur over three days, with team members visiting classrooms and holding meetings to develop a firm grasp of the school’s assets.

“There might be a visiting com-

mittee member who travels to Wolf Run . . . [or] go to a rehearsal in the arts,”Assistant Head of School Ruth Burke said. “There will be spontaneous and pre-arranged meetings.” And after such observation, the ISAS committee will provide feedback to improve the school community.

The Eagle Way

This summer, the school renamed Montwood Road to Eagle Family Way, as a result of a rezoning process and a donation from John and Jennifer Eagle. Owning the entire street allows the school to embark on a variety of new projects, one of them being a parking lot.

“Through our zoning process that we’ve been going through over the last probably eight years or so, the school actually bought Montwood Road,” associate head of school Ruth Burke said. “We own all the property south of [Eagle Family Way] — [including] the four or five houses that remain. It was all part of our zoning to be able to, ideally one day in the future, create a new entry and exit on that side and additional parking.”

The street will remain as Montwood Road for services from the City of Dallas, such as mail delivery, trash pickup and recycling, to avoid confusion since there are faculty and staff who still live in the houses on that street. However, the school has plans to create a temporary street sign by Christmas, designating the name Eagle Family Way to the street.

“When [the Eagle’s] made the gift, they made an unrestricted gift, so we were able to use that for Lower School,” Burke said. “It just so happens that their last name and our mascot are the same, so it worked out. In order to honor their gift, we decided to name the road Eagle Family Way, and also to honor the fact that we’re eagles.”

BOB SIGHTING

Nate Bostian’s Car. “I

biologist,” Bostian said.

Photos and stories compiled by Grace Worsham, Charlotte Traylor and Elliot Lovitt

Covid-19 continues to affect the global economy

Supply chains suffer from Covid-19 restrictions in China

S tory by Abby Baughman Life Editor

Sophomore Ava Loftus turned 16 in March. She and her family went to multiple car dealerships to find a car for Loftus. And after sitting in a Kia Seltos, she knew it was the car for her.

“I sat in the Kia Seltos, and I was like, ‘Wow, I love this car so much,’” Loftus said. “I really wanted the car. I had my mind set, and this was the only car I wanted.”

Because of supply chain shortages, Loftus was unable to get her car. The Kia Loftus wanted was not available in any Dallas dealerships.

“We couldn’t find the [car] I wanted anywhere because there are no cars,” Loftus said. “I was really frustrated because I wanted this particular car.”

However, her father has a friend who lives in Columbia, Missouri. His friend looked around the city, and found that one of the Kia dealerships there had the car Loftus wanted. So Loftus and her father planned a trip to get the car.

“It was stressful how hard it was to get the car, and I didn’t know when I was going to be able to drive it,” Loftus said. “It sucked because I knew I was able to drive, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have a car. So I was impatiently waiting.”

She didn’t have to wait long. On March 28, Loftus was finally able to drive her first car, a black Kia Seltos. Now she had the convenience of being able to drive herself to school and friends’ houses.

“I had to wait to get the car,” Loftus said. “But I was really excited to get my car. And it was definitely worth the wait.”

In 2021, Americans bought 15 million new cars, and it is predicted that in 2022, Americans will buy 14

million cars. But the decrease in car sales does not mean there will be more cars or that they will go down in price.

“[The supply chain] is still backlogged because most of our imports come from China, and they’re still shutting their own plants down,” AP economics teacher Amy Livingston said. “We depend so much on international trade, [China is a] really a critical chain in the whole link.”

Globalization began in the 20th century and is a global market that connects the majority of countries. For example, a car is made up of 30,000 parts that come from several countries, and they all need to be put together.

“Globalization is important because no country can be self-sufficient,” Livingston said. “The only country to try to be self-sufficient is North Korea, and no one wants to live there. Countries can specialize in something that they’re really good at and trade with other countries. So it brings prices down. Consumers benefit, producers benefit because it increases competition.”

“Back in 2020, when China just shut down their economy [it created a] domino effect; most of our goods come from China,” Livingston said. “The parts that go into what we produce in the United States come from China. So when China shut their economy down, it rippled down the system. You saw ships getting backlogged in ports because people couldn’t work in the ports.”

In 2020, the world was isolated by Covid-19. Cities instituted curfews, and Americans were told to stay indoors. According to the New York Times, economists assumed that people would spend far less money, so factories downsized in order not to lose money.

“The economy is organic. It’s buyers and sellers buying and selling things.

Livingston said. “So you combine the supply chain issues coming from China with our own issues, the stimulus checks. That was just going to exacerbate the situation, which it did. And that’s what we saw this problem [of], this backlog of goods, a lot of things that get made in China.”

Inflation occurs when there is a broad increase of prices and is measured by the consumer price index, a measurement of prices of common goods like gas and groceries. Current CPI is measured through an equation the value of goods this year divided by the value of goods last year multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

When the government comes in and tries to stop that from happening, it’s going to be catastrophic.

Amy Livingston AP Economics teacher

According to Bloomberg, China has policies of shutting down cities and businesses after a few positive Covid-19 tests. In August, The Shijiazhuang government put the city of 11 million under lockdown. All subway lines and non-essential businesses were shut down.

”

“[Economists] try to make educated guesses about what they see,” Livingston said. “They look for certain indicators to try to anticipate certain events. Right now they’re looking at what’s most concerning: inflation and the recession. A lot of economists are all on the same page — this is likely just going to get worse over the next year.”

The economists were wrong. People did not stop spending money, but their purchasing habits changed.

“Stimulus checks [meant] people were getting money not to go to a job because in a sense, their job had been taken away from them,”

The CPI of June 2022 was a 9 percent increase from last year. According to Inflation USA, the inflation rate of 2022 is expected to be 8.5 percent; this is the highest it has been since 1981. Inflation is calculated by an equation of CPI of this year subtracted from CPI of last year divided by CPI of last year multiplied by 100.

According to Livingston, people often say that Covid-19 shut down the economy, she believes that governments shut down the economy.

“That’s never happened before,” Livingston said. “The economy is organic. It’s buyers and sellers buying and selling things. When the government comes in and tries to stop that from happening, it’s going to be catastrophic. So what you saw happened with Covid-19. This is why [economists] couldn’t predict this, because no one could ever predict that governments would just shut down and say, you can’t work unless your job is considered important enough for you to be working. Some people don’t have the luxury of working from home. Some people don’t have the luxury of being able to not go to a job.”

of dallas

A national Republican rift

Liz Cheney proves a symbol of a Conservative divide

S tory by Katherine Mote Business Manager

The 2016 election included major shifts from both political parties. With a lot of struggles to see the other’s political views, American political culture has become increasingly divisive and party ideology is moving further and further from the middle. Specifically, within the GOP, more extremist views have been pushed towards the center of the party with the Democratic Party accelerating at a slower pace comparatively. Because of these major changes we’ve seen a synonymous shift in the school community and the way students and faculty interact around politics with Liz Cheney at the center of this discussion as a symptom of the divisiveness.

“Clearly, the school has always skewed conservative,” upper school U.S. history teacher Claire Mrozek said. “But, I would say the vast majority of them are what I would call Bush or McCain Conservatives, strong policy statements, but I think always aware and interested in actually getting things done, and working with the other side to maintain a core set of principles.”

Over one in four upper school students are currently involved in the Conservative Student Union, a number that has grown considerably in the past three years. Since a large percentage of the student body identifies as Conservative, the perceived split in the GOP can be seen in the school’s own community or something like this. One of the only remaining examples of the 1990s to 2000s Conservatives in the United States is Liz Cheney. With a history of politics in her family, Cheney has struggled to maintain the GOP vote in politics to this day, as shown in her recent Wyoming loss because she didn’t take the extremist views that would’ve been

necessary to win, especially when it came to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“What she’s been saying has turned into such a big deal, because the Republican Party has moved farther right and she’s dug her heels into the ground,” senior Amelia Sinwell said. “She’s a far-right person, [but] she believes in United States democracy.”

Mrozek believes Cheney is an important figure because she’s one of the few legacies of the 1990s era perspectives left in America. Regardless of losing her election, she stuck to her core beliefs and didn’t waiver when pressured by extremist Republicans and Trump supporters. As the Republican Party continues to move to the extreme, it means different things for Liberals and Conservatives.

types of Republicans [now],” senior and Conservative Student Union Director of Diversity and Inclusion Layne Scheinberg said.“There’s the classic Conservative and the ‘Trump supporter’ Republican. I feel like more people are realizing they maybe don’t share the same views as Trump did in his presidency and going back to the classic Conservative views or vice-versa and shifting more towards the Trump presidency.

“Liz Cheney is a red herring for Liberals and a symbol of the new Republican divide for Conservatives.”

Victoria Hammett Alumna

“Liz Cheney is a red herring for Liberals and a symbol of the new Republican divide for Conservatives,” alumna Victoria Hammett ’19 said. “I see a lot of people on the left praising her for holding Trump accountable, seemingly forgetting her terrible views. On the flip side, Cheney losing her primary shows that ‘MAGA’ Republicans are quickly taking over the party.”

Large shifts like this within a party are commonly identified with the party’s presidential nomination. In the 2020 election, it was clear where the GOP stood based on Donald Trump’s perceived extremist views, especially in relation to the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.

“I feel like there are two different

Simultaneously, this could mean two drastic things for moderates. Either moderates will continue to attempt to be moderate while being pushed to the right or they’ll completely sway away from the Republican Party in fear it’s becoming too extremist.

“I think if you look at something like the fact that Joe Biden was the candidate it would indicate that the center of the Democratic Party is still leaning moderate,” Mrozek said. “You know, obviously, there are some policies that the Democrats have enacted that are an attempt to appeal to the progressive wing. But I would argue that the core belief system is still moderate. Looking at the candidates is the kind of metric that I would use.”

Hammett believes more moderate Republicans seem to be embarrassed by the MAGA supporters and with so many moderate Democrats, like Manchin and Sinema, it wouldn’t surprise her if moderates start swinging over to the Democratic Party. This change has also been reflected in the upper school.

“In the more recent years, I will say that the Liberal voices seem a little bit larger in proportion,” Mrozek said. “I don’t know whether [students] feel more comfortable voicing their views or not, [but] they don’t necessarily always agree with their parents, and they don’t always necessarily agree with [others] in the classroom.”

As the school continues to expand and diversify, new views have been injected into ESD’s culture allowing for political discourse within the student body and faculty alike. Even in comparison to a few years ago, these nationwide changes are reflected in inter-school conversations.

“From what I can tell as an alumnus with younger siblings who also went [or go] to ESD, left-leaning students are more comfortable speaking out now than they were previously,” Hammett said. “I remember the teachers did a good job at facilitating respectful classroom discussions, but the discourse outside of the classroom was brutal. I really hope that things have improved since then.”

Beyond what the school itself is doing to facilitate conversations across a spectrum of opinion, change is occurring within the GOP which will ultimately lead to dissension within the school community.

“I hope it is a warning sign to anybody who considers themself a sort of classic Conservative Republican,” Mrozek said. “You know, this is a woman with family roots that were Conservative, back in the day she really consistently had conservative values. And if she can’t get the support of the people in Wyoming who consider themselves conservatives, then, I don’t think that they’re really acting on principle. I think they’re acting on particular affiliations with individuals. But I think she did a remarkable thing choosing country over party.”

Climate crisis

Since June of 2022, Pakistan has had very intense flooding, causing around 33 million people to be displaced and leaving approximately 1,500 people dead. This flooding was the result of melting glaciers and abnormally heavy rain during monsoon season, and, according to unicef.org, was caused by climate change. The flood not only destroyed families, homes and buildings, but it also destroyed lots of farmland, causing food shortages. South Asia is one of the most vulnerable areas regarding climate change. may be the case for Griner.

On Sept. 15 China’s Paramount Leader Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vlaimir Putin met in Uzbekistan along with leaders of other Asian countries. This was the first meeting since the invasion of Ukraine. Russia and China aimed to represent a united front, as a counterpart to the U.S. According to CNN, the relationship between China and Russia is unequal, Russia is dependent on its relationship with China. This has changed, before the invasion China said they had a ‘no limit’ relationship. Now, however, China has made a small effort to distance itself from the invasions, and has not mentioned them publicly.

a quick overview of international events compiled by News Editor Iris Hernandez

CLIMATE CRISIS People remove bushes from their flooded houses in Sukkur, Pakistan, on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images/ TNS).

XI’S SUMMIT China’s President Xi Jinping (R), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meet on Sept. 15, 2022. (Alexandr Demyanchuk/SPUTNIK/ AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

LONDON BRIDGE HAS FALLEN

Navy sailors walk ahead and behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standardrom Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London on Sept. 19, 2022, after the State Funeral Service. (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

FIONA’S FIASCO A flooded road is seen during the passage of Hurricane Fiona in Villa Blanca, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022. (Jose Rodriguez/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

London Bridge has fallen

On Sept. 8, the Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, died at 96. She reigned for 70 years, making her the longest reigning monarch in British history. Her son, now King Charles III, began ruling the United Kingdom on Sept. 10 at the age of 73. On Sept. 19, her funeral brought in many world leaders to England. Since her death, countries have been asking for artifacts that were taken by the British Empire to be returned.

Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on Sept. 18. The storm, with 105 mph wind, caused power outages in Puerto Rico and major landslides and flooding in the Dominican Republic. In 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by hurricane Maria and they have not fully recovered. Hurricane Fiona has produced about 30 inches of rain, which is more than hurricane Maria did. According to the Washington Post Fiona is projected to cost billions of dollars in damage.

Xi’s Summit

Fiona’s fiasco

G raphic by Maddy Hammett

IDs issued, new security measures in place

S tory by Alexandra Warner Views Editor

Junior Charlotte Wilson rushes to class. She scrambles to the School House Commons doors and fumbles through her shirt pocket. Her identification badge is gone. She then looks through her backpack only to realize she left the badge at home, and will be late to class.

The conversation about school safety and the implementation of ID cards has been around since 2017. However, because of Covid-19 and not having the adequate software, the conversation was delayed. With the new school year, the school has enforced changes to campus security including the unlocking of doors with ID cards and adding a security guard at the Frank building.

“Officer Jody Trumble talks about two layers of security on our campus, and the first layer of security is the fencing and the Guard Houses that somebody has to go through, and we’ve always felt pretty good about that,” Head of School David Baad said. “The second layer of security are the doors of buildings and we have wondered whether we can be more secure with those, and we now have the software in place.”

In the past couple of years, the security team has made it a priority to upgrade the security infrastructure of the entire campus, even before the implementation of the ID card and door locks.

“We’ve installed more and better fencing, new gates, gate motors and new cameras,” Head of Security Jody Trumble said. “Over the summer of 2021, security and facilities made major changes to the School House building. New doors and frames were installed that were capable of housing the elec -

tronic components required to lock doors with the touch of a button instead of an individual key.”

The recent events of school shootings may have pushed the security team and school to further create a safer environment by transitioning to a new software system that was capable of operating all security related operations under one umbrella. These changes have been focused on the goal of a one button lock-down system and the ability to keep the campus safer by being able to keep the exterior doors locked.

“Recent events, such as the horrific situation at Robb Elementary [in Uvalde], made clear that ESD has been on the right path to focus on security and related upgrades over these past few years,” Trumble said. “ESD was one of the first private school campuses in the area to have a full time, school employed, security team on the grounds and was one of the first in our area to have a relationship with the Dallas Police Department to have officers on the campus.”

[around their neck],” Heil said. “After the events during this summer and the school shooting that happened because of the propped open door, that certainly brought the conversation back up quickly. We made the decision that if we’re gonna do it, we have to do it at the start of the year otherwise it would be way harder.”

“Theoretically, I think it’s a good idea for safety, but it’s not very practical. I get why we have it, but when you don’t have it, it’s a hassle.”

Charlotte Wilson

junior

Although recent events have paralleled the new security procedures, the ID cards were originally brought up during the 2017-2018 school year, when Head of Upper School Henry Heil first arrived at the school.

“I pushed back on [ID cards because] I said people are going to lose their cards all the time and [no one] wants to wear them

Although safer security on campus is a priority, many students are adjusting to the new changes in security. Some have lost their IDs or forgotten them at home, affecting their day at school. Students who lose an ID card cannot purchase snacks or school supplies at the Eagles Nest on their Eagles Nest account; however, they can pay with cash or credit. Also, students who lose an ID card need to purchase a new one from middle and upper school attendance coordinator Ashley Little.

“I normally just keep [my ID] in my shirt pocket, and I just forgot to bring it to school one day, so I didn’t really notice it at first,” junior Charlotte Wilson said. “I didn’t want to leave a class, [especially in] the Cook Building, because you can’t get back in and nobody’s going to be there. I also forgot a water bottle, so I couldn’t buy one from the Eagles Nest. I also had to wait for people to open up the door, so it was just kind of frustrating.”

According to a Sept. 19 poll of 149 students, 55 percent think IDs are inconvenient and 36 percent

don’t think IDs are inconvenient. Wilson believes it’s a good idea to create a safer school but with so many doors and buildings, she thinks it’s a nuisance.

“I think it’s a good idea to have them but it makes things 10 times harder because our school has so many different buildings,” Wilson said. “I get it for big public schools but maybe if the [card] readers were closer to the doors it would be a little bit easier. Theoretically I think it’s a good idea for safety, but it’s not very practical. I get why we have it but when you don’t have it, it’s a hassle.”

Other students find it convenient from an easy scan of the ID in the Eagles Nest or finding hacks to remember their ID like putting it in the back of their phone case or wearing a lanyard.

“I don’t mind the IDs because I have mine attached to a lanyard, so getting inside is not a problem,” senior Alexa Grabow said. “The IDs are helpful for the Eagles Nest because the lines move so much quicker. I know that they aren’t convenient for all people, but if you have a lanyard or find an easy way to keep it on you, I don’t think it’s an issue.”

Even though the security team understands that ID cards can be inconvenient, they know they are going in the right direction to create a safer environment for faculty and students.

“I think the topic of school safety and security is on the minds of our entire community,” Trumble said. “It is important to find balance. The goal is to create a safer environment where students may learn, educators may teach and the community can be together without changing the fabric of what makes ESD so special.”

p.8-16

The

With declining Covid-19 numbers as well as lighter restrictions on travel, community travel increased. 9

show must go on

that took place on Aug. 27. 10

Movie theaters see a return in attendance this summer with release of popular movies

After two pandemic-stricken summers of lackluster turnouts to movie theaters, some thought the theater experience was doomed; however, the longing for a return to normalcy has launched the revival of the big screen experience. Movie theaters brought in just under $1 billion this June — December 2019 being the last time theaters grossed more than $1 billion. Effective marketing and positive reviews coupled with consumer demand could have contributed to the success of theaters this summer, according to the New York Times.

This summer, students flocked back to the theaters to see new releases such as “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: Rise of Gru” and “Elvis.”

The artificial smell of popcorn along with cold drinks enticed kids and adults alike to head to the theaters once again.

Senior Lyles Etcheverry saw “Elvis,” “Where the Crawdads Sing” and “Top Gun: Maverick” twice in theaters to bring back her movie-going tradition with her dad.

“We always get excited to go to the movies,” Etcheverry said. “It was kind of different. It was crowded — more crowded than what I was expecting.”

Etcheverry attributes the success of new movies to the advertising and social media presence. Additionally, she believes that the increase of book to movie adaptations, like “Where the Crawdads Sing,” are drawing bigger crowds to theaters. The sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun” attracted both those who were nostalgic for the first movie as well as a new generation who were not around when the original debuted. Featuring actors from the original like Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer and fresh faces like Miles Teller and Glen Powell, allowed “Top Gun: Maverick” to reach a wide range of audiences.

The Hollywood Reporter stated

that while 2019 showcased 987 new movies, there were only 387 movies in theaters in 2021. The Major six studios (Warner Bros, Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures and Universal) produced 87 movies in 2019, compared to only 34 and 60 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

In a Los Angeles Times article, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations Jeff Bock said that though the box office is not back in full swing yet, the summer of 2022’s blockbusters have contributed to great theater successes.

“I think many have felt this, but there is distinctly less content on screens in 2022, mostly because of production snafus caused by Covid-19 over the last couple of years,” Bock said to the Los Angeles Times. “So, while we’re seeing big-time box office debuts and even lengthy runs, a part of the reason why is [that] there are 30 percent less films in theaters right now.”

into the theater.

Freshman Sarah Munir, along with over a hundred other teenagers, attended the Minions movie just a few days after its release at AMC NorthPark. She dressed up in a Minions onesie with her friend.

In addition to “Top Gun’s” smashing success, the colorful, animated prequel “Minions: Rise of Gru” took theaters by storm this July. The movie, filled with the gibberish-speaking, overall-wearing yellow creatures, brought in $123 million on opening weekend, according to ABC News.

The viral hashtag “#Gentleminions” inspired teenagers across the country to see the movie on the big screen while wearing a suit or costume. At AMC NorthPark, over 150 teens dressed up in their sharpest suits and paraded around the mall’s walkways before striding

BACK TO THE THEATERS Local cinema Inwood Theatre is a popular spot for teenagers to hang out with friends and see a movie. Movie theaters, both local and chains, have experienced a revival due to the release of new movies this summer. Photo by Easterly Yeaman

“I have always loved going to the movie theater,” Munir said. “I try to go as much as possible instead of just streaming because I enjoy the environment and experience at a theater.”

According to a Sept. 19 poll of 149 upper school students, 85 percent of students attended the theaters this summer. On Sept. 3, National Cinema Day, over 8 million people went to theaters as tickets at AMC and Regal Cinemas were only $3.

According to Comscore, theaters brought in $24.3 million that day.

This fall, a lineup of expected popular movies should attract crowds to the theaters. Much like “Top Gun: Maverick,” sequels to films from the 1990s and early 2000s, like “Hocus Pocus 2” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” will entice people from all generations.

“After movies finally started coming back to theaters in full force, it reminded me of what I was missing during the pandemic,” freshman Jack Lovitt said. “I am excited for the postponed movies to come out in theaters. Getting popcorn from the theaters rather than the microwave makes the movie much more enjoyable.”

Number of Movie Tickets Sold by Year ‘20 221,763,304 1,228,763,379 ‘19 1,311,294,542 ‘18

UPCOMING MOVIES

“Don’t Worry Darling” Sept. 23

“Don’t Worry Darling,” an upcoming psychological thriller is set to release on Sept. 23. It stars Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, as well as Gemma Chan and Chris Pine. It is rated R.

“Hocus Pocus 2” Sept. 30

Thirty years after the release of the original movie, “Hocus Pocus 2” will release on Sept. 30 on Disney Plus. Featuring the original three witches, the movie should kick fall off with both a nostalgic and spooky start. It is rated PG.

“Halloween Ends” Oct. 14

“Halloween Ends,” the 13th installment of the “Halloween” film franchise is slated to release on Oct. 14. The slasher movie features Jamie Lee Curtis and brings back the well known character Michael Myers. It is rated R.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Nov. 11

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the second movie in the Marvel series, will come out on Nov. 11. The movie will honor Chadwick Boseman’s passing and will not recast the character T’Challa. The action-packed film should draw crowds to the theaters.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” Dec. 16

James Cameron’s “Avatar” revolutionized animation after its 2009 release. Now, 13 years later, “Avatar: The Way of Water” will come out on Dec. 16. Cameron, the film’s director, admits that this movie is the type that people must see in a theater.

‘21 496,773,791 ‘22 860,735,587

Staff members feature the coolest most unique outfits from the Technotica dance

S tory and graphic by Elliot Lovitt Copy Editor

Summer travel soars post-pandemic

Community members travel internationally, some learn value of staying local

S tory by Elisabeth Siegel Managing Editor

Climbs in the RhoneAlps. Espresso in Copenhagen. Parties in Istanbul. It was the first day of AP French class, and senior Marguerite Davis, junior Dalyan Prieto-Akmansoy and junior Will Grogan were enthusiastic to bounce their summer travel stories off of each other.

After a Covid-19-ridden 2021, people weren’t hesitant to immerse themselves in foreign destinations.

According to a March survey by “The Vacationer,” more than 42 percent of American adults said they will travel more this summer than 2021. According to a Sept. 19 poll of 149 students, 11 percent traveled to a foreign country this summer. Many are more comfortable taking international trips, especially having had to delay them the past few years. At the same time, traveling restrictions taught many people to appreciate the environment just a road-trip away. The pandemic has reminded many people of the importance of traveling both to foreign destinations and close to home.

“I got to see my friends [in Copenhagen] for the first time in three years,” Prieto-Akmansoy said. “I couldn’t see them before because of Covid-19. I also really missed traveling, it’s my favorite thing. Especially in places I don’t know, I love trying new foods and learning about new cultures and languages.”

But some students got to make new friends during their travels. Davis experienced a Moondance Adventure, a trip for teens organized by an adventure travel company, in Chamonix, France. On the trip, she hiked the Pyrenees Mountains and the Tour Du Mount Blanc, a 106-mile trail.

“My favorite part about traveling is the views I get to see and meeting new people,” Davis said. “I did not travel outside the country in 2021. Covid-19 didn’t really affect where I went in 2022, but we did have to take a Covid-19 test before going out of the

country.”

Faculty had the opportunity to travel as well, among them was English teacher and senior class dean Heather Cernoch. At the top of a mountain on an uninhabited island, English teacher Heather Cernoch stood in the rain and 40-mile-per-hour wind. After being dropped off by a tiny boat, it was just her, her family, a marine biologist and a puffin colony on Staffa Island.

They waited two years to do the trip, Cernoch was finally able to witness the beauty of Scotland.

“Traveling during the pandemic was really interesting,” Cernoch said.

“It was strange and unusual. The UK trip was the first trip we went on over the last couple of years that actually felt normal.”

During the pandemic, most people either did not travel or exclusively traveled domestically. National Parks became more crowded, especially since they offered outdoor activities and visitors felt safer. According to Sept. 19 poll of 149 students, 4 percent traveled to a National Park in 2022.

“A lot of people can drive to their local national parks or whatever national parks are close to you,” Cernoch said. “I think that national parks were really one of those underrated activities before the pandemic, and now because so many people traveled to national parks during the pandemic, it’s on everyone’s radar. I hope that the national parks continue to be utilized because I think national parks are one of the greatest things about America.”

Former Fine Arts Director Dusty Davidson is now the owner and manager of Showtime Travel Agency–Dream Vacations. The full service travel agency books flights, hotels, cruises, resorts and everything in between

“A lot of what we were seeing last summer was domestic travel, car trips and camping trips,” Davidson said. “National parks were a huge thing last year. Flights were and still are a little bit sketchy to deal with but particularly with the pandemic and

BRANCHING OUT

In 2021, upper school English teacher Heather Cernoch poses for a photo with the mountains of Yosemite National Park as her backdrop (right). In 2021, her daughter pets a hairy coo cow, a Scottish Highland cow, on the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland (left). “I went to a lot of National Parks during the pandemic, as did a lot of other people... But based on what saw last summer in airports, people are definitely flying again,” Cernoch said.

Photos provided by Heather Cernoch.

mask wearing.”

History teacher Marc Salz had a traveling burst this summer, venturing to Colorado, Costa Rica, Jamaica and Spain. And even though there were less restrictions, he couldn’t escape the pandemic.

“When I flew home from Spain, I had Covid,” Salz said. “The tickle in my throat happened [for about] an hour [during] the eight hour flight. And then the next day I felt pretty crummy and so I got tested. Fingers crossed I didn’t infect anybody, but I didn’t know [at the time] because I had no symptoms at all.”

The pandemic was still slightly lingering this summer, so Covid-19 restrictions and requirements were constantly changing. When Cernoch left for her trip, the United States had a requirement to get Covid-19 tested before returning to the country. She had to buy special tests that she took with her overseas, which took up half of her luggage.

“We were totally anticipating that we were going to have to do this just to go home,” Cernoch said. “While we were in the UK, the Biden administration made the announcement that those tests would no longer be required. So we were overseas with all these tests that had taken up our luggage this whole time, and we didn’t even have to do

That’s what makes a perfect skirt

Students prefer shorter, old skirts instead of new ones

S tory by Lauren Shushi Staff Writer

Sophomore Mae Zimmer walks into school on her first day, complete in her uniform of a white Mills shirt, all-white shoes and her favorite ESD-plaid Parker skirt that she has owned since fifth grade. She enters the first period to see her friends, some of whom have likewise held onto their skirts from years back, either from sentimental value or because it is their favorite to wear.

What she might not be aware of, or perhaps chooses to ignore, is that these older skirts may sometimes be in discordance with standard uniform policy.

This sensation of girls wearing skirts from years prior is not an isolated experience. Many prefer the look and feel of older skirts.

“My Parker skirts that are from fifth grade are my favorite,” Zimmer said. “They fit me the best and are the most comfortable to wear.”

In 2018, a major supplier of uniforms for private schools Parker School Uniforms closed its stores across Texas and other states.

The abrupt shutting down of the stores was due to a rough patch in customer service and other internal issues. The company was soon replaced in Dallas by other uniform companies such as Lands’ End and Mills Uniform Company.

But although some girls still miss the discontinued skirts, they can cause a problem when they begin to come up too short.

“I prefer Parker skirts because they are softer and the button on them is nice over just a zipper,” sophomore Katelyn Hurt said. “But sometimes I can’t wear them because I have outgrown them, and they are too short.”

An Aug. 2 email from Head of Upper School Henry Heil addressed discipline and uniform standards for upper school students.

“This year, there will be a stronger focus on both how we present ourselves on campus, especially in regards to our personal appearance,”

Heil wrote. “Tucking in shirts, wearing the appropriate shoes, shirts, and outerwear, ensuring skirts are of

PROFESSIONAL

PLEATS

According to the 20222023 Upper School Student and Parent Handbook, shorts, dresses and skirts should be the regulation length: six inches above the back of the knee.

“Tucking in shirts, wearing the appopriate shoes, skirts, and outerwear, ensuring skirts are of appropriate length and shaving regularly are all key components of our uniform policy,” the Upper School Handbook said.

Photo by Elisabeth Siegel.

a length you would be comfortable wearing in a professional setting and shaving regularly are all important components of our uniform policy that need attention.”

While Zimmer agreed that placing a stronger attention on the presentation of the student body through uniforms can help students feel more unified, the email had her pondering the meaning of having a “professional” skirt length.

“Having a professional length to me means that nothing inappropriate is revealed,” Zimmer said. “So making sure your shorts are not showing under your skirt or your fingertips can reach the bottom of the hem is good.”

And ESD is not alone when it comes to the required skirt length.

The Ursuline Academy of Dallas, first established in 1874, is a private all-girl school that shares a similar sentiment with Heil on the importance of uniforms in a professional setting at their school. The Ursuline plaid skirt is also legendary and a timehonored tradition for the school.

The design by Hope Evans Verhalen ‘48, a renowned fashion designer, was introduced to the student body in 1971 and according to Ursuline’s Parent-Student Handbook, the red, white and blue plaid skirt hem may not be more than 3 inches above the knee.

“A uniform is not about being modest, about body shaming or about being anti-feminist, it’s about illustrating the appropriate attire for an educational “professional” setting,” Communications Associate at Ursuline, Aubree Auletta, said. “It reflects the values and mission of the school, and for the uniform to actually be the uniform.”

Along with Ursuline and ESD,

it. We just got back on the airplane and flew home.”

Hotels, airlines and tourism in general are understaffed right now. Davidson receives daily emails from several of the ocean cruise and river cruise lines still looking to hire employees for the season.

“Anyone who’s interested in those types of tourism and hospitality jobs, they are really available right now,” Davidson said. “Overall everyone is really understaffed, and I think it is mostly evident with the cruise lines and with airlines right now because they are such a newsworthy thing; they’re always on the news and they’re a lot more vocal. So I think that is certainly showing with them and cancellations.”

For many, traveling is relieving the stress of the past years of pandemic chaos. No matter if it is domestic or international, traveling is still an important part of many peoples lives.

“I really cherish experiences more than tangible things,” Cernoch said. “I would prefer to spend money on an adventure or a trip where I can experience another culture, try new foods and see things I’ve never seen before. For me, travel accomplishes all of those things. It’s what I live for; a lot of people work to live, but I work to travel.”

the Parish Episcopal School agrees that wearing a uniform signifies membership in the student body. Their uniform includes certain styles of outerwear or colors based on Lower, Middle and Upper School, with skirt and short lengths no more than 3 inches above the knee.

“For Parish, uniforms are a part of the School’s tradition as a community that values a sense of spirit and unity within our inclusive Episcopal community, whose members are from a variety of backgrounds,” Director of Strategic Marketing & Communication at Parish, Heather Mills, said. “Having a common uniform is but one representation of that community.”

Dress code violations, however, are a present issue in schools that have uniforms. Auletta has seen the most infractions issued for dress code violations at Ursuline pertaining to skirts being too short.

“Students think it looks ‘cuter’ or better [to wear a shorter skirt] than wearing a longer skirt,” Auletta said. “Fashion also dictates a lot of this, too. It’s ‘in style’ or ‘trendy’ to have shorter skirts, dresses, shorts, etc.”

This trend in fact started decades ago. An article was published in 2021 by Jacqueline Vu of L’OFFICIEL USA, a French fashion magazine with a USA edition, on the evolution of girl’s school uniforms. The quintessential “schoolgirl” look that we recognize today was fortified in the late 1940s and ‘50s with an introduction by Christian Dior in 1947.

“I feel like the patterned skirt is iconic and usually associated with schools that wear uniforms,” Hurt said. “They’re definitely a classic that will probably be around forever.”

Ava Sjogren

“Say yes to the dress”

For her first Technotica dance, freshman Ava Sjogren wore a fun and colorful dress with swirls. She wore beads and hair clips along with glow in the dark bracelets and white shoes. “I knew Tech was a bright, colorful dance, so I thought this dress would be perfect,” Sjogren said. “I got so many compliments on how creative and fun my dress was. I loved seeing all the grades and the clothing choices everyone wore.”

Tessa Cabrales

“On Saturdays we wear pink”

Wearing all pink, sophomore Tessa Cabrales wore a bodysuit, sparkly skirt, sunglasses and fishnet arm sleeves. She paired the all pink outfit with a bright gold money chain and some silver glitter. “I put my outfit together literally three hours before the dance. My bodysuit was from my sister Emma and my skirt is borrowed from Grace Meaux,” Cabrales said. “I got compliments on my outfit and that made me really happy since I didn’t know if it even looked good when I put it together.”

Views Editor Alexandra Warner features students who wore the coolest, most unique outfits at Technotica on Aug. 27.

Alex Ramirez, Slaton Strey

“The cone clones”

Juniors Alex Ramirez and Slaton

Strey wore matching orange traffic cones and paired them with white shoes. They bought the cones off of Craigslist for $50 each and knew it was going to be the funniest Technotica outfit. “Slaton and I were just trying to think of reflective items when I jokingly asked, ‘what about a traffic cone?’” Ramirez said. “We spent the afternoon before Tech cleaning and cutting the traffic cones into a wearable outfit.”

Cren Boyd

“Throw down, glow down”

Senior Cren Boyd showed up in a colorful and flashy outfit. Boyd wore a striped hat with glow sticks coming out of it, that matched with her mesh skirt with lights attached to it. “I wanted my outfit to be as neon as possible and to look kind of silly, so I looked on Amazon for things that would be for little kids,” Boyd said. “The compliments I got made me feel like I accomplished my mission of ultimate neon.”

crash

1

Kim Kardashian had her first Saturday Night Live hosting on Oct. 9, 2021. Shortly after, she and young SNL star Pete Davidson began publicly dating. Their first public appearance as a couple was during the 2022 Met Gala. On Aug. 6, E! News announced that Kardashian and Davidson broke up. Although the couple did not publicly state why they broke up, people have speculated it could be due to the 13 year age gap or Kardashian’s divorce with Kanye West.

On Sunday Sept. 4th, New York Fashion Week opened with the 10th season of the Harlem Fashion Week Experience. Tandra Birkett and Yvonne Jewnell along with Roots of Harlem founded Harlem Fashion Week in 2016, as a way to showcase new talent and celebrate New York Fashion Week.

On Sept. 12, to celebrate their 130th anniversary, Vogue debuted a new type of runway show, Vogue World: New York. Vogue World contained their favorite looks from Balenciaga, Burberry, Dior, Gucci, Valentino and many more. The show took place outside on the streets of New York.

Thirty-five-year-old British American Andrew Tate began his career as a professional KickBoxer. Tate grew his social media presence through TikTok. The videos under the hashtag Andrew Tate on TikTok have accumulated 16.7 billion views. Tate owns an online course called Hustlers University, a tool to become “financially free” and “break from the matrix.” At its height he amassed 127,000 members who paid £39 a month for his advice. In July, Tate became one of the most googled people, surpassing Donald Trump. However, due to his misogynistic rhetoric, Tate was banned from Twitter, YouTube and Twitch, while Hustlers University was shut down.

On Aug. 28, Taylor Swift won Music Video of the Year, along with two other awards, at the 2022 Video Music Awards. During her acceptance speech she announced her next album, Midnights. Swift describes her new album as a culmination of “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.” The album will be released on October 21, 2022.

All attention on Alto Ride share app grows in popularity among teens

S tory by Charlotte Traylor Staff Writer

LA pristine white Buick Enclave swings into sophomore Mae Zimmer’s driveway.

A notification on her app informs Zimmer that her ride has arrived. The car is spotless. Zimmer is kindly greeted by the driver before departing to her sports practice. But this is not the ordinary Uber or Lyft ride. The car she is about to get into sports the classic Alto emblem.

With Alto, a membership based ride share app founded in Dallas, Zimmer has guaranteed safety on her ride. The cars are equipped with video cameras, the drivers receive extensive background checks and training and all Alto cars are part of a uniform fleet.

“I really have only had good experiences using Alto,” Zimmer said. “All my drivers are super nice and some of them are really talkative.”

Zimmer is not the only student using this rising car service, as the company has experienced growth in popularity among teens in the Dallas area. The reliability, cleanliness and safety features are enticing and differentiate the service from other providers like Uber and Lyft.

“We have seen a rise in teens riding just in the last week since the start of school,” Alto’s communications manager Emily Bernet said. “A ton of teens like getting dropped off at school and getting picked for their afternoon activities.”

With busy student and parent schedules, Alto can be a useful tool to travel from point A to point B. Andy Nelson, a part time driver for Alto, drives during the day and has provided such rides.

“I’ve taken teenagers or children to locations,” Nelson said. “In particular, I’ve taken students to the Episcopal School of Dallas.”

After parties or gatherings, high school and college students also use the service if they are not able to drive.

“We find that in terms of college students, parents are very encouraging for folks to take Altos, to prevent drinking and driving,” Alto’s Director of Growth and Development James Alden said.

But in the upcoming months, a new voucher system will be introduced. Hosts of parties can assign Alto rides to guests through a link, controlling transportation, without requiring guests to buy a membership.

With this voucher system, Alto is hoping to attract new customers who have not yet purchased a membership. Memberships are expensive; therefore, Alto users stem from a higher income bracket. The basic membership cost is $99 per year, with additional

fees for each ride. Customers include some teens and families, but Alto is also heavily utilized in the business world. Companies will assign Altos for professionals’ rides to the airport or to work conventions. Alto also partners with car dealerships, such as Audi McKinney.

“We have a very robust business to business relationship,” Alden said. “Instead of Audi McKinney giving you a loaner car, it’s less expensive for them to instead send the car owner to and from their home in an Alto.”

Another up and coming area of growth includes a greater fo -

“We have seen a rise in teens riding just in the last week since the start of school.”

Emily Bernet Alto’s communication

cus on meeting supply and demand. With concerts, sporting events or holidays, Alto can predict ride numbers and dispatch cars accordingly. Drivers are employees, instead of independent contractors, giving Alto this control over demand. The need to master this field has even greater importance, considering the smaller scale of this company compared to other ride share services.

“One of the things that we’ve talked about is that Uber or Lyft might be able to get to you in two minutes, but you might wait a little bit longer, for maybe 10 to 15 minutes, [with Alto],” Bernet said. “But we have set that as a consistent standard with our customers. You can always plan ahead.”

As Alto continues to meet setbacks with promising solutions, their future is bright. It is working on expanding to more cities, including Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin and New York City, while also growing in popularity in their established areas. Currently, Alto can be found in Dallas, Silicon Valley, Houston, San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.

“I love using Alto when I go to conferences and concerts,” junior Abby Pickens said.

“They also have an amazing security app system to ensure it’s safe for you.”

manager

Photo by Charlotte Traylor

Photos provided by Wikimedia Commons, Gwyn Moore and Tribune News Service

arts

12

civilization” in his 9-year-old podcast

A new perspective on old stories

S tory by Iris Hernandez News Editor

In 2013 new upper school history teacher Adam Walsh started a podcast. Now, after nine years, it has 213 episodes, close to 1 million downloads and 619 listens per day. Walsh’s podcast, “Western Civ,” is all about history. In his first episode he talked about early civilization in Syria and Sumeria. His current episodes feature Henry VIII’s era.

“History is the most interesting thing to me, so I knew I wanted to do a narrative,” Walsh said. “I was an English major and a history major in college, so stories come easy to me.”

While the earlier episodes are about half an hour long, Walsh’s most recent episodes are upwards of an hour, diving deep into each topic.

“At this point it is probably more [helpful] to AP Euro [students] or anyone doing earlier civilizations,” Walsh said. “They are useful, it just depends on how detailed you want to get.”

“Western Civ” is available on Spotify, Audible and Amazon for free. Walsh also has a subscription based service for $5 a month and it includes re-recordings of his early low audio quality work in higher fidelity quality.

“It is for people who really like the story, but want it in more detail,” Walsh said. “I spend a lot more time on each topic. I did 30 minutes on New Kingdom Egypt the first time around, on [the second] one I did two and a half hours. Sometimes I will do deep dives or historical rambles where I talk about a subject more off the cuff.”

A lot of work goes into producing a podcast. From editing, to writing a script, to setting up his studio. What people don’t know is that each hour-long episode has about six to eight hours of work behind it.

“What takes the most time is

13

Upper school history teacher Adam Walsh produces podcast on Western civilization

writing the episodes,” Walsh said.

“In the beginning, I tried to use a page of notes and do it extemporaneously, but that didn’t work very well. The episodes weren’t concise, and I found myself rambling a lot.”

A new podcast comes out about every week. Walsh also interviews popular historians, such as Adrien Goldsworthy, a British historian and novelist who specializes in ancient Roman history.

“I had no sense of whether or not I would be good at interviews,” Walsh said. “A publisher reached out to me about two years ago and asked me if I wanted to interview Adrian Goldsworthy about his latest book.

I love Goldsworthy as an author so I jumped at the chance. I found I liked doing the interviews and kept doing them.” Walsh began doing interviews after a publisher reached out to advertise of Goldswothy’s newest book. This has now become his way of finding interesting people with interesting topics.

microphone and a hanging stand that eliminates a lot of the reverb,” Walsh said. “I have a giant styrofoam wall that I can put up and put down, that will take care of your echo. You don’t want to record, for anyone who is starting, in a big open room, because you will get a ton of echo if you do that. It’s going to sound awful to anyone who is listening.”

ESD parents have discovered Walsh’s podcast through their children. Sherry Yeaman, Rider Yeaman’s ’22 and Easterly Yeaman’s ’24 mother, recently began listening.

“I listened to the episode about the Italian Renaissance in Florence,” Yeaman said. “[It’s] always interesting to me because I’ve been to Florence a few times and actually got engaged there.”

“There is still much we can learn from the past. I hope that some people will hear the podcast and find something that they would be interested in learning more about.”

“Each year Basic Books (publisher) sends me a list of books coming out that year,” Walsh said. “I look over the list and send back the names of the titles I think might fit with the show. But sometimes they email me again about doing additional books, which I normally try to accommodate.”

Walsh usually records in the mornings to avoid mistakes and believes he sounds best at the early hours. Walsh also created his own studio to record himself.

“You do need to purchase a nice p.12-13

Adam Walsh history teacher

Each podcast begins with an ad, Bank of Texas and Kroger are a few of many. Walsh began doing ad’s after….

“The only thing I don’t do is my own hosting and my own advertising,” Walsh said. “The company that I work with, they pick the ads, they put the ads in. That just pays for stuff like books and other things that I need to do [the podcast].”

Walsh is also a writer. While many people during quarantine in 2020 were learning how to make sourdough bread or binging television shows, Walsh’s quarantine project was writing books.

“I sat down right before the pandemic, I said ‘I wonder if I can write a book,’” Walsh said. “I [realized] I could, and It was kind of fun. Stephen King says that you are supposed

to write 15,000 to 20,000 words a day. If I get 5,000 words done in a morning I was pretty happy.”

During this time, Walsh wrote a historical fiction series for middle school aged children, which is available to read on Amazon.

“There wasn’t a lot of historical fiction, especially [books] that focused on things outside of American History,” Walsh said. “I wanted something that would get kids interested. History is just declining as an interest; it would be nice if we could pick that back up again.”

Not only does Walsh write historical fiction, he also has a murder mystery series based on Shakespeare’s most famous character’s deaths.

“I love Shakespeare, I’ve always loved Shakespeare,” he said. “There is a depth of emotion that you don’t see in anything prior to him.”

Even though Walsh is now deeply invested in education, he was not always a teacher. After graduating from The University of WisconsinMadison, Walsh took a break before going to law school.

During that two year period he waited tables and acted in the Royal Shakespeare Company in Washington D.C. He acted in plays like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Caesar.”

“I encourage people to take those breaks,” Walsh said. “If you know you’re going to be in school for a long time, I encourage you to try something totally different.”

After law school, Walsh became a criminal defense lawyer in Manhattan and then became a teacher in New York. Last year he taught for the Dallas Independent School District as an English teacher, so changing to ESD was a big change.

“Everyone seems very calm [at ESD],” Walsh said. “It is nice to see everyone be interested and eager and excited about their plans for the future.”

New history teacher Adam Walsh “traces the development of Western

Web Editor Charlotte Tomlin visits the Bishop Arts District in Dallas and finds interesting shops and eateries

Photo provided by

POST CARDS FROM DALLAS

The Bishop Arts District is one of Dallas’ most underrated neighborhoods; a variety of boutiques, restaurants, bars and galleries nestled behind the west banks of the Trinity River invite both locals and tourists alike to explore the hidden wonders that Bishop Arts has to offer. Originally developed in the 1920s as a collection of warehouses and shops, Bishop Arts has grown into a lively independent community, celebrating differences and individuality. After hearing about all the sights and sounds reverberating down Bishop Street, I had to go check it out for myself.

1:00 P.M.

On a sunny Saturday morning, I dragged my dad away from College Football GameDay, and we ventured down to Bishop Arts together. Our first stop: Eno’s Pizza Tavern. With a distinctly cozy feel, Eno’s invites you to take a step back from the chaos of Bishop Street and enjoy a warm slice of thin-crust pizza. My dad and I split a Caesar salad, along with a pineapple and ham pizza. We finished our meal full and itching to explore the rest of Bishop Arts.

SPINSTER RECORDS

1:45 P.M.

We crossed the street, and my eyes were immediately drawn to Spinster Records. As an avid vinyl collector myself, I was enthralled by the expansive collection of vinyls spanning the walls — an eclectic mix of old and modern, some previously-owned and others still shrink-wrapped. A large store with boxes and shelves filled to the brim with an array of records, Spinster Records invites any music lover to spend hours perusing the stacks of vinyls.

2:15 P.M.

We gave Thatcher a final pet goodbye, then walked the length of Bishop Street, before turning back around in the direction of our car. We stopped to window shop along the way, until we reached an inviting open-air marketplace, the happy music drifting out the doorway inviting us inside. Mosaic Makers Collective, is a collaborative marketplace, advertising the work of women-owned businesses from all around the DFW Metroplex. Artistic candles, shirts and other trinkets line the walls boasting a gift for every occasion.

After my dad dragged me away from Spinster Records, because we were “on a time crunch,” we started heading south on Bishop Street. We passed various shops advertising candles, cards and clothes, before happening upon an athletic clothing store called De Novo Active. Already intrigued by the cute and affordable clothes lining the storefront windows, I entered the store with high hopes. I pursued the racks for a few minutes, before I heard a soft thump, thump. I looked down by my feet and was met with the soft, smiling face of De Novo’s mascot, a golden retriever named Thatcher.

MELT ICE CREAMS

3:30 P.M.

Our walking tour of Bishop Arts concluded with a stop at Melt Ice Creams, a lively ice cream shop at the heart of Bishop Street. With nine constant flavors and a rotation of feature flavors, Melt Ice Creams offers ice cream for everyone — including dairy free options. Especially on a 97 degree day, Melt Ice Creams was the perfect delicacy!

The Bishop Arts district provides something for everyone whether it be food, clothes, music or just good old-fashioned people watching. A short afternoon in Bishop Arts was not nearly enough time to explore everything it has to offer, but I promised myself that I’d return soon.

S tory and photos by Charlotte Tomlin Web Editor

is GRΣΣK the life

When Sumner Wooldridge ’21 was deciding where to go to college, she was not particularly interested in a university that emphasized Greek life. Once she arrived at the University of Chicago, Wooldridge was sure sorority life was not for her. However, for Kate Elliston ’22 Greek life, and all that came with it, was a must. And, in contrast to Wooldridge, Elliston joined a sorority at the University of Georgia.

Greek Life

The young freshmen pledges line up late at night to face the intimidating upperclassmen. Forced to recite the Greek alphabet and do various workouts, the boys push through the challenges. But even after all this hardship, when recent ESD graduate, Elias Rankin* looks over at his fellow struggling pledges, he feels closer to his brothers than ever before.

For many university freshmen, joining sororities and fraternities is an overall positive experience, despite the challenges joining one might bring.

“It was the best experience I would never do again,” Rankin said.

Greek life traces its genesis to the emergence of literary societies in the late 18th century, the first one being Kappa Alpha at Union College in Schenectady, New York in 1825. Their primary focus was creating a social and intellectual club of men, and later women, to connect, learn and have fun.

But as more and more fraternities occupied campuses, their intent shifted from literary and intellectual pursuits to running and sustaining a chapter house. The rise of these chapter houses increased the number of frat houses in the nation from 774 in 1920 to 1,874 in 1929 according to the Education Encyclopedia. To keep these chapter houses full, current members institute a recurring method to secure new groups of members. These new students were rushed or recruited to become new members commonly called ‘pledges.’

Even with its aged history, Greek life is still prominent in today’s college life and a hot topic among high school students. Personal stories about the various aspects of pledging and rushing emerge constantly on social media platforms exposing all aspects of Greek Life. On TikTok ‘Bama rush’ girls are seen doing dances in front of their houses or showing off their ‘OOTD:’ (outfit of the day). On Instagram or the new popular app BeReal, students may see pictures that depict college life, some even feature rushing or pledging activities.

These activities, sometimes referred to as hazing the more intense they are, can help bring some students together with their ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ by forming strong bonds. In Rankin’s experience, the connection between him and his ‘brothers’ were strengthened through those harder times. The relationships he made outweighed the somewhat negative experiences or activities he went through during pledgeship.

“When you are a pledge, you spend a large amount of time with the people in your pledge class,” Rankin said. “Through both fun and not-sofun activities, you create really strong brotherships and memories that neither you nor the other people involved will ever forget.”

According to Rankin most of the activities were usually laid back and simple to do or complete.

“[Some] activities were harmless like going to play basketball with some older guys, going on a hike, going to lunches/dinners and yes, maybe doing a chore or two with them,” Rankin said. “I thought that this was a great way of really getting to know a brother rather than just talking to them at a party.”

Transitioning from ESD to college is a big step for a lot of students. Rankin said that they are in some ways similar, which can be comforting and not as intimidating, to an ESD senior prepping for the switch.

“In comparison to ESD, I think that joining a fraternity is a lot like joining a sports team at ESD because you spend so much time with the people around you,” Rankin said. “The preparation that it takes to be ready for the season requires bond development which is very similar to fraternity relationships.”

Price Johnson ’22 who currently attends the University of Georgia, has a similar view on the brotherly relationships formed during pledgeship.

“You are surrounded by a group of friends who will be there for you for the rest of your life.” Johnson said.

The outcome and feeling of the experiences all depended on the activities. Rankin compares the mix of good and bad, which he says were all just a part of it and a new way to create friendships rather than just

talking. This way, the brothers get to experience things together that they would always have the memory of.

“Frats get a pretty bad rap for hazing, but most of the things I did that were considered ‘hazing’ actually contributed to the relationships that I formed,” Rankin said. “All in all, it was a beneficial experience for me because everything that we did was something that brought me closer to the guys around me.”

Elliston, who rushed at the University of Georgia, had an overall note-worhty experience as well.

“Rushing was stressful but it was also fun,” Elliston said. “I wasn’t expecting to meet so many people, and it’s really comforting because everyone wants to make friends and is going through the same process [and] feelings.”

Rushing was a lot different to anything Elliston had gone through. After joining Kappa Alpha Theta, she connected with her sorority sisters over the shared experience of the newness of rushing and college life in general.

“This experience is definitely different from joining a sport or another group at ESD because, especially coming from out of state, I really didn’t know anyone,” Elliston said. “The experience forced me (in a good way) to get out of my comfort zone. It’s also comforting to know that every other girl is feeling the same way. Now being in a sorority and having my sisters, we can look back on the rush process and talk about memories we have made.”

Mason Link ’22, who also attends the University of Georgia, had a similar experience.

“Pledgeship was a great way to get to know new people and friends my age and even other members of the fraternity,” Link said. “It definitely helps forming friendships in your pledge class because you are doing everything with them during pledgeship.”

Link also ties it back to ESD and how both places force one to spend time with new people and make life-long friends.

“It’s been similar [to joining sports or groups at ESD] in the way that it forces you to spend time with your pledge class and get to know them,” Link said. “It is definitely a positive experience because it’s been a fun way to meet a lot of new guys.”

Although the transition from ESD to college life can be difficult, for some joining a fraternity or sorority can be a social advantage.

“I think that being a part of any group is important for a student to enjoy their college experience because these groups provide connections that can get you through tough times,” Link said. “And for me, joining a fraternity helped me shape friendships that will last a lifetime”

Anti-Greek Life

Placed randomly into different resident halls, students like Sumner Wooldridge ’21, a current student at University of Chicago, find a sense of relief and comfort in not having the pressure of rushing or pledging and the absence of consequences that come with it.

“While it can be a way for some students to socialize and hear about events, I believe it is an outdated concept that perpetuates gender stereotypes and sexual assault cases,” Wooldridge said. “I would rather not take part.” Some students choose not to participate in Greek life in college because of the overall infamous reputation houses have accumulated over the years. These students may not want to be associated with those ideals, or know they can find friends through other programs in college.

“I’ve heard of the strong toxically masculine culture inside frats and the protection of perpetrators of sexual assault,” Saish Satyal, who graduated from Cistercian in 2021 and currently attends Washington University in St. Louis said. “[And] I honestly didn’t like the idea of trying to prove to a fraternity that I deserved to be friends with them based on a few interactions.”

Former ESD students who have chosen to opt out of Greek life often do so out of fear of the culture that some think Greek life perpetuates and the stigma around it.

A 2019 report done by the Vice Margaret Klawunn, Ph.D, concluded ed with an 80 percent increase in sexual compared to the general student population.

“Girls call it SAE ‘Sexual Assault men that rush that frat, both at WashU said. “It’s a bit concerning seeing so assault and fraternities.”

John D. Foubert, Ph.D., dean of University and Principal of Dr. John that concluded that fraternity men are mit rape than the general student population.

“What was particularly remarkable that it was the fraternity experience rape,” Foubert said. “We traced entering got to campus through their first year er they committed acts of sexual violence [many had]. We then compared the who joined fraternities to the rates of not join fraternities” Satyal said that fraternities are rumored subject prospective members to brutal

“I didn’t want to support a system behavior,” Satyal said. The downfall of Greek life’s popularity not portray all of the events that take displays fun outfits, fun activities, meeting tionships. However, it does not display to be a part of the houses and groups. life as toxic because so much of pledging superficial: the city they come from, they look, etc.

In the past, pledgeship usually required tasks and chores. However, as time hazing. With drinking games leading have sought to limit the role fraternities

According to The Guardian, over hazing have increased. Since then, 44 hazing, but only 10 explicitly made it serious injury.

All the while, deaths from hazing between 1969 and 2000 to two and cades. And nearly all of those incidents a fraternity concluded by the same study.

An 18-year-old at the University of Santulli was dared to down 1.75 liters beer and had to pregame for two hours night, he had a blood-alcohol percentage science and was rushed outside while 9-1-1. He was later rushed to the hospital the ability to walk, see and speak.

“It’s abuse. It’s abuse of power, abuse emotionally,” Laura Perino, an independent sional whose son, Tyler Perino, narrowly

“In any other environment it would Greek life has a strong chokehold as if there is no other way to make friends weighs on the students.

Wooldridge, like other students at and was placed in a house system. These dent on the classes students take, but

“I’m glad I tried a sorority out, but with only having once,” Wooldridge house last year, and I liked it so much In these houses, students focus mainly in beneficial field trips, study sessions, around them. They mainly focus on houses were supposed to be.

“My resident advisors were fantastic, and restaurants and parts of the city Wooldridge said.

Wooldridge went into orientation good mindset about the houses.

“On the last day of orientation week, time, and we all walked to Jackson Park games,” Wooldridge said. “On that walk, arguing that utilitarianism is a stupid overheard and joined in to support my

Though views may vary depending rations are, Greek life will always be it be for good or for bad. For some it and meet new people, while for others er, it’ll always be an option for incoming their destined fraternity/sorority house.

“This may just be because I attend but Greek life has played so little a role dridge said. “It’s insane how little a

S tory by Easterly Yeaman Arts Editor, Jamie Henderson Staff Writer, Sophia Sardiña Staff Writer

Chancellor for Student Affairs, concluded that joining a sorority is correlatsexual assault amongst its members population. Expected’ because of the type of WashU and across the nation.” Satyal many movements surrouding sexual the college of education at Union D. Foubert, LLC conducted a study are three times more likely to compopulation. remarkable about our study is that we found that led men to be more likely to entering freshmen from the time they year of college. We asked them whethviolence before they got to college, rates of sexual assault among men of sexual assault among men who did rumored to hide sexual assaults and brutal hazing. system that has encouraged that kind of popularity on social media is that it does take place during rush or pledgeship. It meeting new people and forming reladisplay the hazing they may go through groups. Some have started to view Greek pledging for college girls surrounds the how much money they have, how required pledges to do a variety of went on these ‘jokes’ escalated into leading to injury and even deaths, colleges fraternities play in social life. the past two years the incidents of 44 states have enforced laws against it a felony in the event of death or have leapt from around one a year a half a year over the last two deincidents tie back to excessive drinking at study. of Missouri student named Danny liters of vodka, then force-fed bottles of hours beforehand. Near the end of his percentage of 46 percent. He lost conwhile the other boys told no one to call hospital and luckily survived, but lost abuse of an individual physically and independent mental health care profesnarrowly survived a hazing incident said. be called abuse.” chokehold on college kids by making it seem friends and the pressure to join it at UChicago, opted out of Greek life These houses are sometimes depenbut they are also chosen at random. but it was an experience I’m okay said. “I was placed in Yovovich much I decided to stick with it.” mainly on education and participating sessions, and exploring the environment what the originality of fraternity fantastic, organizing trips to museums city I wouldn’t have seen otherwise,” orientation week with high expectations and a week, I met my house for the first Park together for introductions and walk, I was having a conversation stupid ethical model, and Tony from Ohio my side.” depending on the person and what their aspibe embedded into college history, may it allows opportunities to branch out others it may not be their thing; howevincoming freshmen to rush and pledge to house. attend a school that doesn’t prioritize it, role in my college experience,” Woolrole it’s played.”

SOURCE:

5Φ

50 percent of students think they will participate in Greek life in college

2β

28 percent of students think they will not participate in Greek life in college

2Θ

20 percent of students think sororities and fraternities are toxic

8Γ

87 percent of students have heard of hazing around sororities and fraternities

Sept. 20 poll of 174 upper school students

Graphic by Easterly Yeaman

Business Manager Katherine Mote and Arts Editor and Social Media Manager Easterly Yeaman go on a tour of Dallas’s best boba tea in search for a stand out beverage. This review features a combination of texture, convenience, taste and experience in hopes that our readers will have the same pleasure getting boba tea as we did.

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lessons literature has provided him.

The Eagle Edition stands with Northwest High School

This past June, the Northwest High School’s newspaper — The Viking Saga — in Grand Island, Nebraska, was disbanded by their school board. After their March issue was distributed, administration told the staff that everyone, including three transgender members, were required to use their birth names in their bylines. For the final issue, the entire staff abided by these guidelines, while also publishing two opinion pieces and a news story on the history of homophobia and the origin of Pride Month. In response to the content, the school’s administration shut down the newspaper program. The Eagle Edition strongly disagrees with the actions of the administration at Northwest High School and more broadly, the principle of strict censorship of student-run publications.

This instance of censorship and restriction is not the only one that has occurred recently. The 20212022 yearbook for Lyman High School in Longwood, Florida was censored with stickers placed over pictures portraying students protesting the Florida law — known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill”— that prohibits the conversation of sexual orientation in classrooms. In Arkansas, a two-page year-in-review spread that mentioned the 2020

election, the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd was completely removed.

The purpose of student journalism is to write both factual and unbiased news stories and opinion-editorials regarding student, local, national and international issues freely. Student journalism gives students a voice. Student-produced newspapers, just as professional newspapers, are essential for a healthy democratic society. If issues continue to be strictly censored, we are unable to do our jobs.

“The fact is that news is

news, no matter how it makes people feel or if it may be what people

The goal of the movement is to protect student press freedom with state laws, aiming to counteract the laws made from the decisions of the Supreme Court case of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier in January of 1988. In this case, the Supreme Court sided with the administration of Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis, Missouri to censor the newspaper of topics concerning divorce and teen pregnancy.

consider controversial.”

As of right now, there are only 16 states that have laws that safeguard student publications. The safeguard law, New Voices, is a nonpartisan organization primarily led by students in journalism who fight legislatively against state laws of censorship. The group was started in 2018 by two newspaper advisers in Pennsylvania: Aaron Fitzpatrick from Freedom Area High School and Cyndi Hyatt from Conestoga High School.

Freedom Area High School Newspaper Staff

“The fact is that news is news, no matter how it makes people feel or if it may be what people consider controversial,” the staff of Freedom Area High School’s newspaper said in an editorial in 2020. “Stories that involve topics such as racism, politics, the LGBTQ+ community, sexism and equality are all topics that are important to student journalists but are often censored. However, ‘sensitive’ and controversial topics are good for a community to talk about… because it is important to learn and be aware of what is going on around you or in the world.”

Twenty states, including Texas, are currently making efforts to join the first 16, but that number is still too small. Nebraska was considering the legislative bill behind the New Voices campaign, but it died, weakening the hope of the future of scholastic journalism in Nebraska. In journalism, we have to take risks — write about touchy, controversial subjects. But, at public schools such as Northwest High School and Lyman High School, students and programs are being stripped of their constitutional rights.

The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Northwest High School’s administration carried out the most extreme form of censorship by eliminating the newspaper program as a whole. The Eagle Edition stands with schools like Northwest and Lyman and believes that occurrences like these are unacceptable and are stripping fellow journalists of their rights. The community of student journalism needs to support one another and back the New Voices movement to regain the hope of getting back our constitutional rights.

Managing editor Elisabeth Siegel discusses cultural appreciation vs cultural appropria-

New history teacher Adam Walsh offers advice through the

Cultural appreciation vs cultural appropriation

S tory by Elisabeth Siegel Managing Editor

Designers are constantly inspired by ideas and concepts from other cultures, but many disagree on whether it is stealing or respectfully borrowing. One of the most mainstream debates in fashion today is cultural appropriation: when designers and fashion gurus inappropriately adopt cultural elements. I believe that it is important for people to know the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation before attacking someone for wearing or designing a piece of clothing or jewelry.

Marcelo Gaia is the designer of Mirror Palais, a sustainable womens wear brand. His most recent collection was shot in Mexico, but the pieces themselves were inspired by Sônia Braga in the film “Gabriela” and Rita Hayworth in the film “Gilda.” The white lace detail and flowy skirts give the garments an effortless yet feminine look. He pairs many of the clothes with cross necklaces and the vibrant backgrounds of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. But some people questioned the designer in his social media comments by suggesting that the collection was appropriating Catholicism and Mexican culture. Little did they know that Gaia himself was Brazilian and was raised by Catholic parents. The collection pulled inspiration from his own background and other parts of Latin culture.

The Victoria Secret fashion show, canceled since 2019 for not being inclusive to all body types, was a highly anticipated annual event that would show off the brand’s products on their models, the “Angels.” Paired with the lingerie, the outfits stirred up controversy. In 2012, model Karlie Kloss wore a Native American headdress in order to represent Thanksgiving. In 2014, the models wore tribal patterns and leopard print for the “Exotic Traveler” theme. In 2016, the models wore feather dragons and Chinese garments for the “Road Ahead” theme. In 2017, the models wore Native American inspired dress again with tribal

war bonnets for the “Nomadic Adventures” theme. The brand was using traditional garments and modifying them to be perceived as sexual, drastically straying from their original purpose. Additionally, these looks were modeled on girls that were not of the descent of the culture they were parading. Cultural appropriation means stealing cultural elements from minority groups for personal use. For example, it is appropriation for a nonNative Americans to wear a Native American headdress as a fashion statement, like the Victoria Secret models did. For some, it could just look like a bunch of feathers, but for indigenous peoples, it is a symbol of strength and bravery for the most important leaders of the tribe. Culture isn’t just jewelry or a hairstyle, it is tradition and identity. No matter the aesthetic that a piece of clothing is trying to emulate, it should not contain elements of other religions and cultures and represent them in a way that would go against the culture’s values. Appropriation largely targets marginalized groups, which is why most people have an issue with it. It is imperative that we truly understand the meaning behind what we are wearing.

cosplay Mexican culture; his intentions were truly cross-cultural and appreciative. Gaia is an example of a designer that effectively admires the beauty and uniqueness of different conventions.

When discerning if a fashion piece is culturally appropriate or not, we need context before jumping to conclusions. First, I think that it is important to ask if the culturally-inspired design is “trendy.” If so, ask if the brand is using the piece to profit off of this culture or if they are truly honoring tradition. For example, many of Mirror Palais’ designs have been ripped off by other companies, often fast fashion companies. It is clear to me that Gaia’s designs were made with the intention of sharing something beautiful with the world, not just for profit. There is a difference between creating something after learning and connecting with its background and creating something just because it’s in style and you know it will do well.

“ There is a difference between creating something after learning and connecting with its background and creating something just because it’s in style and you know it will do well.”

Elisabeth Siegel senior

Appreciation, I believe, is when someone understands the other culture and represents it in a way that respects their identity and community. Gaia connected his personal background with the vibrance of Mexican cobblestone streets to create beautiful scenery in the back of his images. Growing up Catholic and Latino, he understood the Latin experience and wanted to reflect it in the collection. Just because it was shot in Mexico doesn’t mean that he was trying to

We have seen many brands and celebrities come under fire in the media for cultural appropriation, like when Adele and Kim Kardashian wore traditional African hairstyles or when Gwen Stefani had Harajuku girls in the back of a controversial music video. You don’t have to be a celebrity to culturally appropriate, harmful stereotypes are often perpetuated through things like Halloween costumes. Since this debate is very nuanced, the best we can do is try to understand the intention, yet also listen to the people of the culture that is being taken from. If we weren’t inspired by other cultures, then fashion maybe wouldn’t be as interesting as it is today. At the same time, make sure this diffusion of inspiration coincides with a diffusion of respect as well.

Starting in the middle of junior year, the expectations of college applications and your future begins to hit you. It’s a time of self-reflection and attempting to understand who you’ve become so you can portray that to admissions officers. From studying for the SAT or ACT to finding opportunities to add to your résumé, the entire summer before senior year is full of stress and pressures. However, that isn’t even half of the story. Whether it’s paying thousands of dollars for elite SAT and ACT tutors, or hiring a third-party college guidance counselor to help write essays and letters of recommendation, our community is full of resources, but they come with a hefty cost that only our nation’s highest earning families can afford. In a world where legislation is being passed to help students achieve their goals without financial burdens and allow equal opportunities regardless of income

Higher education applications should be affordable

in the United States, it struggles to touch on some of the most critical points. While the elitist nature of higher education in this country has always been present, the college application system still falls short in many ways from being attainable to the average American. I used to think that while these extra expenses were costly, they were extra or unnecessary. I came from a place of ignorance in thinking that our community and our bubble simply chose to pay those amounts to get to the highest tier college, when, in fact, sometimes those resources were needed to meet the bare minimum requirements for any institution. However, I’ve learned that even with third-party resources aside, college applications can cost up to $70 to $90 per school.

“Many high school students from a low socioeconomic background are already disincentivized from applying to schools; these fees only make college seem more out of the realm of possibility.”

Katherine Mote senior

ESD’s college guidance counselors recommend that each student

should apply to anywhere from six to nine colleges, and the average application fee, according to U.S. News & World Report is $45. This results in an average of $315 solely in application fees. However, many of the high-ranked institutions that ESD students often apply to, for example, Yale, charges over $100. There are fee waivers for students from low-income families; however, because ESD doesn’t follow the public school lunch program, the senior would have to fill out all the necessary paperwork without the guarantee that they would receive a fee waiver. Additionally, standardized test scores, while not required by most schools, are still crucial to most students’ applications. The registration fee alone for the SAT and ACT is $55 and $65 each, respectively. When filling out the application, each time a student sends a school their official score

report it includes a $12 fee for the SAT and a $16 fee for the ACT.

Coupled with the idea that most students take these tests multiple times, they would have to submit their scores multiple times as well, paying the fee every time and then multiplying that by the number of schools the student is applying to.

Many high school students from a low socioeconomic background are already disincentivized from applying to schools; these fees only make college seem more out of the realm of possibility.

The United States has allowed private companies, including the College Board, to profit off of students’ futures and allowed these corporations to feed off some of the most desperate customers: students. With current resources being piled into eliminating student debt and attempting to make higher education more attainable for lower-income families, the college admissions system should be more open to making sure all students regardless of socioeconomic status have the chance to apply. Widely available fee waivers and free score report sending through Government sponsored grants with the already established programs such as Free Application for Federal Student Aid would eliminate this issue that affects most aspiring collegiate students.

O pinion by Katherine Mote Business Manager

views

Minimalism or maximalism: you decide

Minimalism

Waking up early every spring break, I open my closet to a plethora of clothes: some I wear almost daily and others that I have not thought about in months. There is the red blouse I don’t remember buying, a onesie I wore for a themed day during homecoming week, my favorite sweater and other clothes with backgrounds of varying importance. My rule stands that if I cannot remember the last time I wore it or I simply do not like the item anymore, it will be donated.

I began down a path of minimalism well before I could put a name to it. My closet refresh each year is just one example of me embracing the concept in my life. I began adopting the school of thought that “less is more” and tried to declutter other areas such as my room and study spaces.

As I continued to identify the things that were a necessary part of my daily routines and got the courage to get rid of the rest, I found that the feeling I had was not a fluke. I felt more liberated, centered and focused in spaces that were narrowed to bare essentials.

Although the phrase “less is more” can originally be traced back to Robert Brownings’ 1855 poem titled “Andrea del Santo,” 20th century modern architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe popularized the idiom in the 1920s. His structures around Chicago and New York City are famous for their elegant simplicity and further spread the idea of “less is more.”

The modern meaning of “less is more” is closely related to minimalism and antimaterialism, which both focus on the intentional choice of keeping the things that you love and value and letting go of all the rest. Focusing on reducing consumption by buying less can reduce the waste and pollution that harms the environment. In 2018, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the generation of textiles was 17 million tons. The amount of textiles in landfills in municipal solid waste was 11.3 million tons.

After I had donated my clothes and decluttered my spaces, I suddenly felt less stressed and more focused. With further research, I discovered that this phenomenon was in fact not uncommon.

In 2011, neuroscience researchers Stephanie McMains and Sabin Kastner of Princeton University used functional magnetic resonance imaging and other measurements to find that clearing clutter from work and home environments aided in a better ability to process and focus information, along with an increase in productivity.

In terms of mental health, a research article first published in 2009 by UCLA found that the levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, were higher in mothers whose environment at home was in disorder. Even in the classroom, less decor has been found to help children stay focused and grounded.

A 2014 research article from Carnegie Mellon University found that children who spent time in a classroom with highly decorated walls were distracted easily and demonstrated smaller gains of knowledge than when the decorations were taken off.

This is not to say that filling a room with decorations is bad or to villainize minimalism’s counterpart, maximalism. I recognize there is a certain joy that comes with cherishing a keepsake from your childhood and displaying it on your mantel or plastering posters of your favorite bands on your walls. However, as Tyler Durden of “Fight Club” famously put it, “The things you own, end up owning you.” While this may not always be the case, when we start to place paramount importance on the need to buy the next “big thing,” maximalism, and even further — consumerism, can begin to chip away at our wellbeing.

Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant, author and TV consultant, wrote a book on and branded the KonMari Method. The method encourages getting rid of items that are no longer needed and keeping items of purpose and meaning. Kondo’s philosophy advocates for only owning things that you love and adopting a new mindset to keep essentials.

Scrolling through Instagram, there is never an ad far from your fingertips telling you the next item that you must have, displayed in a perfectly aesthetic photo. It can be difficult in our modern society to differentiate between the essential and the nonessential.

Seeing your possessions as an extension of yourself can be dangerous when you are always seeking to collect new items. This will never allow for space to settle and simply be. And minimalism is not just owning fewer material possessions, it’s about the conscious effort to choose the items that bring you joy and diminish frivolous expenses.

The next time you open your closet, look around at all of the items you have forgotten about, or don’t fit anymore, or haven’t worn in months. I promise the sheer quantity of them will shock you. The goal of minimalism is not to get rid of everything but is rather rooted in the beauty of simplicity and not letting your material possessions possess you.

Maximalism

If you have ever stepped foot in my room at either my mom’s or dad’s, you would most likely be overwhelmed. From floor to ceiling, something occupies the once-empty beige. Posters, cut-outs, vinyl art, virtually anything I have found visually appealing over the years have been impulsively plastered to my walls. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember (my most vivid memory of this being the time I was eight and decided to cut out pictures of Taylor Swift and in a totally-not-creepy way tape these pictures on the wall above my bed.)

While my walls have evolved over the years and my taste has “matured,” (I put that in quotes because I am still very in love with Taylor Swift) they remain filled. They serve as a platform to show guests who I am, what I believe in and the things I love and am proud to love. I am not the only person who has this penchant for collecting and displaying things. In fact, this has evolved in recent years to be a movement with a given name: maximalism.

Most likely you are more familiar with the opposing movement minimalism. If you are not familiar, it is exactly how it sounds. You own and display the minimum amount of stuff humanly possible. The term minimalism became popularized in the ‘50s and ‘60s to describe simple, objective trends in art. Minimalism as an art form soon evolved into architecture and eventually, millennials were flooding Instagram feeds with gray tones, empty walls, clean lines and rooms full of nothing.

While I respect that this movement is almost similar to the principles of Buddhism or Christianity, in that it encourages people to find attachment in things outside of the material world, the movement as an aesthetic and lifestyle is absolutely no fun and makes spaces feel much less human.

I commend minimalists’ attempts to be more eco-friendly.. The less you own and the less you are consuming the less your carbon footprint is etc.. I am a strong proponent of attempting to consume less in the right context. I am just not entirely sure that it’s necessary in the context of decorating your spaces. In my own rooms, the things I use as decoration are all things I’ve accumulated over the years. I love repurposing old items for art. For instance, in my bedroom at my dad’s apartment, I have a framed picture of my dad’s childhood home that was passed down to him by his mother. This picture has been circulating since long before I was born, so really the environmental impacts of me owning and displaying this piece of art are not too resounding. Beyond that, I also enjoy using thrifted pieces and pictures from my mom’s old scrapbooks to decorate spaces. Again, there is a very small impact on the environment in hoarding and displaying all of these possessions, so small that it is comparable to simply owning less.

I understand the goal of not having an attachment to material items. I am not saying that having maximalist spaces is the trick to finding true happiness. I will also concede that sometimes in creating these maximalist spaces there comes a selfimposed need to constantly satiate the eye. This may result in even more decorating, then redecorating. I am not saying I recommend falling down this never-ending rabbit hole. I am saying that there is beauty in owning and displaying the things we love. There is such a human quality to maximalism that I feel is often ignored.

There is a discrete vulnerability in displaying the things we love. We are constantly putting parts of ourselves onto our walls and on our shelves, asking people to comment on them and view them. This requires a confidence in the things we love and the people we invite into our spaces. And beyond that, this creates a bond between us and our guests that would have never been achieved in a minimalist space.

Choose to love what you love and display it fervently in the spaces you find most sacred. There is nothing more beautiful, and there is nothing more human.

B y Maddy Hammett Co-Editor-in-Chief

S tory & graphic by Lauren Shushi Staff writer

editorthe

Co-Editors-in-Chief Grace Worsham and Maddy Hammett reflect on lessons they have learned over the past four years in journalism

First last day, first month with the V40 staff, first issue (without the supervision of Gina and Emily) as your editors-in-chief. We have been adjusting to a whole lot of firsts during the months of August and September. But, despite the chaos, we are excited to fall back into the groove that working for the Eagle Edition provides us with. Beyond that, we are excited to discover what another year on staff will teach us, as each year has brought us both a unique set of experiences that molded us into your current editors.

Freshman year we both began our experience on staff with journalism one. We were both in separate classes, but had similar experiences with creativity-stumps during the pandemic, receiving intensely marked up first drafts and having a pain-staking fear of the big, scary upperclassmen in charge of the paper.

Because of Covid-19, we were told to go home halfway through the year which left our J1 class (and all of us for that matter) lost. We felt lost on when we would be coming back and how to prepare for the possibility that we would be home all year, lost on how to conduct good interviews without them being in-person and lost on whether or not our writing, with less in-person revising, would be good enough for our first issue as staff members. Self-doubt among the J1 students during this time was pervasive.

Nevertheless, just as this has been voiced by countless other students our age, we were able to trudge through it. It was difficult and the learning curve we were met with when we returned in-person sophomore year was steep; but again, we got through it and came out on the other side with more patience and confidence in ourselves than if we hadn’t been met with an unprecedented pandemic.

Sophomore year we both were able to find our beats. Grace found a love for creating beautiful graphics and page designs. More than anything, she loved writing reviews and covering anything life and culture related. Maddy found an interest in op-eds, politics and writing and designing her own standing column. We both watched as our classmates found the beats they were passionate about as well. Callie began sports writing, Katherine and Alex also began writing about politics and Elisabeth, while not having a specific beat, found a way to translate her passion into her writing, regardless of the topic. Sophomore year we found a beauty in the passion the newspaper provided us each with.

Junior year polarization in our community seemed pervasive. Our paper, as every other paper in the area during this time, showcased as wide of a range of opinions as we could. But, despite the range and fairness we tried to provide, that did not mean we were not met with backlash from dissenting voices. Still, we found this to be one of our most fruitful experiences while being on staff.

While from the outside this may have seemed like a chaotic time to be a part of the paper, we watched as our staff members defended each other regardless of affiliation. We heard staff members say things along the lines of: “I don’t agree, but they deserve to have their opinion expressed just like I did in a column I wrote.” We watched as empathy bolstered among our group. We watched as the common desire to produce something of importance grew to be bigger than our respective political affiliations. This was a time of immense self-growth for our staff members.

Now we arrive at our senior year and we could not feel any more grateful to be having this platform for our voices. Joining J1 freshman year, we gravely underestimated the privilege it would

“We are excited to discover what another year on staff will teach us, as each year has brought us both a unique set of experiences that molded us into your current editors.”

Maddy Hammett

be to be writing for the Eagle Edition. Our paper has covered the issue of censorship many times. This issue’s staff stance revolves around a school in Nebraska that has disbanded its student-operated paper. Words are important. Student voices hold an immense amount of power and their words expressed through school publications serve as a small piece of a much larger student body collective. Being a staff member means being representative of a much larger whole. We know what being editors of this paper, or any paper for that matter, means to the voices of a community. We hope that this year our paper serves to call attention to the voices that need to be heard, and we hope that we are able to continue to grow this year not only as editors and student journalists, but also as people.

New app Blinkist ruins the joy of reading

Iconsider myself to be a staunch traditionalist in most respects. I enjoy books in print, not on a tablet or computer. I tried as hard as I could to modernize my note-taking by using an overpriced iPad and stylist but ultimately decided notebooks were less distracting. I am incredibly stubborn and find it difficult to admit that my way of doing things, regardless of how ineffective, is the right way to do it. With that said, I understand that with modernization, some ways of doing things must be revised to make tasks easier. I am currently typing this column on a computer because that happens to be what I have available to me at this current moment, and my handwriting happens to be similar to that of a middle school boy. In the vein of accepting things in their new form, I found myself interested in a new app that advertised its ability to

modernize reading by making it more time-efficient.

The app Blinkist was founded in August of 2012 out of Berlin, Germany, but began to take off around the year 2021 in the states. The app is a glorified forum for Cliff Notes: similar to SparkNotes but with a much more millennial-esque design. In short, the app publishes short summaries of books instead of the full form, turning the ‘grueling’ endeavor of reading a book in its entirety, God forbid, into something much less exhaustive. I have found that this app has sucked out all of the fun parts out of reading.

One thing I will commend the app for is its commitment to making you believe that it can change your entire life. At the very first moment you log on to the app, it sends you a survey of questions in an attempt to discern your motive for downloading the app. It asks you how you would like to grow your mind, where in your life you would like to see improvement and what kinds of things you would be interested in learning more about. The app even goes so far as to recommend books that promise to make you happier — summaries that hypothetically would make you happier, of course. I am not underestimating the power of a good read. I am, however, not entirely sure

“The point of reading to me extends much further than making yourself appear to be knowledgeable to others in conversation.”

Maddy Hammett

how a summary of a book can provide you with all of the same insight and promises as one in its full form.

The app features summaries from 5,000 bestselling nonfiction books. When I first got the app, I decided to start by reading the synopsis for my favorite nonfictionbook, “Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay. I had reread it about a week prior to hearing about this new app.

I was ready to see how many of my favorite parts of the book had been omitted. Unfortunately, it was a vast majority of the book. What’s even worse is that the parts that were cut were the most enjoyable parts to read. My favorite chapter of the book, “To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically” is, in my opinion, the best and most enjoyable read of Gay’s. Blinkist omitted this entire essay. Instead of featuring her most compelling narratives contained in “Bad Feminist,” the rewriters of Blinkist chose to only feature the more abstract aspects of her book. Reading the Blinkist version of “Bad Feminist” was much like reading a SparkNotes summary minutes before an in-class essay (I know I’m not the only one who has done this, students don’t kid yourself); the knowledge was all there, but the best material was glazed over. Ultimately, this app is for

non-readers. I respect its intention of getting more people introduced into the world of reading. I also respect that it encourages people’s desire to learn. The intention of the app is merited. As a reader, I just cannot love this app. To anyone who uses or has thought about using Blinkist: I commend you for your desire to grow your mind, but know that there are much more enjoyable ways of doing this.

The point of reading to me extends much further than making yourself appear to be knowledgeable to others in conversation. To me, that is the most superficial intention to have when reading. Reading is about feeling something through the text. To me, reading is similar to looking at art. We look for ourselves in art, and we look for ourselves in text. And through this process, we habitually, almost subconsciously fall into a state of meaningful introspection.

We discover empathy that we never knew we could have for something so far removed from us. There is hardly ever another medium that evokes self-reflection in the way that meaningful prose and narratives provide for us. Blinkist may be good for saving time, but what the app is depriving the reader of — a chance for self-reflection and relatability through story-telling — far undermines its merit.

Photoillustration by Grace Worsham and Maddy Hammett Co-Editors-in-Chief

O pinion by Maddy Hammett Co-Editor-in-Chief

Dear Editors,

Advice from the Bard

As the first chilly breaths of autumn winds begin to blow — it is Texas so they are relatively chilly — my mind always turns to the past. Not like Harriet Tubman or Hamilton or anything. My past.

For me, the past will always be associated with periods of transition, of change, whether they be gradual or immediate. After all, sometimes Rome falls without a decline. One of my first great experiences of change came when I left home for college, as many of you will do in less than ten months. It was not that I had no capacity to cook or clean — I could do both. And, a word of advice for all my seniors: no one finds it particularly attractive when you are completely incapable of taking care of yourself. Still, the absolute freedom that awaited me on the campus of the University of Wisconsin remained daunting and exhilarating — all the more so because it was a change I could see coming, like the top of the first hill on the highest rollercoaster.

My very first college lecture was English 204: An Introduction to Shakespeare. Needless to say, based on the title of this article, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. (Case in point, I would take four total courses on Shakespeare before my college years were through.) But still, it was my first class. I arrived eagerly about 30 minutes early — spoiler alert: that is too early. I proceeded to take notes on the syllabus — also unnecessary. And then I proceeded to return to my dorm room, full of illumination. Why should I not gloat about my immense and instant accomplishments?

After all, I knew exactly when we would be reading “The Taming of the Shrew,” what more was there to learn?

I often think back during this time of the year on those first days. As I do so I try to reflect on what I have learned and it is not long before I realize I have not so much learned as I have been taught. Teachers have taught me. Parents have taught me. Loss has taught me a lot, success much less, frankly. Shakespeare has also taught me. He, in fact, continues to teach me to this day. Over the years as I reflect I think of the different lessons from the plays and sonnets and how, time and time again, the Bard gets us right. More than anything else, Shakespeare has defined what it means to be us, what it means to be human. To that end, because change is such a big part of being human, I wanted to reflect a bit here on a few big lessons from Shakespeare and how they connect to my (read: our) lives.

“This above all, - to thine own self be true.”

Polonius (“Hamlet”)

This one is fairly obvious. Or, at least we think it is. Times of change and times of crisis have taught me, however, that this sentiment is nearly always accurate. We are who we are when we are 100 percent confident that no one can see us. We are, in fact, always true to ourselves in those fleeting moments. We cannot help it. Therefore, make sure you are your best self in such times.

“Bear free and patient thoughts.”

Edgar (“King Lear”)

There is much we can learn from the story of an old king who cannot see reality plainly before his eyes. But the most important of the myriad lessons is that, while the world might spin and swirl around us in a neverending cacophony of chaos and seemingly disconnected destruction, we can always control ourselves and our reaction to the storm. Terrible things can (and will) happen to you. You cannot control them. But you can control how you respond.

“O, I am fortune’s fool!”

Romeo (“Romeo and Juliet”)

If you asked any Shakespeare scholar who the most distasteful character of all the plays is no doubt all, or a staunch majority, would respond Iago — the man for whom evil is simply a state of being. But, having taught “Romeo and Juliet” more times than I can count, there is no one more repugnant than the whiny brat whom so many teenage girls are, ostensibly, supposed to adore. Let me be plain: Romeo sucks. He objectively sucks. While Juliet steadfastly accepts the risk of taking an unnamed coma-inducing drug from a priest who definitely did not weigh her before issuing his prescription, Romeo can’t wait for a freaking letter. All this to say Romeo is simply wrong. He was never fortune’s victim. He had a choice and needs to deal with the consequences of that choice. (He doesn’t, but whatever…)

Of course, not all decisions are equal. There are times when we are faced with decisions that only have negative outcomes. Yet, we must choose. It is one of the sad realities of life that we often complain about a lack of choice when it is convenient for us, but bemoan our fate when placed in an impossible situation. For such times, the Bard has one last piece of advice; fittingly, it is the final line uttered by Lady MacBeth before her death: “What’s done cannot be undone.” We all make choices every day. Do not blame anyone else for your decisions. You made them.

Sincerely,

Adam Walsh History and religion teacher

Wingin’ it with Warner

Biden’s Student Loan Relief Plan, unresolved issues

B y Alexandra Warner Views Editor

On Aug. 24, Biden proposed a threepart plan to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for low to middle income borrowers. As promising as it sounds (I’m all for finding ways to make college affordable), it leaves many problems unresolved — students fail out and have to pay loans, taxes may increase, etc. — and seems like a flashy boost for the Democratic Party in this fall’s midterm elections. In order to get a student loan, a family must apply for one, and poorer families are also granted Pell Grants. Biden proposed in his plan that he would forgive up to $20,000 for the families who earn Pell Grants. These grants are not loans and they do not need to be repaid unless the student withdraws from the college that year. Stafford loans are a type of federal student loan that are subsidized by the government — the government pays the interest while the student is in school. They are supposed to help students cover the cost of college but can be quite dangerous. According to whitehouse.gov, President Biden said that “a posthigh school education should be a ticket to a middle-class life.” In other words, college equals success. However, if students are not given the right education or attend a high school with low graduation rates, many are not prepared to go to college. The Biden administration believes that giving loans to lower income students will push them to go to college which will lead to a better life or job. Although it seems like a good idea, these students can fail out of college and still have to pay all of their tuition and student debt. According to Forbes, 3 million kids start in college and over

1 million fail out or drop out every year. And according to an article in 2021 from the website Lendedu, 46.5 percent of dropouts are in default of their student loan debt, leaving massive loans that they need to pay back. Under the law, one cannot declare bankruptcy on student loan debt. And if a student comes from a low income family, paying that debt will be a seemingly impossible task.

A question to consider is who exactly are we helping out? According to Bloomberg, an analysis released on Aug. 23 revealed that around “42 percent of the benefits of student loan forgiveness would go to the wealthiest two-fifths of Americans, with the bottom fifth receiving just 12 percent.” Whitehouse.gov published that borrowers are eligible for relief if their individual income is less than $125,000 a year if they are single, and $250,000 for married couples. Just to clarify, someone making $125,000 a year is not poor. These young adults who are at the beginning of their careers — lawyers for example — are basically offered a tax break. The lower class with an income of less than $60,000 are the ones who need the help the most, not people who will have a bright future in their careers.

And who will be the ones paying for the loans? Everyone. Those who have already paid their loans and people who have never been to college. Those who never made it to college because they couldn’t afford it are paying student loans for other people, this also raises the fairness question.

If this plan is passed, taxes could increase in order to pay off all the people who apply for these loans. The combination of canceling debt and extending the repayment freeze, which suspended student loan payments because of Covid-19, will cost taxpayers

billions of dollars. Even worse, by stripping the government of expected revenue, it will reduce funding available for investments in K-12 and early childhood learning that would promote economic opportunity and future growth which could impact graduation rates creating the same problems Biden’s plan attacks. Related to this issue is that the Democrats claimed to protect future students and taxpayers by reducing the cost of college and holding schools accountable when they increase prices. Whitehouse. gov claims that “colleges [will] have an obligation to keep prices reasonable and ensure borrowers get value for their investments, not debt they cannot afford.” However, that’s not true. Private and state colleges are their own institutions and the government does not have any jurisdiction to decrease the debt or prices that a college has, so the student loan debt issue isn’t resolved with Biden’s Plan.

Lastly, this plan can cause higher inflation rates. While loan forgiveness won’t put cash in borrowers’ pockets, it still risks inflation by encouraging consumers to spend money that they would have to put towards paying their debts. And wiping out debt now will only encourage students to take out still-bigger loans in the future, reducing incentives for colleges to hold down tuition costs — thus, making higher education even less accessible for the middle class.

Even though the three-step plan seems thought out, it has a lot of flaws that could make not only our economy worse but student loans even more difficult to pay off. Biden should be, at a minimum, removing the repayment freeze and helping taxpayers. However, these changes can only do so much. In the end, everyone will be stuck paying the bills

Where’d all the time go? by Sarah Cabrales

Pakistan flood, not receiving enough attention

Millions of Pakistanis harmed by effects of global warming

S tory by Seventh Grader Rawaan Khan Guest writer

The feeling of loss isn’t brief; it doesn’t come for a short visit and then opts to call it quits. Once it comes, it lingers, sometimes for weeks, months or even our whole lives. You can’t get rid of it like your well-used pair of shoes. It branches out within us like a disease. Sometimes we are born with it, but sometimes we subject ourselves to it and let it take over our whole lives. This is what my beloved homeland is going through. Currently, Pakistan is under water. I wonder sometimes how long we are going to ignore the signs from Mother Earth. I have learned so much about climate change and looking after our planet, but it never occurred to me that climate change can cause so much devastation and pain. My heart aches when I watch the news and hear stories of loss from my home country caused by recent floods. It tears at me thinking that people from my country are suffering so greatly and I’m here not doing anything. It was a blow to the stomach when I heard stories of people losing homes, losing schools, looking for shelter, yet what’s more disappointing is the deafening silence of international media

Over 33 million Pakistanis (10 million over Texas’s population) have been affected by these catastrophic floods that are now submerging one-third of the country. These climate-induced floods have killed more than 1,480 people, a third of whom are children. Pakistan, a country of 220 million, contributes less than one percent to global warming and yet it has found

itself battling heat waves, wildfires and uncontrollable floods caused by unpredicted monsoon rains and melting glaciers. In Pakistan there are over 7,000 glaciers, which constitutes up to 20 percent of the total in the world.

As the temperatures rise the glaciers are falling, adding even more runoff to the already overflowing waters due to heavy rainfall. The floods have not only claimed personal loss, but also financial difficulties for my fellow countrymen. Pakistan is extremely dependent on its farms and livestock. Because of these floods, Pakistan’s cotton industry is now down the drain, further contributing to food scarcity.

The grief and loss is unexplainable. I could only imagine the already hard life turning into nothing, waiting out into the open sky to be sheltered and fed. I have been to many of those places and recognize the level of poverty, but what I see now on the videos shared by my family back home leaves me shocked.

I have very fond memories of visiting Northern Pakistan and the thriving cities surrounded by beau-

tiful mountains and crop fields. It is sad to recognize the waterlogged fields, the water drenched roofs of the houses I once visited, that now mark the story of what is left of the place that once buzzed with the flocks of tourists from around the world.

People are suffering and enduring trauma in my country. I see news channels running news tickers and people talking about it like many other tragedies over dinner, while meeting friends and then moving on to some other topic. I want the world to remember this catastrophe, come forward and offer their helping hands to Pakistan to heal. Even after the flooding, Pakistan will still be left in a turmoil. This occurrence has cost Pakistan at least $150 billion in damage. Roads destroyed, houses and buildings submerged, reduced to dust. It could and will take years for Pakistan to get back on its feet, especially without help from unaffected countries. They will not be able to get their cotton economy back for even longer as the fields have been washed away completely. After these floods are over, disease will spread, killing more people

than those who have already died. Kids will be in grave danger and families who live outside of Pakistan will not be able to visit and families inside won’t be able to leave.

A lot of relief work and aid has been pouring into the country, but currently there are over half a million pregnant women, including 73,000 who are expecting to deliver in the next month, who have been affected by the floods and unable to find food, putting them in even more danger. UNICEF, a United Nations agency that provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, is currently helping to deliver safe drinking water, food supplies, hygiene kits and medical supplies to children and families. They are also releasing temporary schools to help educate the children on what they need to know. USAID, a U.S. federal government agency that is primarily responsible for assisting foreign aid, has provided $30 million to help. This is being used for shelter and improved sanitation.

Anyone who wants to help can collect money, send clothes and medicine. There are several organizations collecting items to help these people in grave danger. You can help by making donations to organizations such USAID, UNICEF, Humanity & Inclusion, International Medical Corps, Pakistan Red Cross Society, Muslim Aid Pakistan, to name a few.

Each and every death caused by these floods was unnecessary, if the world had done more to prevent global warming and climate change, then glaciers would not be melting and then none of these losses would have occurred.

SOCIAL MEDIA Commuters make their way through a flooded street after a heavy rain shower in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Aug. 17.

Photo by Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

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year’s Wingmen bring more excitement and spirit to the student body during football games and pep rallies.

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Students bond through fall sport traditions

Activities set the tone for incoming athletic year

S tory by Phoebe McMillan Staff Writer

Fall sports set the tone for the athletic year.

With the intensity of the fall season comes many long standing traditions that bring the team together and help new students feel comfortable in their new community.

Football is one of the fall sports with the most participation. The team, like many teams at ESD, does not have cuts which contributes to why there are so many people on the team. As well as football, the cheer leading field hockey and volleyball programs also attract a lot of upper school students. Beyond just these four sports, cross country, crew and mountain biking are co-ed sports that have smaller teams. Preseason for these sports is important for the development of the teams in skill and teamwork. Along with all the hype and excitement from fall sports, the teams themselves experience unique traditions that have been going on for many years.

The school’s football program has many traditions of its own. One of their main traditions is the varsity team’s retreat to wolf run. This year, the retreat took place from July 27 to 29. The team spent two nights together, bonding and improving their skills. On the last day, they visited The Star, the training stadium of the Cowboys, for an eight-hour intensive practice.

“The football retreat is important to our team because it helps us bond and develop better teamwork,” Varsity football player Sebastian Guzik said. “My favorite part was having dinner all together. It helped us become closer as a group.”

Like the football team, cheer also goes on a two-night retreat that doubles as cheer camp. This year the retreat was spent at the DoubleTreehotel at Love Field, and the camp was held at Express Cheer. At camp, Junior Varsity and Varsity cheerleaders choreographed routines, which would be performed in front of parents and friends at the end of the final day. This tradition has been going on for over a decade

at the school.

“A lot of our traditions in cheer are about team bonding and trust building,” sophomore and Varsity cheerleader Ivy Runyon said. “That’s exactly what cheer camp is all about. It’s a couple nights for us to get closer and make new friendships.”

Another unique tradition carried on by the cheer team is The Cheer Family Program. Each year, an upperclassman is paired with one to two underclassmen who are their “Littles.” This is to help the team feel connected with people outside their own grade level. Bigs drive them to things like team dinners and practice when it is held somewhere other than school.

“The football retreat is important to our team because it helps us bond and develop better teamwork.”

“Cheer family program helps to bond not only just team members on varsity but both JV and varsity,” senior varsity cheerleader Emma Konen said. “I love how it makes the underclassmen feel like the upperclassmen cheerleaders have their backs.”

And the varsity cheer program also has a team sleepover each year. The sleepover is often held at one of the captains’ houses and hosts the entire varsity team.

The sleepover is held during mid-season. This year, the cheer squad is holding their sleepover in mid-September before their football game at the Star.

“It’s important to trust each other since we literally hold each other up in the air,” Runyon said. “In our stunt groups, if the flier doesn’t trust her bases, then there’s no way the stunt will be successful. We don’t compete during the fall, so we don’t get the effects of going through wins and loses together, but because we do all [of this] team-building, we’re really connected by the end of the season.”

Sebastian Guzik sophmore

Football and cheer are the sports with the most participants during the fall season. This year, there are 50 cheerleaders within the high school program, and there are 43 football players on varsity. The football and cheer teams are connected through football and cheer buddies. Each player is paired with someone in their grade from the other team. Each Friday, buddies exchange small gifts like candy, snacks or drinks to show support to the other. One unique thing about this tradition is that it is organized by the players, not the coaches or the school. Freshmen and sophomores are paired randomly, while juniors and seniors can submit buddy requests.

“I really like that we have football buddies. Mine are Brady Miltenburger and Landen Capetillo,” Runyon said. “It’s fun to have someone show a little appreciation and support for me on game days. Even though I know, we’re assigned to each other. It still means a lot whenever they give me something like a note or a snack.”

PAINTING POSTERS

On Aug. 3, junior varsity cheerleaders Ruby Cuccia, Tessa Cabrales, Maggie Pickens and Emma Allen paint signs at cheer camp to be hung up in the commons during football season. “I love that we paint signs for the season. I think it is a great way to show support for the football team,” Cabrales said. “I also think painting signs is a great time for JV and Varsity to get to know each other better.”

Photo provided by Charleigh Berry

The varsity volleyball team has a unique tradition of what they call “kidnapping” their new teammates. When someone new joins the team, returning players pick them up from their house, blindfold them, and drive them somewhere where they are surprised by the rest of the team and congratulated for making varsity. Sophomore Dana Fredrich made varsity her first year.

“I was excited when Gomez told me I made varsity, but I was also pretty nervous because I was new to the school and I was the only freshman on the team,” Fredrich said. “I thought it would be weird since everyone was already so close, but I was wrong. I quickly became friends with the rest of the team since there aren’t many players. All the girls on the team were

super welcoming to me.”

The school’s cross country team gets a fair amount of participants each year, however, cross country is an individual-based sport and doesn’t have many team traditions. However, even though they may not have any long standing traditions, doesn’t mean they don’t work as hard as others. During the month of August, Cross Country, like most other sports, began its pre-season. In order for these runners to compete and run the long distances that they do, it is important that they take the time to train their bodies to withstand the strains.

As for crew and mountain biking, both teams are relatively new to the school, and neither have any recent or long-standing traditions. Mountain biking was added to the school’s list of sports only a few years ago, and didn’t gain much popularity when it was started. This year, however, their numbers doubled from years past.

Field hockey is another of the school’s more popular sports; this year, the program has __ girls participating. Junior Varsity coach Laila Kharaat brings many of her traditions to her team as the coach. At the beginning of practices, the players participate in a meditation to visualize their victory and help them gain confidence to play better and more aggressively. Sophomore Kate Kornman, who is new to field hockey this year, plays on the JV team.

“I didn’t know this was a thing until I made the team and we had our first practice,” Kornman said. “She tells us this is her method of helping us get better in a more relaxed and calm way. I think it has definitely helped with my confidence during games. I also feel more connected to my teammates around me afterwards”

Most ongoing traditions in fall sports are connected by the principles of teamwork and bonding. Each of the players agreed that one of the most important aspects of being part of a team is being connected in some way, which is what keeps these traditions going each year.

This

Junior Brayden Girata talks about his experience as part of the little-known mountain biking team.

The Wingmen take flight

Revival of the popular flag bearers brings excitement to games, unites the Horde

It’s Friday night, the first football game of the season. Senior Jack Massey waits just outside the football stadium. He straightens his signature white button down and fixes the brim of his tawny cowboy hat. He then picks up his flag and walks across the football field, eyes set on a large banner portraying an angry eagle. Hands shaking from nerves (and caffeine), Massey prepares himself for the biggest moment of his life: his debut as an ESD Wingman.

The Wingmen emerged as the face of the ESD student section, the Horde, in 2017, when Braden Allen ‘18 approached varsity cheer coach Megan Schroeder ‘09 with the idea of creating a new way for seniors, as well as students, to get more involved in the spirit side of ESD sports.

“Braden approached me at the end of his junior year with the idea modeled after the Scotsmen at [Highland Park High School],” Schroeder said. “We took the steps to make sure everyone on campus including leadership and athletics were on board, [established] guidelines and recruited the first group of Wingmen from the class of 2018. We had a strong group [of Wingmen] the following years until COVID hit.”

Schroder said that she is thrilled that the Wingmen are back and in full force this year.

“I am a big fan of giving any and all students an opportunity to shine, and this was a great way to include more students in a different way,” she said.

Seniors Jack Massey, Briggs Briner, Henry Hamlin, Dagen Geier and John Cahoon will lead the Horde as the 2022-2023 Wingmen.

“We were bored at games last year,” Massey said. “And we wanted to make them fun [this year]. As Wingmen, we lead the student section and basically we just yell at people to get hype.”

The Wingmen are walking into this year with loads of enthusiasm, eager to replicate the former glory of the ESD Horde before the chaos of Covid-19 slowed the zeal of the student section.

“I like to run with the flags,” Hamlin said. “I’m most excited for Mr. Laba to do push-ups after the football team scores.”

Although the Wingmen work closely with coach Schroeder, as well as the football team and the cheer leading team, their job allows for some flexibility.

“There are no rules to being a Wingman,” Geier said. “Show up, show out. As long as we’re there when the game starts and able to run out before the football team, there’s nothing left to do except hype up the crowd.”

With help from the cheerleaders and word of mouth, Schroeder hand-selected this year’s Wingmen, deeming them enthusiastic and charismatic — characteristics vital to the success of the Wingmen.

“It’s important to me that whoever wants to participate is going to give it their all,” Schroeder said. “The Wingmen have the unique opportunity to help hype up the student sections at games, participate in pep rallies and elevate school spirit with the Cheerleaders and the Horde. Having big school spirit is important!”

And Schroeder’s enthusiasm for elevating school spirit is shared by the Wingmen. They affectionately refer to their sponsor as “The Winglady.”

team in Chapel, they head to lunch.

“Lunchtime means a second dose of caffeine,” Cahoon said. “As seniors, we have off-campus lunch; the Wingmen head to GNC. We get a new protein powder every Friday. We’re still silent at GNC, we haven’t said anything to one another.”

And when the afternoon hits, the Wingmen are more amped than ever — it’s almost game time.

“When that 4 p.m. bell rings, it’s time to get jittery,” Geier said. “Third dose of caffeine. We start itching.”

After school ends, the Wingmen split up to perform their separate pregame rituals. They typically reconvene at Briner’s house before the game to get in the zone.

“We feel a heavy responsibility to make games fun. Without the wingmen, who’s gonna do it?”

“I’ve been in the Winglady’s office every day since I decided to do this thing,” Massey said. “I think she likes how excited we are about it, but she’s a little scared of how excited we are about it.”

The fervor of the Wingmen is only amplified by their elaborate, if slightly worry-inducing, Friday gameday and pregame rituals.

“On a typical Friday, we go to Wingmen breakfast at the Original Pancake House,” Hamlin said. “What do we do there? We eat pancakes. We actually don’t speak to each other. It’s a silent morning to show respect for all those teams we’ve murdered on the field.”

Once they’ve celebrated their wins in reverent silence, the Wingmen head to school, eager to get through the day.

“As we head to school, we sync up our Spotify’s to do a group listen, so we’re all listening to the same thing at the same time, to get in the zone,” Massey said. “We have our first dose of caffeine at around 9 a.m. — three-quarters of a scoop of preworkout. And then we go through morning classes, acting normal.”

Usually, when the Wingmen finish their morning of classes and pray for the success of the football

Jack Massey senior wingman

HYPE UP THE HORDE

Senior wingmen Jack Massey, John Cahoon, Dagen Geier, Briggs Briner, and Henry Hamlin shout through their megaphones to start chants in the student section. “‘Scoreboard’ is one of our go-to chants,” said Massey. “We’re also big advocates of the ‘you can’t do that’ chant.” by Charlotte Tomlin

“After school, Jack and I go get a quick workout in,” Briner said. “Dagen goes to cross country practice, while Henry and John typically use their free time to refuel on smelling salts.”

During the games, the Wingmen have a variety of jobs. They run the Wingmen flags through the end zone after every point scored, on both field goals and touchdowns. Their main job is to keep the crowd on their feet and loud through every quarter. A special ritual of the Wingmen involves their shirt buttons: as each quarter of the game passes, the Wingmen unbutton one button of their shirt. By the end of the fourth quarter, they’re all unbuttoned. The Wingmen also have the task of keeping the crowd entertained — which often involves some crowd interaction.

“We make the freshmen do pushups every time we score,” Cahoon said. “People really want to do them this year, we haven’t had a lot of trouble finding freshmen to do push-ups.”

Although the Wingmen take their job very seriously, they can agree on one thing: running in cowboy boots is a lot harder than it seems.

“Running is a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Massey said. “Especially when you have to carry a massive flag with you.”

When the going gets tough, caffeine is what keeps the Wingmen performing at the top of their game.

“We have so much caffeine before the games,” Cahoon said. “We have 500 mg a piece. It takes 1000

milligrams to kill you.”

But the Wingmen’s job is not only confined to Friday nights. They also participate in pep rallies with the cheer leading team.

“In the pep rallies, we do funny skits,” Hamlin said. “I get thrown around a bit when we stunt as a group. I may have to pull out the old Macarena at the pep rallies.”

Even though the football season has just started, the Wingmen are already making plans for the future.

“We’re trying to get a gong,” Geier said. “Our goal for the homecoming game is to ride in on mustangs, but we’ll see if that gets approved.”

The Wingmen share a collective dream about new props and gadgets that will help elevate the student body’s experience in the Horde.

“In the future we’re hoping to have cap guns, so we can shoot them in the air when good things happen,” Hamlin said. “I want to get a portable fog machine in my pants. And we really want microphones with portable amps that attach to your belt so we can really hype up the crowd.”

However, the Wingmen’s dreams extend even further beyond cap guns and gongs — all the way into the reaches of the subconscious.

“Last Friday night, after the game, I had a dream about the Wingmen running the flags through the end zone and down the sidelines,” Massey said. “I woke up the next morning and could still hear the crowd cheering.”

The Wingmen’s energy and vigor — whether it be caffeine induced or naturally occurring — is one of their qualities that make them extremely qualified for the job.

“I have never worked with a crew that is more excited or fired up,” Schroeder said. “I am thrilled that they wanted to do it, and they have already shown incredible school spirit. They are high energy, have a strong love for ESD and our sports teams and are committed. It’s going to be a really fun year!”

Representing the face of the Horde, the job of a Wingmen can seem daunting. But the gravity is not lost on this years’ Wingmen.

“We feel a heavy responsibility to make the games fun,” Massey said. “Without the Wingmen, who’s gonna do it?”

The Wingmen acknowledge that their job is incomplete without the support of the student body, a true representation of the ESD community that we so cherish.

“We can’t create an entire student section by ourselves,” Hamlin said. “If there’s no student section, there’s no Wingmen, and vice versa.”

S tory and Photo by Charlotte Tomlin Web Editor

HALFTIME WITH HAWKINS

Fall is taken over by fantasy football

As the professional

football season begins, conversation rallies around fantasy football

S tory by Callie Hawkins Sports Editor

You can feel it in the air: the excitement, the energy, the weather changing, the unity… it’s football season.

From pep rallies and themed home games on Fridays, to tailgates on Saturdays and day-long watch parties on Sundays, football is eminent inside and out of our community.

Although high school and college football are major facets of this sport, professional football is what causes the constant desire to check statistics, celebrate and/or groan daily. Across all ages, fantasy football is a tradition that provides fun to people each year.

A couple of weeks ago, my brother, a sixth grader, came down the stairs whining about how he got second pick in one draft and sixth in the other. One league he participates in is with his sixth grade friends, and the other with my whole family. A couple of weeks later, all he and my dad can talk about is this game.

Now, do not even get me started on the high schoolers–constantly

checking their phones, having it as one of the main topics of conversation, making sure all of their homework is done early in the weekend so they can spend all day Sunday watching the many different games together. It’s intriguing how engrossed they are in all of it. How much money they bet on the season, the punishment for the loser of the draft, etc. At first glance, since football is stereotypically male-oriented, one might think that women play no role in this game that is so widely enjoyed. That is wrong.

the common interests as females as a whole, football does not usually come to mind.

But we cannot take women out of my original claim, that football and fantasy football around this time of year affects all of the people in and out of our community.

“There were a couple of people that didn’t care all that much, but it was fun to bond over this game.”

Sloane Hope ’22

According to the most recent survey by the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association in 2019, 19 percent of the fantasy league is made up of females. Yes, there are still far more men playing the game however, it is a growing demographic and taking into account

Although I have not participated in a fantasy football league, I would love to, if more of my friends wanted to along with me. But there have been multiple female fantasy leagues within ESD. Last year, in her senior year, alumna Sloane Hope played with her group of girl friends.

“I really enjoyed playing fantasy football with my friends because we all got so competitive and into it,” Hope said.

“There were a couple of people that didn’t care all that much, but it was fun to bond over this game.”

The idea for fantasy football arose from Wilfred “Bill” Winken-

bach in the 1950s. He was a financial partner of the Raiders, when they were still based in Oakland, when he developed a game where one would draft certain professional golfers, add up their scores and compare them to others who had drafted different players. He did the same thing for pitching and batting averages in professional baseball.

In 1962, during the Raiders’ East coast swing, Winkenbach and two writers for the Oakland Tribune, George Ross and Scotty Stirling, took Winkenbach’s original idea and hit the ground running. All night they stayed up in a hotel room together developing a system and set of rules in order for a group of people to be able to form an imaginary team made up of professional football players from different real teams, and compete amongst each other.

Winkenbach, unfortunately, is unable to see how popular and widespread his idea became, having died in 1993. I’m sure he would be thrilled to know there are sections in football stadiums dedicated to fantasy football and fantasy football networks on television now.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” —Michael Jordan

Student athletes go global

Summer time brings sports camps, international teams, tournaments

Senior crew captain and Stanford commit Katherine Mote spent each of her summer days for eight weeks waking up at 5:30 a.m., working out and practicing for three hours, eating, napping, working out for another three hours, eating again and in bed by 7:30 p.m.

Over the summer, many ESD athletes spend their summers away at camps, tournaments and even championships devoted to their respective sport, sacrificing many benefits other high schoolers enjoy on their breaks.

“It was hard not having all of the fun summer things I [normally] would,” Mote said. “I would talk to my friends and see what they’re doing and hear about internships, so I was a little sad I didn’t get to participate in any of that, but I was really happy with what I was doing.”

Mote participated in rowing activities for the entirety of the summer. Students were let out in mid-May, but the varsity crew team continued to practice because they qualified for the national regatta in Florida the second week of June. After that competition, she went straight to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California and was evaluated for three weeks.

She was one of the 20 girls chosen out of the 75 evaluated to compete in the Junior World Championships in Italy. She and her team practiced for six weeks before leaving for the competition on July 20. When she got home, it was Aug. 2, and varsity fall crew had already begun.

“I was never really homesick, but the environment was really stressful,” Mote said. “Especially [at the beginning], everyone’s just competing against each other. There [were] girls there that returned from [the world championships] last year, so a lot of people knew each other. It’s stressful being new in that type of environment and then also trying to compete against these people.”

“While I wasn’t super happy about missing my last few weeks of summer, afterwards I was so glad I chose to play because I made memories and friends that will last the rest of my life.”

Camden Konradi junior

Although there was fierce determination and willingness to beat out others for a spot on the team, Mote developed many friendships and was happy doing so “I made friends pretty quickly, and that made it a lot easier,” Mote

ROW,

ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT

Senior Katherine Mote attends the United States Rowing Under-19 camp over the summer. She then competed at the Junior World Championships. “Racing in Italy was the most amazing experience of my life,” Mote said. “Getting to see the international competition at such an iconic race will be something I remember forever.”

Photo provided by Katherine Mote

said. “Finding out who gets dropped and who’s leaving was really sad, but once it was just the world’s group, there was a lot of bonding, and it was really fun. We would play games, spend time together, [and] eat meals together. But you still are on such a regimented schedule, that it was hard to have time for anything else. It’s pretty much practice, eat, sleep.”

Although she had already made her decision about her college plans, this experience solidified her choice further.

“Going into the national team camp, I was down to my top three: Stanford, Yale and University of Pennsylvania. Once I got to camp, I knew I wanted to go to Stanford, and… not that it swayed my decision in any way, but I met a lot of the girls who were also committed to Stanford,” Mote said. “That reassured my decision, because I loved the people I met, and I really felt connected to them. About a week into camp, I had a phone call with the coach and committed.”

Also this summer, all six of the senior varsity football captains (Blair Brennan, Teddy Sparrow, Patrick Burke, Justin McCray, Jackson Bloomfield and Drew Chairuangdej) were preparing for the season and their future in football, hopping around the country to different camps.

“I enjoyed my experience as a whole because I was able to grow and learn a lot as a football player,” Brennan said. “Getting hands-on coaching from some of the best in college football is something I will forever appreciate, but I definitely also learned that college athletics are very difficult and [requires] so much work ethic and drive from players who are trying to get recruited.”

Brennan was missing almost ev-

ery weekend at these camps or at tournaments for football, but also lacrosse, when he could have been spending them at home with his friends or traveling for something other than sports.

“Although I did miss a lot in town, I would not have made any different decision,” Brennan said. “I had so many great experiences playing this summer.”

Junior Camden Konradi took his lacrosse competition to the next level, or rather, the next continent. Through his cousin, he earned the opportunity to join in the European U21 Lacrosse Championships on the team for Latvia.

“I didn’t know any of my teammates besides my cousin who was on the team more as a coach,” Konradi said. “There was one other American on our team, the goalie, but it didn’t take too long to get to know my teammates [because] they were pretty much all funny and outgoing.”

After spending two weeks in Latvia for training, and two weeks in Dublin, Ireland for the championship, Konradi returned home.

“While I wasn’t super happy about missing my last few weeks of summer, afterwards I was so glad I chose to play because I made memories and friends that will last the rest of my life,” Konradi said. “One thing I learned from this experience was that lacrosse is growing at a much faster rate than I thought, [and] the fact that countries like Uganda and Korea had teams competing in the tournament was insane to me and made me happy to see that lacrosse is growing at such a fast rate.”

The discipline and commitment to the time spent over the summer taught these athletes different lessons before coming back to play their respective sports at home.

“I learned a lot about what I was physically capable of,” Mote said. “Again, I haven’t pushed myself to that level before and I learned how to be better because of the way we were rowing. [I learned from] the other rowers, their attitude and the way they approach everything was so inspiring. I think it’s something I’m trying to bring back to ESD crew and bring that level of discipline and maturity to practice every day.”

Taking on the Trails Mountain biker Brayden Girata rides into the school year with excitement

QA

I

nterview by Elliot Lovitt Copy Editor

Why did you choose to do mountain biking?

Although I enjoy biking, the main reason I do mountain biking at ESD is the social aspect. You have a lot of time to talk to your friends while you ride, and there are some great kids doing it this year. The practices only go until 5 p.m., so you get out early in order to do schoolwork and extracurriculars. The cherry on top is the overnight trip we take at the end of the trimester. Going to Spider Mountain, which is an hour northwest of Austin, has been extremely fun because there are so many ways to bond with your friends. From tent camping to downhill trail riding, the whole weekend is something I have looked forward to since we started.

Tell me about your favorite memory of mountain biking.

Last year’s Spider Mountain trip was definitely my favorite memory of mountain biking. Slaton Strey, William Lett, Maxim Jovanovic and I all went with the coaches, and it was a great experience. I had never done the style of riding they have at Spider Mountain before last year. You ride a ski lift to the top of the mountain and then ride down, which is called downhill mountain biking. It is a pleasure to ride because you really don’t have to put much force on your bike as you go downhill. Spider Mountain also has trails with various difficulty marked like ski slopes. And even though the biking was fun, getting to know the guys I went with was even better. A successful camping trip requires everyone in the group to have a good attitude and do the right thing, and everyone did their part in making the trip memorable.

What are you looking forward to this season?

This is the first year ever that girls have joined mountain biking, which is very exciting. The program is expanding with over 15 kids and three coaches [Mike Schneider, Davis Felder and Jay Sothoron]. Mountain biking may be the biggest it has ever been [at ESD]. Having so many people makes the social aspect of mountain biking even better. This season, we are also going on weekly training rides, which are off-campus excursions to local trails. Although riding around campus and the neighborhood is fun, everyone always looks forward to the trail rides because they really push your limits and put what you’ve learned to the test. Trail riding takes more skill than most people think, and it can take a while to perfect the proper techniques you need to ride on them smoothly.

S tory by Callie Hawkins Sports Editor

Stadium restrictions change sports dynamics

Fall sports are affected by administration’s efforts to ensure that school is a good neighbor

S tory by Phoebe McMillan Staff Writer

ESD is located in the center of a neighborhood, which is something the community tries to take into consideration when it comes to loud events like dances and sports. These loud events could cause disruption to neighbors around us. In the past few years, the school has received several complaints from families living around ESD relating to the loud music, PA system, and bright lights coming from the stadium. This year, the school has added new policies to show that they hear the complaints of our neighbors and that we are making an effort to be more considerate to them.

As the year kicks off to a start, so do fall sports which are what these new conditions affect the most. Some of these restrictions include morning practices being pushed back to 6:45, the PA system only being used Thursdays to Saturdays, and music being played solely for varsity games. These restrictions have affected sports like field hockey and football more than others because they lack the option of practicing inside on a hot day and often turn to holding practices in the mornings. Athletes across the board are con-

fused about the reasoning behind so many sudden changes to their team dynamics.

“I think everyone on the team is confused why all these rules were thrown on us at once,” Sophomore and JV field hockey player Abby Wooley said. “We used to get most of our practicing done in the mornings, but now if it is even ever too hot or it’s raining, we can’t practice, which is a big deal considering we live in Texas, and at this time of year, the weather is up and down with heat and rain.”

“We can offer all of our current programs and be a good neighbor, these things can go hand in hand.”

Ruth Burke Associate Head of School

However, what some athletes don’t know is that the restrictions on the stadium and PA system aren’t only put in place by the school but are also required by Dallas in regard to the zoning ordinance policies. Since the school is located in a residential area, ESD already has numerous restraints put in place by the city in order to limit disturbances and complaints in the neighborhood.

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“Having the stadium use conditions as part of our zoning ordinance makes the school accountable in using the stadium in ways that won’t cause undue nuisance to our neighbors,” Associate Head of School Ruth Burke said, “The new conditions affirm that ESD acknowledges that our campus exists in the middle of a residential area and that we are sensitive to the fact that the activity on our campus does impact the daily lives of those who live nearby. ESD wants to be a good neighbor, and abiding by these new conditions is a good way to illustrate that.”

Although these restraints can be frustrating, they aren’t in any attempt to infringe on the flow of our team sports. Being a good neighbor to those around the school and keeping our sports dynamics the same can work alongside each other. Neither the school nor the neighborhood community has been poorly affected in a powerful way.

“Although there will be some things to get accustomed to, the conditions do not negatively impact the school’s programming,” Burke said. “We can offer all of our current programs and be a good neighbor, these things can go hand in hand.”

These new conditions have proven to have no extreme effects on our athletics program, but they have impacted the neighborhood around us. Sophomore Matthew Durante, who lives on Merrell Road directly across from ESD said that some of his neighbors have complained in the past to his family about all the noise coming from the stadium, but he also said that he hasn’t heard anything about it recently.

“The other day my parents were asking if the school made any changes because they’ve noticed that the only noise they’ve heard from the school has been on Friday during the football game-which can’t be helped,” Durante said.

ESD’s goal for these new conditions is to try to do more for the residents surrounding us than simply complying with the ordinance laws. These new restrictions are in an attempt to minimize any discomfort for those residing around the school, not the administration’s way of changing the dynamic of athletics.

VARSITY FOOTBALL

PLAYER PROFILE

A DAY IN THE LIFE | JUNIOR AUSTIN STIBBENS

-Step 1

Rise and shine

Beep. Beep. Beep. Junior Austin Stibbens rolls over to turn off his alarm clock.

4:30 a.m. — it’s time to get ready for the day. Living over an hour away from ESD, Stibbens is forced to wake up earlier and stay up later to make it work. But if getting up two hours before the sun rises means Stibbens can wear an ESD jersey on Friday nights and play under the Jones stadium lights, it’s all worth it.

-Step 2

All yoke, no joke

Stibbens drives through the dark morning to make it on time to morning football practice, or morning lift, three times a week. Stibbens is a linebacker, with an intense love for the game. “I was interested in ESD because of the football program,” Stibbens said. “But [I decided to come to ESD] because [the] education is way better than what I was dealing with [at my old school].”

-Step 3

Work hard, play hard

After the lift, Stibbens showers in the locker room and gets dressed for the day. If time allows, he eats breakfast in the dining hall and then meanders up to the junior lounge to finish homework or watch game film. For most of the student body, the first period is the beginning of the day. For Stibbens, it’s merely another hour in the long morning. Stibbens relishes Dr. Ripley’s English class, looking forward to it every day.

-Step 4

Timeout

At 12:15 p.m., a moment of pause allows Stibbens to center his mind, and prepare for the rest of the day. Daily chapel, a “class” that many of us take for granted, is one of Stibbens’ favorite parts of the day. “Chapel’s pretty cool,” Stibbens said. “Public schools don’t have anything like that, so it’s nice to take time out of your day to just take a step back and listen to Father Nate preach.”

-Step 5

Practice makes perfect

Once 4 p.m. hits, it’s time for more football. Stibbens heads to the locker room to get changed, then pops over to the trainer to get his ankle taped. Until 7 p.m, Stibbens runs through drills, practice flowing through offense, then transitioning to special teams and defense.

-Step 6

Night owl

After practice ends, Stibbens starts his commute home. On the drive home, he likes to listen to music, call his friends and family and “tries to survive [I-]75”. He gets home around 8:30 p.m. every night — after saying hello to his dogs and his family, he eats dinner, then starts his homework. “I don’t get to see my family that much anymore,” Stibbens said. “But going to ESD is worth it to me.”

S tory by Charlotte Tomlin Web Editor, P hotos by Charlotte Tomlin, Callie Hawkins and Andrew Carrie