V24 I1 - October 31, 2023

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Periods with purpose

The Student Newspaper of Greenhills School

Turning free time into acts of service

munity, but the kids who want DHRUV NALLAMOTHU ‘25 purpose of the requirements to volunManaging Editor, Online was to get kids to find teer outService is one of the fundamental pillars ways to interact with the side of of Greenhills culture. From integrating more sergreater community.” vice into classes like FRESH to creating a new With the pathway system, which allows students to focus change in requirements, school on specialized areas. This year is no different.

Friendly and the SLICE have The service department has added many new opteam have found a way an easiportunities and changed old systems to adapt to to make sure students er time make sure students are giving back in the most don’t have problems finding meaningful ways possible. finding opportunities. organiIn her 13 years as the Head of Service Last year, Friendly rezations Alyssa Friendly works to ensure Greenhills is doceived feedback from to work ing its job giving back to the community. Friendstudents that they wantwith.” ly is dedicated to creating a culture of service for ed volunteer opportunistudents that instills a sense of giving back that ties during free periods, Service Lead lasts long after they graduate. and she delivered.

Amanda Chen “My main goal is trying to find ways for “It kind of just ‘24 has high kids to give back,” Friendly said. “There’s all this came up last year,” Friendly hopes for the evidence that shows if you start volunteering at a said.

“Looknew program. She young age, you’re going to continue throughout ing back at it is most excited your life. When they start young, kids often realI don’t know about the King ize how easy it is to wrap service into their lives why we Elementary and grow haven’t School opportheir pasdone tunity. sion.” this all “I think it’s New this along. going to be really useful for year is an The students h a d underclassmen,” Chen update to been asking about if we could do serservice vice during the day, and we figured said. “Freshmen and Sophohour reout a way. Using lunch, the last class mores who can’t drive can realquirements. of the day, and C and C time, we get ly take advantage of this opportunity.

In previa really big chunk of time.”

I think it will really help ous years, Logistically, this hasn’t been Graphic by Megan Peng ‘25 incentivize kids since a lot students easy to organize. Friendly credits of the time, we don’t know could fulfill the success of the program to the Student what to do during our free periods.” service reLeaders in Civic Engagement (SLICE).

SLICE member Etienne Rouillard ‘25 quirements “It’s been a huge undertaking,” Friendly shares a similar feeling about the new program. in school said. “And I have to give all the props to He guides students through the steps to get inthrough the SLICE kids because they are the ones volved and sign up. many dif“It’s really simple,” Rouillard said. “All ferent vol- CUTTING DOWN, BUILDING UP Aarav Vash- reaching out. SLICE officers are each in a u n t e e r i n g ishta ‘26 and Nandan Narayanan ‘26 help to pathway and each pathway has set up all you have to do is sign up on the pathways doc, opportuni- cut down invasive species in the local area. “It the excursions. They have been the ones which you can find on Gryphon or in your email. ties such as was so fun to do it, especially with friends,” said emailing organizations and communicat- After that, all you have to do is sign a couple of G r y p h o n Narayan ‘26. “We were cutting down invasive spe- ing with them constantly over the summer. permission slips and show up during lunch at the cies, but it just felt like hanging out with friends.” It’s completely student-run.” designated meeting spot, and you’ll all walk toAmbassaHowever, while complicated to orga- gether.”

Photo courtesy of Alyssa Friendly dors or peer nize, there are short-term and long-term The importance of giving back to the tutoring. benefits to this new program. Friendly hopes community is widely acknowledged, with an em“It had been 10 years since we sat down that when kids utilize these occasions, they can phasis on how such activities can promote values with a group of students and created the service build that sense of service in themselves. such as compassion, responsibility, and awarehour requirements,” Friendly said. “I wanted to “Logistically it’s going to help a lot of ness. revisit them because I wanted to make sure they our kids get their service hours done,” Friendly “Just do it,” Friendly said. “If you’re on were still relevant. When I looked into them, I said. “Since they are all off campus, all these the fence, just do it. There is truly nothing better realized that there are a lot of opportunities for outings are counted for the requirement. Anoth- than that feeling of giving back, and I can’t wait kids to get involved within the school. Of course, er benefit is that since it is all local, we’re build- to see all the amazing things we accomplish this I want kids to continue to stay active in our coming relationships with these organizations so that year.”

Middle school welcomes new head

LAUREN YE ‘26 School Staff Walking into the familiar halls of Greenhills, one rounds the green carpeted landscape of the all-school forum, and in the glass office off the northwest corner of the space a new face greets students. There, Mayra Diaz, the new head of middle school, works to improve her division and its learning environment by engaging students and changing the framework of their day-to-day life.

Diaz comes from Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C, where she worked for 23 years before her new role in the middle school. She says this experience was one that contributed to her coming to the school.

“I had a really wonderful mentor who had an approach to teaching that was about teachers supporting one another in the interest of elevating students’ work,” Diaz said. “To me, that style of leadership and teaching was motivating and drew me toward Greenhills.”

Throughout the first few weeks of school, Diaz has been working on settling into her new role and finding a balance between her different responsibilities.

“Part of what I love about this job is that you are in a sense a jack of all trades, you are on the ground if you need to be, if you need to cover a class or a C&C,” Diaz said. “In my role, there are also a lot of meetings, whether it’s with parents, students, or faculty.”

Part of Diaz’s approach to being an administrator is doing hands-on work with students to foster a better understanding of their needs and challenges to ultimately create a more supportive learning environment.

“I also have the room to visit classes, so I’ve been doing a lot of classroom visits just to get to know the students, and what they’re learning,” Diaz said. “Mrs. [Bridget] Maldona-

enjoyable parts of her job are when she is able to be with students and interact with them.

“Sometimes I cover lunch duty,” Diaz said. “It has been great teaching middle school students to have a routine at the end of lunch and taking care of the space and taking care of the community. It’s establishing a sense of community and respect.”

In the time she has been at the school, Diaz has made a personal impact on the students.

Her values of community and respect are shown through her interactions with the middle school students.

“I’ve talked to her a few times.” Roshan Malani ‘29 said. “She’s nice, she’s kind, and she cares about the students. She wants it to be a safe and caring community for everybody.”

Diaz is focused on ensuring the happiness and prosperity of the middle schoolers through all aspects of their life.

“She is working to improve the middle school experience and make sure that each middle schooler is thriving at Greenhills,” Maldonado said.

do and I were talking about shadowing a student to get a sense of what it’s like to be a middle school student at Greenhills.”

Maldonado, in her role as the Middle School Dean of Students, is one of the many people that works closely with Diaz. As they have settled into the new school year, the first few weeks have been focused on finding their footing and a system that works for the middle school.

“It’s been really great having her as a partner,” Maldonado said. “The work that we do is largely around the structure and focus of the middle school. We’re looking at the middle school experience academically, socially, and through their extracurriculars and athletics.”

One of their big projects has been reworking the C&C time at the end of the day.

They have been working on making it a useful time for both students and teachers and while it’s still a work in progress, they have already made big changes to the C&C structure.

“Students now fill out a weekly survey to choose where they want to spend their C&C time.” Diaz said.

“It gives them more variety and independence. They are able to self guide themselves in their decisions and allows them to learn how to manage their time.”

Diaz has also infused her personality into her work, bringing a new layer of creativity and excitement to every project she takes on.

“We have the middle school party coming up,” Maldonado said.

“Ms. Diaz is very into themes and decorations, so she’s really taking on the decorating and theme part of the middle school party.”

PARTY PLANNING Mayra Diaz leads a middle school Gryphon Council Diaz says that some of the most meeting for the middle school party. “My favorite part of the day is when I get to interact with students,” Diaz said.

Photo by Lauren Ye ‘26

Volume 24, Issue 1

Marking periods end, semesters remain Goal to reduce student stress

ARYA PRAHBAKER ‘26 School Staff Greenhills has decided to move away from the traditional format of marking periods to a semester based system beginning this school year. Most students have only known marking periods while at Greenhills. With a new change in the academic system, the school hopes to decrease students’ stress levels.

Deano Smith, worked previously as the dean of academics. Both the faculty and their respective departments have worked over the past years to address the schools grading and policies to ensure students learn to their best abilities.

“Our goal is to make sure students learn as in depth as possible and to make sure that their experience in our school is enjoyable,” Smith said. “One of the main concerns of faculty members were that students were feeling locked in. The first marking period is normally spent helping students to adapt to their new environment and by the time it ends you only have a couple of assignments leaving no room for improvement.”

For years teachers have always said that marking period grades are just check in grades students should not feel paranoid, yet the anxiety levels are still high. Alexandra Dasilva ‘26 shares her feelings on the shift to semesters.

“In the beginning of last year I had a lot of trouble adjusting to classes and how teachers graded,” Dasilva said. “Immediately after the first couple weeks we would have a marking period report and it was such a stressful time for me.”

With marking periods gone, Dasiliva feels as if she has more freedom to learn.

“Now I have time to adapt to school properly without receiving a grade set in paper,” Dasilva said. “This allows me to not feel as stressed on grades as the school year starts and more focused on how to learn.”

Adjusting to school is difficult for everyone. School Counselor Heidi Butz anticipates a change in the overall well being of students during this transition.

“Students’ wellbeing was absolutely considered and we support these changes primarily because with this new system there is a longer runway for improvement and academic growth,” Butz said.

With a new system in place, the school hopes to reduce the stress students feel and make adjusting to classes an easier process.

“We hope the worry that students have about the implications of each individual assessment will be reduced,” Butz said.

Without marking periods the school hopes students will develop a new mindset of improvement and make adjusting to classes an easier process.

“Previously, marking periods resulted in students having a fixed mindset. They were more likely to give up if they were not getting the grade they wished for,” Butz said. “This longer period of time fosters more of a growth mindset for learning and improving.”

While some students believe this change is for the best, others disagree.

“The problem with having no marking periods is that some teachers don’t update grades in Gryphon,” Manya Tijoriwala ‘26 said. “If some teachers aren’t updating grades, I won’t be able to see where I am in the class.”

While students will no longer have report cards for their grades, they will still receive feedback from teachers.

“Although grades will not be available, we believe it is still important for students to receive feedback from their teachers through comments and parent teacher conferences,” Smith said. “This way students will understand there is always a next step and a chance to improve.”

The removal of marking periods allows teachers to expand on topics and not rush through them.

“One of the unique things about Greenhills is that teachers teach to their subject area and to their passions,” Smith said. “With semesters teachers have more flexibility to teach differently and by removing that artificial barrier of marking period one, and giving the full semesters students and teachers we allow for a better way of learning.”

PAGE 2

OCT. 31, 2023

If you build it they will come

Fielding a football team would be easier than most might think Greenhills has been without a staple of the normal high school experience for the entirety of its 56 year history; a football team. The argument as for why is confusing, as it seems to be a combination of different things like the cost of the sport, lack of student interest, or even not having enough students to field a team. Despite this, there are many other schools in similar situations to Greenhills who are able to field football teams, and successful teams at that.

The editorial board wanted to make sure we had a spread of data by looking at schools that are bigger, smaller, more expensive, less expensive, and in different cities, to look at the demographics that “prevent” us from having a football team.

Football is a very expensive sport. Yes, getting a football team started would cost a lot of money, however, according to CNBC and Daily Journal, high school football is a massive money maker for schools. The Daily Journal breaks down that it costs roughly $900 per player, roughly equalling $25,000 for equipment, a one time cost. Big numbers, high numbers, and “too much money” is what a lot of people would say. However, the average team rakes in around $3,000 to $15,000 per home game from ticket sales and concessions. Meaning that a school would make back the money in 2-9 games which is very affordable. According to CNBC, most high school football teams can sustain themselves after a year or two simply from money intake at home games, meaning Greenhills would not have to spend tens of thousands of dollars per year on the team.

An example of this is Jackson Lumen Christi, as they have

72 students fewer than Greenhills and have nearly half the tuition cost. They have had a football team for decades, making it to 15 state championships and winning 12 times, an MHSAA record. We could do the same if we do the right things regarding student interest and population.

Student interest is one of the biggest reasons behind not having a football team. This is actually a lot more simple than it might seem. Why would we have students who are interested in football come here to a school that doesn’t offer football? Many people say that even if we tried to field a team, not enough people from the current population would be interested. This, we argue, completely misses the point. According to a poll of upper school students, a major 45 percent of the student body said they would want or would participate on a football team if Greenhills offered one. If we begin offering football, people who are interested in

football will play, and more will come. Jackson Lumen Christi and University Liggett both have teams with smaller student populations and have teams because they advertise football. Greenhills could join them in football if the athletic department advertises plans for a team before adding one in order to draw football players to the school.

If football were suddenly offered here at the beginning of the school year, it is clear that a football team would just not work. There are no football players at Greenhills, and not enough interest to form a team. In the future, though, this is a possibility.

The athletic department just needs to draw players to the school, so by saying that we will have a team at some point and getting the word out to prospective students, people interested in playing football will see Greenhills on the map. Once enough players fill the halls, a team could finally be fielded, and football could have a place here.

The future is impossible to predict, which would be a good reason for being hesitant to take action around a football team. The schools in our area that field teams, thought, are proof of a process that works, and one that could work for Greenhills. They all support football teams even though they make less money from tuition and have less students. If anyone wants a good look at how a football team could fit here, just look at all of the schools who are nearly the same as Greenhills and see the success that they have had.

The donkey and the gryphon

Greenhills’ political uniformity and how to diversify it THOMAS STOFFEL ‘25 Growing up in Ann Arbor, I was always really introduced to the typical political ideals of a college town, that being all views very liberal. So liberal to the point where from 6th grade to 9th grade I considered myself a communist. In the summer of 8th grade I went to a Climate Change summit in Boston with people from many different backgrounds with lecturers from around the country, outside of my bubble. The political discourse and differences of opinion allowed me to really s e e t h e ideas that I supported challenged in a way I had never really thought about in the Ann Arbor liberal bubble. This caused me to really think about what I personally believe in and I believe changed me for the better. To me, I worry that without the political discourse that represents a true microcosm of the United States, the energy of the political echo chamber of Greenhills, with the same ideas being bounced off each other, could end in radicalism fairly quickly.

It’s no secret that Greenhills is a liberal-minded school. It’s in a college town and Greenhills’offers classes like Health, in the 9th grade, which talks about sexuality as well as safe sex practices. In today’s post Roe v. Wade world, teaching about these things in school is very controversial in places, often the outcome of choosing to teach or not teach the subjects puts you firmly on the side of liberal or conservative.

Greenhills’ decision to allow discussion of these topics could paint it in a more liberal light.

While Greenhills does a generally good job of making the school a politically open space with programs like Politics Club

that endorses all political views, the overall political atmosphere of Greenhills is very one sided and uniform. As a result of this, History and English classes, where politics are more likely to come up, generally start to sound like liberal viewpoint discussion sections, alienating some students who maybe have more conservative views.

Political discourse and disagreement is a good thing to challenge your ideas or strengthen your own by looking at it from a different perspective and this just does not happen in classes like these. To fix this I aim for more diversity in Greenhills. Not diversity in the traditional sense but diversity as in hiring more teachers from diverse backgrounds across the country and introducing students to ideas in other parts of the country, liberal or conservative. For example, a teacher from Florida while teaching a class like American Literature while discussing a book on activism, might share how activism looks different where they grew up in contrast to in the Ann Arbor bubble. In this approach, no person is alienated and students get to see two sides of the same coin.

Again, Ann Arbor is a very liberal city fostering a student atmosphere closely aligned with progressiveism. To diversify our student body, the admissions office could increase enrollment efforts outside of the main Ann Arbor area, reaching out to more politically diverse regions around Ann Arbor for enrollment.

Marcus Aurelius, the famous Roman emperor, once said, “Cast off your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”

Like Aurelius, we must cast off our pride and hear out other sides and different perspectives to become more politically informed.

Courtesy of En-Lih Wang ‘24

Humanities vs. STEM

The worrying inequalities between the humanities and STEM at Greenhills THOMAS STOFFEL ‘25 To make a society, we must know “how” we work, that being STEM, but we also must know “why” we work that being the humanities. At Greenhills, it seems more emphasis is placed the “why” than the “how.

This is the handicap of Greenhills, people wanting to do more humanities are forced to look at other options looking at dual enrollment to take AP European history or taking AP World History online which we know from the Pandemic can be horrendous. Myself and many others have these grievances and hardships but STEM kids have no such grievances, any class they could want to take Greenhills offers.

The math department has more than double the employees as the history department as well as half the APs available and for people like me aiming for a humanities field, this is a major setback for courses I want to take.

When I decided to go into a humanities field after high school, I wanted to take advanced classes to cater to my interests such as AP World History, AP European History, and AP

Comparitive Government. Going in, I assumed greenhills would have at least one of these due to the fact that the STEM department has advanced whole year classes for each math level and science level. The only thing that comes close to that level of choice in the Humanities department was APUSH and Advanced Gov which is only 1 semester.

And while I understand the reasoning for having more representation in STEM fields due to the increased opportunity, school is supposed to take a student’s interest and foster it so they can follow their interests, having little advanced classes in a certain subject can really hinder that fascination and make career choices in that field a lot harder.

I believe that increased faculty for the humanities to teach more advanced humanities classes would greatly benefit and foster the Greenhills community. Not only would students have greater opportunities for classes in the humanities to foster their interests, it would also create way more mentors and advisors for kids who want to go into the humanities.

With Greenhills having such a high emphasis on community, there is a sense of each individual departments feel like you personally are apart of them when you take an advanced class due to the amazing teachers here and small class sizes. The problem with this though is like I said earlier, there are more teachers in certain departments than others, creating a more through, supported, and fleshed out community rather than one humanities teacher teaching 5 classes.The best parts of these departments is you build a personal relationships with teachers and you grow inspired and its simply harder to do that with limited humanities and arts.

In this day and age where much of our lives are determined by government and history, it is imperative that as much emphasis is placed on the arts and humanities as STEM. It’s important to know where we came from and how to look at things from different angles, find different angles, not just mathematically. As the old saying goes,“Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”.

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor, Print Managing Editor, Online Art and Design Editor School Editor School Staff School Staff School Staff Opinion Editor Lifestyles Editor Lifestyles Staff Lifestyles Staff Lifestyles Staff Sports Editor Sports Staff Sports Staff Sports Staff Advisor

Anjan Singer ‘24 Eva Bernstein ‘25 Dhruv Nallamothu ‘25 Megan Peng ‘25 Izzy Baru ‘25 Mira Jayaraman ‘26 Arya Prabhakar ‘26 Lauren Ye ‘26 Thomas Stoffel ‘25 Bella Young ‘24 Ella Song ‘25 Aoife Tang ‘26 Natalie Hong ‘27 Dom Schuster’24 Matthew Streicher ‘24 Megan Peng ‘25 Neha Narayanan ‘26 John Lund

Alcove is a newspaper written by students, for the students of Greenhills School. All opinions, views, and statements reflect those of the students working on Alcove and not necessarily the faculty and staff of Greenhills. Alcove is written to inform, encourage, and expand upon the curiosity of the students that Greenhills strives to cultivate. Providing a forum for students to express their individuality, the Alcove reminds you to always read the pine print.

PAGE 3

OCT 31, 2023

“Who’s that?”: New faculty join school community

Amy Bokser English

Jill Dixon Athletics & Wellness

Greg Hafer English

Jim Kuhn Math

What’s your favorite hobby?

“I really like to write, specifically fiction. I recently published a second story in Cricket Magazine called Wings. My first story was called The Kind of Girl Donuts Talk To.”

What’s the difference between coaching college vs. coaching high school?

“There are a couple of main differences in terms of operations. But the biggest thing that I had to adjust to is the ways I communicate with both the players and the parents. The college-level players are responsible in different ways for their own schedule and getting into practice, whereas a lot of the players here are relying on either other players to give them rides or parents to pick them up or drop them off. So definitely adjusting to that communication of different parties involved. Also in high school, you’re more inherent to the players that are here, whereas in college, you’re actively recruiting players to come fit my program. Outside of that, my approach to coaching is pretty similar.”

What do you think is the biggest difference between teaching in America and teaching in China?

“The academic rigor is much more intense in China. Students are taking classes, studying in the evening, they’re going to cram schools over the weekend, and it’s very much focused on those standardized outcomes. In the U.S., we focus on the whole student, at least at Greenhills, so that was a big difference.”

What’s a fun fact about you?

“I actually just retired from the same high school that Mr. Madden graduated from. So he graduated in 2016, and I was working there as a teacher.

I did not have Mr. Madden as a student though.

It was a big public school. But it’s just a funny coincidence how we came from the exact same place, and now we’re both new teachers here.”

If you were a character in a movie, what actor or actress would you want to play your role and why?

“I’ve actually thought about this question before. I would want Ally Sheedy, from the Breakfast Club, to play me, even though she’s older than me. ” What’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?

“Mexico City is one of my favorite places that I’ve traveled to because it has everything: restaurants, art, interesting people, street art, street food, and axolotls.”

What’s a favorite place you’ve traveled to?

“I’ve been abroad to a few places. I studied abroad in college, and so my favorite was when I went to India. It was totally different from anything I’ve experienced. Before I was a math and biology major as an undergrad, so when I went to study abroad in India, it was a history of math course, and it was really cool to see the old mathematics. I studied at the University of Delhi. For a culturally immersive experience, that was probably the coolest trip I’ve ever taken.”

If you had unlimited money, what would you put in your classroom?

“I would put really nice leather couches for all of the students with beautifully crafted mahogany lapboards and velveteen cushions underneath for students to put their things on, instead of tables and plastic chairs.”

Brady Washington History & Social Sciences

Dylan Madden History & Social Sciences What’s an interesting place you’ve been to?

“I studied abroad in Nepal, and I spent five months there in 2019, and I learned Nepalese, lived with a family in a rural village. For the first few weeks, I could only say vegetable in Nepalese. I walked an hour to school every day, planted rice, harvested potatoes and corn, things like that. We hiked up into the Annapurna Himalayan Range and climbed a couple of mountains. That was my time abroad in Nepal.”

Do you have any crazy stories?

“I did two trips up Mount Kilimanjaro, and I distinctively remember on the first trip, I had given up a lot of my water. So we started climbing. As we’re climbing, I start to get really tired. We get close to the top, and I was super tired, I had given away my gloves to a student, and they start handing out coffee. So I deliberately poured scalding hot coffee on my hands to keep me awake and to keep my hands warm. And that was just part of my climb up Mount Kilimanjaro.”

Taylor Parker Athletics What is a fun fact about you?

“I played college basketball. I played two years at Kent State University and two years at Glenville State College. I also coached basketball at Salem University. Now, I coach varsity girls basketball here.”

What’s a favorite place that you’ve traveled to?

My favorite place that I’ve traveled to would have to be Costa Rica. I went with my family a few years ago. They just have really good food, and all of the people are really nice. It’s a beautiful place.”

What is an interesting hobby you have?

“My dad and I are in the process of restoring a 1983 Mustang that we’ve been working on for quite some time together, he’s got a pretty cool setup in his garage. Over the winter, we’re supposed to put all the suspension on and things like that, so that’s something I do. A lot of my uncles and my dad’s friends all worked in the auto industry and they were all very handy, so when I was growing up, my dad always taught me how to do things to the car myself, and it was something I always really enjoyed.”

What’s a memorable job you had?

“After I graduated high school, I didn’t want to go to college, so I worked in construction. I tore my labral in my shoulder while snowboarding, and by the time I got surgery, I no longer had my construction job. So my dad got me a job at the steel mill where he worked, and I worked midnight shifts for an entire year. And that was the most miserable thing I had ever experienced, it was hot, it was disgusting, and I hated it. After that, I was like, I’m gonna go to college.”

If you could travel to any era in history, where would you go?

“Probably the roaring twenties. I feel like that was a fun time to be alive. There was so much going on, and people were having a good time.

Big cities were evolving and industrialization was coming about. Like New York City was really exciting. I think it would be fun to be in Manhattan, in a road house in the roaring twenties.”

Jacqueline Wisor History & Social Sciences What are some of your favorite hobbies?

“I like running, I ran cross country and track in high school and ran a couple of marathons in college and have kind of kept it up from there.

Cooking, I do it all the time, it’s very relaxing, I make homemade bread, I make everyone I know a cake for their birthday. ” What is your favorite place you’ve been to and why?

“My favorite place is Germany because I used to be bilingual. I went there when I was 16 and stayed with a host family and then I went back and studied abroad in college. It was the first place I went where I could immerse myself in the culture because I spoke the language and I’m still in touch with my host family there, and it’s just a beautiful country.”

Briefs compiled by Lauren Ye ‘26, Aoife Tang ‘26

“If I had a million dollars…”

In a hypothetical world where money is no object, StuCo grade representatives dream big NATALIE HONG ‘27 Lifestyles Staff Back in September when grade representatives were elected, they were all required to make a speech regarding what they would contribute to the school and what their visions were.

But, if they were to revise their ideas given new parameters: no boundaries and unlimited money, their goals might change.

Keating Holland ‘27, a ninth-grade representative, said he would love to see MacBooks provided for all students and an overall expansion of the school, preferably doubling the grade sizes. He would definitely like to expand the parking lot, which would make space for quicker drop-off and pick-up lines, as well as eliminate the morning rush of upperclassmen racing for a good parking spot. Larger lockers and cubbies would be on Holland’s agenda, as well as solar panels to improve the school’s energy efficiency. As for the PlumSmart lunches, Holland has an upgrade in mind.

“I know it sounds bad, but I’d like to have dessert for lunch. I think that there’s definitely enough money to do that,” Holland said.

Although maybe not the healthiest, a dessert option would surely be an upgrade enjoyed by many students.

Jonah Kaplan ‘26, a sophomore representative also has a few improvements in mind.

“I would definitely expand the sports department to help with student involvement in a sport, make the student section bigger, and help with practice facilities,” Kaplan said. He would also like to make Spirit Week a bigger event, including taking some activities off campus. Also off-campus, Kaplan thinks that holding dances at venues would be much preferable to continuing to hold them at the school. Kaplan also thinks that students would appreciate a bigger food selection at dances. Regarding assemblies and grade meetings, Kaplan has some ideas.

“I think assemblies I could make more fun if we had some funding to like I said, go off campus or have different games during assemblies and grade meetings,” Kaplan said.

Sara Raoufi ‘25, a junior grade representative has a lot of improvements to the school on her list.

“If money was not an issue, I think my top priority would be to fix the roof that they are always working on and to stop the leaking, a bigger theater that everyo n e can sit in, an indoor pool, a parking garage, and more art studios,” said Raofi.

She thinks that another good improvement to the school would be more single-stall bathrooms. As a lover of books, Raoufi thinks that a futuristic update to the library would be a good idea.

“I want a digital library like when you walk in and there’s an iPad, but there would be multiple and then you find a book on it, and a section lights up,” Raoufi said. Lastly, a school vending machine would 100 percent make the cut if it was up to her.

Amanda Chen ‘24, a senior grade representative has similar upgrades in mind. Like both Holland and Raoufi, Chen says she would “first make the parking lots bigger.” Similar to Kaplan, she thinks that both Spirit Week and

sports game attendance could use some help.

“I would help buy decorations for spirit week because I feel like a lot of people go out and buy their own decorations for spirit week and then it’s like why are we having people spend money decorating the forums,” Chen said.

Buying fan section merch to get people out to

sports games more was her plan of how to up student attendance. Lastly, Chen thinks that a t-shirt gun is an essential upgrade to the school.

“A t-shirt gun would be so cool and definitely get fans out to sports games. I don’t know about you, but I’d be cool with free Greenhills merch.”

Graphics by Megan Peng ‘25

PAGE 4

OCT. 31, 2023

Halloween movies return

PAGE 5

Students craft Halloween costumes

Students, teachers recall favorite spooky films

Violet Weizer ‘25 - Hereditary “I first watched this movie in July at summer camp in the middle of the night, between 12 and 3 a.m., which adds to the effect. It’s very spiritually focused, which freaks me out. I never used to be scared of ghosts or spirits before, but now when I’m walking at night, this is the movie I think about.”

OCT. 31, 2023

Navya Ashok ‘24 - Coraline “I used to watch Coraline as a kid, I watched Coraline for the first time with 2 of my friends and I remember us getting really freaked out and we couldn’t sleep that night. So this movie brings back all the memories and nostalgia.”

Henry Beck ‘26 - Scream “Scream has been such a big part of my childhood, I’ve watched it countless times. I tremble and I quake when I watch these kinds of horror movies because it’s really scary. But it’s good because I love horror movies.”

ARYA PRABHAKAR ‘26 ed up with an all green lizard outfit with glow and dark ally big pink boots since pink is my favorite color and School Staff hot glue on the front that said ‘mean green lizard but with Blossom’s I wore a really cute skirt with Mary

With Halloween here, students are ready to not scary’.”

Janes to show my style.” show off their crafty and spooky sides. While store- This year, however, Norton will be taking her While designing your own costume can be bought costumes are always an option, some students imagination to a new level by combining some of her fun, there are challenges that come along with this prochoose to embrace their creinterests. cess. ativity and make their own cos “This year I’m “When I started DIY costumes, I faced some tumes. Jump into the world of going be a mathematician Bar- challenges,” Cunningham said. “Since I had never do-it-yourself (DIY) costumes, bie,” Norton said. “There has done DIY costumes before, I would have an idea but where imagination knows no not been a mathematician Bar- wasn’t sure if I was capable of bringing it to life”. bounds, and the possibilities bie made, so by incorporating Students don’t only use their DIY costumes are as limitless as your crem y for Halloween. Amanee Singh ativity. Discover how DIY inter‘24 does DIY costumes not costumes not only save money est in only for her personal experibut also offer a one of a kind math I ence but also for her business. way to express personality and will be

“During Hallowstand out from the crowd. able to een I get a lot of sales by mak Ruth Norton ‘25 crecreate ing things like fruit hats that ated her own costume last year. a new people can use for costumes.

She had decided to be Nancy v e r I crochet all my costumes, and Morgan Hart, a historical figsion of it only takes a couple of hours ure who was a spy and pioneer.

Barbie to learn,” Singh said. “Using Norton created her costume as my DIY I can cater the costume to using materials found in her c o s my interests and save money. house and craft stores. tume.

This can be really fun to learn

“I looked at the clothes Vic on days where you have nothI already had and picked out STITCHING DREAMS INTO REALITY Ruth Norton ‘26 C u n ing to do and it is quite easy to an outfit from that, but it was sews her new Halloween costume, “I mainly create my n i n g learn.” missing the skirt I had in mind,” costumes using fabric,” Norton said. “But there are oth- ham ‘24

Deeksha Sriram Norton said. “I decided to cre- er forms of DIY. It’s a chance to use your creativity and recently ‘26 created costumes in the ate one from scratch so I went imagination to create something of your own making.” s t a r t e d past and plans to return to DIY to Joann’s where I found a plain brown fabric.” creating DIY costumes, this FROM FABRIC TO A WORK OF ART Vic Cunningham when she has the time.

Every year Norton picks out a math themed year she added a twist to her ‘24 shows off her DIY Dracula costume from last year. “I “I enjoyed creatcostume and now it has become a tradition. She always individual costume. feel less pressure from going out to buy a costume be- ing my costumes, after seeing finds a way to let her costume express herself.

“Last year I made my cause that can be very expensive,” Cunningham said. DIY costumes last year I feel

“I’ve been doing DIY since I was very little, own Dracula costume and the “I can just make what I want at home, with no limita- like it would be fun to create it’s always been a hobby of mine. I enjoy learning how year before that I was Orange tions so I can be anything once I know how to make it.” one again because of my into sew and use new crafting skills,” Norton said. “Hal- Blossom, a Strawberry Shortterests,” Sriram said. “I’ve alloween is sort of the only time of year I get to do it, and cake character,” Cunningham said. “This year, howev- ways loved arts and crafts and when I was younger I it’s nice. I feel like it’s a chance to incorporate my own er, it all depends on what my sixth-grade buddy wants really wanted to be an architeque. Even though that’s interests such as math, and the idea of zero waste.” to do since we are going to make costumes together.” not my goal anymore, I still really enjoy graphic de Though Norton has been making costumes for Each year Cunningham likes to alter the cos- sign, fashion and other forms of visual art. I think the years, her favorite costume was when she was around tume from a traditional style to make it more unique. best idea is to just go for it and to be yourself because four years old.

“All my costumes have my own style to costumes are a form of self expression by making

“I wanted to be a lizard,” Norton said. “I end- them,” Cunningham said. “With Draculaura I wore re- something that represents you and your personality.”

Guess the teacher in the Halloween throwback photo

A.

B.

D. C.

F.

Sour Patch, Twix voted students’ favorite Halloween candies E. Meera Tewari ‘25 - Casper “In 6th grade, I watched Casper, the ghost movie. I remember watching this movie and at first thinking it was a cartoon and would be an easy watch, but I ended up getting really scared by it. I then decided to not watch scary movies ever again.”

English Teacher Greg Hafer - Dracula “When I was very little my dad took me to see Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and instead of scaring me for life, it made me want to watch more horror movies and read more horror literature, and become an English teacher. I would love to teach a Gothic Literature Horror senior seminar.”

Where the wild things are

Mickey Drozdowski ‘27 - Scream VI “All the Scream movies have a reoccuring trope of don’t trust everyone you meet online and also that anyone can be a killer. I was moved by it because they broke the sexism trope and made a both guy and a girl a killer which basically no horror movies do.”

Briefs compiled by Ella Song ‘25, images courtesy of Google

Burns Park, Ann Arbor Hills, Main Street among popular trick-or-treating spots

Photo courtesy of Ava Englesbe ‘24

H.

Poll conducted by Izzy Baru ‘25, graphic by Megan Peng ‘25

Trunk-to-trunk trick-or-treating ELLA SONG ‘25 Lifestyles Staff

As the leaves start to fall, the temperature starts to drop, and the days shorten, communities start to welcome back a long-awaited tradition: Trunk-orTreating. This event is known differently to each person. Some people know it as Halloween tailgating, Car-to-Candy, and more.

“It’s a bunch of cars in a parking lot, and they all have a theme,” said Madeline Baker ‘27.“They give out candy from their trunks to the kids that walk around. It’s really fun, especially when you get to do it with friends, and it’s really cool to see each car’s theme.”

Trunk-or-treating is fun when it’s just a bonding experience for you and your friends, but some people substitute trick-or-treating for trunk-or-treating completely, for numerous reasons.

“The first, and maybe only time that I took my kids trunk or treating, was because the school that they were going to was directly across the street,” said Design teacher Tim Wilson. “We were in a big city, so we were able to go to the school and walk around the parking lot. It was just so much safer than walking around the neighborhoods because we just don’t know the areas very well, it might not be safe, and it just would have made it more difficult.”

Sometimes, your location makes it feel unsafe to go trick or treating, like in Wilson’s case. But for some, it’s not just the danger of the location.

“In my neighborhood last year, we did trunk or treating because all the houses were really far apart, so everyone lined up their cars, and the kids would go from car to car,” Leah Stephany ‘26 said.

“I live in the middle of the woods, so it was just harder for the kids to walk around and get to each house. I handed out candy to the kids, and I enjoyed trunk or

treating because you got to interact with the kids more because they were in your trunks. I think our neighborhood bonded more from this experience.”

For Stephany and many others, trunk-or-treating is a way to connect to your peers in a creative, collaborative, and community-bonding way. But

for others, it might not capture the same feeling that good old-fash-

ioned trick-or-treating gives off.

“My kids enjoyed trunk-or-treating a lot, but I don’t think they enjoyed it as much as trick-or-treating,” Wilson said. “They probably got more candy, but I think what they like about going to neighborhoods is that people put on big shows in their yard, so it’s more of an experience. I think if there were more activities, it would be more fun and memorable. I do remember they did trunk-or-treating at my last school; we never went to it, but they had more stuff like a haunted house, that kind of thing.”

It’s important to remember that the location is a huge aspect of the experience as well because each place runs their event differently.The type of relationship you have to the organizers or place matters.

“My first time trunk-or-treating was at my pre-school, Tutor Time” Vic Cunningham ‘24 said. “I think the location impacted the trunk-or-treating, mainly because it was a school, and it was exciting to be able to go around the school doing something fun as opposed to learning”.

There are a fair amount of places to go trunk-or-treating in Michigan as well; some require a drive that’s a little farther, but many people find it worth the trip..

Some places are “Trunk-or-Treat” at Fisherman’s Net Christian Church, “2023 Trunk or Treat” at Faith Baptist Church, and so many more.

Most people, similar to trick or treating, stop trunk or treating at a certain age. But the memories are forever remembered and recalled upon each Halloween.

“When I was in Pre-K, I dressed up as a fairy with pink little wings,” Cunningham said. “We did some festivities before, while the parents set up their cars, then we went out and I was walking with my cousin and I got so much candy. It was amazing.”

Graphic by Megan Peng ‘25

G.

I.

J.

I. J.

Graphics by Megan Peng ‘25

Photos compiled by Eva Bernstein ‘25 and Dhruv Nallamothu ‘25

Answers: A. Eric Gajar B. Katie Kukulski C. Scott Benke D. Laurin Wolf E. John Lund F. Dylan Madden G. Lily Kadets H. Alyssa Friendly (on the left) I. Susan Beamish J. Brandon Groff

BELLA YOUNG ‘25 decorations scaring us is so fun. I never nesses and stores on the street give out Lifestyles Editor know what to expect each year, and that’s candy during the day. Manuel Garcia ‘27

With Halloween here, adults the best part.” has younger siblings he likes to take to and kids alike are on the hunt for the Adjacent to Burns Park is Ann this event. ultimate trick-or-treating spots. Finding Arbor Hills, another coveted location for “My siblings get scared of Halwhich neighborhoods have the biggest trick-or-treaters. The houses are more loween decorations at night, so this street candy bars and the best decorations takes spread apart, but neighbors come togeth- allows them to get the trick-or-treating experience, and some people have just er to create a warm and inviting environ- experience without getting frightened by the right intel. scary ghosts,” Garcia said. “It is

By far the most also safer for them during the day popular spot amongst stubecause if they run off at night, dents to trick-or-treat, Burns it would be difficult to find them.

Park, has a storybook charm I highly recommend Main Street during Halloween. The to teachers with young children neighborhood’s well-kept or students with young siblings.” gardens and welcoming

In another part of porches make it a prime spot town, the Old West Side neighfor people seeking a friendborhood is a treasure trove for ly and enticing experience. trick-or-treaters. The beautifulIsaac Hess ‘24, a long-time ly preserved historic homes and resident of this area, claims tree-lined streets offer a picturthere is no better place to esque backdrop for an enchanting trick-or-treat.

Halloween experience.

“The energy of the

“The decorations for neighborhood is so nostal- KNOCK, KNOCK! Ava Englesbe ‘24 prepares to trick-or-treat with the houses are always so elabgic,” Hess said. “I have a lot her sister, Mia Englesbe ‘22, in Ann Arbor Hills during the early 2010s. orate,” Mia Melendez ‘25 said. of friends who live near this “We had just moved into this neighborhood,” Englesbe said. “It was “When you put giant spider webs area, so it is always easy to our first time trick-or-treating there, and everyone was so welcoming.” and skeletons on the front lawn hang out with them during Halloween. ment. Adults mingle on driveways while of ancient houses, it adds to the spooky All the houses give so much candy that their kids cut through backyards to get as atmosphere. It is also really close to our bags would overflow with king-sized much candy as possible.

Washtenaw Dairy, so my friends and I alcandy bars well before it was dark.”

“This neighborhood has the nic- ways get Halloween donuts after getting

Granger Avenue, a street in est families and prettiest autumn trees, candy.”

Burns Park, has an exceptionally high creating a lively and dreamy place to Many people choose to stay Halloween spirit. Intricate decorations trick-or-treat,” Ava Englesbe ‘24 said. in their own neighborhoods to trick-orline the streets; ghosts, pumpkins, and “One of my favorite moments during treat. Staying local and going across the skeletons pile on lawns, each house more Halloween in this area was when a few street to a neighbor’s door for treats can extravagant than the last. neighbors gathered together on a drive- create a stronger sense of community.

“I’ve been to many neighbor- way to hand out apple cider and donuts “I love trick-or-treating in my hoods to trick-or-treat, but nothing beats to trick-or-treaters. It is so nice to see the neighborhood because everything is faBurns Park,” Camille Clem ‘27 said. friendliness of families here during the miliar. I know the streets and the people “Granger Avenue is specifically my fa- spooky holiday.” here, so it’s comforting,” Englesbe said. vorite street during Halloween because Unlike a neighborhood, Main “Trick-or-treating is an activity where the decorations are so wild. When it’s Street in downtown has a daytime trick- you bond with people; sometimes, the dark and eerie, screaming and running or-treating event. This is perfect for fam- best place to do that is right where you around with my friends with spooky ilies with younger children because busi- feel you should belong.”

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OCT. 31, 2023

Inconsistent temps on campus cause frustration among students, faculty MEGAN PENG ‘25 Design Staff In recent weeks, the fluctuating weather has brought attention to the inconsistency of the indoor temperature on campus, and have left students stressing about the sudden bursts of heat and cold. The temperature of classrooms has also raised concerns about the productivity of students and faculty, as well as causing discomfort and affecting the learning environments.

“Most of the thermostats are set for about 70 degrees,” director of operations, Ken Geremia said. “Some rooms are draftier than others, so they’ll be set higher than others, and warmer rooms will be set lower than others.”

A l though the school tries its best to keep t h e s t u dents comfortable, there are still contant changes in the temperatures of specific classrooms due to students flowing in and out of certain aeras.

“If 100 students come into a forum set at 50 degrees, the temperature in that forum would go up, and automatically the heater would turn off, and because it’s so cold outside, that temperature could cool the room down again,” Geremia said.

“But if it’s 70 degrees outside, and the heater is running, and 100 students come in and raise the temperature, the heater turns off right away, but it could take two hours before the temperature in that room comes back down.”

The transition from summer to fall has caused temperatures to rise and drop unexpectedly, which becomes a inconvenience to students who want to remain focused during the school day.

“I’m very temperature sensitive, especially the heat, so I wish it was colder in other areas because it’s easier to solve being cold rather than being hot,” AJ Simon ‘25 said. If a place is too hot, it’s all I can focus on, but when a place is too cold, I can just leave a sweatshirt on.”

In addition, athletes who practice in the gyms also struggle with the hot temperatures. In order to increase air flow and stay cool, the fans must be turned on, and the doors leading to the outside of the gyms need to be propped open.

“When we have volleyball practice on really hot days, it’s really hard to focus, and running feels like torture because of how hot you get,” Allison Shamus ‘27 said.

Shamus has also expressed her frustration regarding the erratic temperatures in the freshman forum, and how the heat on campus has affected her productivity.

“When I’m in the 9th grade forum, I’m thinking more about the heat than what I’m actually trying to focus on; but if I was in the cooler forum, I wouldn’t be affected by [how cold it is],” Shamus said. “I wish it was a lot cooler in general. Especially in a classroom where it’s really hot or really cold, because I would be more focused on how cold or hot it is rather than my actual studies, and it gets really bad if I’m trying to focus because it can make me tired.”

Teachers have also voiced their concerns about the inconsistent temperatures on campus and their effects on the learning environment in classrooms, and how students struggle to stay focused in class.

“I taught down by the robotics lab last year, which is a frozen tundra, and as someone who gets hot easily, that was something I really appreciate, and maybe took for granted,” math teacher Greg Huntoon said.”

This year, Huntoon’s classroom was moved to room 4300 in the senior forum, and many students have reported this classroom to be sweltering in the summertime. However, students have learned to appreciate the

warmer temperature of Huntoon’s classroom due to the recent low temperatures.

“During early September, it was pretty hot and i t got pretty unbearable. It made it hard to teach and made it even harder for the kids to learn. The [12th grade] forum itself has done a good job by being air conditioned and staying nice and cool, so I find that I would open the door a lot to try and get some air flowing in. But since the weather is getting cooler, I noticed that students like to come early to class to feel warmer.”

On the other hand, math teacher Lisa Flohr teaches in room 3008 across from the 9th grade forum, which has become a place for students and teachers to go when they’re overheating.

“I think in relation to the other classrooms in the building, this is probably one of the colder classrooms in the school,” Flohr said. “I think [the classroom] is a nice, safe haven for students that are

in the heat. It’s easier to layer up in a cold classroom, so I’d rather my room be cold than hot. Some students might find it challenging when you’re overly cold or overly hot, which can make you unfocused.”

Izzy Collins ‘25 is one of the few students who find the temperatures in the school to be too chilly.

“The school is entirely too cold, I’m freezing all the time,” Collins said. “Sometimes, my hand gets so cold that I can’t write properly. But in the summer, the temperature is perfect. I think the best temperature for the school is around 75 degrees.”

Since some are cooler than others, Shamus hopes that in the future, the temperatures will find a middle ground.

“Mx. Huntoon’s room, [which is also room 3008], is always freezing, so if some of that cool air could get into the warmth of the 9th grade forum, that would really help,” Shamus said. “I just wish there was a way to get the cool temperatures of classrooms into other places.”

A reason why some classrooms are warmer or cooler than other is because classrooms with w i n dows are not equipped with air conditioning.

“An exception is the part of the building where there is a geothermal system, which is the wing where the 11th grade forum and the robotics lab is. That part of the building air conditioning and heating year round.”

Over the summer, the north boiler room and the control system within it underwent renovation.

“We were having problems with controls for the system which were very old and needed updating, so we spent a lot of time fixing and renovating that. A lot of it is computer and electronically monitored now.”

Next summer, the south boiler room is scheduled to be renovated, along with the rest of the control system.

H o w e v e r, these new upgrades will not only benefit the students and facu l t y, but also the school and environment.

“In the end, we anticipate, that we will probably cut our natural gas usage and energy costs by as close as 40 percent, which is a huge savings for the school, and is much more eco-friendly,” Geremia said. “The boilers are much more efficient, better, and modern, and don’t run when we don’t need it. At this point, we replaced half of the biolers, and we hope that we’ll see a lot of savings already.”

Graphic by Megan Peng ‘25

Construction routes to and from school yield higher traffic volume IZZY BARU ‘25 School Editor

You missed your alarm! Now you only have twenty minutes to get up, get dressed, brush your teeth and get out of the house to make it to school. On top of that it is a race against time to beat the traffic generated by neighboring schools and secure a spot in the parking lot. This is the new routine of the average Greenhills kid.

Due to the combination of the Geddes Road to Greenhills project and the Greenhills Drive to US-23 project there has been an increase in traffic around Greenhills. The new single project is the entire length of Earhart Road. According to the city of Ann Arbor the main focus of the project is to improve broken down pavement and upgrade parts of the​ stormwater system. This requires Earhart to temporarily turn into a one way street. The benefits of this project will be the addition of three mini roundabouts to slow down cars, smoother pavement, new sidewalks, a stronger stormwater system, and the installation of bike lanes. While the construction will bring many safety benefits, some Greenhills families and faculty were distraught with the work starting so close to the beginning of the school year.

“This is the city’s construction so Greenhills did not have a say for when the work would begin, we were originally told it was starting right after this past school year ended,” chief financial officer John Nickel said. “However it never did and then we got notices that kept pushing the date further back.

Finally the city said construction would start on Aug. 7, basically right when classes start, which was frustrating to hear.”

To assist Greenhills parents and student drivers with the new issue of construction there was an Eforum email detailing how to deal with the traffic.

The email provided a mapped detour, the best time to arrive at Greenhills, and i n formation sur-

rounding the addition of the shuttle bus. There was also a shift to the middle school after school sports schedule, to spread out pick up times middle schoolers now start during C&C time. During the first week of school Nickel got a lot of feedback from parents surrounding the construction. Thus Nickel and director of operations Ken Geremia flew a drone over the campus to find the most prominent “choke point.” Choke points are areas where the traffic is creating the largest problem and slowing down drivers. The biggest choke point was on Greenhills drive exiting onto Earhart northbound. They alerted the city of their findings and got a temporary stop sign installed to allow for better flow of traffic. Members of Greenhills administration have been posted in the middle school parking lot helping to make sure traffic flows smoothly.

Brian Magnus ‘27 hasn’t noticed much of a change in his schedule before school but has noticed the change when he leaves school. Magnus rides with his brother to school but gets picked up or takes the shuttle to get home. Magnus’ schedule has only been affected once by the shuttle.

“One time a student said he was supposed to be on the shuttle but then he ended up getting picked up by his parents,” Magnus said. “But one of his friends on the shuttle said he was missing and we had to turn around and go all the way back to Greenhills, that day I didn’t get home until 4:30 p.m. and then I had to rush to swim practice at 5 p.m.”

The idea of the shuttle bus was mentioned in an administrator meeting last Spring. Geremia reached out to numerous bus companies in the nearby area to see if the shuttle would be possible. The shuttle tends to drive upwards of 20 kids in the morning to school and seven kids in the afternoon, the significant d e crease is due t o after school activ-

ities. The system is currently not run by Greenhills but by the bus company and the drivers. However Geremias’ end goal is to make it a total Greenhills entity.

“If it continues, our hope would be that we could use one of our vehicles and run multiple shifts after school dismissal from 3:30 to 4:30,” Geremia said. “It would make as many loops as it can to the commuter lot during that time.”

While a number of students take the shuttle a majority of the high school students do not. Drivers like Nicole Zhong ‘24 have felt a large change to their schedules.

Zhong lives in Northville which means before the construction it would take her 25 minutes to get to school. However the new traffic delays have been unpredictable causing her to leave 50 minutes early to get to school on time. When it is time to leave school she hustles to beat the combination of both Greenhills and surrounding schools after school traffic.

“It definitely is a change from last year when I always knew I would arrive by 8:10 a.m everyday,” Zhong said. “Even when I leave my house early I still get stuck in the traffic and it is so annoying to keep making loops through both parking lots and then have to park on the street.”

While Zhong believes Greenhills has been doing their best to maintain traffic flow she has some suggestions for making the drop off process smoother on the middle school side of the school.

“For the traffic issue they could require middle school parents to drop off their kids earlier, or have a cutoff time and then have a different time slot for h i g h schoolers,” Zhong said.

Graphic by Megan Peng ‘25

Graphic by Arya Prabhakar ‘26

OCT. 31, 2023

Junior builds greenhouse on campus

MIRA JAYRAMAN ‘26 an inspiring example for his peers and the wider Greenhills community.

School Staff Science department chair Catherine Renaud has been overseeMany Greenhills students rely on the several service path- ing Perkins’ project and forming her own visions for the greenhouse. ways to complete their service requirements - Jacob Perkins ‘25 had a “We could germinate seeds ahead of time using this greenhouse, different approach. Over the last year, Perkins has put his time and ef- maybe planting flowers with the service department,” Renaud said. “The fort into constructing a greenhouse as a crucial component of his Ea- middle schoolers and upper schoolers could use it during free time.” gle Scout project, demonstrating his passion for the environment and Renaud believed that the greenhouse comes with gardening. This greenhouse is located outside of the 11th grade forum. many opportunities for students and the school community.

Perkins started this project at the beginning of his sophomore year.

“The science department will definitely use the greenhouse,” Renaud His vision for the greenhouse extends far beyond personal satisfaction. said. “We can utilize it and open it up to the general faculty and the classes.”

“My main goal is to have the greenhouse available as a reRenaud is not only excited for the science community at Greensource for Greenhills, hills to benefit from for any kids who want this greenhouse, but to garden recreationshe is grateful for the ally,” Perkins said. work Perkins has done.

One of the driv“I love the greening forces Perkins chose house,” Renaud said. to take on this project is “Jacob is so invested in to restore the existing, it and he is giving back damaged greenhouse. to the community. He The greenhouse that could do anything for his was there before was Eagle Scout project but made of wood, and over he’s doing something to time, the wood started benefit the school. I adto rot. Additionally, Permire Jacob for thoughtkins has been a devoted fully doing something member of the Greenhe is passionate about.” hills gardening club Perkins has had a throughout high school, great deal of support and a greenhouse would while accomplishing benefit the club greatly. this project, a large Perkins has amount from his parworked hard to lead ents. Lauren Oshman, the construction of the Perkins’ mother, felt a greenhouse himself. sense of pride regarding “The first Perkins’ achievement. step was fundrais- LAYING THE GROUNDWORK As part of his Eagle scout project, Jacob Perkins ‘25 “It was exciting ing,”Perkins said. “It works on the construction to get the greenhouse he planned up and running after months of work. when he proposed the Photo by Mira Jayraman ‘26 came from a mix of idea of the greenhouse,” donations from the Oshman said. “I was exschool and sending email requests. After fundraising, we cited that he had his own idea. It was different than other Eagle Scout bought the greenhouse and the materials we needed.” projects, and I liked that it was something that other people could enjoy.”

While the building process had gone by well, it Oshmnan had many remarks about had not been without its share of challenges along the way. the strenuous but satisfactory process.

“The most challenging part has been the logistics,” Per“Jacob has been supported through the whole project, but he kins said. “It’s a large-scale construction project, which means has done all the groundwork himself,” Oshman said. “Jacob’s vision was I have to plan out all the steps and organize everything. “ very clear. From asking permission from the school to doing fundraising, Along with wanting to benefit the Greenhills community with along with all the planning and budgeting. The whole organizational effort the greenhouse, Perkins had an additional motivation for its construction. and fundraising was months and months of effort, and it was all Jacob.”

“I’ve been a Scout for nine years now,” Perkins said. “BePerkins is a determined and focused person, which is said by eving an Eagle Scout consists of doing leadership in your troop, erybody who has supported him throughout his Eagle Scout project journey. and doing a service project led by yourself and your community.

“Jacob is someone that if he sets his mind to something, he’ll An Eagle Scout is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of do it,” Oshman said. “That’s what he did with the greenhouse.”

America program. Perkins’ pursuit of this honor through the greenhouse project not only reflects his personal commitment but also sets

ChatGPT turns 1: school explores impact of AI NEHA NARAYANAN ‘26 School Staff NATALIE HONG ‘27 Lifestyle Staff Artificial Intelligence (AI), a rapidly emerging technology, is reshaping today’s work landscape and continues to cast a shadow of uncertainty over its future potential. Nearly a year ago, Chat GPT was released. Almost six months later, Snapchat My AI, Claude, and Google Bard emerged. With AI technologies becoming prevalent in online applications, the impact of generative AI is evolving. Now, students are facing the challenge of retaining integrity and honesty in schoolwork while the temptation of AI looms. Teachers are starting to delve into changing their curriculum, teaching style, and policies in order to adapt to this new era.

“By not taking part in AI, we also are seeing industries change, the workforce changing, and they’re starting to utilize these tools,” Green said. “So if we don’t start changing how we do things even at the educational levels, I think it does a disservice to how students are going to eventually integrate into those workspaces because they’ll be starting to use some of these shortcuts.”

In this new educational landscape, teachers are evolving alongside their students. Incorporating generative AI in their lesson plans, and revising their curriculums are all necessary in this new age of technology. For instance, students in Elizabeth Wilson’s art photography class have already begun to grasp how using AI for image creation and other Adobe products can help them create spooky Halloween photos for AI-generated self-portraits. Applying the AI tool in Adobe, students learned how to generate new images in place of a subject to enhance their images.

“Whatever path students take, AI is going to be part of it,” Director of Teaching and Learning Jenna Goldenberg said. “I think we need to be focused on how we are supporting students in learning the skills that they need to use it effectively, as well as engaging them in discussions about what it means to use AI ethically. Specifically in ways that support their growth and their work, and doesn’t supplement it.”

Back in 2020, if high school students were asked if they had ever cheated on schoolwork using AI, most people would probably say no. Some might not even understand what exactly AI is. Now, just three years later, when some Greenhills students were polled, over forty percent said that they have cheated on schoolwork us-

ing AI in some way, whether by having it write essays, answer math problems, or translate entire paragraphs into a foreign language.

“I really only use AI to help with my Spanish and math homework … even though I know it’s bad, it just makes Spanish especially so much easier. Sometimes I just don’t have the energy to write an entire paper,” a freshman said. “Especially since I know I could do the work if I wanted to, I don’t feel bad about using AI. Ultimately, I’m just using my resources.”

This is an internal crisis that many students, not only at Greenhills, are facing. Most know it’s wrong and is cheating, but by rationalizing their use of AI, most can evade the guilt. Not only is AI affecting its student users, but also other students who act as bystanders.

“I haven’t [used AI], but I’ve been around when other people are doing their schoolwork and I’ve seen them using Chat GPT. It makes me want to tattle, but I won’t because I don’t want to be that guy,” a freshman said.

Although there are methods for detecting AI writing, students are very resourceful when it comes to masking their use. People now take their AI-written essays and run them through “rephrasing” generators, which reword the essays using synonyms to mask their computerized essence. These issues aren’t going away anytime soon, so students will continue to have to choose between remaining sincere or relying on the aid of AI. The technology and education team of teachers and staff place a strong emphasis on and stress the importance of transparency. Openness, honesty, and proper source citation are essential when utilizing AI for school work.

Students are encouraged to be clear about how they’re using these tools and remember that AI should help improve their work rather than replace their own efforts.

Graphic by Megan Peng ‘25 “I would hope for the future that students are utilizing AI like any other tool. AI is limited, it’s biased, and it does not always provide accurate info, so that’s something for students just to be aware of but then also to explore the capabilities and the possibilities for learning or for growing their knowledge,” Spanish teacher Ellen Gwozdek said.

Similar to Gwozdek, the Upper School Dean of Students, Janelle Sterling, thinks that AI can be used both positively and negatively in the school work environment.

“I think it [AI] is kind of cool in the sense that anything is possible. I think that being able to use AI constructively to help you can be a time saver. My hope would be that we figure out how to use it [AI] advantageously and that we don’t lose some of our ability to think creatively as a result of leaning on it too much.”

PAGE 7

Sparking a fire

Author Angeline Boulley visits school MIRA JAYRAMAN ‘26 School Staff Over 1 million copies of Angeline Bouley’s book, “Firekeeper’s Daughter”, have been sold since it was released in 2021. Students and faculty members had the op portunity on Oct. 9 to listen in and talk to Boulley about her point of view and the writing process of the book.

Angeline Boulley is an indigenous person from St. Marie, Michigan. One of the two books Boulley has published, Firekeepers Daughter, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, staying on the list for 14 weeks. The novel is being adapted into a television series on Netflix by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground.

Boulley’s visit sparked an interest in many students and faculty, including Librarian Stefanie Halliday.

“Greenhills is such a diverse community, so it is very important for us to hear as many voices as we can,” Halliday said. “Having Angeline come here really resonated with us and our community. Indigenous voices are very under-represented points of views and we don’t get to hear from them often, so Angeline’s visit was a good opportunity to evaluate our book collection for native voices. Buying books with diverse voices is a primary importance to me here in the library.”

Boulley not only shared her own stories of growing up as an indigenous person and finding her passion for writing, but she also inspired young students to do the same.

“We had a sixth-grade and eighthgrade class come to a session hosted by Angeline here in the library,” Halliday said. “The students were able to ask a variety of questions about her writing process, and Angeline really valued their opinion and shared great ideas.”

Associate Head of School Quincy McLaughlin saw the benefits of Boulley’s visit on students as well.

“We are incredibly lucky that we get to host talented writers, especially those like Angeline who amplify a population that doesn’t typically see itself reflected in literature, and that is an important part of what we strive for at Greenhills,” McLaughlin said. “She is a great example of perseverance and hard work for the students.”

Getting a renowned and bestselling author like Boulley to come to speak to students and faculty wasn’t an easy task for English Teacher Becky Randolph. Randolph is the director of the McDowell Writing Program, a writing competition that all students can participate in. It also involves having different artists come and speak about their work.

“As the director of the Mcdowell Writing Program, I am always thinking about who would be good to have come in to be a visiting writer,” Randolph said. “I was driving home from school in May, and I heard her interview on NPR. Her novel and her personality sounded very interesting, but also, she is local to Michigan and an indigenous person. I realized she was gaining a lot of attention and I wanted her to come speak as a visiting writer.”

Randolph recognized the impact that Boulley could make on students, and how having new voices and perspectives speak to students emphasizes the importance of diversity even more.

“One of our many goals at Greenhills is to include diversity and different voices, and reading the stories of people from other cultures that enhances that mission. We were very fortunate to have Angeline at our school.”

Looking forward, Randolph hopes to have more artists from different backgrounds come and share their stories with the students and faculty.

EMPOWERING THRU_ STORYTELLING Angeline Boulley inspires students with her book, “Firekeeper’s Daughter”. “She was really good at talking to students and motivating them,” said Becky Randolph. “We are incredibly fortunate to have Angeline come to our school.”

OCT. 31, 2023

PAGE 8

A loud silence

693 students in the school and none in the stands, there is a missing student section DOMINIC SCHUSTER ‘24 Sports Editor

Once a year there is one game that attracts more upper school students than any other: The Spirit Week Game. Students fill the bleachers to show out to the basketball teams games. However, it is this one game that they show out to. Not others, so that begs the question: where is our student section?

Facing this question head on is Athletic Director Tom Ward and Student Council President Jibreel Rehman ‘24. Ward has thought of many ideas, collaborating with Rehman, as to how we can get our student section out in more numbers.

“We are trying to increase the student experience at games,” said Ward. “I want it to be fun, to go to a Greenhills athletic contest.”

Jibran Ali ‘24 is known for bringing fun to the games in the form of our student section.

“It shows how amazing sports events could be and that’s just with one person, if more people come in and get hyped then it’s fun for the fans and the players.” said Ali. Rehman has also provided many ideas alongside Ward and Ali to figure out how to make these games more fun/accessible.

“We plan to make more games worth spirit week points,” said Rehman. “It’s a working progress right now.”

Ward had similar ideas as they implemented spirit week points into the Homecoming Games along with finding the name for the student section.

With these ideas there still remains the issue, why can’t a certain number of students make it to

each game. Many issues collide with this but there are three that stand out according to Ward and Rehman: practices/away games, homework, and where people live.

With suggestions like no homework days that would allow for more attendance at home events, for Ward, the idea behind getting more people to games is looking bright. Homework is not the only issue,

ONE STUDENT IN THE STANDS Parents packed the stands for Greenhills High School soccer with only one student fan: middle schooler Arrio Atienza ‘30, pictured center.

Photo courtesy of Dominic Schuster ‘24

rather other sporting events as well.

“It’s not just homework and not just a ‘I don’t want to come’ but rather a real logistical issue around peoples schedules,” said Ward.

Tackling this logistical issue is a lot harder than it might seem. The main factor, according to Ward, that is helping push it is the delaying of games later in the day, however, the issue of sunlight comes into play.

“We moved a varsity soccer game (the homecoming game against FGR) back to not conflict with practices” said Ward.

This game is the only varsity match that will begin this late this fall, as without light the game cannot continue. The solution to this would be lights, but this solution at the current moment is an impossible climb.

“Getting lights is something that is very challenging, I wouldn’t even say it is in the plans.” This is because of the Earhart Village condominiums, who would have to approve of the light installation at the school.

Without this option, the athletic department is being strained right now as they continue to perilously fight to garner more attendance at athletic events.

With new personnel in the Athletic office, they have many ideas that they will push, and as the year continues the department is putting their foot forward on bringing more people to games.

“I want it to be fun for a random person who may or may not be involved to come out and have fun with their friends and watch the game,” said Ward.

New varsity sports; dreams or reality?

Despite student calls for new sports, obstacles remain

MATT STRIECHER ‘24

“[New sports] are as high of a priority as the interest survey shows. As we get closer to winter and the change of Every year, a “sports interest” survey is sent to ev- sports, we will push the survey a bit more,” said Ward. “It deery student in the upper school, which is a list of every pends on numbers and the kind of interest students have.” sport offered for the upper school along with some proAn alpine ski team was also included on the most recent surspective sports as well as a question box where interest in veys, but it will prove to be the most challenging sport to try adding. any sport is indicated. In recent years, though, there has “Skiing is a whole different ball game,” said Ward. “The worry been increasing interest in new sports, like is that some people may sign up thinkboys volleyball, girls lacrosse, and even a ing ‘Oh, I might like this’ but have coed alpine ski team. These have been the never skied before. Part of the applicenter of conversation for years now, and cation is having a really good underwith the changing of the guard at the athstanding of the numbers so that we letic director, doubt is growing about the can sustain it, and we don’t want to prospect of ever getting these new teams. have a program that lasts one year.”

At the head of the efforts is new Part of the movement to add skiathletic director Tom Ward, who replaced ing is John Sadrack ‘24, who skis as the recently retired Meg Seng. He is the a member of the XLR8 Alpine Race lynchpin for the process of adding any Team, an independent organization. new teams. “Every year, we send out “I was making progress with Meg, our survey and as per interest level, we but the switch has made it kind of decide whether we offer that MHSAA hard,” said Sadrack. “If we don’t get a sport or not,” said Ward. “We’re always team here, I would really like to partlooking at the numbers and we’re always ner with another school, like FGR or trying to offer what we can sustain.” one of the public schools,” said Sadrack.

There are many things that The biggest issue with getting an need to go into creating a new athalpine ski team is costliness. Ski racletic program, and without them, a ing requires a minimum of 14 different SLAMMING STICKS John Sadrack ‘26 racing through slateam simply won’t get off the ground. lom gates at Mount Brighton Ski resort. “Skiing after a long pieces of equipment, some of which cost “There is a process we have to day of school work is an amazing feeling,” Sadrack said. up to 1,100 dollars, like a set of skis, Photo courtesy of John Sadarack ‘26 go through, like making sure we have and renting costs 250 dollars on avsustainable numbers, coaching facilities, and the fi- erage only for skis and poles. The athletic department also has nancial means to support [a new program],” said Ward. to rent a hill for a season, which costs upwards of 5,000 dollars, Another sport that has exploded in the MH- fund trips to race events to hills up north, and pay coaches. The SAA is boys volleyball, which has also pulled combined cost for one ski season would be upwards of 100,000, a notable amount of interest from all grades. between parents and the athletic department, and could end up “Boys volleyball is growing super fast, so the ex- costing more depending on weather and team size. This aside, pectation is that there will be enough boys volleyball pro- Sadrack still knows there are great reasons for joining a team. grams in Michigan for it to be an MHSAA sponsored sport “I think we have a group that would want to join (the maybe as soon as next year.” said Ward. “We wouldn’t be team), it’s a lot of fun to go skiing and riding up the chairlift able to offer it this spring, but kind of like girls lacrosse, if with your friends,” said Sadrack. “I think the issue is the exwe see interest, it could be possible in the next few years.” pensive part of skiing. You have to buy skis, a jacket, and find Nate Gajar ‘24 had interest in boys volley- a place to ski. It’s an environment based sport,” said Sadrack. ball when the first notion of adding it came into Even though these sports have not made much progress, the athconsideration. He has maintained interest ever letic department remains focused on the students’ suggestions. since, even into the beginning of his senior year. These new programs could become part of the 20 varsity sports “I can’t say that I’m satisfied. If the athlet- already offered in the near future, but that is up to the students. ic department told me they had made some prog“When we add a new sport, it has to fit our misress, I would be happy, but that just hasn’t hap- sion which is ensuring that students are involved in differpened,” said Gajar. “I know that across all four grades ent parts of our community,” said Ward. “As long as the there would be enough interest for a team to form.” sport allows us to meet those goals, which I think these Ward’s plan for communicating with the stu- sports do, they are a possibility [to begin thinking about]” dents about what sports are wanted is to take what the students say on the annual sports survey and use it to determine priority of adding new teams.

Lead Sports Reporter