December 2012-2013

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Evergreen THE

December 19, 2012 Volume XLVIII, Issue 3

Students honored in nationwide YoungArts competition Rachel Diebner News Editor

Catherine Leffert Staff Writer

Photo by Mary Lo

Photo courtesy of Sophia Haid

Photo courtesy of Jeffry Valadez

Photo courtesy of Margot Masinter

SNAPSHOTS HEARD AROUND THE WORLD: Top: Junior Sophia Haid (left) and seniors Jeffry Valadez (center) and Margot Masinter (right) are honored for their photography by YoungArts. Bottom: submissions by Sophia (left), Jeffry (center), and Margot (right) are part of their 30 to 35-piece portfolios.

Also in this issue... News Grading Active Latin classes take a cue from the Physics department by switching to a standards-based grading system. Assistant Editors Christian Holmes and Varun Gupta report. page 3

Features Everything’s Oak An alum is behind award-winning restaurant Oak. Assistant Editor Sofia Shirley and Staff Writer Christina Zhu provide delicious details on all things foodie. page 5

Double Truck Financial Aid Content Editor Samantha Carp investigates the mechanics of financial aid. Current recipients weigh in. pages 8-9

Arts 3D Printer

Three Upper-School students were recently recognized for their photography submissions to the distinguished national YoungArts competition. These students—seniors Margot Masinter and Jeffry Valadez, and junior Sophia Haid—all rank within the top five percent of high-school artists in the nation. The competition encompasses a variety of artistic fields, including dance, writing, theater, and music. Frank Lopez, Upper School photography teacher, terms it “the most prestigious national competition [for students] in the fine arts.” Jeffry ranked in the top fifth percentile and earned a Merit Award, while Margot, who placed in the top fourth percentile, won Honorable Mention and a $250 award. The differences between percentiles are slim. Margot only missed third percentile by about 10 people. Sophia, who did rank in the top third percentile, will proceed to the final stage of the competition: YoungArts Week, held Jan. 6-12 in Miami. Each year, up to 150 artists are chosen out of approximately 7,000 applicants across the nation to attend YoungArts Week, all expenses paid. Sophia is one of five selected for her skill in photography. “This is really the biggest honor I could attain as a student artist,” Sophia said. At YoungArts Week, Sophia and the other National Finalists will come together for workshops, performances, exhibitions, classes with prominent artists, and other activities. The photos Sophia shoots throughout the week will be critiqued by the YoungArts National Panel. This panel will then select which of six award levels Sophia receives, with a minimum corresponding monetary award of $1,000. The 20 to 40 winners of the top two award levels, Gold ($10,000) and Silver ($5,000), will move on to a second YoungArts Week held in New York City in late spring. “Three awards from YoungArts within one photo department is pretty incredible. It just doesn’t happen that often,” Jeffry said. “And we’re all great friends, so it’s really cool to see each other succeed.” cont’d on p.11

Alum teaches computer coding to next generation Joseph Middleman Asst. Features Editor

Francesca Riddick Staff Writer

Alum Zach Galant ’08 and his business partner Jeremy Keeshin founded CodeHS, a company that teaches highschool students computer coding, the language used to create everything from websites to movies to iPhone applications. The two met at Stanford University as undergraduates in computer science. “Most of America is experiencing a job crisis, but the tech industry is booming. There are 100,000 jobs for people with computer-science knowledge being created each year,” Zach said. Coding is a vital job skill in this industry. Despite the value of coding in today’s society, most high-school curricula lack advanced computer-science courses, according to Zach. “We saw that there was a lot of buzz around learning how to code and saw a huge need for more coders. We knew the current online sites that were trying to teach computer science were not good enough, mainly because they all lacked human support,” Zach said. Thus Zach started his own business, something he had aspired to do since childhood. His mission is to make computer science an easy and enjoyable experience for students. Through CodeHS and an after-school program called College Track, Zach and Jeremy teach 200 students from San Francisco-area high schools. They hope to raise this number to 1,000 students within the next six months.

Photo courtesy of Shelley Galant

TAKING CHARGE: Zach Galant ‘08 (top right) led a computer-savvy day camp, Tera Byte. Now, he and a fellow Stanford graduate run their own computer codeteaching business based in San Francisco.

Zach understands firsthand the difficulties facing students who are interested in learning how to code. Zach’s interest in coding stemmed from a desire to create a science-fiction video game map in fourth grade. Since there were no courses available to him in middle or high school, Zach taught himself how to use different coding programs, such as Maya Flash Actionscript, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, and C++. cont’d on p.4

Assistant News Editor Sera Tuz investigates Fine Arts’ new three-dimensional printer. page 12

Sports Festive Running Get in shape during and after the holidays with festive, themed runs in the Dallas area. Managing Editor Greer Goss reports. page 14

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Online Editor-in-Chief Danielle Stoler reports on the three juniors heading to class on the East Coast in 2013.

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