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When the light at Hillcrest and Northwest Highway is broken, a group text notification pops up on a handful of teachers’ phones: “Avoid intersection at all costs. Find another route,” one of them may have written. These teachers all live in East Dallas and have formed a small community around their daily commute to Greenhill. They are adamant about living far away but as a result must navigate the complex and unpredictable Dallas highway system to get to school. Faculty come from a number of zip codes for various reasons. Some chose good school districts for their kids or a quiet secluded neighborhood. Others have adamantly chosen to live nearby, bypassing the traffic completely.
White Rock Lake
For the teachers who live near the Lake, the 15- to 20-mile commute can transfer to a 35- to- 45 minute car ride each way. A major factor for those who live by White Rock Lake is the culture and scenery of the neighborhoods. “It’s just a magical neighborhood,” said Catherine Hopkins, Upper School theatre teacher. “I love the history and I love the architecture. Our house was built in 1936, there’s only been three owners of our house,” of her Lakewood home. Similarly, Corbin Doyle, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher, would not trade living close to the lake. “It can’t be about Greenhill as the epicenter of everything. I literally walk from my house with my canoe down to the lake. We’ve owned the house now for 18 years,” Mr. Doyle said.
Even Further Away Chad Bittenbender, Upper School science teacher, lives in Aubrey, approximately 30 miles north from school. On good days, it takes him 30-45 minutes to get to school, and on the bad days, the drive back can last over an hour and a half. Mr. Bittenbender has devised a strict schedule so he can beat the traffic. He usually leaves his home by 6:30 a.m. and leaves school at 6:30 p.m. “It kind of works perfectly. I can get all my work done here, so when I get home, I’m home. I try to be present when I’m home and not do that much work,”
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he said. Mr. Bittenbender’s neighborhood is close to a farm. He often sees horses and other animals. For him, the remote aspect of Aubrey is therapeutic. “[My neighborhood] really resembles the town I grew up in. I love it when I go home and there is no chaos around my town. It really helps my psyche,” he said. Rebecca Shuman, Assistant Head of Upper School, lives in Trophy Club, near Southlake. She chose to live there because of its convenience for her family. It is exactly halfway between Greenhill and her husband’s work in Fort Worth. It normally takes her 40 minutes to get to school. When her daughter, junior Peyton Shuman, could not drive, coordinating schedules was difficult. She and her brother, eighth grader Jack Shuman, usually had to wait for Mrs. Shuman by the tennis courts or in Extended Day every afternoon. Mrs. Shuman said she loves the ability to get away from the Greenhill environment, however. “I prefer living in the sticks. If I was closer, I feel like I would always be here,” she said. Living close to Fort Worth has also allowed Mrs. Shuman’s family to be a part of two communities.
Carless in Dallas Barrett Ide, Upper School science teacher, used to share a house with other Greenhill teachers in University Park. Although the drive to Greenhill was 25 minutes, Mr. Ide eventually had enough. “When I was commuting by car, I found that my drive to and from work were some of my least favorite times of the day,” Mr. Ide said. As a result, Mr. Ide decided to move to the apartments across the street from Greenhill. Mr. Ide and his wife share one car, and he walks to and from school every day. “I get to watch the sun come up in the mornings. I like that it allows me, on my way home, to quietly think and process about my day, without having to worry too much about changing lanes or going at the right speed limit,” he said. Sharing a car with his wife has taught them both about communication. Even though Greenhill is in Mr. Ide’s backyard, he
Gender-neutral bathrooms spur discourse p. 4
april 22, 2015
Arts
Junior directs unique play, Lemon Sky p. 14
volume 50, issue 5
said he is able to separate himself from the school. “When I’m in my home, I don’t see Greenhill. When I’m in my living room, I’m in my living room. There wouldn’t be a difference if I was here or across the street or ten miles away,” Mr. Ide said. Mohammad Haque, Upper School Math teacher, moved from New York last year and currently lives in Lake Highlands. When Dr. Haque first came to Dallas, he did not have a car and thought Dallas would have a good public transit system since it is a major metropolitan city. “[I didn’t have a car for] about a month and a half. Yeah, that was fun. Before I moved to Dallas, I never needed a car, so I never got a car,” he said. To help the carless Dr. Haque out, various teachers lent him rides to school, including Michael Legacy, Upper School math teacher; April Burns, Upper School Spanish teacher; and Blake Harkey, Middle and Upper School English teacher. “I definitely got to know a little bit about [them]. We wouldn’t necessarily talk a whole lot, but there were little snippets here and there,” Dr. Haque said. Currently, Dr. Haque shares one car with his wife, who works from home.
Intentional Proximity Barbara Currier, Upper School Math teacher, moved from Plano to a house 1.9 miles away from campus. “I drew a circle around Greenhill and said I am going to buy a house within this circle,” she said. David Lowen, Upper School history teacher, used to live in a neighborhood in Garland where most students attended the local public school. “We were the family that sent our kid to the private school,” Mr. Lowen said. The taxing hour-long commute to and from school cut into family time, so the Lowens eventually decided to move near the Brookhaven Golf Course. story by Sanah Hasan, Catherine Leffert and Zayna Syed graphic by Sera Tuz and Ariana Zhang
Features
Admissions: A Parent’s Perspective p. 7
4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001
Sports
A Breakdown of Typical Injuries p. 18
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Rants & Raves A RAVE to the Buzz. Throughout the years you have provided the weak with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the hungry with Luna Bars. You will be missed in your hiatus, for what shall we do when we want Lemonade Crystal Light in our Dasani? In your absence, many Greenhill students will perish due to lack of Easy Mac for Buzz lunches. R.I.P.
A RANT to students killing grass by trudging across freshly cut lawns. The ancient Roman innovators did not build sidewalks just to have Greenhill students ignore them (and ruin their precious Doc Martens). As Maria Suarez, Upper School computer science teacher, said, “the trees [and grass] are crying.”
A RAVE to the arrival of spring, evident in Greenhill’s new landscaping. We are newly inspired to plant new seeds of knowledge in the classroom and in our minds, reminding us of our core principles: honor, respect, and good gardening.
A RANT to pollen infested tables. We know that our mascot is the Hornet, but we don’t need to be pollinating ourselves. Car spa business might be boomin’, but our noses be drippin’ (drops mic).
A RAVE to a lack of fiveday weeks this trimester. (Try saying “four four day weeks” four times fast.) Just like Zayn Malik left One Direction, so did the fifth day of every week this month. Now, One Direction, their album “Four,” and Greenhill are all going in the same direction.
A RANT to the flirty peacock standing outside the cafeteria 24/7. As much as relish the loving embrace of such a beautiful creature, we don’t appreciate it leading on the entire Upper School. Stop stealing our prom dates.
A RANT to the clicking doors throughout the Upper School. We think these clicky doors might be more cliquey than a Greenhill seventh grade recess. We just hope that the clicks, much like middle school, will be over soon.
A RAVE to the recent trend of handmade jewelry around campus. Why go to Tiffany and Co. for a bracelet when you can just get one from Tiffany in your Spanish class? Support small businesses!
A RAVE to the Greenhill flag atop the half constructed Marshall Family Performing Arts Center. This fine display of school pride reminds everyone to #livegreenlovegold. Urban legend says that this flag was planted by Bernard Fulton himself to ward off unwanted Marksmen and Hockadaisies.
Content courtesy of Zoe Allen and Abbas Hasan Bottom right photo courtesy of Sydnie Schindler
Field Our Opportunities It’s a typical Tuesday. You walk into second period class and sit in your gray plastic chair in a gray-walled classroom. As the rest of the class files in and the teacher begins the day’s lesson, all you can think about is the monotony of the typical schedule. A picture pops into your head: you and a bunch of classmates hopping onto a bus for a field trip—only that was when you were a foot shorter and carrying a Pokémon lunchbox. It’s been a while. When daily schedules consist of lugging textbook-filled backpacks from classroom to classroom, a one-hour field trip off-campus could rejuvenate a student body dulled by
the same old thing. We could use more field trips. Some thoughts on the why and the how… Field trips give students opportunities to expand the classroom, test boundaries, and apply concepts in the real world. In Art History, past field trips to places like The Warehouse, a private collection of modern art, located just five minutes away, have provided inspiration for essays and discussions. Trips to the Nasher Museum have served as stimuli for poetry assignments in eleventh grade English classes. A number of Spanish classes have ventured out to taste local Mexican cuisine and to experience
Evergreen staff
Staff Editorial Hispanic culture. Science teacher Michelle Smith takes her junior/senior science classes to places like the Trinity River Audubon Center. One of the reasons there aren’t more field trips is because of the scheduling obstacles. To get a handful of students onto a bus, drive them somewhere, teach or explore, and then get back to school in an hour is difficult, if not near impossible. Nonetheless, there are ways to work around these difficulties. Bagel break and lunch provide extra time for second, third, fourth, and fifth period classes to make a short, but worthy field trip.
Addison Airport could present rich possibilities for a physics class. Classes that focus on city planning or teach about government could visit Addison Town Hall. In a city like Dallas, there are other possibilities, too. With national and worldwide corporations, multiple universities, and experts in so many different fields, teachers could look into the possibility of bringing some of these individuals into their classes. People love to be experts; we can give them that chance. Teachers, let’s make our campus a vibrant hub, where bus engines roar on their way to discovery.
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Erratas, March 2015 issue
editor-in-chief
views editor
asst. arts editor
Sera Tuz
Megan Wiora
sports editors
executive editor
news editors
special sections editor
asst. views editor
Sofia Shirley
managing editor Sanah Hasan
Madison Goodrich Christina Zhu
Lane Hirsch Ben Schachter
Andrew Friedman
Arhum Khan
Areeba Amer
online editors
features editors
asst. news editor Suman Chebrolu
Christian Holmes Ben Krakow
arts editor
asst. features editor
business manager
Varun Gupta Amna Naseem
Catherine Leffert
Zach Rudner
Ryan Diebner
art director
Ariana Zhang
staff writers
Abbas Hasan Areeba Amer Ellen Margaret Andrews Joseph Weinberg Joshua Rudner Kathie Rojas Krish Shetty Lili Stern Maya Ghosh
Mia Krumerman Radhe Melwani Simra Abedi Sophie Bernstein Stephen Crotty Zayna Syed Zoe Allen
advisor
Eve Hill-Agnus
staff artists
Hanna Arata Sudeep Bhargava Alex Drossos Rachel Friedman Mansi Gaur Ruchita Iyer Ashley Lee Jackson Lowen Anurag Kurapati Anusha Kurapati Joanna Quan Adam Weider
p. 1 Sofia Shirley and Zoe Allen wrote the front page story. p. 1 Lindsay Rawitscher graduated in 2013, not 2011. p. 2 The conflicting swim meet with Winter Dance was a regular season swim meet.
wednesday, april 22, 2015
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Accounts of profound spring breaks explore race, injustice S
tanding in the rebuilt concreteblock sanctuary of Mt. Zion AME Church outside Philadelphia, Mississippi, Mrs. Cole-Calloway stiffened her back and steeled her nerve to share with us her memories from that dark night in Neshoba County in 1964. The African American woman’s eyes remained dry as they peeled away 50 years of practiced self-protection, traveling back to an evening of terror etched in her brain, an evening that still does not make sense to her. It was only the fourth time she had told her story, she said, but it was time. Time for her to face her fears. Time for her to confront her pain. Time to call out injustice. Time to forgive. Her memories reconstructed for us that night when her parents were stopped by a KKK posse while leaving a meeting at this very church on a winding road through the trees, her father beaten to within an inch of his life and thrown in a ditch while her mother was forced to look on and while she - only eight years old - waited at home, growing terrified by the minute at her parents’ absence. Her eyes now became those of her eight-year old self, and she hesitated, her voice catching as she asked us, “Why would they do that to my papa? He was the kindest man in
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e got back from dinner and scrambled to turn the livestream on. It was right before midnight as we crowded around the grainy feed, shifting our weight only to point out obscure objects dashing into the shot or to refresh our Twitter feeds. After a few minutes of complete silence, we all looked up from our phones after reading the same tweet: “A cop was just shot. Oh my god.” It was what reporters called the ‘Ferguson Shooting’. Two officers working at a protest were shot by an unknown assailant, prompting a city-wide manhunt. It was my fourth night in Ferguson on an alternative spring break trip with a group of college students working on a community polling project, voter registration and community education organized by Break Away and Operation Help or Hush. The morning after the shooting, a reporter responded to a message I sent her a few days before. Her message read,
Dear Editor,
the world.” Her question was genuine and pleading. Why? Somehow, after a long and agonizing pause - our speaker trapped in another time and we unable to rescue either her or her father - she returned to us, and her voice softened to a message of grace and forgiveness and hope. “I will never know why. But my father forgave his attackers. And I must forgive them.” I don’t know whether it was the cumulative effect of five days worth of hearing eye-witness accounts and seeing film footage of these unfathomable injustices or what, but that afternoon at the church was just really hard to bear. I think that the story of the young activists - Chaney/Goodman/ Schwerner - murdered in June 1964 a few miles away and just days later, also touched a raw place for me, their youth hitting awfully close to home as I think about Evan, Ryan, or my students in such a situation . . . brutally tortured and destroyed for trying to make the world a more just place. I just don’t understand meanness. I cannot comprehend hatred. And I am left with Mrs. Cole-Calloway’s grace-filled outlook, her insistence on forgiveness. Dr. King’s dogged commitment to non-violence and to loving one’s enemy – borne of
the teachings of Gandhi, Jesus, and others - was brought home to me in a deep and visceral way. It was but one of many extraordinary moments on my spring break trip, opportunities to experience the raw pain of injustice – in my country and in my lifetime - and to grapple with the outrage that this is not a problem safely ensconced in our distant past. The news each day brings us reminders that we continue to live on a precipice. One embarks on a pilgrimage with an “end goal” in mind, be that arriving at a holy shrine, a sacred historical place, or even a profound discovery of some sort. My “Civil Rights Pilgrimage” (through SMU’s Embrey Human Rights Program) over spring break had as its aim a deeper, more personal and gutlevel understanding of the events of the 1950s and ’60s that resulted in dramatic civil rights legislative and social “gains,” even through upheaval. That is, I wanted my lifetime of book-learning to find real grounding in people and places and conversations and smells and tastes and sounds. And the old admonition – “Careful what you wish for!” – came through for me. What a life-changing experience this was, enriched all the more by the fact that it was shared with my stepson,
“I'll send you a link! Hope you guys are ok. Is anything going to change on your end bc of the riots?” I showed it to my friends at lunch and we were dumbfounded. Riots? We looked outside the windows of Ferguson Burger Bar onto West Florissant. The street was sprinkled with just as many people as the day before, doing just the same things they were doing the day before, resembling riots just as little as they did before. In this moment, we realized the way the media’s ‘Ferguson’ had been built. Piece by piece, individual stories, quotes, sound bites and picture had been clipped, cropped and reframed to feed a greater narrative. All this reporter needed from me was a simple ‘yes’ in reply to her allegation and she would have her headline: “College Students Flee Dangerous St. Louis Suburb in the Wake of Violent Race Riots.” It’s a headline that could not have been further from the truth, but one that
neatly fit right in line with the established language and tone of the media’s ‘Ferguson’. This dynamic was one of the first things I had to tackle when I arrived in Ferguson. The reality, our leaders told us, is that there really is no ‘Ferguson’. The Ferguson we had seen on the news, and even in tweets, tumblr posts and vines, doesn’t exist. The real Ferguson is a place that, just like anywhere else, cannot be reduced to one single story, but, for some reason, has been. Ferguson has been homogenized and packaged by the mass media as if it is the problem child. As if Ferguson was the one place in America with a group of racist police officers doing violent and racist things. This problem child was paraded in front of its siblings, slapped with a DoJ report, humiliated by national media coverage, and sent to timeout. But what the world has yet to realize is that Ferguson is not the exception to the
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How do you build an inclusive community of diverse learners?”
I don’t think there has been a single month that I haven’t been asked this question. From St. Louis to Houston, Kentucky to Seattle, and New York to Tulsa, we are recognized as a school community that courageously strives to live its mission every single day. Our community members come from more than 107 zip codes, representing every possible socioeconomic status, myriad faith communities, and many households where English is not the first language, and this is only a small sample of the rich diversity in our community. So, how do we make sure Greenhill is an inclusive community? The answer is pretty simple: we ask. We come together and talk to each other about how to make our community more inclusive. Here is some of what we’ve learned from those discussions. When our students in Lower School decided that saying “JK” (or just kidding) does not justify using harmful language toward each other, we supported their implementation of a “No JK Zone.” Like-
Photo Courtesy of Evan Ritz
second grade teaching fellow Evan Ritz ’08. I expected my epiphany moments to be evoked by historic places, but what I found instead was that they came through voices. Voices like Mrs. Cole-Calloway’s. And next to the power of forgiveness, my great takeaway was the power of youth. On our Greyhound bus trek through the Deep South, we were twenty-first-century Freedom Riders. And just as it was in the 1960s, the driving force was a group of 19, 20, 21-year olds. It was young people who changed this nation, who forced Americans
at the base of the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, I could not help but rejoice at how far our nation has come. I marveled at the courage and the determination exhibited by the foot soldiers in this movement. We remembered and toasted the Selma to Montgomery marchers. And still, the march continues. We have miles to go before we sleep...
to live out our creed. Standing two hundred yards from President Obama as he spoke
-Tom Perryman ‘81, Assistant Head of School
rule. Ferguson is the rule. Ferguson’s police force was not trained in a different culture or taught a different set of rules, they were just the ones who got caught. Ferguson is not a city of refugees running from burning buildings and scarred by broken glass; it is a quiet lower-middle class suburb outside of a major metropolitan area, just like areas I drive through every
day. Just like in Ferguson, systemic injustice, violent policing, and institutional racism are present in these quiet suburbs too, and that’s the scariest truth of all.
wise, when our Middle School students shared that they don’t particularly care for jokes about their athletic abilities, height, or hair texture, we provided them with resources to make “No Joke Zones.” Now, they are using their voices to advocate for others and themselves.When our Muslim students indicated that they would like to say their daily prayers, we provided a safe space and appropriate times for them to do so. Now, we have a mediation room that is open to people of all faiths and traditions. When our Jewish students in Middle School said their peers hurt them when they minimized the importance of culturally significant days like Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah by referring to them as “vacation days,” we listened and provided time
-Harris Chowdhary, senior
for students to teach each other about how important their faiths and traditions are to them. When our conservative students in the Upper School said that they felt their voices were being marginalized and silenced, we created opportunities for them to share their perspectives and viewpoints. We also created an affinity group, which provides a safe space for them to meet and draw support from each other. When our parents wanted to know more about their children’s learning experiences, we came together and talked. Through our conversations, we were reminded that every single thing we do is driven by our collective desire to help our students become the best they can possibly be. So, how are we building our inclusive community of diverse learners? We don’t shy away from asking the hard questions, we listen to our diverse voices, and we courageously doing what it takes to make sure every member of our community feels included. It’s just that simple!
-Karen Bradberry, Director of Equity and Inclusion
News the
See p. 6 for more on the new Marshall Performing Arts Center.
Breaking the Binary Gender-neutral bathrooms could mean more than you think
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Graphic by Avery-Jane Williams
Christina Zhu News Editor
Ellen Margaret Andrews Staff Writer
Last month, Texas Representative Gilbert Peña proposed House Bill 2801, which would award students $2,000 for turning in other students who were caught using a bathroom that did not correspond to their biological sex. This new bill, if passed, will not compel schools to provide or construct alternative accommodations for students who do not feel comfortable using the gender binary bathrooms, One alternative accommodations is gender-neutral bathrooms. These are typically single-stall, lockable restrooms are available to people to of both genders and offer a place for people to go to the restroom if they do not feel comfortable going to the multiple stall, male or female restroom. Greenhill has two genderneutral bathrooms open to students and the public. One is in the Lower School and the other is in Upper School. Additional genderneutral bathrooms on campus are only open to faculty. When the new Upper and Lower school buildings were built in 2004, the minds behind the design of the building didn’t purposefully place the gender-neutral bathrooms. “We were using the term ‘family bathrooms,’ which we often see next to a women’s bathroom and a men’s bathroom,” said Head of School Scott Griggs. “We knew that we wanted to have an
outdoor bathroom on the Upper School because we planned it for access for field hockey when they played on the old field-hockey field. We wanted anybody to have access to a bathroom: male, female, whomever. It wasn’t purposefully for gender-neutral as many schools are doing today.” Gender-neutral bathrooms mainly cater to transgender people, “people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth,” according to GLAAD.com.
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Greenhill does a great job of looking at new issues and finding a way to deal with them, so when it comes to transgender students they will do a great job.
While currently there are no openly transgender students at Greenhill, the topic is still part of the discussions of Greenhill’s administrators and peer schools in the Southwest Preparatory Conference if and when it arises. “Kinkaid School in Houston this year had a question on athletics for a student who’s transgender,” Mr. Griggs said. “It’s happening in schools like ours in SPC and across the country. We approved the student to swim in the competition for how that student was identifying. That’s the kind of legal advice we were given by [a] lawyer as well:
whichever gender that student is identifying as, you treat them as that.” Jason Yaffe, Director of Academics, also has experience accomodating a transgender student in a school environment. While working at a boarding school summer program in Massachusetts, one of the students at the school was transitioning from female to male. Mr. Yaffe endorsed the idea that making a transgender student feel comfortable in a school community takes more than just a bathroom. “It worked because my student did not want special treatment and was transitioning to living in a male dormitory, so using a single -sex bathroom was going to be his norm in the upcoming school year,” Mr. Yaffe said. Some logistical accommodations were made, but according to Mr. Yaffe, how the other students reacted was more important. “The kids were tremendous. There wasn’t laughter, there wasn’t teasing, and there wasn’t bullying,” Mr. Yaffe said. Karen Bradberry, Director of Equity and Inclusion, said she hopes that when a transgender student comes to Greenhill, Greenhill will be prepared to welcome them. “I think for us it’s a question that we have already had conversations about and are continuing to have conversations about,” Dr. Bradberry said. Today the school is unaware of any students who either have or who plan to transition.
“If a transgender student would have applied this year and would have been admitted, we would have to sit down and walk through what that kid’s journey would be like. It would be a difference that we haven’t necessarily encountered,” Dr. Bradberry said. According to an Evergreen survey of 100 Upper School students, 78 percent of them said the issue of the limited number of genderneutral bathrooms had not even occurred to them. Only 48 percent of the students said that they think there should be more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. Senior Nanda Bhushan, president of Another Perspective club, attributes this to the fact that currently there isn’t an openly transgender community at Greenhill. But she said she thinks talking more about the issues are important. “[Conversation] definitely has to come from the students first,” Nanda said. “Greenhill does a great job of looking at new issues and finding a way to deal with them, so when it comes to transgender students they will do a great job. As a person who identifies as female, I don’t know what a transgender person would need in a school environment, so I think it’s about starting discussion.” Senior Aryn Henderson, president of True Colors, believes education is another important key. “When [people] hear the LGBTQAI [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual] acronym they don’t know what half of the
letters mean, so they don’t know that these people exist and that’s completely foreign to them. So when they encounter it for the first time, they may react poorly,” Aryn said. It order to build a community that is more open and ready for a transgender student, Aryn said she believes that educating students about transgender people on more platforms, such as Middle School sexual education or Wellness class, could be good places to start. Mr. Griggs said he understands that many steps need to be taken in order to be fully accommodating. “One of things we talked about, Mrs. Ross and I, is that we’re not ready,” Mr. Griggs said. “I don’t feel I’m ready yet, in terms of the things we need to be doing, in terms of preparing ourselves for [a transgender student], because it will happen. We’ve talked about needing to get our policies and procedures in place so that we’re ready for that, and we’re not there yet.” Mr. Griggs also said that it is important to plan for the future. “If we simply look at the statistics and what’s happening nationally, we’re going to have to be prepared for the possibility of a transgender student and that’s going to be important for us to not be so reactive only when that happens. I want to be a little proactive and be prepared for that. Conversation certainly will help along those lines.”
wednesday, april 22, 2015
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Freshman testifies for same-sex adoption bill Zoe Allen Staff Writer
Northwest of the state capital in Austin, Texas lies the John H. Reagan Building. Inside this building sits many adults: lawyers, same-sex couples, and testifiers. At first glance, it looks like any other courtroom, but to freshman Zoë Touchet, it is far from that. This courtroom is where she will testify for an issue that is deeply personal to her and her parents. She will argue for the rights of something that most of us take for granted. Zoë’s birth mother is Michelle Touchet, and in 2002, Kassandra McLaughlin, Michelle’s partner, chose to adopt her. Zoë was adopted in Travis County, the only place in Texas where same-sex marriage adoptions were legal at the time. “In Texas, you can do a second-parent adoption after the second parent has lived with the child for six months,” Ms. Touchet said. “Kassandra adopted her when she was two, and as part of the adoption process, they reissued the birth certificate with the adoptive parent’s name.” This reissued birth certificate is called a supplementary birth certificate. “A supplementary birth certificate is the birth certificate you get when you are adopted. This has your adopted parents on it,” Zoë said. In 1997, a bill authored by Republican congressman Will Hartnett from Dallas passed, making supplementary birth certificates go from saying “mother/parent” and “father/parent” to “mother/female” and “father/male.” Because of this rule, only one of the members of a homosexual couple can put their name on the supplementary birth certificate. The other parent would remain on the adoption record, which is sealed.
Thus, when Ms. McLaughlin chose to adopt Zoë, Ms. Touchet’s name was taken off of the birth certificate and replaced with Ms. McLaughlin’s name. The post-1997 supplementary birth certificate law makes for a tricky situation, allowing adoption ease for heterosexual couples, but bringing hardship to homosexual couples. One of the main objectives of House Bill 537 is to get the supplementary birth certificates back to saying “parent.” And this is why Zoë was at the John H. Reagan Building, testifying before the State of Affairs Committee. “[Testifying] was really nerve-wracking. I was the only kid there. A lot of the other people were same-sex couples. Most of them were professional adults. I was a student, and that was kind of weird. I felt very unprepared, but I was not.” Zoë said that the other testifiers were asked questions, especially about how their jobs related to the situation. The court recognized that she was still a student, and she was not asked this. Zoë babysits for Democratic Representative Rafael Anchia, who has attempted to pass this bill three other times, but was met by a negative response from the State of Affairs Committee. Anchia talked to Ms. McLaughlin about the trip, and Zoë prepared a speech. Unlike the previous three attempts, Zoë was faced with a positive reaction when she went to go testify. “I testified and I told my story,” Zoë said. “[I told them] how the mother and father on the birth certificate hurts me personally. Not only are they punishing the same-sex couples, [but] they are punishing the children of the same-sex couples.” To reap the benefits (such as Social
Photo courtesy of Zoë Touchet
TRAVELING TO TESTIFY: Freshman Zoë Touchet travels 195 miles to Austin to testify for House Bill 537, trying to legalize same-sex adoption throughout the state of Texas.
Security) from her birth mother Ms. Touchet, whose name is not on the supplementary birth certificate, she would have to get her adoption records unsealed. This process requires money, time, and the ruling of a judge.
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She was able to put a face to the issue that they could not ignore.”
Zoë said that the bill is not just for same-sex couples. “This is for the woman that has a baby and her sister wants to be another guardian,
or her mother wants to be another guardian. Or a man [in the same situation]. Any two people of the same sex who want to be co-guardians, even if they are not in a relationship, cannot do that.” The problems of the supplementary birth certificate are not as severe towards the parents as they are towards the children. “It [the supplementary birth certificate] doesn’t really affect Michelle or I. It’s her set of rights that are affected,” Ms. McLaughlin said. No other child facing similar problems went to Austin to testify in favor of the bill. “She was able to put a face to the issue that they could not ignore,” Ms. Touchet said.
Junior first to win consecutive state debate titles, preparation pays off Christian Holmes Online Editor
It’s midnight and junior Bennett Eckert is just starting his homework after hours of debate-case preparation. Bennett is the only two-time Lincoln-Douglas debate winner in the history of the Texas Forensic Association State (TFA State) Tournament, a competition that lures the best debaters in Texas to compete for three days in March in El Paso, Texas. “You can only compete in the TFA State Tournament by garnering enough winpoints at designated qualifiers throughout the year,” said Aaron Timmons, Director of Debate. “Because of that, all the best debaters in Texas and the United States were at this tournament.” The tournament, which started on March 5, had six preliminary rounds in Lincoln-Douglas style debate. Students debate one-on-one for 45 minutes, discussing moral and philosophical issues. Bennett went undefeated in these rounds. Five single-elimination rounds follow the preliminary rounds. The victor of the Lincoln-Douglas Division, the largest division at the tournament, needs to win a total of 11 rounds.
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Bennett has modeled an approach to preparation that has benefitted our younger students.”
“It’s really about knowing your opponent’s argument and preemptively responding to it,” Bennett said. “I really have to give the credit to Mr. Timmons, who teaches us how to better engage with arguments and not avoid them.” Bennett says practice and competition aid in his success. “I debate two hours after school every other day, [I spend] most of [my] time researching evidence for possible debate cases with others,” Bennett said. “But
Photo by Madison Goordrich
tournaments are where you really test what you know.” Greenhill’s policy debaters, who compete in teams and debate about real-world policy issues, and Lincoln-Douglas debaters both travel to places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Chicago to gain experience and points for more selective tournaments. To Bennett, time management and prioritization of schoolwork is key. “Debate really teaches you how to manage your time effectively. I try to finish a lot of the debate preparation during my breaks or when I first arrive home so I can then spend more time on homework,” he said. “Sometimes, I’ll even use downtime during tournaments.” Bennett is still undecided about debating in college. “I’ve gotten some interest, but schools only recruit you if you’re definitely interested in debating there,” he said. “Right now, I’m just looking forward to next year and winning more tournaments with my team.” Mr. Timmons says Bennett, along with the two other senior Lincoln-Douglas debaters, should easily be ranked in the top six students in the country next year. “Bennett has modeled an approach to preparation that has benefitted our younger students. I expect them to have a huge year.”
6 news
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wednesday, april 22, 2015
Work in Progress
Photo by Stephen Zhang
ROOM WITH A VIEW: Head of School, Scott Griggs, leads group through the Marshall Performing Arts Center. The unfinished second floor gives a panoramic view of the campus.
What I learned from the new Fine Arts building
Megan Wiora Views Editor
Clad in suits and dresses from earlier that day, Greenhill faculty, parents, and alumni mingle at Founders Place while munching on hors d’oeuvres. This is neither an alumni dinner nor a Board of Trustees event. The first clue is that the small congregation is wearing hard hats. As I talk to the other members of the tour, we joke about that this would be the perfect accessory to wear to prom. I learn that they are anxious and excited to drink up the knowledge they are about to receive on the imminent tour of the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center. I am not there just for the facts, though I am there to eperience the building in a way we student can’t from the classrooms, where we hear the constant noise of construction. As we walk on the gravel pathway leading to the MPAC, I cannot help but notice the open and airy feel of the lobby. My eyes were drawn to the red metal that frames the structure of the geometric stairs that will ascend to the second floor. We proceed into the 150-seat black box theater. Pieces of construction materials covered by tarps line the walls and a big machine is stowed in the back. As my tour guide, Scott Griggs, Head of School,
describes the safety advantages of the cinderblock-lined space, I note the bright red spiral staircase that leads to what will be the catwalk. In a room meant to feel so dark, I find comfort in the splash of color. Then we enter a hallway packed with rooms on each side. Mr. Griggs describes the function of each room: one will be a greenroom, another will be a pantry with a refrigerator. As dinnertime approaches I am glad that students will get the chance to grab a bite to eat after school without the hassle of heading all the way to the Buzz from out here.
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It is a bit like us Upper School students at Greenhill, I realize. We have our foundations, and we can see the structure of our future selves, yet there is so much room for imagination, for growth.
At the end of the hallway, we are greeted by a spacious room that will house the tech theater scene shop. A big gust of wind buffets the group from the open stretch of wall on
the other side of the room. I tilt my head to see the main steel theater’s steel roof panels, still in progress, along with the gridiron platform that will become the stage. Peaking through one of the steel roof panels, I see the Greenhill flag, placed at the highest point of the new building, almost as if it was waving at us, excited to reveal its new additions. As Laura Ross, Head of Upper School, and I look out at the theater’s 450-seat audience and the 150-seat balcony, we can already imagine freshmen scampering up the steps to the balcony for Upper School meetings. Once we make our way to the dance and choir room upstairs, the tour group falls silent as a view of the entire east side of campus emerges. We are level with the trees, and as the sun is lowering in the distance, hues of orange coat all the buildings. I still wish I had taken a panoramic picture of that view. I suddenly become very jealous of the future members of choir and Dance Company, for I will not have this amazing view every morning. By the time I have finished taking it all in, our group has headed downstairs, and I rush to catch up with them. Back downstairs, the members are talking about the main theater, for we are
facing the main stage. I look above me to see industrial-style lights that are the new trend in Pottery Barn catalogs. Now they are lit solely for function, but the building already radiates an artistic ambiance. At the end of the tour we write our names on a pole that supports the balcony. The other members write in fancy script. I hurriedly scribble “Megan Wiora Class of 2016.” As we walk back to founders place I say goodbye to the building by giving it one last glace. It is a bit like us Upper School students at Greenhill, I realize. We have our foundations, and we can see the structure of our future selves, yet there is so much room for imagination, for growth. Just like the hanging wires and the stakes of metal scattered around the building, we do not have everything put together. We still lose our Precal notes two weeks before the exam and hit curbs when making left turns. Yet there is a beauty in transition. At this stage, the building has a raw and refreshing feeling, just as we are known to be the unplugged version of our future selves. Although I am grateful to see this side of the building, I am excited for the finished piece to be revealed.Just as I am excited to evolve into the person I am going to be for the rest of my life.
Fourth grader starts recycling business, converts cigar boxes into birdhouses Sophie Bernstein Staff Writer
Last month, fourth grader Chas Bianco signed a six-month contract with the Trinity River Audubon Center gift shop, allowing him to sell birdhouses made of “upcycled” cigar boxes in the store. He started this business due to his love for not only building, but also for birds and the environment. “I’ve liked birds forever, pretty much,” Chas said. “When I was little I used to get the stool and put it next to my window [at night] and say, ‘Good morning, nocturnal animals. Good night, day animals.’ I’ve just always loved nature. On the weekends I would leave my window open and in the morning I would wake up to the birds.” He came up with the idea for his business four years ago on a visit to a friend’s ranch. There he saw some used cigar boxes and made his first birdhouse on that trip. “Normally, a good birdhouse is
something where the bird has as much room as you can supply, so the bird can make a nest that’s really big if the bird wanted to, or that’s really small, and still feel protected,” Chas said. With screws, latches, and a drill bit from his neighbors, Chas uses his garage and dining room to set up a workshop to turn cigar boxes into homes. For each birdhouse, he drills a hole, which acts like a door for birds like chickadees or wrens, and adds a perch. Melodi Bianco, mother of Chas Bianco, paid for the original supplies, but he now uses the money he makes from his business to pay her back. He buys the cigar boxes from Addison Elite Cigars. “We happened to be driving by one day, and thought this cigar shop had their boxes outside, and sure enough, we pull in and they do. Just any of their empty cigar boxes are just out on the stand for sale. Some of the boxes are beautiful. They have drawings
and they’re really lovely pieces of carpentry,” said Ms. Bianco. Chas has bird-watched at the Audubon Center since he was little and had his sixth birthday party there. Due to his long relationship with the staff, he did not have trouble approaching them about selling his birdhouses. So far he has made birdhouses ranging in size from 4”x8” to 12”x6”. Some he has given to family and friends, some he hangs in his own backyard where he has seen bird nests, and some he sells. For every $20 birdhouse sold, Chas keeps 60 percent of the money while the rest of the proceeds go to the Audubon Center. He is saving for a camera to photograph birds. Chas is unsure of his future business plans. He hopes people will stop smoking cigars despite the possibility of losing his business. “I would say the main purpose is to turn a bad habit into something that can help the
Photo courtesy of Chas Bianco
RELENTLESS RECYCLER: Chas Bianco builds birdhouses as a hobby and business. He works on them in his garage and house.
environment, because when people smoke, it’s not good for you. It’s more towards the bad side. But I can turn that into something that will help the environment. Smoking creates pollution from the smoke, so if I can give back to the environment, it helps,” Chas said.
Features the
See p. 9 for this issue’s spotlight on senior Adam Konig.
Photos by Varun Gupta
PARENTING THE PROCESS: During the college application process, parents often struggle to find a balance between helpful and overbearing. Above, steps of the college process are shown, from beginning the Common Application to acceptance. In many cases, parents feel as much pressure as their children.
“Honey, did you get in?”
The college application process through the eyes of a parent Joseph Weinberg Staff Writer
The phone rings. They immediately know who is on the other line as they have eagerly waited all day for this call. Years of hard work and preparation have all led up to the news about to be delivered. A parent takes a deep breath, reaches for the phone, and braces for the news of an acceptance, a deferral, a waitlist, or a rejection. This is decision day. Not students’ experience, but rather, their parents’. “When Emma was denied from one of her top choice schools, it was traumatic,” said Sunny Pillow, mother of senior Emma. “It was a heart-breaking moment when she first delivered the news to me.” Parents witness the struggles and stresses their children endure. Some parents choose to be more involved with their child’s work whereas others elect to let their child handle their process mostly on their own. But even if parents are not constantly throwing out ideas and reading essays, it is difficult for them to evade the tenuous hours their child spends thinking about college. The non-interventionist role taken by some parents may be due to their lack of familiarity with the United States college application system. “[The college application process] environment I grew up in was very much driven by me,” said Manju Menon, mother of senior Remya. Mrs. Menon did her undergraduate studies in India before moving to the United States to attend graduate school. “It was more about exploring options when I was applying, but now it seems like the stakes are much higher.” The Greenhill college counseling team acknowledges differences between the process today and the application process this generation’s parents experienced. “Many parents have a perspective of college that is at least 20 years old,” said Jennifer Kincaid, Director of College Counseling. “I
work with the juniors especially to let them know that it is important to be completely up to date on any college because colleges are constantly changing.” Other parents simply feel that it is not their obligation to facilitate discussion with their child about college. “I don’t think it should be much of a parent-driven process in the first place, and it should mostly come from the kids themselves,” Mrs. Pillow said. “Occasionally, I give my own input, but I try not to be the one leading the [college] discussions.” Mrs. Pillow said she feels that the input she gives might not always be the most informed anyways. “It is such an alien process to us [parents] and I don’t always feel qualified to talk about it,” Mrs. Pillow said.
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As difficult and intense as the process may be and might get, the bottom line is that we are [our children’s] advocates and have [their] welfare in mind at all times.” Often, parents adapt their role based on how their child approaches the process. “Caroline is self-motivated,” said Michelle Early, mother of senior Caroline. “It’s not that I don’t care or support her it is just that she has taken it upon herself to be independent with most of her work.” The applicant’s feelings often reflect onto his or her parents. Their own emotions are often based off of how their child reacts to a certain piece of news. “When Remya called us to say she did not get into a certain school, I just remember my husband and I thinking, ‘I hope she is okay with it,’ because that is what matters most,” said Mrs. Menon. Discussions about where to apply or where to ultimately attend school can often get heated or intense and lead to temporary disagreements. For example, applicants are sometimes put
under pressure to apply to certain schools based on their parents’ alma maters. “There was definitely pressure on me from a young age to be the perfect daughter who goes to an Ivy League school,” said senior Sarah Kim. “My parents went to Cornell and all of my mom’s three siblings went to Cornell, but I wanted to attend a small, liberal arts school.” College is a sensitive topic to many seniors and the anxiety it causes can often strain parentchild relationships. Parents are challenged to discuss college with their children without crossing certain lines. While many parents might think they are doing a favor to their children, their “helpful ideas” sometimes put even more stress on the child. “The day the application for my early decision school was due, after I already had both of my college counselors edit my essays, my mom was being very knit-picky and changing the littlest things like the contraction ‘it’s’ to ‘it is,’” Sarah said. “I know my parents only want the best for me. They want to help me, until I helped them realize that sometimes, the most helpful thing they can do is take a step back and relax.” Senior parents often find themselves in a tricky position trying to balance being supportive of their child without getting on their nerves and becoming too invasive. “The process was sometimes frustrating for me because there was nothing I could do to personally help her,” Mrs. Pillow said. “I was there trying to be nothing but supportive and helpful but [Emma] did not want to hear me voice my opinions.” Enter the counselor, the perfect mediator between students and their parents. “Towards the end of the process, if I wanted to interject my own advice, I found it easiest to go through Ms. Kincaid rather than directly approaching Emma,” Mrs. Pillow said. The college counselor can act
as an unbiased source that can help both students and parents see each other’s perspectives in times of disagreement. “Part of my job [as college counselor] is to be objective with both students and parents,” Ms. Kincaid said. “It is to help them see each other’s view but I don’t think it is necessarily appropriate for me to advance a specific position.” College counselors witness parent-student relationships from an outside perspective and can work with both sides. Ms. Kincaid stressed that when it comes to college, an important quality in any parent-child relationship is honesty. “If there is something that is going to guide the decision making process from the very beginning that a parent or child feels very strongly about, I really think the family needs to have an open and honest conversation” Ms.
Kincaid said. “The earlier families can have these open dialogues about determining factors, the better.” Parents still do their best to be nothing but supportive at all times even when conflict and disagreement arises. “As difficult and intense as the process may be and might get, the bottom line is that we are her advocates and have her welfare in mind at all times,” Mrs. Menon said. Mrs. Pillow said she felt that a key role she played as a parent was to help her daughter see the bigger picture of the process. “When everyone around you is talking about college, it is easy to get sucked into thinking this is the biggest decision you will ever have to make in your life,” said Mrs. Pillow. “I want to put it all in perspective and make sure my child knows it is not a complete failure if you do not get into one particular school.”
8 features
the
Evergreen
wednesday, april 22, 2015
See the Future
Abbas Hasan Maya Ghosh Staff Writers
Back on campus for the first time since he graduated, Chase Feiger ‘07 handed us a pair of glasses out of his backpack, and we could barely stay in our chairs. Excitement overwhelmed us. Words came out of speakers on the sides of the glasses. We saw an oil drill before us. “Step One,” the voice said. “Find the knob and rotate twice.” Where’s the knob? we wondered. “Step Two: Now, take a picture of the oil drill and once contented, say ‘send’”. Ok, easy enough. We proceed to take the picture and say “send”. “Step Three: Turn wrench on the right side to make a forty-five degree angle.” After completing it, we let out a sigh of relief. If we were oil manufacturers, we would have successfully “fixed” an oil rig! Though you might assume we were physically working on an oil rig a after following detailed instructions regarding different wrenches, pipes and drills, the view of an oil rig actually came from a pair of Google glasses. The application that allowed us to see an oil rig through the glasses also allows similar sights in other fields of work, such as healthcare and energy. This technological platform dubbed, Wearable Intelligence was the brainchild of Chase Evan Feiger ’07 and two of his
cofounders. At 26, Mr. Feiger is not new to the world of technology and entrepreneurship. His first company, ChaseFuture, helps Chinese students attain visas and passports so they can study abroad. It is now one of the fastest growing and most well-known companies in China. Though Mr. Feiger is now experienced and distinguished in his field, in high school he was not so willed and hard-working as he is now. He joined Greenhill as a kindergartener and is a Forever Club member. He said that to make himself look stronger, he used to wear shirts a size too small and claim that no shirt could fit his muscles. When he walked with us on campus recently for the first time since his graduation, he immediately searched for his former teachers. After spotting Mr. Lowen, his former advisor, he stopped to have a conversation. It seemed as if they had been talking for days, not like they hadn’t seen each other for almost eight years. “I never until now have realized that I have really taken a lot of [Greenhill] for granted. Being back here makes me remember it all. Greenhill does an effective job preparing students for college,” Mr. Feiger said. After graduating from Greenhill, he attended The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and found himself in a class regarding
medical usages. He soon grew to love it because all of his life he had known that he wanted to become a doctor. He applied to Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and was accepted. But as much as he wanted to become a doctor, he also wanted to create a business and create a longlasting effect on people. “From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to become a physician. But there always was an itch that I had to build a company,” Mr. Fieger said. So, he put away his dreams of medical school and thrust himself into ChaseFuture. After some time working at ChaseFuture, he was approached by two other entrepreneurs in hopes of starting a second company. He left his first company and searched for a problem to solve for the next one. “We spent a ton of time doing customer development work to ensure we were solving a very important problem. The primary objective for a business is to solve a problem. If a business is not solving a problem, then it’s not a business,” Mr. Feiger said. The problem that he saw would eventually lead to the creation of Wearable Intelligence. He noticed that every year, companies lost millions of dollars because of malfunctioning equipment, and people died because doctors did not have a specific skill to save them. “[The idea came] in a venture capital funds conference room
Photo courtesy of Chase Feiger
NEXT GENERATION VISION: Chase Evan Feiger ‘07 (left) co-founded a technology platform called Wearable Intelligence, which enables surgeons and engineers to communicate via tablets and Google glass.
about two years ago. At the time I was an associate at the fund,” Mr. Feiger said. Wearable Intelligence allows people to stream and send tutorial videos, pictures and blueprints. If a doctor urgently needs to operate on a patient, he or she can stream a video of a coworker, who could walk them through the surgery. In one instance at a Harvard University hospital, a doctor was not skilled in a certain heart surgery so used Wearable Intelligence to save the life of a patient. In energy and construction, Wearable Intelligence provides employee accountability so workers can know who last accessed certain
materials and who worked on them in case of faulty equipment. Mr. Feiger’s dedication from the start has proven to be successful. “Anything I do requires 100 percent dedication. I have not taken a vacation since starting the company two years ago, and [I] work seven days a week,” Mr. Feiger said. In 15 years, Mr. Feiger has seen many companies using his product and he says that products used in our day-to-day lives will be impacted by it. He envisions fewer preventable deaths, fewer oil spills, less money wasted, and a greater use of renewable energy because of Wearable Intelligence.
Mailroom Mayhem
49,000 1,591 743.75
Approximate number of copies made in a month by a single copier in the Greenhill mailroom Individual mail items sent out in the month of March Dollars spent monthly on boxes of 8” x 11” paper compiled by Zach Rudner
wednesday, april 22, 2015
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features
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The Popular Vote: Inside Student Council Elections Ben Schachter Sports Editor
Krishna Shetty Staff Writer
As Student Council members file into the meetings that take place each C-Day during lunch, the sound of laughter echoes from the typically quiet, gray-walled classroom. Student Council is filled with high-energy, outgoing people. “[During] our Student Council meetings, we’re laughing most of the time,” said junior Keaton Butowsky, rising student body president. Presidents have had a sense of humor and an aura of confidence. Is this merely coincidence, or is the student body consciously electing leaders that embody these traits? “[Senior Alex Raphael, current Student Body President] won because [students] love listening to him talk. When he’s around, things are entertaining. Nick Kraus, [2013-14 Student Body President] was a funny guy and was on improv. Kyle Weinreb, [2012-13 Student Body President] was funny, an actor, and very hardworking. The student body wants somebody that they can enjoy themselves with,” Keaton said. Students said they feel that while humor isn’t the specific reason for each president’s victory, it plays a part in adding to the appeal of each candidate. “I think [the recent presidents] are good leaders. What’s attractive to a lot of people is someone who can take these big issues with humor,” said junior Mose Kane. Color Wars is a Student Councilrun event that exemplifies taking bigger issues with humor. Student Council’s ability to promote unity among classmates through the organization of events, which are typically filled with humor, is why many students often elect the funniest of the candidates running. Like Mose, Alex sees humor as more
Andrew Friedman
Graphic by Ariana Zhang
RULE THE SCHOOL: (above) Junior Class President Keaton Butowsky has the typical characteristics that most of the student body seeks in a likeable, and successful, candidate.
than a form of entertainment. “We expect to relate to leaders, and humor is a means of relating to people,” Alex said. What is harder for students to relate to is timidness. “When someone gives a speech [for elections] and they’re quiet, whispering and not that confident in what they’re saying, it makes you wonder whether they even believe in what they’re saying,” Keaton said. “That person is not going to get elected because people want people that have a certain appeal to them. Generally, those are confident, funny people.” Alex agrees that confidence is important in election speeches as well as actually leading the school once elected. However, he says that while leaders try to appear confident, that is not necessarily how they feel on
the inside. “I don’t think [Student Council presidents] are necessarily confident. There have certainly been many times when I’m nervous, but I think it’s about a portrayal of confidence. Almost every C-Day I get very little sleep the night before because I’m very nervous,” Alex said. Alex and Keaton both portray an outward feeling of confidence, but it is their nervousness on the inside that make their words genuine. To achieve this, Keaton’s election speech focused mainly on relating to the average student, while mixing in the occasional joke. “I wrote five speeches and gave each speech to myself in the mirror and recorded them. I was thinking about how I would [feel] if I was sitting down on the floor, my back hurting, how the average per-
son would feel,” Keaton said. The beginning of Keaton’s speech was filled with humor as he tried to relate to the rest of the student body, but humor is something to be wary of: humor is often used purely in jest. In the 2015 elections at The University of Texas at Austin, junior Xavier Rotnofsky and senior Rohit Mandalapu ran for student body president and vice president respectively. Their campaign, which started off as a joke mocking student government elections, picked up support, and soon the two were elected into office. While they have taken their responsibilities seriously since being elected, they represent a different side of the spectrum: the candidate who just wants to get up and crack a couple jokes in front of the school. Meanwhile, some people are too afraid to even run for Student Council, in part due to their quieter personality. With humor and confidence often being the key to winning Student Council elections, many people feel left out, even though Student Council meetings are open to the entire student body. “A lot of times, the best qualified candidates are quiet. [Elections have begun to favor] whoever is loudest or does the most eye–catching thing,” said sophomore Brooke Bulmash, who has run for class vice president before and lost. “People who aren’t loud or don’t do crazy things then end up not being able to keep up with the other candidates.” Both Keaton and Alex agree that there are groups of people that are not represented in Student Council due to their personality. “Generally the people elected [to Student Council] are funny, confident people, but then there’s the shy person that’s afraid to step up, and maybe sign up for a Color Wars event. Those voices are not heard as much because they’re not the type of person who would show up to a Student Council meeting,” Keaton said.
In the Spotlight...
Special Sections Editor
We continue our “In the Spotlight” series, a chance to get to know one randomly selected Upper School student each issue. This conversation was with senior Adam Konig.
Senior Adam Konig has a knack for building stuff. His most recent projects are a series of mounts for his GoPro camera, which includes a figure eight stabilizer mount, a classic selfie-stick, and a snorkel rig, complete with an arm brace and two handles. It’s hard to imagine that his long career in PVC and wood craftsmanship began in the attic of his house, playing with Legos. “We had a little playroom in our house called The Fort. It’s basically a raised loft made by 2x4’s and wood that [my dad] just bought and put together,” Adam said. “When I was little, my dad built it himself, but when I grew older I would work on it with him. We still use it to do homework or play videogames.” Adam worked with his dad in their garage building scooter ramps and remote-controlled cars. Today, he builds everything from Ping-Pong tables to computers. “Now, when I have an idea for a project, I’ll run it by [my dad], and he’ll tell me every single way I can choose to build it. I built a folding table, and the issue was that the middle would fold in on itself, and so I asked him about it, and he told me eight different ways we could make it work,” Adam said. Adam’s most recent project was a
new computer commissioned by Corbin Doyle, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher for the Greenhill Advanced Video Production (AVP) classroom. “It ended up being a pain in the butt, but it was fun,” Adam said. “Mr. Doyle wanted to buy a new iMac for AVP, but it was going to cost $4000, something absurd. So I showed him online, I was like, ‘I can build you a computer for far less, and it will be faster and better than any Apple product you can buy.’ He gave me a budget; I showed him the parts I wanted; we ordered them, [Senior] Jordan Jaffee and I put them together, and then I installed OS X on it. ‘The Hackintosh,’ that’s what it’s called.” Adam also hacked his way into the Advanced Video Production class itself . “At the end of sophomore year, I needed a computer credit, so I asked Mr. Doyle if I could just skip BVP and go straight to AVP. He was like, ‘That’s fine, but you can’t make garbage films,’” Adam said. His film, “Consider the Hacker”, was accepted into the Dallas International Film Festival this year. “I just thought out every joke along the way so that when I filmed I had everything lined up,” Adam said. “The big movie I made this year…it was just a long movie so that I could make this dumb joke at the end. Jordan Jaffee’s [nerdy hacker kid] final line is, ‘You remind me of a frozen program, and now all I can do is control, alt…’ then he points a gun at [the bad guy] and says, ‘Delete,’ and shoots him. I basically made the whole movie around that one joke.” Jokes are Adam’s business, as he is also a four-year member of the Greenhill Improv Troupe. He said he believes that there are some misconceptions about Improv’s
selection process. “There is a huge stigma that Improv is a popularity club,” Adam said. According to Adam, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. “We get up at seven a.m. once a week, and we practice before school starts, and we are all exhausted and tired. We practice during bagel break. On show weeks we’ll meet three or four times. There is a ton of commitment that comes into it. If you want the people saying ‘Hey, great job!’ after the show, if you want that moment, you have to put in 20 hours before the next show to refine your skills,” Adam said. According to Adam, Improv members are more humble than people might assume. “I just remember the first year I joined the troupe, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not the coolest kids. We’re the weirdest collection of kids they could have found that like doing theater,’” Adam said. Adam said he admits that the Improv troupe has recently had to invest extra time in reconsidering jokes that were passable in the past but are no longer acceptable because they target certain groups. “When I was a freshman, if we were ever doing a scene at an airport, [someone] would always end the scene running in, shouting gibberish, and blowing up. That’s what I learned was okay. Over the two years when I was on, that quickly became not okay,” Adam said. The Improv Troupe’s shift to more politically correct humor may have disappointed some diehard fans, but Adam said he believes that the Troupe is moving in the right direction. “The most frustrating thing is when
Photo by Ariana Zhang
BUILD–A–JOKE: Senior Adam Konig holds a homemade tripod for his Video Production class. He is also on the Improv team.
people come up to me after the show and go, ‘I loved the show, but I miss that you guys aren’t racist anymore, you guys aren’t sexist anymore.’ I’m like, ‘Well, these are bad things that we don’t want to do. We’re representing the school; you don’t have to be dirty to be funny.’ Unfortunately, that’s how society has started looking at comedy. Louis CK isn’t funny if he doesn’t drop an f-bomb every now and then,” Adam said. When Adam is not at Improv practice, he socializes around campus with newfound confidence. For Adam, part of life is practice and craftsmanship, and the other part is just going for it. “I can’t tell you how much of the hesitation of ‘Oh, is this funny or not funny?’ goes away after a year on Improv. Jokes just come to you, and you just say them,” he said.
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
I
t’s 9 p.m. on a Saturday night and junior Rachel Poole is standing outside of an empty IHOP waiting for her close friend, junior Nicolas Suarez. She’s frustrated that he is late, just like every other time they make plans, and dials his phone number in hopes of an explanation. Finally, aftera string of rings, he picks up, angry, lost, out of gas, and alone. Rachel did not realize it at the time, but Nicolas was having a mild panic attack, a common symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the mental illness with which he was diagnosed four years ago when he was in seventh grade. While on the phone with Rachel that night, Nicolas panicked because he was not able to drive to the restaurant in the exact manner that he intended. “I kind of went rogue,” Nicolas said. “Because I got off of that path, I started freaking out. I didn’t have a set track.” Remembering their conversation on the phone, Rachel said, “He sounded frustrated and it just escalated. It grew from frustration to agitation. [The situation] was something that he couldn’t control. I imagined him probably having his phone in his hand and his arms flailing around with a whole bunch of expression. I saw in my head the car swerving and I got nervous. There was nothing I could do. I didn’t know where he was. All I could do was talk to him on the phone.” Getting lost is stressful for everyone, and everyone has his or her own compulsive patterns, but these commonalities fall short of the distressing compulsions of OCD. This mental illness causes those affected to have thoughts and fears that result in anxiety that, without medical treatment, people often address with either irrational behavior or rituals. “It’s like a person in your mind who controls you and tells you [that] you have to do something even if you don’t want to [do it and] you know you don’t have to,” Nicolas said. During one of his early visits to his therapist in seventh grade, Nicolas remembers reading an excerpt from a book about OCD titled The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing. “It was about a boy who kept taking showers and tried to wash something off of him, [but] didn’t know what it was,” Nicolas said. “It wasn’t actually anything, it was just that in his mind he felt like something was making him uncomfortable and the [discomfort] made him take a shower. I realized [the boy] was like me and that’s when I realized I’m not the only one doing this. It was a moment when [I thought] that if [the boy could] do it, I [could] do it.” Like the boy in the book, Nicolas has
rituals to keep his anxiety under control. The intensity of his rituals depends on what kind of day it is for Nicolas: good or bad. Since beginning treatment, which includes medication and used to include biweekly cognitive behavioral therapy, he has mostly good days, when he feels he can do anything he wants. “On bad days I would be more limited. There were a lot of rituals that I had to do. I would isolate myself, I wouldn’t talk to anyone, I wouldn’t go on social media. I was kind of like [Christopher] from The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time,” Nicolas said, referring to a novel taught in tenth-grade English. Throughout his life, Nicolas has used many routines, such as only wearing certain pairs of underwear, washing his hands before he enters a new setting, taking multiple showers a day, and avoiding any circumstances where he has to be alone. He does these things in order to feel comfortable. “When I wash my hands, that is the cleanest my hands can be, if I wear this on this day, then that’s how I can be the best that I can be,” he said. Sometimes, his habits get in the way of his daily life. “The worst part about it is waking up and realizing that you don’t have anything to wear that is clean. So what do you wear? You mentally won’t allow yourself to wear anything else besides these certain shirts and all of those are dirty, so you can’t wear those. What do you do? Do you just wear nothing? No, you wait and whatever you were doing is put on hold so that you can wash [those clothes]. There were some times during my worst when I would have to wash stuff and they wouldn’t even be done drying and I would have to wear it wet,” Nicolas said. Rachel has noticed his habits since Middle School, when he could not take a test without a constant and irrational worry that the teacher thought he was cheating. She has known about his diagnosis since her freshman year, but Nicolas’ OCD has never been something that the two friends have truly discussed. “He never said he had OCD, even when we got really, really close,” Rachel said. “He maybe said he had a ‘problem.’ We never really talked about it, I just wanted him to know I understood and would be there for him. Sometimes, people don’t want to ask you for help, they just need you to know. They need you to read the signs and see what is wrong. I know his routine and I know how he operates, so when something is off and he is not operating in the same way, I know if something is up and that he needs help.”
Depression D
epression can stem from a powerful triggering event or from an underlying chemical imbalance, but many remain unaware of the different forms depression can manifest itself. Often, those with depression are able to hide their feeling behind a smile. For others, it is made clear that they are struggling. There is a common misconception that depression and sadness are the same thing. Being sad is a feeling that lasts a few minutes or hours, whereas depression is chronic and long-term. “Depression is like being thrown in the water with weights tied to your limbs and not being able to swim back up,” said junior Kriti Naryanan. On a daily basis, channeling depressive emotions can be difficult, especially at school. “Sometimes when I get really down I just try to stay away from everyone because I feel like everyone hates me,” said one student, who asked to remain anonymous. Depression is often something students feel ashamed to talk about, and they may not alway get positive responses to it when they finally open up to loved ones. “At first, I told my friends, and they thought I was faking depression for attention or that depression wasn’t a real illness,” said Kriti. For another student, she initially chose not to tell anyone. “I didn’t really talk to many people about it just because I didn’t want them thinking they needed to act differently around me,” said one student who asked to remain anonymous. Kriti left Greenhill halfway through her sophomore year to manage her depression. She was hospitalized twice for being at suicide risk, which led her to miss a significant amount of school, and it became harder to catch up.
She attended Dallas Learning Center for half her sophomore year, which she says gave her a much more flexibility with her schedule. For another student, depression is not as severe. She has never missed school due to her depression, but for the most part, deals with the same insecurities as Kriti, such as not feeling good enough, or not feeling smart enough. There is a lingering feeling of not liking who you are that takes over the mind of many depression patients. “I felt like I shouldn’t be feeling like this all the time, but then also I felt like I deserved to be feeling like this all the time,” said one student. Those affected by depression can also feel a lot of pressure on themselves, specifically when it comes to school work. For many high school students, particularly at Greenhill, the need to excel is always at the forefront of our minds. However, pairing that feeling with depression can be difficult to manage. “I came from my old school, where I was in all honors classes. And then I got here, and was put in the lowest level of everything and was struggling. And there was the constant sense of feeling like I’m not smart,” said one student. Those experiencing a chemical imbalance can take medicine, which helps to normalize the chemical secretions of the brain. Wellness class teaches students about depression. But, like many mental illnesses, the experience is so personal that it can be hard to capture. “I actually found it hard to be in wellness because they were teaching me about depression and suicide as if I was someone who had no idea about those things. Not all of the things they taught extended to what I felt and so that frustrated me,” Kriti.
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wednesday, april 22, 2015
11
ging Over Our Heads
his school are pretty consistent e in adolescents nationwide,” i, Upper School Counselor. all adolescents will qualify or teria for a diagnosable mental as any disease or condition es a person’s thoughts, actions, with their environment. rgreen survey revealed that e reported mental illnesses at ority of students with a mental and that their peers would see
Ms. Singhvi begin a process of eir situation. to support students who don’t
have the power to get their needs met without help,” Ms. Singhvi said. “I can advocate for accommodations that can aid them on the path to a functioning, normal life. A first session may just be hearing a story, and sometimes a kid may not even be cognizant that this is so severely impacting their daily functioning that it would qualify as a mental illness.” Every person’s process is individualized. “[For students early in recovery, the process] might look like checking in once a rotation to see how things are going and if we can figure out coping skills to get through the school day,” Ms. Singhvi said. “Protocol is the same but the conversation is different for every student. I don’t have a script or a certain set of questions that I am looking to getting answered.”
Eating Disorders P
eople might imagine any number of alarming reasons for a teenager to be passed out on the floor, alone. There are a lot of probable causes for a teenager in this position. It may have been heat exhaustion. She could be drunk. She may not have slept the last few nights. For senior Remya Menon, it was malnourishment, and passing out was the first step to deciding she needed help. Two days after the accident, Remya was sitting with Andy Mercurio, Upper School English teacher, in his cubicle, crying. “After [I told Mr. Mercurio], things just happened so fast,” Remya said. Then Mr. Mercurio enlisted the help of Priya Singhvi, Upper School counselor with whom they called Remya’s mother. By the end of the day, Remya was admitted to Children’s Hospital, where she was diagnosed with bulimia and mild anorexia. For two years until she fainted at home, Remya only had a slight internal awareness of her eating disorder. Still, she had systems such as napping to make the hunger ware off. “If I wait long enough, I know it goes away. So I knew if I slept, when I woke up I wouldn’t be hungry anymore,” Remya said. Having such a system didn’t add up to having an eating disorder for her, though. “It was just a habit. We’d studied it before [at school], but it was so objective. It wasn’t about me. It was something in a book. For me, it was just something I did,” Remya said. This non-admission is common for teens with eating disorders according to The National Eating Disorders Association. Although, senior Lindsey Ingram said she knew what she was doing to herself when she only ate a cup of fruit and a couple of crackers daily. Lindsey was diagnosed with anorexia around the same time as Remya, during the middle of her junior year. “I would say, ‘I don’t want to eat,’ so I knew,” Lindsey said. “I didn’t know about the depression part because it’s harder to self-diagnose. Nobody thinks they’re clinically depressed.” Eating disorders are often associated with body image, but for Lindsey and Remya, body image was not the driving cause. Remya said her eating disorder was likely triggered from stress. Lindsey’s was complicated by depression, which she was diagnosed with at the same time as her anorexia. It is relatively easy for a change in eating patterns to slip through the cracks at Greenhill. During lunchtime it is not uncommon for students to skip lunch for a meeting or to do work, and unlike in Lower School, no one is watching to make sure you clear your plate. “If I didn’t eat at school I’d say I had work to do. Nobody would think, ‘Oh, since she has work to do, she has an eating disorder,’ so people didn’t really notice at first,” Lindsey said.
A high schooler’s diet is unusual in itself: teens eat more calories more often. Many students will replace lunch with a Buzz snack. Students with an eating disorder, however, replace lunch with nothing. Remya began noticing her health declining about a year after she began purging: her teeth started to show signs of decay and she would be lightheaded. Lindsey also noticed her anorexia taking a toll on her energy level, particularly as she is a competitive track and field athlete. “Food gives you the energy you need to get through practices and competitions. You can’t just eat the night before and go. Without having all of that backing, I wasn’t able to perform as well [my junior year].” Lindsey went from running 800 meters in 2:41 to 2:54. Since her recovery, she has brought that time down to 2:28. In fact, Lindsey was almost not allowed to run at all last season by her coaches. “I didn’t even get through the first week of practice before our first meet,” she said. Why did both Remya and Lindsey wait nearly two years before they got help? One reason may be the connotations that come with admitting that they had a problem. A common misconception is that having an eating disorder is a choice; that these students chose to hurt their own bodies. Therefore, it is more shameful to own up to the truth. As the second student to give a C-Day speech this year, Lindsey choked on tears as she shared her story with the entire Upper School. Lindsey and Remya also started LEAD at the beginning of this school year. LEAD promotes awareness for eating disorders and other struggles that teens deal with including stress, leadership, and self-esteem. “I feel like I would have been more comfortable talking to a teacher about it had LEAD been here my sophomore year,” Lindsey said. Opening up is just the first step to recovering, however. The actual recovery process often takes place an in and outpatient programs. Remya was immediately placed into a recovery program at Children’s Hospital. But that doesn’t work for everyone. After three days at the program, Remya decided that it was not a good fit for her and dropped out. Even a year after her diagnosis, Remya still has triggers, so she has developed coping mechanisms such as avoiding bathrooms for a couple hours after meals. Because she didn’t want to burden them, friends didn’t play a huge role in her recovery process. “My friends either don’t understand it that well or they have their own things. I don’t want to burden my friends with it. I only tell my friends when I really need help. I’m just so private,” Remya said.
Men Can Have it, Too
D
avid Lowen, Upper School history teacher, was called “butterball” growing up. According to him, this triggered a body self-consciousness with which he still struggles today. Havingreached200poundsinhisadult life,Mr.Lowenembarkedon adietwithafriend.ButMr.Lowensaidthedietquickly escalated to an obsession. He dropped to 135 pounds within a year. He would skip breakfast, eat an apple for lunch and only have dinner after he worked out at the gym. A typical workout was 45 minutes on the StairMaster, 85 minutes on the stationary bike, and then weights. He would spend almost three hours daily. If he ever missed a workout, he would only eat a small bowl of pasta with garlic butter for dinner. Still, Mr. Lowen said he did not admit he had an eating disorder, particularly given the lack of knowledge about eating disorders in general in the early 1990s. “It was a female disease,” he said. At that time, no one ever thought of males as having an eating disorder. I wouldn’t even have characterized it as an eating disorder at the time. It wasn’t until later that I realized.” Mr. Lowen only admitted to his unhealthy lifestyle when a coworker asked if he was sick, thinking that such drastic weight loss could only be a result of AIDS or cancer. Mr. Lowen now calls this moment his “enlightenment.” “I just said I can’t do this anymore,” he said. After that encounter, Mr. Lowen completely turned his lifestyle around. He ate more, worked out less, and a month later, met his soon-to-be wife, the now Mrs. Lowen. Still, it’s never simple. “It’s a daily battle to make sure that I eat,” he said.
stories by Simra Abedi, Areeba Amer, Mia Krumerman and Sera Tuz graphics by Sera Tuz and Ariana Zhang
Special Report the
Not a Simple Shot Members of the community voice their opinions on vaccination policies
“
I don’t think its up to a public institution to [say] you have to vaccinate your child.”
With the possibility of exemption laws changing, members of the Greenhill community have differing opinions on whether or not vaccinations should be required for school attendance. Laurie Matthews, parent of senior Stewart and sophomore Sara, said she believes parents should not be required to immunize their children for school attendance. As a Christian Scientist, she receives religious immunization exemptions for her children. “I don’t think schools should force parents to immunize their children because, for me personally, we’ve always relied on prayer for healing and have had success.” State law allows her to write to the Texas Department of Health and request exemptions from immunizations for rea-
ati
Unv a c cinated children are typically protected by “herd immunity.” Herd immunity is when a large percentage of a population is vaccinated, and because of their immunizations the diseases they were vaccinated for can no longer spread because enough of the population is protected from the disease. Every couple of years Mr. Ide writes to his elected officials encouraging them to make stricter laws against vaccine exemptions. “As a citizen and a voter I have said to my elected officials please don’t do this. If you do this, I will not vote for you.” Jonathan Weber, Upper School history teacher, feels that parents should have the right to choose whether or not their child is vaccinated. “I think it’s up to the parents. I don’t think it’s up to a public institution to [say] you have to vaccinate your child. Historically the relationship between citizen and institution has been fraught with violations,” Dr. Weber said. An example of that type of mistrust is the Tuskegee Experiment (1932-1972), where the US Public Health Service studied the natural progression of syphilis on African-American men in Alabama, and neglected to give them penicillin to treat the disease. He said he would like people to be more informed about vaccinations and what they put into their bodies before blindly making a choice. “I think you also have to be aware of what’s going into your body, and I don’t know with some vaccinations [that] the material that composes said vaccination are things that you want in your body,” he said. “I don’t know if long term studies have been done to implicate future health situations that may arise, having mercury for example injected into your body.”
ha K urap
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? This is the question parents must ask themselves at the doctor’s office, and particularly as their child starts school. Currently, the Texas Department of State Health Services has specific minimum state vaccine requirements for students grades K-12. However, these requirements can be waived for medical or religious reasons, along with “reasons of conscience.” This last phrase is not explicitly defined. All 50 states allow medical exemptions; 48 allow religious exemptions; 17 allow philosophical. While Texas is one of these last 17, that may be about to change. State Representative Jason Villalba, a Republican from North Dallas, filed House Bill 2006 in mid-March, which would eliminate vaccine exemptions for philosophical reasons at public schools and universities. A measles outbreak in Disneyland, CA last December sparked national conversation, prompting the revision of state vaccination laws across the country. While Greenhill is not currently planning to make any changes, the same differences of opinion certainly exist on campus. Greenhill, along with every other school in the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS), follows state law. The school keeps track of immunization records. If there were to be an outbreak, the Health Department would get involved, and anyone without immunization would have to leave campus. For example, “If there were a case of measles on campus any student not immunized for measles would be excluded for 21 days,” said Katie Trimmer, Director of Student Health Services.
Anu s
News Editor
These medical reasons can range from egg allergies to cancer. A recent NPR segment document that case Rhett Krawitt, a six-year-old boy from Tiburon, CA. who has been fighting leukemia for four and a half years. Rhett currently goes to a school where seven percent of the student population is not vaccinated due to personal beliefs. In a story by National Public Radio (NPR), Rhett’s father Carl expressed concern for his child’s safety. "It's very emotional for me," he said. "If you choose not to immunize your own child and your own child dies because they get measles, OK, that's your responsibility, that's your choice. But if your child gets sick and gets my child sick and my child dies, then your action has harmed my child."
ic by
Madison Goodrich
sons of conscience. “I grew up without any vaccinations and my children have grown up not having any,” she said. If Greenhill were to change their policy and not allow vaccine exemptions, Mrs. Matthews said, “I’d probably set a meeting with the Head of School to understand their reasons why would they require that. Texas is always more about freedom of choice rather than having requirements. They tend to stay on the side of freedom rather than regulation.” Barrett Ide, Upper School science teacher, said he feels that vaccinations should be mandatory for students to attend school. “Vaccines are safe, vaccines are effective, vaccines do a wonderful job of protecting us from a whole host of different diseases. Unfortunately, vaccines are currently a victim of their own success.” Because certain diseases, such as polio, have been eradicated due to vaccines, a vaccination protecting against that disease may seem less imperative. Dr. Laurie Berger, a pediatrician and parent of freshman Becca Berger, elaborated on this statement. “Your grandparents were afraid of catching the diseases that we haven’t seen because of successful vaccinations.” she said. Whenever Dr. Berger sees patients whose parents have concerns about vaccinations, she tries to answer any of their questions and confront their fears. “When they’re on the fence, there’s usually a history. There’s something that they’ve heard in their lifetime or in their family. My first thing is to tease out what those fears are so we can address their fears and their life experience. Following that, I explain why vaccines are so important, and what each one does,” she said. According to Dr. Berger, she most frequently hears fears vaccines being linked to autism. This concern began with a 1998 study that supported this claim. The study has been retracted, and Dr. Berger says this has been “completely debunked.” She also hears reservations about the components of vaccines. “It used to be there were concerns about mercury, but our vaccines have been mercury-free for a long time now,” she said. She also said that research has found no long-term risks associated with vaccines. “Our experience with vaccines goes back decades. There’s no suggestion that that’s the case. A vaccine simply stimulates the immune system to make antibodies, and the immune system is stimulated everyday and makes antibodies all the time,” she said. Dr. Berger’s practice requires that all patients (barring medical restrictions) be vaccinated. This protects their other patients who can’t be vaccinated due to medical reasons.
Grap h
Sofia Shirley
Executive Editor
Arts the
See p. 15 for an album review showdown by Andrew and Arhum.
Taking a Leap
Maxwell Read left Greenhill to pursue his dreams of dance Amna Naseem Features Editor
Until the end of eighth grade, Maxwell Read saw peacocks as he entered Greenhill’s campus every morning. Now, as a freshman, he wakes up at 6:45 a.m. and sees New York City’s Lincoln Center across the street. After attending morning classes at The Professional Children’s School in New York City, he walks five blocks to The School of American Ballet (SAB), where he learns and practices ballet with some of America’s most talented dancers. Maxwell left Greenhill in order to pursue his dreams as a dancer in New York City. Though it was a difficult decision for Maxwell, he now has many more opportunities to improve his ballet skills. “[SAB] is really wonderful, and it is a great honor to be here. I put all my energy in everyday,” Maxwell said. According to Maxwell’s mother, Stephanie Read, Maxwell was full of energy and was always moving, even at a young age. However, he was never interested in traditional sports such as soccer or basketball. At the age of eight, after he had tried countless sports, Mrs. Read finally decided to have him try dance. “Maxwell has always been a kid who is filled with kinetic energy. His entire childhood was all about movement,” Mrs. Read said. “I would watch him move and he seemed to enjoy dancing so much, so I encouraged him to try classical ballet training.” Maxwell trained at Etgen-Atkinson School of Ballet, a dance academy in Highland Park. However, the school closed earlier this year. Maxwell had a choice between continuing at Greenhill and going to a different ballet school or transferring
to SAB. Maxwell chose SAB after attending a summer camp there. Initially, he had never intended to experience high school alone and in a different city, but after receiving an offer to attend during the 2014-15 school year, Maxwell packed his ballet shoes and moved into his current suite, which he shares with seven other dancers. “Sending Max to SAB was a bit of a surprise. After spending his summer of 2013 at SAB, he showed signs that he might not want to go back to ballet, that it was too scary, too intensive. But, he decided to pull it together and go another summer. The School of American Ballet just called us in the middle of the summer of 2014 and invited him to come and stay, so that was quite a shocker,” Mrs. Read said. Maxwell has a different schedule everyday. He attends numerous ballet classes, including a male-only ballet class, a co-ed partner dancing class, a variations class, and weight training. Despite his constant training, Maxwell says that he has become strong enough to not get sore very often. With Maxwell in a different city, the Read family dynamic at home has drastically changed. “Maxwell not being here is like being without a limb. We’re a family of five, and we used to be this fluid circle, and now we are just four, and we are a square,” Mrs. Read said. “It’s a different shape, though still a comfortable one, but everything feels different.” Maxwell said he finds much of his inspiration from his parents and siblings. “My mom and dad are definitely my inspiration. They always push me to do my best and support me in whatever I do,” Maxwell said.
Photos Courtesy of Stephanie and Maxwell Read
FIRST POSITION: Freshman Maxwell Read transfered to the School of American Ballet this year. Several days a week he attends a pas de deux class, which translates to “step of two.” This is a partnering class in which he learns to dance with female dancers.
While Maxwell finds much of his inspiration in his family, his mother believes that he is extremely self-motivated and chases his dreams on his own. “If Maxwell hadn’t been such a mature guy, I don’t think I would’ve approved of his leaving at fifteen. But because he’s so self-motivated and in control, sending him to SAB was something that I thought he could handle,” Mrs. Read said. Maxwell visited New York many times before moving there, so he said it wasn’t too difficult for him to adjust to what he called the “subway” lifestyle. “The main difference between New York
City and Dallas is that I don’t have to give a lot of drive time, because I’m not driving anywhere. It’s nice that I can walk a few minutes to go get some food or something like that,” Maxwell said. Meanwhile, the time he spends at the Lincoln Center is a constant motivation and reminder of his goal of being a professional dancer. “When I’m older, I’m definitely going to apply to college and a dance company, because you never know what is going to happen. My ultimate goal is to be part of the New York City Ballet,” Maxwell said.
Orchestrating a New Sound: Stepping down an octave with violas Maya Ghosh Staff Writer
Abbas Hasan
Staff Writer
“The viola is not as aucostically perfect as the violin, so it doesn’t kick out the sound. Historically the viola asnt had prominence as a lead instrument. It’s has a very distinctive sound. It is a very powerful instrument nonetheless. In an orchestra concert, five melodic voices usually combine to create an auditory experience. But in the Greenhill Orchestra, an entire section has been absent. The missing links, the violas, are often
underrated but can change the entire sound of the ensemble. The viola is commonly mistaken for a violin, but has a lower tone and is also larger. “The modern orchestra basically has a first and second violin; a part for the cello; [then] bass, which often plays the same part as the cello,” said Mr. Paraskevas, Middle School and Upper School Strings teacher “[There] are five parts, the violas are right there in the middle. Often theirs is completely different.” The lack of violas in the Greenhill orchestra has been an
issue for a few years. But it wasn’t until January of this year that, an experiment was launched to address the issue. The first violinists began practicing the viola in order to gain a new skill and try a new instrument. Mr. Paraskevas decided to let the violinist begin practicing after watching junior Andrew Montgomery learn the viola part for the Nutcracker performance in December. Junior Andrew Montgomery……... “When most people start playing an instrument, they usually start young and so they hear about violins, cellos and basses.
The violas aren’t heard about as often and aren’t as prominent as other instruments, so people don’t usually gravitate towards playing [the viola],” Andrew said. “The viola has a fuller sound than the violin, it is deeper and so adds another dimension to the orchestra.” Andrew said. Many students are happy for the opportunity to be able to play the new instrument, but the violas uniqueness is often what drives people away from it. “If you can’t get past the fact [that] the music is different, the clef is different and the instrument
is different, it won’t be enjoyable,” said senior violinist Kyrene Moe. “I personally like it.” What began as an experiment has now become a permanent part of the orchestra. First violinists spend roughly 10-15 minutes a day practicing during their class time. They prepared for a song that has a prominent viola part for a concert on February ninth. “If you look at the great composers, many of them played many instruments, but they all loved the viola,” said Mr. Paraskevas. “It has a lot of flexibility and a lot of musical savvy.”
14 arts
the
Evergreen
wednesday, april 22, 2015
A Play with Offbeat Perks
Josh Rudner Staff Writer
It’s the first day of rehearsals but there haven’t been any auditions or callbacks; no one had to read lines or show off any dancing skills. No one is getting any credit for these hours after school. This peculiar production is Lemon Sky. When it’s staged on April 30 and May 1, Lemon Sky, an autobiographical play by Lanford Wilson, will be “a first on a couple of fronts,” said Catherine Hopkins, Upper School Theatre Director. Instead of hosting formal auditions and callbacks, Ms. Hopkins approached individual actors to be a part of the project. The actors do not receive school credit for their two-hour daily rehearsals, which have been held for the past six weeks. Also, with the exception of one senior, the cast is consists entirely of juniors. Ms. Hopkins picked juniors who are planning to or could potentially study theater in college. “I had a lot of juniors who had not had a lot of stage time previously, and my concern was that they didn’t have enough of a portfolio in terms of really strong character roles,” she said. Before coming to Greenhill, Ms. Hopkins taught at schools where, throughout the year, students had many opportunities to act. One student was able to work on 26 productions total. Before Ms. Hopkins arrived, Greenhill students were only able to act in three productions each year. “I thought it was the perfect vehicle for the students who I knew would be going into [the college process] next year.” Ms. Hopkins said that she expects the cast of Lemon Sky will be the backbone of a Greenhill Theatre Company, which she has plans to create next year. Junior Raven Breitfeller will help direct
the cast of Lemon Sky, which consists of senior Cooper Raiff and juniors Mose Kane, Catherine Leffert, Alexandria Moore and Megan Marshall. “She’s a very talented actor, writer, and director in her own right, and I found that out the first trimester,” Ms. Hopkins said. “I first encountered her in an Acting for Film class where she directed a scene from The Breakfast Club, and I just saw how well she worked with the students.” Cast members have said that rehearsals have been going smoothly. Nevertheless, opening night of this out-of-the-ordinary production stirs fears. “[I’m] a little terrified. I’ve never directed anything before,” Raven said. “So I don’t know if I’m doing a good job as of now; [but] I’m sure that the actors will be great,” Raven said. “I trust Ms. Hopkins completely and everyone has been doing amazingly. I’m just nervous because this is a first for me.” Trust in Ms. Hopkins is key for these actors, who did not choose their parts or audition for characters they were drawn to. Some actors have been assigned to characters unlike any they’ve played before. Since coming to Greenhill this year, Ms. Hopkins has encouraged her students to refrain from seeing on-screen versions of the play they are rehearsing. Unable to replicate the work of another actor, students have to come to their own interpretation. Megan, who plays a foster daughter with drug problems, has “done her homework,” according to Ms. Hopkins. She has spent time researching the foster care system and knows the effects of each of the drugs her character has taken. “What’s interesting about this play, which I love from a theatrical standpoint, is that it really plays around with time and it
Photos by Adam Weider
JUNIOR POWER: The cast of Lemon Sky has been rehearsing for two hours every day since March 23 for the April 30 opening night in the Zales-Fields Theatre.
plays around with that fourth wall; it’s very powerful because of how tough it is,” Ms. Hopkins said. “It’s a spectacular coming-ofage story.” Debuted in 1975, Lemon Sky is not produced as often as it used to be, according to Ms. Hopkins. “People mostly think we’ve moved on with these issues, [but] this has a lot of relevance,” Ms. Hopkins said. Raven agrees. “It still brings up certain issues like what parents expect from their children and it does tackle timeless issues that we still deal with,” she said.
wednesday, april 22, 2015
the
Evergreen
arts
15
An enlightened debate on the musical stylings of Jack Ü
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krillex and Diplo are two of the biggest names in electronic music. They’re also two of music’s most controversial artists. While Diplo is notorious for his social media presence and his snare-heavy trap remixes of popular songs, Skrillex splits electronic music crowds because of the way he fuses house and reggaeton music into what’s known as “moombahton” (think of angry Bob Marley shouting over a heavy trap beat). Put their music together and it becomes even more outlandish. Jack Ü is great, because it breaks new ground in electronic music (which is devolving into the “chill” and the “not chill”) by incorporating different genres. The album features a diverse group of other artists. Although that doesn’t necessarily make it better, in the context of heavy dance music, pump-up vocals serve a purpose: leading the listener to “the drop,” the electronic music equivalent of a chorus. This is when the heaviest bass and complex synthesizer lines come out and where the crowd is supposed to go nuts. I also found that the songs with celebrity features were often the best of the album because Skrillex restrained himself from over-distorting the vocals. When listening to “Where Are Ü Now?” I found myself, for the first time, actually enjoying Justin Bieber. One has to acknowledge that this album was never in it for the artistry. It is really all about “the drop” and creating the most ridiculous, artificial sounds possible. In that sense, this album does you a favor. At a certain point in the night, even the most inhibited person has to give up and dance; this album creates a crazy atmosphere to make it easier. Jack Ü captures the essence of 2015, when slang words like “bae” (according to Urban Dictionary, an acronym for “before
anyone else”) make it into song titles and electronic music is still making waves in America. It’s less-than-conventional background gives Jack Ü that much more power in determining the direction of electronic music.
review by Andrew Friedman
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Graphic by Ariana Zhang
arlier this year, prominent electronic musicians Skrillex and Diplo united as a duo under the name Jack Ü and dropped their debut studio album. The album features a lineup of artists such as Fly Boi Keno, Kiesza, 2 Chainz, Mix Prime, Bunji Garlin, Kai, Taranchyla, Snails, Justin Bieber and Missy Elliot. I have recently started to listen to electronic artists like Flying Lotus and
Cashmere Cat, and they produce catchy and skillful beats. Naturally, I was inclined to give this album a listen. I was thoroughly disappointed. Skrillex and Diplo are bigname artists, but they don’t produce the crisp beats that I enjoy. I find myself hearing annoying looped laser sounds as well as mediocre and anticlimactic base drops with dumb lyrics. The second song on the album “Beats Knockin” (featuring Fly Boi Keno), is straight-up annoying. For the majority of the song I focused on why Fly Boi Keno was telling me that his “beef is steady knockin.” (Unbeknownst to me, he was saying “beats,” not “beef.” Sorry for misunderstanding your wisdom, Mr. Fly Boi.) I appreciate meaning in music, and I have seen this in electronic music. Obviously, this wasn’t Jack Ü’s direct motive, but that makes the music all the more bothersome. The album does provide minor bright spots in songs like “Holla Out”, “Where Are Ü Now” (featuring Justin Bieber) and “Take Ü There” (the Missy Elliot version). However when I play songs like “Febreze” (featuring 2 Chainz), I hear “Ya I’m the sh**, I should have febreze on me.” It’s so stupid, it’s hilarious. The biggest issue I have with the album is that there are basically two types of sounds. Nothing stands out. The substance is blunt and I can only be in the party state of mind so much. Electronic music is evolving into soulful sound in its very own talented way. For me, no matter how complex or simple it is, music is expression and reaction. Jack Ü doesn’t contribute anything new to the electronic music genre. I highly suggest you skip this listen and give your valuable time towards better musicians and albums. review by Arhum Khan
Sports the
See p. 18 for a breakdown of athletes’ most common injuries.
Rookie in the Big Leagues
Jared Sandler ‘07 is Texas Rangers’ new pre- and post-game radio host Ben Krakow Online Editor
Jared Sandler ’07, only 25 years of age, will sit in a booth for 162 games this summer, answering Texas Rangers fans’ questions about trade ideas that will never happen and their frustrations with the manager. Late into the night, after most people have gone to sleep, Jared answers their questions. He is the newly-appointed preand post-game host and fill-in announcer for Rangers games on 105.3 The Fan. According to him, he is the youngest broadcaster in the four major North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL). Jared grew up in Dallas and followed his older brothers to Greenhill. He was a three-sport athlete in high school, playing football, basketball and baseball. “He always played with great spirit and enthusiasm,” said Jaye Andrews, Middle School math teacher and Jared’s Greenhill basketball coach. “He seemed to enjoy every minute of both practices and games. He showed great leadership.” People who knew Jared at a young age said he was always obsessed with sports statistics. “It was pretty obvious he was obsessed with sports and stats. He loved all of that and was a pretty bright kid,” said Corby Davidson, a family friend of Jared’s and cohost of The Hardline, an afternoon sports talk show on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas. For a senior Capstone project, Jared and his friend Nathaniel Horadam ’07 filmed Greenhill sporting events and then created a short TV show with Greenhill highlights for which they were the sportscasters. They did this for both the winter and spring sports banquets. “It wasn’t very good, but it was
a great experience and it helped reinforce that this was something that I wanted to try in college,” Jared said. Jared attended college at the University of Southern California (USC). In addition to being the Assistant Director of Baseball Operations for the USC baseball team, Jared started as a broadcasting major before switching to a more general communications major. He began announcing USC sporting events, his first one being a women’s volleyball game. “I walked out of there thinking I was the greatest thing in the world,” said Jared. “When I go back and listen to it now, it was terrible. It is embarrassing to listen to that tape, but it was where I got my start.”
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I don’t plan on peaking at twenty-five. I would like to host a sports talk show and do play-by-play for multiple major sports.”
Jared’s mentor, Eric Nadel, the longtime play-by-play radio announcer for the Rangers, said that in order to be a good baseball broadcaster, the announcer needs to be friendly. “Jared has such a warm personality,” Mr. Nadel said. He is very likeable. That is very important for a baseball announcer because it is night after night. Most of the time you are talking, the ball is not in play. People need to have this feeling that you’re a good guy that they would like to be hanging out with at the ballpark.” During the summers when he was in high school and college, Jared interned at 1310 The Ticket, a local sports radio station in Dallas. He also worked for Josh Lewin,
journalism High school arge of his teacher in chspaper and school’s new ook yearb
who was the Rangers TV play-byplay announcer at the time. Jared offered to do anything for free to help Lewin. So, Lewin let him come to the press box during games to be his runner. Jared would collect the lineup and stats before and during the games. While being his runner, Jared was able to observe Lewin while he was working. “He was eager,” said Lewin, who is now the play-by-play radio announcer for the New York Mets of the MLB and San Diego Chargers of the NFL. “He worked to put himself in the position he is in. Not everyone does that. They want things handed to them. Jared never did that. He was willing to work for it and it paid off.” While he was at The Ticket, he worked for Norm Hitzges, a long time Dallas sports talk show host, who now hosts a mid-morning show on The Ticket. “He wasn’t afraid to work hard,” Mr. Hitzges said. That may be the best trait you can have. When you’re young, you don’t have a résumé to impress anyone. All you got to offer is the ability to work. Jared did that. He is still that way today. He works.” While interning at The Ticket, Jared got to know Mr. Davidson even better. Mr. Davidson had been tracking Jared’s progress. “He was a go getter. I don’t know what people consider success, but in my book, he is already past what most people do in this industry. He is doing pretty important work in the industry. He is there,” Mr. Davidson said. After college, Jared worked as announcer in Montana and then moved back to Dallas. He then got a job in Midland, Michigan as an announcer for the Midwest League’s Great Lakes Loons, a minor league affiliate for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was paired with another young announcer
r of Sports e b m e m w e N e Ticket, Radio 1310 Th rks today where he wo
Photo courtesy of Jared Sandler
ULTIMATE UNDERSTUDY: Jared Sandler ‘07 has much to learn from current Texas Rangers play-by-play radio announcer Eric Nadel. Jared will fill in as the Rangers radio announcer on Nadel’s days off.
named Brad Golder. Mr. Golder said that Jared often did extra projects for the radio station, including additional interviews with coaches and a trivia contest with players. Mr. Golder also said that Jared has advanced very fast for his age. “He’ll call a major league regular season game before he turns 26 years old,” said Mr. Golder. “Regardless of who the talent is, it is very rare at the age to get that opportunity and it is even rarer for somebody who doesn’t have a family legacy. It speaks to how good a broadcaster Jared is and how fantastic a networker he is.” Last May, Jared moved back to Dallas to work for the local ESPN affiliate 103.3. He hosted a weekend sports talk show from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. with Craig Hoffman, a guy his age. “I think the value of working with someone your age was that with the pace and energy of the show, we were on the same page.
Major Leag play-by-playue Baseball announcer for the Baltim ore Orioles
What current and former colleagues of Jared Sandler ‘07 were doing at age 25.
There was one game that I did in college that mixed music and sports topics and I was never able to do that because the hosts I worked with were not into it. Jared was all about it. People seemed to really like the segment,” Mr. Hoffman said. This February, Jared got the offer for his current job. He said he hopes to one day be an announcer and a talk show host. “I don’t plan on peaking at 25. In an ideal world, I would like to host a sports talk show and do play-by-play for multiple major sports. This is probably unlikely, but it is still what I will strive for,” Jared said. His brother, Darryn Sandler ’95, and Upper School math teacher, said he hopes Jared stays as an announcer. “I like him better as a broadcaster, because when he was on ESPN [Dallas], a lot of times I disagreed with what he was saying,” Darryn said. Spoken like a true brother.
Moved to Da announce fo llas to r league hocke a minor the Dallas B y team, lackhawks Graphics by An
urag Kurapa ti
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wednesday, april 22, 2015
sports
17
For parent coaches the game goes home Varun Gupta Features Editor
“How was basketball practice today, son?” That is one question that Joey Sims, varsity basketball coach, will never ask his son, freshman Trey Sims. Rather than watching from the bleachers, he’s on the court as a fan of the team and an objective critic of his kid. In the winter, Mr. Sims coached his son, a member of the junior varsity team, during days when the varsity and junior varsity teams ran drills together. Since Mr. Sims started coaching Trey at a young age, the Sims have come a long way. “I used to not listen to him that much,” Trey said. “I would cross my feet or fade away and you’re not supposed to be doing those things.” Mr. Sims teaches discipline and responsibility the same way to the varsity players and Trey. Mr. Sims said he doesn’t show
favoritism to his son on the court. Trey is well aware that he will not start every game. “I make sure that he has to earn everything just like everybody else,” Mr. Sims said. After practice, Trey hears from dad and coach during the car ride home. “He’ll correct me on what I did wrong in practice and then it’ll mostly be parent-to-son stuff,” Trey said. Mr. Sims said his advice is often encouragement for his son. “I would give him positives [about his game], not just all negatives,” said Mr. Sims. Sometimes, coach’s kids said they feel like they would rather have a parent and not someone who continues the conversation after practice. “He goes into really, really big detail about [a mistake] and he’ll kind of repeat himself. I’ve already heard this, so I’ll say I don’t
Photo by Megan Wiora
PRO PARENTING: Joey Sims, varisty basketball coach, coaches his son, freshman Trey Sims, on his shooting. Coach Sims said he tries his hardest to play down the father-son dynamic during the season.
want to hear it again and tell him to leave it [on the court],” Trey said. The two also bond over watching sports. Trey and his dad listen regularly to 1310 The Ticket, often before Dallas Mavericks games and the NCAA March Madness tournament. In the off-season months, Trey plays club basketball in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and hears his dad in yet another light: yelling as a fan from the stands. “He’ll be pretty loud. Sometimes he’ll yell at the [referees] and they don’t know it’s my dad so it really doesn’t affect me, but I think it’s funny how angry he gets,” said Trey. To get the game-time adrenaline pumping, Trey falls back on his dad’s favorite quote, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” a saying by Wayne Gretzky. When Trey isn’t making baskets, his dad’s voice encourages him to continue shooting. Trey said his dad pushes him because the end goal is to compete in college. “He wants me to go to that level. [Teammates who get recruited] are constant inspiration,” said Trey. Mr. Sims agrees. “Ultimately I think he should be equipped to be a leader just because he’s been around the game so much and has more access to the coach than anyone else,” Mr. Sims said. “I’m not that kind of parent who would make him run a thousands lines.” Michael Simpson, Head of Lower School, is linebacker coach for the football team where his son, sophomore Michael, plays as offensive and defensive lineman. Mr. Simpson and Michael sometimes look at the game differently. “One time I got a sack and
he yelled at me because my tackle wasn’t perfect and we spent like a week mad at each other about it. I was just happy with a sack and he wasn’t happy with my form,” Michael said. Mr. Simpson started coaching Michael in fourth grade. As head coach, he treated Michael like everyone else’s children, with discipline. “I got in a disagreement with another coach and [my dad] made me run sprints,” Michael said. On the field, coaches in Mr. Simpson’s position have to restrain their parent impulse. Last fall, he was put to the test during one of Michael’s games. “He took a hit that the whole crowd gasped at, and I as a parent and a coach went whoa! He was down for a minute and the referees called a timeout and I wasn’t sure whether to go out there or not because I didn’t want to be the parent rushing on the field. So I just stood back,” Mr. Simpson said. Mr. Simpson said that Tom Williams, head varsity football coach, told him to go out there and comfort Michael. Film sessions contain a lot of criticism, some of which at times upset his Michael. “It’s a little bit of an ‘ouch’ moment when it’s happening to your kid. I feel like I’m on a tightrope,” said Mr. Simpson. “I try not to talk about football on the ride home. I try and echo the coach and support the coach and in my own way get him to see [the coach’s view].” Mr. Simpson said he makes sure that he remains unbiased with his kids especially when other coaches talk about his son. “If [the conversation] is about Michael, I shut my trap. It’s an automatic response for me,” he said. Tracey Pugh, Primer
teacher and varsity cheer coach, coached her daughter, freshman Jessica Pugh during the winter cheer season. Mrs. Pugh was a college cheerleader but didn’t necessarily know Jessica would follow in her footsteps. “When [Jessica] was four or five, she would travel to cheer competitions with us and we bought her a cheer uniform. And then when she got to high school, I just didn’t think she would do it,” Mrs. Pugh said. Jessica also plays volleyball at Greenhill and for a club team. Before the start of her freshman year, she felt compelled to try out for winter cheer. “[During a cheer competition last year], I was kind of like the manager of the team, even though I wasn’t on the team,” Jessica said. “I’m friends with people on the cheer team and I’ve watched it my whole life, so I was like why not give it a shot.” Mrs. Pugh hired a panel of outside judges to avoid favoritism in her daughter’s tryout. “We kept it really clean. I heard her practicing in her room and that’s about it,” said Mrs. Pugh. Performing in front of her mom, Jessica said she felt self-conscious and a little awkward. “It was shocking. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, you can jump!’” said Mrs. Pugh. Minutes after dazzling Coach Pugh with her acrobatics, Jessica made the cut and let out a sigh of relief. “What if I didn’t make it? That would have been awkward,” said Jessica. Now Mrs. Pugh has a designated feedback-provider. “If I gave a harsh speech [to the team], I could ask [Jessica] if I was too mean,” Mrs. Pugh said.
Sophomore serves up a storm upon returning to Greenhill Radhe Melwani Staff Writer
It is 12:00 pm and sophomore tennis player Nate Eazor is in class copying down notes for his upcoming history test. What are his opponents doing? They have spent all day hydrating, watching tennis matches, and practicing. In three hours, Nate will compete against them in an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament. Nate and his doubles partner, Chase Wood, a sophomore, will compete against players ranked 33 and 129 in the world for doubles. Nate and Chase will lose 0-6 and 2-6. “My expectation was to maybe get a game, hopefully. To pull out a lucky game at some point,” said Nate about the chance to play at the March tournament. “No one really had any expectations for me, which was really nice; there was no pressure.” At the March ATP tournament in Irving, Nate played singles against the number 144 singles player in the world, losing by a final score of 6-7 (4-7), 3-6 to his opponent. Nate is currently ranked third in Texas and 70 in the United States
for his age group. He began playing tennis at age three with his mother, who played tennis in high school. When Nate turned eight, he started to attend tournaments and began to be fully invested in the sport. According to Nate, his mom was his first training partner and one of his biggest supporters. “When he was three I was actually playing tennis and I didn’t have anywhere to leave him, so I took him to my lesson and when I did, he took over my lesson. He said, ‘I hit’ and he went with my instructor and played for 45 minutes hitting the ball,” said Elaine Eazor, Nate’s mother. “It was kind of an ingrained gift of his and we just kept that going. We encourage him because he has a gift and we want him to use it to the best of his abilities, to become the best he can.” For a while, Nate was unable to beat his mother. “When I first started playing she would always beat me. I could never beat her,” said Nate. But by fifth grade, Nate became so serious about tennis that he left Greenhill to pursue the sport and was homeschooled
at the T Bar M Racquet Club until this year. He proposed the idea of homeschooling to his family and coach when he saw many of his tennis friends from T Bar M doing the same thing. Over the course of his absence from Greenhill, Nate focused on achieving his goals: being top five in Texas and top 70 in the United States. He attended T Bar M’s Full Time Academy School program and practiced nearly six hours of tennis a day. “It was pretty hard at first. It was a big change. School got pretty easy, I [had] a lot of time on my hands, I wasn’t with my friends anymore. I still hung out with them over the weekend, but it was still obviously different. It was pretty sad, but I got used to the change over time and adjusted,” Nate said. However, over time, pressure mounted. “There was more pressure on my tennis because if I stayed homeschooled, I wouldn’t [have been] able to get into college based on my homeschool curriculum, so I needed my tennis to stand out if I wanted to get into a good college. There was more pressure for sure,” Nate said.
Nate considered returning to Greenhill. Grant Solomon ‘14, who now plays tennis at Harvard, influenced Nate’s decision to return to Greenhill. “[Grant} was making really good grades and he showed me that the school would be flexible with his time to play tennis. He proved it was possible to do both,” said Nate. Returning to Greenhill for his sophomore year, Nate rekindled old relationships. This year, Nate is the top ranked
player on the boys’ varsity tennis team. The time Nate dedicates to his tennis can be seen on the court through his victories. While he is happy about returning to Greenhill, Nate said he does not regret his time being homeschooled. “I do think [being homeschooled was] worth it. I accomplished what I was trying to accomplish. I found it was worth taking the time off to work on my tennis,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Nate Eazor
NOT BACKING DOWN: After five years of homeschooling, sophomore tennis star Nate Eazor has returned to Greenhill. Ranked third in Texas, Nate has competed in professional ATP Challenger tournaments.
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wednesday, april 22, 2015
Minding Your Body: Athletes and Their Injuries
reporting by Lane Hirsch and Stephen Crotty statistics courtesy of Greenhill athletic trainers graphic by Arhum Khan
Weather causes scheduling issues, spring sports adjust Lili Stern Staff Writer
This spring, Mother Nature had a different plan than Head of Athletics and Physical Education Chad Wabrek when it came to Southwest Prepartory Conference preparation. Issues with inclement weather arose early in the season. Dallas weathered snow, sleet, rain, and everything in between. A combined total of 40-45 practices and games were cancelled during the lead up and beginning of counter season, according to Coach Wabrek. The spring sports season is already shorter than the fall and winter. “The spring is short as it is. We all know that. There is anxiety now that the spring season is even more condensed,” Coach Wabrek said six weeks before SPC. Anxiety is exactly what spring coaches and players have been feeling this season. Time at the beginning of the season is considered vital for the development of younger players, and that time was lost this year. “We started the season and then within the first couple weeks, it was already raining and games were getting cancelled,” said girls lacrosse captain Brianna Kessler. “I definitely think that the weather has affected freshmen getting into the program,” she said. For more individual sports, like track and field, once athletes get the fundamentals down, their destiny rests in their own hands for the most part. Working with teammates is vital in aspects of the sport, such as for handoffs, but excluding that small moment in a relay, an athlete’s leg of the race is an individual responsibility. “The weather only set us back for the first two weeks. After that, we had fine weather, and the ball was rolling,” said girls’ track and field captain Naya Sharp. “Once you get it down, you can’t really mess it up from there.” In sports such as baseball, each throw
needs someone to receive it, each ground ball needs someone to hit it, and each batter needs a pitcher. That makes it more difficult to go without practice, because it is a sport where practicing as a team is imperative to the team’s success. One challenge the athletic department faces when inclement weather arises is where to put all of the teams when they don’t want to completely cancel practice. The gyms are not the only indoor options; teams can also be placed in the aerobics room or the High Performance Center. Coach Wabrek must decide which teams go to which facility and when. He said that it can be difficult to make everyone happy in these situations. “We hope that people realize that we are making every effort to be fair to everybody,” he said. “We look to rotate the indoor options so that no one is getting the same venue all the time.” But players agreed that the time used in indoor practice spaces is not nearly as productive as the time spent on their regular fields or courts. “Whenever we’re moved inside it’s really not productive and we don’t get to do as much as we would outside,” said Brianna. Naya agrees. “Being inside really hindered us from doing what we needed to do,” she said. Despite these setbacks and difficulties due to weather, Greenhill should not have be at a disadvantage heading into SPC. All of the Dallas schools have had the same problems with the weather; inclement weather swept through Houston as well. Rebecca Shuman, girls varsity tennis head coach, said she believes that this has been a good learning experience for student athletes. “Coaches by nature are observant and adaptable,” she said. “[The unfortunate circumstances] teaches the student-athletes to be flexible, a quality that serves [them] well.”
wednesday, april 22 , 2015
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Run Back the Clock
afterwords
19
During freshman year, I made efforts to “branch out” and participate in social activities I normally would not have considered. I joined the Greenhill crosscountry team, even though my friend who ran with me at Renner Middle School in Plano encouraged me not to, saying, “Well, Andrew, you’re going to die.” I joined anyway. Our first practice as a team was a two-mile loop at Brookhaven College in steaming 100+ August degree weather. I tried so hard during that first practice that
then-head coach Mike Krueger ran next to me on the way back to school and asked, “So, Friedman, what kind of runner were you in Plano?” I actually earned 19th place out of 200 in the district meet last year, I said. (Never mind that I cut every corner in the race.) My mom managed to contact a junior on the team to give me rides to and from practice. Little did I know she called Jeremy Auerbach, one of the most intimidating guys on the team; he was loud, scary, and only hung out with other upperclassmen like Ryan Duffy. The first time he picked me up for practice, I death-gripped the edges of the pleather seat of his 1998 Volvo sedan with both hands and stared straight at the windshield, careful not to divert my glance to his face or outside. It was only after the fifth or sixth ride that I managed to get a word out, something like, “Hehe, practice was hard today…right?” Eventually, Jeremy and I became great friends. He was my ride to practice. I
consulted him for my girl problems, we talked about cool upperclassman gossip and how hard practice was. Jeremy was the one who got me interested in electronic music, and I still listen to songs we played during the car ride home together. I ended up running on the varsity squad with him. Then, after two years of cross-country together and one season of long-distance track, Jeremy graduated. He said something along the lines of, “Haha, I’m done. You still have four more seasons ahead of you.” We fell out of contact; I haven’t seen him face-to-face for two years. Now I’m the senior. Jeremy makes me wonder how much of Greenhill I’m going to take with me to college, and how much of Andrew Friedman Greenhill will remember in a couple of years. Although our school might not have the sheer numbers of a Plano West, Greenhill alumni face the same fate as those of public schools: obscurity. I wonder if my return to campus will be met with as many suspicious gazes as I imagine it will. I’m not counting
on a ceremony in my honor. Granted, Greenhill can’t hang a plaque on the wall of the Elliott Center for every person who has graduated since 1950. High school is a place that educates kids to move on to the next stage in life, not a hall of fame or an alumni museum. Teachers need to focus on this group of kids—Classes of 20152019—not the Class of 2014. But as soonto-be-graduates, we don’t have to place the same emphasis on the present and future as our school does. A lot of my friends’ sights are set on college: who their roommates will be, whether they will go Greek, what kind of parka they need to survive the Northeast blizzard. Though I’m pumped for college, too, there is a part of me that yearns for that naïve, new-to-everything, freshman-y emotion I remember feeling upon walking up the Perryman steps in fall of 2011, shoes laced up for the morning’s long run. Even though I feel ready to leave Dallas behind, there are still some snapshots from Greenhill I wish I could keep with me forever.
The coldest weather I’ve experienced was during the 2011 “Snowpocalypse,” when school was cancelled for a week though only a half-inch of ice covered the roads. In the fall, I will attend Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where the average winter snowfall is six to eight feet. I’ve never seen more than half a foot of snow in my life. I’ve never even
been skiing. The first question I hear when I tell people where I’m going to school is “Why Maine?” I give a generic response about great class sizes and the school’s strong community. Those are just surface-level answers. I still wonder why I’m moving 1,910 miles from home. Plenty of schools near Greenhill fit the same bill. But I wanted something more. I don’t want the comfort of knowing my parents are a car-ride away. I want to rough the experience out myself. In Maine, I’ll be in a completely foreign environment. Lobster replaces traditional Texan barbecue, and I don’t even like seafood. The people are rumored to be more aloof, while I’m used to Southern hospitality. Still, I am excited. I’ve dreamed of living in the Northeast since fifth grade. I want to be the
first in my family to move away from Texas. I feel like I will identify with the people up north because I don’t identify with a lot of stereotypical Texans. I am a creature of habit. My daily routine is pretty boring: wake up, school, eat, homework, sleep. For a long time, I was okay with that. But recently, I got bored. I sought out opportunities to be “fun”: I dyed my hair, got my nose pierced, took the nose ring out, and even skipped a Ceramics class once last year. My parents are convinced I opened up a map and put my finger on the farthest place away from home. Honestly, an aspect of that holds true. But it’s not because I am rebelling. Up until I was about five or six years old, I never used to leave my mom’s side. I was always standing behind her, clinging to the back of her shirt. Never in a
million years would we have predicted my move to Maine. As I get older, I think it will be a lot harder to completely move my life to a new place. If I don’t leave now, then maybe I never will. It’s possible that I was always destined for the Northeast. It’s also possible that I might hate it and move back. I just have to go there and see. All I know is that moving to Maine will completely change who I am. My first winter will be brutal, and I’ll probably question why I made the decision to go so far away. But, I cannot wait for that bittersweet moment when I am truly independent, 12 states away from Dallas. My family, Greenhill, and friends have all prepared me for that moment. When I move up north, I hope I learn to embrace a sense of adventure and push beyond my comfort zone.
I’m 17 years old, and no, I’ve never been kissed. I began to feel awkward about my ‘never been kissed’ status freshman year. I was playing Never Have I Ever with the crosscountry team. This consisted of everyone else recounting stories of their romantic trysts while I sat awkwardly. I shrank back in the circle, trying to escape notice. I hate Never Have I Ever. I hate telling people I
haven’t been kissed. (Or at least I used to, before I decided to share with you, my 1000+ Evergreen readers.) When I do share this little fact, I’m met with confusion and disbelief. Yes, I’m on Student Council. Yes, I’m captain of a sports team. Yes, I was on Homecoming Court. No, I haven’t been kissed. And yet, the first kiss is a high school a milestone, an unofficial graduation requirement. I may be even more behind than I thought: I recently heard someone say that a first kiss should be checked off by the end of middle school. Well, that’s absurd. In a month, I will walk across the Meyerson without taking this overhyped step. Throughout high school, I’ve listened to countless tales of others’ first kisses, and most do not pass this “milestone” gracefully. A few stories include awws, flowers, doorsteps and budding love. Those, however, comprise less than one percent.
Most involve braces, clashing noses, and awkward encounters for months to follow. I know all of this, and yet I still feel embarrassed. I know it’s silly. But my subconscious tells me that if I’ve never been kissed, something must be wrong with me. Deep down, I let guys define part of my selfworth. If they don’t like me, I must not be pretty enough, cool enough, funny enough, or just plain enough. It’s not a personal belief but rather a cultural lesson I’ve learned from years of small comments, weird glances, and people constantly asking if I have a boyfriend. A quick Google search of ‘never been kissed’ returns results of “Am I a loser?” and “OMG Freaking Out.” Even the phrase itself, “never been kissed,” is problematic. It evokes pity, as if no one else has ever chosen me. This is a sexist construct; the man is the kisser, and the girl is the kissee, waiting around for her Prince
Charming. By not having been kissed, I’m somehow less of a girl. Let me reiterate this: my social status as a girl depends on guys and how they see me. Bull. How about this idea: I’ve never chosen to kiss someone. I never found a right person in the right place at the right time. It’s not an embarrassment. It’s not shameful. Ultimately, I’m writing this for the other never-beenkissed girls out there. I’m hoping that by saying that I’m no longer ashamed of it, others can come forward as well. No girl should feel the need to make up a summercamp boyfriend, or squirm when playing Never Have I Ever. I want to strip away the stigma of the unkissed. I’m not a prude, superior, or inferior. After reading this, I hope none of you think of me any differently. I may not have a first-kiss story yet, but at the end of the day, it’s just a story. It’s a story that I will choose to write when I’m ready.
and articles about their cancer research. They shared cat videos regularly. Fictional characters were made profile pictures. Many of them lived in places I didn’t even think had computers; spoke languages I’d never heard of. To be blunt, they seemed dorky. Then I showed up to the program, and— you guessed it—I was completely wrong. This all goes to show that I have poor, inaccurate Facebook judgment skills. I cannot be trusted. But the truth is, we do this all the time. I know I do. Do they have a good ratio of smiling pictures to artsy looking-away-fromthe-camera pictures? Do they have original captions? How many likes did they rack up? Red flags include: too many solo pictures, too many solo-cup pictures, and just too many pictures. The criteria go on… We make these judgments quickly and subconsciously. After 20 seconds, we are
bored. We ex out. We move on. To test my criteria, I had fellow Evergreen staff members stalk me on Facebook. My cover photos got a 9/10 according to Zach Rudner (“a good mix of pictures with friends and pictures that are funny”). My profile pictures were off to a good start but quickly took a turn for the worst. “Really, Sera? 13…14…15 solo pictures in a row?” I turned my trademark tomato red and sunk into the deepest, darkest corner of the Evergreen lab. (Side note: Don’t bother checking my profile; I followed this intervention by deleting about half of my profile pictures.) So, clearly, the “science” we’ve gotten Facebook stalking down to is useless because I am not the person my Facebook profile depicts me as. In my own mind, I was misjudged. In fact, I can probably find a problem with every single person’s Facebook
profile (try me!). Truth is, a “perfect” Timeline doesn’t really exist. Today, I’m not just stalking my cousin’s ex-girlfriend’s mom’s profile. I am going to college, stalking my future friends. There are stakes: I am actually going to meet, live and study with a lot of these people. Given my track record, I have decided to throw out the system. Facebook has given me misinformation. I went to it for the sole purpose of finding out information about them. But Facebook, like me, cannot be trusted. So I’m not going to stalk my college Facebook group. I’ll save myself the concern and just show up, no expectations. Ok, I take that back. I probably will stalk my college Facebook group. But this time I will additionally trust a first impression or the person that saved me a seat in the lunch line instead of writing off the girl with 15 solo pictures in a row.
Headed for the Maine-land
(Not) Kissing and Telling
Facebook: Misleading Teens Since 2004
Soon after opening my admission packet for a summer program last year, I rushed to join a Facebook group filled with my future classmates. Obviously, this called for an intensive Facebook stalk session. Two hours of intense clicking later, I had made up my mind: I was not going to get along with these people. Most of them filled their Timelines with inspirational quotes
20 backpage
the
Evergreen
wednesday, april 22, 2015
March Madness may have ended on April 6, but many of us are still going through bracket-making withdrawal. To fill the emptiness in your hearts, The Evergreen created a Buzz food bracket, in which o w your favorite snacks “Duke” it out to be the 2015 Champion. Upper ty-t r i h T y School students voted. Here are the results. Tast Otis een t x i Chocolate n’s S o r Chip Sha Cookies ht Otis g i E Chocolate Ed’s Chip Otis Chex Mix Cookies ur Sour Punch Chocolate o F d Straws Chip o Fo Cookies
Sour Punch Straws
Powerade Popcorn (freshpopped)
Coca-Cola
Otis Chocolate Chip Cookies
Snickers Bar
p -chi
n pio
m
Cha
Snickers Bar
Sour Punch Straws
Skittles
Otis Chocolate Chip Cookies
Powerade
Twix Bar Twix Bar Reese’s
Kit-Kat
Reese’s
Kit-Kat Kit-Kat
Reese’s
Cheeze-Its
The Pantry Region
Luna Bar
Otis Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Kitchen Region Smoothie
Oreos Starbucks Frappuccino Starbucks Zesty Frappuccino Jalapeño Chips
Yogurt Parfait
Three Musketeers Bar Smoothie
Oreos
Hershey’s Chocolate
Sour Punch Straws
Milky Way Bar
Coca-Cola
Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
Easy Mac
Chef Boyardi Ravioli
Smoothie
Oreos Smoothie
Lay’s Chips Lay’s Chips Sun Chips
Oreos
Smoothie Gum
Hershey’s Chocolate
Gum Fruit Snacks
Hershey’s Chocolate
Gum
Muffin Muffin
Pretzels
Apple Juice
Pretzels Famous Amos Cookies
Powerade vs. Popcorn
Cookies vs. Kit-Kat
Ravioli vs. Smoothie
Cookies vs. Smoothie
This was the closest matchup in the tournament. Only two votes sent Powerade to the next round. Popcorn is a great snack to share with a group of people, it brings friends together, and it’s only $1, while Powerade is $2. But any student-athlete knows the difference that a pregame Powerade can make in their performance for a big SPC counter game that afternoon. Popcorn is delicious, but at the end of the day, the energy drink had enough in its tank to move through to the prestigious Sharon’s Sixteen.
The popular chocolate-wafer snack gave our eventual tournament champion a run for its money in this close Ed’s Eight matchup. While the crispy/chocolate combination of the Kit-Kat bar is hard to resist, the warm, soft inside of a fresh cookie gives it a slim advantage over the candy bar. The immensely popular chocolate chip cookies won by just 12 votes.
There was little doubt about who was going to win this matchup. A difference of 161 to nine votes make it the largest landslide of any matchup in the tournament. Ravioli takes a long time to heat up (not to mention opening the cheese packet and getting the right ratio of water). It is also more expensive than the smoothie. And a creamy blend of “natural” fruits can soothe away a stressful day. Besides, should we really trust ravioli that’s been sitting in a plastic container next to powdered donuts for two weeks?
Here it is, the final matchup everyone has been waiting for. The famous rivalry. The Battle for the Back Corner of the Buzz. The smoothies had a fairly easy road to the championship and never faced any real competition until they faced the most popular dessert in the buzz. Unlike Kentucky, our number one overall seed was able to complete the first undefeated school year in Buzz Snack history en route to claiming its first ever Munch Madness Championship. story by Suman Chebrolu & JosephWeinberg graphic by Andrew Friedman & Ariana Zhang