May 2016 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

Evergreen the

may 18, 2016

Everything Greenhill

volume 51, issue 6

Graphic by Arhum Khan

Lili Stern

Sports Editor

Samar Ahmad

Asst. Features Editor

The weekend of the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) fine arts festival, freshman Megan Olomu was set to leave her stress behind. Not only was she headed for three days of entertainment with friends, it was also a “no homework weekend” at Greenhill, a thrice-yearly time when administrators instruct teachers not to give weekend homework or schedule tests or quizzes the following Monday.

Thinking she was work free, Megan packed for San Antonio ready to enjoy the festival. But she was mistaken. By the time she left, she had a docket full of assignments due the following Monday.

“I got up early some days during ISAS to do homework because I didn’t want to go home and be slumped with work.

On Sunday when I got home I had lots of work to do,” she said.

Meanwhile, Advanced Placement (AP) Biology teacher Barry Ide was trying to balance his trimester’s course load while honoring the no homework policy. The AP courses have a rigorous timeline and set exams that Mr. Ide cannot control. Students take his course with the expectation of perhaps earning college credit in science, and the pressure is on both students and teachers to ensure they have a good shot.

“While the intention is a good one, I think the implementation [of no homework weekends], from my perspective, seems to increase a student’s stress, not decrease a student’s stress,” he says.

The struggle at Greenhill is feeding into a debate around the country. In an effort to make homework more meaningful at Greenhill and to help eliminate stress of unnecessary work, Head of Upper School Laura Ross has tried to find ways to fine tune the homework system. At the start of the 2015-2016 school year in both the Upper School and Middle School implemented no homework weekends.

Nationally, many experts question the role homework plays in school. Finland, widely regarded as having one of the best educational systems in the world, has very minimal homework as part of its curriculum. A study from Cooper, Robinson, and Patall completed in 2006 reported the optimum amount of homework for twelfth-graders in between 1.5 and 2.5 hours per night. cont’d on page 6

Views

Staff editorial on self defense. p.2

News

Middle School to change to semester schedule. p. 3

Serving Greenhill since 1966

Feat.

Summer by the numbers. p. 5

Arts

Greenhill students make their own albums. p. 11

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

Sports

Varsity cheerleading cuts spots. p. 14

evergreengreenhill.org

Views the

Rants & Raves

A RAVE to the new study rooms in the Marshall Performing Arts Center (MPAC). As much as we love the study rooms in the library, it’s not easy running at the same pace as Usain Bolt with a 25-pound backpack to get one. With the extra MPAC study rooms, at least we only have to run as fast as whoever the second fastest sprinter in the world may be.

A RANT to the lack of Passover food at the Buzz. As much as people celebrating Passover enjoy watching their fellow classmates stuff themselves with gooey chocolate chip cookies from the Buzz, they would also appreciate their own Passover-friendly foods.

After wandering in the desert for 40 years, they at least deserve some unleavened, Passover matzah.

A RANT to dirty equipment in the High Performance Center (HPC). It’s bad enough that we have to exert ourselves with back squats and bench presses, but we also have to endure the disgusting sweat of the sufferers who came before us. Our muscles are already sore. Do our noses have to be sore, too?

A RANT to the outdated posters on bulletin boards all over the Upper School.

There’s nothing more humiliating than showing up promplty at 9:00 pm to the Doubletree Hilton because you saw a poster that said Homecoming was this Saturday. By the way, did you hear that fall SPCs are this weekend? Go Hornets!

A RAVE to the MPAC accoustics. People always say our generation loves the sound of our own voices, and now we can hear them with utmost clarity thanks to the amazing acoustics in the MPAC. No microphone? No problem. Feel free to be as vain as you please.

A RAVE to An Evening with Jay Leno. A person gets very few chances in life to see somebody famous. Luckily, Greenhill parents got the opportunity to listen and laugh at An Evening with Jay Leno. Sure, we lowly students had to miss out, but you got to have your fun. It’s fine. We’re fine.

A RAVE to the new Student Council Arts and Athletics Boards. Admit it, you artists who have been feeling neglected by a lack of representation in the Greenhillian Government are excited to shine on the new Arts Board. The rest of us talentless peasants will be in awe admiring your talents and cursing our parents for not giving us artistic genes. As for you athletes out there, hopefully your board lives long enough to surpass the life spans of SLOG and Big Green Nation.

A RANT to assigned seating during F-day assemblies. This is ‘Murica where we should have the liberty to sit where we want, when we want, with whom we want, and watch some NASCAR and eat some fried food while we’re at it. We demand civil liberties!

A RAVE to College T-shirt Day. There’s nothing better than knowing that some of our favorite seniors will only be traveling a few hundred miles away, and to all different types of colleges. It’s great seeing the accomplishments of our elderly peers on campus. Remember, hard work doesn’t always result in good grades. Good luck to the Class of 2016!

Safety first

Every 107 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one in five women and one in 71 men will become rape victims at some point in their lives. With statistics like this, no schedule is too busy to learn self-defense skills. These techniques should be offered as a class in Greenhill’s curriculum, and all students should be required to take this course at some point in their high school careers.

The Hockaday School requires students to take a self-defense course as part of their wellness curriculum in high school.

According to an article from The Fourcast, a Hockaday alumna used the lessons from the self-defense course to protect herself against a rape attempt. Throughout the years, other

Jay Leno Photo courtesy of Grenhill School Facebook Page

Staff Editorial Hockaday alumnae have similarly used selfdefense techniques learned from the course to prevent serious incidents.

This summer, Greenhill is introducing a five-day, $300 self-defense class taught

by Meg Hinkley and AJ Tucker from Athena Strategies, a safety and self-defense company, as part of the Summer on the Hill program. As of May 8, no students have signed up for the summer self defense course.

We understand that unlike Hockaday, Greenhill is a co-educational school, but self-defense is no less relevant. While some may think the problem is gender-specific to females, males are subjected to sexual violence too, moreover, self-defense can help in other perilous situations including

muggings and assaults. Teaching students how to employ defensive techniques can help all students learn to defend themselves when in danger.

According to Head of Upper School Laura Ross, students may have the opportunity to take a trimester long self defense course for physical education credit in following years, but it will not be a graduation requirement. If not enough students seek out the optional self-defense class, then Greenhill should make the course mandatory.

It could also be a part of the required Upper School Wellness course. The course is currently split into six different units. One could include self-defense. Even if it is not feasible to create a unit dedicated solely

to self-defense, the class already contains a sexual assault awareness unit that could incorporate self-defense techniques. This would ensure that every student knows how to defend himself or herself.

It’s important that all students learn to defend themselves, because violence and assault can happen to anyone. These techniques can save lives and not teaching or taking a self-defense class is not only illogical, it may also be harmful.

the

Evergreen staff editor-in-chief Zayna Syed

copy editor

Simra Abedi

sports editors

Lili Stern Jordan Sternblitz

executive editors

backpage editors

news editor

Sophie Bernstein Maya Ghosh

Abbas Hasan

content editor

arts editor

views editor

Ellen Margaret Andrews Ben Schachter Suman Chebrolu

managing editor

Joseph Weinberg

Zoe Allen

Annika Squires

features editor

design editors

Radhe Melwani

asst. arts editor Alice Zhang

online managing editor Suman Chebrolu

asst. features editor

online content editor

Samar Ahmad

Areeba Amer

asst. views editor

online broadcast editor

Ross Rubin

staff writers

Stephen Crotty Kien Duc Pham Allie Frymire Zach Rudner Kionce Woods

Chris Quintero

Areeba Amer Arhum Khan

staff manager Josh Rudner

advisor

Lauren Silva Laughlin

asst. advisor

Dr. Amy Bresie

staff artists

Drake Heptig Anusha Kurapati Avery Jane Williams Amy Yang

the

News Administrators rethink use of Upper School spaces Sophie Bernstein

Kien Duc Pham

Backpage Editor Staff Writer

This summer, the Greenhill will redesign the Elliot Center and other spaces, bringing in additional learning resources to the Upper School.

The construction of the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center freed the Elliot Center of its F-day assembly usage. In order to create a more study friendly environment while preserving the natural light of the Elliot Center, administrators have decided to build a glass wall to separate the walkway that many venture through to get to the Student Center, the Modern and Classical Language Department (MCL) pod, outdoors, and the Elliot Center itself.

“Lately, the Elliot Center is a place where we go, ‘shh!,’ and it shouldn’t be that,” said Director of Instructional Technology Dr. Chris Bigenho.

Greenhill is also working to re-furnish the Elliot Center to accommodate the needs of different types of learners.

“Right now the Elliot Center is kind of one size fits all,” said Head of Upper School Laura Ross. “There are rectangular tables

and circular tables, but they’re all people facing each other.”

In efforts to support students’ unique learning styles, the Computer Lab (next to Assistant Head of Upper School Rebecca Shuman’s office) will be converted into the Academic Resource Center (ARC) over the summer. Greenhill intends for the ARC to support both high school students with and without learning differences by offering extended time proctoring, helping with essential skills like note taking, providing homework help, and offering student support.

“

Lately, the Elliot Center is a place where we go, ‘shh!’, and it shouldn’t be that.”

“I think it’s more an understanding of you can’t just divide the world into people who have learning differences and need extra support, and everybody else who’s just fine,” said Ms. Ross. “I think what it is is an understanding that all of us could stand to learn about executive functioning skills and metacognition about how people learn best. We want to invest in teaching those skills to all students.”

Additionally, Greenhill will hire a second Upper School learning specialist to start next school year. Both specialists’ offices will move to Ms. Shuman’s office to be more accessible to students in the Elliot Center. Ms. Shuman will move to the current Evergreen lab.

Greenhill also hopes to redevelop the student center this summer, and will redesign the ninth and tenth grade locker room in the summer of 2017. The Evergreen lab will relocate to the Language Lab, and the MCL will now use new technology within their own rooms. Some classes will possibly begin to swap older technology, like Smart Boards, for interactive projectors and Apple Tvs, which are currently in the testing stage.

Administrators hope these shifts will promote positive change in academic culture within the school.

Even with all of these changes, Ms. Ross still emphasizes classroom presence, not just cool chairs.

“We want to make sure that we’re getting the right things, but in some ways, I want to spend more money on professional development for teachers and learning things for students,” Mrs. Ross said.

Campus Watch On April 5 at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), freshman Haruka Weiser was murdered by 17 year old Meechaiel Criner. Weiser was walking back to her dorm from the drama building at 9:30 p.m. when Criner, who had been kicked out of his home a few months earlier, walked onto campus, raped and murdered Weiser before disposing her body in nearby creek.

The incident briefly shook the Greenhill community.

Currently there are 33 alumni attending UT and 10 Greenhill students attending the school next year.

“It definitely changes the way you think about safety,” said Brent Rubin ‘14, who is currently a sophomore at UT.

of targeted violence incidents occured on campus.

1 out of 2 sexual assaults occur within 1 mile of the victim’s home or at their home.

In 2010,

crimes were reported to campus police Photo Courtesy of Jason Yaffe

A VIEW INTO TOMORROW: Upper School students look at potential models for changes to the Elliot Center to be made in the near future. Administrators hope the changes will create better learning spaces.

Graphics by Drake Heptig and Areeba Amer Statistics from Victims of Crime and the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network

Reporting by Suman Chebrolu, Zoe Allen, and Radhe Melwani

Greenhill Business Society to implement new strategy

Ben Schachter Executive Editor

Allie Frymire

Starting in the 2016-17 school year, the Greenhill Business Society (GBS) will be implementing a new investment strategy to match the club’s desire to create a more complex and realistic approach to stock market trading for its members.

GBS, which was given $100,000 to invest in 2012, is a student run club with oversight from Director of Finance and Human Resources Katie Robbins, Chief Financial Officer Melissa Orth, and Upper School Science teacher Mike Krueger among others. Upper School Math teacher Dr. Youssef Oumanar is also helping to implement the club’s new strategy. The club currently has about $114,000 in its portfolio, up 14% from their initial Staff Writer

investment.

With the previous system, students would look at the current stock price relative to other companies, often measuring something called a “price-toearnings” ratio. The club also considered volatility, news and momentum to determine whether to buy the stock. Once the stock increased 30%, the club would hold an emergency meeting to discuss whether to sell the stock.

The new approach will include technical analysis that helps predict the future value of the stock rather than look simply at the present price. The club will build sophisticated mathematical models that predict the future cash flow of a company. They will then do something called “discounting” those cash flows to today. This method can tell an investor the current overall value of the company.

If the market price is lower than the predicted value of future cash flows, the club will buy the stock. Then when the stock actually reaches their predicted price, they can discuss if they want to sell the stock or continue to own it.

“There was not a quantitative exit strategy. I felt that’s something that’s very important that needs to address with a more quantitative approach,” Dr. Oumanar said.

The new strategy will also rely much more heavily on the club’s younger members who will be asked to follow individual stocks and give a monthly report on technical indicators to senior members on the status of Bollinger Bands, Relative Strength Index (RSI), support and resistance levels, and 200-day moving average.

“The workload itself is not changing that much, [the new investment strategy] just involves sector leaders and younger

members of the club who now have to keep in touch with their stocks constantly,” said GBS Sector Leader sophomore Alex Rose.

Club leaders are excited about how this new system will make members more knowledgeable about the stock market as a whole.

“Now we can really know the specifics behind each company and analyze each company, and have a better understanding of why we’re doing what we’re doing and when we’re doing it,” said junior Jake Hoffman, a Co-President of GBS for the upcoming 2016-17 school year along with Junior Zach Rudner.

Senior Kevin Wei, Co-President of GBS this year, said that while they are currently up about 14 percent overall, they are making the changes for

educational purposes rather than simply profits.

“Our investment strategy is very long term, so we tend to think about making money over the course of two to three years instead of over the next six months.”

Graphic by Areeba Amer

news 4 Evergreen Middle School to change to semester schedule

wednesday, may 18, 2016

Areeba Amer

Design/Online Content Editor

Jordan Sternblitz

Sports Editor

Starting next year, the Middle School will be running on a semester schedule for their year-long academic courses instead of the traditional trimester schedule. There will be approximately 80 days in the first semester and 80 in the second. As a result, grades and comments will come out twice a year instead of three times, and there will be three parent teacher conferences instead of two.

However, the athletics, fine arts, and the fifth grade language carousel will remain on a trimester schedule, so those comments and grades will continue to come out accordingly. “ Middle School classes are full-year classes, but [the trimester schedule] causes grades to be given when they are not necessarily at the best time for learning, projects, and assessments to be scheduled in a way that might not be on the best time frame for kids,” said Head of Middle School Susan Palmer.

In addition to timing, the Middle School hopes to enforce the idea of a learning process instead of solely focusing on grades.

“We’re emphasizing process versus the final product, which will be the grade, so it’s really talking about breaking things down step-bystep. With the semester schedule, that gives a more continuous arc of material,” said Middle School Chinese teacher Grace Kiang.

The comments for academic classes will come out mid-semester, October and March, of next year. The academic grades will come out at the end of each semester, January, March, and the end of the year.

According to Ms. Palmer, the goal of implementing such a system is to make students’ workload more consistent.

Due to the trimester system, a lot of assessments were often packed into the two weeks before the end of the trimester, making students’ workload inconsistent, Ms. Palmer said.

“There is a lot of research out there that has great rationale on how to manage the pace of your students’ learning here, and that a lot of stopsand-starts and assessments

the

Graphic by Anusha Kurapati

crunched into a short time period is not best for student needs, nor teacher needs,” Ms. Palmer said.

As a part of the new schedule, there will be three parent teacher conferences per year as opposed to the current two conferences.

With this change, each of the three conferences will have a different focus. The first conference will be a getto-know-you session, the second will be a mid-year

checkup, and the third will be a recap of the year.

“We’re still going to have the conferences, we’re going to communicate with parents as we usually do, it’s just that you would have the year split into two parts rather than three,” Ms. Kiang said.

Following the Independent School Association of the Southwest (ISAS) School Accreditation two years ago, Ms. Palmer and other administrators

sat down to do a selfassessment of the Middle School.

The administration looked at the recommendations of the ISAS Accreditation, and the result was the development of five task forces to oversee different aspects of the Middle School. The Communication Task force took the idea of semesters and developed it to accommodate the Middle School’s needs.

“The faculty seems very excited, but they did bring some points to light,” Ms. Palmer said.

One of the points brought up was how to approach the semester schedule with regard to things like Thanksgiving Break. The teachers will begin training in Faculty Professional Development days and then work to brainstorm ways to effectively approach lesson plans for different courses.

Another concern among administration is the transition to the Upper School trimester schedule, which Middle and Upper School teachers are working to solve.

“That’s something we all will have to look

at,” said Ms. Palmer. “Our Middle School students are extremely efficient, timemanaging students. Our kids know how to manage time and they will be taking that skill and translating it to the trimester schedule in Upper School.”

Though an easier transition is the goal, there is no guarantee or expectation that these same changes will find their way to the Upper School.

“The Middle School does not decide policy for the Upper School. The change we’re talking about is for Middle School only. If the Upper School changes, it will be because Upper School faculty and Upper School administration decided to make that change,” said Middle School Math teacher Dr. Grant Mindle, a member of the committee responsible for the schedule change.

In general, next year will be approached with an open mind and will serve as a test run to learn from the process.

“In the first year of any new initiative, we will learn a lot, but we are making every effort to foresee potential bumps in the road,” Ms. Palmer said.

Features the

Gone, but not forgotten Greenhill legends to retire

Darlene Caraway

Rhonda Brette

Linda Chianese

Ciro Montes

Forty years ago, Darlene Caraway decided to leave the corporate office in hopes of finding a more engaging work environment. Her search led her to Greenhill School where she found a strong sense of community in her peers and in the students she has been able to connect with.

Now, after working with the three heads of school and serving as the assistant varsity as well as Middle School girls’ tennis coach, Ms. Caraway, currently the Executive Assistant to the Head of School, has decided to retire.

According to Ms. Caraway, her time at Greenhill has proved to be reflective of the environment she was looking for 40 years ago. She said she will miss working with the head of school and her colleagues the most, and also hopes to find Greenhill’s strong sense of inclusion elsewhere.

“Greenhill is appreciative of different cultures, taking it to the next level by teaching some of the differences in a variety of ways,” said Ms. Caraway.

Throughout her 40 years at Greenhill, Ms. Caraway has been an event planner for faculty events as well as celebrations, such as the Recognition Awards Luncheon on campus.

As dozens of third grade students file into a large classroom, they enter another world: a world in which they are architects, engineers, city planners, and problem solvers. Through their group projects and individual effort, they find themselves enveloped in everything computer programming has to offer. This is the world of coding that Lower School Computer teacher Mrs. Rhonda Brette has introduced.

Mrs. Brette always knew she wanted to teach. She attended the University of Northern Iowa, previously called State Teachers’ College, to receive her degree in education. After graduating, Mrs. Brette worked as an administrative assistant in several places before settling down with her husband in Dallas.

She started working at Greenhill as the Upper School Administrative Assistant.

Two years later, Ms. Estelle Dickens found out Mrs. Brette had a background in elementary education and asked her to work with her in the Lower School. However, it wasn’t until Assistant Head of School Mr. Tom Perryman became the head of Lower School that Mrs. Brette transitioned to teaching computers classes.

To stay updated with technology, Mrs. Brette attends conferences and does research via Internet. Her students can be a useful source of information as well.

“I enjoy them every day,” said Mrs. Brette. “They teach me things all the time.

They are the number one reason I am here.”

Her favorite moments in class are when students get excited about their work.

“It’s really fun when... if something doesn’t work in class, the kids problem solve and fix it and I hear exclamations of joy,” Mrs. Brette said.

She said it’s for moments like these as well as the campus, colleagues, and school performances, that she loves Greenhill.

After 31 years of service to Greenhill School, Mrs. Rhonda Brette said she and her husband are moving back to the Midwest to be closer to their family.

“Greenhill is such a wonderful place, I couldn’t imagine anywhere else being any better.”

Some second graders may recognize her as “Grandma Peacock” from her days taking care of our famous school birds.

Her co­workers in the Three Chimneys Building might know her as one half of “Thelma and Louise of Greenhill” because she travels with Director of Annual Giving, Anne Hudson. Her office door reads “Linda Chianese.”

Past the door, a large framed peacock decorates her office walls. Ms. Chianese, originally from Youngstown, Ohio, has worked at Greenhill for 26 years. After leaving the stock brokerage business, she began her tenure at Greenhill as the Middle School Office Coordinator, a position she kept for four years.

Ms. Chianese then ran the Admissions Office for 10 years before moving to her current role, Assistant to the Assistant Head of School and Human Resources.

Now, she helps Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman with finding teachers to hire, works in the Human Resources department, helps run the fellows program and Heart of the Hill, and organizes the faculty for the Meyerson graduation ceremony.

She said she has enjoyed participating in many traditions, including feeding the peacocks, planting in Greenhill’s community garden, and attending faculty holiday celebrations.

“I think the philosophy in this office is you don’t get complacent. You continually look for new ways, for new ideas, and better strategies, because you are a support system,” said Ms. Chianese.

“My philosophy has always been that­­to be reliable, if people need to sit down and just talk about the problem of the day, then I’m here to listen. It’s always an open door.”

She plans to travel to Santa Fe as well as other places, and visit Greenhill in the future during her retirement.

“I’ll be back out here. I’m sure I’ll come back out and help out whenever I can,” Ms. Chianese said.

Every year, Homecoming is one of the biggest events of high school.

Tradition and decorations combined make up this memorable week. One tradition is painting and decorating a large “G” on the 50-yard line at the Homecoming game. That job belonged to one man: Mr. Ciro Montes.

Mr. Montes has been in charge of Facility Operations and Services for 28 years at Greenhill. His job includes many things such as marking the athletic fields and running the Greenhill buses to make sure they are always working. During his tenure, he also delivered packages for teachers and was often seen at the side of his best friend and co-worker, Tony Torres. However, that famous “G” painted on the 50-yard line of Greenhill football games took hours of hard and careful work, he says.

“It was one of my favorite parts of the job. I took pride in doing that,” said Mr. Torres.

The recent retiree saw Greenhill reach new heights in his 28 year career there.

“I saw Greenhill grow. It makes me very emotional and happy to see where it is now. They were family to me for 28 years, always so kind and loving,” said Mr. Montes.

In addition to his Greenhill job, he also worked two businesses on the side: a gift giving business and an interior clothing store.

Ciro also aspired to be a teacher at Greenhill.

“I began working there and admired the teachers so much. I wanted to go back to school and teach these kids as well.

Sadly, I just never was able to find the time.”

Mr. Montes said.

After he leaves Greenhill, Mr. Montes hopes to spend more time with his family, but has loved the time he spent on campus.

“I say I’d be remembered as a hardworking man. Someone who was always there to do their job and did it without fail. It was tough work but I loved doing it. This place will always be in my heart.” Mr. Montes said.

“

Greenhill is appreciative of different cultures, taking it to the next level by teaching some of the differences in a variety of ways.”

Ms. Caraway emphasized that one of the things she will miss most about Greenhill is being part of her Heart of the Hill group. She has seen her preschool and Lower School students grow into juniors in Upper School, and said the connection she formed with them has been extremely memorable.

“The juniors in my [Heart of the Hill] group have asked me to come back for graduation next year, which I will do,” said Ms. Caraway.

After leaving Greenhill, Ms. Caraway’s plan is to start two businesses: a dog obedience training business, and a doggie hotel, which she is starting with a partner. story by Simra Abedi

story by Josh Rudner

story by Sophie Bernstein

story by Chris Quintero

Photos courtesy of Darlene Caraway, Linda Chianese, and Joe Monaco

Summer on the Hill coaches

Summer on the Hill teachers Summer on the Hill camps Summer on the Hill student counselors

students are taking a Summer on the Hill course reporting by Maya Ghosh

Graphics by Amy Yang and Areeba Amer

the

6 features

Evergreen

wednesday, may 18, 2016

The No Homework weekend dilemma cont’d from page 1 A group called Challenge Success, headed by Denise Pope, Ph.D. and senior lecturer at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, is pushing people to think differently about homework. The organization wants to “shift the focus away from a discussion of quantity of homework, and toward a focus on the quality of the assignments, the connections homework has to the broader curriculum, and the extent to which the homework assignments engage students in learning.” It’s an initiative Mrs. Ross cites in discussions.

“We want to make sure that our homework assignments genuinely support the learning process in a way that could not occur in the classroom. We are looking at the why of homework,” said Mrs. Ross.

At Greenhill, these No Homework weekends have worked with varying success.

In a survey taken of 173 Upper School students, nearly threequarters of students said that they have regular homework assigned the Friday before a No Homework weekend that is due the following Monday, 83% said that they have tests, quizzes, or projects due the Monday following a No Homework weekend, and 90% reported that their teachers pile on more than the usual amount of work either the week before or the week after a No Homework weekend.

“I don’t find No Homework

weekends effective, because teachers tend to cram work into either Tuesday or Wednesday, and I end up doing homework anyways,” said freshman Manvi Mittal.

Some faculty members believe that students need to speak up when faculty do not honor these weekends.

“Ideally, if a teacher forgets, the first thing a student should do is remind them nicely that it is a no homework weekend. But if the teacher insists on homework, then they need to go and talk to the department chairs, talk to the administration,” said Upper School Math teacher Steve Warner. “But if the student stays silent, then the administration can’t do anything because the administration doesn’t know that there are teachers doing that.”

“

[No homework weekends are] like putting a Band-Aid on a larger issue. I’d like to investigate the bigger question about the work that is expected outside of class in Greenhill’s Upper School.”

At the same time, teachers are struggling to keep up with their syllabi when they break the momentum to stop giving assignments. Two-thirds of teachers think that No Homework weekends are ineffective, and 40% of teachers said they have trouble abiding by them. These statis-

tics were taken from a pool of 30 teachers representing every department in the Upper School as well as teachers from the Fine Arts department.

“Teachers aren’t allowed to assign assessments the day we return from breaks; we can’t have homework after spring break, the holiday break, or Thanksgiving.

Teachers also don’t assign homework over transition weekends, from first trimester to second trimester or second trimester to third trimester. From my perspective it seems like there are more like six or seven breaks where students don’t do homework. That’s 20% of weekends,” Mr. Ide said.

One of the groups that struggle most are those that teach AP courses, where the curriculum is less flexible due to the standardized exams administered in May that cover information irrespective of whether or not it is taught in school.

“As an AP teacher, the expectations of the community, the students, the parents, my colleagues, and myself, are that I’ll prepare students well,” said Mr. Ide. “There will be less time for students to work outside of class, but the standard to which I’m held doesn’t change.”

It’s a position to which Mrs. Ross is sympathetic.

“If you look at what an AP class has to get through, teachers have to make sure that their students are in a position to be able to

pass the exam,” said Mrs. Ross.

Nevertheless, the new system is starting to have some success.

“For the teachers that do act like it’s a regular week and then just don’t give homework over the weekend, that’s actually really helpful,” said freshman Sophia Little. “I always have to set aside almost all my Sundays to do homework, so I think it’s really nice to just have a weekend where I can enjoy things other than homework.”

Upper School Spanish teacher Mary Tapia says she has been working to make the amount of homework she gives manageable, while still achieving the purpose of the assignment.

“Teachers have to be mindful about the amount and the quality of the exercise,” said Mrs. Tapia.

To bridge this gap between the teachers and the students,

Graphic by Amy Yang

Mrs. Ross and other Greenhill administrators are currently investigating homework, its role at the school, and whether it should be reduced or changed to improve the student experience.

Next year, a yearlong Upper School Vision Committee will be established to address these bigpicture questions, according to Mrs. Ross. The committee will include students and faculty who will discuss assignments in various departments and assess the overall workload. “[No Homework weekends are] like putting a Band-Aid on a larger issue. I’d like to investigate the bigger question about the work that is expected outside of class in Greenhill’s Upper School,” Mrs. Ross said.

wednesday, may 18, 2016

the

Evergreen

senior section

Greenhill School: Class of 2016 The Evergreen Greenhill School: Class of 2016 Hey, Class of 2016, what are some of your favorite and funniest memories from your time at Greenhill?

Hartley McGuire #freekalen

Meha Elhence

Oros attacking Rosenberg at C day meeting.

Megan Olschwanger

In sixth grade, Lane slapped me in the face trying to kill a bug.

Jackson Lowen

I had a 105 degree fever during the primer play, but the show had to go on.

Lauren Baron For all of Level 2, I thought I was a mouse and only communicated in squeaks

Rekha Sharma In Middle School, a peacock stole my cookie.

Keaton Butowsky

Cecilia Katzenstein broke up with me in fifth grade while I was playing kickball.

Nicole Koonce SYA.

Evan Duffy

I ditched Amelia at freshmen year Sadie’s and then asked her to senior year prom.

Dena Altshuler

I once went rock climbing with Dr. Weber and Ms. Tirrell.

7

the

8

Everg

WE MADE #classof2016 Austin College Bard College Baylor University Belmont University Beloit College Bentley University Boston University (4) California Polytechnic State U., San Luis Obispo Carnegie Mellon University (2) Case Western Reserve University Champlain College Chapman University Claremont McKenna College Clemson University Colorado College (2) Columbia University Duke University Earlham College Elon University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Emory University (6) Georgia Institute of Technology Harvey Mudd College Illinois Wesleyan University

Indiana University at Bloomington Lafayette College Loyola University Maryland Middlebury College Midwestern State University New York University (2) Northeastern University Northwestern University Occidental College Pomona College Pratt Institute Princeton University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rice University (3) Southern Methodist University (6) Stanford University SUNY College at Cortland Syracuse University Texas A&M University, College Station Texas A&M University, Commerce Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi Texas Christian University (2) Texas Tech University Trinity University Tufts University (2)

Miles away from home 22% 16%

12% 10% 6% 33%

Tulane University (6) University of Alabama University of Arizona University of Chicago University of Miami University of Michigan University of Mississippi (2) University of Missouri, Columbia ( University of North Texas University of Notre Dame (2) University of Pennsylvania University of Richmond University of South Carolina University of Southern California University of Texas, Austin (10) University of Texas, Dallas (2) University of Tulsa Vanderbilt University (3) Washington University in St. Louis Wellesley College Wesleyan University (2) Xavier University of Louisiana Yale University (2)

Application Breakdown

<100 miles 100-200 miles 200-500 miles 500-1000 miles 1000-1500 miles 1500-2000 miles

green

wednesday, may 18 2016

9

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(2)

0 students 1 student 2 students 3-4 students 5-7 students 8+ students

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A Millenialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s By the numbers

Total number of miles that can be covered via FaceTime between the two farthest colleges: Champlain College and California Polytechnic State U., San Luis Obispo.

3,208

1 Number of graduating seniors that are taking a gap year before starting college.

Number of emojis that are also mascots out of the 72 different colleges that the Class of 2016 are attending.

39

10 senior section

the

Evergreen

Advisory

We ,

wednesday, may 18, 2016

Stories

Bittenbender Advisory: Dear Advisees, These four years have flown by and I can’t believe it’s time to say bye. I want to thank you all for being the most easy-going advisory and I consider myself very lucky to have been able to work with all of you. As you scatter across the country, I hope all of you have a successful next segment of your journey. When life gets you down, just think back to all those glorious advisory lunches. Best wishes.

Mercurio Advisory: What we make of our experiences is up to us, so take the positives from your daily lives and allow them to inform your interactions with the world around you. Make each day as meaningful as possible by striving to be the best version of yourself.

Embrace who you are and then, as the Dropkick Murphys say, “sing it loud and sing it proud!”

Cotton Advisory: Dear Ethicist, I’ve had a terrific time in my advisory. My advisor is a kind, thoughtful, and inspiring man who has guided me through my years in the Upper School. But now I’m headed off to a fancy college where I’m sure I will meet lots of great new people and have countless life-changing experiences. It’s ethical for me to just forget my time in advisory and drop out of touch with my advisor? – Name withheld.

The Ethicist Responds: Absolutely not! Do all that you can to stay in contact with your advisor - and your fellow advisees – in the years ahead. (And, of course, be careful out there.)

Suarez Advisory: Your best time is yet to come... be kind, be happy, and enjoy the journey.

Every phase of your life has its own meaning...

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”-Kahlil Gibran

Colvin Advisory: You each have faced hardships and adversity, but you persevered. I cannot take credit for your collective success because we all know that it’s due to the time and effort we put into the advisory curriculum.

Where would you be without all that role-playing? And those break-out group discussions? Seriously, though, I want to thank each of you for sharing your time with me.

Congratulations!

Tapia Advisory: I hope that as you prepare for the next stage of your lives. You will remember Greenhill’s mission because a passion for learning and a commitment to service are part of the foundation for a happy and rewarding future. I look forward to hearing about your new experiences, and I would like to share one more thought-“Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”

Garza Advisory: Each of you knows how I love you in your own individual ways. Really. So in addition to my love, a few last words of advice: When you get your heart broken, curate and cherish memories of that love when it was true. Fend off all bitterness in your heart and in the words of those around you.

Spend your money on experiences rather than things. Very few objects make you as happy as you think they will.

Ask your grandparents what they remember about their grandparents. Write it all down.

Be kind, be safe, have fun!

Thomas Advisory: Try not to become overly attached to a storyline of who you should be or what you should do. Life is strange and wonderful.

Ide Advisory: Dear Ide-visees, With too little space to express all the care and love I have in my heart for you as you head off on new adventures, I’ll simply recall the advisory lunch we had freshman year when Nicolas ate Madeline’s lunch. Thank you for the good times and the good memories. I’ll miss each and every one of you.

Warner Advisory: To my advisees and adopted advisees: Thank you for an amazing 4 years. I have enjoyed our conversations immensely and will miss our laughs together. Your absence will be seen in more ways than an empty couch and unused blankets. We will have to see if my freshman can fill your shoes, they have some big ones to fill. Good luck in your future, and don’t forget to come back often and reclaim your spots and straighten out the ones trying to fill the void left by you. Hang your Christmas stocking proudly and stay in touch.

The Evergreen Seniors of 2016 would like to first and foremost thank you, our readers, for affording us with the privilege to provide a publication, a newspaper, The Evergreen. This paper has filled each of us individually with joy, stress, sadness, but most of all pride.

We are proud of the fact that for the past 4 years, we have been able to hold up the reputation of a 51-year-old paper. We have tried our best to be fair, accurate, and diverse among our content and design, and we have appreciated each comment of interest, concern, gratitude, anger, or love that we have received from you.

To Mr. Griggs, Mr. Perryman, Mrs. Ross, and Mr. Oros, thank you for letting us say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. We rely on your support and trust, and we hope we have proved worthy of it.

To Mrs. Laughlin, thank you for pushing us to greater boundaries than this paper has seen. You inspire us to fight harder, work faster, and be better journalists.

To The Evergreen Staff of 2015-2016, you have been the best possible workers we could have had. Thank you for always being there with the story, the interview, and even the many laughs. You all will continue to do incredible things.

To the Class of 2016, thank you for knowing that layout week meant we were going to be cranky. Thank you for always giving us feedback, good or bad. Thank you for always staying interesting and busy, so that we had stories to write about. And thank you for being our rocks and our classmates. We love you.

With love and gratitude, The Evergreen Seniors.

Madison, Varun, Lane, Ben, Mia, Catherine, Amna, Kathie, Megan, Christina

the

Arts

Students produce original music

Zoe Allen

Who: Junior Jack Kraus Bandcamp: brickman Genre: Weird, pop music with real instrumentals.

What you shoud listen to: “Mike” and “Topo” Inspirations: Alex G, Beadhead, American Football, Hum, Midwest 90s emo The best thing about making music: When I don’t get invited to parties, I can make music.

Arts Editor

Radhe Melwani Features Editor

Despite the countless fine arts options offered at Greenhill, many students follow their artistic passions through different paths outside of school. These five students pursue their love of music by creating it. Using platforms such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp, they spend hours honing their craft and producing instrumentals, songs, and even albums. These platforms allow the musicians to share their music with the world for free or for profit, either streaming or downloading. Their music spans many genres, including electronic, pop, hip-hop, rock, and jazz.

Who: Sophomore Sam Cooper SoundCloud: sam_cooper Genre: Saucy and electronic music, instrumental What you should listen to: “Bobohouse,” “Browniels,” “Palm Bisc pinyan,” and “Peptobismol” Inspirations: Warp Records Label, Cortex, Eberhard Weber, Arca, Kanye West, Radiohead, Lil Ugly Mane, Kenneth Pinyan, Cibbo Mato The best thing about making music: I really enjoy making music. I wouldn’t say it’s a form of me expressing myself, because it’s not, but it is really fun. It’s extremely enjoyable. I’m good at it. I like creating things. I really want to pursue a career in the field of music production and engineering.

Photo courtesy of Jack Kraus

Who: Sophomore Arya Nallanthighall SoundCloud: aryamusic1 Genre: Hip hop and jazz What you should listen to: “Song Goes Sentimentality,” “Fire Part One,” “Fire Part Two,” “Fire Finale,” and “Requiem” Inspirations: Zaytoven, Kanye West, Swizz Beatz The best thing about making music: The want to create more music afterwards. I don't think I have ever felt satisfied with something that I’ve put out before and I think that that’s alright because I strive to create better things everyday because of that.

Photo courtesy of Arya Nallanthighall

Photo courtesy of Sam Cooper

Who: Junior Evan O’Brien SoundCloud: eob123 Genre: Loud, rock, electronic, and metal music What you should listen to: “Empty Highways” and “Still” Inspirations: Radiohead, John Hopkins, My Bloody Valentine, Deafheaven, and Slow Dive The best thing about making music: When people say the term ‘make music’, it’s interesting that they say that. Bands ‘write music’.

As a music producer, you ‘make music’. It feels like you’re building something.

Who: Sophomore Grant Morgan SoundCloud: tg-48 Genre: Hip-hop, electronic, house What you should listen to: “Whipping it,” “Track One,” “Day One,” and “Wet” Inspirations: Metro Boomin, Kanye West, mainstream hip-hop producers The best thing about making music: It allows me to express myself in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. It allows me to create and evoke feelings. The individuality and creativity aspect is such a powerful tool that can be used to portray feelings or get a message across.

Photo courtesy of Grant Morgan

Photo courtesy of Evan O’Brien

The therapy of drawing Kien Duc Pham Staff Writer

Abbas Hasan News Editor

Doodling, the act of drawing or scribbling absent-mindedly, has largely been considered a taboo in educational environments for a number of reasons. At best, it is a waste of perfectly good notepaper.

At worst, it is an obstruction to the lecture at hand, distracting students and preventing them from taking in new knowledge.

However, could all these prejudices against doodling be misguided all along?

In recent years, evidence in support of doodling has begun to surface. Contrary to common belief, this seemingly idle act can be therapeutic. PsychologyToday has associated doodling with positive effects such as stress relief and mental relaxation. Furthermore, studies show drawing can assist students in strengthening their memory as well as improving their thought-making process.

In fact, psychologists have proven that the effects of drawing and doodling are incredibly helpful to the brain. Many researches have pointed out that drawing or doodling promotes the use of the brain’s right hemisphere, which is responsible for most visual interpretation and recognition.

Doodling can also be of assistance in remembering a lecture. In 2009, a professor from the University of Plymouth discovered that doodling helps individuals remember 29% more of the information they receive. “[Drawing or doodling] forces us to engage in our nontraditional, linear, logical way of thinking,” said Upper School Counselor Priya Singhvi. “If you are taking in information on both hemispheres of the brain, you are much more likely to remember it and use it for the future.”

At Greenhill, teachers are recognizing these benefits, and are supporting students who undertake this practice.

There are several faculty members of the Greenhill community that use drawing, coloring, or doodling as a way to cope with tension and to help focus themselves. “[Coloring] gives me a place to take a lot of the stress of the day out, and just let my brain think about what it wants to think about,” said Upper School Math teacher Melissa Battis, who colors to help herself focus while grading.

At Greenhill, many students have taken up drawing as a way to handle stress. To their surprise, doodling has significantly helped them focus during classes.

“I’ve been doodling since as long

as I can remember. It’s just something for my hands to do while my brain is rolling over the information in class,” said freshman Maggie Gibson.

Junior Richa Sinkre, who has been drawing since third grade, doodles to combat stress.

“I cannot speak for everyone, but for me doodling does relieve stress from school. I haven’t been able to draw as much lately because I’m worried I would waste precious time, and I think that may be why I’m so stressed this year. In class I need something to do in order to focus, and that’s why when I’m listening I would doodle but I would also take notes of the lesson,” said Richa.

However, there are still certain negative biases against the practice.

“People kind of make fun of me, and teachers call me out for it a lot. They think I’m not paying attention in class, which I am,” Maggie said.

Nonetheless, students who doodle have received support from many teachers.

“I would rather color than spend my time on my phone. Drawing is a nice reality

Graphic by Anusha Kurapati

escape,” said Upper School History teacher Dr. Amy Bresie.

Although doodling has historically had negative connotations, it also carries a positive weight with some teachers.

“I think there are certainly teachers who think that if you’re doodling you’re not paying attention,” said junior Addie Gomez. “But some teachers believe that doodling helps you remember things because you can remember which doodle you made at certain parts of the lecture.”

12 arts

the

Evergreen

wednesday, may 18, 2016

An enlightened review of Kendrick Lamar’s untitled unmastered.

Arhum Khan Design Editor

From being the last artist to ever perform on “The Colbert Report,” to rocking a blue flannel with sweats on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” to his powerful performance at The Grammy Awards, Kendrick Lamar, otherwise known as Kdot, has revolutionized live performances. Every time the Compton MC goes on stage at a talk show or award ceremony, he excitingly provides a new song, fresh with energy and creativity. I find myself engrossed by these shows. It is hard to lose focus.

These few songs have been titled, “Untitled,” and until now have remained solely live recordings. Each track is assigned a number followed by the date of its creation. By the grace of a tweet from professional basketball player LeBron James, praising and asking for a studio release of the series, Kendrick released an album entitled untitled unmastered.

It features eight compelling tracks and was released this March, and it is great.

Last year, Kendrick released the iconic “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which was notoriously and unjustly snubbed of Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards. With the release of untitled unmastered., Kdot once again takes command of the conversation and the rap throne. The project is described as a collection of demos from To Pimp a Butterfly. untitled unmastered. is a breath of fresh air and has helped listeners truly appreciate the genius and masterpiece of his preceding album. In addition, listeners who favor Kendrick’s old style of more modern and trap production will be content with untitled unmastered., a collection of his trademark jazz-funk, hip hop fusion. “untitled 01 | 8.19.2014” is the first track on the album and provides a scary monologue with a forceful deep voice followed by an unsettling and apocalyptic rap by Kdot. I have grown to enjoy this track because of its ending with melodic vocals by regular collaborator Anna Wise. “untitled 02 | 6.23.2014” is in the running to be my favorite track. With the trap drum feeling and the smooth saxophone by Terrace Martin, Kendrick delivers a strong track. He speaks on crime in black communities saying, “Seen black turn ‘em Burgundy/Hundred of them, I know I’m greedy/Stuck inside the belly of the beast/Can you please pray for me?” and then sings what is probably the catchiest part of the song in “get God on the phone.” I also favor this

tune because its finale is an excerpt from Kendrick’s guest performance on “ The Tonight Show on Jimmy Fallon.” “untitled 03 | 05.28.2013” is a funky track that was first introduced on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”. The song is undeniably forceful, but it is even more meaningful because of the magnitude of its live performance.

At the time Kendrick debuted this piece, he was absent

Graphic by Arhum Khan

LOVE OF LAMAR: Grammy-winning Kendrick Lamar put out his third album, untitled unmastered. in March.

in terms of solo music, and his highly anticipated and acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly hadn’t been released yet. The performance was jarring, odd, spooky, and refreshing. It provided a taste that the song itself fails to fully offer. “untitled 04 | 08.14.2014” is the shortest song on the track list. It provides comedic and harmonious yet dark and eerie vocals by Kendrick and label mates SZA and Jay Rock. On a later track, we discover the initial construction of this song in an audio recording of a creative studio session. “untitled 05 | 09.21.2014” thematically fits into the jazz-funk, hip-hop fusion of Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly, with Kdot painting a picture from the perspective of

an anxious and lost character. The introduction is uneasy, but when Kendrick, Punch, and Jay Rock start to supply their verses, and the story becomes visible, I became intrigued.

This track fits the premises of his last album as he speaks on the institutionalization of minorities and their sense of normality as well as the resulting effects of destructive behavior.

In “untitled 06 | 6.30.2014”, Kdot gives a plea to a lover with ideas of self confidence. I’m fond of the distinctive conversation and perspective Kendrick provides as he says “Look at my imperfections in awe/Look how you think that my mystique is a round of applause.” This track was produced two years ago. Guest vocalist Cee Lo Green says he forgot it even existed. I felt the same way about Cee Lo Green. “untitled 7 | 2014-2016” is a three-part track that involves less funk-filled instrumentals. The song is an emotionally charged sequence filled with inflated rap confidence. Kdot can be heard boasting and making his case for being the best rapper throughout the entire song. It was initially fun to jam to this entertaining track, until I found out the second part of it was produced by Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys’ fiveyear-old son, Egypt. Now, the piece reminds me that I’ve done nothing compared to a talented, impressive little kid with an even more impressive name like Egypt.

The album finishes with “untitled 08 | 09.06.2014,” a soulful track with pleasant singing and rapping by Kendrick accompanied by beautiful instrumentation from the talented bassist Thundercat. I think the combination of “untitled 02” and “untitled 08” once again meant more to me as opposed to the studio tracks because of the lasting influence the performance had on me.

Kendrick’s mannerism and energetic flow on stage paint a picture with his music, and I encourage any listener to watch these performances so they can truly appreciate his talent and artistry.

I was very thrilled by untitled unmastered., even though it was thrown at fans with little premonition. From the features usually involved in Kendrick’s discography to the less coherent but mass appealing production pool, the album is overall a gratifying experience. I hope King Kendrick continues to bless us with solid content.

LeBron’s request worked magic, so maybe we should start asking him for the Kendrick and J. Cole collaboration album (as well as good looks and pleasing ACT scores).

the

Sports Hornets headed to the next level Courtesy of respective schools

Claremont McKenna College did not return requests to provide a logo

Graph

ic by A reeba

Amer

Jacob Pugh signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play football at the University of Tulsa. Jacob started on the offensive and defensive line all four years of high school and was a captain his junior and senior year. He received All-SPC honors his junior year. By signing with Tulsa, Jacob becomes the second Greenhill football player in the last three years to play at the NCAA Division I level, joining Jalen Sharp ‘14 who currently plays football at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Naya Sharp will attend the University of Notre Dame for track and field. Naya committed in the fall and is currently ranked first in SPC in the 100-meter, 110-meter hurdles, and long jump, and second in the 200-meter. She holds SPC records in the 100-meter and 110-meter hurdles, and is a four year AllSPC honoree. She was a Greenhill captain for both the track and field and basketball teams.

Simmone Spielmann recently committed to play tennis at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), where she will compete at the Division III level. Simmone privately trained at Brookhaven Country Club and is currently ranked as a top40 player for her age group in Texas.

Orion Marty will be attending Illinois Wesleyan University for soccer. He has played varsity soccer all four years and has been a captain since his junior year. He received All-SPC honors both his junior and senior years, and won team MVP his senior year. Orion plays club soccer with the Dallas Texans and is the team’s field manager at center midfielder.

Justin Estrada will be attending Claremont McKenna College for track and field. He was a Greenhill captain his junior and senior seasons. He holds the Greenhill 400-meter record at 49.8 seconds and was also part of the boys 4 x 100 relay that holds the Greenhill record. Justin is also a cross country runner, and has been on Greenhill’s varsity soccer team since his freshman year, on which he has been All-SPC one time as well.

Luke Wagner will play lacrosse at the State University of New York at Cortland, an NCAA Division III school. Luke was a captain, four year varsity starter, and four year All-SPC honoree. In his sophomore year, he helped his team go all the way to the Division II Texas High School Lacrosse League (THSLL) Final Four as a starting defender.

Sydney Barnes will continue her field hockey career at Earlham College, playing at the NCAA Division III level.

Earlham is a small liberal arts college located in Richmond, Indiana. The Hustlin’ Quakers (Earlham’s mascot) play in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC). Sydney was a captain her senior year, and started as the “sweeper” for the Hornets for three years. story by Joseph Weinberg amd Stephen Crotty

Amelia Jones will be attending Middlebury College for pole vaulting. Amelia has been pole vaulting since eighth grade.

She holds the girls’ Middle School pole vaulting record, and has finished top three in SPC her last two years. She is also a three-time All-SPC honoree. Last year, Amelia was part of the girls’ trio that swept the podium at SPC along with junior Ellen Margaret Andrews and Emily Richmond ‘15.

Dani Milner will play Division II collegiate volleyball at Bentley University, located in the greater Boston area. Dani was a four year starter for the varsity girls’ volleyball team, and as a senior captain, she helped lead the team to their first SPC Championship since 2005. She received All-SPC honors in her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons.

14 sports

the

Evergreen

wednesday, may 18, 2016

Bloopers and Blunders

Photo courtesy of Greenhill website

Cheer team cuts down on spots Annika Squires Views Editor

This year as dozens of Upper School students came out of the adventure room post cheerleading tryouts, there was more disappointment than in prior years.

Previously, there were 26 varsity spots available on the cheerleading team; however, this May, Upper School students tried out for a spot on a smaller, 20 person varsity team and 12 person junior varsity (JV) team, with one mascot.

Certain aspects, such as the tryout process and application for cheerleading, remained the same.

This included having hired judges come facilitate the judging of the JV and varsity tryouts. However, a number of things changed in an effort to make the team more selective according to Chad Wabrek, Head of Athletics and Physical Education.

“We wanted to make the cheer program more competitive much like a varsity sport is more competitive,” said Mr. Wabrek. “[But] we don’t want to create a situation that doesn’t fit Greenhill.”

Mr. Wabrek and Tracey Pugh,

Head Cheerleading Coach, agreed to reduce the number of spots allotted for the cheer squad and to shift the philosophy to find girls for specific positions.

“The trend for cheer as a sport is a push towards dedicated positions,” said Mrs. Pugh. “Even though we were competing, we were competing at the basic level, so we were just thinking, if we are going to do it, we are going to do it right.”

Mrs. Pugh explained that with cheerleaders trying out for specific positions, such as spotter, back spot, base, and flyer, the team will be more well-rounded and students will be safer since they were chosen for a specific role.

When Mrs. Pugh first came to Greenhill, the cheerleading squad was made up of five cheerleaders.

Since then, the number of cheerleaders increased, reflecting the growing popularity of the sport at Greenhill.

The change has already produced results. Some girls have been practicing with outside tumbling coaches weekly since the beginning of January.

However, long time cheerleaders expect the team to be the same, just with fewer people.

“I don’t think it will affect the spirit of the team at all,” said junior Courtney Perkins, a member of the team for the past three years.

Rising senior cheerleaders who have previously been on the team are guaranteed a spot on the cheer squad; however, these eight spots are the only saved spots. Everyone else is required to tryout.

Unlike years past, Mrs. Pugh will not allow the people who participated in Fall cheer to automatically have a spot reserved for Winter cheer. Students now have to try out for both teams.

The Winter cheer squad will prepare only a few times per week for competitions, versus the daily practice of Fall cheer. This team will also have a maximum of 20 people.

Students who decide to do Winter cheerleading will no longer get a varsity letter as they have in years past, however they will still get a sports credit. Fall cheer will still receive a varsity letter.

We asked Upper School students and faculty to tell us some of the funniest, and/or most embarrassing moments they have had in the realm of sports. Here is what they said:

Mansi Kumar, Senior In eighth grade cross country, we were doing Indian runs (when you’re running in a line, and the person in the back runs up to the front of the line) and I started to sprint to the front. In my haste, I didn’t see my untied shoe and progressed to trip on my shoelace, fly into the air, and land on my arm. I broke two bones and damaged a nerve. I had to get surgery. But it’s gouda. I don’t play sports anymore and my fingers are fine.

Courtney Perkins, Junior We went to the High Performance Center (HPC) to do a lift, and Maddie Drossos and I made up a handshake. We were practicing it, and at the end of the handshake, I jumped back and landed on the light bar. I tried to catch my balance, but ended up crashing over. Everyone was laughing, and I was laughing but then I was like, ‘wait guys it really hurts.’ I looked down, and my ankle had a bump the size of a tennis ball on the side of it.

Darryn Sandler, Upper School Math teacher As a player, we were playing Dallas Christian in the finals of a tournament my junior year. At that time I was standing 5 feet 2 and 1/8 inches tall. One of my teammates was getting ready to shoot free throws. When lining up to rebound the free throw, I looked up and noticed I was standing next to Dallas Christian’s tallest player, standing 6 feet 10 inches tall. He looked down at me and with a serious look on his face said, “I crap bigger than you.” He did not smile, but his teammates thought it was hilarious. I found it to be very disturbing. reporting by Ellen Margaret Andrews

see www.evergreengreenhill.org for more stories

the

Evergreen

wednesday, may 18, 2016

afterwords

15

Falling into Place

“Why are you so afraid of falling?”

I’ve been ice-skating since I was eight years old when I watched the movie Ice Princess and decided I wanted to be exactly like Michelle Trachtenberg, the graceful lead of the movie. The glamor, elegance, and glitter were all enticing to my unathletic self who longed to claim a sport, but didn’t want to engage in anything too physical. I didn’t realize that the physical part of figure skating would be facile compared to the mental.

I was now 12 years old and had yet to master a scratch spin, one of the “starter” spins in figure skating.

It would haunt my dreams. One dream in particular made a lasting impression on me.

It was of a secluded barn, with ice in the place of a floor. There weren’t any of the typical hockey rink markings, but the ice was flat and had been surfaced. I started to skate. Suddenly, my coach appeared.

“Try a scratch spin,” she said.

I did it without thinking, and the spin was perfect.

“Now try an axel,” said my coach.

Axels are the cornerstone of any figure skater’s career. Once you’ve landed an axel, you know you’re good. Despite the difficulty of the jump, I did it without thinking and landed it perfectly.

The same process occurred for a multitude of other jumps: loops, lutzes, salchows, etc. I was able to do them all, and felt more and more euphoric with each perfect landing or spin.

Then I woke up.

A few days later and I was back at the ice rink—except this time, it was the real. I

warmed up with a few laps around the rink, some edges, and a couple of waltz jumps.

Then, my coach proclaims, “Lets start with the scratch spin!”

I groaned.“Ugh okay. But it’s not gonna be good!” I said with resignation.

I got into T-position, pushed off into a one-foot glide, hooked the three-turn, lifted my other leg and started to wrap it around, but then my hip started to cock to one side and I fumbled.

“Why can’t I do this? What am I doing wrong?” I exclaimed with a huff.

“Try going a little faster. It’ll help you get a better edge and gain more balance,” said my coach.

“I can’t! Then I’ll fall!” I said.

“Why are you so afraid of falling?” she asked.

I had no answer. Because—it’s falling!

I thought. Whenever someone tries to measure how ‘good’ I am at ice-skating, the first thing they always ask is, “How often do you fall?” Falling was implicitly bad because it meant failure. And no one likes to fail.

The next question the person asks is, “What jumps and spins can you do?”

I realized that while I would look like a success when answering their first question (I rarely fall), my fear of falling made me come up short on the second question. I wasn’t able to move forward with my scratch spin and other jumps/spins because I was afraid of falling, and thus, failing.

My fear of failure caused me to fail.

“Try again,” said my coach. “Except this time, don’t think about it. Don’t be afraid to fall.”

I took a deep breath, got into T-position, and cleared my head. What’s the worst that could happen? I thought to myself. Everyone has to fall sometime.

I pushed off into a one-foot glide, hooked the three-turn, lifted my other leg and started to wrap it around, then I started spinning. And it was perfect. Well, almost— but a few more weeks of practice would take care of the kinks.

been a rollercoaster of emotions. In the fall, I sprained my lower back, preventing me, from racing at all in the fall. It kept me in Dallas while my team went to Austin, Head of the Charles and Head of the Hooch, two of the biggest regattas of the fall. That entire time, inability to progress made it seem as if I wouldn’t reach the timed goals I needed to be considered for rowing lightweight in college.

Most of us turn to others when we face times of despair. I am no different. However, as I turned to classmates, they confronted me with jokes. When the word “rowing” comes out of my mouth, it is met by “Do you row?” Perhaps it is funny, but to me it got

dry after the 200th time. Other times, I am met by groans of annoyance. How did this come to be? Did I somehow isolate myself from the rest of Greenhill by not signing up to play a school sport and being part of those cliques?

I have a passion for rowing, but these comments made me realize how alone I was.

It felt as if I could not talk about rowing to others without being criticized.

If a person tells you about what bothers them, it usually comes from a position of trust. They probably look to you for help, or to simply be there for them in that time of need. The nicest thing to do is to listen and not make jokes.

to have fun with my cousins. The night was going wonderfully. But all good things come to an end.

As I finished my meal and began to wash my dish, my aunt cornered me in the kitchen. “Why would you do this to yourself?” she asked. “What is the need for all this? You shouldn’t do this. It’s not right.”

My mom and sisters don’t wear hijab, and my aunt was angry that I would make a different decision. I told her that I felt as though it was the right thing to do. Soon, I couldn’t think clearly anymore, and I ran away before bursting into tears.

I have yet to figure out why my aunt reacted the way she did. Perhaps I will never know. What I do know is that my hijab is symbol of my devotion to my religion. It is meant to show that I am a proud Muslim and that as far as Islam is concerned, I am on the right path, spiritually. It is meant to show

modesty and self respect.

Knowing the true meaning behind the hijab makes it difficult for me to understand why people believe it is an oppressive garment. Wearing a scarf nowadays is a common thing to see, yet somehow having that scarf cover my hair instead of my neck sends the message that I am oppressed and forcing my religion on the world. The reality is this: while the hijab is an external cloth over my head, it holds a largely introspective purpose.

Everyday when I look in the mirror and wrap my hijab around my head, it allows me to remember my faith, my religion, and it allows my values to be strengthened. It stimulates self reflection and reminds me to always be kind and let go of judgment and hatred.

Even though my mom and sisters don’t wear hijab, my decision to wear it has given

me an independence that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. In this way, what many view as oppressive is actually the most liberating aspect of my life.

In a society obsessed with vanity, the average teenage girl may spend her morning layering on makeup and straightening her hair. However, every morning I wake up and wrap a scarf around my head instead.

For some reason, the fact that I don’t obsess about showing off my hair threatens many people.

Having nice hair is becoming increasingly important as new ways to dye or style hair are brought to our attention. So while girls watch tutorials on the latest hair trends, I’ll watch tutorials on the latest hijab styles and I’ll feel just as confident when I try a new look.

with them.

I’ve been told I’m “too white” for the Hispanic kids and too Hispanic for the white kids. For most of my life I’ve been stuck in between two worlds. In middle school it was common to wake up in the mornings and speak Spanish to my parents when we discussed the Colombian soccer team and then switch to English and discussed whose Bar Mitzvah we would celebrate that weekend and whether or not we’d go to the service. It wasn’t all bad, but I had to pick and choose what was safe to discuss around certain groups because I just wanted people to like me.

In school I refrained from speaking Spanish unless I was making fun of myself to get attention. At home, I never spoke English to prevent my parents from feeling left out. The cultural divide only grew as

time passed. I would always be different, and I hated it. Even my mom knew it. When other Greenhill mothers would go out and have lunch together or exercise, my mom would do anything to avoid it because she didn’t feel comfortable.

I had to learn to “code switch,” or conform to the place I was at the time. At Greenhill, I felt that I couldn’t use as much slang or speak Spanish. In Spanish class, I lost points because I refused to speak it. Mr.Luna could not understand why the one fluent kid in class spoke the most English. I’d grown to resent my language and background because I felt that it made me too different to ever fit in.

The key was adding definitions to the various words that were meant to define me.

I don’t fit in with many groups, and when I do, I can’t fit in entirely.

It wasn’t until junior year that I was able to craft my own definition. Being a Colombian immigrant allows me to learn certain lessons, and being a Greenhill student teaches me others. By learning to embrace my actions in different cultures, I’ve learned to embrace different lessons and people. I like to believe that it makes me more open-minded and gives me advantages that others don’t have. There will naturally be some failures and disadvantages, but I no longer felt it necessary to hide my Spanish around my friends or my more socially liberal beliefs around my parents. For the first time in my life I’m more willing to discuss and learn.

Rowing through Rough Waters

I row. It’s a fact that I haven’t hidden.

Between my constant snapchat stories from boathouse shenanigans to the multitude of rowing gear that makes up a majority of my wardrobe, rowing defines who I am. To put

it simply, it’s something I’ve been doing for 5 years, and it allows me to set different types of challenges for myself. I enjoy it because I like going to the boathouse and talking to friends from a bunch of different private schools. As team captain, it has been a huge responsibility this year. Simply being on part of that team gives me a place where I feel welcomed. They want to help me develop as a person, and I trust every one of them wholly.

But at Greenhill? That’s a different story.

My close ties to an unusual hobby made it difficult for me to connect with other students.

Throughout my junior year, rowing has

Outfit on the Inside

The first time I wore my hijab in front of my family was October 21, 2015. For the most part, all the adults told me they were proud, and that I was strong. I didn’t see it.

As far as I was concerned, this is something God has asked all Muslim women to do from the age of nine, and I could no longer handle the guilt of remaining uncovered. Regardless, I smiled at everyone, said thank you, and went on

Spanglish?

I’m one of the few Hispanic students on campus. Most of my friends are white. Is that a problem? Not at all. I love them. But I sometimes feel like I have a hard time fitting in and connecting with others because of my background. Then back at home, I find it hard to connect with the Hispanic community because of the differences I have

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Evergreen

wednesday, may 18, 2016

Greenhill Bucket List

Check off what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done, and score yourself...

Send out a mass email for the club you just started Check out the bomb shelter in the Science building Yoga next to the flags near the Admissions Office Take the mysterious food left in the Student Center Befriend at least two teachers and administrators Fall asleep in the library after cramming for a test Uncomfortably wave at your teacher in the HPC Go to the green hill by the Lower School Cheer on peers running late to class (lit erally) (Actually) participate in Color Wars events Play piano (badly) in the sound proof room Carry a blanket around to your classes Go to the wrong class by accident Be featured in a student publication Push the pull door or vice versa Take a selfie wit h a peacock Go to the creek and hang out Hoard the snack of the day Go on a trip wit h Greenhill Fall in love wit h this place

0-5 Greenhill Newbie Whether you â&#x20AC;&#x2122; re a freshman , or just new , savor your Greenhill firsts .

6-14 Greenhill Average You know Greenhill pretty well , but to achieve true excellence , try to go a lit tle further . #RE

15-20 Greenhill Expert Congrats! This school is clearly your home , but remember , you can always keep exploring .

Graphic by Avery Jane Williams Content courtesy of Rachel Friedman