November 2017 | The Evergreen, Greenhill School

november 1, 2017 volume 53, issue 2

the Everything Greenhill

evergreengreenhill.org

A Star-Spangled Controversy

Exploring the National Anthem Debate at Greenhill

Photo by Alice Zhang

A TEAM UNITED: On Friday, Oct. 20, the Greenhill Football team played against Fort Worth Christian School. At the game, players and coaches lined up to face the American flag at the end of Brinkmann Field. With hands on their teammates shoulders, they all stood in unity while the anthem was played.

Joseph Weinberg Editor-in-Chief

Hayden Jacobs Sports Editor

Jeffrey Harberg News Editor

Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman’s voice echoed across Brinkmann Field before the start of Greenhill’s home football game on Thursday, Sept. 28, just like it has for over 20 years.

“Please rise, remove your hats, and join us in the singing of our national anthem,” he told the crowd.

Almost all in attendance at Brinkmann Field that night –players, coaches, fans, and officials– obliged, rising from the bleachers to stand as they’ve grown accustomed to doing all their lives.

Ten Greenhill cheerleaders did not oblige. They instead chose to kneel during the anthem, joining a growing number of athletes from across the country who, inspired by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, have chosen to kneel during the anthem.

Kaepernick drew national attention last year when a photo of him sitting during the national anthem of the San Francisco 49ers third preseason game went viral. Kaepernick explained his decision to sit in an interview following the game.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Views

A staff editorial on honest conversations p. 2

News

After Kaepernick spoke with Nate Boyer, a Seattle Seahawks player and military veteran, he switched his form of protest from sitting during the anthem to kneeling. Boyer told Kaepernick that he thought kneeling would be a more respectful gesture to the flag than sitting.

The protests have ignited a nationwide debate, with athletes, celebrities and politicians weighing in on the controversy.

President Donald Trump has criticized those who have kneeled for the anthem. At a political rally in September, he referred to NFL players who knelt during the anthem using vulgar language.

Vice President Mike Pence has shown strong support for standing during the anthem as well. On October 8, Pence walked out of an NFL game after kickoff when several San Francisco 49ers players took a knee during the pregame signing of “The StarSpangled Banner.”

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has said players who disrespect the flag during the anthem will not play for the team.

Still, many NFL players continue to kneel or sit for the anthem before games. Colin Kaepernick remains a free agent, leaving people questioning if he would have a job had he refrained from protestesting.

The simple request, “please rise” by the announcer of a big sporting event or leader of an assembly has long been accepted by the public. The anthem, meant to be a national unifying source of patriotism, is now mired in controversy. cont’d on pages10-11

An op-ed on a human rights controversy p. 5

Informing Greenhill since 1966

Features

A profile of Greenhill’s student astronomer p. 7

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

-Colin Kaepernick August 2016

Arts

Alan Michnoff ‘09 works in the film industry p. 13

Sports

Boys volleyball aims to capture SPC title p.16

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

Views the

Rants & Raves the

Evergreen staff editor-in-chief

Joseph Weinberg

executive editors A RANT to SPC, Homecoming, and the end of the Trimester all being in the same week! This isn’t High School Musical.

We’re supposed to schedule events so they DON’T overlap, and we don’t have Zac Efron to sing our troubles away.

A RAVE to the copious amount of vegan and gluten free options at The Buzz! For so long, people with dietary restrictions have had to forage for apple juice and pretzels, so it’s nice to be able to grab snacks that are delicious and able to be eaten by all.

A RANT to the area between the science building and the cafeteria that smells bad. Are you saying we can afford the MPAC but not some Febreze? Please, if someone can find the source of the smell and banish it, they will be rewarded heavily.

Zoe Allen Abbas Hasan

managing editor Lili Stern

design editors Areeba Amer Alice Zhang

arts editor

Riya Rangdal

backpage editors

Natalie Gonchar Caroline Simpson

features editors Ross Rubin Amber Syed

news editor

A RAVE to the Arts Board Concert.

It takes guts to come out and perform in front of your peers, so thank you to everyone who performed, you all were wonderful! Also, a big thank you to the Arts Board for organizing it, we can’t wait for the next one!

A RANT to the science building bathrooms. I’m not saying they’re haunted, but no one’s seen Mr. Haskins in a while… On a serious note, for a building built with a bunker in case of nuclear war, the bathrooms have not aged gracefully, and we hope the next bathroom designer isn’t colorblind.

A RAVE to the first-grade pet day. Horses, dogs and cats oh my! We’ve all wished we could bring our pets to school and these lucky little guys got to. This fun tradition continues year after year to bring joy to the first graders. Now if we could only make this a school wide event…

Jeffrey Harberg

sports editor

Hayden Jacobs

views editor Maya Ghosh

asst. news editor Sonali Notani

asst. sports editor Jake Middleman

online editor-in-chief Areeba Amer

online executive editor Radhe Melwani

A RANT to mass emails. We don’t need thirty thousand emails a day. If you are a club leader, make an email list or find some other creative way to get folks involved. If you absolutely NEED to send out a mass email, at least proofread it so you don’t have to send another one out to apologize.

A RAVE to the Homecoming theme, iGreenhill! As we are all technology obsessed youths, this theme is perfect to cement the impressions that babyboomers already have of us!

A RANT to the temperature difference between the MPAC and the rest of campus. It’s unfair for the school to expect us to bring half of our closet every day so we don’t boil in the MPAC or freeze in the Language pod, besides dressing for whatever the Texas weather is today!

Content courtesy of Sam Bovard Photos by Rylyn Koger

Staff Editorial: The Dangers of Stifling Conversation Is there a better time or place to have a conversation about free speech? From confederate statues to censorship on college campuses, the First Amendment and controversy seem synonymous these days.

Greenhill has had its fair share of bumps and bruises on the topic of late. In fact, the epages of this newspaper have been censored in recent weeks. Let’s chat about it.

On September 25, the “We are Greenhill” community conversation initiative was launched by Greenhill’s Equity and Inclusion Department with the intention of tackling tough questions about race and class in our community head on. It’s an admirable endeavor and we are thankful the administrators took on this challenge in the midst of broader discussions of race in Dallas and the world.

At the launch of the initiative, students posed tough and provocative questions. The meeting made us think– just the type of thing this school both touts and encourages.

The Evergreen wrote a story summarizing the events of the meeting, only to see the article removed by school administration

the following day. We later learned that the article was removed for highlighting specific questions from the meeting that were not ready to be published online, where members outside of our community could view them.

To be clear, The Evergreen respects the right of the administration to want to keep some conversations within the walls of the Greenhill community. We understand these sensitivities and the privacy of a high school setting. We take that administrative concern seriously.

While we understand the reason the story was removed, the sensitive material published in the story is consistent with the spirit and fabric of Greenhill. Uncomfortable conversation is in the school’s DNA. This includes giving the mechanisms that promote community conversation, including but not limited to the newspaper, the right and freedom to discuss concerns that don’t always portray Greenhill in the best image. We are concerned that this censorship will seep beyond this newspaper, which is a far more damaging and concerning prospect.

Our community’s strength lies in our ability to communicate, which makes it all the more concerning to see worries of the school’s public image hinder our ability to share ideas openly and freely.

Greenhill students are told time and time again of the importance of civil discourse. But this censorship incident raises questions about how serious Greenhill is about facilitating this discourse.

As a school that encourages discussion, we must allow these sensitive topics to come to light so we can address them as a community and better seek to understand one another.

Otherwise, there’s no room for improvement as a school and as a community.

A willingness to tackle these sensitive issues head-on, admitting that we as a school have imperfections that need addressing, can set Greenhill apart from other communities. While others shy away from sensitive issues, we can be different by embracing them. Until we can confront our flaws and feel comfortable doing so, we are only doing ourselves a disservice.

online broadcast editor Zeenya Meherally

staff writers

Stephen Crotty Harrison Heymann

business manager Rishi Vas

adviser

Nureen Patel

asst. adviser

Dr. Amy Bresie

staff photographers Annah Abedi Sudeep Bhargava Rylyn Koger

staff artists

Grace Doyle Michelle Liang Drake Heptig Amy Yang

Have a response?

Opinion?

Original Idea?

Email us at: evergreen@greenhill.org For the editorial policy visit our website at evergreengreenhill.org

wednesday, november 1, 2017

the Evergreen

Students and faculty weigh in on the

views

idea of having another school dance

I would love a dance that had a live band or is different than all the other dances. I would even go if it was in the gym, I just love the idea of a live band!

I’d love one! It’s a fun event for everyone to collaborate and work together on. And who doesn’t love dances?

- Cian Collins, freshman

- Sarah Nuñez Lafontaine, senior Yes, with as much stress as this school gives every student, I think more than two all-school functions are well needed and deserved for everyone.

- Xavier Bryant, senior

I don’t know if kids would come to a casual dance. We had one several years ago in the gym and it was very successful, and the next year, 50 kids were there. They tried bringing it up again, but with timing, schedules, weekends and calandars, it’s just so difficult to plan a good time. And it’s expensive unless we have one in the gym with a student DJ, but how many kids would come to that?

- Jack Oros, Upper School Dean of Students

I feel like it’s a lot of work to prepare for dances, and we already have three dances as upperclassmen, so I don’t feel like we need another one.

- Caroline Harris, senior

Graphic by Drake Heptig

Assuming that all three dances happen [homecoming, winter dance and prom], I feel like this fits well with the three trimesters and three sports seasons. I’m just not sure where we would fit another dance or how the turnout would be. I am not really for having another dance.

- Trevor Worcester, Head of Upper School

Yes, I would love another school dance! School dances are definitely the most fun thing throughout the school year and it’s something that the whole upper school gets to look forward to! It’s an opportunity for all grades to come together and have fun together because we don’t normally get to do that during school.

I think everyone would love to have another school dance.

- Cameron Russ, freshman

3

News the

Seventh grader enrolls after Hurricane Irma Seventh grader Sara Bharwani has enrolled in Greenhill mid-trimester after Hurricane Irma forced her to move to the United States from her home country of St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

According to the “Jamaica Observer.”

Irma caused approximately 1.4 billion dollars of damage in the Caribbean territories of St. Maarten and St. Barts. Sara and her family experienced a shortage of food, water and electricity due to the storm. During the storm, Sara’s family faced nature in its most destructive state.

“Irma had 200 mph wind and was a category 5+ hurricane. Me and my family began to panic, and at that very moment I was thinking all the possible things that could happen,” said Sara.

With the help of the United States government and Dutch Embassies, Sara and her dog, Marshmallow, were able to make it to Texas while her parents stayed behind to fix their house. Currently, she is staying with her cousins at Greenhill, freshmen Tej and Sonia and sophomore Ronak Dhingra.

As the storm ravaged St. Maarten, Sara had to find ways to deal with the destruction while hiding in her home.

“

Adjusting to a new environment and not being with my parents is the hardest part, but the Greenhill community did a great job of welcoming me and is making my adjustment easier.”

“The windows were shaking, and there were occasional ‘clanks’ because part of the roof was falling. I sat in the safe room

Photo by Jeffrey Harberg

JOINING THE COMMUNITY: Sara Bharwani (second from left) came to Greenhill after evacuating from St. Maarten before Hurricane Irma. The Hurricane proved to be fatal, causing over 14 deaths on the island and billions of dollars in damage.

alone with my dog trying not to cry my eyes out when the lights went out. I heard glass and yelling as well as loud, harsh winds,” Sara said.

According to Sara, she felt calmer after the eye of the storm passed because she knew that the worst part was over, but that calmness only lasted until she saw the effects on the island as a whole.

“As you’re passing, imagine driving down a road and seeing every single house, car, and trailer falling one on top of each

other, and boats are just everywhere,” she said.

Although the effects of the storm were grave, Sara was able to find some positive aspects of the disaster.

“It was actually very devastating, but very fun at the same time. I know that sounds very wrong, but it’s because my friends and I were working together. I’ve never felt that much connection with anybody in my entire life,” Sara said.

Sara has been on campus since Septem-

ber 2. Her initial reactions to the Greenhill community have been warm.

“The people are so nice and the school is so big. Everyone is so welcoming. We don’t really do that in St. Maarten. If you’re new, we introduce you to one class and just move on,” she said.

She is currently taking the core Middle School academic classes, including math, science, English, and history, English being her favorite out of the four. In addition, Sara is also expanding her course load by taking alternative arts courses such as Video Production and painting. She has taken on Spanish as her preferred language.

“I love Video Production. I enjoy the projects we are doing in that class,” Sara said.

The atmosphere that she has been put in has been a big change compared to her life back in St. Maarten. She now gets to experience what it is like to have siblings and live with a bigger family. At home, it’s just Sara, her parents, and her dog.

Although her school did not get damaged in the storm, Sara is glad that Greenhill has taken her into the community.

“Adjusting to a new environment and not being with my parents is the hardest part, but the Greenhill community did a great job of welcoming me and is making my adjustment easier,” Sara said.

Story by Raag Venkat, Sarah Luan, Mila Nguyen, Emma Light, and Brent Ladin

Greenhill participates in INDEX conference Caroline Simpson Backpage Editor

Each fall, Greenhill participates in a survey run by the Independent School Data Exchange (INDEX) Group to compare academic data, admissions statistics and financial information to 50 other comparable private schools.

Each of these schools collects identical data to then be compared at a large conference with each school’s Head of School and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). On October 15 and 16, Head of School Scott Griggs and new CFO Kendra Grace attended the INDEX conference.

“We really like INDEX because those schools are similar to Greenhill so it makes the data more comparable,” said Mrs. Grace.

Each conference takes place at a different school that belongs to INDEX. This year, the conference took place at Colorado Academy in Denver.

Based on the results of the conference and the information from other schools, Greenhill can see where it stands in relation to other partner schools. Mr. Griggs has been to the conference several times, but for Mrs. Grace, it was her first time representing Greenhill.

Mrs. Grace is currently in her first year at Greenhill as the Chief Financial Officer/ Chief Operating Officer, replacing Melissa Orth. Mrs. Grace was previously the Director of Finance at The Covenant School of Dallas.

Information at this conference included fiscal measurements and data regarding years of experience of Greenhill faculty.

INDEX creates a report complete with the masses of data that each of the schools provides. At the conference, the reports are

anonymous, but each individual school can see how their data compares to the others.

Greenhill wants to ensure that it is not an outlier from the other schools, and tracks the data of the other peer-institutions.

“We set benchmarks, we want to be within a range of what INDEX gives us – so it’s more of a guideline,” said Mrs. Grace.

Results from this conference can introduce change at Greenhill. Several years ago, information from the conference revealed that Greenhill was spending a greater amount on utilities than other schools. As a result, Greenhill worked to reduce its energy consumption, and the Lower School was awarded a LEED-EB (Existing Building) certification. They have continued to review utilities expense each year and have worked with the facilities department to make sure that they are conserving water and energy.

This year at the conference, Greenhill fell perfectly in line with the other schools.

Due to location and other aspects, not all schools are going to track in line with the rest of the county. For example, Greenhill had its lowest attrition rate in 18 years of 3%.

This puts Greenhill on the lower end of the INDEX schools in this statistic. Although Greenhill’s attrition rate is low compared to other INDEX schools, this is a statistic the school would like to keep, according to Mrs. Grace.

“There can be skewed data. We are different from schools in California or the Northeast, but it all depends on the statistics you’re looking at,” Mrs. Grace said.

Mrs. Grace said the information at the conference does not paint the entire picture of a school.

“We compare our own results to prior years as well. But it’s all really just a snapshot in time.” Mrs. Grace said.

The change ignited by the data is not always immediate. The data can offer new long-term goals. The ideas and statistics from the conference help Greenhill determine their budget for upcoming years.

“The purpose of [the conference] is to provide us with good benchmarking information to make sure we are staying in line with our peer schools in all areas of our operations from academics, to facilities, to salaries and benefits,” said Mrs. Grace.

This year, the conference brought light

to some academic accomplishments of Greenhill students. Out of all the schools in INDEX, Greenhill students had the highest percentage of students scoring 4-5 on the AP exams and the highest average score on the evidence-based reading and writing portion of the SAT.

5 news

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Evergreen

wednesday, november 1, 2017

Silence enforces oppression Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Column: Executive Editor Abbas Hasan weighs in on Aun San Suu Kyi and her indifference to the genocide in Myanmar Abbas Hasan Executive Editor

Every year, a Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the individual or individuals who take a stand to make the world a better place.

Those awarded the prize have struggled and fought to give a voice to the voiceless and bring peace to all people. These Nobel Laureates are known internationally for their drive to bring rights to every human being.

One Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has failed to promote the peace her award denotes, remaining silent as thousands of Rohingya Muslims are killed at the

Photo courtesy of US Dept. of Defense

TO THE MAP: Pictured is a map of Myanmar and all its 14 provinces.

hands of her leadership.

The Greenhill community needs to be aware of this issue. Suu Kyi’s blatant disregard of human life cannot go unchecked. I hope that by providing information on the plight of the Rohingya, students and faculty will take notice to their struggle.

Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest in her home of Myanmar, a country of about 53 million people located in Southeast Asia. Since then, Suu Kyi has earned international praise for her peaceful struggle to bring democracy and human rights to the country.

In a report from “The Guardian,” since August, nearly 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar have died and more than 300,000 have fled as refugees to Bangladesh. Children have been thrown into fires, women raped and families torn apart. Mothers have seen their children thrown into rivers to drown and family members decapitated. All the while, Noble Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has stayed silent.

Suu Kyi was appointed as State Counsellor of Myanmar in 2015. According to the same “Guardian” report, she serves as a close confidante to the President, but many consider her to be the de facto leader of the country.

She follows in the footsteps of her father, Aung San, who led Myanmar after its independence from Britain in 1948.

Suu Kyi is affiliated with the National League for Democracy, a democratic political party in Myanmar. Her party won 80

Photo courtesy of DFID Berma

Photo courtesy of Sithu Naina/VOA news

KEEPING QUIET: Aung San Suu Kyi (top, pictured left) was given the Nobel Peace Prize because of her efforts to inforce peace, but the violence and oppression in Rohingya (bottom right) has kept her silent. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have had no choice but to flee to Bangladesh and live in camps (bottom left).

percent of the parliament in 1990, but the military still forced her into house arrest. For a total of 15 years, she practiced non-violence and the promotion of democracy while confined to her home.

Although Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist nation, the government recognizes 135 distinct ethnic groups. These 135 groups do not include the Rohingya Muslims of the Rakhine state. Rakhine is on the western side of the country bordered by the Bay of Bengal on the east and Bangladesh on the north.

The Buddhist majority oppresses the Rohingya in Myanmar. They are denied citizenship, access to education, medical resources and freedom of movement.

As an oppressed minority, the Rohingya cannot leave Myanmar without the government’s permission. In addition, many Buddhists don’t consider the Rohingya to be Burmese and believe they are illegal immigrants to the country although the Rohingya have lived in Rakhine for centuries.

From a report from “The New York Times”, on August 25, a group of Muslims attacked a military outpost in Rakhine. Frustrated with the oppression their community faces, they killed 12 officers. In response, the Rakhine military ordered “clearance operations” on the Rohingya that have caused immense pain and suffering. Additionally, Buddhist nationalists and monks have spread fear relating to the Muslim community in Myanmar, often claiming that they are terrorists.

Top United Nations Human Rights officials have called this a “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing. Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, claim that the oppression of the Rohingya borders is a genocide.

All the while, Aung San Suu Kyi has not condemned the violence of the oppressed Muslims.

In fact, when asked about the struggles of the Rohingya in past interviews, she mentioned that the Buddhists were just as oppressed and that the Rohingyas were terrorists. The tension between the Muslims and the Buddhists has existed in Myanmar for decades, but what has transpired in the last two months is atrocious.

Fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai and Desmond Tutu have urged Suu Kyi to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

Even the Dalai Lama, the leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, came out publically against the Buddhists in Myanmar. Still, Suu Kyi has done nothing to relieve the plight of the Rohingya.

In order for Suu Kyi to keep her position as State Counsellor, she needs the support of the military. In hopes of keeping political power, she has sided with them, staying silent on the oppression of the Rohingya. She has chosen silence over life and human rights.

Around the world, human rights activists protest against her. Recently, a petition was started to revoke her Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Nobel Organization, there is no policy to rescind a Prize offering. So, she

will never lose the title of Nobel Laureate. On October 3, the City of Oxford stripped her of the Freedom of the City of Oxford award amid allegations that she failed to stand up for peace.

There are ways to help the Rohingya, even in Dallas.

Organizations like the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation and the International Rescue Committee help and support Rohingya refugees.

When I look at the horrors that the Rohingya face, and the blatant disregard of Aung San Suu Kyi, I am heartbroken. The Rohingya lose innocent lives under a “peaceloving” leader. Her silence kills hundreds of people every day.

She does not deserve the title of a Laureate. It is time to acknowledge that the woman who fought for democracy and human rights is gone, replaced by someone who puts her political ambitions above the lives of other human beings. I pray that the world reacts to the pain and suffering of the Rohingya. I hope the world decides to uphold the peace Suu Kyi has taken away.

I understand that conflict seems so present in everyday life now. Violence, hatred and bigotry plague the world. Sometimes silence is easier than confronting our problems. But silence does not bring change for the better, it only fuels injustice.

6 news

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Evergreen

wednesday, november 1, 2017

Lending Library opens in English Pod Riya Rangdal Arts Editor

Upper School English teacher and Department Chair Joel Garza has created a “Lending Library” for student and faculty use.

Located on a shelf in the English Pod, students and faculty recommend, lend and borrow books from each other. Mr. Garza created this library to acknowledge the community of readers at Greenhill and to provide a place where readers can share a variety of books with one another.

Mr. Garza originally got the idea for the Lending Library from the Brazos Bookstore in Houston, Texas. At this bookstore, Mr. Garza felt he could find any kind of story to read.

“When I lived in Houston, I depended on their staff ’s handwritten recommendation for most of my reading. I still do, even though I follow their recommendations on Twitter now,” said Mr. Garza.

Mr. Garza wanted to create a similar relationship he had with the bookstore’s staff here at Greenhill. Thus came the idea of the Lending Library.

“It really is my attempt to change the way people on this campus interact. I’m doing my best to think of us all as readers and it has always struck me that people have interests that I don’t know about. So, the lending library is my way of giving people on this campus a way of saying ‘Here is some-

thing I’m interested in; I think it’s another way for people to get to know each other,” Mr. Garza said.

The school librarians and Lower School teachers also stressed the importance of independent reading to Mr. Garza by modeling how they set aside time for students to read in class. After hearing their thoughts, Mr. Garza gathered opinions about creating the Lending Library from members of the Greenhill community.

The feedback was positive, and the Lending Library was created.

“People from every department and experience you could imagine are reading [for fun] on this campus. I’m hoping that this pod can be a place where students can read really cool things that are assigned in their classes, but also read cool things that aren’t assigned,” Mr. Garza said.

Last year in his classes, Mr. Garza used a bulletin board to showcase books with only a sticky note saying a simple idea from each book.

“That was an idea that I used from Deep Vellum Bookstore.

There, they wrapped books in plain brown paper and wrote teasers on the outside, so you literally couldn’t judge the book by its cover. You just had to judge based on the interest that you as a reader had,” Mr. Garza said.

Senior Mahima Akula was one student who helped provide an opinion on the Lending Library.

“It’s nice to have someone to

just be there to recommend a book.

I think that [the Lending Library] is good for that reason because it is a place where people can go to see books that people have enjoyed and that they recommend,” said Mahima.

Mahima said the Lending Library will be mostly for students who already have an affinity for independently reading.

“The Lending Library is mainly for the students who already enjoy reading and want to find another good book. People just generally don’t have time for it and I feel like in previous English classes, teachers gave students the opportunity to go to the Library and have a reading day. I feel like that would be more beneficial in getting more people to read,” Mahima said.

Mr. Garza has taken this idea of offering more independent reading time for students to heart.

He now sets aside the first ten minutes of his freshman English class every day for independent reading.

“I realized that as a teacher I hadn’t allowed for independent reading. It was difficult for students to find the time to read because I wasn’t really giving them the time in class to read. So, I knew I wanted to do that this year,” Mr. Garza said.

In the long term, Mr. Garza hopes that students and adults on campus will develop an interest in loaning and borrowing books. He hopes that the Greenhill community will eventually understand the

Photo by Raag Venkat

READ, READ, READ!: Mr. Garza’s Lending Library in the English Pod contains recommended books for all different types of readers. Its intentions are to spark interest in reading for students and faculty alike.

value of reading all genres, not just literary fiction.

Upper School Math teacher.

Michael Legacy has also involved himself in the practice of the Lending Library. He is one of the many faculty members of the Lending Library. The book he lent was “Hounded” by Kevin Hearne.

“I think what it does is open up another avenue for students to have books that other people have read and would recommend to them,” said Mr. Legacy. “I think it was a great idea for [Mr. Garza] to make a place for students to be able to see what their teachers have enjoyed, and what they themselves

may enjoy.”

Mr. Garza asked Mr. Legacy to donate a book that he had read that he thought students may enjoy. Mr. Garza has hope that the Lending Library will impact the Greenhill campus.

“I hope that we will get to see another side of our fellow members on campus. Your math teacher reads things that might surprise you, and so does your Montage sponsor, and so do loads of folks that you think you know,” Mr. Garza said.

Features the

Starring Allie Frymire

Photo by Sudeep Bhargava

REACH FOR THE STARS: Senior Allie Frymire used scientific data and a special telescope to discover two new stars while interning at Southern Methodist University

Senior discovers two stars in summer research Radhe Melwani

Online Executive Editor

Mr. Farley Ferrante, a Southern Methodist University (SMU) professor and an advisor for the Astrophysics QuarkNet program, announced to the group that senior Allie Frymire’s star had been approved. The group celebrated, congratulating Allie on her achievement. She had just discovered a star.

“There is some level of separation since you feel so separated from the star itself, it is less like I discovered a star and more like I did a successful job analyzing data. I did a good job, and it ended up with a great result, less of landing on Hispaniola and more of getting an A+ on the paper,” Allie said.

This past summer, Allie worked as a paid astrophysics intern within SMU’s QuarkNet summer research program for six weeks.

QuarkNet gives students the opportunity to explore physics through summer research projects with high school teachers and SMU scientists.

According to Allie and Mr. Ferrante, Allie’s internship focused on stellar research and specifically, identifying and discovering previously unknown variable stars and having them accepted into The International Variable Star Index (VSX).

“I’ve really always had a passion for the outer space aspect of physics, it’s what interested me the most and I’ve always kept up with news from NASA and SpaceX. I thought [this internship] would be a great opportunity to see what a career in astrophysics would be like,” Allie said.

According to Mr. Ferrante, Allie’s passion became evident through her work in the

QuarkNet program.

“Allie was an excellent research student. You can call it an internship I suppose, but I didn’t really think of that way.

She is highly intelligent, motivated, genuinely interested, curious, and inquisitive. She chose to focus on a class of variable stars that has been particularly difficult for us to analyze. She worked hard, appeared to enjoy what she was doing, asked good questions, and overall was one of the best and brightest students we’ve worked with over the past four years,” Mr. Ferrante said.

In order to discover a star, Allie used data from a telescope called the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) where she looked for light curves, which are the brightness patterns that are observed from Earth of different objects in the night sky. Afterwards, she used Linux, a primary operating system for scientific modeling and data analysis, to process the data from ROTSE and identify the stars with variable light curves. These curves give evidence of the stars Allie is looking for, that there are variable stars or stars whose brightness changes in the night sky.

According to Allie, discovering a star was a very “tedious” process that consisted of a lot of trial and error.

“If you find the curve in three days you can compile all your data and find a good overall curve. If that works out sometimes your graph will look crazy and not make any sense and the advisor will not be able to help you. You just have to find another one. So it was very cut throat if it didn’t work out, it was just like too bad you have to find another one,” she said.

After analyzing the data, Allie recorded the coordinates of the potentially variable stars and searched the International Variable Star Index (VSX) to see if the stars have been registered. Upon discovering that a star has not been logged, she continued to gather more information about the star before submitting the data to the VSX.

“

There is some level of separation since you feel so separated from the star itself, it is less like I discovered a star and more like I did a successful job analyzing data. I did a good job, and it ended up with a great result, less of landing on Hispaniola and more of getting an A+ of the paper.”

The approval of the star by VSX confirmed that Allie has discovered a star.

In addition to her two confirmed stars, Allie also has a couple of other potential discoveries pending. SMU students are going to finish logging and submitting the data to see if her findings will be approved

by VSX. “[Astrophysics] is fun. It’s really interesting to think that in a field I am so interested in, I have contributed to it and I have improved the field and I did it,” said Allie. “It makes you feel so good inside, it’s like I did it I contributed to the field I love.”

According to Allie, her love of physics stems from her passion for math and quantitative fields.

“I’ve always been kind of a science-

math person and really my strong suit is math and working with numbers. If you think of biology and chemistry, they are very separated from math in a way in that they are less quantitative,” she said. “Physics is the most mathematically pure science so it’s ideal for me.” Allie said.

This school year, Allie is doing a yearlong space tutorial through EDx, an online program that provides free courses on a variety of subjects through interactive videos and activities.

Allie is taking the “Greatest Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe”, a course taught through videos and quizzes by astronomers Brian Schmidt and Paul Francis from the Australian National University’s Mt. Stromlo Observatory. She is under the mentorship of Upper School Science teacher Nicholas Park.

In order to be eligible to take this tutorial, Allie took an Introduction to Physics honors course at John Hopkins University, so she could complete AP Physics C her junior year.

Allie said she is considering astrophysics as a possible profession after enjoying her work this summer.

Mr. Park said Allie has a special connection to her work that makes her stand out as a student.

“She is passionate about physics and about astronomy and really that’s what it comes down to,” said Mr. Park. “It is a pleasure working with her. It’s a joy to work with someone who is truly inspired by what they do.”

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wednesday, november 1, 2017

Making his mark

Ryan Kline '11 helps expand Mark Cuban's businesses in China Lili Stern

Managing Editor

In the fall of 2003, a small fifth grade boy marched up to Corbin Doyle, Middle School and Upper School Video Production teacher, and handed him a business card. He said, “hi, I’m Ryan Kline, and I can’t wait to be in your classes”—though he wouldn’t be able to enroll in his first film class until two years later.

Now, Mr. Kline continues to make himself known early. At age 24, he is already a major player in the growth of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s companies in China.

While Ryan Kline ’11 was a student at Greenhill, he cultivated passions for both Chinese and film, taking two trips to China with Greenhill and taking Video Production classes all throughout Middle and Upper School. When Mr. Kline heard about an opportunity to further his passions under the leadership of Mark Cuban, he said he couldn't pass up the chance to apply.

“I didn’t totally know what the job was that I was applying for, but I had a sense that it would leverage my strengths in video and Chinese,” said Mr. Kline.

Mr. Kline got the job, and two years later, he is Mr. Cuban’s go-to guy when it comes to anything relating to China. “[Ryan] is a rock star,” said Mr. Cuban in an interview with the Dallas Observer.

“He gets it done."

Mr. Kline is responsible for growing both Cuban’s businesses in China and the Mavericks’ presence there. He does this through social media efforts, campaigns and frequent trips to the country.

His most recent project involves working with Chinese Mavs fans to rename the Mavericks in Chinese. For the past 20 years, the Chinese name for the Mavericks has translated to “little cow,” which is unrepresentative of the powerful horse portrayed in the teams’ logo. Under Mr. Kline’s leadership, the Mavericks created a contest to find a new name for the Mavericks in China. The contest, which started in September, has already received close to 50,000 submissions.

“I hope that the people that vote for our team name, whether they’re Mavs fans now or not, will feel like they’re part of the family, and hopefully will start following us more closely,” Mr. Kline said.

Many of the projects Mr. Kline works on that involve social media, including this one, require a two step translation process: the first is from English to Chinese, and the second is from American social media to Chinese social media. Mr. Kline said that this process is one of the hardest parts of his job.

“What’s challenging about working online in China is that every platform we have here Twitter, Facebook, Google almost all of those are blocked on the Chinese Internet. I have to learn to use the Chinese versions of those platforms,” he said.

Mr. Kline mostly uses Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to Twitter, and WeChat, which is like Facebook.

Being challenged is one of Mr. Kline’s favorite parts of his job. He said Mr. Cuban encourages him to explore and learn new things, even when they aren’t directly related to the work he’s been assigned. This

Photo courtesy of Ryan Kline

HARD AT WORK: Ryan Kline '11 (left) poses with Chinese small forward and shooting guard Ding Yanyuhang during Summer League warmups for the Dallas Mavericks.

creates room for new challenges and experiences.

“My job changes all the time. I don’t think I’ve worked on the same project for more than a few months, so I’m always doing something different and I don’t get bored at work because I’m always getting to try something new,” Mr. Kline said.

According to Mr. Doyle, Kline’s leadership, adaptability and potential were all evident even when Kline was a student at

Greenhill.

“You could ask ten peers that were his classmates, and they would all say the same thing: it’s just quality, humility, unbelievable hard work, vision and drive, and he’s just one of those people who brings people together,” Mr. Doyle said.

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features

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A look beyond Hornet Road

Evaluating Greenhill’s ability to prepare students for college Harrison Heymann

Staff Writer

A college preparatory school is supposed to prepare its students with the tools necessary to succeed when they matriculate. But sometimes schools struggle to accomplish what they set out to do.

According to Greenhill’s statement of philosophy, “Greenhill expects graduates to be highly competent in all domains of the curriculum, fully prepared for the academic rigors of college.” Yet students, recent graduates, and teaching alumni all have varying opinions on whether Greenhill prepares its students for college adequately.

Upper School Science teacher Dr. Andrejs Krumins and former member of the pharmaceuticals lab at the University of Texas Southwestern, said he tries to prepare his students to succeed beyond the high school classroom.

“I’m trying to prepare students for college all the time. My biggest goal with any student is to help them develop good skills and processes to be successful. I try to be careful of how much information I provide students to see if they can make connections on their own,” Dr. Krumins said.

“

“I feel like I was prepared [for college] when I left Greenhill. Having good study habits and actually going to class are things Greenhill engendered in me.”

Some faculty who are Greenhill alumni said they feel that Greenhill prepared them well for their undergraduate college experience.

Upper School Spanish teacher Monsie Muñoz ‘05 graduated from Williams College and returned to campus as a teacher in 2012.

“Academically, I think Greenhill prepares students to perform the functions necessary to be successful in college,” said Ms. Muñoz. “Greenhill asks a lot of students academically, but by the time they reach college, [students] can plan and better quantify how to parcel different elements of

their day.”

Upper School History teacher Dr. Amy Bresie ’96 also said Greenhill played a significant role in helping her achieve a sufficient level of preparedness for higher education. Dr. Bresie completed her undergraduate education at Kenyon College.

Dr. Bresie specifically said the writing techniques and experiences she gained as a student at Greenhill gave her a leg up over her college classmates.

“I never felt like there was anything I couldn’t do. I knew how to write a paper, closely read a text, and how to talk about [the text],” said Dr. Bresie.

Some of Greenhill’s more recent graduates, such as Yale University freshman Zach Rudner ’17, also praised Greenhill for its handling of the college process.

“For me, Greenhill to college was just a natural progression. I learned how to handle a large workload and how to write a strong essay,” said Zach. “Greenhill allows you to take classes that you want, so it’s not as overwhelming to have that choice in college.”

Other alumni still in college had somewhat of a different take. Claremont McKenna College sophomore Justin Estrada ’16 had mixed views about how the college process is handled at Greenhill.

“I feel like I was prepared [for college] when I left Greenhill. Having good study habits and actually going to class are things Greenhill engendered in me,” said Justin.

“College has more long-term assignments and less daily work than Greenhill. I think if Greenhill would focus more on preparing students to manage several long-term projects, that would be perfect for college.”

University of California at Berkeley freshman Kaavya Venkat ’17 said she feels behind in college due to some of the courses she chose to take at Greenhill. Kaavya is studying pre-med at Berkeley and said she finds herself having to catch up to some of her college classmates who took difficult courses in high school that better aligned with their major.

“If a student has an idea of what major or career path they want to follow, Greenhill should advise students to take certain classes

Photo by Sudeep Bhargava

DECISION TIME: Seniors sort through brochures to find the college that will fit them best.

in high school before going to college,” said Kaavya. “In some cases, taking challenging courses might make the academic transition smoother. For example, AP science classes can be beneficial in the long run for someone who wants to get a basic understanding of what introductory science classes are like in college.”

“

Greenhill asks a lot of students academically, but by the time they reach college, [students] can plan and better quantify how to parcel different elements of their day.”

This leaves Greenhill in a complicated situation. The more removed an alumnus is from their graduation, the more optimistically they remember Greenhill’s college process.

Yet among current high school seniors and some alumni in college, there is still a sense of uncertainty about whether they are truly prepared to succeed at the next level.

“I’ve received an excellent education

over the course of my years here at Greenhill, and Greenhill treats college preparation with the importance it should, but there are lots of other aspects of life that Greenhill doesn’t teach us,” said senior Bill Yang.

Some alumni and seniors, including Zach, had some suggestions for Greenhill that they thought would help prepare students to perform better in college.

“Greenhill makes you a good essay writer, but they should increase the variety of essays people write. Greenhill students write the same kind of formulaic literature essay over and over, save the two history research papers freshman and sophomore year. But in college, you can’t write every paper that way,” said Zach. “Greenhill should expand the essay writing students do to more different types of writing because college writing is not limited to literature.”

Peanut politics Natalie Gonchar

Backpage Editor

Greenhill has long made an effort to accomodate for and protect students with nut allergies. No school lunches or school-provided snacks contain or are made next to any nut products. However, the Greenhill campus is not completely nut-free.

Greenhill is “nut aware” rather than “nut free,” primarily due to The Buzz and the products they offer.

The Buzz offers products that contain nuts, and the administration creates the policies concerning nut products being sold at The Buzz. Since The Buzz switched to healthier options in 2015, many of the new companies the store started buying from sold products that contained nuts.

Graphic by Areeba Amer

“If we [were nut free], we wouldn’t be selling much of anything at The Buzz,” said Campus Store and Purchasing manager Mrs. Sharon Brewer.

SAGE Dining took over Greenhill’s cafeteria services 12 years ago, catering to roughly 1,600 students and staff members every day. Avoiding student allergy attacks falls under their responsibility as a school dining service. According to SAGE’s head chef at Greenhill, Richard Morotto, SAGE avoids using common allergens like nuts in the foods they make.

“

I think that Greenhill does a great job of knowing their boundaries when it comes to students who are allergic, and I feel really safe here.”

“People’s lives are in our hands and we have to take that very, very seriously,” said Chef Morotto.

SAGE is a nut free organization. Chef Morotto said they don’t even cook with coconuts, even though it’s not classified as a nut, for safety reasons.

Greenhill is a ‘nut aware’ campus, so people with certain allergens can eat snacks and lunches without any worries, according to Chef Morotto.

As a safety measure, The Buzz does not allow students in Lower School to make purchases unless a parent accompanies them.

Chef Morotto has trained his cafeteria staff well enough to ask questions to superior staff members, and to know alternatives to prevent allergy attacks happen.

“We always have a series of safeguards in place to make sure nobody says ‘oh yeah you can have it’ because that’s the one time somebody’s going to get sick,” said Chef Morotto.

The whole SAGE cooking staff works to make sure that everyone has an option for lunch, whether it’s from the hot food lines or the cold salad bar and deli offered with every lunch.

Chef Morotto said the menu for lunch at Greenhill is created specifically for Greenhill. This varies from each campus that uses SAGE as their meal providers.

Some ways to help navigate through dietary restrictions is through the “Touch of Sage” app that provides information on the ingredients of each food item. Through this app, each student can customize their own profile, which includes dietary information that will filter through the day’s menu items, and inform what foods contain that ingredient.

“I think that Greenhill does a great job of knowing their boundaries when it comes to students who are allergic and I feel really safe here,” said freshman Sydney Horowitz, who is allergic to peanuts.

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The History of the Anthem and Sports First, a history lesson.

In 1814, Francis Scott Key, a British slave owner and lawyer, wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The original song consists of four verses, but only the first is sung as the country’s modern national anthem.

According to an article in the “Washington Post” “The Star-Spangled Banner” is reported to have been played at various sporting events in the mid-1800s. It cemented its place in the American sports world when it was played during the seventh-inning stretch of Game One of the 1918 World Series.

The song was played in each of the following games of that World Series, and became a hit among baseball fans across the country. It soon became ingrained in the sport’s culture and pre-game festivities, and became a standard in baseball in the 1940s.

Ninety-nine years after that World Series game, the national anthem has become commonplace at professional sporting events. Singers like Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, and Mariah Carey have sung the anthem prior to games. A sporting event can earn prestige by the amount of effort (prominence of singer, military jet flyover) put into the pre-game anthem.

“Other countries don’t play the anthem as much as we

do,” said Upper School History teacher Genie Burke. “It’s a very American thing, intended to stir up patriotic fervor at truly American events. It’s meant to get people excited for this American sport that’s about to be played”.

Senior Max Pidgeon, who said he disagrees with the decision to kneel during the National Anthem, takes strong pride in the singing of the national anthem before sporting events.

“I think of two big things when I think of the national anthem. First, I see it as a unifying thing that all Americans can come around and support and [is a moment to] get away from divisiveness. No matter race, religion, or political opinion, we can all get under this anthem before the game and unite in song,” he said. “Second, I think about the military and I sing it to honor those who have fallen for, built and are currently serving the country.”

Senior Curtis Dorsey said the anthem takes on an individual meaning for everyone in the country.

“I think [the national anthem] is different for every person,” he said. “For some people it represents freedom, equal opportunity, and chance, but at the same time, to other people, it can represent the exact opposite.”

The Legality of the Protest Congress adopted “The-Star Spangled Banner” in 1931 as the country’s official anthem. Since then, Title 36 of the U.S. code has been modified and explains how citizens should conduct themselves when the anthem is played.

Title 36 says that during a rendition of the anthem where the flag is displayed, “individuals in uniform should give the military salute”, and “all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the hear.”

Although the law does not state if or how people should be punished for not standing during the anthem, many critics of the protest, including President Donald Trump, believe the NFL should punish players who protest while the anthem is being played.

At a political rally in September, Trump referred to players who kneeled with vulgar language and, on Twitter, has called for those who protest to be fired by NFL owners.

On October 10, the NFL sent a letter to league owners explaining their stance on the controversy. The letter stated that the league views the protests disrespectful to the country and the flag, but would continue to allow the protests in support of

players’ freedom of speech rights. ] “Does the NFL have the power to stop them and the power to restrain free speech? To some extent I would say yes because if you read the first amendment, it doesn’t say free speech is absolute, it only says that the congress cannot pass any law that restrains free speech. The NFL however, is not congress, the NFL is just a private organization that technically speaking can limit free speech,” said Upper School History teacher Adrian Martinez.

Despite disagreeing with the protest, Alex said people should be free to express themselves in whatever way they want.

“I don’t think there is anything that can or should be done to people who are protesting the national anthem,” he said.

“Anyone has the right to take a knee during the anthem just as someone has the right to say you should not be doing that, but no one has the right to say you can’t do that,” said Alex.

Curtis disagreed with the president’s comments that players who kneel should be fired, defending people’s right to express themselves freely without the interference of politicians.

“Trump wants the football players to stick to football. I think he should stick to politics,” he said.

The Decision to Protest Senior co-cheer captain Karis Thomas was one of the ten cheerleaders who knelt at the Thursday night game in September.

Karis said her decision to protest was motivated by recent events outside and inside the Greenhill community. She and some of the other members on the team wanted to bring Colin Kaepernick’s original intentions to the Greenhill community. By protesting, she aimed to bring light to the fact that Greenhill is not immune from the problems society faces as a whole.

“We can’t deny that the things that go on in society don’t go on here,” Karis said.

The cheerleader's protest was not directed at the national anthem itself but rather at racial injustice—Karis said the history of the national anthem isn’t seen as patriotic for some.

“The people who wrote the national anthem also enslaved my ancestors, so for me, the national anthem stands for the good, the bad and the ugly of the country,” said Karis.

“You can’t necessarily highlight the freedom and the prosper-

ity of this country without acknowledging that not everyone got to experience that freedom and some are still being oppressed for asking for that freedom.”

Senior Alex Rose said he respects any person’s right to protest the anthem, but finds the protests “extremely and intentionally disrespectful.”

He said people wouldn’t choose to kneel as a form of protest if they didn’t think it would offend people.

“I understand the motive is that people don’t agree with some of the opinions of this country and [they’re] saying ‘I’m not going to support them’ [by kneeling], but at the same time you’re saying I’m not going to support the people who are fighting for me to live here and fighting for me to even have the right to protest the anthem,” Alex said. “It’s disrespecting all the people who risk their lives every day to serve our country.”

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wednesday, november 1, 2017

The Purpose of the Protest Although Kaepernick used the national anthem as the platform for a protest, he has said his protest is not directed at the content of the “Star-Spangled Banner” or the playing of it before games. According to senior football captain Kassidy Woods, Kaepernick’s original intentions for protesting have been skewed.

“People are calling this a national anthem protest when that is not what [Kaepernick] is doing this for. This is a protest against racial injustice and police brutality,” he said. “He has already made that clear and so did many other people in the NFL who are taking this knee. It just so happens that they are doing it during the national anthem.

Kassidy said that at the Greenhill football game on Thursday, September 28, the team decided to divert away from the trend of kneeling during the national anthem as a form of protest, and take a united stand instead.

“We took a different approach and just put our hands on each other’s shoulders, saying ‘We’ve got each other’s back’,” he said.

Senior football player Curtis Dorsey said he wasn’t entirely committed to kneeling in protest, and felt there were

The Effectiveness

more effective ways to protest at Greenhill.

“I had a conversation with teammates and they helped me realize that if I wasn’t so set on doing it, I shouldn’t be doing it at all because it’s a powerful thing to do and I didn’t want it to be washed away,” he said. “I thought a show of unity could be more powerful than the team being divided.”

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“You can’t necessarily highlight the freedom and the prosperity of this country without acknowledging that not everyone got to experience that freedom and some are still being oppressed for asking for that freedom.”

-Senior Karis Thomas

“Anyone has the right to take a knee during the anthem just as someone has the right to say you should not be doing that, but no one has the right to say you can’t do that.”

-Senior Alex Rose

Outspoken critics of Kaepernick have said they do not necessarily disagree with his motives for protesting, but don’t think kneeling during the national anthem is the best way to go about it. Colin Kaepernick’s original motivation of protesting racial injustice has been overshadowed by the “is kneeling disrespectful?” and “should he be signed by a NFL team” narratives.

Max said the protests have started a conversation, but not the conversations protestors are trying to bring to light.

“I get [that the protests] are for racial injustice and I think that’s so important and it is a problem in our country, but I don’t see the protests having a major effect in helping the issue,” he said. “All I see is news organizations talking about is if it’s right to stand or not, not racial injustices.”

Karis said the protests have been influential in the sense that they’ve inspired her, among others across the country to take a stand for what they believe in. She said she’s unsure as to whether the protests have brought about tangible change.

“My question is when do you stop kneeling, and start having these conversations? When will I stop having to protest? When will I stop having to bring these things up,” Karis said. “If kneeling leads to the same inaction that there’s been there is no point to kneeling.”

Graphics by Amy Yang and Areeba Amer

the

Special Report No policy, no problem?

Photo by Lili Stern

WRITTEN IN RED: A student holds the student handbook, with a rule written in about the use of offensive language. Currently, Greenhill has no explicit penal guidelines for the use of offensive language.

Greenhill re-examines offensive language policy Zoe Allen

Executive Editor

At Greenhill, not everything is clear.

When it comes to addressing behavioral conduct, there’s a lot of gray area. This fall, and in years past, the Greenhill community has been faced with students using racial, homophobic, and bigoted slurs on and off campus. The Honor Code, which is provided in the student handbook for every Middle and Upper School student, states that honor offenses “include, but [are] not limited to lying, stealing, and cheating.”

The Honor Code provides no concrete consequences as a result of these actions or actions pertaining to derogatory language.

Most cases are taken before the Honor Council, a group of elected students and faculty. This selected group decides the punishment for each specific case. Greenhill’s emphasis on individuality extends to how they go about deciding student punishments: each violation is tried before the Honor Council and evaluated on a case-to-case basis.

Along with the lack of concrete penal guidelines, the Honor Code and handbook also do not provide explicit policy on the use of offensive language on or off campus, such as racial slurs, homophobic language, sexist comments, or any other form of derogatory speech.

Head of School Scott Griggs said it is important to take offenses case by case.

“Every case is individual, and all are challenging. Most of our policies are a little vague, to allow for some interpretation, because every situation is different,” said Mr. Griggs. “We do not have a zero-tolerance policy on everything at this school. We’re

dealing with children, we’re dealing with students, and students make mistakes. We want this to be a learning environment for students in those situations.”

Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester agreed on the importance of handling cases on an individual basis.

“It’s tough to have explicit ‘if/ then’ statements [when it comes to punishment],” said Mr. Worcester.

“That’s really tough to manage, because then you’re boxing yourself in.”

“

We’ve learned that we need to revisit [the handbook], and put forward some clearer expectations.”

For cases dealing with offensive language or actions, just like an Honor Code violation, there is no definitive answer.

Page 11 of the student handbook states “discriminatory or harassing students or acts upon race, color, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation will not be tolerated.” Unlike an Honor Code violation, there is not as much precedent on how to handle these cases. “[Greenhill’s policy on derogatory language or actions] is that we officially do not tolerate it,” said Mr. Worcester. “I wouldn’t say that it’s zero tolerance, because that’s challenging, especially when it isn’t explicitly written, and therefore it’s hard to follow.”

In light of the recent usage of discriminatory language on campus, Greenhill administration is in the process of setting forward clearer guidelines for students.

“We’ve learned that we need to revisit [the handbook], and put forward some clearer expectations,” said Mr. Worcester.

Currently, Greenhill is working to clarify conduct expectations on campus. Twenty-six students, along with faculty and administrators, met in early October to discuss if the offensive language policy should be more explicit in punishment for using offensive speech.

“I’m still wrestling with the policy,” said Mr. Griggs. “I don’t know what the ideal is at this point. I think it’s fair to say that the climate outside of Greenhill has changed in recent times, and that’s having an impact on us, as I mentioned in my comments to the student body, we cannot ignore the climate outside, but we have to do what’s right for Greenhill for our community here.”

Senior Karis Thomas said the most important response in situations of intolerant language or actions is education and growth. Hill Guides, the program that pairs prospective students and families with current students to tour Greenhill, gives people looking at Greenhill an idea of the school, but not necessarily its language policies. Karis thinks this is a problem.

“I think up front education is the most important thing, especially to new students,” said Karis. “There should be a policy or an orientation—like how we have Hill Guides—where we go over offensive and discriminatory language, what’s acceptable and what’s not, what you can say, what you can’t say.”

Karis said these expectations should be laid out so that students understand the type of environment that Greenhill

tries to foster upon enrolling at the school.

“It’s about what kind of environment we want to have here. People know up front about the academics, but they should also know about the environment,” she said.

Senior and Another Perspective Club Co-president Maya LaRosiliere said there needs to be a clear-cut policy that Greenhill could implement to punish those who engage in offensive speech.

Another Perspective looks at relevant social and societal issues from the lens of a minority. However, Maya recognizes the impracticality of establishing such a policy.

“In an ideal world, [a policy on discriminatory language] would be necessary. However, when you get into it, [offensive language] can be hard to define,” said Maya. “What’s offensive to me may not be offensive to others, and what’s offensive to others may not be offensive to me. I think it has to be handled case by case.”

Maya said offensive language can often be about perspective—and about if there is proof of a person saying the words—but thinks that there are steps that should be taken to further improve the Greenhill environment and thinks that this is a product of the world outside of Greenhill as well.

There is no clear path to take when handling the use of offensive language, and Greenhill’s policy—or lack thereof— can confirm this. If there’s one thing that people can agree on, it’s that the use of offensive language is divisive.

“Division is a commonplace in society.

Discriminatory language is divisive.

When you go to Greenhill, you want to be a part of one community,” Maya said.

Arts the

AVPer turned professional cinematographer Alumnus Alan Michnoff ‘09 makes strides in the film industry Amber Syed Features Editor

Director, editor, producer, writer, and cinematographer are just some of the numerous roles Greenhill alumnus Alan Michnoff ‘09 has played in the film industry. His journey to success all began in Greenhill’s Advanced Video Production (AVP) film room.

Since his time at Greenhill, Alan Michnoff has always been a multitalented man, according to Middle School and Upper School Filmmaking and Digital Art teacher Corbin Doyle. Mr. Doyle said Mr. Michnoff stood out as an exceptional film student in AVP at Greenhill.

“He played saxophone in the band, he was in improv, he was in the musical and he helped with fall dramas. He was a part of most productions, and then he was a rock star AVPer,” Mr. Doyle said. “Also, he was in the jazz combo. He was one of those people they would have to schedule Greenhill ISAS around because he was in so many things.”

Mr. Michnoff has been involved in a wide range of films such as “Star Trek Beyond” where he was production assistant, “Facebook Official”, and “Just Between Us” where he was a director and editor for the films and “Teen Force Ninjas” where he was a director.

Mr. Michnoff was a student at Greenhill for 16 years. According to him, the film program, led by Mr. Doyle, was just starting to takeoff when he was in seventh and eighth grade. As soon as he had the opportunity, he signed up to join the film class.

“Me and my friends would always just

Photo courtesy of Alan Michnoff

BEHIND THE SCENES: Mr. Michnoff poses on set for his sketch comedy “Just Between Us”.

do really, really dumb videos. We made a video called “Blue Balls” that was a play on blue balls to just kind of put Doyle on edge and make a raunchy joke that was just like me running around campus acting very childish and holding a blue ball. It was fun to be silly in an official medium,” Mr. Michnoff said.

After Greenhill, Mr. Michnoff studied film at Dodge College in Chapman University and soon moved to Los Angeles where he got his footing into the film industry.

Mr. Michnoff is currently developing, producing, editing and directing a new short web series for “Playboy” that will be pub-

lished next year. He also does all the content for the YouTube channel Just Between Us, which is a sketch comedy channel that he edits and directs.

Although Mr. Michnoff has been involved in different aspects of film, he said directing is where his true passion lies.

“Film is a language, and as a director you get to learn the grammar of it and constantly play with that language, and that language goes from conceptualizing the idea and making what it visually looks like and then letting that evolve into a real thing.” Mr. Michnoff said. “[Directors] collaborate with so many different, other talented people and

finally [we] get to shape it and see the final thought.”

Through his many experiences in the film world, Mr. Michnoff has grown as a filmmaker. A project Mr. Michnoff is most proud of is his work with “Playboy”.

“It has given me a lot of creative freedom and I feel that through working with them, I have been able to discover what I want to be doing a little bit more. Not necessarily in terms of content but in terms of visual style like my approach to video,” Mr. Michnoff said.

Despite his career in California beginning to take off, Mr. Michnoff has found time to involve the current Greenhill AVP students in his films. Last year from September 9 to 18, Greenhill film students were invited to work on a Dallas project for Peachy Girl Squad that was directed by Mr. Michnoff where they assisted with project.

One of these Greenhill students who participated was junior Jaclyn Goldstein, who is a current AVP student.

“He was super nice about everything, but he had specific things in mind. He was good about communicating his vision to the rest of the members on set,” Jaclyn said.

Mr. Michnoff said he is motivated to give back to Greenhill AVP because of how the program shaped him into the filmmaker he is today.

“Mr. Doyle has created a very creative, and collaborative friendly space, and I would actually say that’s similar to the real working world,” he said. “I am constantly working and collaborating with a lot of people and that’s just a huge part to having a successful project.”

The story behind the words The powerful message of spoken word poetry

Every month, Jade Currington ’19 opens the double doors to the Mokah Café, where she goes to DaVerse Lounge meetings to find a space full of students like her— passionate about their opinions and thoughts, and excited to express them to others. Notes in hand, Jade walks up to the microphone.

Whether her topic is lighthearted or heavy, she uses her words to and speak to her audience.

Spoken word poetry is a word-based performance art that allows people to share their opinions on a broad range of subjects. This form of poetry has touched Greenhill through DaVerse Lounge, a spoken word performance and youth development space in Deep Ellum. Students often present their beliefs on a variety of topics, from personal experiences to controversial ideas. DaVerse Lounge houses multiple Greenhill performers, including junior Jade Curington and senior Sudeep Bhargava, who are actively involved with writing and presenting poetry.

The Lounge’s influence reaches deep into Jade’s life.

“Spoken word has led me to figure out what to do in the future, and I think I want to be a motivational speaker,” Jade said.

Spoken word has allowed students to find a community and a creative output to express their views on life. Since many students have experienced the stressful nature of school, extracurriculars, and

other outside factors, DaVerse Lounge lets people like Jade and Sudeep let out internal emotions through presenting poetry.

For senior Sudeep Bhargava, spoken word poetry is all about expression.

“I really love performing and just letting all the emotion out, just going on stage and letting the words that come out to affect me.

And I think the audience appreciates me a little more because they see I stay true to my writing,” Sudeep said.

As Co-President of the Slam Poetry Club, he has a deep connection with spoken word.

Sudeep said he began Spoken word his freshman year of high school after one of his close friends, Kriti Narayanan ‘16, started the Slam Poetry Club.

Spoken word has many unique characteristics that attract students like Jade and Sudeep. The poetry is read live and the listener follows along with the performer as they speak out about whatever they want.

“For me, I’ve always used it as an outlet to express my feelings comfortably, because it’s often hard to say how I feel normally, but with poetry I can express myself somewhat comfortably,” said Sudeep.

Slam Poetry Club sponsor and English Department Chair Joel Garza said an important aspect of slam is being in the same room as the poet.

“You are breathing the same air as

the poet rather than reading something written a while ago, or published in some other medium or something purchased at a bookstore and brought to your home,” Mr. Garza said.

With spoken word at the DaVerse Lounge comes a sense of unity and a place to open up about opinions and ideas. All ideas are valued while presenting different forms of poetry in the Lounge. Members of The Lounge are constantly reminded that this is the main pillar of spoken word.

The Lounge’s target demographic of middle school and high school students helps strengthen its core messages of personal growth and expression. A teenager may feel differently when surrounded by their peers, rather than a group of adults.

“Through spoken word, the audience is easily able to empathize and connect with the writer,” said Mr. Garza. “There’s much less disconnect between what the poet writes and what the audience hears.”

In the future, both Jade and Sudeep want the poetry club to expand.

“This year we are trying to broaden our efforts, or reach around the school by self-publishing a Chatbook towards the end of the year, which is going to have different poetry from selected students. Chatbooks are what poets use, it’s the written part of spoken word poetry,” said Sudeep.

While some forms of poetry are heavily

Photo by Sudeep Bhargava

POETRY MASTER: Jade Currington poses showing off the same charisma she displays on the DaVerse stage.

practiced, spoken word is unique in that the art is designed to come “raw from the soul”.

Whether the poetry touches upon lighthearted topics, or deep, emotional pieces, spoken word’s connection to the audience portrays a very unique style of poetry.

“You walk in and you know that you will not be judged and everyone is going to listen and care about what you are saying,” said Jade. “Each voice has as much truth as any other.”

Story by Kevin Liu, Leah Nutkis, Melinda Xu, Victor Le and Lane Herbert

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Q&A

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Walker Mullen and Scottie Pearson-Thompson

This year, Greenhill students will perform in “These Shining Lives” by Melanie Marnich.

The Evergreen asked senior Walker Mullen and junior Scottie Pearson-Thompson about their roles and experiences rehearsing for the play.

Talk a bit about the characters you play.

S: My character’s name is Catherine Donohue. The play takes place in the 1920s and goes through the 1930’s. She is 19 or 20 years old and is getting her first job which was pretty unheard of at the times. She is definitely naïve.

W: Tom Donohue is my character. He is a World War I vet. He’s a supportive husband to Catherine and incredibly progressive for the time. Tom cooks dinner, he does the dishes, he takes care of the kids, but he also has some stereotypical aspects in his character. Still, he is a loving and progressive guy.

S: Catherine and Tom have a really healthy relationship.

W: They are Yin and Yang. Definitely.

In what ways do you two identify with your characters?

S: Catherine is a huge dreamer, like she can be unrealistic at times. I identify with that because I try to be really positive when there are no positives. I am also decently naïve. I am unaware of a lot of things.

W: Tom is a caring guy. He is dedicated and caring, and I totally see that in me.

What are you guys most excited for the audience to see in These Shining Lives?

S: There are some really cool special effects, but I don’t want to spoil it for you guys.

W: It’ll “light” up your night! I’ll just say that.

What do you guys like about working together as a duo in the play?

S: We started off with awful chemistry.

W: Horrible.

S: We acted more like siblings than a married couple.

W: We are really close as friends, so the transition to “married” was hard. You know, with kissing and intimate hugging.

S: Intimate hugging? Really?

W: I don’t know how else to put it! But now that we are more comfortable with one another, it will be really fun to watch.

What has been your favorite moment from set?

W: Oof. That’s a hard question.

S: Yeah. Oof. W: My favorite moment was finally getting off book for a few scenes. Scottie and I got to play off one another and go after that charismatic, fun-loving couple.

S: It is a lot of little moments where I have

Photo by Riya Rangdal

THESE SHINING STARS: Walker Mullen (right) and Scottie Pearson-Thompson (left) play the male and female leads in the fall play “These Shining Lives”.

talked to people and they can all relate to this play. “These Shining Lives” has a lot of parts to it, and it can’t really be summed up in one topic. I could go on forever about what this play is about. Everybody can relate to some aspect of the play, and I love seeing it impact people.

What are you guys going to miss most after the production is over?

W: For me, I am going to miss being on the stage performing for people. It is so exhilarating and fun. Also, the chemistry between the cast is amazing.

S: Yeah, even if it’s the same cast between different productions, the chemistry is always different. The chemistry we have as the cast now is incredible. Theater is a team and we

really couldn’t put the show on without every single person there.

What is the funniest moment from set?

W: Are you thinking what I’m thinking? In the first real scene between Tom and Catherine, it is before she goes for her first day at her job. There is a really tender moment between them. Right at the end, I turn her around and give her a little butt slap.

S: Yeah, he totally missed. He hit my back.

Also, I’m like 5’2’’ and he’s like 6 foot, so the height difference was weird.

W: I was really nervous so I kept whiffing.

It definitely made for some funny moments on set.

Reporting by Abbas Hasan

Reporting by Abbas Hassan

wednesday, november 1, 2017

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Dinner and a Movie Riya Rangdal Arts Editor

Ross Rubin Features Editor

We do not like the spooky element of Halloween—no ghosts, monsters, scary stories and definitely not scary movies.

Despite our fear of jump scares and creepy storylines, we put on our big boy and big girl pants and took the long trip to the Plano West Cinemark to see “Happy Death Day”.

The movie was labeled as a mystery and thriller, which initially scared us, but we were surprisingly pleased with the movie.

“Happy Death Day” had only a few big scares and the storyline was not excessively creepy.

Although this was a match made in heaven for us, if you are a huge fan of horror movies, this movie might not give you that thrill you’re looking for. If you are a horror movie newbie, and want to acclimate yourself to scary cinema, this movie is a great start.

“Happy Death Day”’s plot follows Theresa “Tree” Gelbman, portrayed

by Jessica Rothe, a college student and sorority sister, who relives her birthday and death day over and over again.

Tree finds that the only way for her to break the cycle is to find out who her murderer is and then kill them. She tries multiple strategies until eventually—16 deaths later—she discovers her killer. To accomplish this daunting task, Tree starts

Graphic by Areeba Amer

FREAKY FRIDAY: “Happy Death Day” featured creepy aspects, the scariest being the baby masks that the college students wore as spirit wear.

by making a suspect list of people who know that it is her birthday and would have any motive to kill her. The only drawback to this is that it is time consuming, and after trying this idea for many days, Tree starts to feel weak and realizes that she does not have infinite lives.

Along the way, Tree meets Carter, the male protagonist, played by Israel Broussard, who she ends up falling in love with. Carter was the one person who not only believed in Tree’s story but also, he helped her through her predicament.

Tree felt that she could trust him despite

only knowing him for “a day.”

Throughout the movie, the themes of forgiveness and grudges were prevalent.

After finding out that she can relive her day repeatedly, Tree takes one day to apologize to many people that she has hurt and tries to make herself a better person. On the flip side, many characters hold grudges that last throughout the movie and those grudges may end up hurting—or killing—some people.

Although “Happy Death Day” was a bit cheesy, the screenplay writer, Scott Lobdell, recognized the cliché of the storyline and

made a few jokes at the movie’s expense. For example, at the very end of the movie, Carter cracks a joke at the similar plot lines between “Happy Death Day” and Groundhog Day, a 1993 film with strong similarities: in Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character is condemned to live Groundhog Day again and again until he learns how to be a better person.

To keep our theme of Halloween going strong, we ate Halloween candy instead of a traditional dinner. We began with the basics: Hershey’s kisses, Sour Patch Kids, Sour Punch Straws, and Skittles, and ended with candy corn.

Although candy corn can be a divisive sweet, its sugar-per-millimeter ratio is unbeatable.

Candy corn is the greatest Halloween candy.

Case closed. We started by eating the Sour Punch Starts during the 18 minute previews before the movies, and as we continued watch the candy slowly disappeared.

Just like it does after trick or treating.

Although some may love the spooky side of Halloween, we are here to tell you that the best part of this amazing holiday is the movies and the candy.

Watching a somewhat scary movie like “Happy Death Day” and stuffing yourself with candy corn truly makes for the sweetest of nights.

She’s got the beat

A look into senior Nikita Jindal’s percussion achievements Alice Zhang Design Editor

She walks on the stage, hands clutching drumsticks and mallets. In front of her lie five different instruments - a timpani, crash cymbals, a snare drum, bells and a xylophone. She’s expected to have full proficiency on all instruments. Facing her is a panel of three judges adjudicating her for admittance to a prestigious summer session, one of which says, ‘begin when you’re ready’. She takes a deep breath, calming her shaking hands and tense body, and begins.

Senior Nikita Jindal has been playing percussion since sixth grade. She practices privately with Drew Lang, a professor at the Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts. In addition to playing at Texas Private School Music Educator Association (TPSMEA) All State for the past four years, she has participated in several selective summer percussion programs.

This past summer, Nikita spent three weeks at the National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2) program sponsored by Carnegie Hall. NYO2 offers an opportunity for musicians underrepresented in the classical music field to work with other talented musicians and world class faculty. NYO2 also offers the experience of performing in world-renowned halls; the group performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City and Kimmel Center in Philadelphia during the program.

At NYO2, held at Purchase College in New York, students take private lessons, master classes and work in ensembles to improve their musical skills. Nikita said being able to work with other musicians and taking lessons from professional faculty at NYO2 was mind-blowing.

“It was definitely one of the most influ-

ential music experiences in my life. It’s really inspirational to be around people who are so talented. It pushes you to want to work harder,” Nikita said.

Nikita’s summer musical intensives are not limited to the NYO2 program. She has participated in the Percussion Workshop at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute this past summer and the Julliard Summer Percussion Seminar the year before—both are highly selective, audition-only programs.

According to Nikita, Julliard offered a nontraditional percussion intensive. She took an Afro-Cuban percussion seminar there, while she said Tanglewood was more strenuous and pre-professional. Nikita said one of the most valuable things about these summer percussion workshops is the faculty that she works with.

“Working with faculty at Juilliard and Tanglewood was extremely frightening.

There was fear for making a good first impression. At the same time, the whole atmosphere was inspiring. The faculty executed their interpretations of music flawlessly, which was kind of crazy,” said Nikita.

In addition to playing at pre-professional summer programs, Nikita also contributes to the Greenhill band. She’s the section leader for both concert band and drumline music. According to Middle and Upper School Band teacher Brian Donnell. Nikita is a natural leader for the rest of the percussion sections.

“If it’s a matter of timing, she’ll help other students with tempo and counting the beat. If it’s technique, she’ll grab the sticks and quickly show them proper technique.

She helps people efficiently without being demeaning. That’s what makes her a good leader,” Mr. Donnell said.

Nikita said her passion for percussion stems from the freedom to create.

She’s able to create music with many different instruments. Whether it’s the snare drum or the timpani, the instruments will always give her a different sound, which allows her to explore further within percussion.

“That’s what makes percussion so cool.

You’re not stuck to one instrument; you have the freedom to explore. Even within the instrument itself, there are so many sounds you can get just by playing it in different ways,” said Nikita.

Music is special to Nikita because it’s an alternative form of communication that gives her the ability to add personal style. Working with the sheet music allows her to add her own interpretation and tell her story, a story that isn’t told through words.

“Music is a way to connect people without having to use words. The people that

Photos courtesy of Nikita Jindal

MASTERING HER TECHNIQUE: Nikita Jindal (top) practices with Principal Timpanist Don Liuzzi of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Nikita focuses during NYO2 rehearsal (bottom).

watch you perform are all coming from different backgrounds and cultures, and they can feel what you feel through music.” said Nikita.

Sports the

Eyes on the prize

Photo by Tim Kaiser

AIRTIME: Senior hitter Max Kaiser goes up for a spike in Greenhill’s counter game against St. Marks. With 11 seniors on the team, there is no shortage of leadership and experience within the program.

Boys volleyball team seeks SPC title

The Boys varsity volleyball team, led by 11 seniors, has high hopes to take home a Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) title as the season enters its final stretch.

Coming off last year’s second place finish at the 2016 Fall SPC Championships, the team has had a successful campaign under third-year Head Coach Mauro Grasso. As of press time, the team has a record of 20-2-1 and is in first place in the SPC North Zone standings.

The Greenhill Volleyball team has beaten the Casady School, last year’s SPC Champions three times during the regular season. Since there are only four other teams in the North Zone division, senior Max Kaiser said it is hard to find competition in their division, because their team has been extremely successful so far.

“We really want the title,” Max said. “I really want to beat Casady in the playoffs because they are a team that really likes to get to your head. Their whole strategy to win is through intimidation on the court and they don’t have very good sportsmanship, so if we are able to beat a team like them it feels really good.”

Max said Coach Grasso’s philosophy of individual player development has the team in good position for success in this year’s tournament.

“Coach’s mindset is that if you develop a player, a championship will come,” Max said Senior Captain Rishi Vas said team chemistry has been crucial to the team’s strong record this season.

“The chemistry is incredible because [the seniors] are all leaders” said Rishi, “I

think it’s the best chemistry we’ve had in a really long time we play best when we are having fun,” Rishi said.

At the beginning of each practice, Coach Grasso has the team play basketball and soccer in order to incorporate some fun and provides the team with opportunities to relax after the school day and not over work each player. Coach Grasso said his mindset as a coach is to take everything one day, one practice, and one game at a time.

Coach Grasso spoke to his team on the topics of sportsmanship and how to be successful.

“Well it’s always good but I try to teach them that it’s not about the result, it’s about how you win,” said Coach Grasso.

Senior captain Barrett Winchell leads the team this season with 39 aces and 180

kills. Senior Max Kaiser leads with 120 digs and is in second on the team with 35 aces; senior Rishi Vas leads the team with a total of 411 assists; Colton Bobbit with 83 digs.

Barrett injured his finger in practice earlier this season, and the team lost their only conference game of the season at St. Marks in his absence. Barrett returned to action in the Hornets’ game against Trinity Valley on October 24 and helped carry the Hornets to a 3-0 victory.

The 2017 tournament will be held at the Trinity Valley School Fort Worth, Texas from November 10-11. The Hornets aim to secure their 15th SPC title in program history.

Story by Alyssa Miller, Davis Gutow, Kaylee Chien, Shreya Saxena, Sonia Dhingra and Tej Dhingra

The college football chronicles Maya Ghosh Views Editor

Sonali Notani Asst. News Editor

Two years ago, first-year Upper School History teacher Dr. Kaaz Naqvi stood in the stands at the University of Wisconsin’s football stadium, watching his alma mater, Northwestern University, beat the Badgers for the first time since 2000 in Wisconsin. Despite the subfreezing conditions, the rowdy fans, atmosphere, and Northwestern victory made this Dr. Naqvi’s favorite football game.

Although he teaches history for a living, Dr. Naqvi’s true passion lies on the collegiate gridiron. He lives, eats, sleeps and breathes college football. He said the sport has been his passion from a young age.

“Since I was a kid my favorite sport was always college football; I think there is this cool aspect to universities as opposed to pro sports. The atmosphere is different from place to place, there are all these unique traditions and unique pageantries,” Dr. Naqvi said.

For the past seven years, Dr. Naqvi said he has tried to go to a different college football game every weekend even

if it features teams to which he has no loyalty.

The 2010-11 college football season was his most well attended. He went to 20 games in a 14-week season, sometimes attending two games a week or two games a day.

When the college football schedules come out in July and August, he chooses 25-30 potential games, and then as the games near, he begins to look at prices, the season records of the team, and what makes sense logistically.

“I tend to wait until they are at their lowest value and buy something affordable, but I don’t try to get the cheapest ticket because I do care about where I sit. I like being towards the higher bowl generally, and closer to midfield,” said Dr. Naqvi.

Although Dr. Naqvi is not one for collecting memorabilia or autographs, he does collect tickets from every game Photo by Hayden Jacobs he attends and takes pictures of the game, THROWING IT BACK : Dr. Naqvi came from a school in Minnesota and brought a big perfans, and city that he is in. At the end of each spective on world history to Greenhill. He teaches Atlantic Experience 9 and 10. season, he keeps a scrap book collection “People take it a lot more seriously of his tickets as well as a photo book chants, and way of doing things, and it’s fun to be a part of the crowd. ” said [in Texas], most people there weren’t from his game day experiences in college Dr. Naqvi. particularly knowledgeable and here it towns across the country.

Since his recent move from Minnesota seems like everybody knows. Here, Dr. Naqvi said he admires the to Texas, Dr. Naqvi has noticed a difference everybody is die hard,” he said. fans’ passion and dedication to their between the levels of enthusiasm for universities.

“Each place has its own traditions, college football in the two states.

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Photos by Jake Middleman

HANGING IN THE GYM: Stephen Crotty does pull ups and hang cleans during his workout with Coach G. Stephen regularly works out in the High Performance Center during his volleyball, soccer and track seasons.

Survival of the fittest

Staff writer Stephen Crotty works out with High Performance Center trainer Gillian Glengarry Stephen Crotty

Staff Writer

The following serves as an account of my workout with Director of High Performance and Auxiliary Fitness Programs Gillian Glengarry, but it could just as easily be a portrait of every Greenhill student who’s ever struggled in sweat under the hawk eye of Coach G: I sauntered into the High Performance Center that Friday afternoon, looking egotistically at my biceps.

“Mmm, mmm, good,” I thought to myself.

At her throne by the treadmills sat Coach G, smirking at my cocky attitude. I said to her, “Now Coach, you’re lifting with me, right?” She seemed taken aback, then informed me that she couldn’t, she had Middle School students coming in an hour.

I was disappointed but a bit relieved. She shoved me onto a treadmill and ordered me to run. She snapped pictures of my beautiful prances and soon I was ready to go. Well, I thought I was, anyway.

I walked over to grab a weight bar and she snarled at me, questioning my warm up procedures. I halfheartedly pulled on my limbs to “stretch.” I wanted to get started. I wanted to pump some iron. She interrogated me the whole time, what grade was I in, what colleges I’m looking at, why on Earth

By the numbers: Stephen Crotty

does The Evergreen want to write a story about this? I told her she was a symbol of the Athletic Department, an obstacle that all athletes at this school encounter and strive to impress. Coach G, the gladiator. She scoffed and I blushed.

Finally, she released me from stretching and I grabbed the hang clean bar. I did five light reps and then we did our superset of knee lifts. Coach G joined me in those. As I sputtered like a fish, she expertly pumped her legs while admonishing my technique.

“My legs don’t go straight up,” I complained, gasping.

She was having none of it. I was to suffer correctly.

We did two more sets of hang cleans then moved over to the bench. It was time for the incline press, my greatest foe. While I have the arms and stomach of a god, I have scrawny little chicken shoulders. I started out with 95 pounds and was proud to complete my six reps. Coach G looked at me with a little grin, paused, then told me to get in plank position.

“Let’s see how my record holder does.

It’d been two years and nobody’s beaten it.” I smiled, remembering that time in sophomore year when I beat Evan Haynes’ all time HPC plank record. I was a legend.

Holding it for 30 seconds would surely be a piece of cake. The second the clock started,

10

Number of pullups Stephen can do

and she screamed at me, her prized pupil with abs of steel.

“Your heels are too close together, and your butt is sticking up. You gotta be better,” she critiqued.

I almost slipped trying to readjust my feet and was suddenly uncomfortably conscious of my rear end. I started to wonder if my record was a fluke, or worse, a hoax of poor technique.

I struggled through my next two sets of presses and planks, but felt poised to jump onto the chin up bar. Before I could, she gave a little chuckle, and randomly inquired, “Do you know how long I’ve been here?’ It had been twenty years and I encouraged her to push through those last five years to become a Legend. It only seemed fair after all the motivation she had given me.

Soon enough, she told me to quit stalling and jump up. I did six chin-ups with relative ease and was told to do 30 crunches. I did them dutifully then did my next six reps. It was all a breeze. On the last set, she told me I had to get ten. I pulled with sluggishness to ten and slipped off the handholds. I looked at her with prideful eyes but received a cold stare in return.

“You could have done more. You gave up! You gotta push it!” she pointed out, then ordered me to do 40 crunches. A twinge of resentment passed through me, that same

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Number of pounds that Stephen hang cleans

twinge which has passed through the hearts of thousands of students before me.

She snapped some pictures of me on the bar and I gazed in wonder at my bulging veins. Such a good-looking boy by my standards, but such a weak duckling by hers.

Regardless, it was now time to do lateral lunge and I hate those. There was nothing particularly interesting about them but I did get to be a model for middle school kids.

Don’t be surprised if you see 13 year olds starting to wear fake hearing aids and neon orange shoes to imitate their favorite lifter.

At this point, a little kid in a bathing suit came up to get Coach G. She was needed at the pool, and I had been freed. I got my complimentary vanilla Core Power protein shake and stood alone in the High Performance Center. Coach G was gone and I could relax. But still, I couldn’t help feeling she was still somehow tracking me. Such is the experience of the humbled athlete. I decided to scamper downstairs and outside, free from any hidden surveillance.

On my way out of the gym, I ran into Coach Stringer. A strand of numbness suddenly ran down my spine as he walked by.

“Oh no, not another one of them,” I thought to myself.

6:30

Minutes that Stephen can hold a plank

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The motivation mindset

Ross Rubin Features Editor

Stephen Crotty Staff Writer

When a player, nervous in the spotlight of a roaring crowd, makes a mental error, it can be easy for coaches to feel frustrated and let down. As they struggle with enforcing the technical aspects of a sport, Greenhill coaches also work to make sure their teams are mentally prepared for any game or challenge they face.

One of the biggest aspects in coaching is the formation of trusting bonds between coach and athlete. Head Field Hockey Coach Brittany Johnson ’09 attests to that, noting the difference in relationship with her players between this year and last year, her first as Head Coach. In that challenge of establishing trust, coaches are left with a difficult decision of balancing their own emotions and coaching style with how best to get through to their players.

Coach Johnson began coaching at Greenhill in fall 2016, following the departure of Coach Mayer. Senior Mahima Akula has noticed the positivity and encouragement that Coach Johnson brings.

“Coach Johnson feels a lot more approachable. She has a better influence on us. She understands that we obviously have the desire to win. She’s just there to give us the tools to play our best game,” said Mahima.

In Cross Country, a sport perceived as individual, Head Coach Jason Yaffe said he is impressed by the power of the team’s compassion, and how they lean on each other for support in order to have success while running.

“Yes, when the gun goes off, it is individual. You’re trying to bring about a

kind of accountability, not just in races, but how you practice and treat each other,” said Coach Yaffe.

Although Coach Yaffe emphasizes the importance of the team, he says that a runner’s primary motivation must come from themselves, and that they all need to know why it is they are out there and what their personal goals are, whether it be to simply fulfill a P.E. requirement or win an SPC championship.

Girls’ volleyball Head Coach Tatiane Deibert said she went into coaching because of the lasting impression her coach left on her when she played. As a player in Brazil, Coach Deibert had an intense coach who emphasized the importance of practice.

Coach Deibert now uses her as an inspiration for her coaching.

“I always loved volleyball, and once I started it was always very intense right away.

I clicked with my coach who I had for about 10-12 years. The [passion] that [the coach] started carried over and by 16 or 17 I already knew I wanted to be a coach,” said Coach Deibert. “He was ridiculous and passionate and I learned a lot from that.”

Although coaches can often show signs of impatience and frustration, many Greenhill coaches have said that they prefer to take a calmer approach to coaching.

“I try to have positive rewards [for my players] instead of making them scared of something,” said Coach Johnson.

Although Coach Yaffe embraces coaching with positivity, he understands that all athletes have different ways of being motivated. For this reason, he has all of his runners’ complete self-evaluation forms after each race, labeling their strengths and weaknesses.

“Doing this gives me a window into

Tiny but mighty Jake Middleman Asst. Sports Editor

The players of the Greenhill football team get all the glory on Friday nights, but some of the most important people on the field aren’t even on the team.

Head Football Coach Casey Selfridge created “The Ball Kids and Water Kids” program with the help of Head of Athletics and Physical Education, Chad Wabrek. The program was created in order to standardize the system for getting Greenhill Middle School and Lower School students to man the sidelines as ball boys and girls and water boys and girls during Greenhill home football games.

The program gives younger Greenhill students the chance to be a part of the team on game days. The ball kids are assigned to a certain referee and hand them a ball when they ask for one. Also, during timeouts they run onto the field and give the players water.

Third grader Jonovan Woods, brother of senior captain Kassidy Woods, said being a ball boy was a good experience because he got to see the game’s action up close.

“The coach helps the team out a lot and when there’s a time out everyone has to bring it in. I get to hear things on the sidelines that other people wouldn’t be able to hear,” said Jonovan.

Jonovan also said that he was inspired to be a ball boy because he saw his brother playing and he wanted to be a part of the team too.

“Ball boys are a part of every football team. They stay by the side of the sideline referee on every play and hand them balls periodically throughout the game.” said Mr. Wabrek.

The football team is required to select a ball boy for their sidelines, but this

Photo by Anaah Abedi

BALLBOYS: Two waterboys stand on the sideline during a counter game.

new program makes the selection process more organized and it’s a fun experience for the kids.

So far, the new program has been a success, according to Mr. Wabrek “We have had a great success with people interested in participating. It’s given kids a chance to get involved in the games on Friday night,” said Coach Wabrek about the first year program.

Julianna Lamendola, sister of sophomore defensive end Max Lamendola, said participating in the program was a great experience. She has been a ballgirl at numerous home games this season.“You’re on the sides. Its exciting because you really feel like you are helping the players and helping them win,” said Julianna.

Coach Selfridge said the program has further brought the Greenhill community together united around the football program.

“For that 48 minutes [of the game], it takes everybody,” he said. “The assistant coaches, the fans in the stands and the kids that are helping out. They are definitely a part of the team.”

Photo by Tim Kaiser

TIMEOUT: Coach Herman Card talks to boys volleyball during a timeout in the middle of a game at the beginning of the season.

what that athlete’s performance was. If there’s frustration that comes out of that, then [coaching] becomes very individualized,” Coach Yaffe said.

Coach Deibert also stressed the importance of knowing each athlete on an individual basis. “[It’s important] to know the players personality. I know I have some kids that respond well to yelling and they’re going to shake it off, and there are some players that if I yell at them they’re pretty much done for the game” she said.

Coach Deibert’s players appreciate her dedication to learning each player’s nuances and goals.

“She makes sure that each player has individual goals, as well as team goals. Her attention makes everyone feel like they’re very much an important part of what makes the team work together,” said Senior volleyball player Audrey Berner.

Despite the importance of winning for many coaches, they recognize that this is not the most important aspect of Greenhill athletics. They view scholastic sports as a way to mold better humans.

“At the end of the day, the most important part is that people are having fun, that they’re enjoying the sport. But winning is fun in itself,” said Coach Johnson. .

wednesday, november 1, 2017

the

Evergreen

senior columns

19

What’s my name?

I have no idea how to pronounce my name. My mother says that I am “Raday”; my dad says that I am “Ra-they,” and this confuses me. But, there is a deeper significance to this mispronunciation.

I was named after a Hindu Goddess: Radha, also known as Radhe (however you

pronounce it). My parents originated from different parts of India. My mum’s family is from Gujarat, and my dad’s family is from Sindh, which means their pronunciations of names and words differ. When they named me, they did not realize that they pronounced the Goddess’ name differently.

This was a problem when I was younger.

I would correct my friends and teachers contradictorily without realizing I was doing so. I didn’t even notice that I had two distinct pronunciations of my name until one of my friends tried correcting a teacher. When they both turned to me for an answer, I just stared blankly in reply.

It was at this moment I had a revelation, or an identity crisis, depending on how you see it. With my two different pronunciations came two different personalities. Both sides of my family, Gujarati and Sindhi,

have different ideals. When embodying the Gujarati “Ra-day,” I fulfill the studious and high achieving stereotype. On the other hand, when I am the Sindhi “Rathey,” I personify a sociable and ambitious character. To be clear, neither stereotype is more advantageous. I am still trying to find a balance between the two.

An example of the disparity exists in my conversations with my grandparents.

My grandparents on my mother’s side will ask about my academics: what classes I am taking, how I have done on my exams, and whether I am staying focused on my grades.

In contrast, my grandparents on my father’s side will ask about more social activities: how tennis is going, what tournaments or events I am participating in, what country club I am playing at.

I began to realize that I would tell the

people around me different pronunciations, depending on how I wanted to be perceived in that moment.

When I confronted my parents about their pronunciation impasse, they reminded me that I am more than just a name. I identify myself by what I am passionate about, by my values and morals and even by my faults. Whether I am “Ra-they” or “Raday,” I still encompass these attributes. It is not that I do not care about what I am called, but that I know that people know me by far more than just a title. I have more than my name to define myself. I am named after a Goddess whose most well-known strength is her love. Similarly, I love each name and the traits that come with them.

This past summer, in the car ride from the heart of Prague to a destination about two hours away, I got a good sense of the shotgun passenger. She impressed me with her intelligence and curiosity, kindness and soulfulness, energy and fortitude. 91 years old, small in stature but with a presence larger than life, Doris is a Holocaust survivor. The car ride was the precursor to

our tour through Terezin, the concentration camp where Nazis imprisoned Doris for five years during World War II. My parents had met Doris twice before, and made it their mission to introduce her to my siblings and me. Even as Doris impressed me in the car ride, as we neared the camp, I struggled to comprehend why anybody would want to return to a place where they had endured such great terror and tragedy.

In retrospect, I understand that she was making meaning out of her suffering by sharing her experiences with me. I saw the very room where she was crammed in with dozens of other inmates each night, and I saw the fields where she was forced to labor.

Though I got nowhere close to stepping inside 1940 Doris’ shoes, seeing her in 2017 walking through the concentration camp enabled me to feel a small part of

her pain. I saw and felt a part of history that few people in the coming generation will get to experience with a Holocaust survivor. Just as it was my parents’ mission to introduce me to Doris, it is now my mission to communicate her story to the next generation.

Doris’ story, contrary to my previous conception of the Holocaust, was filled with light even in the midst of great darkness.

In describing her life in the concentration camp, Doris did not describe a sullen, lifeless place devoid of any sources of happiness. While she didn’t shy away from the atrocities of the Holocaust, she focused on the light of her experience at Terezin.

Doris talked about the active arts community that put on plays, created music and painted. She talked about the SS guard who warned her not to get on a train leading to a death camp and certain death.

And she talked about how, no matter how painful and exhausting her day, she always made sure to smile.

When Doris was my age, she was living in a concentration camp. The darkness in my life primarily descends from homework, college applications, and the New York Giants’ current 1-6 record. Sometimes, when the clock strikes midnight and I still have a stack of work in front of me and it’s only Monday, it’s hard to see light creeping out of the darkness.

But then I think of Doris. I think about her exhausting days and restless nights, and I think about the children dancing. If she could find light in the midst of the greatest atrocity in modern human history, I think I can find light, too. Doris gave me the power of perspective, and that is the greatest gift of all.

words and grammar. Jack mostly uses an elaborate combination of physical cues, much more complicated and subjective than the English language. Jack is working on his communication board that speaks English for him, but honestly, I like learning his natural language. It’s more consistent with what language should be, a constantly changing interpretation of reactions to things that happen.

I understand that spoken language is necessary to advance in this world, either electronic or real, but I think it’s possible to underestimate the value of his natural method of communication. That’s not to say it wasn’t’ difficult to talk to him. I had to learn to interpret. Hitting fists together means “more,” sometimes he’ll just grab food from your hand if he doesn’t feel he’s

getting what he needs fast enough then shoves the food into his face with a smile.

“It’s not funny,” one of the workers would say.

But it is funny. It’s funny how cunning he is, how smart he is, how outspoken he is in his own way, and how much he knows that I don’t. It’s also funny how much he’s proving me that I’m wrong about kids like him. I’m not necessarily more knowledgeable than them, and I’m definitely not their savior.

Despite my knowledge of English, I find myself constantly stretching for words.

Jack is not afflicted by this oral frustation, so maybe I should stop pitying others for a second and learn.

with Facebook and Twitter being the most used platforms for news. This is incredibly dangerous for society.

But why do you care? Because your behavior is affecting what you know.

On social media, people can choose which news outlets they want to follow and which stories they want to read. Social media users can filter what they don’t think is relevant. Facebook and Twitter algorithims try to personalize the newsfeed to everyone’s individual liking, but this is problematic if that’s how you rely on news. If you click on recipies, that is what shows up more, but a news story about an economic crisis in Rwanda may not show up for you at all.

Thus, the world of journalism has to evolve to fit our incredibly short attention spans. We scroll through Twitter and skim headlines, but how much information can a news organization fit into 140 characters of a tweet? No matter how hard news organizations try, 140 characters will never be a sufficient amount of space to demonstrate

all viewpoints and facts of an issue. News organizations are there to provide you stories that would not have surfaced otherwise, but you have to make the extra effort to read the full story. The reality is that fewer people are making the effort to click that link and read the full story. Therefore, it’s not the news’ fault that the population is less informed, it’s ours.

We can’t revive Latin, but we can save journalism. Journalism is dying because we refuse to engage. Do the world a favor and make an effort to read the news. Routinely inform yourself about different issues by reading news stories about them. Check Al Jazeera’s news app once a day and read one article about a country you have never heard about. If you read that article, that issue will be heard through someone. And yes, you are saving journalism.

The power of perspective

Actions speak louder than words

I’d never really fed anyone, so it was really hard when I finally did. It didn’t help that I had almost no similar basis of communication with the kid who I was feeding, Jack. Jack has a severe brain impairment, and goes to school at Chase’s Place, a school for kids with special needs

where I was volunteering. He didn’t speak, but his inconsistent use of his communication board was infinitely better than I could have managed.

Jack loves rice cakes, he hates pizza.

A strange taste. However, the kid isn’t too strange. He’s very stubborn and has firm likes and dislikes. It’s near impossible to get him to eat a tiny piece of pizza in ten minutes but he’ll gobble up a rice cake is under fifteen seconds. It’s actually pretty impressive. It reminds me of when I was five eating one of those frosted sugar cookies that can kill you. Actually, I still do that.

An honest examination of how hard it was to feed him requires me to look into the differences between me and Jack. For one thing, we don’t speak the same language. I speak a verbal language with simply-defined

Journalism: a dead language

“Why do you care so much about Latin?

It’s a dead language.”

In 8th grade I took it upon myself to help spread the love of the Junior Classical League by creating a publication that promoted the classics at Greenhill. For years, I have heard Latin was dead. I should quit it. I should stop spending countless hours learning the language, and I should quit writing a publication about a dead language.

Luckily, it was from that publication that I found my affinity for a new passion:

journalism.

I was ecstatic that I found a passion that intrigued people. I no longer got strange looks when I told people my interests. At least, up until now. When I tell people, I’m applying to colleges as a journalism major, I get the following: “Don’t major in journalism-it’s dying.”

“A journalist’s profession is unstable, don’t count on it. Consider something worthwhile.”

Which is funny, because this sounded strikingly similar to “Don’t spend so much time on Latin-it’s dead.”

Multiple sources have informed me that pursuing journalism is as “useless” as Latin.

But this time, instead of fighting them, I believe it. The art of journalism is dying, and, in fact, president Donald Trump even says good journalism is fake. Soon enough, we’ll be reminiscing when people read real news. According to a survey from Pew Research Center in 2017, 65% of all adults aged 18-49 get their news from social media,

20 backpage

the

Evergreen

wednesday, november 1, 2017

iGreenhill what app are you?

1. You have a free Friday

2. It’s your friend’s birth-

3. What’s your ideal vaca-

night. What do you do?

day. What do you get them?

tion spot?

a) Snuggle up in a blanket

a) Fuzzy socks or a sweat-

a) The mountains

burrito and stay home

shirt

b) The beach

b) Go to the football game

b) Their favorite candy

c) A big city

c) Get

c) A framed picture of the

d) Staycation

some

food

with

friends

two of you

d) Read a book

d) “Cards Against Humanity”

6. Favorite song?

4. Ideal shoe choice?

5.What’s your favorite food?

a) Slippers

a) Pizza

b) “Despacito” by Luis Fon-

b) Steve Madden Heels

b) Sushi

zo and Justin Bieber feat.

c) Adidas Superstars

c) Avocado Toast

Daddy Yankee

d) Vans

d) Açaí Bowl

c) “Good Life” by G-Eazy

a) “Location” by Khalid

d)

“A-Punk”

by

Vampire

Weekend

Mostly A’s: NETFLIX You’re chill and easygoing. Once you know what you want you stay committed to it. Sometimes you can struggle with time management and focusing, but you definitely know how to kick back and have a good time!

Mostly B’s: SNAPCHAT You’re funny, friendly, and outgoing, and you’re always up to try new things! You enjoy feeling close and connected with your friends and having conversations with people.

Mostly C’s: INSTAGRAM You enjoy a personalized aesthetic and keeping up with friends. You prefer visuals over text and like sending funny or relevant things to your friends.

Mostly D’s: TUMBLR You’re artsy and creative, and you always stay ahead of trends. You are good at thinking out of the box. You love finding people with the same sense of humor and interests as you, but you still stay true to yourself!

Graphics by Grace Doyle