A8 News
April 29, 2009
The Chronicle
School squelches senior Ditch Day
victory is sweet
By Sam Adams
A proposed senior class “Ditch Day” for Monday April 20 did not come to fruition after a public Facebook event for the day was seen by members of the administration. An email sent to the class reiterated school policy that if a student does not attend all academic obligations, he or she cannot participate in any after school extracurricular activities. Still, some seniors skipped school on Monday, Tuesday or both. “I slept in until 11, went to breakfast with a few of my friends, then met a bunch of seniors at the beach,” one senior who participated in the ditch day said. “We played football in the water, beach volleyball, and just laid around. Then we went to an early dinner and all went home.” Taking place on a day in which members of the Playwright’s Festival, Peer Support and spring season sports teams had significant obligations, the day chosen for the informal tradition was especially poor, upper school dean Vanna Cairns said. In addition, an AP Art History exam was scheduled for the day, with teachers threatening to give zeroes to any students with unexcused absences. “Officially, the administration is never going to sanction a ditch day,” Cairns said. “That being said, if the seniors wanted to have such a day for bonding or for whatever reason, it would be better for them to choose a day maybe after APs. The concept of a senior Ditch Day doesn’t have to be adversarial with the administration.” Few students actually ditched school on the day or the following day, Attendance Coordinator Gabriel Preciado said. “If they want to do it, that’s fine. They just need to know the repercussions involved,” Preciado said. “It’s a day of rebellion for them, against school and school activities, for them to go out and do something other than sitting and getting an academic workload.” The ones who did partake in the festivities received detentions that they are schetuled to serve on May 1, but that did not faze the revelers. “The only repercussion of having a wonderful Ditch Day with all my friends is spending an hour in detention with those same great people,” the same senior said. “Actually, we are looking forward to this detention. We are working on a funny theme for it.” However, a Ditch Day creates extra work for Preciado, who must separate ditching students from those with legitimate excuses. “Sometimes we have to weed out those students who are legitimately ill or had a doctor’s appointment versus those whose parents just gave us that as an excuse,” Preciado said. “We like them to have their fun but we can’t just take an easy stand on it because if we do, what’s wrong with two ditch days? What’s wrong with three, four, five? The list goes on.”
Alexia Boyarsky/ Chronicle
President Thomas C. Hudnut watches as students cheer as Confetti is released at the Champions’ Day ceremony on March 25 during break. The ceremony and parade honored the achievements of the boys’ varsity basketball, girls’ varsity basketball, and girls’ varsity soccer teams. After the ceremony, students received Jamba Juice and cookies.
8th grader’s film wins awards at local and international festivals By Olivia Kwitny Zelda Wengrod ’13 won an award at the Global Kids for Kids festival in Canada. Her three minute noir film “The Night in Question,” won the Best Film in the Live Action Six Through 12 Years-old category from a professional jury comprised of four Canadian film industry professionals. This is one of only two films Wengrod has made. “She really thought about what made a noir film,” Cheri Gaulke, who taught Wengrod in a Visual Arts class in summer 2007, said. “She watched those types of films to really under-
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stand them.” After doing internet research, Wengrod introduced Gaulke to many festivals, including Global Kids for Kids. “Zelda really impressed me as a director. She was involved in costumes, lighting, and so many aspects throughtout the film process,” Gaulke said. Entered into contests the in summer of 2007, Wengrod’s film has won awards at the Newport Beach Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. “I wold love to pursue filmmaking when I grow up,” Wengrod said. “It’s one of my passions.”
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Courtesy Of Zelda Wengrod
Private Eye: Henry Woody ’13 stars as detective Dirk Calloway in Zelda Wengrod’s ’13 “The Night in Question.” Wengrod has won awards for this film in multiple festivals.
Department chairs step down from positions By Alexia Boyarsky Although a couple of faculty members are leaving both campus’ this year, Chief of Finance Rob Levin says that the turnover has significantly decreased this year. Meanwhile, five teachers will be changing positions next year in order to pursue different aspects of their jobs. At the upper school, Foreign Language Department Chair Javier Zaragoza will be stepping down from his post, in order to “take a break from administration” and return to teaching, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said in an e-mail to the faculty. Latin teacher Paul Chenier will be taking over Zaragoza’s position starting in September.
“This department is overflowing with teachers who have experience as chair, so that makes the job a lot easier,” Chenier said. “I have plenty of people I can turn to for guidance and advice.” Middle school Math Department Chair Bob Pavich will hand over his post to math teacher Sue Olson, in order to “to return to full-time teaching,” Huybrechts said. Olson has led and managed the Middle School Professional Development Committee for around 15 years, Huybrechts said, but she will pass on these duties to history and Latin teacher John Corsello. Although some faculty members are switching positions, the number of teachers leaving is significantly less than usual.