December 2010 Issue

short commute

Harvard-Westlake School

do i know you?

Employees live in school-owned houses up the hill from campus.

A11

Although students use Facebook to interact, such open use can lead to stolen identities or privacy concerns.

B6-7

the

hronicle C DEC. 15, 2010

Harvard-Westlake School Los Angeles, CA Volume XX Issue V chronicle.hw.com

Iñarritu will host annual film festival

By Alice Phillips

chloe lister/chronicle

winter bells: For the first time, Winterfest featured a performance by the Activities for Retarded Children’s Bell Choir. ARC has used the campus’ facilities on weekends for more than 30 years. see A16 for further coverage

Taper Gym

Wolverine Walk (fire road)

Chapus wins 2nd state title

constructionwatch Parking Lot Improvements

>>>Taper Walkway

level) Taper Walkway (lot

Coldwater Canyon

Kiosk

see chapus, C4 related coverage

Boys’ varsity cross country finishes 2nd, girls finish 4th in State.

C1

Senior Lot

Batting Cages

After nabbing first place in California for girls’ cross country for the second year in a row, Cami Chapus ’12 was mary rose fissinger one of the girls Cami Chapus ’12 from California invited to Nike Cross Nationals where she placed 13th.

Chapus spent the summer preparing for state.

“I kind of built up a base of running and just kept at it,” Chapus said.

“Eventually, that mentally helps me know at a state meet that I have all the strength to go out and go for it.

Mentally, the day of [the meet] you have to be able to control your nerves and your anxiety.”

The week of the state meet, Chapus had to stay at her grandmother’s house in order to avoid getting the virus that was going around in her family. She did come down with the flu, but it was not

traffic flow

By David Kolin

Construction will connect the Wolverine Walk and the sidewalk in front of Taper. Students will no longer have to walk into the driveway from Wolverine Walk to get to the lot-level Taper walkway.

>>Parking Lot Sidewalk Hamilton Gym

The sidewalk’s future route runs parallel to the exit lane of the senior lot. The construction will require the hedge between the parking lot and the batting cages to be cut back. The sidewalk will run from the security kiosk to the Hamilton parking lot.

traffic flow St. Michael’s Fencing Facility

graphic by Alice phillips

Tuition approved: The Board of Trustees adopted the Business Office’s proposal for 2011-2012 tuition. The value will be announced to parents in early February.

A7

Academy Award nominee Alejandro Iñarritu (Maria Gonzalez ’13) will host the eighth annual Harvard-Westlake Film Festival March 18 at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.

Festival Director Nick Lieberman ’11 said he was inspired to choose Iñarritu after reading a history book about Latin American cinema that called Iñarritu the most important Mexican filmmaker because of his 2000 Spanish-language film, “Amores Perros.”

“We realized that this guy is the top of his field,” Lieberman said. “This is the right guy for the right festival at the right time.”

On March 19, Lieberman and co-Director Jacqueline Sir ’11 have planned “The Day After,” with workshops for the filmmakers whose entries are screened at the Cinerama Dome.

The student filmmakers will also have the opportunity to meet with additional speakers.

Iñarritu was nominated for Best Director from the Directors’ Guild of America, Best Director from the Golden Globes and Best Director and Best Picture from the Academy Awards for his 2006 film “Babel” which was nominated for five Academy Awards. His most recent film, “Biutiful,” premiered at Cannes 2010.

Safety concerns prompt sidewalk construction

By Daniel Rothberg A sidewalk will be constructed parallel to the exit lane of the senior parking lot over winter break in response to a column in The Chronicle’s September issue about pedestrian safety.

Columnist and Editor-in-Chief Alice Phillips ’11 toured the lot with administrators last Wednesday to identify safety issues for pedestrians.

The plan is to have the walkway completed by the end of winter break, Director of Campus Operations and Construction JD De Matté said.

The sidewalk will begin behind the kiosk and end near the wrestling room.

“Putting a sidewalk in is immensely helpful because, if students use it as intended, they won’t have to walk in the same

INSIDE Going Greek: Some alums pledge a fraternity or sorority when they get to college, often defining their college experience.

B4

place that cars are driving,” Phillips said. “The sidewalk will take pedestrians all the way past Hamilton. That is definitely an improvement from the current situation.”

Construction workers will also expand the lot’s exit lane by one foot, De Matté said.

“Making the parking lot one foot wider in the exit lane will give drivers more room and help fix the blind corner when you turn right to go up the hill by the kiosk,” Phillips said.

De Matté said that construction will also begin over break to connect the fire road, known as Wolverine Walk, with the sidewalk in front of Taper.

This will allow students to walk directly to and from school without crossing into traffic, he said. see sidewalk, A8

tending their turf: Varsity goalkeepers Reba Magier ’12 and Wiley Webb ’12 are varsity soccer’s last line of defense.

C8

A2preview

The Chronicle Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 Volume XX Issue V

chloe lister/chronicle

dancing feet: Jazzi Marine ’13, Sidney Moskowitz ’13, Gabrielle Franchina ’13, Abby Sandler ’13 and Taylor Cooper ’13 perform with their Advanced Dance I class

news A5

while Samantha Grosslight ’12 accompanied in a show for Activities for Retarded Children last week. For further coverage, see B9.

of f

beat

Community Council hosted five events last weekend as part of the “December to Remember” campaign.

By Caitie Benell

A7 A10

Thieves broke into five students’ cars parked on Coldwater in one day.

Five students navigate the upper school campus in wheelchairs and on crutches.

alice phillips/chronicle

features+a&e

chloe lister/chronicle

sports

B3

Stress and sleep deprivation cause students to suffer from sleepwalking.

B10

Jazz musicians perform in various upper school concerts in the last week.

B11

Four upper school choirs sing classical holiday songs at their annual concert.

daniel kim/Chronicle

C3

Football player Noor Fateh’s ’11 future in sports is still unknown.

C6

The defending CIF champion girls’ soccer team, is undefeated four games into the season.

C7

Varsity boys’ basketball coach Greg Hilliard started as a tennis star.

What started as an idea shared by three juniors over lunch suddenly turned into an official freestyle rap battle with an audience of over 50 students.

Zena Edosomwan ’12, Josh Ha ’12 and Camden McRae ’12 casually came up with the idea of a rap competition.

“We all thought it would be fun to have a little competition that was different from what usually happens at school,” McRae said.

On Monday Nov. 29 students gathered near the Chalmers parking lot, eager to watch their classmates perform.

Each competitor participated in two battles.

The three organizers said they did not expect it to be such a big event, but with such a large turnout the pressure was on them to perform.

“It was my first time in an official rap battle I guess, and I came as the underdog, but it didn’t really matter to me,” Ha said. “I did it for some fun.”

Although Ha said he was indeed the underdog, Edosomwan admits that he had the best punch lines and really got the crowd into it.

“The three participants were all really supportive of each other and just wanted to have a good time,” Ha said.

Favorite moments for all the rappers were listening to the crowd’s reaction after each line.

“My favorite line would probably be ‘I go so hard that my assistants need assistants,’” Edosomwan said.

Videos, pictures and favorite lines were all posted on Facebook.

This way, those who missed the event were able to see what happened.

With overwhelming support from the crowd, the three rappers were able to pull out their best lines in hopes of winning.

There was no official winner, but there could be another rap battle in the future.

“I’m glad to have done something like this with those two other guys, who are both extremely talented,” Ha said.

“Both of them came with crazy stuff, and got the crowd hyped like crazy,” Ha said.

Ha said he hopes that he will have the opportunity to do another battle soon.

Dec. 15, 2010

News A3

The

Chronicle

Accreditation report lists school’s goals

By Daniel Rothberg Partnering with a sister school for community service, expanding the summer program, growing the school’s endowment and exploring new teaching methods are goals the school set for itself for the next six years in a report submitted this month. The nearly 250page report was compiled for accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges/California Association for Independent Schools.

Divided into 12 chapters, the selfstudy examines different areas of school life, including the curriculum, student body, faculty and staff, finances and facilities. The report also includes a statistical supplement.

“It’s a time for departments to set goals, which is really good,” math teacher Paula Evans, co-chair of the committee responsible for the program chapter, said. “In three years, you see how well you’ve progressed and that is how you evolve.”

The report’s final chapter, known as the action plan, summarizes the programs’ findings and outlines new programs directed toward five specific areas of improvement. These areas include increasing diversity, improving the use of technology, ensuring financial stability, building relations with the broader community and introducing new teaching techniques. The action plan was compiled by the Steering Committee, which was chaired by Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra, Head of Middle School Ronnie Cazeau and Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas. Salamandra likened this plan to the school’s “game plan” for the next six years.

“I think the most important aspect of this self-study is the action plan,” social studies department head John Corsello said. “This is where we have

taken all of the materials we studied and came up with the areas we felt we needed to do better in.”

Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said she is most excited about the prospect of exploring new teaching methods and developing the curriculum.

“I’m excited to see that the first item on the list is related to curriculum development and to expanding our ways of teaching,” Huybrechts said. “That hasn’t been the case in the last couple of accreditation reports.”

Huybrechts said that she also sees potential in expanding the use of technology and can foresee a day when every student would be equipped with an iPad or portable computer.

“We considered having a laptop school, where every student was issued a laptop in the beginning of the year.

We didn’t go that way because it was just going to be so expensive but that’s not the case anymore,” she said. “It might not even be laptops. I’m waiting to see what the next few generations of iPads are. That’s a very clever tool.”

One problem the school has identified in its action plan is financial sustainability. Tuition has quintupled in the past 25 years, the report said.

Though tuition has remained below the local median, Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin believes that if tuition follows that same trend for the next 25 years, fewer families will be able to afford Harvard-Westlake.

“People’s incomes have not gone up tremendously, certainly in the past decade, and our tuition has [increased], even adjusted for inflation,” Levin said.

“That’s a problem.”

Levin said that the rising cost of tuition is an issue that is affecting schools across the nation.

“The problem is not that people are

Early Applications Students sent about 400 early decision (binding) and early action (non-binding) applications to colleges.

74 25 24

Michigan

EA, 2010 is the first year of EA

UPenn

ED, 5 more than last year

Tulane

EA, 19 more than last year

21

Stanford

15

UMiami, Florida

14

Columbia

14

Yale

11

Brown

11

UChicago

9

Boston College

9

Cornell

EA, 5 less than last year EA, 12 more than last year ED, 3 less than last year EA, 1 less than last year ED, 4 less than last year EA, same as last year EA, same as last year

ED, 7 more than last year SOURCE: beth slattery Graphic by Wendy Chen, eli haims, keane muraoka-roberston and rebecca nussbaum

see WASC, A11

Eli Haims/chronicle

getting Hydrated: Tiffany Wang ’13 gets a smoothie from the cafeteria.

The prefects compared the pros and cons of allowing students to buy water bottles.

Students seek change in water bottle policy

By Daniel Rothberg

Student government representatives from both campuses advocated lifting the cafeteria’s water bottle ban in a meeting with Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts and an environmental club leader last week.

“There were good reasons for eliminating them and the Prefect Council and Student Council have presented us with potential reasons for returning them to the cafeteria,” Huybrechts said.

Huybrechts said she has yet to decide whether she will reverse the water bottle policy and plans to discuss the proposal in a monthly meeting with administrators tomorrow.

“It’s not a decision I feel needs to be made immediately,” Huybrechts said.

“For the time being, there are no disposable [water bottles] with non-carbonated water.”

The prefects presented Huybrechts with a chart that contrasts the calo-

ries, sugar content and empty bottle weight of other beverages in the cafeteria with the comparable statistics for water bottles.

The diagram was compiled by ninth grade Senator Henry Han ’14.

Though the Environmental Club is disappointed that the policy did not generate the desired results, they understand why the prefects are challenging the ban on water bottles, Environmental Club Head Catherine Wang ’11, who attended the meeting, said.

“You try something and if it doesn’t work you try something else,” Wang said. “That’s what we will do.”

Head Prefect Chris Holthouse ’11 said that the majority of the meeting was spent discussing steps to refocus the green initiative.

“The Prefect Council made the point from day one that we were really willing and eager to work with [the Environmental Club] to come out of this whole process greener than we were before,” Holthouse said.

Athletic Department to join with orthopedic researchers

By Alice Phillips

The athletic department plans to collaborate with researchers at the Kerlan-Jobe orthopedic clinic, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles/University of Southern California to study the health of Harvard-Westlake athletes in a Sports Medicine Institute, Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said.

The researchers are looking for information on the effects of various training regimens on high school age athletes and injuries to those athletes because most athletic studies are done on college age athletes, Barzdukas said.

High school athletes are rarely studied because it is far more difficult for them to commute from their high school to a research facility than for college students to walk across campus for a study, he said.

“How many middle school and high school age kids play sports across America?”

Barzdukas said. “A lot! So you have this massive group of people engaged in all these activities and there’s an area of research that, relatively speaking, is under-studied compared to other population groups. Our dream is to fill that niche.”

To accommodate the Sports Medicine Institute, as well as

to improve the locker room facilities, the school plans to renovate the first floor of Taper Gymnasium.

Several donors have expressed interest in funding the Taper renovations, President Thomas C. Hudnut said.

The renovation will rearrange much of the locker room facility to free up space for rehabilitation equipment, Barzdukas said.

“Showering after P.E. class is a relic of a bygone era,” Barzdukas said. “Kids use lockers differently than they did 25 years ago. We want to take that space and redo it, creating an institute for scholastic sports medicine and science.”

The potential renovation would allow more students to be seen by the trainers (now, the trainers’ room is packed to capacity after school) and make rehabilitation programs easier for students because, instead of having to go to physical therapy centers throughout Los Angeles, athletes would be able to rehabilitate in Taper during frees and right after school, Barzdukas said.

“We needed some more space,” Barzdukas said. “Demand is exceeding our supply.”

The medical researchers approached Harvard-Westlake about expanded collaboration after conducting four

studies on HarvardWe s t l a k e athletes, including the ongoing bone density study.

In the future, the nathanson ’s/chronicle researchers Audrius might emBarzdukas ploy the assistance of student researchers with the help of the science department to collect data on a regular basis, Barzdukas said.

A potential research project would be the effects of various exercises on jump height.

The fruits of generated research the Sports Medicine institute could benefit schools across Southern California, and trainers from other athletic departments have already visited Harvard-Westlake to learn about our concussion assessment and treatment standards, Barzdukas said.

The Athletic Department has also discussed ways to involve parent doctor volunteers in the treatment process.

“I think that the Institute for Scholastic Sports Medicine and Science will help to establish our school as one of the leaders in research, care and management of sports related injuries and health,” Barzdukas said.

A4 News

The

Chronicle

3 juniors qualify, move on to finals in debate forum

Dec. 15, 2010

Beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

By Megan Kawasaki A team of three juniors placed as finalists in the International Public Policy Forum, an oral and written debate competition on issues of public policy open to high school students around the world. The team of Aneri Amin ’12, Justin Ho ’12 and Julius Pak ’12 was named among the top 32 teams.

The debaters’ current opponent is the nathanson ’s/chronicle team from the Singapore Ministry of EducaAneri Amin ’12 tion, last year’s champion. If Harvard-Westlake’s team defeats the team and qualifies for the next round in late December, it will then face off against a team from either Lithuania or Texas in the round of 16 throughout January.

“We have a good chance of making it through to the next round because we have a really strong case, so we’re pretty confident that we can win,” Ho said. “They’re a really strong team, but we think that we can beat nathanson ’s/chronicle them. We realize that they are our biggest Justin Ho ’12 competition, so knocking them out early in the tournament would be great.”

According to IPPF rules, teams are only allowed to receive advice from coaches on their essays, so the three juniors have been left largely on their own for this competition, formulating their arguments by themselves.

However, the lack of outside help is not an impediment to the team’s work.

“I think that we’re a great team,” Ho said.

“We all have different strengths, so we balnathanson ’s/chronicle ance each other out, and together we work Julius Pak ’12 well.”

The topic of this year’s competition is “Resolved: NATO Military Operations in Afghanistan Are Not Justified.” Teams will take up either an affirmative or negative position and then submit their papers to their opponents. Each team will write two papers, a constructive one and a rebuttal.The essays are sent back and forth to their respective opponents via e-mail. Judges review all papers, labeled anonymously as “School A” and “School B,” and they select the winner based on such criteria as arguments and effectiveness of communication.

The format of the competition will remain the same throughout the winter and early spring until the final eight teams, or the “Elite Eight,” remain.These finalists will fly to New York in April, where the debate competition will become a speaking tournament. Participants will present their oral arguments on the topic in front of a panel of experts on debate, business, law, and politics. Former judges include Wesley Clark, a retired United States Army General, and John Sexton, the president of New York University.

Each of the 32 teams receives a cash prize, and the grand prize for the champions is $10,000 and the “Bickel & Brewer” Cup. The winner will be announced at a banquet and award ceremony on April 10.

Since its founding in 2001, IPPF has expanded from a national competition into an international contest.

Over 330 school teams from 36 countries and 42 states submitted their initial essays for this year’s challenge, a record number of entrants for the competition.

The bracket of the top 16 teams will be released on Dec. 21.

Signing on to Wi-Fi Wireless internet access for students will be expanded across campus by the end of the first semester. Here are the steps to connect with your own computer or mobile device.

Brendan Kutler Foundation sponsors Semester at Sea cruise

By Jordan McSpadden Four students are getting an expenses-paid Panama Canal cruise as the school takes part in the first three-week Semester at Sea program for high school students before deciding if they will participate in a whole semester at sea for high school students.

Connie Lee ’12, Chloe Lister ’12, Vivien Mao ’12 and Sophie McAlister ’13 leave today and return Jan. 4.

Father J. Young will be on the trip with his wife.

Two of the students, Lister and Mao, will be writing a blog during the trip for The Chronicle.

The scholarships given by the Kutler Center Foundation pay for the students’ voyage as well as for the various ground excursions.

“I’m definitely amped about going to the native tribes of South America and interacting with them. That’s not even something you can do if you just visit; it has to be something special,” Mao said. “Also, Archbishop Desmond Tutu is going to be on the voyage and that’s unbelievable. He’s one of the most amazing people out there.”

The ship will start in Ensenada, Mexico and make stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Puerto

Open a web browser and navigate to any website to load the login screen.

Log in with your school email username and password.

Graphic by David Lim

Quetzal, Guatemala; Corinto, Nicaragua; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Panama Canal; Cristobal, Panama; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Roatan, Honduras; St. Thomas De Castilla, Guatemala; Belize City, Belize; Cozumel, Mexico and will end in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Whenever the ship docks, the students will have the opportunity to learn about the country they are visiting.

Due to growing security concerns in some regions of Mexico, the port call in Acapulco has been cancelled.

Instead of going to Acapulco, the ship will arrive a day earlier to Puerto Quetzal and will stay there overnight.

Other schools participating in Semester at Sea this winter are Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H., High Tech High International in San Diego, The Marlborough School in Los Angeles, Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J. and Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela, Hawaii.

“I can’t wait to meet other high school students; I, generally, love to meet new people,” Lee said. “I have gone to summer camps that have varied in length from one week to six weeks, but I’ve never spent so much time on a boat. I’m really looking forward to this trip. I just can’t wait.”

Wireless internet connection on laptops expands for more student use

By Saj Sri-Kumar

Connect to the >> Wi-Fi network “HWUSStudentGuest.”

>>

1 2 3

Luke Holthouse/chronicle

HOliday spirit: Performing Arts teacher Nina Burtchaell leads middle school vocalists at the Christmas service at St. Saviour’s Chapel Sunday night.

Wireless internet access for student laptops is being added across the Upper School.

The Prefect Council has been working with the school’s Computer Services department to expand student access to the school’s Wi-Fi to the entire campus, which they hope to accomplish by the end of the first semester, which concludes on Jan. 21.

Although wireless internet is already accessible in many places on campus, most of the signals did not allow student laptops to connect.

Access for student computers was added in the library last school year and in the Student Lounge in Chalmers two weeks ago.

The faculty has already been able to connect to the Wi-Fi campus wide using their schoolissued laptops. With the changes, the faculty will be able to connect their mobile devices to the internet as well.

Director of Computer Services Dave Ruben said that the school had to wait for network

upgrades before they could allow students to connect their laptopsto the internet.

“Before the expansion, our network infrastructure was very old,” he said. “With low capacity, limited security and decaying equipment, there just wasn’t a good way to add 1,700 students.”

In addition to infrastructural improvements, Computer Services has been working on security improvements.

“We’re also working on adding a security layer that we didn’t have before so that people who are on the network won’t be subjected to attacks, either inadvertent (viruses) or purposeful (a guy in a black van parked on Coldwater),” Ruben said. “This may be in place before second semester, but if not, it should be shortly thereafter.”

In addition to infrastructural and security problems, Ruben said that part of the problem was that the school lacked the requisite bandwidth to allow student computers to connect to the internet.

Dec. 15, 2010

News A5

The

Chronicle

Alum advocates physician-assisted suicide option

By Austin Block

printed with permission of marissa Lepor

printed with permision of mitch oei

printed with permission of janet barzilay

helping hands: Marissa Lepor ’12 paints faces at a Christmas party at LA Family Housing, top. Riley Pietsch ’11 works with Operation Gratitude carrying packages to be sent to troops. Lauren Choi ’12 reads to a student from 42nd Elementary at Reading Wheels, right.

‘December to Remember’ hosts 4 service events on Saturday

By Ana Scuric

Community Council organized four service events on Dec. 11 as a part of its “December to Remember” campaign.

Jessica Barzilay ’12, Conor Eliot ’11 and math teacher Jeff Snapp led eight students at Operation Gratitude, a national organization that sends care packages to troops overseas. By the end of the day, the group had assembled 600,000 packages for troops.

“I was really happy with how the event went,” Barzilay said. “It was incredibly rewarding to work alongside the families and show them that their relatives’ efforts are appreciated, especially

during the holiday season.”

Gaby Cohen ’11 and Marissa Lepor ’12 organized an event with L.A. Family Housing. The group helps rehabilitate homeless people and reestablish their roles in society. Five students, chaperoned by history teacher Nini Halkett decorated cookies, gave gifts and painted the faces of children whose families were helped by the organization.

“Kids were saying it was really fun,” Lepor ’12 said. “One of the moms was talking about how excited her child was for the event.”

Reading Wheels volunteers spent the morning reading to children at 42nd Elementary School to help improve their comprehension skills.

Electric car company teaches students about energy sustainability at auto show

By Emily Khaykin Approximately 30 students went to the Los Angeles Auto Show to see a Coda Automotive exhibition of its new allelectric car and learn about the company’s philosophy on sustainable energy on Nov. 23.

Students attended the event free of charge. Tickets were provided by Kevin Czinger (Lukas ’13), CEO of Coda Automotive.

“We got to go to a presentation on sustainable energy and hear Coda Automotive talk about their car design and philosophy,” science teacher Dietrich Schuhl said.

This past month AP Environmental Science classes studied ways in which society can implement more sustain-

able ways of living.

“We went up to this lecture room with some students from other schools and listened to some Coda representatives discuss their car’s engineering and how the batteries worked,” Alejandra Reynoso ’12 said.

“They used lithium-iron phosphate battery cells,” Reynoso said. “These particular cells are really cool because they are relatively low cost, making the car itself low cost, all the while having a high energy output.”

“I actually took notes,” she said. “I thought it was really interesting.”

The Coda car features its own thermal management system that helps keep the car at a specific temperature at all times so that the batteries run

at optimal efficiency. Reynoso said that the system also increases the safety of the car.

“The car only needs about six nathanson ’s/chronicle hours to ful- Dietrich Schuhl ly charge, but after that it can go about 120 miles without stopping.”

The car show ran from Nov. 18 to Nov. 27. Most students went with Schuhl and science teacher Karen Hutchison on Nov. 23, but some students got tickets to go by themselves at another time. After Coda’s presentation, Schuhl said the students could wander around to see the rest of the show.

“I have a terminal condition,” ethicist John West ’74 solemnly announced to Martha Wheelock’s seventh period ethics class on Dec. 6. “It’s called life.”

West, an ethicist and author of “The Last Goodnights,” a book detailing how he assisted the suicides of both of his terminally ill parents, spoke to students in Feldman Horn 201 about the ethics of euthanasia and his personal experience with assisted suicide.

Mixing humor with a sobering narration of two assisted suicides, he presented his view that assisted suicide is “the right thing to do” when a person who is dying and in pain does not want to live any longer.

“This is the ultimate personal issue because everybody […] is going to face the end,” he said.

Assisting suicide is a felony in the state of California, but it is legal, with restrictions, in Oregon, Washington and Montana. However, since there were no witnesses and no evidence to prove his guilt, West, a former lawyer, is outside the jurisdiction of the law. Though he openly admits his role in the suicide of both of his parents, he said that his admission of guilt is not, on its own, sufficient evidence to prove his guilt in court.

Although physician-assisted suicide is illegal in most places, West said that physicians have been assisting the suicides of their patients “forever” and often keep personal stashes of medicine for this purpose.

“They have been helping their patients,” he said.

Though he worried throughout the preparation process, which included researching proper medicine dosages and making sure their actions would go unseen, he said that once he assisted with the suicides of his parents, he never doubted —John West ’74 the morality of his actions.

He described suicide as “the ultimate human right, because life is the primary human right […] and death is a part of life,” though he made sure to add that assisted suicide “can’t be done rashly.”

“I don’t ever want to have to do this again,” he said.

West’s thesis is that if physician assisted suicide is made legal and “good regulations” and “medical safeguards” are put in place, suicide can be a force for good that lets people die with dignity and avoid incredible pain.

He claimed that people have “an innate right to death,” and he said that slow painful deaths are “torture.”

“Who wants your mother to be required by law to be tortured to death?” he said.

After he finished speaking, he answered student questions.

He requested that students discuss assisted suicide with their parents and grandparents over winter break and said he will return to Wheelock’s ethics class in January.

“

who wants your mother to be required by law to be tortured to death?”

Publications honored at NSPA convention

By Vivien Mao

Both The Chronicle and The Spectrum won the top prize in high school journalism for last year’s volumes.

At the awards ceremony Nov. 13, the Spectrum won its first Pacemaker, and the Chronicle won its fifth, and second in two years.

The Pacemaker is presented by the National Scholastic Press Association to the top high school and middle school newspapers.

The Chronicle won third place Best in Show for the print edition and first place for Chronicle Online.

Big Red won ninth place in Best in Show for a Special Edition of a newspaper.

The Spectrum won second place in Best in Show, and Vox Populi won eighth place in Best in show.

The Ryan White Excellence in Journalism Awards, given by the Journalism Education Association to individ-

uals who have written wellresearched health features in order to inform others of health problems and dangers, were presented to three Chronicle alumnae Anna Etra ’10, Michelle Nostratian ’10, and Allegra Tepper ’10.

Sophia Penske ’13 and Sam Gasmer ’13 also won a Design of the Year award for a design for the middle school literary magazine, Tenth Muse.

Many students participated in write-offs. Alex Leichenger ’11 was awarded Excellent for Sports Writing, Alice Phillips ’11 was awarded Excellent for News Editing and Headline Writing, and Alex Ravan ’13 was awarded Excellent for Computer Design.

Twenty members of the Chronicle and Vox staffs attended the awards and workshops at the National Scholastic Press Association/ Journalism Education Association fall convention in Kansas City.

A6 News

inbrief Alum, author becomes President of ABC News In an announcement on Dec. 3, ABC named Ben Sherwood ’81, a former executive producer of “Good Morning America,” to lead ABC News. Sherwood will succeed David Westin, who said in September that he would step down as the division’s president.

While at “Good Morning America,” Sherwood oversaw the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 presidential election. Sherwood is the author of several books, including “The Survivors Club,” a New York Times bestseller. An adaptation of his 2004 novel, “The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud,” was released in theaters last summer, starring Zac Efron.

—Daniel Rothberg

Senior wins national Cum Laude essay contest Jake Sonnenberg ’11 won first place for his region in the Cum Laude essay writing contest. Any Cum Laude member school may submit one entry. Sonnenberg’s essay was submitted by his 11th grade history teacher, Drew Maddock. His essay was about the birth of imperialism under presidents James K. Polk and John Tyler. Sonnenberg was presented by President Tom Hudnut with a check for $500. Hudnut only recalls one other Harvard-Westlake student winning the contest in the past.

—Kelly Ohriner

Sign-ups for Mammoth Ski Trip open until Friday The Mammoth Ski Trip signups are open until Friday. Any student can sign up by downloading the forms online by going to the Mammoth Ski Trip page under the Groups and Clubs sections at students.hw.com. Students can turn in completed forms to the bookstore.

The trip is four nights long and students will have to ski or snowboard. The trip is from Jan. 21 to Jan. 25. Students will leave after semester exams on Friday and will not miss any classes.

—Meagan Wang

Seventh graders elect class senators for 2010-11 year Seventh graders elected their class senators to office on Nov. 9.

Nine girls and 13 boys ran in the election. The elected senators are Jonas Hirshland ’16, Shelby Weiss ’16, Alec Winshel ’16 and Nina Woythaler ’16.

The senators took their oath of office with Vice President John Amato on Nov. 15 at a middle school assembly.

—Lara Sokoloff

Junior places in national chess tournament Cheston Gunawan ’12 took 11th place out of 100 11th grade participants in the 2010 National Championships for Chess at the Disney Coronado Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Gunawan lost in the last round after being ranked as the fourth seed going into the seven round tournament, which took place from Dec. 10 to Dec. 12. In the final match, he felt that he lost his edge.

“Normally, I do really well in these kinds of tournaments so I was disappointed,” Gunawan said.

—Michael Aronson

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

Latin students win awards at regional JCL convention

By Keane Muraoka-Robertson Twenty-four members of the Junior Classical League won prizes at the Southern California Regional Amici Madness Convention on Nov. 20. Latin students took part in various academic and athletic competitions.

The Junior Classical League club is run by Latin teachers Derek Wilairat and Moss Pike. SCRAM is a regional convention held every fall hosted for the Junior Classical League.

Harvard-Westlake has been participating in this event for over five years, Wilairat said. In order to participate in SCRAM, students had to take a minimum of two tests.

“I took the academic tests, but it’s really casual.,” Theo Davis ’13 said. “You don’t have to do well. You don’t have to study. You just have to take them. It all sounds really hard but it’s not.”

In addition to tests, there are also competitions which “are mainly for fun.”

“There are academic competitions, so we have tests on various things related to Latin class like Roman history, mythology, and Latin grammar,” Wilairat said. “We also have Certamen, which is a trivia team trivia competition, which is a very popular event. There are also oratory competitions, speaking competitions and athletic competitions as well, like track events, basketball events and dodge ball.”

Middle school and upper school students met at the Upper School early in the morning to take a bus to University High School in Irvine, where the convention was held.

“I watched this —Matt Lee ’11 called “Roman President of JCL thing Rant,” where basically

“

When I walk around campus I feel like Aeneas leading Trojans to Italy.”

Photo by Moss Pike

mythology madness: Students play Certamen, a trivia game testing students’ knowledge of the Classics, at the convention. The team came in second place in the event. you get up and just rant about anything for about two minutes and it’s really funny,” Davis said.

Among the awards won by Harvard-Westlake students were second place in dramatic interpretation, first place in the Roman Rant, second place in Latin grammar, second place in Certamen and third place in advanced high school history.

“The convention opened my eyes to a new level of Latin nerddom,” Matt Lee ’11, president of the JCL club, said.

“When I came back I had to resist speaking in perfect dactylic pentameter. It inspired me to be a modern day Virgil.

Sometime when I walk around campus I feel like Aeneas leading Trojans to Italy to create their new home in Rome” Wilairat said the event was a success.

“It rained so we made the best of it, and it was still fun,” Wilairat said.

UCLA blood drive lowers required donor age to 16

By David Lim The annual University of California, Los Angleles Blood Drive allowed 16 year olds to donate their blood for the first time this year.

More than 70 students and teachers showed up from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Chalmers student lounge on Nov. 12 and gave blood for this year’s first school blood drive.

The drive was organized by the student-run Blood Drive Committee, Executive Assistant to the President Ann-Marie Whitman, and the HarvardWestlake Parents’ Association.

UCLA previously restricted donations to only those 17 and older but its new policy this year allowed 16-year-olds to donate as long as they had a signed parental permission form.

Blood Drive Committee Co-Chair Austin Lewis ’11 said there was a stronger showing at this year’s drive blood drive than last years drive due to the more lenient requirements.

The process of giving blood took about one period for most donors. After filling out a basic information form, all potential donors underwent a private screening that involved a quick blood test for iron levels and a comprehensive questionnaire.

Blood doners were “deferred” if the questionnaire revealed that the potential donor traveled internationally to certain regions, was currently taking medications, had a piercing within the last six months or based on their sexual history.

The blood donation itself took about 15 minutes for the standard pint of blood to be collected.

Donors usually stayed for another 15 minutes after their donation to recover or in the case of an adverse reaction.

The athletic department barred all in-season student athletes from donating blood, since most blood drives do not allow donations after heavy physical activity for at least 24 hours.

“Each pint saves three lives,” said

saj sri-kumar/chronicle

donation nation: Eli Wininger ’11 prepares to donate. About 72 people donated to the blood drive, which can help over 200 people.

Whitman, who has helped run the two annual on-campus blood drives for 12 years. “So if you think about it, we had 72 successful donors, multiply that, and that’s over 200 people touched by our service of donating blood and I think that’s a pretty strong statement.”

SAAC, Fanatics film fan behavior video in Taper

By Austin Block The Student Athletic Advisory Council, in conjunction with the Fanatics, filmed a video to encourage fan attendance and promote good fan behavior at break in Taper Gymnasium on Monday, Dec. 6.

The Fanatics created a Facebook event asking students to come to the gym wearing Fanatics T-shirts. A SAAC member also requested on the event page that 10 to 15 students wear blue shirts to play the role of rival Loyola fans in the video. SAAC member Tiana Woolridge ’11 said the film shoot went well.

“We had not as many people as we expected, but we were still able to simulate different scenarios,” she said

They simulated several different scenes from a basketball game with basketball players Jordan Butler ’11, Damiene Cain ’11, Danilo Dragovic ’11, and Zena Edosomwan ’10. Othnathanson ’s/chronicle er students played Tiana the roles of both Woolridge ’11 H a r v a r d -We s t l a ke fans and fans of an imaginary opposing team. The scenes were intended primarily to show the “importance of a fan presence,” which Woolridge said is missing at many Harvard-Westlake sports games, but she said that the video also promotes good fan behavior.

Woolridge and Matt Ward ’11, who filmed the video, will edit the footage. If the footage they shot isn’t enough, they may also film segments with members of the water polo and soccer teams.

“We originally wanted to have it before winter break but there aren’t any more big class meetings before then, so we’re just going to show it in January when we get back to school,” Woolridge said.

They are determined to show the video before the boys’ basketball games in January. Fan turnout and rowdiness is generally high at these games, especially at the games against league rival Loyola.

“We really just want to get fan support, fan presence, and have [fans] cheer on our team,” Woolridge said.

Dec. 15, 2010

News A7

The

Chronicle

inbrief

Alternative energy expert lectures at Middle School

A Solar Reserve speaker taught middle school students about the energy that is used in people’s homes and how that energy is generated.

About half of the eighth grade heard Andrew Wang speak on Thursday Nov. 4.

Wang’s main focus was alternative forms of energy. He spoke about solar power, wind power, nuclear power and geothermal power. Wang described the physics behind various types of alternative energies.

—Wendy Chen

‘Harry Potter’ screening raises $75,000 for school Photos by Alice Phillips

Shattered: Thieves broke into a student’s car parked on Coldwater and stole the car stereo on Nov. 10, one of five incidents that day. The student wrote a note (top right) requesting that nobody steal anything else during the remainder of the school day.

Thieves break into student cars

By Austin Block

Burglars broke into five student vehicles parked on Coldwater Canyon Avenue just outside the Upper School during the school day on Nov. 10. Security Officer Mark Geiger said the five break-ins were the most he recollects ever occurring in one day on Coldwater.

Geiger said a purse, an iPod and one other electronic device were stolen. A dashboard was also ripped out. Nothing was taken from one of the five cars.

He said the incident prompted the school to temporarily post a security guard on Coldwater for short periods of time.

However, posting a permanent guard on the street would be impractical, and though Security checks on student cars when they go out to Coldwater to complete other tasks, they don’t post a guard on the street.

Geiger added that there has been some talk of installing security cameras on Coldwater, but no action has been taken.

The winding street would force the school to install several cameras to cover the entire length of Coldwater. He suspects the crimes were all committed by the same group of people and has not yet heard any report saying that the culprits have been caught.

“I was in seventh period physics and [Attendance Coordinator Gabe] Preciado came in and I guess told my teacher

what was going on, and then he took me outside and told me that my car was broken into and he told me to get my stuff, so I got my stuff and went outside to Coldwater and Mark [Geiger] was there waiting for me,” Nadia Dubovitsky ’12, whose car was broken into, said. “[Geiger] just asked me if anything was stolen and nothing was stolen thank god because I didn’t have any valuables in the car…the window was smashed. I think they tried to take the stereo out but they failed to do so, so it just kind of screwed up the dashboard.”

Detective Tim Shaw of the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood division said only one of the five crimes was reported. A navigation and radio system was removed from the car and the window was smashed. He said that the area around school is generally fairly quiet and added that the biggest problem in the area is theft of valuables left out in vehicles.

Shaw said no suspects were seen and said that though there have been arrests in recent weeks for GPS system theft, none of those criminals have been connected with this particular report.

He said people who commit these kinds of crimes are often drug addicts who quickly sell what they steal to fund drug habits.

Geiger advised students to make sure their cars are locked and to avoid leaving valuables out in plain sight.

Board approves tuition, salaries for next year

By Rebecca Nussbaum The Board of Trustees endorsed the Business Office’s suggestions for the 2011-2012 school year’s tuition and salary budget at the Dec. 6 Board of Trustees meeting, Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin said.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Christine Hazy (Steven ’00, Charissa ’03, Trenton ’05, Courtney ’11) will send a letter to parents in early February announcing the tuition for the 2011-2012 school year, Levin said.

The 16 members of the finance committee of the Board of Trustees voted from among seven choices for tuition, and Levin said that their decisions were on the whole consistent with the Business Office’s recommendations. The full Board of Trustees approved them later that day.

“Our decision for next year was relatively routine,” he said.

He emphasized the Business Office’s insistence on keeping a steady percent change in tuition and preventing huge jumps from year to year.

“We were able to propose a good tuition increase and propose it in a breakeven environment,” he said.

Levin thinks that tuition will continue to increase at the rate of inflation plus three to five percent because of the school’s low student to faculty ratio of 8:1.

“We’re not going to double the size of our teams or halve the number of coaches,” Levin said.

He said that if the board were to lower tuition, nothing good would be ac-

$20,331 $22,796

$29,200 $24,799 $26,117

$27,043

A screening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on Nov. 16 raised more than $75,000 to benefit the financial aid endowment, Chief Advancement Officer Ed Hu said.

Five hundred people, including students, families and faculty, attended the event at Warner Bros.

Studios. The school has hosted “Harry Potter” screenings a week before the release of each film in theaters since 2005, when “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was released.

—Allison Hamburger

Vox requires students to preorder yearbook For the first time, yearbooks were preordered this year in an effort to stay green and reduce costs.

Yearbook Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Etra ’11 worked with Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin and yearbook adviser Jen Bladen to make the change.

Eliminating extra orders will save paper and lower the yearbooks’ cost by about $6 from last year and about $12 from what this year’s price would have been, since students won’t have to pay to cover the costs of extra books, Bladen said.

—Carrie Davidson and Ana Scuric

Junior organizes Mexican bake sale for charity Alejandra Reynoso ’12, in conjuction with the school’s Together With the Children Chapter, held a bake sale Nov. 18 to raise funds to help renovate a children’s day center in Puebla, Mexico.

The bake sale had an authentic Mexican theme and sold traditional sweets and other desserts provided by student volunteers.

Together With the Children, with branches in both Mexico and Ecuador, is a non-profit organization aimed at aiding youth. Its mission is to reach out to children who live on the streets and provide them and their families with opportunities to better their lifestyles.

—Megan Kawasaki

Science Bowl captain selects 10 team members Source: Rob Levin Graphic by Saj SRi-Kumar

rISING cOSTS: The graph shows the percent change in school tuition each year, adjusted for inflation. The school hopes to hold future increases at three to five percent. complished.

“The only thing that really matters is are we worth it [or] is [Harvard-Westlake] a good experience?” Levin said.

The Business Office sent its 35-page budget proposal to the members of the finance committee in mid-November to ensure that the members were familiar with the material before the meeting took place.

Levin showed the board a retrospective and prospective slideshow, review-

ing tuition trends from the past 25 years and projecting those same trends over the next 25 years, he said.

They also reviewed the trends of teachers’ salaries and concluded that they were consistent and keeping up with inflation, Levin said.

Levin compared the school’s tuition and salaries to those of neighboring schools. Both were similar to those of local private schools like The Buckley School and Campbell Hall.

Jeffrey Sperling ’11, captain of the Science Bowl team, announced Friday which students will compete in the regional competition on Feb. 5. Harvard-Westlake will be represented by two five-member teams.

The A team members are Sperling, Colin Campbell ’12, Justin Ho ’12, David Lim ’13 and Saj Sri-Kumar ’12. The B team members are Hank Adelmann ’11, Jeffrey Bu ’12, Jack Petok ’11, Rhett Gentile ’13 and Brian Jun ’13.

This year, the Science Bowl team hopes to improve on its fourth place finish in last year’s regional competition, Sperling said.

—Micah Sperling

Dec. 15, 2010

Chronicle

The

A8 News

Senior protests animal cruelty on Black Friday

By Daniel Rothberg

For Ellie Diamant ’11, Black Friday was not about shopping this year. While she still visited stores in Beverly Hills, including Barneys, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, it was certainly not for the blowout sales.

Instead, Diamant joined about 80 anti-fur demonstrators to protest animal cruelty within the fur industry.

“I’m quite a big animal rights activist and I think the cruelty toward animals on fur farms is just overwhelming and completely wrong,” Diamant, a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said. “A good day to protest…is Black Friday, when everybody is actually shopping.”

Participants at the annual “Fur Free Friday Demonstration and March,” which was organized by four different animal rights organizations, screamed several chants, including “there is no excuse for animal abuse” and “fur trade, death trade,” Diamant said.

“We basically went around Beverly Hills…standing out [in front of stores] for a while with our signs, screaming and giving leaflets to people that were there.”

This was nothing new for Diamant, who has now been to a total of three animal rights demonstrations.

The other two protests were at the Beverly Center and in Hollywood, targeted seal clubbing and exotic skins.

“I guess I’ve always felt a great connection to animals,” Diamant said.

Diamant, who is now a vegan, said her interest in animal rights increased at about the same time she choose to adopt a vegetarian diet about five years ago.

“Ever since [becoming a vegetarian], I’ve been getting more involved, and I guess the turning point… was probably when I went vegan,” she said. “I learned

printed with permission of Peter Chao

animal activist: Ellie Diamant ’11 (at right) leads the crowd at the “Fur Free Friday Demonstration and March” in Beverly Hills on Black Friday. Animal rights groups organized the protest. a lot about everything going on in terms of animal use.”

During the Black Friday protest, Diamant said that the demonstrators faced some negative reactions from both stores and shoppers.

“Neiman Marcus locked their doors while we were out there,” she said. “That was really awesome. Some people that actually had fur on were [also] a bit angry.”

Despite these responses, Diamant thought that, in general, the protest was met with positive reactions. “[People] felt bad… when they looked at the pictures we were holding up and the information we were giving them,” she said.

Demonstrators held posters that featured brutally slaughtered animals and slogans such as “your fur had a face” and “violent fashion for the cruel of heart.”

In addition to protesting, Diamant is highly involved in spreading information about different animal awareness campaigns. She sends messages to politicians, companies and friends to spread awareness for her cause.

“Trying to get people informed about what is going on is the biggest thing I’ve done,” she said. “Most people would say that what goes on is wrong. The problem is that people aren’t well informed about how cruel everything gets.”

Risks to pedestrians spark sidewalk construction from sidewalk, A1

Wolverines Eat Pizza From Mama’s and Papa’s !!!

One issue addressed in Phillips’ column that will not be fixed during winter break is the pedestrian traffic in the right-hand turn lane of the south driveway where students exit the school.

“It will take me a little more time to develop [a fix to] this due to many different factors,” De Matté said.

The group that met with Phillips on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the safety issues included De Matté, Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra, Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin and Director of Personnel and Risk Management Marty Greco.

“We approved it right in front of her when we ended our walk. With anything that relates to a safety issue, we don’t wait,” De Matté said. “We don’t wait until someone gets killed in an intersection before we fix the light.”

Salamandra said that before reading the column, he had received no feedback about lot safety from students.

Phillips first thought about pedestrian safety in the parking lot last year when she parked in St. Michael’s, she said.

“Because my parking space in the senior lot is in the lane that everyone walks through to get to the junior lot, I noticed the problem much more acutely at the beginning of my senior year,” she said.

Salamandra said that he encourages students to give the administration feedback so that they can make improvements on campus.

“Sometimes, I think students think they don’t have the power to make changes,” Salamandra said. “That’s crazy. I say to the kids in my class all the time, ‘I need to know what you’re

“

We don’t wait until someone gets killed in an intersection before we fix the light.”

—JD De Matté Head of Campus Operations and Construction

thinking because we can tweak things.’”

“I’m glad that our administration is so responsive to student concerns,” Phillips said.

There are two sources of funding nathanson ’s/chronicle that De Matté could Rob Levin, potentially utilize Chief for this project, Financial he said. One is a Officer line item in the operating budget for risk mitigation.

The other is a general “renewal and replacement” reserve, Levin said.

Levin said that within reason, money is not a consideration when nathanson ’s/chronicle safety is involved.

Alice Phillips ’11 “Students first, money last,” Levin said. “We don’t want dollars and cents to guide safety related decisions.”

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

News A9

Coffee House features student music, talents

By Chloe Lister From pop songs played on melodicas to poetry, students at the first Coffee House event of this year on Nov. 22 were exposed to the varied artistic talents of classmates.

Blended drinks, baked goods and gummy snacks adorned the tables where students sat to watch their classmates.

People cycled in and out throughout the afternoon, although around 30 people were in the room for the entirety of the event.

“I thought it was a really fun way to spend my free time before Peer Support,” Amanda Allen ’12 said. “I liked getting to see my friends perform, as well as people who I didn’t know were so talented.”

Some performers were Hank Adelman ’11, Alex Scharch ’11, Jake Chapman ’12, Noah Weinman ’12, Chris Freedman ’12, Gil Young ’13 and Daniel Sunshine ’13, who played a rendition of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” on a keyboard, guitar, tenor saxophone and two melodicas.

“A melodica is basically a piano you blow into,” Chapman said, who came up with the idea and decided on the song with Adelman. “We wanted a bubbly pop song that was still relevant, and I think people enjoyed it.”

Riley Pietsch ’11 played a piano cover of “I Gave You All” by the band Mumford and Sons, a band that he wanted to expose more people to, he said.

“My friend who has heard me sing wanted me to perform, and also I just enjoy singing,” Pietsch said.

Organized by the Prefect Council, this Coffee House was the fourth ever, occurring between the end of the school day and the beginning of Peer Support. The other three events were put on last year, led by prefects Brooke Levin ’12 and Chris Holthouse ’11.

This year, Levin and Holthouse were assisted by Sam Wolk ’13. However, all of the Prefect Council was involved in the project.

Holthouse said that he felt the event was successful as a whole, and said that in the future the Prefect Council is going to try to incorporate more faculty talent. “[Ryan] Wilson from the dean coordinators’ office has been our faculty rock,” Holthouse said.

“He’s amazing, and I think kids really like it when their teachers come out.”

Wilson performed at two of the three Coffee Houses last year in addition to this past one, Holthouse said.

photos by chloe lister

In sync: Charlie Troy ’12 plays the guitar and sings, left. Noah Weinman ’12, Chris Freedman ’12, Hank Adelman ’11, Jake Chapman ’12 and Alex Scharch ’11 perform Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” right and top.

Movie trailer editor gives pointers to video classes

By Chelsea Khakshouri

michael rothberg/chronicle

Handy crafts: Visual Arts teacher Art Tobias sold a mold of his hand. Science teacher Wendy Van Norden and art teacher Dylan Palmer also sold pieces.

Teachers sell pottery, soaps at faculty lounge crafts sale

By Michael Rothberg A faculty arts and crafts sale featuring art by art teacher Dylan Palmer and Art Tobias and handmade soaps by science teacher Wendy Van Norden was held on Dec. 10 in the faculty lounge Tobias, who organized the event, uses the art room’s potter’s wheels to create multitudes of clay pieces when he is not teaching.

He sells much of his art at private sales but decided to sell some of his pieces this year to the faculty and staff at the sale. Tobias featured many of his recent pieces, including a mold of his hand along with several mugs, bowls and pitchers.

“I like to make things for people to use,” Tobias said. “I am re-inspired by people’s enthusiasm for my pieces.”

Rather than having to manage the purchases, Tobias placed a pot with a sign instructing people to pay for the items they buy. Tobias said he trusted people to abide by the honor code and pay the respective prices for the pieces.

“Of course the honor system of payment worked. I can’t imagine for a moment that anyone on the faculty would take advantage of such a system,” Van Norden said.

“We all sold a lot of our pieces,” Tobias said. “Ms. Van Norden’s soaps sold out almost immediately. The event went really well.”

Trailer editor Josh Stallings, who has worked on trailers for movies including “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Harry Potter,” spoke to Video Art I, Video Art II and Video Art III students on Dec. 2 about the process of editing a movie into a trailer.

“First, I sit and watch the movie, then I break it down,” Stallings said.

Stalling shrinks down the footage of the movie to his favorite 20 to 30 minutes of footage and then repeats the process.

“Everything I love is in that time line,” Stallings said.

The next step is to break down that footage into themes like romantic scenes, explosions, and laughs. This will give the editor a way of knowing where something is.

Xochi Maberry-Gaulke ’12 and Marka Maberry-Gaulke ’12, who are family friends of Stallings, asked him to visit Video Art II. Students in the class had just done a project that included editing their own trailer to the movie “Garden State” after having watched it in class. Stallings had coincidentally done a teaser for “Garden State” himself, which he showed to the classes after critiquing the student-made trailers.

Stallings gave students tips for their trailers including advising that

they use a “button,” something that happens after the title and credit block are shown.

He also told students that painful moments like hospital scenes are generally better left out of chelsea trailers. khakshouri/ chronicle Stallings stressed Josh Stallings the importance of music in a trailer. He had students close their eyes and listen to his trailer for the movie “Crash” before actually watching it. He asked the students to discuss the emotions the music provoked and how the music changed throughout the trailer.

Stallings said that there is “something about understanding the rhythm of how every movie works” and that once one figures it out, the next step is to “get inside it.” He told students that for the trailer of “World Trade Center,” a song by Coldplay was bought for half a million dollars just to get the youth to see it.

Stallings works with a crew that includes a music supervisor, a graphic department and assistants.

“I’m so deep into it I can’t see the bigger picture,” Stallings said.

That is when the director comes in and makes suggestions and revisions.

A10 News

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

Campus on Crutches

Sophomore suffers breaks in both legs in 24 hours

By Allana Rivera

eli haims/chronicle

driving crippled: Jack Petok ’11, who broke his leg in two places, gets into his car which is parked in the handicap spot in front of Taper Gymnasium. He drives to his art history class in Feldman-Horn.

Navigating Upper School with fractured bones

By Lara Sokoloff

On a campus built essentially vertically, getting from class to class in a wheelchair or on crutches can be quite inconvenient. Students are forced to find alternative routes around school that they didn’t even know existed, often making them up to 10 minutes late to class.

Jack Petok ’11 planned to attend the Community Council trip to the Giving Center in Santa Clarita on Nov. 27. However, on the morning of the event, he overslept. A friend said they would hold the bus for him, so he quickly dressed and hurried to school.

“I got there totally frazzled, no coffee in my system, and I had forgotten to grab a sweater, even though it was freezing cold and supposed to rain,” he said.

Once they arrived at the site, they were assigned to start pulling weeds out of the side of a hill, Petok said. As he was talking to a friend while climbing up the hill, he stepped awkwardly on his left foot.

“There was a big pop, but I didn’t fall or anything,” he said. “It just really hurt.”

After science teacher and trip chaperone Dietrich Schuhl tried to move Petok’s foot, and found he couldn’t without hurting Petok, Schuhl called an ambulance. Petok was taken to the local hospital, even though he was convinced it “wasn’t really a big deal.”

The X-rays that were taken showed that Petok had fractured his leg at his tibia and tibula, and his leg was dislocated. He was immediately transferred to a hospital closer to his home for surgery, which was performed that evening. Petok is in a hard cast until Dec. 30 and will wear a boot cast for six weeks after that.

eli haims/chronicle

wheelchair bound: Two wheelchairs sit outside the Munger Science Center. At least four students have had to use wheelchairs this year.

“

There was no pop. i just thought it was a really bad sprained ankle.

—Shawn Ma ’11 nathanson ’s/chronicle

Petok’s fifth and sixth period classes pose an incredible dilemma for him: He must get from Chamber Singers on the bottom floor of Chalmers to AP Art History in Feldman-Horn. On his first day at school in a wheelchair, his dean, Jon Wimbish, met him 10 minutes before Chamber Singers’ dismissal and rolled his wheelchair into an elevator, through the cafeteria, through the quad, into the Munger elevator and finally up the driveway behind the library to get to class. He ended up being 10 minutes late to class.

Petok has now arranged with his dean to be picked up at the loading dock outside Chalmers five minutes before the period ends and have Wimbish drive him up to Feldman Horn. He has arrived at class in a relatively timely manner since he and his dean started this system, he said.

Ben Gail ’13 fractured the growth plates in both his legs two weeks ago in separate incidents less than 24 hours apart. After two weeks in a wheelchair, Gail is now able to walk around in his casted ankles.

Despite the inconveniences his wheelchair provided, he managed to find some positives in the experience. Wheelchair races downhill, in addition to “poppin’ wheelies” around campus have kept Gail entertained. He has also strengthened his upper body as a result of the wheelchair, he said.

“You should see me,” he said. “I’m ripped!”

Danielle Salka ’11, who tore her ACL for the second time playing volleyball, has experience maneuvering the seemingly vertical campus injured, since she tore her ACL for the first time playing volleyball during her sophomore year. She now maneuvers around campus in a motorized wheelchair.

Shawn Ma ’11 dislocated his ankle and fractured his fibula playing basketball three weeks ago during a scrimmage against Valencia High School, he said.

“There was no pop,” he said. “I just thought it was a really bad sprained ankle until I went to tie my shoe a little tighter and I felt my ankle bone jutting out.”

An ambulance took Ma to a Valencia hospital where his ankle was set. He was transferred to UCLA Medical Center the following day where his ankle was set again and x-rays were taken. The x-rays revealed that his fibula was completely fractured, he said. The following week, a metal plate was surgically screwed to Ma’s fibula and tibula.

The general layout of the school provides a massive obstacle for all injured students.

“In terms of the actual physical structure of the campus, it’s just terrible, and I think they know that too,” Petok said. “It’s just a pain in the neck to get

“It all started on a Wednesday,” Ben Gail ’13 said dramatically, as he began to tell the story of how he not only broke one, but both, of his ankles in just over 24 hours.

He explained that it all started with his being late for English. He had started to run and was building up speed by the time he got to his classroom. However, before he could fully make it into the classroom, something went wrong.

Gail was rounding the corner into the classroom when he put his left foot down to stop himself and he heard a resounding “crunch.”

Gail had such momentum that his body continued to fall and was then stopped abruptly by the door jam. He knew that his foot had landed awkwardly, landing on its outermost side instead of flat on the ground and that all of his weight had been put on that foot because of the door jam, but he did not believe anything was seriously wrong, just that he had suffered a slightly embarassing fall outside of his English class.

“The class was laughing hysterically,” Gail recalled.

His teacher urged him to go to the trainers’ office despite his doubts of any serious injury.

The trainer, who examined his ankle, did not know exactly what was wrong, and suggested he get an x-ray. In the meantime, Gail was given crutches in order to get through the rest of the day.

Everything should have been fine, except that the crutches proved to be more of an obstacle than he thought.

Gail soon realized how difficult it was to use crutches in a school that seemed to be built vertically. He decided that the next morning he would see the trainer about getting a wheelchair for the remainder of his injury. Coming out of the parking lot, Gail made his way toward and then down the ramp leading from the back of Taper to the trainer’s office only a short distance away.

Gail was going slowly, making sure that because of the slope, handled his crutches with extra care. His caution, however, did not prove to be enough, as one of his crutches slid out from under him and he found himself landing on his opposite side in the exact same way as he had the day before. The only difference was that instead of a door jam, Gail himself put all his weight on his right foot as he tried to avoid falling forward.

As Gail fell, he remembers thinking “Man, I really hope I didn’t mess up my other ankle.”

“I managed to limp painfully to the trainers’ office only to find that they don’t have wheelchairs,” Gail said.

For a wheelchair, Gail must consult his own doctor. They were, however, able to send Gail home due to the amount of pain he was in.

Gail visited a doctor and not only received a wheelchair, but a cast for his two broken ankles.

Gail said the fracture of his growth plates were relatively mior and he is already walking on his casts. eli haims/chronicle

around.”

Despite the school’s efforts, the unreliability of the Munger elevator proves to be the largest inconvenience for most students. Petok was stranded after finding it broken last Tuesday, Gail found it broken three mornings in a row and Salka begins her day by checking to ensure that it is working so she can plan her day accordingly, she said.

All areas of campus are accessible by elevator except for the third floor of Seaver, which proves to be an issue for many injured students.

Petok, Gail and Salka agreed that the implementation of an elevator there would seriously benefit students trying to maneuver the campus in a wheelchair.

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

Walking distance

News A11

Hudnut’s office

For some upper school faculty members, a commute to work is as simple as walking down the hill from their houses on Hacienda Drive, just east of the campus. Faculty members rent the houses from the school.

Anguiano’s house

By Jordan Freisleben French teacher and Head of Financial Aid Geoffrey Bird arguably has the best commute to work every day. He and his wife, Upper School Dean Mike Bird, are two of the several administrators and employees who live in school-owned residences on the east side of the Upper School.

The seven residences are on Hacienda Drive, which starts just north of the junior lot and continues up the hill east of the upper school campus.

After the school took control of the street from the city, it was marked for parking spaces for faculty.

The Birds came to Harvard-Westlake shortly after head of campus operations Jim DeMatté started buying the residences for the school in 2000.

“When we were hired, I was a little panicked coming into a brand new situation,” Geoffrey Bird said. “We’d been away from California, so this was a totally new thing for us. I e-mailed the school and asked them any ideas of where I could be looking for housing in the area, just to get started.”

Geoffrey Bird said that his wife’s job to allowing them to get the house. DeMatté said that he, President Tom Hudnut and Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin took the renters’ job titles into account before renting the homes.

“If you expect somebody to be there – all of those people, they don’t get overtime,” DeMatté said. “Being on call 24-hours, it’s hard if you’re 20, 30 miles away.

It’s better to be close and it’s very cost-effective for Harvard-Westlake to have administrators and other people like that literally feet away from campus.”

Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas has lived in

N

Photos by Eli Haims Graphic by Hank Gerba

A Short Commute: Seven houses, all owned by the school, are used by faculty members and their families. President Thomas C. Hudnut uses the house highlighted at left as an office, and Upper School Plant Manager Felipe Anguiano lives in the house highlighted at right. The houses are on Hacienda Drive, a school-owned street. one of the school-owned homes for seven years.

“The nature of sports is that there’s a game almost every night and my first year here, I lived on the other side of the hill,” he said. “Every night was like ‘Do I drive home, spend 20 minutes with the kids and then come back?’ It would be virtually impossible for me to do my job the way I do it without living within the proximity.”

In addition to Barzdukas and the Birds, other homes are rented by Upper School Plant Manager Felipe Anguiano, theater teacher Chris Moore, Middle School Plant Manager Dave Mintz and chaplain Father J. Young. The residence that is closest to the center of the campus has been converted into an office for Hudnut.

It took DeMatté apporoximately five years to acquire all of the houses on Hacienda after he started acquiring them in 2000.

“We just bought the land because we figured it’s best to be your own neighbor,” he said. “If you don’t have neighbors by the school, you get less grief,

School seeks another 6-year accreditation from WASC/CAIS from WASC, A3 going to go to other schools rather than us because the other schools are cheaper,” Levin said. “The problem is they’re not going to be able to afford independent schools in general.”

Some steps taken in the report to mitigate these issues include expanding Annual Giving, the endowment and the summer school program.

Levin said that the school had to consider an important question: “How do we rethink what a 21st century education means without compromising what makes HarvardWestlake, Harvard-Westlake?”

“The school has acknowledged reaching an era of limits,” the report said. “Rather than expand offerings we have insisted that courses and programs be added only as fast as others get sunsetted. Operational savings have been identified wherever possible, and cost growth has slowed.”

The school has also committed in the action plan to “increase engagement with the broader community.” Some steps to achieve this goal include adopting a sister school for community service, increasing awareness for the Summer Enrichment Program and continuing involvement with worldwide educational organizations.

“Any of these things where there can be a collaboration of individuals is pretty exciting because I think that is really the way the world operates in this age,” Salamandra said. “Not to be in isolation is a good thing.”

Five initiatives in the action plan were conceived by students, faculty and staff who submitted their ideas to the Corsello contest, named after the teacher. The contest, which received over 100 entries, encouraged members of the community to offer ideas targeted at improving the five areas in the action plan. The seven winners received $100, a Corsello T-shirt and a WASC decoder

ring.

In addition to the self-study, the accreditation process requires a report from a visiting committee of educators from other schools. The committee is scheduled to visit Harvard-Westlake in mid-February and will be chaired by Benjamin Williams, Headmaster of the Cate School in Northern California.

Members of that committee are selected by WASC/CAIS and will receive a copy of the self-study prior to visiting Harvard-Westlake.

“They are going to visit classes, meet with the various committees that wrote the different chapters and they are going to write a report,” Corsello said. “In [the report], they will make recommendations, probably based on our action plan.”

The committee will read the report aloud at the middle school on the last day of their visit, Salamandra said.

“It’s nice to bring in an outside group of people, because they see things in a new light,” Salamandra said.

Evans and Salamandra both noted differences in the process of creating the accreditation report this year.

“There was really an emphasis to try to streamline the process,” Salamandra said.

“In previous WASC [reports] it has been more of a huge compilation of routine data,” Evans said. “This time it was more reflecting on strengths, goals and testing procedures.”

If Harvard-Westlake is granted a six-year accreditation, the school will be required to submit a mid-report in three years. In the past 30 years, Salamandra believes the school has always received a six-year accreditation.

Though the ideas in the action plan are not binding, Salamandra believes it is in the school’s best interest to implement the programs.

“All five of these ideas are things that I think will help the community,” he said.

honestly. It was cheap to buy property at that point— property gets more and more expensive on average.

It was time to purchase them all, so we did.”

After the school owned all of the houses on the street, it took possession of the street in 2007.

“We own houses on both sides of a street that ends in a cul-de-sac, so you can petition to vacate the land,” DeMatté said. “It took me about two years to do with the city and [then] we were able to get that whole street. That’s a couple million dollars for flat land there alone that we got basically for free. That was another motivation to buy all of these homes: we knew we could get the street in the long run for basically nothing.”

DeMatté said he’s not sure of what will come of the school-owned residences and the property.

“It was really purchased as a buffer and it’s land for the future," he said. "Who knows what we’ll do with it?” he said. “Maybe it’ll be a parking garage some day, maybe it’ll be a building and maybe we’ll have the houses there forever.”

the

Chronicle

3700 Coldwater Canyon, Los Angeles, CA 91604

Editors-in-Chief: Alice Phillips, Daniel Rothberg Managing Editors: Austin Block, Jordan Freisleben Executive Editor: Catherine Wang

pinion o Harvard-Westlake School Volume XX Issue V Dec. 15, 2010

Presentations Editors: Ingrid Chang, Mary Rose Fissinger Executive Sports Editor: Alex Leichenger Business and Ads Manager: David Burton Copy Editors: Jordan McSpadden, Susan Wang News Managing Editors: Matthew Lee, Emily Khaykin Section Heads: Rebecca Nussbaum, Lara Sokoloff, Sajjan Sri-Kumar Infographics: Maddy Baxter, Eli Haims Assistants: Wendy Chen, Carrie Davidson, David Lim, Keane Muraoka-Robertson, Ana Scuric, Camille Shooshani, Megan Ward Opinion Managing Editors: Noelle Lyons, Jean Park Section Heads: Chanah Haddad, Molly Harrower, Anabel Pasarow, Shana Saleh Assistants: Rachel Schwartz, Michael Sugerman Features Managing Editors: Joyce Kim, Olivia Kwitny, Sade Tavangarian Features Section Heads: Allison Hamburger, Chloe Lister Infographics: Megan Kawasaki Features Assistants: Caitie Benell, Mariel Brunman, Jamie Chang, Leslie Dinkin, Gabrielle Franchina, Michael Rothberg, Elana Zeltser Science & Health Editors: Claire Hong, Nika Madyoon Centerspread Editors: Camille de Ry, Arielle Maxner Arts & Entertainment Editors Jessica Barzilay, Justine Goode Arts & Entertainment Assistants: Maggie Bunzel, Bo Lee, Aaron Lyons Photography Assistant: Cherish Molezion Sports Managing Editors: Alec Caso, Kelly Ohriner Section Heads: David Kolin, Austin Lee, Julius Pak, Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn Assistants: Michael Aronson, Charlton Azuoma, Nicole Gould, Luke Holthouse, Daniel Kim, Robbie Loeb, Shawn Ma, Allana Rivera, Micah Sperling, Ally White Chronicle Online Managing Editor: Vivien Mao News Update Editors: Evan Brown, Hank Gerba, Sanjana Kucheria Opinion Update Editor: Victor Yoon Feature Update Editors: Julius Pak A&E Update Editors: Tiffany Liao, Meagan Wang Sports Update Editors: David Gobel, Judd Liebman Multimedia Editors: Ashley Khakshouri, Chelsea Khakshouri Blogs Editor: Abbie Neufeld Adviser: Kathleen Neumeyer The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published nine times per year. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the seniors on the Editorial Board. Letters to the editor may be submitted to chronicle@ hw.com or mailed to 3700 Coldwater Canyon, North Hollywood, CA 91604. Letters must be signed and may be edited for space and to conform to Chronicle style and format. Advertising questions may be directed to Business Manager David Burton at (626) 319-0575. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.

Bring back water bottles

JEAN PARK/CHRONICLE

A

s recommended by both the Prefect Council and the Middle School Student Council, the administration should lift the moratorium on plastic water bottles in the cafeteria. The original intent of the ban was to reduce the school’s use of plastic products.

However, it has hardly had the desired effect. Though the spirit of this policy is admirable, the initiative has ultimately proved both counterproductive and impractical.

This policy was flawed from the start. Instead of imposing a categorical ban on all beverages packaged in disposable plastic bottles, the administration chose to just eliminate water bottles.

As a result, students still have the to purchase drinks in plastic bottles at school.

Moreover, those drinks, purchased in lieu of water, are typically less healthy.

Granted, students can still find ways to drink water at school under this new policy.

One option for students is to buy a plastic or paper cup in the cafeteria and fill it at the new cafeteria water dispensers.

While that option has been the most popular under this policy, it is hardly environmentally friendly. Paper and plastic cups are arguably just as bad as the banned water bottles.

In addition, students throw away cups more often than they did with water bottles.

Students can go through multiple cups per day, while many students used to carry the same disposable water bottle from class to class all day.

The second option, which the policy encourages, is to bring a reusable bottle. This option, though better, also presents its share of problems and is rarely utilized.

What if one was to forget their reusable water bottle?

That student would then be forced to use a disposable cup or buy another type of drink, which would most likely be packaged in a plastic bottle.

The school should not abandon its green initiative, but there are more sensible ways to make the cafeteria greener.

One way the administration could make a meaningful difference in reducing our environmental footprint is to ban Styrofoam from the cafeteria. Styrofoam, unlike plastic and paper, is not recyclable.

Banning disposable plastic water bottles was a valuable trial and a commendable effort.

However now, knowing that the ban was not as effective as had been originally hoped, the school should repeal the ban and implement other policies to reduce our environmental footprint.

No longer an only child

A

fter 19 years of being an only child, Harvard-Westlake is finally going to have a sister. Her name is, as of yet, unknown. Every six years, the school completes a self-evaluation and proposes measures to improve the school community in a lengthy report to renew its accreditation.

One of the five priorities in this year’s action plan is to “increase engagement with the broader community.”

To achieve this, the school identified four courses of action, the first is to partner with a sister school “with which to build an ongoing relationship through community service” by 2012.

The other three propositions are also undeniably strong plans: to grow and promote the Middle School’s Summer Enrichment Program for public school students in the fourth and fifth grades, to combat the “perception that the school is insular” by better communicating “its commitment to improving our city and community,” and to “continue to foster and develop relationships with schools and educational organizations around the world.”

But it’s the sister school that could really make a permanent, major, and incredibly positive impact on the personal growth of students.

“A calendar of shared community service events would be created to benefit both the public or charter school and Harvard-Westlake,” the report says.

“Examples of projects might include: personnel and/ or resource sharing and exchanges, mentorship and tutoring opportunities.”

As evidenced by the vast number of students who failed to complete their community service requirements on time last year, many students have not found a community service opportunity that they find meaningful and satisfying. Even among those who do complete their community service requirements, many of those students attend only one event.

Community service might become an opportunity for emotional growth. When students return to the same school and tutor the same students, they become personally invested in the project. Students from both schools could perform community service together.

And there is so much more we could do in conjunction with our sister school. We could try short term student exchanges, interschool athletic competitions and joint trips, like the journalism trip to the National Scholastic Press Association convention or the Model United Nations trip to the University of California, Berkeley conference.

Harvard-Westlake and its sister school could collaborate to create outreach opportunities for both schools. The most effective way to combat the perception that our school is insular is to throw open the doors.

Dec. 15, 2010

Opinion A13

The

Chronicle

Don’t vote blindly Austin Block

M The simple solution to this problem is to make government a mandatory course of study.

ost of us probably agree that our government is pretty important. Like most reasonable people, we recognize that an organization that takes our money, uses it to offer public services, and makes laws that spell out exactly what we can and can’t do is worth our attention.

But if you were to look solely at the number of seniors enrolled in AP United States Government and Politics, Harvard-Westlake’s only United States government class, you might incorrectly conclude that we just don’t care about how our country is run. Of the 280 members of the senior class, only about 70 take government. My eighth period AP US Government class has a total of nine students. Now that seventh grade civics has been eliminated, it is likely that many students will go all the way through Harvard-Westlake without ever taking a government class.

For some reason, our interest in government just doesn’t translate into an interest in taking government classes.

And that’s a real problem. If we want our elected officials to fix our problems, we need to be knowledgeable enough about the system these politicians work within to pick the best candidates and propositions on the ballot.

It seems likely that many politically savvy students feel they know enough about politics to vote intelligently without taking a government class. Though it is true that Harvard-Westlake students are pretty well informed about politics, I would argue that most still don’t know enough.

News websites and political commentary, two of our main sources of political information, often skim lightly over complex, meaty issues while favoring the superficial, simple, conflict-ridden or inflammatory.

They also avoid explaining how the American political sphere actually works.

I doubt many students realize that lobbyists often help write legislation that is relevant to their clients or that they know just how many advantages an incumbent has when running for reelection.

I thought I was fairly knowledgeable

“Oh, that’s a pretty name! I’ll vote for him.”

JEAN PARK/CHRONICLE

about politics and government before this year, but one of the most important things I have learned in class this year is just how much I don’t know about government.

The simple solution to this problem is to make government a mandatory course of study at Harvard-Westlake. According to the California Department of Education website, the California Education Code requires that students at public high schools take at least one-semester of American government in order to graduate. Why shouldn’t we be held to the same standard as other California schools?

There are a few ways a one-semester government class could be squeezed into upper school students’ crammed schedules that would have a minimal impact on student workloads, class choices, and social lives.

Perhaps the best solution is to pair a fun, relaxed, one or two day per week government class with Choices and Challenges in sophomore year. Homework could be minimal. At the end of the semester, students could complete one small final project, such as a short research paper on a political issue of interest.

A one day per week, low-stress class

in junior year wouldn’t be that much of a burden either. Students who commit to taking the AP US Government class could skip out of this class.

Though the class would ideally be for seniors, many of whom can actually vote, the strains of the college process combined with the absolute intellectual freedom seniors want make this idea impractical. Though adding this class would probably require the school to hire an additional social sciences teacher, the subject is important enough to warrant this investment. The class could also merge into the new Kutler Center program, in which case the new faculty hired for the Kutler Center might be able to teach government as well.

Like any other change to the HarvardWestlake curriculum, fitting a new, mandatory government class into school life would involve resolving some potentially unpleasant logistical issues. However, it’s clear that something needs to be done.

The school can’t send its students to the voting booth and to college without a solid background in one of the most important facets of society.

Without this background, our votes won’t always reflect our own values. And if that’s the case, who knows what repercussions our votes could have?

Believe, or don’t believe Chloe Lister

D

espite the fact that my parents have been wholly committed to raising my sister and me Jewish due to the stipulations of my Holocaust survivor grandparents, my mom still clings to her Catholic origins.

She used to round up my sister and me, load us into the car, and take us to complete the ancient holiday ritual of taking a picture with “Santa” at the mall.

When I was seven, I heard some of the scandalous rumors circling the recess yard in first grade and I decided to get to the bottom of the issue.

I don’t recall the exact conversation that went on between Santa and me that day at the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, but I do remember walking away from it convinced that he was a fraud and Santa was a lie.

There wasn’t any big, spiritual epiphany when I realized that there was not in fact a jolly old man who, with a fleet of flying reindeer, delivered Christmas presents to all the children of the world; I simply ceased to believe in him and went on with my life.

Subsequently, I began to apply this superstition to other holiday symbols and religious icons: the Easter bunny, Elijah on Passover, and so on. When I stopped believing in God, it was much the same.

The thought of some higher power just didn’t seem logical. Since then, I’ve classified myself as an atheist, meaning I reject not only god as he is set forth by conventional religions, but all notions that there is any kind of deity in existence.

My family took this revelation surprisingly well; my dad will only oc-

casionally make a snide quip about the money that went into my bat mitzvah, just to have me reject religion completely.

However, I think I’ve been pretty good about saying my “baruch ata Adonai”s and going to church for Christmas mass if my mom has a fit of nostalgia.

I could even muster a cheery smile when the homeless woman I gave five dollars to last weekend told me “God bless you” as if God was the reason I was helping her rather than my generosity.

A few weeks ago, the topic of religion came up while I was chatting with an acquaintance. I identified myself as an atheist, and she promptly launched into a story about an intense depression she went through and how “finding Jesus” was what finally helped

her to recover, heavily implying that I should do the same.

I’m fully supportive of this girl’s choice to believe in God and I’m happy that she found in Jesus whatever it was she needed to turn her life around.

However, while I try my best to be accepting no matter how ridiculous the ideas of others sound, she was unabashed in her conviction that I needed to think the same way she did.

Most of the time, I am pleasantly surprised how accommodating to different beliefs our generation is, especially at school.

This incident and a few others, though, have caught me off guard and made me realize that there are people in the world who will judge you and think less of you for what you believe or don’t believe.

A14 Opinion

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

Appreciate it now Anabel Pasarow

A

let’s make that choice to use our Resources and allow ourselves the treat of utilizing them all because it is not too late.

t the start of every school year we tell ourselves to get the Community Service requirement out of the way early on or to join the Social Committee because we secretly want to but have never allowed ourselves the time.

Somehow, more pressing things always seem to preoccupy us and we are swept up in the unavoidable tumult of term papers and physics labs and the latest happenings in the quad.

We veer from our August resolutions, but the looming threat of failure to complete the requirement gives us the strength to carelessly “Heal the Bay” or detachedly plant trees, oblivious to exactly what it is we are doing and only truly concerned with the fact that it is being done.

The pressure to have extracurriculars on our college applications prompts us to half-heartedly show up to a single meeting of a random club.

Lately it seems that the pressure of being a Harvard-Westlake student distracts us too much to truly appreciate the institution that brings us together.

Recently, a friend of mine drew my attention to the newly yellow leaves of the trees in the quad. After noticing these, I noticed the full selection of magazines and DVDs in the library and the posters advertising all sorts of clubs coating the walls everywhere on campus.

For five days a week we all get the privilege of going to a place where we are supported. Our teachers and deans want our success and there are endless clubs waiting for our indulgence. From our lab equipment to our theatre productions, our resources here are basically unending and do not deserve to be wasted away.

Let’s make that choice to use our resources and allow ourselves the treat of utilizing them all because it is not too late.

We walk with tunnel vision, plowing along from math test to in-class essay, and only occasionally do we venture to our peripheral vision to stop and look at the golden leaves on the trees and the themed holiday decorations in the cafeteria.

Too often we don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. Let’s open our eyes because what we have at this school is pretty great.

JEAN PARK/CHRONICLE

Closetful of spirit

W

Allison Hamburger

hen waking up wishing I could just go to school in pajamas, or when realizing that a long night of work is ahead or even when I’m cold in our Southern California version of winter, nothing beats pulling on a favorite sweatshirt.

It’s a good thing I like sweatshirts, considering how many I own from my extracurricular activities alone. In fact, I have 11 sweatshirts just from school groups. When an activity I am a part of advertises ordering apparel, it is easy to thoughtlessly sign up without considering the price tag.

If I were in a clothing store, I would consider the purchase carefully, weighing the cost and how much I want the item before approaching the register. But when a sheet of paper with a space for a name, a size and a signature is passed around while teammates talk excitedly about the cool design, it is difficult to resist buying one without feeling like a traitor to my group.

After all, that signature just means that my parents have to pay, right? Once they get the bill, it is too late. No cash goes from my hand to a store clerk’s register, so it really does not feel like I’m spending (at least) $30.

Half the time, we don’t even know how much the sweatshirts cost when we sign up.

We all order apparel each year to bond with our fellow group members, but a couple months later, the $30 spent is obsolete.

Of those 11 sweatshirts, I regularly wear only about four. Why not get rid of the rest?

I suppose there is some sort of sentimental value. They are perfectly good sweatshirts, but though I wore them frequently the year of purchase, I hardly use them anymore.

And more sweatshirt offers keep coming.

Nearly every group wants to display its unity with apparel, and, as a typical HarvardWestlake student, my schedule is packed full of student groups and activities.

As an involved member of the GayStraight Alliance, I was initially excited to hear that the club is ordering sweatshirts with a beautiful hand-drawn design. But I have already purchased three sweatshirts this school year alone, so I have chosen to not buy one for GSA. And that decision makes me feel awful. The sweatshirts will certainly promote awareness of the club and its goals, not to mention that they look really cool. I would love to wear one and be a part of that. It is difficult to not order one because it somewhat isolates you from the group. There is undeniable peer pressure, though perhaps it is unintentional. I’m not saying that groups should not order apparel at all. Wearing them together can encourage unity and enthusiasm, but we can still be known as a team or club or whatever without spending the money. I’m all for bonding, but my closet can’t take much more spirit.

Test before break

I

t’s happened to just about everyone: you’re taking a test, and you blank out on a question. The question sounds vaguely familiar, but it was from something you learned about such a long time ago and you can’t quite come up with the answer.

This problem is exacerbated by the amount of time between when you learn the material and when you take a test. As it stands right now, students can have up to 143 days between learning material and being tested on it during first semester exams.

Despite the obvious difficulty students encounter from having such a long delay between learning and testing, Harvard-Westlake continues to keep semester exams after winter break. This system is begging to be fixed. We need to

Saj Sri-Kumar have exams before break.

Were we to have exams before break yet retain the same amount of school days before them, we would eliminate two full weeks between learning and testing—almost 10 percent of the total time.

Not only would moving exams before break help students by making the class material fresher in their minds, it would also allow the school to start and end the school year earlier. There could be more teaching days before Advanced Placement exams in May, helping teachers to better prepare students for those tests as well.

It would better allow students to relax over winter break, since we wouldn’t have to worry about anything school-related (with the exception of college applications, many of which are often due dur-

ing the break).

One common concern about having exams before break is that the move may cause more stress for students in a season that is supposed to be cheerful. Well, as far as I can tell, it’s still pretty stressful right now even though we don’t have exams before the break. We have test after test leading up to the break, with every teacher wanting to give a test on a unit before we adjourn for two weeks. Will stress levels be incrementally higher if we were to be taking semester exams right now?

Probably, but that certainly would be more than compensated for the fact that we wouldn’t have to worry at all about studying over the break or the weeks following it. I don’t mean to say that this

system is perfect. It would likely disturb the timing of the end-ofyear of regular school events, such as musical concerts.

However, if we could move those events a few weeks earlier or if we pushed them to after winter break, it would be a small sacrifice compared to the benefit that we would gain from moving exams.

It’s no secret that life as a student at Harvard-Westlake is no walk in the park. We work hard to get the grades we want so that we can get in to the colleges we want to go to.

In an increasingly competitive college admission environment in a school that makes no secret of its goal to get students in to the top colleges and universities, the school should do what it can to help us out.

quadtalk How can we change the cafeteria to make it more environmentally friendly?

“Buy locally produced food, if possible.”

—Derek Wilairat, Latin teacher

“We should use fewer packaged goods and frozen materials.”

—Gabby Trujillo ’12

“I think the cafeteria is fine the way it is, but i would rather have water bottles back.”

—Conor Eliot ‘11

Letters to the Editor Does choice of cookie equal guilt by association?

P

icture this: Little Xiao arrives at school after a completely innocent morning. He pops into the cafeteria, makes a quick purchase, and sits down in class to bust open a fresh pack of Jack Usher ’11 Milanos. He is promptly expelled for suspected marijuana usage. No drug tests occurred. He never appeared in front of the Honor Board to hash out his dilemma. Is this fair?

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle published a series of articles on Nov. 10 regarding the usage of marijuana. I admit that I am green to this substance and the articles were quite informative. However, one quote from Nancy ’12, “Thank god for those Milanos,” has stigmatized one of my top three favorite snacks. Milanos have officially become known as “stoner food.”

The good Pepperidge name and Farms in general have been soiled. Frankly, I’m surprised that company representatives aren’t on campus doing damage control.

Many students are feeling the pressure of this budding paranoia. I polled 80 HarvardWestlake students to understand the general response to the quote. I first asked whether students were concerned about in-class Milano consumption before the Chronicle’s article. Only one student was.

“Milanos are some shady-ass snacks,” Shlomo Steinberg ’11 said.

However, when asked whether the students were embarrassed enough to change their snack of choice after reading the article, 71 out of 80 students answered yes.

“It’s not just Milanos. It’s all Pepperidge Farm products I’m concerned about,” our reliable source, Nick Lieberman* said. Even the teachers were lit up by the article. Of the faculty polled, 80 percent said that they would be suspicious of a student eating Milanos in class. Clearly Milanos have become public enemy number one. A reputable member of Harvard-Westlake’s Fanatics said, “I don’t know which I hate more: Milanos or Boyola.”

I decided to personally test the effect of the article on campus attitudes towards Milanos. For an entire day, I carried around a one ounce baggie of Milanos and a Nature Valley Bar. The results were astounding.

Not one person commented on the obviously hippie-associated “Nature” Valley Bar. But DON HAGOPIAN/chronicle

Few fans come to support the boys’ basketball team at its game against Taft.

photos by Jean park/Chronicle

(Additional research by Nick Lieberman ’11, Treasurer of the Milano Club)

—Jack Usher ’11

* names have been changed

Coffee House receives full support and encouragement

O

n Monday, Nov. 22, the Prefect Council held the first Coffee House of this year. Aside from the incredible talent of everyone that performed, one thing that struck us (as well as many faculty members in attendance) was the general respect of the audience.

It was amazing how supportive and encouraging students were in cheering on their peers. The school has made it an initiative this year to improve our character as a community, evidenced by the work of the Sportsmanship and Character Education Committees.

Perhaps the most special aspect of Coffee House is that the character shown is as spontaneous as some of the acts on stage.

Many students and faculty have mentioned how touching it was to witness such widespread encouragement, so we wanted to thank and commend the entire community for cheering people on when they faltered, clapping for each performer, and helping students feel comfortable to share their talents with us all. Thank You.

—The Prefect Council

The Chronicle evaluates recent campus developments.

Winterfest, one of the best in years, includes a performace by the Activies for Retarded Children’s bell choir.

—Abby Sandler ’13

throughout the school day, I was scorned for snacking on Milanos. Classmates were hurtful, taunting me for having the “munchies” and declaring me “high.” I felt just like Little Xiao would have, had he existed.

Let me be blunt. Something must be done to overcome the anti-snack revolution.

I went back to snacktistical analyst Nick Lieberman for his take on how to weed out the problem. We propose a joint solution: Harvard-Westlake needs to slowly reintroduce everyday snacks back into the curriculum. They should start with Goldfish or even Cheetos. Milanos are too highprofile right now. The deans should then meet with the parents to establish a snack plan and discuss choices for the future. We must wait, however, until the memory of the marijuana article has gotten a little faded.

Crisis vaporized. Whudabing Badabong.

makinggrades

A C

“I would like it if we stopped using styrofoam bowls in the cafeteria”

Opinion A15

Chronicle

The

Dec. 15, 2010

B+

F

Students can access Wi-Fi in the lounge but not around the whole campus.

Teachers pressure students not to move tests, violating the two exam rule.

exposure

Dec. 15, 2010

winter wonderland

By Bo Lee

and

Lara Sokoloff

T

he annual Winterfest, which was planned this year by the Prefect Council and the Winterfest Committee, has been taking place throughout the week.

The committee hopes that the festivities will help the community to celebrate the holiday season.

“I think it is something really fun. It is a good thing that the Prefect Council is doing this. It was exciting to hear the choir during break on Monday, and I am looking forward to Friday,” Carla Sneider ’13 said.

Students were invited to wear their favorite holiday attire to school, such as Santa hats and Rudolph noses, on Monday in order to create a holiday atmosphere.

The school hosted the Activities for Retarded Children Bell Choir, which performed a few holiday songs during break on Monday in the Lounge, followed by performances by the Jazz Singers and Kathryn Gallagher ’11.

Harry Salamandra, head of the Upper School,

2

Chloe Lister/chronicle

A16

Performances by Kathryn Gallagher ’11, the Jazz Singers and the Activities for Retarded Children’s Bell Choir spread the holiday cheer Monday at break during this year’s Winterfest.

said the school has worked with the Activities for Retarded Children for about 30 years.

The Jewish Student Union, Christian Club, and Amnesty International, set up tables in an effort to encourage students to sign up for their clubs during Monday’s event.

Free hot chocolate and apple cider were available on Monday in the lounge. The Prefect Council also sold candy grams on Monday in the Lounge for one dollar each.

“It’s fun, as we’re getting ready for winter, to start getting ready for the holidays a little early and plan cool, different events and performances that the student body can enjoy,” Prefect Council member Michael Wagmeister ’13 said.

Wacky Sweater Wednesday” takes place today, with students invited to wear the most outrageous holiday sweaters that they can find.

“Fuzzy Flannel Friday” will both conclude Winterfest and initiate winter break on Friday.

Students are asked to wear scarves, hats, mittens, earmuffs, and other clothing items along with a flannel shirt.

1

Chloe Lister/chronicle

3

mary rose fissinger/chronicle

Rockin’ around the christmas tree: The Jazz Singers dance and sing to popular Christmas tunes (1), President Thomas Hudnut addresses the crowd, introducing the Activities for Retarded Children’s Bell Choir (2), ARC’s Bell Choir performs “Carol of the Bells” (3), Christmas trees, along with wreaths, lights and other decorations, decked the halls of Chalmers Lounge (4).

4

mary rose fissinger/ chronicle

mary rose fissinger/chronicle

the

Chronicle Volume XX Issue V Dec. 15, 2010

Do you even go here?

By Ingrid Chang When Julia Wald ’11 checked her Facebook a few months ago, she was surprised and confused to find a friend request from what appeared to be herself.

She recognized the profile picture as one of her own, and the name said Julia Christina.

Wald’s impostor had joined the Harvard-Westlake network and added photos taken from Wald’s profile, but beyond that she did not have any interactions with students.

Wald’s main concern, since she was just starting the college process, was that schools would believe the impostor profile was actually her.

“I was worried that she would mess with colleges,” Wald said.

Many of her friends reported the profile to Facebook and one student even dedicated a group to calling out Wald’s impostor, and the profile was deleted within a month and a half.

Despite the odd event, Wald said that she did not change any of her privacy settings to prevent something happening again in the future.

“It was just so random that I expected it to never happen again,” Wald said.

Chloe Lister ’12 found herself in a similar situation when she received a friend request from a person using a photo of Lister with her friends as the person’s profile picture.

“It’s not like they were stealing my identity or using my name or anything, but I got worried that people who weren’t friends with me could just go through my photo albums and see pictures of me with my friends and use them,” Lister said.

The suspicious profile was a part of both the Harvard-Westlake class of 2014 network and the Harvard University class of 2014 network.

It is common to receive Facebook friend requests from strangers, but often students get requests from people who are not who they claim to be. In the past few months names such as Thor Batista and Lillian Elina Pritzker have appeared on students’ profiles as recently added friends, people who joined the Harvard-Westlake network claiming to be students at the school or adding Harvard-Westlake students as friends.

In an online chat with a student, the person who claims to be Thor Batista said that he would be joining the senior class in December.

“I start next week. We just got here from Brazil,” he said in the chat.

The school is neither admitting any new students to the senior class, nor is it likely that this person is really the son of Brazilian business mogul Eike Batista, who was named the eighth richest person in the world by Forbes Magazine in 2010.

When Lillian Elina Pritzker added Nick Pritzker ’12 as a friend, he assumed that she was one of his relatives.

“I didn’t know who it was but I figured it was someone in my family and I accepted [her friend request],” Pritzker said.

Pritzker started to suspect something strange when Lillian started adding Nick’s friends in the Harvard-Westlake network and talking to them over Facebook.

“She friended all my friends, and I asked my parents and found out there is no one in my family that is named that,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker chose not to confront her or report the profile.

“I just left the situation alone because I don’t really know who it is or what is going on. The only thing that I could do is just tell my friends and warn them that I have no relationship to this person so that they don’t get into a sticky situation.”

Cheston Gunawan ’12 had a second profile created by his friends as a joke. While it was a harmless action that resulted in some confusion at most, Gunawan is aware of the dangers and privacy issues that arise.

“If you want to have something that works as well as Facebook does then you can’t really get rid of thse issues,” Gunawan said. “ I don’t know that there’s a way to block people from making another account of yourself.”

...See More B6-B7 For Further Coverage

?

graphic by Ingrid Chang

B2 Features

The

Mono

By Emily Khaykin Exhausted from a day at school, Lili Nanus ’11 arrived home and decided to lie down to take a nap before starting her homework. She fell asleep at 4 p.m., and didn’t wake up until 17 hours later.

“The scary part was that even after I woke up, I was ready to crawl back into bed,” Nanus said. “I knew that something had to be wrong.”

Nanus had gone to see her doctor several times, before she was finally diagnosed with one of the most common viruses caught by teenagers: mononucleosis. ` Mononucleosis, or mono, is spread through saliva. It is most common in people from ages 15 to 17, but the virus can be contracted by anybody.

“Most people have gotten mono but have never realized it,” pediatrician Dr. Jennifer Ouchie said. “For example, mono is especially hard to diagnose in small children because they have trouble communicating their symptoms.

It usually seems just like the common cold.”

Throughout the beginning of her sophomore year, Nanus had been feeling exhausted, but seeing the same symptoms in her classmates, she contributed the weariness to lack of sleep.

But as the weeks wore on the fatigue became progressively worse, Nanus said.

“I wouldn’t even be present in class, I would just kind of be in a daze the entire day,” she said.

“Unfortunately, there is no treatment for fatigue,” Ouchie said, “but steroids are sometimes prescribed to people who have swollen tonsils, which can make it hard for them to breathe and swallow.”

Nanus dropped out of her first period yoga class in order to allow more time for her to sleep and also switched from chemistry Honors to regular chemistry so that she could have an easier time completing her work at home.

“The range of severity generally depends on the person,” Ouchie said, “some people get mono and never even realize that they have it while some are confined to their beds with a fever and a sore throat.”

Nanus had mono from September to November of her sophomore year before noticing any change in her energy level.

Nanus’ relapse ended up lasting through the rest of her sophomore year.

“People with mono don’t usually suffer a relapse, even though once you have had mono, you always carry it around in your body,” Ouchie

Dec. 15, 2010

Chronicle

PHOTOS BY JOYCE KIM

Whether caught from kissing, sharing drinks or lip gloss, mononucleosis can go unnoticed or cause long-lasting, debilitating effects.

said. Now a senior, Nanus has had to write individual notes to the colleges she is applying to, explaining her drop in academic performance during her sophomore year.

“In some ways I’m thankful that it was such a visible drop from all my other years,” Nanus said. “I’m hoping that my other years will make up for it but I do wonder where I could’ve applied had I not had that one year.”

While Nanus experienced a very rare bout of mono, most people, such as Karen* ’13, experience symptoms for about two weeks.

“I had mono about a week or two into the beginning of sophomore year,” Karen said.

“I went to the doctor because my throat was just killing me,” she said. “At first they thought it was Strep [Throat], so they gave me a Strep test. When that came back negative, they gave me a blood test, which came back positive for mono.”

Symptoms for mononucleosis show up roughly four to seven weeks after the disease has been contracted.

“I think I hooked up with someone who had it,” Karen said. “I could kind of connect the two because I know I hadn’t shared any drinks or hooked up with anyone since.”

Out of the week Karen was sick, she only ended up missing a day and a half of school.

“It was really hard to focus in class, but I just kept myself caffeinated to stay awake, I was just so tired all the time and didn’t really get any real homework done,” Karen said.

Jason Mohr ’11 was another student misdiagnosed before realizing he had mono.

“I had mono back in ninth grade, but at first I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes,” Jason Mohr ’11 said. “I had all the symptoms, I sweat a lot and I drank a lot.”

Mohr also had a sore throat during this time, another sign of juvenile diabetes.

“I always felt feverish and felt like I had knives in my throat,” Mohr said.

Mohr had mono for three weeks until the symptoms wore off.

“All I did was drink water. I couldn’t eat anything because my throat hurt so much,” Mohr said. “I lost 25 pounds in three weeks.”

For the two weeks after Mohr returned to school, he only stayed for half of the school day and could not participate in P.E. because his doctor was afraid his spleen might rupture. A swollen spleen is another symptom of mononucleosis.

“I didn’t even watch television,” Mohr said, “I sat in bed, didn’t even go downstairs, and slept for basically three and a half weeks.”

Minding Mono: Mononucleosis lives and grows in the nose and throat. Any fluid that comes from these parts of the body, including saliva, or mucus, can be infected with the virus. The virus is spread when people come in contact with infected fluids.

Symptoms: >> high fever >> weakness & fatigue >> severe sore throat >> prolonged headaches >> loss of appetite Even when the symptoms of mono go away, the virus that caused it may still be present. When the virus is active, it may be spread to others.

Treatment:

Usually only over-the-counter remedies are needed to treat mono.

>> Tylenol or Advil >> drinking more fluids >> bed rest

GRAPHIC BY JOYCE KIM and chloe lister source: www.webmd.com

Features B3

Chronicle

The

Dec. 15, 2010

dream

walkers Sleepwalking students find themselves out and about the house when they should be in their beds.

By Catherine Wang At 3 a.m. on a school day, Brian Harwitt ’11 climbs out of bed, walks into his bathroom and turns on his shower.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Harwitt’s father raps on his bathroom door.

The sound rouses Harwitt from his slumber and stops him from entering the shower. As he comes to his senses, Harwitt realizes he sleepwalked into his bathroom and turned his shower on while still asleep.

“That was definitely the weirdest sleepwalking incident I’ve had,” Harwitt said.

“It doesn’t happen that often,” he said. “Then again, I don’t really know.”

Harwitt, who has sleepwalked since he was about six, has woken up in his bathroom or closet. On other occasions, his parents found him walking around his room making noise, running into things, and knocking things over.

Sleepwalking, formally known as somnambulism, occurs in 17 percent of children and four percent of adults, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. It most commonly occurs during childhood and young adolescence.

Typical symptoms of sleepwalking range from sitting up in bed and looking around to walking around to driving a car. In severe cases, symptoms include screaming and violent behavior, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said.

Georgina* ’11, who sleepwalks about once a month, found out she sleepwalks when she was about 12 years old.

“I think I had a dream – it was something about a unicorn,” she said. “I got up and one of my parents was up and asked me what I was doing. I said something really weird. I thought I was still in my dream.”

The most bizarre sleepwalking episode Georgina has experienced is waking up dressed in jeans and a regular shirt.

“When I woke up, I had no idea why I was dressed” she said. “I asked my mom, and she told me I had walked into her hall during the night and talked to her.”

Sometimes she wakes up and finds a glass of water next to her bed, so she knows she woke up and sleepwalked to the kitchen.

Harwitt’s sleepwalking incidents typically occur on school nights, and he believes that his sleepwalking may be correlated with stress.

“Junior year was the most I ever sleepwalked,” he said.

Georgina, a self-described insomniac, credits her sleep deprivation as the most likely cause of her sleepwalking.

In addition to stress and sleep deprivation, causes of sleepwalking include head injuries, migraine headaches, unfamiliar surroundings, alcoholism, sedative medication and other sleep disorders, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Like many who sleepwalk, Harwitt frequently talks in his sleep.

“My friends always tell me I sleeptalk,” he said. “I know I sleeptalk some really bad things.”

“While sleepwalking, people often sleeptalk and have trouble being woken up,” UCLA sleep specialist Dr. Jon Caroll said. “After waking up, they have little or no memory of sleepwalking.”

Sleepwalking is also hereditary, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

“My brother sleepwalks too,” Harwitt said. “Once, when he was 6 years old, he walked outside into the snow. If my mom hadn’t heard the door open, he could have died.”

There are few trusted treatments for sleepwalking, although some doctors recommend patients try hypnosis and or prescribe them antidepressants. Neither Harwitt nor Georgina have consulted doctors regarding their sleepwalking.

“I don’t think my sleepwalking is very severe,” he said. “I think it’s funny when people tell me I sleepwalked or sleeptalked in my sleep.”

Whenever Harwitt wakes up after sleepwalking, he feels some shock, but it does not affect him much, he said.

“I guess the one thing is, I never sleep on the top bunk,” Harwitt said.

Like Harwitt, Georgina is not embarrassed by her sleepwalking, but she does have some concerns about it.

“I’m afraid I’ll trip over my shoes something or crash into a wall while in the dark, but I’m not afraid I’m going to drown in my pool or accidentally go outside,” she said.

* names have been changed

photo illustration by justine goode

B4 Features

The

Living

Fraternities and sororities prove to be strong support systems for some alumni who have joined.

Greek

By Mary Rose Fissinger

W

hen Niki Sri-Kumar ’07 entered Yale as a freshman, she had no intention of pledging to a sorority. In fact, during the first part of her college application process, she had focused mainly on schools without a significant Greek presence on campus.

And yet now, as a senior, she’s a proud member of Pi Beta Phi, one of three nationally affiliated sororities at Yale.

“I had no interest at the beginning,” Sri-Kumar said. “My roommate at the time dragged me along to the first meeting, and I just happened to meet a lot of girls I really liked.”

She joined second semester of her freshman year, at the time of recruitment. Her time as a pledge was very enjoyable, she said, and not at all like the horror stories often told about pledging a fraternity.

“They bake you cookies, give you presents and plan parties for you.

There’s definitely no hazing component,” she said.

At the end of the semester, all the pledges were welcomed in as sisters.

Sophie Mancall-Bitel ’07 also pledged a sorority midway through her freshman year, though her decision to do so was not quite as unexpected.

“Northwestern is a pretty Greek-centric school, so it wasn’t a very agonizing decision,” she said. “I knew kids from Harvard-Westlake at Northwestern who had rushed and who introduced me to their friends from their respective frats or sororities, so I was sort of thrown into the Greek scene relatively quickly.”

She pledged Delta Delta Delta (or Tri Delta), and her time as a pledge was also easy and fun, consisting of mixers with fraternities and activities to facilitate bonding between the members of the sorority.

Her three months as a pledge were preceded by a rushing period, which lasted for a week. During this very formalized process, during which the sororities hold parties for potential members, “you narrow down the number of houses you visit every day until, finally, you’re in one,” Mancall-Bitel said.

After the three months as a pledge, there was an initiation ceremony and celebratory brunch.

Chris Cheng ’09, who joined the fraternity Psi Upsilon as a freshman at

Join the Club

By Catherine Wang For some alumni who attend colleges on the east coast, final clubs, secret societies and eating clubs provide an alternative to sororities and fraternities.

Final Clubs Max Eliot ’09 is a member of the Phoenix, S. K. Club, one of Harvard’s eight male final clubs. A final club is a social club, many of which have long histories at Harvard.

Early this year, Eliot was “punched” by several final clubs, meaning the clubs expressed interest in him.

The selection process included multiple gatherings and a final dinner. Between events, the clubs discussed and cut prospective members.

“It’s been going that way for hundreds of years.

It’s not a fair process, but that’s life,” he said of the selection process.

Once the process ended, Eliot was formally asked to join several clubs.

After accepting Phoenix, S. K.’s offer, he and his pledge brothers were initiated in November.

Members do not live at the final club’s house, but use it as a place to hangout. Final clubs host special lunches and dinners, as well as parties.

“The social scene at Harvard is centered around final clubs,” he said. “It’s great because you have a social space. You don’t have to hunt down parties.”

Eliot describes the members of his club as “socially diverse” and “very tight.”

“I didn’t really understand what final clubs were before I got to Harvard,” he said. “But about three months into freshman year, I knew I wanted to join one.”

Secret Societies Jamie,* an alum, always thought she did not

the University of Chicago, had a somewhat different experience as a pledge.

“They made the pledges promote their biggest parties, and they always have this super hero party, so all the pledges had to dress up as super heroes for the whole week leading up to the party,” Cheng said. “I was Ash Catchem, so I had to go and buy the Pokemon hat and all that stuff.”

Cheng, like Sri-Kumar, had also not planned on going Greek, but decided to after spending a lot of time in the Psi Upsilon house and meeting all the brothers through Joe Farias-Eisner ’06, the older brother of his good friend Anthony Farias-Eisner ’09.

Both Cheng and Anthony Farias-Eisner were pledges during the winter quarter of their freshman year. Now, as sophomores, they both live in the fraternity house on campus, which houses about 20 of the brothers.

While Cheng enjoys the fact that this allows him access to the cars of the brothers, which he can use for his frequent Chipotle runs, both agree that the great advantage to being in a fraternity is the support system it provides.

“A lot of us take classes together, so we all study together and help with homework,” Cheng said.

The fraternity also provides help when one of the brothers is looking for a job.

“We’ll all go to meet-and-greets together,” Cheng said.

The support extends past just the brothers in the fraternity house, though.

“There’s a strong alumni network that you have access to when you’re looking for a job,” Anthony Farias-Eisner said.

Sri-Kumar has found similar support from her sisters.

“When I was applying for internships last winter, the older girls in my sorority were the first ones I went to for advice and help in practicing for interviews,” she said. “Beyond the social and philanthropic aspects of a sorority, as you get older it is a great networking tool as well.” photos and graphics by Allison hamburger

Final Clubs, Secret Societies and Eating Clubs, the east coast equivalents to Greek life, are prevalent on college campuses.

“

It’s great because you have a social space. You don’t have to hunt down parties.”

—Max Eliot ‘09

want to join a sorority during her college years, so she was surprised to join a secret society at Princeton University.

“Once I realized how different it was from a stereotypical Greek group, I started embracing it,” she said. “Now, I seriously can’t imagine my college career without it.”

Jamie’s secret society is co-ed with about 40 members. Its members are inclined towards humanities and share an interest in books, she said.

“I had no idea about its existence, but a couple of sophomores that I was friends with happened to be in it, so they invited me to the first rush party,” she said. “I decided to give it a chance.”

The two-month selection process began in December of her freshman year. She attended several informal gatherings and specific rush events. Jamie was formally inducted into the society in mid-February and now attends meetings weekly.

Because of all the time she spends with her pledge brothers and sisters, Jamie has become best friends with them, she said.

“I can always count on almost any of them for anything—if no one in my dorm is free for dinner, I know I can call one of them and they’ll be down,” she said.

Although the society is secret, most of Jamie’s friends know she belongs to one.

Selective Clubs

vs.

Secret Societies

>>

invite students to informal meetings, parties and rush events. Members who accepted attend weekly meetings.

>>

“punch” students and invite them several gatherings. The clubs make cuts in between meetings and formally offer membership a few weeks later.

>>

add members in a “bickering” process.

Prospective members do activities before the club does “pickups” to officially invite students to the group.

Final Clubs

Eating Clubs

Symbol of Cap and Gown Princeton Eating Club

Dec. 15, 2010

Chronicle

“It’s not something you advertise, but if people point blank ask you, which they do, then you’re obviously allowed to tell the truth. No one wants you to have to lie to your friends,” she said. “What’s secretive is not so much who’s in the society as what we do.”

Eating Clubs Zane Ma ’08 is a member of the Cap and Gown Eating Club, one of Princeton University’s five selective eating clubs. These clubs serve as dining halls and social centers for juniors and seniors.

Selective eating clubs pick new members in a process called “bicker,” which varies by club.

Ma debated between bickering Cap and Gown Club and the Tower Club, which he described as “sportier.”

“The main reason I chose Cap and Gown was that I knew some members that I liked and a lot of my friends were bickering Cap and Gown,” he said.

Prospective members attended three hours of activities and games for three days.

“I was a little nervous going into it, since I didn’t know what it was like exactly,” he said. “But it was pretty relaxed. It’s not crazy stuff.”

Afterwards, the clubs hold several nights of “discussions,” during which the entire club meets and decides which prospective students fit the club best.

The club then does “pickups,” during which current members bring new members to a party and welcome them.

Each club has facilities for studying and socializing and organizes field trips, hosts guests, plans parties, and sponsors intramural sports.

“It’s a place to eat and hang out,” Ma said. “Yes, the alumni network of my club is important, but the alumni network of Princeton in general is more important to me.” * name has been changed

Greek Life

rush to learn about the sorority >> Students or fraternity and its members. of membership are offered by the >> Bids organization as invitations to join. with bids pledge, during which >> Students they must fulfill certain requirements. are initiated and become full >> Pledges members of the sorority or fraternity. sisters and fraternity brothers >> Sorority live together and organize social events.

Sources: Jamie*, Max Eliot, Zane Ma and www.topuniversities.com Graphic by allison hamburger

Dec. 15, 2010

Features B5

The

Chronicle

giving

upcomingevents

gift

the

Want to get your community service done or looking for a way to give back during the holiday season? Here are some suggestions from the Community Council:

of

One Voice

Connections for Children

Dec. 19 8 A.M. - 2 P.M. Sort and package food to be given to families living in poverty in LA. www.onevoice-la.org/holidays/

Dec. 22 12 - 7:30 P.M Holiday Gift Program: distribute un-used gifts to families where the children may not otherwise get any. www.cfc-ca.org/community/holidayp.asp

service

Although all students are required to perform community service each year, some students go above and beyond, from fundraising to building houses for low-income families.

Senior builds houses for the homeless

By Maddy Baxter At the beginning of his sophomore year, Jason Mohr ’11 decided to approach the administration to start a Habitat for Humanity chapter.

Mohr said he was especially interested in community service organizations that help people help themselves.

So after a year of coordination with Father J. Young and Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church, the Habitat chapter was created with former history teacher Leslie Rockenbach as the adviser.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that builds houses for those who cannot afford them.

However, the families must help to build their houses alongside volunteers as well as put in a certain number of extra hours of service in order to qualify for a house.

Previously, Mohr had volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity build site a couple of times.

“I met and developed life-long relationships with amazing families that put my life in perspective. I had to share this amazing experience,” he said.

He wanted to get more involved, and through an Internet search he learned that he could create a “Chapter” at his school.

He then called the Habitat affiliate for the Los Angeles area and was informed on how to do so.

After the chapter was started, Mohr chose board members Melanie Borinstein ’11, Cami de Ry ’12 and Jordan Gavens ’12.

They have helped organize events, recruit volunteers, and advocate to the community. This year, science teacher Krista McClain has taken over as the

new adviser for the chapter.

Kristina Park ’13 and Lauren Schlussel ‘13 have joined the board this year, helping to make posters around campus and the North Hollywood area.

Besides the five person executive board, there is also a core group of 30 members and about 150 consistent volunteers.

“Once students volunteer, they develop the passion and enthusiasm to come back again and again,” Mohr said.

The Habitat for Humanity chapter has held 10 events so far, including helping to build homes, holiday events with children, English as a Second Language classes, homework help and tutoring, welcoming families into their homes, and walk-a-thons through the streets of the local Habitat communities.

“We focus on building a better community, both among the families in the build site and among those families and students,” he said.

The chapter’s goal for its first full year is to host at least one or two events a month.

A new ESL program has been implemented this year that allows students to use their Spanish skills

to help teach English to Spanish speaking families.

“I love using the exercises that I was taught at Harvard-Westlake to learn Spanish in order to help teach English,” he said.

This is a helpful way to break language barriers and bond with the grandparents of the families.

“We develop relationships with these families, begin to understand them and they begin to teach us as much if not more than we ever teach them,” he said.

Mohr said that it makes students feel better about themselves to put some of their competitive energy in school into helping others. They may be surprised at the impact that they can make improving others’ lives, he said.

Sophomore volunteers with autistic children, Jewish youth

By Allison Hamburger

Allison Hamburger/chronicle

helping hand: Roxanne Swedelson ’13 works with several community service organizations.

After weeks of rehearsal, Eli stood on stage, terrified. Instead of saying his lines and telling a joke, Eli didn’t say a word.

But that was fine for the audience. In fact, they were extremely proud of him.

Roxanne Swedelson ’13 had worked with Eli, who has autism, once a week after school in an acting class at The Friendship Circle, an organization that helps children with special needs and their families.

Just being onstage showed Eli’s progress compared to years before, Swedelson said. She works with about 10 autistic kids and 20 other volunteers, doing activities, art and acting projects with them.

“I’ve learned so much about how to communicate with them, and after you

do that it’s just so easy to see them as normal children just different,” she said.

Swedelson started volunteering with Friendship Circle through another community program she works at, Kehillat Israel Tzedakah Teens, which is organized by her temple. Swedelson works on one of three boards.

Swedelson signed up to volunteer at Friendship Circle while at a social action fair looking into organizations for her KITT board.

She is also president of a chapter of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, an international Jewish organization BBYO raises money for different charities each year through a variety of fundraising events, including bake sales, drives and other events. This year they donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Swedelson started out as treasurer for the chapter and won an award for raising

the most money at a single fundraiser.

“It really got me involved and I realized how much of a difference I could make within the organization, so I decided to run for president,” she said.

Swedelson is currently in her second term as president. She handles programming, membership, fundraising, running meetings and representing the chapter at a congress with the organization.

Swedelson enjoys both the financial and hands-on aspects of philanthropy.

It can be frustrating to hear people say they are only involved in community service to put it on their college applications, she said.

“I do these things because I love these things and if I get into college, you know, that’ll be nice,” she said.

Swedelson also plans to work on a farm in Morocco this summer.

B6 Features

The

Chron

About face

Even though privacy settin become dang

Looking for laughs online

By Justine Goode

and

Victor Yoon

“I don’t know why they haven’t tried triple stuffed Oreo cookies yet, because I would be ON THAT.” “C-Minus students deserve to be placed in the middle of the classroom, blindfolded, and burned with cigars as their classmates throw tomatoes at them.” “In elementary school, I read Hermione/Ginny fanfiction online. I feel you judging me right now.” These one-liners are only a few of the posts that have appeared since the beginning of the year on the Tumblr blog Overheard at HW, which documents snippets of conversation between students and faculty on campus.

On Facebook, groups and fan pages dedicated to various faculty members have also emerged, such as the Ted Walch page, which has gathered over 150 fans since its creation.

OAHW itself has gained almost 500 fans since it was created by seniors in the class of 2009. It is now run by two seniors who reinvented the site after they said last year’s class allowed it to fall by the wayside.

“Last year’s seniors tried to keep it up, but they failed,” Caleb* ’11 said. “We contacted the ’08-’09 kids and got the domain, the passwords and the email addresses. We made a new layout, created a Facebook fan page so anyone could ‘like’ us, and updated the submission process so quotes could be submitted directly on the site.”

These improvements have renewed interest in the site, which receives 50 to 60 submissions a month. The influx of submissions requires the site administrators to be selective, as they only post one quote a day. Both administrators agree on what gets posted, but do not edit it once it is up except for occasionally changing punctuation or names for anonymity.

“I see Overheard as an awesome medium to bring the community together in a manner that’s based on laughing at ourselves and the administration,” Caleb said.

Despite its popularity, the site may bring up questions concerning its compliance with the school’s Technology Acceptable Use policy, which states, “If you present yourself as a representative of a school club, school publication, or other Harvard Westlake organization, you must have the permission of the Head of School before posting anything to a site outside Harvard-Westlake.”

Caleb said he was previously unaware of the policy, but hopes that the site meets its demands. The abbreviation “H-W” doesn’t directly refer to the school, and the

site administrators don’t limit themselves to posting quotes only heard on campus.

“We try our best to make sure all postings do not include any names, places, or groups that could somehow be linked to any specific school,” Caleb said. “If a school for whatever reason thought we were misrepresenting them by using a specific set of two of 26 letters that happen to form the abbreviation of their name (and not to mention the commonly used abbreviations for homework, Hot Wheels, Halo Wars, Harriet-Watt University, and George H.W. Bush himself), then we would be happy to negotiate over email and consider a possible agreement.”

Facebook groups and pages celebrating faculty have sprung up as well. Students can now “like” Ted Walch and Kevin O’Malley or join the group “You might be a disciple of Mr. Yaron if...”. Though the pages are borne out of appreciation, the idea of an online fan base unsettles some teachers.

“It’s kind of eerie. I never understood the utility of this Facebook thing,” history teacher Dror Yaron said. “I would much prefer to hang out with all my so-called disciples and engage in the tangible give and take of real life, say somewhere in the allures

of nature, where we can walk briskly and converse in real time.”

The most recent Facebook trend has been a series of albums posted by Ben Castillo ’11 entitled “Seniors DGAF” (an acronym for “Doesn’t Give a F***”). The albums feature pictures of seniors with an appropriately disaffected look on their face and a caption emblazoned across the photo of their name and a variation of the phrase “DGAF.” Castillo said each album takes about a week to create, while an individual photo takes two minutes. He was inspired to make the albums after seeing a similar photo on a friend’s profile. Getting the photos he needs hasn’t been difficult for Castillo.

“I have to admit, there is some [profile] stalking involved,” he said. “But most of it is people sending me their own pictures.”

2

* name has been changed

4

3

Who

By Allison Ham

Ranging from names to broke ing number of changed to fake months.

For example, another changed a play on word other became C name, on the po The trend, w ed submitting part due to rum offices look at p These rumor Dean Rose-Elle National Associ Counselors conf the topic.

“There are a selors, and they on [facebook.co tionable or they do it, [...] and i it didn’t put the Racanelli said.

Princeton Un

2

graphic by Nika Madyoo

Dec. 15, 2010 B7

nicle

h Facebook lets users control their profiles and ngs, the site widely used for fun and bonding can gerous when online identities are stolen or faked.

o’s checking your profile?

mburger

m puns and outlandish nicken-up first names, an increasf seniors’ Facebook names e names during the past few

, one student became Ga Byy, d his name to Nick Harvester, ds for his real name, and anCap Xtine, based on her nickopular social networking site. which boomed as seniors startcollege applications, was in mors that college admissions prospective students’ profiles. rs are true to some extent, said en Racanelli, who attended a iation of College Admissions ference where they discussed

lot of young admissions couny did say that they would go om][...] if somebody is quesy just decided on their own to it was of concern to them if e candidate in the best light,”

niversity Dean of Admission

on and cami de ry

Janet Rapelye said in a WSJ On Campus webcast “Inside the Admissions Office” that students should assume that anything they post could be seen by an admissions officer.

“Do we have time to go back and look at Facebook pages on a regular basis?” Rapelye said. “No. But if there is something that is compromising on your Facebook page or that you have done on the web you maybe are not proud of, you should probably do everything you can to clean that up before you begin the admissions process.”

Racanelli advises seniors to be cautious of what they post on Facebook as it may hurt them in the admission process, as well as in looking for jobs or internships.

Cap Xtine chose to post a fake name in October so that her Facebook page does not play any role in her college application process, she said. She intends to leave her fake profile name, a nickname from her soccer team, for another month.

“Many seniors have changed their names to rather humorous names, and it has become more about the cleverness of the name rather than shielding Facebooks from colleges,” Cap Xtine said.

Dean Canh Oxelson said that one way colleges could gain access to a profile is when

cami de ry/chronicle

high school students meet college students while visiting the school and wind up becoming Facebook friends with those college students.

“Even if you change your name, there are connections being made all over the place,” Oxelson said.

“It’s one of the nice things about Facebook, but it also means that you never know who is connected to who and how they might end up seeing your page, whether or not your real name is on there.”

However, some seniors decided to put up a different name simply for fun.

“I changed my name because I felt like it gave me a chance to poke fun at my own name,” Harvester said.

Ga Byy also modified her name to follow the current trend.

“I just wish I could have been more creative this summer when coming up with a fake name — Ga Byy isn't too exciting,” she said.

i changed my name because i felt it gave me a chance to poke fun at my own name”

—Nick Harvester ’11

graphic by Nika Madyoon and ingrid chang

Cartoon profile pictures make a difference

By Jean Park “Now until Dec. 6 change your profile picture to one of a cartoon character from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. The objective of this is not to see any human faces on Facebook but an invasion of memories for the fight against violence to children. Remember, we were kids too... pass it on to a friend,” read the caption under Esther Lee’s ’11 default image on Facebook, which was a picture of the beloved animated character “D.W. Read” from the ’90s television series on PBS called “Arthur.”

“I did it because D.W. is my favorite character of all time and what better way to show it than in support of a good cause,” Lee said.

Just reading the words “join the fight against child abuse” was enough for a large fraction of the 500 million active Facebook users to reminisce about the ritual Saturday morning shows.

Cartoon characters from childhood shows such as “Rugrats,” “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “The Proud Family” and various Disney characters flooded the home pages of many Facebook users by the beginning of December.

“I decided to do it because it raises awareness. Pink ribbons don’t cure breast cancer, but it has the ability to remind people of the cause. Now many more people are talking about it and it’s the first step to moving for-

ward,” Lily Cha ’11 said, whose default image was a picture of “Courage the Cowardly Dog.” The Facebook page dedicated to this cause informed users, stating that it “is a non-profit campaign from an unnamed volunteer who aims to raise awareness about Worldwide Violence Against Children and Child Abuse through simple gesture of changing your Facebook Profile Picture into your favorite childhood cartoon characters. Changing your profile pictures is only the first step.”

The page also included the website for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, where people could select from a list of child protection and welfare organizations and donate to the charity of their choice.

The fight against cruelty to children was reminiscent of the one against breast cancer, which surfaced onto Facebook as many female users updated their statuses to raise Breast Cancer Awareness. Last year, women were asked to post the color of their underwear, and this year they posted “where they like to put their purse.”

This campaign, however, revealed a flaw.

Many television networks and news tabloids claimed that there were “rumors that pedophiles are behind the viral Facebook campaign.”

To use a cartoon character to hide one’s

identity seemed like a plausible idea for some students on Facebook.

“Actually, I did get a request from someone who had the same name as one of my friends and he had a picture of a Simpsons character as his profile picture so I accepted him on Facebook, but turns out it wasn’t actually him,” Lael Pollack ’11 said. “There are so many times when random people try to add you and it’s hard when something like cartoon characters become a big trend because you can’t tell.”

Spokesmen for Facebook squashed the rumors and paid more attention to the significant impact the campaign has had on the cause. The NSPCC has been receiving many donations and is welcome to the attention the trend has given it.

“This rumor is false,” Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said. “Thousands of people have taken up the campaign, none of whom can be identified as either young or old based on the profile picture chosen.”

Despite the rumors, the last official day of the campaign has passed and many users of the social network continued to keep their cartoon characters on their profile pages.

“Even if I didn’t donate money to the cause, it’s still helpful to spread the word,” Cha said. “Plus, seeing all of the characters on the shows I used to watch as a kid brings back a lot of fun memories.”

B8 Features

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The MIT

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Dec. 15, 2010

Chronicle

COLLEGE

By Catherine Wang Madison the Performer: Madison,* who applied to Wesleyan University Early Decision, was deferred to the Early Decision II applicant pool.

“Basically, they will re-evaluate my application with the Early Decision II applicants,” she said. She will receive notification of her admissions decision in mid-February. If accepted, Madison must agree to accept Wesleyan’s offer of admission.

“I was surprised because I didn’t know that program even existed,” she said. “I was given the option to withdraw, but I didn’t.”

Students that apply Early Decision to Wesleyan may either be rejected, deferred to the Regular Decision applicant pool, or deferred to the Early Decision II applicant pool.

“Wesleyan doesn’t defer that much,” she said. “It’s actually a pretty good sign.”

Madison learned of her deferral Monday at 12:15 p.m. She checked for her admission decision online in her dean’s office.

“I was a little frustrated, since I have to do more apps,” she said. “But I’m happy I wasn’t rejected.”

Madison applied to Emerson College Early Action and learns of her admissions decision today at 12 p.m.

“What happens with Emerson won’t affect where I apply,” she said.

“I’m still going to apply to six other schools.” She has completed two or three of those applications, she said.

Aiden the All-Around: “It’s the same as it’s always been,” Aiden* said of the status of his college applications. “Not much action.”

Aiden did not submit any early applications.

“I have to wait ’til regular decisions come out, so right now I’m just smooth sailing trying to do well in my senior year classes,” he said.

He has been watching from the sidelines as his classmates receive their admissions decisions.

“I’m really happy for [my friends who have gotten in],” he said. “It’s a bit sad. For the first time college seems ‘real’ so to speak. We’ve all talked about going to college and our top choices. But now, we’re actually hearing back from them.”

Though he still has applications to work on, Aiden does not regret his decision to not apply early.

“It would be nice to have gotten a

Senior superheroes look to the future

Chapter 5: While some of the superheroes await the results of their early applications, one has found out and is contemplating her next move.

C S decision by now, but I really wasn’t down to get killed by a school work and application combo first quarter,” he said. “I’m satisfied with my decision.”

Aiden has submitted applications M Univerto University of Michigan, sity of the Southern California, and several campuses of the University of California. He applied to USC’s College of Arts and Sciences, and he applied to the University of California’s Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Riverside campuses.

“It’s alleviating having submitted them,” he said.

AL

TATE

IDDLEBURY

Zoe the Artist: Zoe,* who applied to New York University Early Decision and Emerson University Early Action, is “nervous like never before” as she awaits admissions decisions from both schools.

NYU notifies applicants of its admissions decisions via e-mail today at 2 p.m. Zoe is “pretty sure” Emerson releases its decisions today as well.

“I haven’t been able to focus on anything for the past week,” she said. “It’s a constant countdown.”

Zoe is leaving her cell phone at home today, so that she will not be tempted to check her e-mail. She wants to check in the comfort and privacy of her home, she said.

“I’m going to be crying either way,” she said. “I don’t want to be a mess.

It’s just to be safe.”

In addition to her early applications, Zoe submitted her University of Southern California application. She has almost completed her applications for Wesleyan University, Bard College and Loyola Marymount University.

“I just want to know,” she said. “It’s come to the point that I don’t care what the outcome is. I just want them to tell me if they want me or not.”

Alexis the Athlete: Alexis,* who applied Early Decision to and was recruited by St. Mary’s College of California, will receive her admissions decision sometime before Christmas, she said. She was recruited

by St. Mary’s and spoke to its coaches last week.

“I kind of feel good, but I don’t want to feel too confident,” she said.

“I’m comfortable.”

In addition to her early application to St. Mary’s, she submitted California State University applications to the Fullerton, Northridge and San

illustration by Melissa Gertler

Luis Obispo campuses.

Alexis is happy with her grades right now.

“I think being able to drop history and foreign language, and double up on science and math has allowed me to do better,” she said.

Now that her school sport season is over, she has resumed training with her club team, which she said is more of a time commitment. She is taking her club season seriously, as she may get recruited by other schools in the coming months.

Carter the Brain: Carter* finds out whether he is accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Early Action, tomorrow at 6 p.m.

“I will probably check [at] the exact moment it comes out,” he said.

He admits he is feeling the stress of those who have recently learned their admissions fate.

“Thinking about the early decisions results fills almost every moment,” he said.

In addition to his MIT application, Carter has submitted applications to four University of California campuses: Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine.

“Honestly, I still have a lot of work

to do,” he said. “I pushed the [MIT] Early Application way too close. I should have started sooner.”

He plans on dedicating his winter break to applications.

“It’s not a good time to work on applications right now, since there are a lot of tests before winter break,” he said.

He has 11 more applications to complete, most of which use the Common Application.

“I think it’s important I work on my Common App. essay,” he said. “I’m still getting feedback on [it].”

Carter admits that he will probably work on applications up until their deadlines.

“Not because of procrastination,” he said. “But because I know there’s always more work I can do. The second round of applications is my last chance. I don’t want to shortchange myself by turning in something that may not be as polished as it could be.”

Acceptance to MIT will not end Carter’s college application work. As of now, he believes he will still apply to Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University and California Institute of Technology. * names have been changed

Dec. 15, 2010

B9 A&E

The

Chronicle

Advanced Dance I hosts ARC outreach concerts

By Mariel Brunman

and

Jamie Chang

An ocean-themed Advanced Dance I outreach concert benefitting special needs organizations will take place tonight at 7 p.m. in the dance studio.

“The movement and music for each dance is inspired by different sea creatures,” Liza Wohlberg ’13 said.

The show follows Beanie-Feldstein ’11, who plays a lifeguard, on an adventure with her friend Fiona the Fish, played by Hannah Zipperman ’12. Fiona the Fish guides Feldstein through the ocean where she experiences the life of the sea creatures.

“Some are happy, some are more mysteri-

ous,” Wohlberg said.

The show was choreographed by students with the help of Advanced Dance I and II teacher Cyndy Winter. The dancers produced the show for the ARC (Activities for Retarded Children and Adults) Organization.

Jennifer Davis, the Activities Coordinator for the ARC, recently spoke to members of the Advanced Dance I about the organization and its mission. Advanced Dance I performed on Dec. 10 in the dance room for ARC. “It was a great experience dancing for ARC,” Nicolena Farias-Eisner ’13 said. “They are all so warm and friendly and bring everyone joy. It was a unique opportunity that I will never forget.”

Photos Reprinted with permission of Elana zeltser

we got the beat: The Advanced Dance I perform for the ARC (Activities for the Retarded Children and Adults), top, Gabriella Franchina ’13 and Abby Sandler’13 perform an arabesque, bottom.

Alums to compete for dance award

By Vivien Mao

Photos Reprinted with permission of Lida Mazina

we got the POINt: Lida Mazina ’13 (far left) dances with friends in her Nutcracker production. The production will be produced and performed by the Ballet Arts studio at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks.

The Nutcracker en pointe

By Allana Rivera Three sophomores have been performing this holiday season in outside productions of The Nutcracker. The ballet is a light-hearted story of the dreams of a young girl in 19th century Russia on Christmas Eve. It is a fantastical tale of gingerbread-eating mice, snowflakes that come alive and a land of dancing confections. Nicolena Farias-Eisner ’13, Lida Mazina ’13 and Rachel Schwartz ’13 take part as ballerinas.

Schwartz dances for Westside Ballet, a Santa Monica studio which holds their yearly Nutcracker production at Wadsworth Theatre in West Los Angeles.

Mazina attends Ballet Arts in Westside Village, and this year is performing at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks.

Farias-Eisner dances for Marat Daukayev School of Ballet in Los Angeles, and is performing at the Japan America Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

“From the beginning of September to the beginning of December my whole life is taken up by ballet, and as [the production] gets closer, [rehearsals] get

more intense,” Schwartz said.

There are over six major dances in the show, all of which include ballerinas and danseurs [French for the male equivalent of a ballerina] dressed in sparkling costumes and dancing to Tchaikovsky’s score.

“I can’t name one costume that doesn’t have any rhinestones,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said on the score, “It’s so beautiful. It feels like the holiday whenever I hear it.”

The work load, however, is not so glamorous, she said.

“It’s really tiring and painful when you have to be on point for six hours,” Schwartz said.

“En pointe,” is a classic ballet technique which requires dancers to be on their toes for extended periods of time with only their pointe shoes to help them.

The shoes enable dancers to appear weightless, though it does take a considerable amount of work for a dancer to be ready for this technique.

“Even though it may seem tedious it’s actually really exciting,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz’s and Mazina’s Nutcracker performances are planned to end shortly before Christmas.

Matthew Krumpe ’08 and Lili Fuller ’05 have been nominated for an “Ovation Award” for their work in the dance show, NeverWonderLand, put on by the Boom Kat Dance Theatre and Ensemble Dance Theatre Company. They will compete with seven other dance shows at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the Cabrillo Music Theater and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

“I was at work and went to my phone and I had about 25 missed calls and texts of people telling me congratulations and I didn’t even know what it was.

I didn’t even know we were eligible to be nominated,” Krumpe said, “We’ve done at least 45 shows and we don’t get paid, so it’s a total validation to be nominated.”

“NeverWonderLand” is on the Lewis Carroll novel, “Alice in Wonderland”, and the novel Peter Pan,

by J.M. Barrie. The story is a spin-off of both fantasy worlds as they clash together. It was choreographed

by Krumpe, Fuller and two others and is their debut show. The show was nominated for Best Choreography and Best Lighting Design by the L.A Stage Alliance’s Ovation awards.

Krumpe portrayed The Mad Hatter, and Fuller portrayed Alice, the main character. Fuller was also the artistic director, costume designer and one of the founders of the show. Another alumna, Amanda Giuliano ’09, also performs in the show as Tink.

Krumpe has returned to Harvard-Westlake to produce the dance concert for Advanced Dance II. He has produced the show twice before.

“I knew that I wanted to be a performer even though people told me it wasn’t a stable career like a doctor or lawyer,” said Krumpe. “But I wanted to do what my passion was even if it was going to be hard.

I try to reiterate that when I teach.”

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B10 A&E

Dec. 15, 2010

The

Chronicle

inbrief Senior performs in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Beanie Feldstein ’11 performed as an elf in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York for the Office Max Elves Raise the Roof float. Her theater camp, Stagedoor Manor, offered her the opportunity when Office Max asked the whole camp to be a part of their float.

She walked with the float for the entire length of the parade, singing, waving and dancing in an elf costume. Once the float reached Macy’s, the group sang “I Need a Little Christmas.”

“I was incredibly excited when I found out that I was performing, let alone in an elf costume,” Feldstein said.

—Vivien Mao

Art of Dance I & II perform combined show The Art of Dance I and the Art of Dance II classes performed in the dance studio Dec. 14 for their combined showcase. The dances from their performance were created based on in-class assignments and also on the students’ own ideas, with help from dance teacher Katie Lowry ’99.

“It was an equal balance. Our teacher choreographed a little and helped in the process, but students did a lot too,” Erin Pindus ’13 said.

“It was great to work with everybody and to express yourself creatively. It’s fun to work with your friends.”

Although they have been working on their dances since the beginning of the year, it was only until the past month that students began rehearsing for the show. Rehearsal is mostly in class, but both classes also had one after school rehearsal.

“A lot of us also come in to work during free periods,” Conor Cook ’13 said.

“I have really enjoyed choreographing dances this year,” Cook said. “It’s a lot of fun seeing a piece come together and be ready for the showcase.”

—Claire Hong

winter blues All 3 upper school jazz ensembles played together for the first time, filling Rugby Auditorium with the harmonious sounds of soft notes and improvisation.

By Maggie Bunzel

Chamber Singers, Bel Canto perform at festival Thirty Chamber Singers and 40 Bel Canto girls sang at the College of the Canyons Invitational High School Festival in Santa Clarita on Nov. 23.

Nine other high school choirs and two community college choirs also performed in the festival, where they were able to hear other great choirs and receive comments from Dr. Joseph Modica of University of Southern California.

“Both choirs performed beautifully. The Chamber Singers are quite spectacular this year, so I am always confident that they will ‘wow’ the audience. Bel Canto sang marvelously as well. They have improved dramatically from the beginning of the year,” Choral Director Roger Guerrero said.

The festival was the first concert performance of the year for both Bel Canto and Chamber Singers, preparing them for their Winter Concert on Dec. 11. Bel Canto performed “African Procession” (with solos by Halle Levitt ’12 and Chanell Thomas ’13), “I saw Three Ships,” “Sing a New Song to the Lord,” and “S’Vivon.”

Chamber Singers performed “Psalm 117,” “Venezuelan Carol,” “Clap your Hands,” and “Good Ale.” —Cherish Molezion

Photos by Chloe LIster

in rhythm: Maguire Parsons ’11 focuses on guitar solo (top). Jonathan Wachter ’11 performs on the piano (above). Eli Kogan ’13, Parker Thomas ’12 and Bradley Ho ’12 play a set together (right).

The upper school Jazz Concert, held in Rugby Auditorium on Dec. 4, featured an ensemble of musicians performing famous jazz pieces.

Led by performing arts instructor Shawn Costantino, the ensemble played four pieces for the concert, “Beat It,” “Blues for the Monarch,” “Getting Good News” and “September.”

There are 17 students in the ensemble. All of the sophomores had to audition in June of last year to determine which ensemble they would be placed in. The jazz ensemble consists of a variety of instruments such as drums, guitar, trumpet, bass, piano and saxophone.

“We’ve been preparing for the concert I suppose since we got the

first piece. I believe we got it in mid-September,” Connor Basich ’13, a trumpet and clarinet player in the ensemble, said.

In class meetings they performed a short piece as a teaser for last Saturday’s concert. There was no direct theme for the concert, just mixed pieces from various artists. “[Costantino] decided to do a Michael Jackson song for each band, which is the closest it got to being themed,” Basich said.

The concert featured the jazz band with smaller groups, which played shorter songs.

“Jazz is a great class. It’s low stress, we have a lot of fun, and Mr. Costantino is very lax. It’s an awesome class for anyone interested in music, and I would suggest people to audition for it,” Basich said.

Former track coach acts on popular television show

By Arielle Maxner Former assistant track coach Dot Jones plays Coach Shannon Beiste on the awardwinning Fox television show “Glee,” created by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy. Jones coached in the mid 90s for one season.

Coach Beiste is the most recent addition to the faculty at McKinley High. Bullied by other faculty members, Beiste befriends the Glee director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). In a recent episode, “Never Been Kissed,” Beiste admits she has never been kissed, leading Schuester to give her a kiss.

Jones started playing Beiste

in the second season of “Glee,” getting the role through a chance meeting with co-executive producer Brad Falchuk at Whole Foods. Two months later they called her agent and “asked my availability starting the middle of July because they were creating a character for me,” she said. Before joining the show, she knew nothing about her character.

Jones has also guest-starred on a number of other television programs, including “Desperate Housewives,” “Prison Break,” and “Nip/Tuck,” but portraying Coach Beiste is her biggest role to date. She is the 15-time World and six-time National arm-wrestling champion.

static.tvfanatic.com

underdog: Former assistant track coach Dot Jones portrays Coach Shannon Beiste on the television show “Glee.” Jones has participated in other guest-starring roles on shows such as “Desperate Housewives” and “Nip/Tuck.”

Dec. 15, 2010

A&E B11

The

Chronicle

Arielle Maxner/chronicle

Choral Cruising: the Wolverine Chorus and male members of the Chamber Singers let

loose, singing “Goyim Friends,” while Choral Director Rodger Guerrero stops conducting, choosing

all the

right notes

By Susan Wang Decked out in candles and evergreen wreaths, the Santa Monica First Presbyterian Church welcomed the upper school choirs, Chamber Singers, Bel Canto, Jazz Singers, and Wolverine Chorus last Saturday for the school’s annual Winter Choral Concert.

The title of this year’s concert was “Be Music, Night,” tying many of the songs together.

Students sang winter and holiday music consisting of Christmas, Hanukkah and African folk songs.

The night started off with a procession of glowing candles held by every member of the combined choirs. As each choir piled onto the stage, the first

to allow the choir to dance free style. He eventually walked off the stage, but the choirs kept singing.

The 4 upper school choirs took the stage with classic holiday songs at their annual winter concert.

sequence of melody was played.

The Bel Canto choir took the stage next, performing “African Processional,” a traditional African folk song full of rhythmic drum beats and other percussion instruments. The rest of the choir’s repertoire consisted of traditional Christmas songs such as “I Saw Three Ships.”

Following Bel Canto was an all male choir that sang two a capella numbers and a hushed rendition of “Coventry Carol.” In one of the a capella songs, “Goyim Friends,” which was a novelty song about Jews being jealous of Christians and the gifts they get for Christmas, the choir danced during the chorus, generating many laughs from the audience.

The Jazz Singers, accompanied by the Jazz Com-

bo, then sang familiar Christmas tunes, like “Silver Bells,” with jazzy twists.

During the intermission, the Jazz Combo performed two contemporary holiday-themed rhythm and blues pieces.

After, the Chamber Singers sang Christmas and Hanukkah folk songs. Karen Kim ’12 opened with “Psalm 117.”

A capella songs included holiday songs from foreign origins, such as South American “Venezuelan Carol” and the Hebrew-sung “Al Hanisim.” The Chamber Singers ended the concert with the upbeat medieval Europe-originated “Good Ale.” The Winter Choral Concert included performances from 85 students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

Orchestra plays in Rugby

By Justine Goode Rugby Auditorium was filled with melodies ranging from classic Gershwin to chamber music and from sleigh rides to swashbuckling pirates.

The combined efforts of the Symphony Orchestra, Concert Strings, Wind Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble, conducted by musical director Mark Hilt, culminated in a Winter Orchestra Concert that drew inspiration from both classical and modern composers.

The Wind Ensemble opened the show by performing older, more traditional pieces, followed by the Concert Strings, who were accompanied on some songs by members of the

Symphony Orchestra.

Percussion Ensemble then performed two songs, the first called “A Study in 5/8,” a rhythm which Hilt described as “a dog with three legs.”

All the ensembles joined the Symphony Orchestra onstage to play the final three pieces. One of the songs, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” had been suggested to Hilt by the students.

The concert ended with a rendition of the holiday tune “Sleigh Ride,” which Hilt says will become a tradition “It went really well, especially considering that we were not doing that great during our last rehearsals,” Jay Kleinbart ’12, who played with both the Percussion Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, said.

Cross-campus clinic prepares male singers for vocal program

By Megan Ward

Chloe Lister/chronicle

Harmonic: Daniel Bai ’12 plays his cello with the orchestra ensemble.

Women’s Choir to perform at SAVC festival

By Lara Sokoloff After a three year hiatus, the Women’s Choir will perform together this year at the Southern California Vocal Association Choir Festival in March, middle school performing arts department chair and choral director Nina Burtchaell said.

In its last performance together at the 2007 SAVC Choir Festival, the Women’s Choir earned a superior rating, Burtchaell said.

“It was great and wonderful and we all loved it,” she said.

Due to the success of the women’s choir, Burtchaell and Guerrero decided to create a men’s choir. However, there is not enough room in the schedule for both choirs to perform.

Thus, the following year, only the men’s choir performed in the festival and also earned a superior rating,

Burtchaell said.

“We’ve always been trying to build the boys’ program so that it was more equal with the great women’s program that we have,” Burtchaell said. “So we decided to concentrate on that for a couple of years, and get the boys’ singing program up to speed.”

Feeling that they have accomplished their goal, they have decided to reinstate the women’s choir, Burtchaell said.

Due to lack of space on the stage, the seventh grade girls were unable to participate in the festival. However, if all boys were able to take part in the past few years, all girls should be as well, she said.

In order to adequately prepare, the chorus will rehearse together three times. One rehearsal will take place at the Upper School and one

will take place at the Middle School, in addition to a final rehearsal the day of the festival, Burtchaell said.

The joint choir allows for an exchange between the older and younger female singers. It gives the middle school girls a chance to see and get a feel for the Upper School, and the upper school girls to see the new campus and be with the younger kids, Burtchaell said.

The older girls also serve as role models for the younger singers, she said. It is also important for the older, more experienced singers to be the ones modeling and to take an interest in the younger choirs.

“Choral singing is such a camaraderie,” Burtchaell said. “We all do it because we love it, and the more of us who are doing what we love together, the happier and more fulfilling it is.”

More than 60 male singers from both campuses gathered in the upper school choral room on Nov. 22 for the ninth annual “For Men Only” Choral Clinic.

Upper school Choral Director Nathanson’s/Chronicle Rodger Guerrero, Nina Burtchaell and middle school Choral Director, Nina Burtchaell, began the hour and a half program with a warm up which was “playful and took me back to my middle school days,” Chamber Singer Ben Platt ’11 said.

The group proceeded to dive right into learning and rehearsing two pieces, one of which will be accompanied by members of the Middle School Symphony Orchestra at the Middle School Winter Choral Concert tomorrow night.

“It’s really beneficial for the younger boys to see where they are going to go and to hear the changed voices of the older singers, as well as the older students remembering where they came from,” Guerrero said.

Jack Usher ’11 remembers his previous experience at the clinic.

“I remember as a seventh grader how fun it was to sing with older kids and what I looked forward to do when I got to the Upper School,” Usher said.

The combined choir held another rehearsal Monday at the middle school to prepare for the concert and participated in a teaser performance this morning.

“It’s nice to see where the future of the choral program will be,” Platt said. “We know now it is in good hands.”

Chronicle

The

B12 Features

Dec. 15, 2010

Nature boys Outdoor activities, such as hiking, fishing and cliff diving, are ways for students to step out of city life.

Printed with permission of Mitchell Oei

By Olivia Kwitny Stumbling upon a crevice in the mountain, where he can bury his scratched right hand, Roy Murdock ’11 uses every inch of muscle to swing himself onto the peak of the cliff. In a matter of seconds, all of the hard work of climbing the mountain becomes worth the 1.5 seconds of an adrenaline rush. Three, two, one — Murdock leaps off the cliff, and 30 feet later, plunges into the lake. Stroking his arms through the water, Murdock plops up alongside Raphael Osorio ’11 and Robert Vega ’11.

This last summer, the three campers spent three days at Lake Isabella, along with Murdock’s dog, Bigfoot.

“While we were sitting by the fire, I realized Bigfoot wasn’t around,” Murdock said. “When I turned to my left, Bigfoot had a diamondback viper in his mouth.”

When they weren’t cliff diving or night fishing, Murdock, Osorio and Vega restored their energy by eating pancakes and eggs for breakfast and freshly grilled burger patties, charcoaled hot dogs and smores for dinner.

“It’s a way of getting away from the routine city life, with everything meticulously planned,” Osorio said.

Inspired by the simple life, they decided to create a club “where the only thing you have to worry about is what you’re going to eat.”

“We want the members to experience nature—not just sit at home,” Vega said.

One hundred and seventy Facebook members and over 160 shirt orders later, The Country Gentlefolk Club, alongside its three co-founders, predicts increased activity during the second semester — camping out at school for a night, grill sessions during the school days and storm hunting with science teacher Dietrich Schuhl.

“We made this club because we felt Harvard-Westlake lacked a natural and wild experience,” Murdock said.

The Country Gentlefolk Club has started planning small hikes with Haley Lucitt ’11 in Temescal Canyon.

“Hiking gives me a chance to appreciate the beauty of the world we live in. I feel that in Los Angeles, we don’t get to experience nature on a daily basis, so I like to put in the extra effort to go hiking and being in nature,” Lucitt said.

Mitchell Oei ’11, one of the club’s members, also appreciates the outdoor environment.

“When you’re on top of a snow top mountain, it is truly humbling,” he said.

Murdock, Osorio and Vega, however, are not the only Harvard-Westlake students who trek through Temescal Canyon.

After their last class of the day finishes, Adam Bailey ’11 and Riley Guerin ’11 throw their backpacks into the back seat of their cars, secure their bikes in their trunk and set out for an afternoon adventure.

“The most fun I’ve had in the mountains has been jumping 80 foot cliffs on the Kaweah River in the Southern Sierras,” Bailey said.

Some of their activities include mountain biking up Kenter Canyon Road, rock climbing in Malibu, ocean fishing off Dockweiler and hiking in Temescal Canyon or the Highlands at least once a week.

“At the end of last year, we were going at least four times a week,” Guerin said.

Being in nature is not a new hobby for Guerin.

“I used to work on a ranch in Park City, Utah, riding horses throughout the mountains,” Guerin said.

This summer, Bailey and Guerin took three of their classmates, Josh Lerner ’11, Max Olshansky ’11 and Nicolai Sisteron ’11 backpacking through the Sierra Nevadas for three nights and four days.

“One night, the skies opened up on us,” Guerin said.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t realize until that moment that our tents weren’t water proof.”

Outside the city: Alex Siegel ’11, Raphael Osorio ’11, Roy Murdock ’11, Patrick Edwards ’11 and Mitchell Oei ’11 stand atop Temescal Canyon.

Printed with permission of Mitchell Oei

ready to fish: Roy Murdock ’11 and Raphael Osorio ’11 hold a fishing pole.

Printed with permission of Adam Bailey

gone fishing: Adam Bailey ’11 and Riley Guerin ’11 hold a shark that they caught on their fishing trip.

ports S the

Crossing into greatness Alex Leichenger predicts that cross country is only in the beginning stages of what will become a long-term dynasty.

Chronicle Volume XX Issue V Dec. 15, 2010

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Cross country teams place in state meet

By Julius Pak

Alex Leichenger/chronicle

Sidelined: Nicky Firestone ’11, Shawn Ma ’11 and Zena Edosomwan ’11 are out with injuries, and Danilo Dragovic ’11 is awaiting a ruling on his eligibility appeal. Derick Newton ’14 is also sidelined by an injury.

Boys’ basketball fights injuries

By Judd Liebman

Alex Leichenger/chronicle

Baptism by Fire: Just two weeks after being called up from the freshman team, Michael Sheng ’14 has been forced into a starting role by injuries to two starters. Sheng had 14 points against Taft Saturday.

Despite being plagued by injuries, the boys’ basketball team took third place in the Pacific Shores tournament and lost to valley rival Taft High School by 14 on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The Wolverines started strong and executed a new game plan against the Taft Toreadors, Head Coach Greg Hilliard said. The Wolverines were up by two at the end of the first quarter, and the team’s new zone defense kept Taft close, as the Wolverines were only down by six at half time, but the short-handed team was unable to stay close as Taft pulled away. In the third quarter, Taft went on an 18-0 scoring run.

On offense, the team was told to disregard any chance of an offensive rebound to ensure that Taft’s fast break offense was held at bay because Taft scores at least half of their points on transition offense, Hilliard said.

The Wolverines currently have five players unable to play including shooting guard Danilo Dragovic ’11 (due to CIF ineligibility), forward Shawn Ma ’11, center Zena Edosomwan ’12, point guard Nick Firesee Boys’ Basketball, C5

Dragovic appeal ruling expected soon

By Alex Leichenger A ruling on the appeal filed by boys’ basketball player Danilo Dragovic ’11 against CIF is expected to come next Monday at the latest. Dragovic had a hearing Nov. 29 after CIF ruled him ineligible for the second year in a row because he did not qualify for a hardship waiver.

Dragovic had no choice but to transfer to a private school from San Marcos High because his F-1 visa only allowed him to attend public school in the United States for one year, Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said.

Dragovic said that he did not learn of his visa status until the end of his first semester at San Marcos.

Dragovic would have been eli-

The boys’ cross country team placed second in the state championship and, for the first time, won CIF Finals.

Despite running in the shadow of the girls’ team for most of the season, the boys’ team was able to rise from fifth place finishes at league matches at the beginning of the season to a runner-up finish at league finals.

The girls’ cross country team, last year’s Division IV state champion, was unable to reclaim its title and placed fourth in state.

“The girls had some adversity in the form of injuries this season and then some untimely illness up at state, yet performed very well nonetheless,” Head Coach Tim Sharpe said.

At the Division IV state championship at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Nov. 27, the boys’ team defeated all of its usual competitors in the CIF Southern Section but lost to the North Coast Section’s champion, San Rafael, by a mere ten points, 130-140.

The Wolverines’ aggregate time of the scoring runners was 1:22:38. San Rafael’s collective time was 1:22:31.

San Rafael’s lap split time was only one second ahead of the Wolverines’.

Kevin On ’11 led the boys’ team, placing 13th overall.

Last year, the boys’ team finished fifth.

Cami Chapus ’12 finished first out of the 188 runners in Division IV. Chapus pulled ahead in the last 800 meters to defeat JSerra’s Kat Delaney by three seconds.

“I just decided to go… And I was thinking ‘I’ve worked too hard to just give up and I just went and hoped that they wouldn’t go with me. I just went and didn’t look back,” Chapus said.

Chapus, who took first place at state last year as well, is only the third girl to repeat as state champion in the 21 years that Division IV has existed. She is the first to do so since 2000.

“It’s a great feeling to have been able to accomplish it twice. Not many people get the chance to be a double state champ. I’m really glad I have the support from my team and the support from my family to help me achieve that,” Chapus said.

The girls were defeated by JSerra (75), La Reina (147), and Flintridge Sacred Heart (183), who they had easily defeated earlier in the season. The Wolverines had 186 points.

At the CIF Division IV championship at a rainy Mt. San Antonio College, the top-ranked boys’ team defeated Notre Dame, who had defeated the Wolverines at the league cluster matches 80-117, to take home their first CIF title.

Kevin On ’11, who finished 5th overall, was the top finisher for the Wolverines, with a course time of 16:34, an improvement of four seconds from last year’s time.

“The boys are a solid bunch in their own right, and acheived their success the old fashioned way: hard work, dedication to doing all things large and small, and overcoming adversity. Key individuals rose up and came together as a team at the right time to make a great run in the post season,” Sharpe said.

gible to play this year if “I’ve worked hard, he had not played JV last and I really love the year. He said that San game of basketball.

Marcos’ athletic director I came to this school cleared him to play JV because of its very basketball knowing that strong academics… he would have to switch That’s why I came to schools as a senior. here from Serbia, beBarzdukas said that cause I wanted to get he expected CIF to make a better education.

Nathanson ’s an exception for DraAnd basketball’s also Danilo govic because of such one of my passions…I Dragovic ’11 “unique circumstances,” just want to play, and including his lack of unI’m just waiting for derstanding of CIF rules coming the approval.” from another country. Dragovic’s If the CIF ruling is upheld and attorney, Keith Gregory, empha- Dragovic is forced to sit out the sized that point in the appeal season, he cannot be held back hearing. Dragovic will most likely for another year at Harvardsue CIF in court if the ruling is Westlake because he will have not overturned, Gregory said. exhausted his eight semesters of “It is my senior year and my high school eligibility by the end time has come,” Dragovic said. of this year, Barzdukas said.

INSIDE Fateh’s Future:

Even after a successful senior season, wide receiver Noor Fateh ’11 has yet to commit.

C3

Dual Athlete:

Varsity basketball Head Coach Greg Hilliard played professional tennis on the Satellite Tour.

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C2 Sports

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Chronicle

Facts

& Figures

3 5 11 26 81

Number of Division IV runners who have repeated as cross country state champions in California, the most recent being Cami Chapus ’12.

Number of varsity boys’ basketball players who are currently unable to play.

Five are sidelined with injuries, including starting center Zena Edosomwan ’12.

Danilo Dragovic ’11 is ineligible.

Goals scored by JV boys’ soccer in a pre-season rout of Oaks Christian on Nov. 23.

The number of points the Varsity equestrian team scored over the second place team in its meet. It was the closest team to perfection, scoring 217 points

Record number of students who signed up for track and field training this year.

This Month in Wolverine History

Dec. 15 , 2010

Cross country is here for the long run Alex Leichenger Five years ago, Head Coach Tim Sharpe had a quiet confidence that cross country could develop into a dynasty at Harvard-Westlake. But at the time, the reality seemed to indicate otherwise.

In Sharpe’s first stint at the school from 2003 to 2005, there were standout runners like Lindsay Flacks ’03 and Jared Bell ’05, but cross country was more a recreational sport than a competitive one.

Neither the girls’ nor boys’ team had ever been to the state meet before 2008. As Track & Field Head Coach and Cross Country Program Head Jonas Koolsbergen said, reaching the state meet was like reaching the Olympics when he was a runner at Harvard School. There simply hadn’t been a tradition of excellence established in the cross country program.

Sharpe came from a different background, and perhaps that’s what made him a dreamer at the time.

“When I was in high school I was part of a team where we were in the top 10 every year, and when you got on that program you felt a certain pressure,” Sharpe said. “But it wasn’t really pressure, there’s a pride in living up to those expectations, that tradition. And I think we’re starting to get to that point [at HarvardWestlake] where maybe [runners] can come to the program and just feel a little pride. And the expectations now are just different.”

The boys’ team has been to the state in all three years since 2008 and the girls’ team has won a state championship. A tradition of success has been imbued in the program.

There have been growing pains, but runners have ultimately bought in to Sharpe’s plan.

“The weekly mileage has gone up significantly across the program, the summer commitment has gone up significantly across the program, and I think that as the demands and expectations have gone up, that’s proved attractive to our community,” Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said.

More people than ever are signing up to run, and that means more diamonds in the rough are being unearthed, like David Manahan ’14, the boys’ fifth man at the state meet.

Sharpe said that Manahan was completely new to distance running before this summer’s August training in Big Bear. In a matter of weeks, Manahan was already showing the potential to be as dominant as Bell by the time he is a senior.

When Charlie Stigler ’11, this year’s fourth man, was in eighth grade, he could barely run two miles in less than 20 minutes. Just four

Mary Rose Fissinger/chronicle

Going for the goal: Charlie Stigler ’11 (left) and David Manahan ’13 (right) run in their CIF meet on Nov. 20 at a rainy Mt. SAC. years later, he was running three miles in 16:55 at state finals.

In cross country, surprise stars like Manahan and Stigler come around much more often than they do in say, basketball or baseball.

A person might play basketball every day for 15 years, but still be unable to even break into the starting lineup because he or she simply isn’t tall or quick enough. You can play baseball for 15 years and still not be able to hit an offspeed pitch.

But with running, there are really not many variables. You just run.

As Barzdukas said, “it’s the original human sport.”

Sure, not everyone can become Cami Chapus ’12 simply by working hard, but it is possible to become a solid varsity runner even without extraordinary god-given talent.

“I think that kids at Harvard-Westlake embrace work,” Barzdukas said. “And cross country is a very pure sport. It’s the sport of truth.

What you put in is what you get out.”

As more and more kids accept the challenge of 70-mile weeks, the strength of the cross country program will only continue to grow.

game of themonth Fencer places 2nd

basketball in Austrian contest

VS. XXXXXX Matt Hersch/vox archives

Diving For the Dig: Lesley Coben ‘96 sprawls to dig a ball in the game winning play, in the 1995 girls’ volleyball CIF championship game.

December 1995

By Micah Sperling The girls’ varsity volleyball team sweeps Del Mar High School to win Harvard-Westlake’s first ever Div. III state championship in the sport. The team finished with a 28-1 record, the Mission League championship, and the CIF Southern Section Div. II title. Over the course of their season, in which they lost only one match, they dropped a total of only five games. Setter Jenni Kriste was named the State Div. III and All-CIF MVP. The Wolverines won their first state title after having lost to Bakersfield in the quarterfinals the previous season. The coach at the time, Jesse Quiroz, was named CIF Div. II Coach of the Year in 1995.

The team’s win ended up causing controversy, as school was cancelled Jan. 31 for “Volleyball Appreciation Day.”

when Friday, Jan. 14 where Taper Gym In one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season, rivals Loyola and Harvard-Westlake face off again with completely different line ups.

Both teams are coping without key players due to injuries but through all the obstacles, the rivalry is still alive.

The Cubs are back for revenge after being swept last year by the Wolverines. Watch for key matchups between guards Julian Harell and Josh Hearlihy ’12 as they go head-to-head.

Raymond Schorr ’13 won second place in an international fencing tournament in Austria over the weekend of Oct. 30.

Schorr, who has been fencing in the épée style of fencing for five years, is the number one ranked fencer in the nation for his age Nathanson ’s group this season, though Raymond Schorr he is ranked third overall.

“Competing internationally is really nervewracking and intense, much more so than competing in America,” Schorr said. “I’d been training every day for a month beforehand.”

Schorr currently fences at the SWORDS Fencing Studio, the largest fencing club in California and is coached by SWORDS founder Tigran Shaginian, a four-time Russian national champion and a member of the Soviet delegation to the 1984 Goodwill Games Pentathlon.

Other than his recent competition in Austria, Schorr has also fenced in France and Sweden.

Schorr may be elected to the national fencing team, his mother Shu-mei Shih said, and will find out in late February whether or not he will be chosen to compete in the Fencing World Championships in Jordan this April.

—Michael Sugerman

Dec. 15, 2010

Sports C3

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Chronicle

What’s next for Fateh?

By David Burton Noor Fateh ’11 solemnly drags his feet along the arch of the red rubber track that encircles Ted Slavin Field. Two massive bags are slumped over his shoulders as he lethargically makes his way to the storage bin behind the opposing team’s bleachers. It is a cold and brittle November day; the leaves are changing their dark green color and accepting new radiating colors of yellow, orange and magenta. Fateh glances across the green turf, up the stone bleachers and at the grandiose buildings that lift the campus into the sky. He is not ready to let go.

Fateh is finally at the storage bin, and with a somber nod to Miguel Acevedo, the equipment manager, he reaches into his overstuffed bag and pulls out his shoulder pads, leg pads and helmet. He looks across the field before handing his gear over and can still see the friday night lights, the sea of red and black filling the stands, the sounds of a battle, the smell of the turf, the rough but friendly leather of the football, the….BANG!! Acevedo shuts the storage bin door, bringing Fateh back to reality.

“I can’t believe that it’s over, this football season was so much for me and my teammates,” Fateh said with a sigh. “Even though we did not have the explosive success that we all wanted, we all bonded into a brotherhood throughout the season. It’s just tough to let go.”

After seeing limited playing time throughout his junior campaign, Fateh had a productive season in which he recorded 70 receptions, 13 touchdowns, 1036 receiving yards and 440 return yards. Despite his stellar performance senior year, he has not received the same college recruiting buzz as quarterback Max Heltzer ’11 or standout kicker Will Oliver ’11.

“I haven’t gotten many looks from colleges because I am a bit undersized,” Fateh said, “I work hard and I’m just humbled by the opportunity to play football.

It is what I love.”

Head Coach Vic Eumont agrees that his top senior receiver, sporting a 5-foot, 10-inch, 165-pound frame, is undersized compared to other prototypical college football recruits, but notes that there are many aspects to Fateh’s game that makes him a valuable addition to a team. His speed helps him run sharp routes and get past defenders for extra yardage after th catch.

“Without a doubt he is an aggressive player, and his stats prove his skill set,” teammate and running

chloe lister/chronicle

Taking a breather: Noor Fateh ’11 watches the game from the sidelines in a game against Fairfax.

Even though he contributed greatly to the team this season with his receptions, Fateh has been lightly recruited. back Jamias Jones ’12 said.

Fateh’s playing style is reminiscent of a young Wes Welker; he is undersized and underestimated but has a keen ability to break through defense for large gains. KCAL 9 highlighted Fateh for his performance against Chaminade Oct. 15, when he had 10 receptions for 216 yards and two touchdowns. One of the highlights of the game was a 76-yard connection from Heltzer to Fateh.

Like most high school recruits looking for college exposure, Fateh has used this video footage from KCAL 9 and has also compiled game film into a highlight reel to send off to colleges.

“I have sent my highlight tape to a lot of colleges, some realistic, some not,” Fateh said. “It’s always worth a try.”

Although he has sent his film to the University of Southern California, the University of California in Los Angeles and the University of Florida, Fateh’s highest bids are on Division III schools. He is most interested in Wesleyan, Georgetown and Division I Lehigh University.

“My family has always stressed academics, so I am

looking for a college where I can get a great education and at the same time be in the running for some playing time,” Fateh said.

Not receiving one college letter or call during his junior season, Fateh was motivated to work hard during the offseason and earn a college scholarship offer.

“I had to give it all that I had for the team, any successes that I might have had, I owe to my teammates and coaches,” Fateh said.

As a two-sport athlete, Fateh is entering the premature stages of the basketball season.

“We have a lot of talent on the team, I am just trying to find my niche and contribute to the team in any way I can, “ Fateh said. “I will always be able to bring toughness and intensity to the court.”

Although he is now switching his mind to basketball, Fateh is still receiving interest from some schools for football and is looking to commit soon.

“Although this is a tough process, it is really comforting to know that I have the support of my teammates, friends and family. They push me to be the best that I can be,” Fateh said, “I owe them.”

Alum organizes college commitment ceremony for senior basketball star

By Alex Leichenger At 2:50 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12, Damiene Cain ’11 knew which college hat he was going to don in front of 80 spectators at Sportsmen’s Lodge.

Host Megan Ward ’13 knew what questions she was going to ask Cain before and after he announced his commitment choice.

But Jack Davis ’10, founder and CEO of CaliHighSports.com, was panicking that Cain’s announcement and Ward’s questions would fail to reach any of the intended viewers outside of the Sportsmen’s Lodge ballroom. The centerpiece of Davis’ plans, a live stream of the vid-

eo with a section for comments, failed in its 1:30 test run.

For more than an hour, Davis was “going crazy” trying to fix the system, with dread progressively building that there would be no live stream as advertised and that he would simply have to post the video after the ceremony. Finally, with 20 minutes to go before the 3:15 event, the platform had been successfully rebuilt, and Davis breathed a giant sigh of relief.

In what Davis deemed a more personalized version of the college commitment announcements of high school football players on ESPN and Fox Sports, Cain sat at a table next

Printed with permission of jack davis

On air: Damiene Cain ’11 sits with his family while Megan Ward ’13 asks questions about the recruitment process during Cain’s college commitment broadcast.

to his father, mother and stepmother, with hats of six different schools he had considered placed in front of him.

After fielding questions from Ward, he looked at all the hats one more time before making his choice.

Cain did the equivalent of a pump fake on his college selection, first picking up the Boston College hat and appearing to make the Eagles his choice.

But right before he put the hat on his head, he set it back down, grabbed the University of Colorado hat and nodded approvingly as he fit it on his head.

The spectators at Sportsmen’s Lodge, many of whom are Cain’s teammates on the boys’ basketball team, rose and applauded as Cain and his parents grinned in triumph. The star basketball lengthy recruitment process reached its grand finale, with Cain officially becoming a Colorado Buffalo.

Later, Davis learned that some 9,305 people in seven different countries had viewed the five-and-a-half minute video of Cain’s announcement on CaliHighSports.com. Many Colorado fans posted comments of support for Cain.

Davis believed he accomplished not only a boon for his business, but provided Cain and his family with a reward for all the hard work that goes into being recruited by Division I schools.

Even better, it allowed his friends and supporters to celebrate the feat with him.

“People have a natural predilection to want to cheer on athletes in competition, and when you work so hard,

Printed With permission of Jack davis

joy: Damiene Cain ’11 (left) celebrates his college commitment with teammates Danilo Dragovic ’11, Shawn Ma ’11 and Daniel Iyayi ’11 (clockwise from left). as these athletes do to become Division I athletes, you want to be able to celebrate your accomplishments,” Davis said.

Davis plans to make commitment videos a regular feature on his website. During the football signing period in February, there will be ceremonies for nine athletes at seven Los Angeles schools. Davis had intended to host the Cain event in Taper Gymnasium, but he said that the school denied his request.

Davis chose Cain as the first athlete to commit live on his website because they knew each other from school and Davis considered Cain one of the top uncommitted basketball players by the time the live stream feature was ready.

Davis went to dinner with Cain and his family the night before the event.

“I kind of feel special,” Cain said. “I was the first one to do it, and I’ll always be the first one to do it. I had a lot of support from family and friends.”

Ward, who has a background in performing arts and broadcasting, was asked by Cali High Sports staffer Noor Fateh ’11 to host the ceremony.

Fall Sports

Wrap-up Four fall teams recently finished their seasons.

Three lost in the second round of CIF while one missed the playoffs entirely. Two went undefeated in league. A girls’ tennis doubles team won the league title and advanced to the CIF semifinals.

Girls’ volleyball League Record: 10-0 Overall Record: 25-3 CIF Run: 2nd Round

“

I’ve never been on a team who pulled The girls’ together as much volleyball team as this team.” went —Christina Higgins ’11 undefeated in league play despite Opposite Hitter

Boys’ water polo League Record: 5-3 Overall Record: 15-9 CIF Run: 2nd Round Fueled by a thrilling quadruple overtime Homecoming win, the boys’ water polo team managed to get to the 2nd round of CIF playoffs before losing to the top-ranked team in the state.

Girls’ tennis

League Record: 8-0 Overall Record: 12-5 CIF Run: 2nd Round

injuries to key players but was upset by Lakewood in the 2nd round of CIF playoffs.

Taylor Coon ’12 and Kei Goldberg ’12 advanced to the semifinals of CIF Individual Playoffs.

“

David Kolin/chronicle

Taylor Coon ’12

Daniel Kim/chronicle

last playoff run: Tiana Woolridge ’11 is one of volleyball’s graduating seniors that led the team to the playoffs.

Dec. 15, 2010

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The girls on the team really came together more than other years.”

—Alanna Klein ’11 Tennis player

“

Daniel Kim/chronicle

senior superstar: Kayj Shannon ’11 was a key leader for boys’ water polo this year.

WITH ANOTHER YEAR OF EXPERIENCE WE CAN GO ANYWHERE AND BEAT ANYONE” —Brian Graziano ’12

Water polo driver

Football

League Record: 0-5-0 Overall Record: 2-7-1 After a season plagued with injuries, the team went winless in league and could not close out games.

“

injuries forced us to Jamias Jones ’12 start a lot of younger guys. their game experience this year will help them next year.”

—Max Heltzer ’11 Quarterback

Daniel Kim/chronicle

Chapus runs 13th fastest at Nike Cross Nationals from Chapus, A1 nearly as bad as her siblings’ sickness.

In the few days before the state meet, Chapus had light workouts in order to conserve her energy. One day, Chapus’ entire workout was just to run four laps around the track.

The day of the meet, Chapus was under a lot of pressure because she was the defending champion.

“I basically had a huge target on my back,” Chapus said.

During the second mile of the race, Chapus was tripped, and at the end of that mile she was pushed into a fence, but she does not know whether these occurrences were intentional or not.

The girl that tripped Chapus during the second mile was only three seconds behind Chapus at the finish line.

After she crossed the finish line, Chapus collapsed.

“I was dizzy, and I was a little confused, so I asked the trainer if I had won,” Chapus said. “And she said, ‘No. You fell, and I think the girl passed you at the last second. She jumped over you.’ And I sat up and looked at her and thought, ‘I remember crossing that line first.’”

Chapus asked her teammates if she had won the race because she still had no idea.

“I was asking people, ‘I won, right?’”

Chapus said. “And finally somebody told me I did. And that was a relief for one, and it’s just the best feeling to have everything that you work hard for pay off.”

The day after she won the state meet, Chapus was invited to Nike Cross Nationals, a race that features the best five runners from each state.

Although she was planning on going to the national Foot Locker race, Chapus decided to go to Nike Cross Nationals instead because Nationals is a more exclusive race.

Since the California state meet is so late in the season, California runners have to choose between the two races because of scheduling issues. “[Nationals] was so different because the race was on a horse track, and they flooded it purposely to make it extra muddy and watery,” Chapus said. “They put hay bales to jump over, and they had man-made hills that were really small but really steep. They call it a real cross country course. Every step was just mud. We had to tape our shoes on, and we had to wear spikes.

We wound our way through it. There was mud everywhere. The first five steps I had mud in my face.”

Chapus was the last California qualifier because she had the slowest time of the five girls from California. Of those girls, she finished first in the race.

mary rose fissinger/chronicle

repeat champion: Cami Chapus ’12 runs the last 800m against JSerra’s Kat Delaney. Chapus finished three seconds before Delaney to reclaim her state title.

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Girls’ water polo wins first games

By David Kolin

Advancing with a 2-0 record after defeating El Rancho twice in a row, the girls’ water polo team hopes to win the Costa Mesa Winter Tournament that began yesterday. The team beat El Rancho 15-4 two weeks ago and 16-10 last week.

In order to prepare for games, the team works out six days a week with two-a-days all of those days except for Wednesday.

To help them prepare for the season, the girls practiced with the boys’ team over the summer, and most of the girls also play club water polo during the offseason. Ashley Grossman ’11 attributes a lot of her team’s success to the bonding that has occurred.

“This year we all get along very well in the pool.

We all know each other really well. We’ve played on club teams together, so I think our team chemistry is really good. I think we always need to work on defense because we’re a very offense oriented team,” she said.

This year they hope to vary their focus during practices to increase their chances for success.

“Some critiques of [last year’s] season were that we were actually in too good a shape for high school water polo…We weren’t as good as we could be playwise, like offense and defense. We did a little bit too much conditioning, but not enough playing and practicing,” Grossman said.

The team is recovering from the losses of several

Daniel Kim/chronicle

sweet revenge: Morgan Hallick ’13 winds up for a shot during a scrimmage against St. Lucy’s. Hallick scored, contributing to their 18-15 victory. The Wolverines lost to St. Lucy’s last year in the second round of CIF. players. It beat St. Lucy’s, the team it lost to in CIF, in their pre-season scrimmage match.

“We lost some seniors, and we don’t have some of our players returning, but the girls that we have are very dedicated and focused,” Head Coach Robert Lynn said.

Girls’ soccer defeats powerhouse, builds 4 game win streak

as to in of

Boys’ basketball starts season 3-2 from BASKETBALL, C1

By Judd Liebman The defending Division II CIF champions girls’ varsity soccer team has remained undefeated through five games. The team’s most recent win was against Division I Manhattan beach powerhouse Mira Costa.

The game ended 3-1.

The Wolverines were down at the half 1-0, despite controlling the ball, Head Coach Richard Simms said. A Mira Costa forward scored after the Wolverines were unable to clear the ball.

The deficit was the first time the Wolverines were challenged to catch up, as they have scored first in each of their five games.

“We were just lethargic in the first half,” Simms said. “We had to up our energy, we had to pressure higher up the field, and most of the second half was played in their half of the field.”

“There was never any panic when we fell behind.

We knew we could score goals,” he said.

The Wolverines started the second half off with much more intensity, Simms said. A higher energy level led to three unanswered Harvard-Westlake goals. Danielle Duhl ’12 scored one and Katie Speidel ’11 scored two.

Going into the Mira Costa game, the team was on a three game win streak. It had defeated Westlake, Valley rival Notre Dame and Oaks Christian.

Despite being short handed due to players’ other soccer commitments, the team currently has a 4-01 record. The Wolverines’ 1-1 tie came in their first game against Palisades Charter High School on the road.

“I thought our wins against Westlake and Notre Dame were solid wins for us,” defender Briana Nesbit ’12 said. “I thought our focus was definitely there and

The girls believe they will succeed in playoffs well.

“We are confident enough to say that we want and hopefully will win CIF. We are ranked first CIF for division four this year, and we have a lot good players,” Grossman said.

Daniel Kim/chronicle

Driving downfield: Midfielder Katie Golden ’12 dribbles around a defender during the team’s 6-1 victory over Oaks Christian last Friday at home. The team is undefeated so far this season. our defense was tough.”

On the team’s 22-player roster, there are only five new varsity members. The team’s depth is its strength early in the season, Simms said.

“We have 22 players that can all play on this varsity team, which is something we have never really had before, the depth like that,” Simms said.

The team’s league season starts on Jan. 5 when it plays its main rival Flintridge Sacred Heart.

stone ’11, and freshman phenom Derick Newton, a forward.

“We played really well even though we have lost some important guys,” forward Josh Hearlihy ’12 said.

Working around the injuries has been challenging for the Wolverines. “[The injured players] don’t get to participate because their injuries are serious,” Hilliard said. “They can only watch and watching doesn’t do it. If we can get them back in time to get them in basketball shape, we go from a very good team to better than that.”

“It is definitely a struggle to adapt to all of the injuries, especially because the [injured players] are a main part of the team,” Hearlihy said. “The injuries have made us play better together as a team.”

Starting 6’ 8” center Edosomwan hurt his ankle after landing on a teammate’s foot during practice.

He joins other potential starters on the sideline including international student Dragovic, who wasdeemed ineligible by CIF due to transfer rules. Dragovic, who plays a key role in the team’s offense, is appealing CIF’s ineligibility ruling. “[Losing Dragovic] takes a lot away from our team’s ability and our size and speed advantage,” Hearlihy said.

Michael Sheng ’14, who was brought up to varsity as a replacement for all of the injured players, and Jordan Butler ’11 have been running the point during the early tournament season. “[Sheng] has been bringing it up with Jordan Butler,” Hilliard said.

“With the two little guys out there we have ball handling but we give away a lot of size. The guards on these other teams are as quick and much more physical and stronger. They have done a very good job of holding their own and that’s why we have managed a couple of wins here early,” he said.

The team’s league season starts on Jan. 5, and it has three more tournaments before then.

Alumni hold annual Thanksgiving scrimmage

By Luke Holthouse

reprinted with permission of Daniel Linde

for old times’ sake: The Classes of 1992, 1997, and 2003 reunite on Thanksgiving for a football game.

The tradition started when they were kids. It’s lasted to where some of them are now raising kids. And it will last about as long as their knees do.

For a group of Harvard-Westlake alumni, no Thanksgiving is complete without football. The class of 2003 began playing football together before they even were at Harvard-Westlake when they were friends in elementary school. The class of 1992 has made the Pilgrim Bowl an annual tradition for the past seven years.

Daniel Linde ’92 organized the first Pilgrim Bowl as a fun way

to get together with his old classmates.

“We were looking for ways to see what we had left physically,” Linde said, “since we play every Thanksgiving we will know the exact year we get old.”

This year’s Pilgrim Bowl matched up the Pilgrims vs. the Indians featuring players from ’92 as well as ’94, ’95 and ’97 on both teams. The Pilgrims won in blowout fashion, beating the Indians by 13 touchdowns. The flag football game was hosted at the Westwood Recreation Center. The highlight of the game was Trevor Roth ’92 out jumping Dave Jurmain ’92, former var-

sity wide receiver on the football team, for a touchdown catch. “[Jurmain] made some great plays on both sides of the ball, so it must have personally been a shame for him, having his day overshadowed by Trevor’s grab,” Linde said.

The class of ’03 challenged the class of ’07 this year as well and lost 26-24.

Both classes hope to carry on the tradition for as long as they can.

“It was a fun day,. It was a lot of fun,” Zach Goren ’03 said. “We’re going to challenge the class of ’07 for next year’s game so that we can actually win.”

Dec. 15, 2010

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C6 Sports

quicktakes Alumni named to All-Ivy women’s volleyball team Cathryn Quinn ’08 was named to the AllIvy League women’s volleyball team. She will be joining Hillary Ford ’08 and Lydia Rudnick ’09, two former Wolverine volleyball players, who were also named to the team.

At Princeton, Quinn plays middle blocker and has started for the team even in freshman year averaging 2.49 kills per set. In 2009, she was ranked first on her team with the highest attack percentage (.274), second in total blocks and third in total kills. She helped the Princeton Tigers finish in third place in the league.

As a volleyball player for Harvard-Westlake in 2008, Quinn helped the team sweep the CIF and state playoffs. In that year, the team went undefeated at home and in the mission league.

—Daniel Kim

Coaches use iPads to record, analyze team scores, statistics Head baseball coach Matt LaCour is using an iPad supplied by the athletic department so that he can track statistics from games and practices.

“Virtually every sport now tracks statistics during games,” Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas said. “Tracking statistics, you’re able to draw conclusions – you can say ‘hey block this girl, because she hits this way 80 percent of the time.’”

Barzdukas said that the idea of using technology for athletic purposes goes beyond the use of the iPad. “Baseball might be the only iPad specific one, but at a volleyball game Coach Steve Chen is sitting on his laptop the whole time, typing in each play,” he said. “Football basically every game, when they get game film – you can tag running plays. Football tags the plays, breaks them down, so when coaches are looking at it can see you know ‘how many times is number five running to the right?’”

Barzdukas said that statistical computing programs are very helpful to teams.

“The computer revolution is arriving in a hurry in a world of sports,” he said. “It’s just really as technology has become pervasive in everyday life… that’s happening in sports too.

Coaches are harnessing the power of information to teach and give our students advantages.”

—Jordan Freisleben

Equestrian places 1st at meet The equestrian team placed fifth overall and first in the varsity division at the Interscholastic Equestrian League competition on Dec. 5 at Hansen Dam Equestrian Center.

Riders compete in both show jumping and dressage, a style based on fluid movements, and are judged on perfection.

“The team this year is doing great. We have a lot of new team members and everyone has really been improving since the start of the show season,” Corinne Miller ’12 said.

Miller led the team in the varsity division, scoring 48 points and placing second in the varsity division on her horse, Gryffin Dor. She was followed by Emma Gerber ’12 (8th), Captain Caitlin Murphy ’11 (18th) and Erin Murphy ’13 (22nd) in varsity out of 47 total riders.

“I can’t wait to see everyone improve even more and eventually move on into higher level divisions,” Miller said.

—Mariel Brunman

Daniel Kim/chronicle

Ball Control: Natalie Florescu ’13 rushes past a Chatsworth player, implementing the team’s new fast pace offense last Friday. In a game that involved numerous fouls, Florescu suffered a concussion after a direct blow to the nose.

Girls’ basketball pushes through injuries and fouls to victory

By Chelsey Taylor-Vaughn It’s the second quarter and the girls’ basketball team is already up by 15 in its game against Chatsworth. Skylar Tsutsui ’11 steals the ball and begins sprinting down the court. She goes up for the jumper but comes down on her ankle landing on another opponent. Then all of a sudden, the crowd hears a scream.

The trainers rush to her side, while the rest of the team gives them space. Tsutsui’s teammates cross their fingers on the sideline hoping that a crucial member of their “sisterhood” isn’t critically injured.

Tsutsui is not only a part of the “sisterhood” that is the girls varsity basketball team, but she is a returning starter from last year’s CIF winning team and a vital part of the team’s offense by putting up 13.4 points a game. The trainers think it’s a high sprain but she will be going to the doctor to get it officially diagnosed this week.

Losing a starter didn’t affect the team’s ability to win the game, beating Chatsworth with the final score of 5234. The win improved their record to 4 - 3.

Boys’ soccer ends losing streak despite injuries

By David Gobel

Wrestling at Rosemead Friday The wrestling team heads into the Rosemead Tournament this Friday and Saturday at Rosemead High School with a forecast of a better season than last year’s after their performance at the Camarillo Duals.

“We’re doing very well this year compared to last year,” Jake Sonnenberg ’11 said. “A lot of the freshmen showed that they have been very good. They are really going to do well.”

Varsity wrestlers Brandon Chen ’12 and Ben Kogan ’11 have lost only one match the entire season. Sonnenberg is undefeated.

The team’s first league match is at home against Crespi Jan. 6.

—Julius Pak

“Everyone’s going to have to step up and find ways to fulfill the aspects I provide for the team. I myself must continue to encourage and lead on the sidelines,” Tsutsui said.

Due to the lack of height on the team, with its tallest player, Rae Wright ’11, standing at 5’11, the team will play differently this yearby running the ball more than it did last year.

“Who wouldn’t run with a player like Hilary King ’11, on your team?” Varsity Coach Melissa Hearlihy said.

“Since we don’t have height we must all commit to pressure defense and getting out on the fast break,” Tsutsui said.

Hearlihy is enthusiastic about Natalie Florescu ’13, a starter, because she brings confidence to the team.

“Natalie is the type of player that wants the ball when we are down with little time left on the court, and I’m the type of coach that trusts her to have the ball in her hand,” Hearlihy said.

The team will be playing in the Nike Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz. over winter break where they will try to defend their title as tournament champions.

Daniel Kim/chronicle

young talent: Akosa Ibekwe ’13 dribbles the ball in the Wolverines’ 1-0 scrimmage win over Oaks Christian.

After losing four straight games at the Aliso Cup, the boys’ soccer team rebounded with two wins and a loss at the High School Showcase tournament in Santa Barbara.

“We played some really tough Division I teams [at the Aliso Cup], so we did make some adjustments and played better at the High School Showcase,” Head Coach Freddy Arroyo said. “We’re starting to get into a better rhythm and [we are] just playing better soccer, and it showed this past weekend.”

The team has suffered numerous minor injuries to starting players, including an ankle injury to Beau McGinley ’13, a calf injury to forward Alex Hong ’11, a groin injury to Alex Goodwin ’12 and a shoulder injury to Will Oliver ’11.

“They’re not major or seasonending injuries, but they’re just nagging injuries that prevent the whole team from playing at 100 percent,” Arroyo said.

Because the team has lost starters to injuries, and because many experienced players have left the

school team to play Academy-level club soccer, the Wolverines have had to increasingly rely on inexperienced players.

“We have some young players that are getting a chance to show their skills, and the team is excited they’re getting to demonstrate their skills,” Arroyo said. “Our team right now is the combination of the few experienced players we had last year and the young talent that we have.”

Although the team won its first game of the season at Bell Gardens 2-0, the Wolverines struggled against the tougher competition at the Aliso Cup. In fact, they were unable to score a single goal until the last game of the tournament and gave up eight goals in the four games they played.

However, against similarly difficult competition High School Showcase tournament, the team was successful, winning two games against Costa Mesa and Cate and losing only one.

The team will play an away game against Cathedral High School today.

Dec. 15, 2010

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JV Roundup Boys’ basketball

A four-point loss to Taft on Dec. 11 was the most recent loss for the 2-3 JV boys’ basketball team.

In the Cathedral tournament, the team beat St. Paul, 82-23, and Bishop Montgomery, 67–55, before losing their next two games against Calabasas, 5948, and Servite, 47–48.

“We have the talent to beat elite basketball schools like Taft, and we are playing better as a team every game,” Chris Sebastian ’13 said. “We just need to learn how to cope with adversity and close out games.”

The team has two tournaments over winter break, the Chatsworth and Redondo Tournaments, after it begins its regular season.

—Robbie Loeb

Girls’ basketball

judd liebman/chronicle

teaching tactics: Head Coach Greg Hilliard (center) revolutionized the boys’ basketball program.

Before he became a basketball coach, Hilliard went to law school and played tennis professionally.

Passing up the racket Though Greg Hilliard now coaches the defending Mission League champion varsity boys’ basketball team, at one point, he played professional tennis on the Satellite Tour.

By David Gobel

out what I was going to do with the rest of my life.”

His first job was as a teacher and coach at Catlin Most know varsity basketball Head Coach Greg Gable High School in Portland, Oregon, where he Hilliard as someone who managed to turn the boys’ taught history while coaching basketball, soccer and basketball team from an undisciplined, perennially tennis. losing team into one of the best programs in the “I just kept my hand in all three sports to see state. However, Hilliard had not always wanted to which would give me the best opportunity,” Hilliard coach basketball. said.

He has a masters’ degree in history and went to After 10 years coaching and teaching Hilliard law school. Not only that, he went pro in a different took a sabbatical. He was working as a private fitsport from the one he coaches today. ness trainer in Newport Beach when he read about “I actually played four [sports] in high school: another teacher/coach opportunity, this time at football, basketball, baseball Harvard School. and tennis,” Hilliard said.

“I came up here, inter“Tennis and basketball I viewed, and just fell in love continued to play in college, the place,” Hilliard said.

I just kept my hand with and then I played tennis “I let my school back home in all three sports know that I wasn’t leaving professionally for a while.”

Hilliard began to play I was ready to get to see which would California. tennis at a young age not the moss off my body from give me the best only because it appealed to the rain [of] all those years.” him, but because of a crush When Hilliard arrived at opportunity. that he had.

Harvard, the basketball team —Greg Hilliard wasn’t in the best condition.

“When I was 7 years old, there was the beauti“The year I came to HarHead Basketball Coach vard ful Swedish tennis teacher the team had just had who I saw playing,” Hilliard a 1-23 season,” Hilliard said. said. “I rode my bike home “David Waterhouse, [the old and told my mom that I wanted to take tennis les- coach], decided that he wasn’t going to do it anysons. Then I signed up, and I was the smallest one more and when I came here it looked bleak. The there. Even though it was more love of her at first, I players weren’t totally committed yet and were only quickly began to appreciate the game.” playing in the season.”

Although Hilliard never managed to make it to However, Hilliard implemented discipline in the Open Tour, the most competitive tour in tennis, his players and made sure that they were playing he did compete in the Satellite Tour, the next high- throughout the year. He also implemented a very est tour. Hilliard faced some of the biggest names fast-paced offense that was designed to make playin tennis at the time in some of the major tourna- ers take as many shots as possible. ments, including Wimbledon.

Although in their first year under Hilliard the Hilliard continued to play amateur basketball Wolverines only improved by three wins, in his secthrough his professional tennis career and never ond year his plan took effect and the Wolverines lost his love for the sport. He did this while attend- went 23-4, going all the way to the CIF semifinals. ing Occidental College.

“We just put in the work. I think the school has “I played with some semi-pro and travel [basket- always had talented kids, we have as talented athball] teams and kept that game going”, Hilliard said. letes as anybody,” Hilliard said. “It was just a matter “Meanwhile I went to went to law school and got my that they hadn’t put in a full year of preparation and masters’ degree in history. I just wanted to figure training.”

“

After starting preseason play with second and fifth place finishes in its first two tournaments of the year, the JV girls’ basketball team is on a quest to repeat as league champions.

“We want to turn winning the league into a tradition,” Alixx Lucas ’13 said.

Lucas was named All-Tournament Team after the Wolverines’ fifth place finish in the Newbury Park Tournament. She and Zoe Bohn ’14 were coMVPs of the Westlake Tournament.

“We have a lot of dedicated players,” Lucas said.

“Everyone’s really been doing their part.”

The team has lost to Westlake High twice this season, once in the finals of the Westlake Tournament. Although the team is the defending league champion, it rarely gets any fans at games.

“It will be fun to see if anyone starts coming to the games once we start our season because we never get any fans right now,” Lucas said.

—Micah Sperling

Boys’ soccer After weeks of practice and four preseason games, the JV boys’ soccer team heads into its 2010-11 season with a passionate returning coach and fresh, young talent. The squad’s preseason record stands at 1-2-1 after an 11-0 win against Oaks Christian in a scrimmage and losses to Bell Gardens and Marina. The regular season will begin with a league game against St. Francis at home on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Head Coach Dino Durand has been the JV coach for several seasons now and believes that his players have solid natural talent.

“Some of our players have not played or practiced their skills for at least nine months. They are going to need to be more involved with the sport to keep up,” Durand said.

Starting left defenseman Jonathan Loewenberg ’13 is impressed with the caliber of young talent.

“I am going to do my best to not only make myself better but to make everyone else around me better,” Lowenberg said.

—Michael Aronson

Girls’ soccer The JV girls’ soccer season began in early December, and so far, the team’s record is 4-1-1. It is coached by Head Coach Sean Salvarado and Assistant Coach Jennifer Hager.

The team lost its first game 2-0 to Palisades, tied its second 0-0 against Northwood, and won its next four games.

The team had a 10-1 win over Notre Dame. The games against Cypress and El Dorado were both decided by penalty kicks.

In its winning streak, the team has outscored its opponents 18-7, including penalty kicks. The team lost 1-0 to Mira Costa on Monday night.

—Ally White

Girls’ water polo Surging back from a two-goal deficit with under three minutes to play to tie the game, the JV water polo team looked as it was about to open its season with a thrilling comeback win as they carried momentum into overtime against El Rancho on Dec 1.

But the Wolverines were held scoreless throughout two overtime periods and lost 7-6.

“I was very upset after we lost in double overtime,” Bronty O’Leary ’13 said. “We played the best we could have played.”

The Wolverines had a chance to avenge their loss the following week, but lost 6-2 at El Rancho on Dec 8. At the Agoura Tournament, between Dec. 2 and Dec 4, the Wolverines went 3-1 and finished the tournament fifth. The Wolverines host Cathedral in their next game Dec. 18.

“I truly believe that this season will be exceptional,” Xochi Maberry-Gaulke ’12 said.

—Luke Holthouse

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Keeping the

g al Q A

Wiley Webb ’12 is in his first year as starting goalie and Reba Magier ’12 is in her second year. Both will be key players for their teams in the upcoming year as the final line of defense against their opponents.

By Alec Caso

and

Kelly Ohriner

What are some of your favorite things about soccer as a goalie?

Webb: I like how the position is oriented toward short, powerful bursts of focus and effort, rather than spreading it out over the course of a game. It’s nice to have the entire game in front of you and always be aware of what’s going on. I especially enjoy the skill that shot stopping requires and the challenge that other teams with good strikers present.

Q A

My favorite thing about playing goalie is the adrenaline rush I get after saving the ball. It comes to the point where everyone is watching you because you’re the last hope of saving the ball from going in the net. A goalie could sometimes make or break a team. I don’t mind all the pressure goalies have; it only makes the game more exciting and I feel more important. The best thing for me is when the team or crowd cheers after a big save.

Do you play soccer year round?

Webb:

I certainly used to, and with constant tournaments around southern California and the country, time off from soccer was very rare and never quite enough for me to intensely pursue my interests or merely relax.

However this year I look forward to a wonderfully free spring and summer.

Magier: Yes, soccer goes on all year round. High school soccer happens in the winter but has off-season practices throughout the year. Club goes on all the time except during the winter, but my team occasionally will meet on Sundays just so we don’t lose momentum as a team. Sometimes club will get a month off in June, but I still have high school training. Also, I participate in the Olympic Development Program which happens during the winter and summer. Soccer pretty much never stops.

As a goalie do you have to take a leadership role on the team?

Webb: It’s arguably the most prominent position and so people look to you to lead and perform well. Since you’re able to observe the entire field you’re expected to direct your teammates, which involves a lot of shouting.

Magier:

Magier:

Q A

Dec. 15, 2010

Chronicle

I definitely have to be a leader. Although, I am a very shy person, for soccer I try to step it up since it is a crucial aspect of being a goalkeeper. Off the field, I am more comfortable being quiet and I don’t like much attention. When I step on the soccer field though, I tend to be more outgoing and I secretly love to show off.

Q A

How do you manage to balance your school work with your commitments to soccer?

Webb: The step up in time and effort that junior year has required caused me to drop club soccer. Regarding school soccer, I may miss the occasional practice in order to devote the entire night to crucial studying or finishing that essay. But otherwise I don’t feel too overwhelmed or sleep deprived.

Magier: Managing school with soccer is very hard. The most efficient way for me to get my school work done is to use my free periods wisely. If we didn’t have this type of schedule at school then there would be no way for me to get all my work done. I used to finish my homework in the car on the way to school in the morning, to practice after school, and home until I got my license. The key for me is to have good time management, even if it means that I might have to sacrifice my social life.

Photos by Alec Caso/chronicle