February 2013 Issue

Despite opposition from teachers, doodling may improve focus.

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Q&A with boys’ varsity soccer leading goal-scorer Ty Gilhuly ’13.

the harvard-westlake

CHRONICLE Los Angeles • Volume XXII • Issue V • Feb. 13, 2013

Samuel L. Jackson details film career in over 100 roles

By David Lim

Actor Samuel L. Jackson told students at the Black History Assembly Feb. 5 about his willingness to play any role including the villainous Stephen in “Django Unchained” as long as the character he portrays is as “honest to the story as possible.”

When Director Quentin Tarantino first approached Jackson for the role, Jackson had no qualms playing the hated character.

“You really want me to be the most hated Negro in cinematic history? I’m down with that. Let’s get at it,” Jackson said he told Tarantino.

A line for questions to Jackson stretched halfway across Taper Gym. Time ran out before all students could ask their questions.

Jackson, the highest grossing film actor of all time, has played iconic characters in

more than 100 films in his career such as Jules Winnfield in “Pulp Fiction”, Nick Fury in the “Avengers” and Mace Windu in the “Star Wars” prequels.

“A lot of people think I act too much,” Jackson said.

“But writers get up and write every day, painters get up and paint every day and actors only have so many acting opportunities.”

“I do this because it feeds me. It feeds my artistic sense,” he added.

Calling the assembly “a time to celebrate African American trailblazers past, present and future,” Black Leadership Awareness and Culture Club leader Justin Carr ’14 said the club had worked since September to get a speaker for the event.

BLACC Club Leader Arielle Winfield ‘13 said Jackson was chosen for both his early • Continued on page A9

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

SAMUEL, UNCHAINED: Actor Samuel L. Jackson responds to a student question about playing a slave who betrays his race in “Django Unchained” at the Black History Month Assembly Feb 5.

1-to-1 program to launch in fall with personal laptops

By David Lim

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HW.COM

COLDWATER UNDER THE BRIDGE: A mockup for the proposed structure shows the 750-spot garage and bridge. The plan is still in the entitilement stage as the school awaits municipal approval.

School plans to build parking structure, bridge across Coldwater Canyon street

By Camille Shooshani

The school plans to build a 750-spot, three-level parking structure for students, faculty, staff, parents and visitors across the street from the upper campus and add a pedestrian bridge above Coldwater Canyon.

The roof of the garage will also feature an athletic field for practices. The school’s main entrance will be rebuilt 37 feet south to line up with the entrance to the parking structure.

There is no clear idea of when construction will begin or end because of city cutbacks in funding that slow down

the entitlement process, Vice President John Amato said.

There are no plans for construction on the existing parking lots, though bus parking will move to the lower St. Michael’s lot from Coldwater Canyon.

Like the middle school modernization and the Copses Family Aquatics Center, funding will come from donations to the school though Amato declined to state how much the structure will cost.

“Our community is very generous and supportive,” Amato said.

“I think our approach will be to secure relatively large gifts from a relatively small

number of people rather than turn it into a campaign,” President Thomas Hudnut said.

The completed project will decrease traffic on Coldwater Canyon and eliminate student parking in the neighborhood, Amato said. The project will add two lanes in both directions in front of the school.

“There were kids who parked on Coldwater, and that was dangerous because of the cars whipping down there in the afternoon,” Amato said.

“We have a fair number of complaints from neighbors when kids park in the area.

It’s not okay for kids to park in the neighborhood.”

• Continued on page A8

All seventh grade students will bring their own laptops to class next September in the first stage of the one-toone computer initiative, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said.

The new requirement, part of a new six-year Technology Plan, will extend to all grades of the Middle School in September 2014 and the Upper School in September 2015.

“We’re going make some recommendations about what software [students] need,” Huybrechts said. “But it’s bring your own device. You choose.

It’s your own computer.”

The Educational Technology Committee, headed by math teacher Jeff Snapp, developed a proposal to bring personal computers into the classroom, after Huybrechts announced the initiative in January 2012.

Director of Studies Elizabeth Resnick emphasized the move to a one-to-one model is an evolutionary step, considering the school’s long-standing commitment to technology with 700 computers on campus, HD projectors in classrooms and as of this year, The Hub, which provides online access to course resources.

The decision to bring • Continued on page A10

INSIDE OLYMPIC ORATOR: Gold medalist Dara Torres ’85 will speak at the Women’s History assembly next month.

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CASINO ROYALE: Students celebrate their 18th birthdays with legal gambling.

A2 Preview

The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave. Studio City, Calif. 91604

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A&E

JULIA AIZUSS/CHRONICLE

WITHIN THE WORKSHOP: Art teacher John Luebtow works on plans for a glass sculpture, which will be situated outside of the classrooms of Munger Science Center.

News

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DAVID WOLDENBERG/CHRONICLE

FAKIN’ IT: Sean Fisher ’13 stands in the quad, wearing a suit and holding a cup for ‘fake semiformal.’

A&E

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MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

IN THE STUDIO: The jazz band record their music at Vibrato Studio, a professional recording studio.

Sports

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ROBBIE LOEB/CHRONICLE

READY TO SCORE: Cassandra Martinez ’13 prepares to shoot during a girls’ varsity water polo game.

online

Check out the official Chronicle website at www.hwchronicle.com, featuring a video of the jazz band’s recording studio visit and coverage of the graphic novel written

by Lucas Foster ’13 and Avalon Nuovo ’13.

The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published eight 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 Ave., Studio City, 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 Leslie Dinkin at 310-975-4848. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.

Feb. 13, 2012

hwchronicle.com/news

News A3

Testing schedule to remain the same

Administration decides to keep midterm testing after winter break

By Claire Goldsmith

PHOTOS BY JACK GOLDFISHER AND NOA YADIDI/CHRONICLE

FAIR PLAY: Performing Arts Department Head Rees Pugh demonstrates screwing two boards together to promote his technical theatre class, left. Aaron Anderson’ 14 talks to Science teacher Antonio Nassar about Nassar’s Sound and Acoustics class at the fair, top right.

Performing arts teacher Chris Moore calls to students on the quad advertising for his acting and directing theatre classes, bottom right.

Teachers from 60 classes showcase courses at Academic Fair in quad

By Jivani Gengatharan

Students browsed courses for next year and spoke with teachers as part of the Academic Fair this past Monday during activities period.

Tables were set up on the quad for 60 classes.

Teachers were allowed to give students an overview of what their classes entails and answer questions on homework load, difficulty, number of tests and other details specific to the course.

Students who are cur-

rently enrolled in the course or have taken the course in the past were also available to answer the questions of interested students.

To ease the scheduling process, students who wanted to take a particular course were able to ask the respective teacher to sign their scheduling form during the Academic Fair.

“I think it gave [students] greater insight into the expectations of the course and what sort of materials in the curriculum are associated with the

course,” science teacher Walt Werner said.

Last year, Upper School Dean Beth Slattery, Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church, and Prefect Council teamed up to organize the first ever upper school Academic Fair.

The Academic Fair this year served the same purpose as it did last year, which was enlightening students to the diverse variety of classes offered on the upper school campus and allowing the students to get a different perspective

Trustees raise tuition for 2013-14 year

By Julia Aizuss

Tuition for the 2013-2014 school year will rise three percent from $31,350 to $32,300, at the same rate as inflation, Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin said.

Chair of the Board of Trustees Christine Hazy (Steven ’00, Charissa ’03, Trenton ’05, Courtney ’11) officially announced next year’s tuition last Monday in a re-enrollment letter made available to parents online.

The increase is the lowest in the past two decades, as part of what Levin called a “concerted effort” to keep tuition increase low, especially after the high increases caused by the merger of Harvard and Westlake in 1991 and the recession that began in 2008.

At the beginning of last decade, the school’s tuition increases were about 10 percent.

“We’ve been working to

bring that down ever since,” years, the rate of teacher givLevin said. ing has been 100 percent.

“To break He estieven [during mated that the recestuition would sion] really be around We’ve still gone from we thought $60,000 with$20,000 up to $32,300 we needed a out giving.

10 percent “Basically [in the past 10 years], i n c r e a s e ,” the idea here but that’s very different is that people Levin said. from being at $40,000.

“But that’s pay it forthe last thing ward,” Levin —Rob Levin said. “Paying you’re going Chief Financial Officer it forward” to do.”

If the refers to the school had school facilifollowed the same track it was ties that are built using donaon 10 years ago, next year’s tu- tions. ition would be $40,000, he said.

“This campus and that “We’ve still gone from campus and every building on $20,000 in that time up to it were a gift to you from a $32,300, but that’s very dif- whole bunch of people so even ferent from being at $40,000,” the student who is paying full Levin said. tuition and whose family is The school also has high giving in annual giving is still percentages of parents, alumni technically in some ways spirand teacher donations to itually on financial aid,” Levin thank, Levin said. For four said.

“

of the courses.

Slattery hoped that students getting a better perspective of classes would result in fewer late schedule changes next year.

“Academic Fair was a great opportunity for students to be exposed to classes they wouldn’t normally consider taking,” Head Prefect Katie Lim ’13 said. “I also think students were able to get a much more personal vibe as to what each class has to offer as opposed to reading a couple of lines in a book.”

Midterm examinations will take place after winter break for the 2013-2014 school year, Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas said.

The Administrative Council considered moving midterm examinations from their traditional spot in the third week of January to before winter break. A faculty vote was largely in favor of keeping the exams after winter break.

“After considering various factors and consulting various constituencies the council decided to keep midterm exams in January,” Barzdukas said.

The Faculty Academic Committee may recommend that the testing calendar before winter break be abolished, FAC chair Kent Nealis said.

Currently, each department is allowed to give tests and major assessments only on certain days in the week leading up to winter break with the goal of easing the burden on students during a peak testing time zone.

The committee discussed eradicating the testing calendar after some faculty members questioned the effectiveness of testing restrictions.

“The question we asked is whether we were achieving our goal of reducing stress,” Nealis said, “I think most teachers and students would rather have tests after a unit is completed, so it could make sense to disperse with [the testing calendar].”.

Department heads will solicit further suggestions from teachers in each subject before FAC resumes discussion or makes a final recommendation on the subject to the administration.

By the numbers: tuition costs

$9,850

cost of tuition for 1991-1992, the year after Harvard and Westlake merged

$32,300

the cost of tuition for the 2013-2014 school year, up from $31,350 in 2012-13

$950

increase in tuition, from the 2012-2013 school year, to 20132014

3%

increase in tuition, at the same rate as inflation and the lowest percentage increase in 20 years INFOGRAPHIC BY ZOE DUTTON SOURCE: CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER ROB LEVIN

The Chronicle

A4 News

Feb. 13, 2013

Valentine’s dance to raise funds for vision-impaired children

By Ally White

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JOYCE OK

WILL YOU, WON’T YOU: Water polo player Rye Newman ’13 dressed as Cupid, complete with bow and arrow, top hat and heartcovered swimsuit, to ask Joyce Ok ’13 to the Whiteout dance.

Prefect Council allowed the first 50 people that signed the Whiteout pledge on Monday to pie them in the face during break to encourage students to attend the dance.

Excluding black lights and neon decorations, students will be immersed in complete darkness for Prefect Council’s Valentine’s Day themed dance, Whiteout, on Feb. 16 from 7:30 to 11 p.m. in Hamilton Gym. “We hope that people will embrace this opportunity to go to a Harvard-Westlake social event and give students an event outside everyday school life,” Senior Prefect Morgan Hallock ’13 said. “We think that it will be successful and really push forward a whole new era of school dances.”

Community Council chose to donate $3 of every ticket to Vision to Learn, a charity that provides free glasses and eye exams to elementary school students in low-income areas of Los Angeles.

“Vision to Learn is a wonderful organization that continues to inspire me,” head of Community Council Emily Plotkin ’13 said. “I went to an event for VTL on Monday; seeing the kids’ faces when they put on glasses for the first time was truly moving. They literally were opening their eyes to a whole new world.”

Raffle tickets to be drawn

at Whiteout were sold for the divided into four categories: two weeks prior to the dance Most Creative, Most Awkto raise more money for Vision ward, Best Team Effort, which to Learn. requires at least five people inTickets are $5 each or $20 volved, and Sweetest. for five tickets, and even those Entries are posted on the not going to the dance can HW Whiteout Facebook page. participate.

The winners will be decided by Prizes include field level a vote and announced at class Dodger tickets, meeting. a Taper gym D a t e s parking spot from other and an iPad schools are Seeing the kids’ faces Mini. allowed and when they put on To further tickets are raise funds, an being sold at glasses for the first time assortment of the bookstore was truly moving. They for $35 dolfood is also being sold this lars each. literally were opening week, and ValS t u d e n ts their eyes to a whole entine grams are required, will be sold on however, to new world.”

Valentine’s Day. sign a White—Emily Plotkin ’13 out Pledge for During the dance, food both themtrucks Bellyselves and bomz, Slamtheir date in min’ Sliders, Kogi and Para- order to buy a ticket. dise Cookies will be outside In signing the pledge, stuof Hamilton gym, and there dents confirm their awareness will be a tented Dojo Grotto that student handbook rules equipped with heat lamps and apply to the Whiteout dance couches where students can and that the school can take eat the food they purchase. disciplinary actions against To encourage students to students for their actions both ask dates to Whiteout, Prefect on campus and off.

Council created a competition By signing, students also leading up to the event. Stu- confirm that they both underdents interested in participat- stand and agree to six stipuing must take a video or pic- lations including not using a ture of the “ask out moment,” limo or party bus as transporand submit it via flash drive or tation as well as not attending YouTube to Prefect Council. an after-party at a non-resiThese submissions will be dential venue.

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FAC urges consistency on Honor Code affirmation procedure

By Claire Goldsmith The Faculty Academic Committee encouraged standard guidelines for the signing of the Honor Code affirmation in its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 4.

The committeemeets monthly to discuss potential curricular and academic changes and recommends policies to the administration.

At the beginning of the school year, Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas implemented the Honor Code affirmation policy, which requires students to write the statement “I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this

nathanson ’s

Kent Nealis

nathanson ’s

Audrius Barzdukas

assignment” before they begin any major assessment and sign their names below the affirmation.

Barzdukas said it takes only 16 seconds to write and sign the pledge.

“The studies that we have indicate that that affirmation yields positive results and makes [students] think about their behavior,” upper school FAC chair Kent Nealis said. “If it does so in even one instance, then we’re making progress.”

Committee members discussed the rules for the writing of the statement, particularly to clarify which tests and assessments necessitate the affirmation

and which do not.

Because the policy is in its first year, “a lot of us are still figuring out which assessments we need to have it on,” Nealis said. “Not on small, minor assessments like daily quizzes or something of that nature.”

In a Chronicle poll, 80 percent of the 392 students surveyed said their teachers somewhat or very consistently enforced the Honor Code affirmation policy on major assessments.

Nearly 17 percent said the policy was not consistently enforced, and 3.3 percent of students reported no enforcement in their classes.

The committee has not received reports about irregular enforcement of the statement, but its members wanted to “make every effort to be very consistent about placement of the affirmation on major assessments,” Nealis said.

How consistently do your teachers enforce the Honor Code affirmation policy?

Honor Code statement: “I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment.”

Somewhat Consistently Very Consistently

35.8%

44.2%

Not Consistently

16.7%

Never

3.3%

The Chronicle polled 392 students via an online survey. source: chronicle poll graphic by claire goldsmith

ELIZABETH MADDEN/CHRONICLE

DIGITAL MEDIA: Eric Sondheimer speaks to a Chronicle class about the importance of keeping up in the digital age of journalism.

L.A. Times sportswriter encourages use of video

By Elizabeth Madden

A Los Angeles Times sports reporter told the fifth period Chronicle class Jan. 30 that he had learned to take video and to use social media to keep up with the ever changing format of journalism.

Eric Sondheimer, a constant figure at Harvard-Westlake athletic events, covers high school athletics for more than 600 schools across Southern California.

“The difference is, now I could be in Bali on vacation and still blog about games going on back home,” Sondheimer said about using digital media in his reporting. “It’s a completely new and exciting landscape for journalism.”

Sondheimer has been covering high school athletics since 1976, when he started working at the Daily News. In

1997 he began working for the Los Angeles Times.

Sondheimer, who frequently uses the social-networking website Twitter to offer score reports live from the games he is covering, says he has seen journalism change drastically through the years.

“What [older journalists] don’t realize is that you aren’t going to have a job if you don’t adapt to where [journalism] is headed,” Sondheimer said.

He also said he often does not have time to visit a publication’s website, so he will subscribe to its Twitter account.

This makes the stories much more accessible, he said.

He also authored the book “Memorable Games,” which he co-wrote with Fred Eisenhammer from the Daily News.

Sondheimer said he eventually hopes to publish another book later in his career.

Feb. 13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/News

News A5

Stanford hosts debaters

By Claire Goldsmith

PHOTOS BY NOA YADIDI/CHRONICLE

ENJOYING THE PARTY: Thomas Oser ’13, far left, prepares to throw a ping pong ball during a game of sparkling cider pong. Sarah Shelby ’13, left, and Dory Graham ’13 pose next to a mock semiformal poster of a red cup during the event.

Seniors put together mock semiformal

By Lauren Sonnenberg

The class of 2013 dressed up in formal attire, danced and played sparkling cider pong on the quad as a part of mock semiformal Feb. 4 in an effort to retain the spirit of the dance while commemorating their senior year.

Semiformal was cancelled in 2011.

This is the second year seniors have held an event during school in place of an official all-high-school formal dance.

Zach Getelman ’13 suggested “Fake semiformal Friday” but it was pushed back to

Monday in order to give stuA sign was posted on the dents time to prepare and buy quad reading “Semi-formal supplies.

2013” along Once stuwith encourdents had agement to “Inagreed upon stagram that hosting the pic #FSF2013…

Overall, it was a event, a Google Fake Semi-Forgreat way to start Docs account mal”. was set up for Students off being second students to volgathered on the semester seniors.” unteer supplies. quad during S e n i o r s break to take —Lexi Fadel ’13 signed up to pictures and bring ping pong listen to music balls, red cups, from a student’s plastic shot glasses, posters, iPod dock. sparkling cider, and root beer Alex Copeland ’15 asked kegs.

Jazzi Marine ’13 to the White-

“

out dance via a loudspeaker through a window in Chalmers building.

Kacey Wilson ’13 warned underclassmen that “Prank number one was a success!

More to come, so watch out!” and brought 30 bottles of Martinelli’s Apple Cider for the event.

“A lot of people participated in the event, but I wish everyone got as excited about it as they did about the real thing,” Lexi Fadel ’13 said.

“But overall, it was a great way to start off being second semester seniors and everyone had a lot of fun.”

Nine debaters competed at the Stanford Invitational Speech & Debate Tournament in Palo Alto Feb. 8-11. Shelby Heitner ’14 and Tommy Choi ’14 advanced to the double and triple octafinal rounds, respectively.

Every debater who competed at the Golden Desert Invitational Debate Tournament in Las Vegas Feb. 2-4 made it to the elimination rounds of the tournament and five won speaker awards. Julie Engel ’14 lost in the final round and received her third bid to the national Tournament of Champions. Amelia Miller ’15 lost in the quarterfinal round.

Overall, Choi won Fourth Speaker, Miller received Ninth Speaker, William Gingold ’14 won 12th Speaker, Andrew Sohn ’13 won 13th Speaker and Engel won 14th Speaker.

Annie Kors ’14 and Michael O’Krent ’14 joined the team to coach fellow debaters with Head Coach Mike Bietz.

Kors and O’Krent will debate at the Harvard University Round Robin next weekend while Brendan Gallagher ’13 and Engel will participate in the Cal Round Robin at University of California, Berkeley.

The team has a total of 18 bids and six members qualified to the TOC, the most of any school in the country. Debaters need two bids, each earned in an advanced round of any individual tournament, to qualify for the national competition, held April 27-29 at the University of Kentucky.

Baseball team to shave heads soundbyte in support of pediatric cancer

By Noa Yadidi

Members of the varsity baseball team will shave their heads Feb. 16 at O’Malley Field to promote fundraising to fight pediatric cancer in honor of Chris “Beebop” Robinson ’13, who died of leukemia in November 2011.

The team has been collecting donations through a website and will have met and most likely surpassed the original $5,000 goal by then.

However, they are keeping

the last possible date for donations open until April 1.

The team is raising money for the Vs. Cancer foundation.

For every dollar they raise, 50 percent will go to the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, and the other 50 percent will go to national cancer research.

The team will start selling wristbands today in the quad and will continue selling them until they run out.

Each of the orange wristbands costs $5 and must be

paid for in cash.

The outside of the wristband says “strikeout leukemia” while the inside commemorates Robinson with his name.

Baseball coach Matt LaCour introduced the idea to varsity player Austin Schoff ’13 at the beginning of the season.

Schoff started working with Vs. Cancer foundation head Chase Jones, a former Stage IV brain cancer patient and University of North Caro-

“My goal with this fundraiser is not only to reach our goal, but to spread awareness and make sure nobody has to go through the fight that Chris went through for two years.”

—Austin Schoff ’13

lina baseball player, to plan the fundraiser. On Jan. 23, the two opened the online fundraising page.

“During his battle [Chris] showed incredible fortitude,” Schoff said. “My goal with this fundraiser is not only to

reach our goal, but to spread awareness and make sure nobody has to go through the fight that Chris went through for two years.”

Visit www.stayclassy.org/ fundraise/team?ftid=20068 to donate to the cause.

Tabletop signs change

Educator talks to faculty about use of technology

To fight littering on the quad, new signs have been installed with the slogan “A clean school is a happy school.”

The new slogan replaced the previous phrasing “Most people clean up after themselves.”

The signs are part of a joint ongoing effort between Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas and the Prefect Council to make the school a cleaner environment.

This particular wording was suggested by Barzdukas

Tom Vander Ark, the author of “Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World,” was to visit campus and speak to faculty on Tuesday afternoon.

After extensive research, Director of Studies Liz Resnick selected Ark because he is a proponent of technology in education, which the school is trying to embrace.

“It seemed like he had the breadth of experience that could help teachers understand

By Sarah Novicoff

By Michael Sugerman

JENSEN MCRAE/CHRONICLE

CLEANING UP: The new motto on the signs on tables in the quad replace the previous “Most people clean up after themselves.” and subsequently approved by the Prefect Council along with other slogans to be rotated onto the quad in the future.

“We did recognize there was a negative reaction to [the previous wording] with a lot of

students so we decided to try a different route,” Head Prefect Michael Wagmeister said.

The signs were originally installed in September with the idea of minimizing the work of the maintenance team.

the broader spectrum of computing and technology at the pre-collegiate level,” she said.

Ark is the chief executive officer of Open Education Solutions and a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm investing in learning platforms with the goal of transforming educational access and effectiveness.

Previously, he was the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, where he implemented $3.5 billion in scholarship and grant programs.

The Chronicle

A6 News

inbrief

Feb. 13, 2013

Event to be held in Hudnut’s honor

In honor of President Thomas Hudnut’s final year at Harvard-Westlake, the school will host a special event for parents of alumni and friends of the school.

The event will take place on the middle school campus Saturday, Feb. 23, and will begin at 6 p.m.

A dinner in the Marshall Center will kick off the event and will be followed by a short operetta and a musical performance from former jazz teacher Jerry Margolis.

The evening will culminate in a “fireside chat” between Hudnut and performing arts teacher Ted Walch in Saperstein Theatre.

All of the proceeds from the event will go to support the Thomas C. Hudnut Scholar Endowed Fund.

—Jack Goldfisher

GLI to attend UN Council on women

Five members of the Girls Learn International Club will take a trip the first week of March to the United Nations Council on the Status of Women held every Women’s History Month in New York.

This will be the second time the club has gone on this trip after visiting the same council last year.

The theme of this year’s council will be violence against women and girls.

“Because the theme is difficult, we expect to be challenged by what we learn this year,” club sponsor and Gender Studies teacher Malina Mamigonian said.

—Marcella Park

SciBowl to send teams to regionals Ten students on the Science Bowl Team will compete Feb. 23 in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Science Bowl. The event is an official regional competition of the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl.

The Science Bowl club will send two teams of five students to compete in the round robin tournament. The team practices twice a week to prepare for this event.

—Jensen Pak

Anti-war activist to speak on Laos Anti-war activist and author Fred Branfman will speak to students about his research on Laos on Feb. 25 in Ahmanson Hall during activities period.

Branfman played his role in U.S. history by informing Congress of the U.S. government’s secret bombings of Laos during the Vietnam War. He later wrote several books on the Indochina War. Branfman’s speech will be relevant, especially for the upcoming investigative journalism trip to Laos that 11 students will be taking during spring break, Upper School Visual Arts Department Head Cheri Gaulke said.

—Jivani Gengatharan

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF MICHELLE LEE

NATIONAL TREASURE: The Seaver Locker Decoration Committee covered multiple lockers in Seaver Hall across from the Foreign Language Department office with a picture of actor Nicholas Cage. The six foot tall poster consisted of nearly 50 sheets of paper.

Students decorate lockers in Seaver

By Claire Goldsmith

Plastered across a set of Seaver Hall lockers, a six-foot tall photo of actor Nicholas Cage’s face turned the heads of students and teachers alike Thursday, Jan. 10. The Seaver Locker Decoration Committee had struck again.

William Lee ’14 heads the informal group of students who decorate a section of the lockers in the bottom floor of Seaver across from the Foreign Language office.

It started when Lee wanted to decorate his friend’s locker for his birthday, but decided to

be more creative than simply covering it with wrapping paper or balloons.

“We put a bunch of K-Pop [Korean Pop] stars on his locker, in a way that a lot of girls have theirs with a bunch of muscular men,” Lee said.

Lee and his friends decided to take their locker decorations to the next level, creating a Facebook group called the “Seaver Locker Decoration Committee” where they could submit ideas for future projects. The group, which was originally open to the public, grew quickly and now has over 50 members. Further entries

are “only by invite,” he said.

To form the picture of Cage’s face, members of the committee taped together nearly 50 sheets of paper, receiving mixed reactions from passersbys.

“Our fellow students usually like it,” Lee said, “but occasionally a few are offended by what we put up.”

Teachers asked Lee to take down the photo of Cage Thursday, citing lawsuits filed against Cage by the Internal Revenue Service and his 2011 arrest for domestic abuse.

“You’re allowed to decorate lockers, but you can’t draw on

the locker itself and it can’t be something inappropriate on the locker,” Assistant to the Head of Upper School Michelle Bracken said. “If somebody finds something inappropriate or if a kid was offended, I’d hope we’d handle it and use it as a learning experience.”

Friday morning, the lockers were bare except for a piece of paper with, in a reference to “The Great Gatsby,” the words “The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg.” The Committee plans to work with Prefect Council to decorate Seaver in honor of the upcoming Whiteout dance.

2 seniors represent U.S. team in Turkey

By Ally White

Miranda Van Iderstine ’13 and Elle Wilson ’13 were two of the four members of the United States debate team that finished in 30th place at the World Schools Debating Championship in Antalya, Turkey.

The WSDC debates, between Jan. 27 to Feb. 6, took place in local elementary schools, high schools, or universities around the city, Wilson said.

The debate are in the form of the parliamentary debate, each lasting about an hour.

Each round has six eightminute speeches, one from each member of each threeperson team, and two fourminute speeches, as one person from each team speaks again to close out the debate.

Students debated a wide

range of topics, including whether the media should be prevented by law from intruding into the lives of public figures, as well as whether prisoners should be allowed to choose death over a life sentence as punishment for a crime.

While the U.S. team didn’t make it past the preliminary rounds, both Wilson and Van Iderstine said they greatly enjoyed the experience.

“My favorite part was definitely meeting new people, Wilson said. “Although I really love competing traveling, the best part is getting to know people from around the world. We made so many great friends, which makes the experience particularly memorable.”

Van Iderstine observed the global attitude towards the U.S. during the trip.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF ELLE WILSON

IT’S PARLIAMENTARY: Miranda Van Iderstine ’13, far left, and Elle Wilson ’13, far right, pose with fellow U.S. debaters in Turkey.

“The U.S. isn’t the most liked, and we are the brunt of obesity, Mitt Romney and gun jokes, but going to these tournaments and getting to disprove stereotypes is very cool,” Van Iderstine said.

Members for the U.S. team were chosen from the U.S. World Schools Debating Championship Program, a debate team primarily based in Southern California, which includes about 20 students,

including a development program. To qualify, debaters had to go through a series of auditions before the coaches picked who would compete in the WSDC. The U.S. team spent the first two thirds of the competition preparing for debates.

Towards the end of the tournament they took a day trip to Roman ruins, and spent time with other debaters, Van Iderstine said.

Chinese instructors observe AP curriculum

By Michael Rothberg

Teachers from The High School Affiliated to Fudan University and The Beijing Number 12 High School visited Harvard-Westlake to observe various departments’ AP curricula and teaching styles.

The visitors sat in on classes and met with faculty and department chairs to learn

about ways to teach AP courses, Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas said.

The teachers from the High School Affiliated to Fudan University gave HarvardWestlake a Chinese New Year decoration, currently on display in Seaver, as a gift before leaving.

“I think if they came away with one thing from their visit,

I think they came away with the sense that school, and our school in particular, is much more than about just delivering content,” Barzdukas said.

“You can go to a bookstore and buy the AP content, but [we are] imbuing that content into a culture of inquiry, a culture of learning, a culture of enthusiasm. I think they are trying to puzzle through how to make

all that happen.”

In addition, the administration is discussing a plan to send Harvard-Westlake students to a conference during the summer to “meet students from Chinese schools and from other schools around the world to talk about how to build relationships and strengthen cooperation between the East and the West,” Barzdukas said.

hwchronicle.com/news

Feb. 13, 2013

News A7

inbrief Library provides new laptop chargers

The library has begun checking out Apple computer chargers to students in addition to their previous supply of phone chargers.

The chargers may be carried out of the library and used anywhere on campus, but must be returned to the library at the end of a school day.

Students may also leave their computers behind the desk to charge during a class or free period under the supervision of the library staff.

—Sarah Novicoff

The Pied Prefects IN YOUR FACE: Jake Bracken ’14, far left, pies prefect Ashley Sacks ’14, in the middle, while fellow prefect Henry Hahn ’14 looks on after also getting pied. Since 50 Whiteout pledges were signed by Monday, students were allowed to pie the prefect of their choice.

Olympic swimmer Torres ’85 to speak at Women’s History assembly next month

By Marcella Park

Five-time Olympic swimmer and Westlake alumna Dara Torres ’85 will speak at the school’s annual Women’s History Month Assembly on March 18.

Gender Studies teacher Malina Mamigonian, who is organizing the event, got in touch with Torres through Darlene Bible, the current athletic director of operations and Torres’ swim coach during her years at Westlake.

Torres has visited Har-

vard-Westlake before, but this will be her first time speaking at a school assembly.

“We haven’t had a female athlete in a long time. Ms. Torres is a Westlake grad, and a pretty extraordinary one, at that. I’m just looking forward to having a former graduate come to visit,” Mamigonian said.

Torres won 12 Olympic medals over her 24 years of swimming at the Games, the first of which, a gold, she won in 1984, the summer before her senior year at Westlake.

She concluded her Olympic career after falling short at age 45 of the 2012 Games by less than one tenth of a second.

Students from the Gender Studies class will introduce Torres at the assembly. The course, as part of its study of women’s history, “explores matters of justice in relativity to opportunities for women and others,” Mamigonian said.

Past speakers at Women’s History Month assemblies at Harvard-Westlake include veteran journalist Helen

Thomas and labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta.

Since competing in Beijing, Torres has written books, worked with sponsors and given motivational speeches at several locations. She has also appeared on various television shows to talk about her career.

“She’s a relevant choice this year. Her ambition is to encourage people that whatever their age or their ability, they can master themselves, master a skill,” Mamigonian said.

Workshop to discuss internship process

By J.J. Spitz

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JAMIE CHANG

THROUGH A NEW LENS: Jamie Chang ’13, Emily Plotkin ’13, and Alex Ravan’ 13 (left to right) pose with organization’s eye doctors.

3 seniors document ‘Vision to Learn’ charity

By Eojin Choi

Three seniors photographed and filmed an eyeglasses distribution event at the Dolores Mission School in Boyle Heights Jan. 28 as part of their publicity.

Vision to Learn, the nonprofit organization that hands out glasses and gives free eye examinations to the underprivileged children in the Los Angeles district, invited three Photography III students Emily Plotkin ’13, Jamie Chang ’13 and Alex Ravan ’13 to take pictures and videos that will be posted on their website.

“It sounds so cliché, but they’re really seeing a whole new world,” Plotkin said.

“They’re seeing things they’ve never seen before, and everything’s improving from their athletics to their educational success.”

As one of the heads of Community Council, Emily Plotkin ’13 became involved with the organization after responding to Vision to Learn’s email.

She is hoping to continue the events with more art students helping out.

To raise awareness in the community, the founder of the organization and a couple of kids who have been affected by Vision to Learn will be coming to speak next week at class meetings.

“I got glasses in third grade, so I really can’t imagine my life without them. I definitely would have struggled academically if I didn’t have the resources to have vision tests and know that things were wrong. It would have been a whole other experience,” Plotkin said. “It warms my heart to see [the students] really notice a difference.”

and Slattery and Salamandra will present about resumes Teachers and alumni will and selecting internships reinstruct students on how to spectively. write resumes, succeed in inCharlie Wang of technolterviews and select an intern- ogy education company Genship during a workshop in the eral Assembly will speak about Kutler Center on Feb. 25. Stu- why companies want interns. dents will also have the chance Lynn Sommer, a career to browse internships on the coach and parent of two alumschool webni, will talk site as a part about interof the HW view skills.

Works initiaThe onOne benefit [of an tive. line database internship] is just the M a t h lists internand comships from actual experience: puter sciemployers writing a resume, ence teacher who are inPaula Evans terested in putting yourself out noticed the having a there, going out and need for an Harvardsaying I’m here and I’m internship We s t l a k e database student, available...” when some Salamandra of her stu—Paula Evans said. dents menStudents Mathematics Teacher tioned that it can access seemed like it with their the attainment of internships student ID and password. was based on whom you know, Once someone selects an she said. internship, it is his or her reEvans began collaborating sponsibility to contact the emwith Head of Upper School ployer and apply.

Deans Beth Slattery and SeIf students do not see their nior Alumni Officer Harry area of interest covered, they Salamadra to hold a workshop can make requests. that gives them the tools they “One benefit [of an internneed to get an internship. ship] is just the actual experiAlumni Administrator ence,” Evans said. “Writing a Janiece Richard will introduce resume, putting yourself out the event by explaining how there, going out and saying I’m Harvard-Westlake is helping here and I’m available, and seits students find internships, lecting an opportunity.”

“

Senior class gift to give scholarships The Class of 2013 will donate to the Thomas C. Hudnut Scholar Endowed Fund for its Senior Class Gift, Director of Student Affairs Jordan Church announced. The fund will provide scholarships for six students every year, one student in each grade, to expand the financial aid program.

The Senior Gift Committee led a vote for the beneficiary of the class gift during class meeting last month.

Seniors can contribute to the class gift through their student accounts next week.

—Jensen Pak

SAA makes phone calls for donations

Thirteen students and five faculty members made phone calls at the Student Alumni Phonathon on Feb. 7. The SAA provided training for students new to the process before making phone calls to alumni asking for donations and thanking others for donating this year.

“Overall the Phonathan was a success,” said Keane Muraoka-Robertson ‘13, one of the student heads of SAA. “It’s hard to talk to someone every time we make a call due to time, but we were able to leave a voicemail, which is just as important. It was great that we were able to make so many calls in the time that we had.”

—Jacob Goodman

Second round of Assassin to start The Happiness Club will moderate a second schoolwide game of Assassin in the new semester, club leader Kenneth Kim ’13 said.

In the first game, which spanned the two weeks before winter break, over half of the players were assassinated within the first days. Kim said he plans to implement safe zones or other measures to avoid a similar ”bloodbath” on the first day of the next game.

Kim asked members of the Happiness Club to volunteer as moderators to help the club heads keep track of which players are still left in the game and the way in which each player is killed.

“Get excited, sharpen your blades, HW Assassin 2 is coming soon,” he said.

—Claire Goldsmith

The Chronicle

A8 News

Feb. 13, 2013

Home improvement

School to construct parking garage, bridge

The school unveiled its plan to construct a new parking garage and athletic field last month, proposing a parking improvement plan that aims to benefit both the school and the surrounding neighborhood.

• Continued from page A1

The school has owned the land for about 50 years, Amato said.

“It’s something we bought a number of years ago and we just thought it might be a good idea if ever there was a chance of developing it, we would,” Amato said. “It just sat there.”

The field above the structure will not be used for games. It will be a practice field for soccer, lacrosse, football and field hockey, Amato said.

Along the west side of Coldwater, new landscap-

ing will also be installed.

The school considered a tunnel rather than a bridge but any underground structure would flood in the rain and would clash with the infrastructure in the ground. A structure rather than a subterranean garage is also more cost-effective because less dirt has to be moved, Amato said.

“I think our community will benefit, I think the neighborhood community will benefit, and I think the people who use Coldwater on a daily basis will benefit,” Amato said.

The path to parking PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JOHN AMATO

A bridge will connect the parking structure to campus, so that students walking from the lot to school won’t have to interfere with Coldwater Canyon traffic.

The three-story parking structure on Coldwater Canyon will house 750 parking spots for students, faculty and visitors.

The roof of the structure will act as an athletic field for school sports so that same-season sports can practice at the same time.

The school will devote over 60 percent of the project area to landscaping, helping beautify the neighborhood.

Two driveways will be solely dedicated to entering the structure to prevent traffic backups. Coldwater Canyon will also gain a new southbound through lane as well as one left turn lane and one right turn lane into the parking structure.

If the project meets zoning regulations, the Department of Building and Safety issues a permit. If it requires approval by the Department of City Planning, the applicant must apply there for land use permits.

After a public hearing in which anyone can ask about the project, an “appropriate decision maker” considers testimony from the neighborhood and Planning staff recommendations to either approve the proposal as is, approve it with conditions or deny the proposal.

If approved, the applicant acquires the necessary building permits at the Department of Building and Safety.

INFOGRAPHIC BY JULIA AIZUSS SOURCE: HWPARKING.COM

If denied, the decision may be appealed. The appeal body provides the final decision on the proposed project.

INFOGRAPHIC BY JULIA AIZUSS SOURCE: CITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING

Teachers use formulas, scales soundbyte to adjust AP course grades

By Rachel Schwartz

Grading midterms, teachers must not only work through piles of blue books and scantrons, but also determine how to adjust students’ raw scores. Some departments use scales, some use formulas, some use point addition, but across the board teachers want adjustments to benefit students and create what they consider an appropriate average score.

Bo Lee ’13 said his score on the AP Physics B semester exam jumped from a 68 percent raw score to a solid B. “It’s great. I thought I failed but it really turned out to be okay,” Lee said.

Physics B finals were adjusted using a formula.

“As a science teacher and someone who is mathematically inclined, I am more comfortable with a formula,” physics teacher Jesse Reiner said.

When they intentionally give hard tests, teachers expect a greater number of students to achieve lower scores.

The goal is to find a way to bring the range of scores closer together, Reiner said. By adjusting grades teachers try to compensate for the distribution of grades that results from a high level of difficulty.

“We want to give really challenging exams,” Reiner said.

As a result, the AP Physics B team needs a way to adjust that will benefit lower scoring students most. Rather than use a scale which feels arbitrary to Reiner, the teacher team uses what he called a geeky formula that involves taking the square root of the raw score, multiplying it by ten and then adding three percent to compensate for new questions used this year that seemed particularly difficult.

Other science courses such as AP Biology use a scale that follows the guidelines of the AP board’s scoring system, though the scale is less generous, Upper School Science Department Head Larry Axelrod said.

AP Chemistry has a set scale that does not change year to year, and Honors Chemistry does not scale any examinations unlike other classes which adjust grades slightly based on students’ performance on a given exam.

“We want to make sure each teacher has around the same average,” said chemistry teacher Krista McClain of the regular chemistry course in which each teacher makes their own tests and deter-

“Part of teaching is your humanity.

Teachers are actually rooting for their students, not trying to punish them.”

—Katherine Holmes-Chuba, history teacher

mines their own scale.

AP Calculus AB uses a scale close to the AP system for which scoring five sevenths of points correlates with a five on the AP exam and an A- on the midterm and final, math teacher Catherine Campbell said.

Scaling doesn’t vary much year to year. Math instructors teaching the same course make a sliding scale based on the scores in all sections so that the average score is between an 85 and 90 percent.

When multiple choice is given for semester exams, both the History and English departments use item analysis provided by the scantron machine, which shows what percentage of students got each question right. They add a consistant number of points to each raw score.

“We only get to use the scantron machine once a year, so it makes us a little giddy,” Upper School English Department Head Larry Weber said.

Weber said teachers on the AP Literature team pull a couple of random blue books from the stacks and grade them together.

“We were looking for the

difference between a B+ and an A,” Weber said.

When they are making the question and during these sample gradings, English teachers establish a rubric specific to that assignment.

“We want to be really mindful and fair in how we weight our assignments,” Weber said.

Weber noted teachers do have some “room to play,” to either reward an upward progression or help out a normally strong student who couldn’t get grounded in the analytical section of the exam.

On history midterms some points added to the raw score to cover for scantron mistakes, unclear questions, and “a couple of extra points of pure generosity” are added, Upper School History Department head Katherine HomesChuba said.

Teachers sit together and talk about their expectations for student’s written work.

Holmes-Chuba said they are sometimes more lenient when grading a semester exam than they would be on a term paper

nathanson ’s

or even a regular test since it demands comprehension of so much information. She does, however, think studying for finals is valuable.

“Students get to step back and look at the whole semester and realize that it’s not bits and pieces,” Holmes-Chuba said.

Latin teacher Paul Chenier said midterm grading policy varies greatly between classes in the Foreign Language Department.

“Each language is sort of its own world,” Chenier said.

For AP Latin, Chenier does not adjust exam scores.

Instead, he tries to balance the difficulty of multiple choice and free response questions.

“I include questions that act as the curve,” Chenier said.

“I balance my exams that way.”

He said he expects students’ miderm scores to be within one letter grade of their normal achievement.

“For the kids it’s a chance to prep for the actual AP exam. For me it’s a chance to adjust my teaching strategies,” Chenier said.

hwchronicle.com/news

Feb. 13, 2013

Black History Month

News A9

The BLACC organized special assemblies, readings and movie screenings to celebrate Black History Month, highlighted by guest speaker actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Actor performs poetry

By Morganne Ramsey

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who is best known for playing Theo in “The Cosby Show,” hosted a Jazz Night and Poetry Lounge on Feb. 8, sponsored by the AfricanAmerican Alumni Association in honor of Black History Month.

Warner read three poems during the event, one of which was a poem called “Sprung,” about his experience in a longterm relationship.

Other performers included students, faculty and alumni.

Most of the performers read original poetry, such as Patric Verrone ’13, who read his poem “The Lovers of Valdaro,” and Jessica Murdock ’14 who shared her poem, “A Running Dream.” On the other hand, Senior Alumni Officer Harry Salamandra read the Maya Angelou poem “Still I Rise” and Jensen McRae ’15 sang her original song “Skinny.”

A student jazz ensemble also performed.

At the event, Abby Harris ’94, president of the HarvardWestlake African-American Alumni Network, announced that they had gotten a $50,000 challenge to initiate a scholarship for African-American students at Harvard-Westlake to supplement financial aid.

HWAAN pledged to match that: the board will donate $20,000 and members will donate an additional $30,000 in order to match it.

Richard said that if the event was a success they would consider planning another for next year.

“The event went extremely well,” Richard said, “MalcolmJamal Warner was an excellent host, the turnout was great and each performer was amazing.”

Harris said they would think about doing another next year, and Warner said that he would be interested in hosting again.

Around 70 people attended the event, with 12 acts performed throughout.

TARA STONE/CHRONICLE

SPEAKING OUT: Director D. Channsin Berry speaks to the audience gathered in Ahmanson lecture hall after the screening of his documentary film “Dark Girls” on his inspirations for the movie and how we can remedy the problems women face in all different cultures.

BLACC hosts screening of documentary on prejudices within the black community

By Tara Stone

Director D. Channsin Berry and producer Bradinn French presented their 2011 documentary “Dark Girls” to students, parents and alumni on Feb. 9 in Ahmanson lecture hall. The 80-minute screening was open to the student body to help raise awareness for Black History Month on campus.

“We really liked the idea of showing a film that was relevant [for Black History Month] and so each of the

BLACC leaders chose three movies we wanted to show and on all of our lists was ‘Dark Girls,’” BLACC leader Justin Carr ’14 said. The screening was coordinated by the Black Leadership and Awareness Culture Club adviser Janiece Richard. The film has been shown in many festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival.

The documentary covered discrimination within the African-American community against dark-skinned girls compared to lighter-skinned

girls within contexts such as other ethnicities, the media, the workforce and men’s thoughts on women.

“It was great to show it in the Harvard-Westlake environment because even the African-American students didn’t know a lot about that particular issue or that it was an issue at all,” BLACC member Jessica Murdock ’14 said.

For Berry, the subject of skin color was almost secondary to his portrayal of the problems for all women. The director recalled the surprise

he felt that so many colored women wished to speak their mind on lighter versus darker skin, and how speaking to them made him want to question women outside of the black community as well.

“All women are ‘dark girls’ at some point in their lives.

What’s making the women dark is the lack of self-esteem,” Berry said.

Berry is now working on a three-part documentary series called “The Black Line (A Profile of the African-American Woman).”

‘You do the best you can with what you have’ • Continued from page A1

involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and his impressive acting career.

“Everyone in the HarvardWestlake community can relate to him because of his easy going attitude, his intellect, and his amazing sense of humor,” Winfield said.

Jackson became involved in the civil rights movement while at Morehouse College and was involved in holding administrators at the college hostage to push for reforms in

the school.

“I became what was known as a ‘student militant,’” he said. “We locked [administrators] in a building and talked to them for a couple of days.”

He was kicked out of the school and returned two years later to earn a degree in acting. Jackson first intended to major in marine biology to fulfill a childhood dream to be the “black Jacques Cousteau.”

Jackson won Best Supporting Actor in the Cannes Film Festival for a breakout role in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever.”

He attributes his success in large part to the fact that he had just come out of a drug rehabilitation program before landing the role.

“It was first time I had acted in a while without a substance in my body,” Jackson said. “My eyes were open, my mind was clear and I was focusing on something other than my own problems.”

When asked what he thought about African-American characters getting killed off in movies earlier, Jackson said “I don’t read anything

into things like that anymore.”

With his early roles on shows such as “Law and Order” where he did die early, Jackson said he still enjoyed playing those characters.

“When I first started, I was trying to figure out what page I died on.” Jackson said.

“But what you try to do is try to make that character so unique so they want to hang out with you. [The producers] will tell their friends ‘I got this guy who dies really well’ and you do the best you can with what you have.”

Teacher dashes to get script signed

By Julia Aizuss

JULIA AIZUSS/CHRONICLE

SCIENCE MEETS SHOWBIZ: Science teacher Blaise Eitner poses with his copy of “Deep Blue Sea,” signed by Samuel Jackson.

It was as much of a surprise to science teacher Blaise Eitner as it was to the students when the speaker for the Black History Month assembly turned out to be actor Samuel L. Jackson. While Jackson told the school about his career, Eitner slipped out of Taper Gym and went to his marine biology classroom, where he happens to keep his 16-year-old copy of the script for “Deep Blue Sea,” a 1999 movie co-starring Jackson.

When Jackson was about to leave, Eitner stopped him and asked for his autograph on the script. Eitner worked as a scientific consultant on the script in 1997, when he was a graduate student.

The 1999 trailer for “Deep

Blue Sea” features a scene in which a marine biologist character shouts, “That’s impossible! Sharks do not swim backwards, they can’t!”

This exclamation was one of the “ridiculous ways,” according to Eitner, that he found his scientific feedback on the script incorporated into the final movie.

“It was as if the sharks had gotten so smart they could violate physics,” Eitner said.

When Eitner was doing his postdoctoral research, he became known in the field of marine biology as a shark expert, he said. As a result, he got a phone call one day requesting scientific feedback for a movie about sharks. Eitner agreed, received a copy of the script in the mail and began giving feedback to the screenwriter

in regular phone calls, pointing out numerous simple mistakes.

“Among other things, sharks don’t scream, sharks can’t hover,” Eitner said. “A number of things didn’t make their way into the final script because they were ridiculous.”

Although Eitner had been promised that he would be paid for his work, he never received any checks in the mail, so he stopped making revisions and calling up the screenwriter, who never called back.

Since he thought that the payment was negligible, he didn’t bother asking for it, instead receiving his payment 16 years later with the autograph.

“That’s worth more to me than I would have gotten making a little money from the job,” Eitner said.

The Chronicle

A10 News

Feb. 13, 2013

Alumnus designs, prepares to launch new technology website

By Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski

Charlie Stigler ’11 created Zaption, a website that allows users to add interactive elements to clips of videos from sites like Youtube.

Zaption will be open for public use in the coming weeks. A user can add multiple choice questions when the video pauses to quiz viewers.

“Medical schools have large databases of surgery video, but no way to effectively use this video to help medical students learn,” Stigler said. “Using Zaption, they could create an interactive experience that pauses the video at given points and asks the student to circle the part of the body where they should make the next incision.

The professors could then look at a heat map of where the students circled, to see whether the students were learning well and what they need to clarify in their next lesson.”

Stigler conceived the idea

in the summer of 2011.

He wanted to create a tool that would allow teachers to critique other teachers using classroom videos.

“For example, your physics teacher could create an experience combining a video lecture with quiz questions for the students to help them engage more and learn more from the video,” Stigler said.

“These both play into the educational concept of the flipped classroom, where lectures are largely delivered outside of class time so that your class time can be used more productively.”

During his first year at Columbia University, Stigler applied for the Thiel Fellowship, a fund that gives young entrepreneurs a chance to work on their ideas by giving them $100,000 to leave college and focus on their work.

After applying, being interviewed by phone, and flying with 40 finalists to San Francisco for another interview, Stigler was granted the

fellowship and moved to California to focus on Zaption. Stigler does not know if he will go back to Columbia and continue his studies.

“Leaving Columbia was the only way I could make Zaption happen,” Stigler said. “College has an unbeatable environment socially, and I was sad to leave some great friends, but hopefully this time will let me grow both as an entrepreneur and as a person.”

As the only full time employee, he built the website entirely by himself in the last six months and is still fixing bugs and ensuring compatibility with older browsers. Stigler doesn’t want the public to see the full website until it is working well and smoothly.

When he posted a naming contest online, Zaption was chosen and the winner was paid $150.

“I think of it as representing the way we add context to a video, the same way a caption adds context to a video,” Stigler said.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF CHARLIE STIGLER ’11

WEB-DESIGN: Charlie Stigler ’11 works to create his new website, Zaption, after being granted money and finish web-designing.

School to implement 1-1 Educators review 2 departments personal laptop initiative soundbyte for incoming students

By Lauren Sonnenberg and J.J. Spitz

• Continued from page A1

mately the technology policy needed to laptops into the classbe uniform for the room was a “direct whole school so both outcome” of a Novemstudents and teachber 2012 Ed Tech surers could get used to vey that showed nearly one device.

90 percent of students The plan, howhave their own comever, includes having puter of which 85 periPad carts available cent are laptops, Resnat the Middle School nathanson ’s ick said. and in the future at Last April, teachJeffrey Snapp the Upper School. ers received iPads in “It was not a a pilot program to see misstep to give out whether the tablets the iPad,” Resnick would be effective in said. “It jump-starta one-to-one program ed thinking – it got for the students. teachers really motiAlthough some vated to think about teachers, especially how they bring at the Middle School, computing into the found the iPad useful class.” in their classroom, the The computers Educational Technolwill be used in the ogy Committee ultinathanson ’s classroom in “two mately did not choose Liz Resnick primary ways: invesiPads in their recomtigative research and mendation to Huycreating documents brechts.

“The iPad doesn’t have and multimedia projects.”

“If all the kids are doing the computing power many classes need in terms of data is coming to class and typing management,” Resnick said. their notes instead of hand“Most teachers are creating writing their notes, that’s not their documents through the enough,” Snapp said. “It needs Microsoft suite [on laptops] so to be better than that.”

“This program that we’re the iPad isn’t a no-brainer.”

Snapp agreed that a embarking on is really going “strong majority” of teachers to be unique to our school,” Snapp said. “We’re going to preferred laptops when asked.

Huybrechts said that ulti- make it what it needs to be.”

As a part of the Review program, a systematic process for promoting growth and improvement in the school, six education professionals visited classes on Feb. 11 and 12, and two more will visit the Foreign Language department on Feb. 25 and 26.

The guests observed classes and met teachers, students and administrators. All departments participate in the Review process, in six-year cycles of internal review, external evaluations and application of criticism.

Prior to the visitors’ arrival, the Foreign Language department had several joint department meetings about their goals, head of Upper School foreign language department Margot Riemer said.

Susana Epstein from Collegiate School in New York City, Rebecca Anderson from Santa Monica College and Dr. Robert Cape from Austin College visited on Feb. 11 and 12. Alison Davee from Lincoln Academy in Maine and Dr. Cecilia Chang from Williams College will come on Feb. 25 and 26.

The visitors will evaluate the specific language programs.

The Foreign Language and English visitors met with Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas and Director of Studies Liz Resnick. They also met with Dean of Faculty Jacob Hazard. While visiting, they had lunch with students

“You can get a little too close to your own department at school, so having that outside evaluation team come in is really interesting.”

—Jennifer Dohr, English teacher

to hear their thoughts on the programs at school, without any faculty present.

Middle School English Department Head Jennifer Dohr and Upper School Department Head Larry Weber, along with former middle school department head Ellen Ehrlich, have overseen the creation of six reflective committees: the senior program, writing, literature, effective paper feedback, technology and classroom teaching.

The English department’s three visitors were chosen for their experience in English. Laura Marion, an English teacher at Polytechnic School in Pasadena and Carol Jaco, author of many books, textbooks and articles regarding the improvement of classroom teaching visited. Weber visited a conference hosted by Dean of Faculty and longtime English teacher Jonathan Howland at the Urban School in San Francisco and decided that he would be a valuable addition to the group of visitors “Sometimes you can get a

nathanson ’s

little too close to your own department at school, so having that outside evaluation team come in is really interesting,” Dohr said.

The guests spent a full day at each campus and were given a schedule of every English class. English teachers met at the Middle School to listen to the visitors’ feedback.

“The major challenge of our school is the fact that we exist at two locations,” Weber said. ”One value [of review] has been to put us in meaningful conversation with our colleagues so that we can make explicit what’s implicit: that we are one program.”

Change has already been implemented since the program began last year, specifically regarding classroom teaching.

The teachers on the committee have been able to ask different questions in class based off of their research of adolescent brain development.

New AP and non-AP options will be available to seniors next year.

Feb. 13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/news

News A11

National contest honors 7th grader for service efforts

By Scott Nussbaum

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF DAVID HINDEN

LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN: Students in the Criminal Law and Advocacy classes document the story of Obie Anthony, who was wrongly sentenced to life imprisonment. Anthony was exonerated last year.

Exonerated man shares experience with Criminal Law students

By Noa Yadidi

A man who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit spoke about his experiences in prison and what his life has been like since he was exonerated to students in the Criminal Law and Advocacy classes Jan. 17.

At age 19, Obie Anthony was convicted of murder in connection with a car-jacking robbery and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Anthony maintained his innocence, and his case was taken around five years ago by the then-newly-formed Project for the Innocent at Loyola Law School under Professor Laurie Levenson (Solly Mirell ’06, Havi Mirell ’08) and senior fellow Adam Grant. Former

Head Prefect Brooke Levin ’12 worked as an intern on the case, and science teacher David Hinden, a former federal prosecutor, helped her write up her findings.

Last year, a judge found that Anthony was wrongfully convicted and released him.

In designing the new Kutler Center course on Criminal Law and Advocacy, Hinden met with Levenson to connect the class to the Loyola Law School, and they decided to create a film as a way to study the case. Hinden plans on having each of the two sections of the class create their own short film telling Anthony’s story, bringing in different speakers, including Levenson and Levin, to speak to the class and be interviewed for

15% Discount for Harvard Westlake Students

Pick-ups and Dine-ins from the regular menu

the film.

“There is a saying that better that a hundred guilty people should go free than one innocent person should be convicted, but sometimes an innocent person is convicted and it’s important to try and right that,” Hinden said.

During his visit to the class, Anthony spoke about when he found out that he was charged for the crime.

“My favorite thing was getting to hear him tell his story himself,” Yasmin Moreno ’13 said. “We had heard about him from others and read about him in the past, but he was finally there, talking with us one-on-one. [He] spent so much time wrongfully imprisoned, but he never gave up hope.”

profits from the bracelets go to cancer research.

Teagan Stedman ’18 will Stedman has hosted sevreceive the Prudential Spirit eral band competitions, nickof Community award in Wash- named “Shredfests,” at venues ington, D.C. on May 7 in rec- such as the House of Blues and ognition of his community ser- the Roxy Theatre. During the vice effort. competitions, Stedman plays Stedman, who created the guitar in his own band. nonprofit organization Shred “Participating in commuKids’ Cancer, has raised more nity service has made me rethan $70,000 for alize how many pediatric cancer people are going research. through this disParticipating in Motivated ease,” Stedman by his friend’s community service has said. “It’s our job brother, who was healthy peomade me realize how as diagnosed with ple to help those many people are going in need.” cancer, Stedman decided to Stedman through this disease. donate all the was one of 102 It is our job as healthy State Honorees money he raised to pediatric canpeople to help those in named and will cer research. receive a $1,000 need.”

“I was mainly award and a silinspired by a girl —Teagan Stedman ’18 ver medallion in my carpool at a ceremony whose brother in Washington, got cancer. I really wanted to D.C. start something that would “Harvard-Westlake has a help others suffering from the spirit that helps all students disease,” Stedman said. stand up for each other and The organization’s web- help everyone out,” Stedman site, http://shredkidscancer. said.

“Community service org, allows visitors to pur- helps extend the spirit of the chase tickets for upcoming school and benefits all who events, donate money, volun- participate.” teer for events, contact StedThe next “Shredfest” conman and purchase bracelets cert will take place on April 13 called “shredstraps.” All of the at the House of Blues.

“

the harvard-westlake

CHRONICLE Los Angeles • Volume XXII • Issue III • Nov. 7, 2012

Editors in Chief: David Lim, Elana Zeltser Managing Editors: Robbie Loeb, Michael Rothberg, Camille Shooshani Executive Editor: Rachel Schwartz Presentations Editors: Jamie Chang, Gabrielle Franchina

Opinion The Chronicle

•

Feb. 13, 2013

Sports Editors: Michael Aronson, Luke Holthouse Chief Copy Editor: Allana Rivera News Managing Editors: Michael Sugerman, Ally White News Section Heads: Julia Aizuss, Jack Goldfisher, Elizabeth Madden, Lauren Sonnenberg, Noa Yadidi Infographics Manager: Jivani Gengatharan News Copy Editor: Jessica Lee News Online Managers: Claire Goldsmith, Jensen Pak Assistants: Leily Arzy, Sara Evall, Haley Finkelstein, Enya Huang, Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski, Jensen McRae, Nikta Mansouri, Scott Nussbaum, Jonathan Suarez, J.J. Spitz, Jake Saferstein Opinion Managing Editor: Ana Scuric Section Heads: Beatrice Fingerhut, James Hur, Kyla Rhynes, Tara Stone Assistants: Parker Chusid, Lucas Gelfen, Kenneth Schrupp Features Managing Editors: Maggie Bunzel, Carrie Davidson Features Section Heads: Eojin Choi, Sydney Foreman, David Gisser, Sarah Novicoff Morganne Ramsey, Lauren Siegel Assistants: Carly Berger, Zoe Dutton, Jacob Goodman, Aimee Misaki, Marcella Park, Nadia Rahman, David Woldenberg Sports Managing Editors: Aaron Lyons, Keane Muraoka-Robertson Section Heads: Patrick Ryan, Grant Nussbaum, Lucy Putnam, Lizzy Thomas Assistants: Elijah Akhtarzad, Mila Barzdukas, Jordan Garfinkel, Tyler Graham, Miles Harleston, Erina Szeto, Jeremy Tepper Business Manager: Cherish Molezion Ads Manager: Leslie Dinkin Photographers: Mazelle Etessami, Rebecca Katz, Scott Nussbaum, Emily Segal Multimedia Team: Mazelle Etessami, Jack Goldfisher, Eric Greenberg, Henry Hahn, Luke Holthouse, Eric Loeb, Sam Sachs Adviser: Kathleen Neumeyer The Chronicle is the student newspaper of Harvard-Westlake School. It is published eight 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, Studio City, 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 Leslie Dinkin at 818465-6512. Publication of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of the product or service by the newspaper or the school.

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

Reconsider the ban on formal dances The Prefect Council has been trying their hardest to plan and hype up Whiteout. They’ve sent many emails, put up posters and booked great food trucks.

All in all, it sounds like it will be a fun night. Unfortunately, the excitement will never match that of the semiformal. Under strict regulation from the administration, Whiteout or any more casual, in-school event will lack the thrill that a classic high school dance should provide.

Whiteout seems to have the expectation that you bring a date, but without the “formal” aspect there is confusion as to what kind of event it even is. It is true, two years ago our privilege was abused and we were punished for it. But after this year, any stu-

dent involved in the after party that shut down the semiformal for good will have graduated. In the two years since, with the implementation of contracts and heightened standards for behavior, we have had two clean and well-run proms. As a student body, we seem to have learned our lesson and perhaps deserve another chance to show our maturity. We can strap on our heels, tie our ties and feel, if just for one night, elegant and free of stress.

Whiteout seems like a great chance to help a charity and hang out with friends, and for that we are truly appreciative, but discussion should open up again about a semiformal type event as it feels like we are missing out on a rite of passage.

Let us evaluate our teachers Students are an untapped wealth of information about the learning process, individual teachers and how each department functions as a whole. As second semester seniors, we have been reflecting on what’s been important and what’s influenced us at HarvardWestlake.

Teachers play an immense role in the high school experience, guiding not only the course of our days, but also potentially the course of our careers.

We’re lucky enough to have teachers that seem constantly engaged, who transcend the monotony of the school day and invest in each student. However, there are classes that falter and things that can change. Every student has opinions of their teachers.

We spend 45 minutes each day listening to them but we are never consulted for our judgments. We sometimes complain to our deans but there’s no system in place to deal with it.

We need to open the dialogue between faculty and students. Right now, the English and foreign language departments are under evaluation as part of a sixyear cycle of review. This process consulsts a small number of students but mainly relies on outside guidance. As it stands, there is no regular formal feed-

back by students on the quality of our education. This could be a valuable tool. If the same issues arise year after year for students, that curriculum or teacher should be reevaluated and updated.

The school spends so much time trying to reach academic, athletic and artistic excellence, but we neglect to utilize the students who actually make it excellent.

There are many ways to get student input including end-of-the-year surveys or anonymous evaluations, but we think the best way to prompt change is through senior exit interviews with a member of the faculty. Westlake tried a similar method before the merger, and President Thomas Hudnut said he did interviews on a voluntary basis and found it helpful.

Removed from the pressure of college admissions and AP exams, seniors will have the perspective to properly evaluate their academic experience. They can speak to their development within each department and how each teacher affected change in their lives.

The departments could gauge their strengths and where they could use enhancement and adjust for the future. The answer is hiding in plain sight. We can help and we want to be heard.

hwchronicle.com/opinion

Feb. 13, 2013

Opinion A13

Cupid’s arrow is not so painful By David Gisser

W

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

It’s the little things that matter

By Ally White

C

ouples shouldn’t need a specific day as a reminder to show love. If they do, they probably won’t last until the next Valentine’s Day. The cute notes, saying “I love you,” the sweet gestures and small presents to show you care should happen regardless of a holiday and, to be honest, the gestures all seem less genuine to me on Valentine’s Day. They don’t seem to be done because you care, but because there’s a pressure, an underlying obligation to

do something cute for your significant other.

I see my friends and catch even myself becoming subject to the frenzy. People agonize over the best date and the perfect present, but not necessarily for the best reason.

Valentine’s Day has become a competition of sorts.

It’s a competition of who can inspire the most “Awww”s from their girl friends or high fives from their guy friends when they recount what they did on Valentine’s Day. I see people comparing the elaborate dates they have

planned and the expensive presents they have chosen for their significant other. This removes the feeling of love that Valentine’s Day may hope to inspire.

The day becomes almost as much about wanting to outdo and impress one’s friends as expressing how much you care about your girlfriend or boyfriend. The love seems to often unintentionally take a backseat.

Seeing as how there is a designated day to show you care, people might as well take advantage of it.

Trapped in a cult of stress

Valentine’s Day purports to be about love, so make it about love. Love isn’t about the elaborate things, the sunset horseback rides and the diamond earrings.

It’s about noticing the little things about your significant other that he or she wouldn’t expect you to care about or recognize.

Take her to the restaurant she mentioned in passing that she wanted to go to, or buy him the soundtrack to a movie he told you he loved.

It’s the little things that make the biggest impact.

hen we are children, on Valentine’s Day we give cards to every child in our class, even though some are clearly infected with cooties.

We are taunted by students that think writing out a full sentence on a card means you have a “crush” on someone.

As teenagers and adults we give flowers and chocolate to those we harbor feelings for, hoping they won’t accept our gifts “as friends.”

To single students, it may seem like just another day with tests to study for and homework to complete.

Valentine’s Day can feel like a nuisance that only serves to remind a person of their loneliness.

These understandings miss the point of Valentine’s Day. It is not a holiday to celebrate couples, but a holiday to celebrate all types of relationships.

Students in a relationship should see Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to express their feelings to the person they care about most. A box of chocolate, some flowers, and a card, will mean more to your significant other than the $20 it costs.

Every year, no matter how old we are, Feb. 14 is just an excuse to show the people we love that we care about them.

For singles, show someone that you care about them by asking them to Whiteout.

Hopefully with some flowers and chocolate, your Valentine’s Day will be a warm and happy one. All I’m trying to say is, remember that Valentine’s Day is about making your loved ones happy.

Cupid’s arrow is less painful than it looks.

Why do we tolerate an unfeasible routine?

By Claire Goldsmith

Y

ou may have seen this Internet meme online: “Good grades. Social life. Sleep. Pick two.”

Maybe you laughed, made a joke about whichever two you do most, and showed someone else the picture before forgetting it entirely. Or, if you’re a junior, you sighed sadly and went back to your history reading.

Junior year is infamously described as the hardest year of high school. With standardized testing, increased focus on grades, more intense athletic competition and college applications looming in the near future, junior year is challenging both academically and mentally.

I never thought it was going to be easy. Last year, I saw enough empty Starbucks cups and 3 a.m. Facebook

posts from the class of 2013 to realize that the upcoming school year would be challenging. But, as I look at second semester, this seems a little ridiculous.

I can’t do anything about the amount of work that I have and I’m not asking why I’m assigned so much (although I’m not entirely sure all of it is necessary). I can neither change the college admissions process nor reduce its requirements and competition.

When I think about it, I inevitably come to the conclusion that there’s nothing I can do, that’s just how things are.

It’s my acceptance of the state of things, the unswerving assumption that this is how it must be, that perplexes me the most.

Why is it commonly ac-

cepted that this is just how your junior year is?

I’m not the only one questioning the status quo.

Duke University recently analyzed numerous homework studies and found a point of diminishing returns – for high school students, more than 2.5 hours of homework per night is not effective in retention of material or test performance.

A fall 2012 study in the High School Journal by Indiana University and University of Virginia researchers showed that homework has little to no significant effect on students’ grades in any subject.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep per night, but the national average for teenagers hovers

around 7.3 hours.

A November Chronicle poll found that 74 percent of upper school students sleep for six hours or less every night.

While we pull all-nighters to finish papers on the causes of the Civil War, studies from the University of Minnesota and the University of Arkansas have proven that the one dependable factor in GPA increase was the number of hours a student slept per night.

This is where you should start questioning things.

Why pour hours of effort into homework and skimp on those nine hours a night when sleeping more is a scientifically proven way of getting closer to a 4.0?

We’re sucked into a culture, or, maybe more ac-

curately, a cult of stress. Our uniform is heavy backpacks and under-eye circles, our rituals include all-nighters and panic attacks and, to an outsider, our beliefs and practices would definitely seem bizarre.

Once you’re in, it’s incredibly difficult to break free from the beliefs of the group.

We’re brainwashed into thinking this is the only possible way of life, and that not sleeping and piles of homework and constant stress are just normal. That’s what junior year is.

It shouldn’t be like this. I want to change things – but I can’t not do my work or pretend that my life is stressfree. I want to leave the cult, but I’m in too deep.

Get ready, sophomores.

Initiation’s in September.

A14 Opinion

I

The Chronicle

Feb. 13, 2013

Silence is golden

By Alex McNab

find it a little disconcerting that I am having trouble figuring out what to write.

I think the problem is that I am trying to put my feelings into words and, at the moment, words just don’t seem to be doing them justice. I think because I have been learning to better communicate without words that I now find it awkward to search for about five hundred of them to describe seven days’ worth of thoughts, experiences, and emotions.

This next statement might sound funny if read aloud, but, instead of talking with people, I’ve been feeling with them.

Let me rephrase that last sentence. What I meant to say was that, instead of talking with my girlfriend, I’ve been feeling with her.

What I mean is that I don’t have to tell her how I’m feeling at any given moment because, more often than not, she is feeling the exact same way. It’s a nice kind of connection to have with somebody. It makes quiet moments more enjoyable and I am relaxed. Also, it allows for ease in physical gestures.

One of the worst nonverbal communications is the wink. I have no idea what message a wink tries to get across. Is he or she checking me out? Is he or she referencing some inside joke that I’ve forgotten? Is he or she even winking at me?

But, with Makana Williams, my girlfriend who I met in Beijing where we have been living for the past five months as we study Chinese language and culture with School Year Abroad, there is no ambiguity. We can have an entire conversation with each other just sitting in class squeezing each other’s hands. Mind

you, I won’t know what she is thinking in class, words are necessary for that, but I can tell how she is feeling, and she can tell how I am feeling, and so it is in this way that, when we are too tired to open our mouths to speak, we continue to communicate. Perhaps it is because we often take advantage of these physical subtleties that we seem to have become hyper-sensitive, searching for meaning in every movement we make.

For example, two days ago in English class as I was listening to my classmates discuss the irony of the book “To Live”, I caught a glimpse of Williams out of my peripheral vision, and I noticed that her eyes seemed a little redder than usual. Worried, I turned towards her, and I made a sad face to ask her if there was anything wrong. In return, she faked a yawn from across the table, meaning that she was fine, just a little bit tired, and she smiled, reassuring me that everything was alright.

Returning the smile, I let her know that I had received the message.

It is in instances such as these when I understand how much can be said in silence.

I like words, but words are complicated. A blind person would not be able to read this neither would a person from another country that could not speak English, but touch and movement are universal, and they are constantly showing. They never tell, and that’s what makes physical gestures so powerful. That’s why bodily communication is the deepest form of dialogue. I have nothing left to say. Just imagine me patting you on the back or squeezing your hand. The rest of my article is written in that touch.

JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

Be responsible for your own health

By Jack Goldfisher

A

s a wise Jamba Juice Styrofoam cup once told me, my body is a temple. I wholeheartedly believe in this principle, but I also believe that this same idea shouldn’t be thrust upon people who don’t agree with its core concept. The requests I will therefore make are simple: one, that we should eliminate the physical education requirement for students at the upper school and two, that the cafeteria should restart the sale of candy and soda in the cafeteria.

As for my argument against the PE requirement, my thoughts are pretty simple. I am six foot one, weigh 154 pounds, with 11.2 percent body fat, and a bunch of other numbers that, to be honest, I don’t understand, but that place me in the “healthy” range for an adult male. I’m in good physical shape, though I’ll admit the walk from Weiler up to Feldman-Horn leaves me breathless more than you’d suspect. However, I don’t compete in a sport at school, because as a popular internet meme would say

“ain’t nobody got time fo dat,” but I do exercise every day and during weekends. During summer, I box and play tennis near-daily and since I don’t have school-related stress, I don’t have episodes of late-night binge candy eating. However, in my time in school, I have only gotten four trimesters of PE credit, out of the six that are required.

In the next year and a half, I’ll have to take two more trimesters of PE or I won’t be allowed to graduate with my class.

It seems absurd that neither I, nor a friend of mine that rows crew (often considered to be the most rigorous common sport) every day, nor many other students who see to assuring their own physical fitness by themselves, earns credit for these activities.

I understand the intent of the program, but perhaps if a student can pass a rigorous physical fitness test they shouldn’t be forced to do six trimesters of PE. I realize that lobbying against a PE requirement and following that up by implor-

ing the school to sell candy and soda in the cafeteria makes me look like I’m part of the increasingly politically relevant Childhood Diabetes lobby. I assure you that I am simply trying to instill in my peers and also myself a drive to stay healthy that isn’t mandated by someone else.

We should be presented with the choice of whether or not to eat sugared candy and sodas, and not have this decision made for us.

At some point, we’re all going to have to start working hard for long-term success in life, and in our careers, and not necessarily be working towards the short-term goal of a high letter grade as in high school. Likewise, we will all be responsible for our own health soon enough, and it’s crucially important that we get a sense of how to best do this as early as possible.

It is each person’s individual responsibility to make the choice of what they want to eat, and I think I can speak for the majority of students when I say that we feel ready to take on this responsibility.

‘Hunting’ for the best education in the digital age

I

By Luke Holthouse

celebrated my first “I’m a Second Semester Senior so I Can Watch a Random Full-Length Movie on a Weekday Instead of Doing Homework” night last week.

The first movie on my list was “Good Will Hunting,” so I treated myself to two hours of Matt Damon’s exaggerated Bostonian accent. The movie tells a story of Will Hunting, played by Damon, who has suivant-like intelligence but no motivation to pursue an advanced career, so he finds himself working as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ultimately, a psychologist played

by Robin Williams convinces Hunting to leave behind his troubled past in foster care and use his incredible intelligence.

What earned the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture was the fascinating dynamic between Damon and Williams’ characters as Hunting tries to find himself in Boston. I’m not afraid to admit that I too may have gotten a little emotional

when Hunting finally breaks down and cries at a session with his shrink an hour and 50 minutes into the film and finally comes to terms with his tough childhood.

What earned the film a mention in my column though is a much smaller scene about 20 minutes into the film.

Hunting’s limitless knowledge comes not from a formal college education, but from intense study of any book he can get his hands on at a public library. In a random bar inside Boston, Hunting schools a Harvard social studies major during a debate on the economic structure of colonial America after just having read the books assigned to that course and not actually enrolling in the class.

“You dropped 150k on a [darn] education you could have gotten for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library,” Hunting tells the Harvard kid.

“Yeah,” retorts the Harvard kid, “but I will have a degree, and you’ll be serving

my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.”

The exchange really stuck with me, and it got me thinking about my own private schooling experience.

Did my family really need to spend $30,000 a year for me to get a high school diploma?

Sure, I’ve learned a lot at this school, but couldn’t I have learned it all for free off Khan Academy’s website? Looking back, was it worth it?

Sorry, Mr. Damon, but after some deeper reflection, yes, it has been worth it. I’m going to side with the annoying, preppy Harvard kid, not you. Before I dive into the value of Harvard-Westlake, I should tip my cap to Khan Academy, a service I’ve been meaning to write a column about for a while.

The website, started by philanthropist Salman Khan, provides free video lectures at khanacademy.org on a wide variety of subjects. The site contains about 4,000 videos on anything from art history to advanced physics and about a quarter of a billion video

lectures have been viewed on the website. If you haven’t heard of the website until now, I highly suggest every student check it out, because I’ve used it to aid my study of many of the classes I’ve taken here and am positive I would have visibly worse grades if I didn’t use it.

The website’s founder, Khan, uses simple explanations and helpful diagrams to explain complex subjects in a really effective way. He has the same level of understanding as many teachers here, but because I can access them at any time, I can catch stuff I may have missed in class in the videos.

I’m a fan of the website, so I’ve wondered, why isn’t all school like this? Wouldn’t I remember more specific details from a history lecture if it was posted on YouTube?

Wouldn’t I better understand the practice problems in a math packet if every teacher did what Mr. Mori did and posted videos walking through them on the internet? Probably.

But what matters more than any formula in a math class or any detail from a history lecture as I leave this school is my work ethic and study skills. While I may have to struggle to learn material presented in lectures which I can’t pause, it’s more important that I go into college with the ability to succeed in college lecture style courses.

One could argue that colleges shouldn’t lecture the way they do, and Khan does so in his book “One World School House,” where he explains how his website could fix the country’s education system. I’ll save that argument for another column, because until colleges change the way they teach, HarvardWestlake shouldn’t change the way it prepares kids for college. I may have missed the part about the agrarian structure of colonial America’s economy in Nini Halkett’s U.S. history course last year, but I’m proud of the work ethic I have, and think that is what will help me achieve in life. How bout them apples?

hwchronicle.com/opinion

Feb. 13, 2013

quadtalk

reportcard

The Chronicle asked:

“Are you planning on attending Whiteout?”

382 students weighed in on the monthly Chronicle poll Yes, I’m planning to go to Whiteout.

Opinion A15

86

No, I’m going to sit this one out.

296

“I think these things are only fun if everyone goes, so if everyone says they’re not going then people just won’t go and then it’s not fun.”

—Miranda Van Iderstine ’13

“I’m not exactly sure yet because I don’t have a date so I feel like it would be kind of weird to go without one. I might be, but I need to find a date first.”

—Milan Sanchez-Johnson ’14

“I am attending Whiteout because I am a part of Prefect Council. If I were not, I think I would go because it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be different”

A

Varsity baseball team raises $4,526 for cancer in the name of Chris “Be-Bop” Robinson.

A

Actor Samuel L. Jackson came to speak at the annual Black History Month assembly.

A-

Boys varsity basketball advances into CIF playoffs despite their double over-time loss to Loyola.

B+

Seniors threw a fake semi-formal by dressing up and taking over the quad with music and apple cider.

C

—Sarah Winshell ’15

Ladybugs released in the lounge for a senior prank were vacuumed by maintenance.

“Are you planning on taking a date to Whiteout?”

373 students weighed in on the monthly Chronicle poll

15%

Yes

85%

No JACOB GOODMAN/CHRONICLE

Tasting second semester “Would you be interested in attending a formal mid-year dance?”

381 students weighed in on the monthly Chronicle poll

304

77 Yes

No

A

few weeks ago, some friends and I celebrated becoming second semester seniors by exploding a watermelon. We used only rubber bands to do it. It was awesome.

The sweet taste of victory (and, after it blew up, the watermelon itself) was subtly symbolic. This, I thought. This is what second semester is about.

Second semester senior.

It’s alliterative. It rolls off the tongue. Even though, yes, we still have to come to school everyday, and yes, we have classes to go to and presumably do well in, the pressure is off.

In spite of newfound slack, the stereotypical apathy of a second semester senior doesn’t quite sit well at our school. This is

By Michael Sugerman where – at least for me – the competitive HarvardWestlake environment plays a positive role: I have been trained to be a student who cares about performing well for the sake of my own satisfaction, whether it really “matters” or not.

That said, the following information should come as no surprise. When midterms ended, a friend from another school asked me, “How do you feel?” I responded that, while I was glad to be done with a week of two-hour exams, I felt no different. After all, in just days, I would be back in class. As I learned in French, “Kif-kif demain” – in English, “Same old, same old.”

So what is the significance of second semester senior year? What makes it

different?

I feel like our class is more united. We’re seasoned veterans of this school. We’ve gone through six (or four) years together, and the second semester of our final year just symbolizes making it to “the other side.” That, in its own right, is rewarding.

This sense of group survival allows us to enjoy ourselves more. It’s why I released some stress by destroying a watermelon.

It’s why the senior class organized a fake semiformal. And it’s why one senior suggested that we start doing themed senior Wednesdays.

School isn’t over, but we can just have more fun being here. Second semester tastes sweet. Almost like a watermelon.

A16

Just a bowl of cherries

exposure

Feb. 13, 2013 Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” portrays the anguish of an aristocratic Russian family as they lose their home and cherry orchard to a former peasant.

3

1

8

2

4 5 6

PHOTOS BY JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

FAMILY TIES:

7

1: Anya (Emma Pasarow ’14) consoles Lyuboff (Elana Zeltser ’13) after their family estate is auctioned off to former peasant, Lopahin.

2: Yasha (Alex Musicant ’13) sits down after consuming too much alcohol at a ball.

3: Yepikhodov (Lucas Foster ’13) fails in his attempt to serenade Dunyasha.

4: Gaev (Ben Gail ’13) and Lyuboff take a final look at their beloved cherry orchard.

5: Fiers (Teddy Leinbach ’15) dies alone after the family leaves the estate.

6: Lopahin (Nick Healy’13) stumbles, drunk, across the stage after purchasing the cherry orchard on which his ancestors were serfs.

7: Gaev envisions a game of billiards.

“Yellow into the corner. Red off the cushion. Cut into the side pocket.”

8: Trofimov (Angus O’Brien ’14) convinces Anya that while they may be attracted to each other, they are “above love.”

Features The Chronicle • Feb. 13, 2013

Going the Distance Couples faced with the obstacles of a long distance relationship find the perfect formula for making it work.

By Allana Rivera

F

or some couples, being together isn’t as easy as common free periods shared in the lounge. James Wu ‘13, whose girlfriend Christie Chen attends Westridge High School in Pasadena, is used to seeing Chen once a month.

In fact, ever since meeting Chen at a language camp in Taiwan, rigorous coursework, strict parents and a lack of transportation have made frequent visits less than convenient, though there is less than 20 miles between them.

At times, the couple would go two months before seeing each other again.

“It was hard for her,” Wu said.

Since then, to compensate, Wu and Chen have made a point to talk or facetime once a day.

“It’s not like we don’t see each other,” Wu said. “We’re just not with each other.”

And though the separation is particularly hard now that Wu has more time on his hands, he believes being at different schools was initially a positive.

“At this point I’d love to be with her every day, but in the early stages it was good to have a little distance,” Wu said.

He attributes this to being able to develop a more profound relationship by really getting to know one another, and having the opportunity to miss one another.

“It was tough, but it wasn’t unbearable,” Wu said. “It just made the next meeting more valuable.”

Now, though, Wu is eager to spend as much time with Chen as possible before he leaves for college. This month, for instance, they will have seen each other three times, though they will not be able to see each other this Valentine’s Day. “Unfortunately, it’s a school day, so we can’t see each other,” Wu said. “I am sending her a gift. I don’t know what yet, but I can count on her to make the most amazing card I’ve ever seen.”

College, though, doesn’t mean the end of the relationship for the couple, as they have decided to stay together and are optimistic about the future.

“I feel like we’ll cope better than students who see each other every day,” Wu said. “Since we’re used to seeing each other once a month, it won’t be too hard to transition.”

As of this month, the couple will have been together for 19 months.

“We always said, when you find someone you connect with so much, despite where you live, it’s always going to be better than not being together” These were the words of Julie Engel ‘14 as she talked about the distance separating her from her boyfriend, Sam Mathews.

The couple met at a debate camp this

past summer, and began dating towards the end of camp despite Mathews living in Denver, Colorado.

“Being apart is still awful and it gets harder,” Engel said. “You would think it gets easier but it gets harder because we’re more attached every time.”

However, Engel says she is fortunate because of how often she is able to see Mathews, since Mathews is able to fly out with his dad when he comes to Los Angeles for work once a month.

Additionally, both are LincolnDouglas debaters and are thus able to see each other on a regular basis at debate tournaments. The distance is further tempered by the couple’s daily routine: video chatting every night and texting throughout the day. If they know they have a hard day ahead of them, they will make time in the morning to video chat before school.

However, next year will only be harder as Mathews is a senior and will be leaving for college in the fall. Like Wu and Chen, though, college does not mean an end to their relationship.

“We are going to stay together,” Engel said. “He’s only applying on the East coast which will make the next year harder but I also want to go somewhere on the East Coast, so after that it should get easier.”

Though she knows she shouldn’t base her college decision on her boyfriend, Engle is honest about how his decision has influenced her.

“I have found myself looking, finding schools near his,” Engel said.

“I think it is going to influence my decision but I think if I can find a school I can be happy at and it happens to be near him that would be fine because he’s really, really important to me.”

“I have no idea where I want to to go to college, so it helps at least, knowing where he’s going,” Engel said. “It’s not like I’m sacrificing my dream school.”

In keeping with their debate background, the couple will be celebrating their first Valentine’s Day together at the California Round Robin debate invitational.

EMILY SEGAL/CHRONICLE

The Chronicle

B2 Features

Anonymous Bloggers

By Michael Sugerman The “Them HW Kids” Tumblr has had more than 180,500 hits since its inception, gets 13,000 hits per month and 650 hits per day. Its leaders insist that the account stands for “Them Homework Kids” and is in no way school affiliated.

Regardless, droves of Harvard-Westlake students flock to the site each day, chuckling at GIFs (graphics interchange format images) that aim to accurately satirize the lives of high school students everywhere.

Luna* ’14 created the blog shortly before school started as “a funny way to cheer people up.”

“Around Sept. 22, the site just seemed to go viral,” she said.

To accommodate the demand for posts, Luna formed what is now a team of five, including fellow top contributor Pam* ’13. They say that secrecy about the blog’s membership has been key to its success.

“At the start, we didn’t really know what we were doing, and we figured anonymity would help us sweep things under the rug if things fell

apart,” Pam said.

Pam is also responsible for bringing back “The Overheard” via the themhwkids blog, which features humorous conversations overheard by students. This part of the site is based on a similar blog composed by anonymous seniors in the Class of 2009, which went by the same name.

Pam did research before reinstating “The Overheard,” talking to one of the ’09 seniors who managed the blog and reading old Chronicle articles about “The Overheard” to gauge general faculty and administration opinions about the site.

She skimmed “Have You Heard,” a feature written by Allegra Tepper ’10 in April 2009, in which former Head of Upper School Harry Salamandra said that while he considered the letters “HW” to be school-affiliated, he didn’t mind the vulgar language sometimes featured in “The Overheard” because “this generation is more open to crude expressions.”

After reading this, Pam figured the new addition to themhwkids would not meet opposition. When she showed the site to chemistry teacher Nate Cardin, she said he re-

Q&A: HW Compliments

Feb. 13, 2013 A group of upper school students run a blog that aims to satirize the daily life of high school students.

sponded “hilarious.”

Between the two blogs, themhwkids has accumulated a cult following, even generating knockoff blogs. Apparently, a group of freshmen created a Tumblr called “Them 2016 Kids,” which Luna and Pam dislike because the blog does claim to be affiliated with the school and to be based on themhwkids, which Luna said could compromise her blog and its reception.

“We really have no affiliation to the school,” she said.

“First of all, there are a lot of non-Harvard-Westlake kids who visit it. I don’t want it to be directly affiliated with the school because that restrains what we can say and how we say it.”

Regadless, Pam said that working on the blog is rewarding.

Overall, Luna said that she doesn’t see the site as a success or a failure. She’s just in it to help stressed kids and take their minds off of studying for a little while. She would not mind working with more people either.

“Of course, we’re always looking for an extra hand,” reads a post on the blog. * names have been changed

BLOGGING: Posts from themhwkids.tumblr.com, examples pictured above, consist of a situation in text above an illustration of a student’s reaction.

Three moderators run HW Compliments, a Facebook page that posts anonymous compliments students send in about their peers. The Chronicle talked to the founder of the Facebook page.

By Sydney Foreman

Q A Q A

Q A

Do you post everything you receive? If not, how do you chose?

Q A

How do you determine whether a “compliment” is sincere or not?

Why did you start HW Compliments?

I heard about these similar Compliment accounts at universities and thought it would apply even better in a high school setting where almost everyone knows each other. When a [student] sent me the first compliment for Ken Grodin ’13, that was really cool. It took around 40 minutes to get enough users to friend [HW Compliments] and an hour and a half for the first compliment.

Why do you remain anonymous?

It seemed obvious to remain anonymous in the spirit of anonymous complimenting. And really when I thought about it, nothing good comes from announcing who runs the thing.

Initially I did. I usually get four or five compliments a week but only run about half of them. Early on, I slipped up and posted some things that made recipients feel uncomfortable and message me about it.

Hearing what they had to say made me regret my carelessness. And since, I have starting filtering out ones that are inappropriate or might make the recipient feel embarrassed.

Typically I get three types of comments: sarcastic ones, inside jokes, and sincere ones. They are all pretty easy to distinguish from each other.

I tend to not post inside jokes, because I feel like those are never fun for the people who aren’t in on it – entire school minus like five people. But really I decide which ones to post by asking [myself] if the receiver would feel uncomfortable.

Feb. 13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/features

Features B3

‘A DIABOLICAL INSTRUMENT’

A white line of powder cut across his reflection as he took out a small silver straw to take a hit off a mirror in his desk drawer. Moments after he finished, his students rushed into the office to surprise him with a teaching award.

By David Lim

T

wo grams of cocaine had become part of performing arts teacher Ted Walch’s daily routine when he taught two decades ago at a private school in Northern California.

“I had thought, ‘You’re going to be named the most outstanding teacher’ — that’s going to be great,’ ” Walch said. “But here I was feeling guilty and miserable and awful.”

Although Walch rarely used at school, the drug was always within his reach — in his car, his pocket and lined up, ready to go in his desk drawer — if he was desperate as he was on this particular day.

He considers the incident, nearly being caught by his own students, one of the darkest days of his addiction.

A colleague had first offered the “exotic, high-priced, out-ofthe-mainstream” drug to the then 36-year-old teacher in 1978.

For Walch, the fast-acting stimulant became a powerful addition to an already-established schedule of drug and alcohol consumption.

“I loved to do a rhythm of martinis followed by cocaine, followed by shots of Nyquil to wash down Valium, followed by Percocet to wake up and repeat the cycle all over again.”

Alcohol was a part of the culture he grew up in and since his college years, Walch had considered himself a “maintenance alcoholic.” Every day, a drink was the “first thing picked up” and the “last thing put down.” Cocaine provided a “nice balance” to alcohol’s mellow buzz by making him feel “vibrant, jazzy and alive.”

When he tried cocaine, Walch knew that nearly every male in his family had struggled with addiction, especially alcoholism.

“I don’t recall or, perhaps, I don’t prefer to recall knowing the consequences [of cocaine] for someone who clearly as I do has an addictive personality,” he said.

M

arvin* ’15 did not know the kids at the party who offered him cocaine and was not sober when he headed to the bedroom in the back of the house with the strangers to snort a few lines.

“White,” he said. “I remember it being very white just lying there on the dark wooden table.”

When the cocaine began absorbing into his blood, Marvin’s pupils dilated while his heart rate and blood pressure climbed. The stresses on his body put Marvin at risk for a heart attack and seizure.

Though rare, his first use could

and

have resulted in sudden death, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It would take a few minutes for Marvin after snorting the cocaine to perceive the increased energy and euphoria that would last anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.

“At first, I felt amazing and limitless,” Marvin said. “Words can’t describe how invigorated I felt. It was like an explosion of happiness and energy.”

The intense high from cocaine which Abigail* ’13 describes as “pretty enjoyable” experience led her to continue using it. She first tried it at the start of her senior year, when college students brought cocaine to her friend’s kickback.

“I won’t do it on a regular basis,” Abigail insists, calling herself a “dumb teenager.” “It’s all about experimenting.”

Upper school psychologist Sheila Siegel said teenagers ignore the potential repercussions of using cocaine.

“The initial motive is experimenting and part of adolescence is trying to individuate and doing things your parents don’t approve of,” Siegel said. “Unfortunately, with cocaine, it feels really good and you don’t realize the cost.”

More high schoolers have learned to steer clear of cocaine since the height of its popularity among teenagers in the 1990s. The number of 12th graders reporting past-year cocaine usage continued to decline from 5.2 percent in 2007 to 2.7 percent in 2012, according to the 2012 NIDA Monitoring the Future survey.

For Abigail, the best part of cocaine’s high was how she felt more “social and comfortable than ever before.”

Walch echoed her sentiment, describing how the drug made him feel like a more articulate version of himself. But in the end, he refutes the notion that cocaine is a social drug to be used at parties and makes users more talkative.

“You don’t sleep,” Walch said.

“You think weirdly. It’s incredibly isolating. You have blackouts and fears that Lord knows where they come from.”

Marvin woke up terrified and paranoid the morning after he had tried cocaine.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, repeated cocaine use can cause irritability, panic attacks, paranoia and even “full blown psychosis.”

Although he recalls the high

Maggie Bunzel

fondly, Marvin does not plan to continue using cocaine.

“Cocaine was awesome but I don’t think it’s worth it when you think of the big picture,” Marvin said.

Despite knowing these risks, Alex* ’14 does not think he’ll use enough cocaine to suffer the long term consequences and said he minimizes the dangers by only using the drug in “safe environments.”

If he were caught he could be sent to jail for up to a year. As a felon, he would lose his right to vote and the arrest would haunt job applications for the rest of his life.

Citing the existence of “functioning coke addicts,” Alex remains confident that he will not succumb to the negative effects of the drug.

“If the drug is significantly decreasing the happiness or value of my life, I can stop on my own,” Alex claims.

Walch warns of the decreasing high of the powerfully addictive narcotic as a user becomes tolerant to the drug.

“It is the most incredibly addictive drug because it’s never as good as the first time. But you keep hoping it might be.”

Towards the end of his addiction, the only high left for Walch was the “thought of scoring the cocaine.”

“The actual cocaine itself didn’t even have a high left,” Walch said.

S

even years of using cocaine left Walch $40,000 in debt.

But he still needed to satisfy his $200 a day addiction.

“All you want is to either have the drug or know where you’re going to get it next,” Walch said. “It’s a diabolical instrument.”

In dire financial straits, Walch saw an “opportunity not to be missed” when a student came to confide in Walch his own problem with cocaine, not knowing that his teacher was also addicted.

“My cocaine problem was that I was in debt and needed cocaine,” Walch said. “His cocaine problem was that he was rich but he had a cocaine problem. So what did I do, I tried to use him to score cocaine.”

“You will do anything to get [cocaine] if you are hooked. You will go against everything that you truly fundamentally believe,” he added.

Shortly afterwards Walch regretted what he did and went to the student’s parents to tell them what happened.

“I have a problem,” Walch told them. “I’m going to deal with my problem and your son has a problem and I hope he deals with it.”

For the first three years of

his sobriety, Walch went virtually every day to Cocaine or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Getting clean became the top priority in Walch’s life.

He credits old friend President Tom Hudnut, who was also headmaster of the school where Walch worked at the time, with supporting him as he tried to overcome his addiction. Walch admitted his cocaine problem to Hudnut who he had known for over a decade at the time.

“Deal with it and if you don’t deal with it you’re out of here,” Hudnut told him.

“Had I been caught [with cocaine] I’d have been fired in a nanosecond,” Walch said. “But I dealt with it. The friendship survived and was strengthened and enriched.”

Walch no longer attends meetings on a regular basis but does go when he feels the need to do so.

Over the years, he has helped students deal with their drug problems, drawing upon his own experiences. “[Walch] made me realize that being sober didn’t mean being a boring sod,” former student and Emergency Director at Human Rights Watch Peter Bouckaert said in a 2005 Rolling Stone profile.

W

hen he teaches “Paradise Lost” in Philosophy in Art and Science, Walch notes “something incredibly addictive” about Satan’s personality. “[Satan] can’t stop doing the thing that harms him,” he said.

“He knows it’s not going to lead to pleasure.”

“I knew intellectually that cocaine didn’t do anything for me except awful things but I hoped that just maybe I could get back to that first high.”

When Walch celebrated his 70th birthday last year, the student who he once tried to score cocaine from and his mother were both there.

“When I go to San Francisco, I stay at [the mother’s] house and [the student] is one of my closest friends,” Walch said. “So, that’s kind of a marvelous ending to an otherwise possibly sordid story.”

His 70th birthday marked another anniversary ­ — 27 years of sobriety from alcohol. Two weeks prior to his last drink, Walch had stopped using cocaine.

“I’d still be drinking today if it were not for cocaine,” Walch said.

“Cocaine brought me to my knees.

Cocaine did me in.”

Additional Foreman

reporting

by

*Names have been changed.

Sydney

B4 Features

The Chronicle

Feb. 13, 2013

When teachers become parents they must balance their children’s and their students’ demands. Mothers usually take off four months from work while fathers must return after five days at most.

By Rachel Schwartz When AP Chemistry teacher Krista McClain found out she was pregnant, her greatest worry was not the prospect of becoming completely responsible for another person.

“My biggest concern wasn’t about becoming a mom, or how it was going to affect my finances or change my life. My biggest concern was how this is going to affect my students,” McClain said.

Maternity leave is an issue that has an impact on many Harvard-Westlake students at some point during their middle and high school careers.

This year alone, seven teachers (four at the Middle School and three at the Upper School) will be on or have already taken leave, according to Director of Personnel Marty Greco.

McClain kept her pregnancy a secret for the first twelve weeks mostly because she was worried about a miscarriage, which she says is common for many women during their first pregnancy. She was also concerned about what the students and faculty would think about her going on maternity leave as a young teacher.

She said that when her “mom hormones,” kicked in she felt more confident, not only about becoming a mom, but also about her students’ ability to take care of themselves. She said that it was difficult to realize that the world will keep turning if she is gone for two months.

“I wanted to earn the respect of my new students and let them realize that I’d take care of them and that I will be there to answer questions before I told them I would be leaving them,” McClain said.

She will be going on leave after spring break, shortly before AP exams, though she says she will make herself as available as soon as possible to answer questions once she leaves. With slight adjustment to the curriculum, McClain has made sure her AP kids will have learned all the material for the exam.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF JESSE REINER

“By the time I leave, I will have prepared them,” McClain said.

Math teacher Ashley Sattersthwaite gave birth to her son Jehn Sean last June and missed just two weeks of school. She said she didn’t feel slowed down by her pregnancy until just before she went on leave.

“I think I was trying to prepare for maternity leave and prepare to be gone,” she said.

“I had to wrap up all my class work and prepare for the baby.

It was the merging of those two things. It was just stressful since it was the merging of a lot of things at once.”

Upper school dean Tamar Adegbile struggled with sleep deprivation as she tried to keep up with her seniors who were submitting college applications.

“It was really important to me that my students, especially the seniors, feel supported and situated before the school year started,” Adegbile said.

Since she gave birth on Aug. 29, she did not start the school year, although she met with most of her senior students and their families at the end of summer break. She has been working with their surrogate deans to ensure each student gets the attention he or she needs.

“It has not been easy, but like I said, I really wanted to support my students,” Adegbile said. “The first few weeks were particularly hard because I was not getting much sleep.”

Adegbile said that the first few weeks after she gave birth were especially hard in terms of keeping up with her students’ questions.

“My students received emails from me at very odd hours,” Adegbile said.

Whether classes are redistributed to other teachers in the department or a substitute is hired, Greco said that in her experience the administration is accommodating about how much time teachers can have off.

“There’s times when we go, oh my gosh, how are we going to figure this out, but we al-

ways do,” Greco said. it in a way,” Reiner said. “My On average, women get first son was born right before about four months off, unless summer vacation. [My wife, a doctor recommends more Rachel] stayed home till June time. Under state and federal 15,” Reiner said. “It was me law, maternity leave is treated and the little guy for most of like disability. the summer.”

When a teacher takes Reiner says that while time off she may get disability there is not much paterchecks from nity leave, the state.

HarvardShe cannot Westlake is take off exflexible in tra time to They understand that there working with be the pri- are going to be times when his schedule. mary care“I think taker and you can’t work as hard on the whole have a guar- because you have little kids.” the school is anteed spot pretty sup—Jesse Reiner portive waiting for of Physics teacher family life,” her the next year.

Reiner said.

M e n “They underwhose wives stand that give birth there are goare given five days off. ing to be times when you can’t “With paternity leave, it’s a work as hard because you have tough one because Dad wants little kids.” to be there and that’s underSince his children were standable,” Greco said. “The born, Reiner said that he has man doesn’t have to recover requested to have a late schedfrom delivery. That takes quite ule so that he can drop them a while and especially a C-sec- off in the morning. tion is really hard to recover “That’s much more imporfrom. It sounds sexist and I tant to me than extra week off don’t mean for it to. It’s what when they were born,” Reiner happens.” said. “I’m not sure I would Greco said the school has have taken any more time off never dealt with a maternity even if I could have.” or paternity question in a case Reiner said that he was reof adoption when neither par- luctant to take any time off. ent had given birth.

“As a teacher when you “We’ve only had two men leave it either means that you who have wanted more time are putting a burden on your and we were able to accommo- colleagues or you are getting date,” Greco said. a substitute who wouldn’t be Physics teacher Jesse Rein- able to do as much for your er and his wife, Rachel, have students,” Reiner said. two sons, Sam, 8 and Joe, 4.

Satterthwaite also exHe did not take a full five days pressed discomfort with takoff for the birth of either of his ing time off. She said that she sons. was hesitant to let a substitute “I went in as late as I into her class. She worried her could and left school as early students would feel as though as I could,” Reiner said of the she was abandoning them. weeks following the birth of “The world keeps turning Joe in February 2008. “I wasn’t whether we are here are not,” really gone that long, only Satterthwaite said. “There are gone for five hours a day. Her plenty of people who can help parents came both times so I you guys learn this material. I wasn’t leaving her alone. That think coming to that realizahelped.” tion was important. We want Greco noted that that stra- to ‘raise’ you and take care of tegic planning by teachers is you. I don’t want to leave for very convenient for the school. this amount of time but [my son “We sort of tried to time is] amazing and it’s worth it.”

“

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TAMAR ADEGBILE

BABY ON BOARD: Upper school physics teacher Jesse Reiner poses with his two sons Joe, now 4, and Sam, now 8, left. Upper school dean Tamar Adegbile holds her two sons Noah and Aaron, middle. Upper school math teacher Ashley Sattersthwaite smiles wih her infant son Jehn Sean, right.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF ASHLEY SATTERSTHWAITE

hwchronicle.com/features

Feb 13, 2013

Features B5

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF PATRICK VERRONE

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF KACEY WILSON

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

MAZELLE ETESSAMI/CHRONICLE

SHOW AND TELL: Kacey Wilson ‘13 cradles two of her rabbits, top left.

Joey Lieberman ‘14 and Clay Davis ‘14 perform a skit titled “Lucifer and Keanu Reeves go to college,” top right. Gracen Evall ‘13 and Maya Landau ‘13 sort blue, red and purple M+Ms for their presentation, bottom left. Anser Abbas ‘14 holds the vials of ammonia and chlorine discovered by scientist Fritz Haber he used in his presentation, bottom middle. Alex Musicant ‘13 holds the Yarmulka he wore on his bar mitzvah day, bottom right.

Three Minute Midterm

Each student enrolled in the Philosophy in Art and Science class was allotted three minutes to give a “show and tell”presentation. Students were allowed to present anything relevant to material covered during the first semester. Presentations ended with a question from either Ted Walch or Kevin Weis.

By Rachel Shwartz

press the button.

Wilson. She said that since she that,” Musicant said. “I liked “I didn’t want to but I had began with two rabbits last year the chance to be creative and Props in hand, students in to gong him,” Walch said about and has 11 today, she immedi- make connections.” the Kutler Center’s Philosophy Anser Abbas ’14. ately made a connection with Though their prop of choice of Art and Science class stepped Abbas presented the theme of infection did not have as much history onto the dimly lit stage of Rug- a vial of ammonia in the book. She also as Musicant’s, Gracen Evall ’13

by Auditorium for their three- and vial of chlorine. related the rabbits to and Maya Landau ’13 used red minute long semester exam.

He spoke about the the film “The Matrix,” and blue M&M’s and purple “Part of the Kutler approach work of scientist Fritz in which a character Skittles to broach the theories is to find alternative ways of Haber, who not only is told to “follow the of Lilly Wordsworth on what evaluating work,” performing created the Haber prowhite rabbit,” in or- she calls the “philosophic mind.” arts teacher Ted Walch said. cess for production of der to enter a parallel The pair presented for six He and math teacher Kevin ammonia, making feruniverse. minutes as a team.

Weis designed a “show and tell” tilizer widely available “They’re symbols “I always have the chance to nathanson ’s final for their new class. Stu- for global agriculture, of purity and inno- think on my own and to reflect Ted Walch dents were graded on their pre- but also worked for the cence that lead people on my own view, but I wanted to sentations and the answer to a Nazis on the weaponto discover new things seize the opportunity to bounce question asked by classmates, ization of chlorine gas despite about themselves and their ideas off of someone else,” Evall Walch or Weis about their pre- his Jewish ancestry. world,” Wilson said. said. sentation or any topic they covAbbas said he thought of Alex Musicant ’13 stepped The pair used candy to repered in class. themes in “Cat’s Cradle” when on the stage clutching a purple resent the red pills and blue Students were assigned to coming up with this presenta- Yarmulka from pills from give a three minute presenta- tion and got a chance to explore his Bar Mitzvah.

“The Mation on an object of importance questions that lie at the root of “It really got trix.” In “It’s easy to sound preachy to them and then relate it to the science. to the struggle the film or like you’re talking to works they had studied during “What does it mean to between knowtaking the first semester: Kurt Von- know?” Abbas said he consid- ing there is no the red someone, and I didn’t want negurt’s “Cat’s Cradle,” the film ered.

God and wanting pill will to do that. I liked the chance “The Matrix,” John Milton’s He said he liked this differ- there to be one,” expose “Paradise Lost,” among other ent kind of evaluation. to be creative and make Walch said of one to selections.

“It forces a kind of Musicant’s work. the truth connections.”

Students from creativity that’s uncomHe is particof real—Alex Musicant ‘13 both sections of the mon in other types of ularly interested ity while class spent three examination,” Abbas in the philosophy the blue hours in Rugby, said. of religion but pill will watching their classInspired by the “ba- did not use this chance to try let one live in a happier, albeit mates present and be bies with rabies” men- and present a logical argument false, reality. sounded off the stage tioned in “Cat’s Cra- for whether God exists or not.

Landau realized she is not after 180 seconds dle,” Kacey Wilson ’13 “Among very educated peo- willing to face the possibility with an electronic brought in three snow ple, religion is looked at as a that her relationships may be nathanson ’s gong. The teachers white bunnies. When sign of ignorance,” Musicant false, as the red pill could exKevin Weis said they were unexshe asked Weis if she said. “Whether or not God ex- pose, while Evall feels she has pectedly impressed by could present next she ists, belief in him does a tre- a more philosophic mind and some students’ work. said he was skeptical of her re- mendous amount of good in the can’t trust her senses enough “I think seeing each other’s quest, asking if her project was world.” to use them as a basis for exprojects was an enriching expe- perishable. When she pulled out Musicant was inspired by periencing her world. The pair rience,” Weis said.

Scout, Sugar and Taco from her a video they watched in class argued a need for a purple pill, The three-minute time limit tote bag she said he replied, “Oh about a woman who tried mul- represented with skittles. was determined purely to en- my god, you win.” tiple religions.

“We took in the same insure everyone would have time The babies referred to in “It’s easy to sound preachy formation and filtered and into present. Walch said that at the book are infectious as is the or like you’re talking to some- terpreted it totally differently,” times he didn’t want to have to bunnies’ cuteness, according to one and I didn’t want to do Evall said.

“

The Chronicle

B6 Features

Feb. 13, 2013

Oodles of Doodles Although doodling has a negative reputation, studies show it can help students retain more information.

By Emily Segal Although some teachers consider doodling to be a purposless and counterproductive activity, some studies show that doodling in class can help improve focus and overall benefit students.

“The physical act of doodling is a manifestation that a student’s brain is already distracted and not paying attention to what’s happening,” upper school math teacher Jeff Snapp said.

“Their attention has already been diverted to their design or whatever form their doodling takes.”

Upper school English teacher Sasha Watson, who occasionally doodles herself, agrees that doodling can only have a negative effect on students during class.

“Doodling takes away from the focus needed to really listen and to really respond to what people are saying,” Watson said. “Especially in a discussion based class, everyone who’s not engaged is actually taking something away from the group.”

Teachers are not the only ones who disapprove of doodling. Josh Shapiro ’14 agrees that there are no benefits to doodling in class.

“I never doodle because I know I’ll be tuning out my teacher,” Shapiro said. “Taking down good notes in class is hard enough, so I wouldn’t want to increase my chances of missing important information.”

Despite the opposition, many students still feel the need to doodle in class.

“I doodle all the time. It helps me focus in class, because instead of letting my mind wander off and think about something else, I’m still listening to the teacher, but I’m using doodling as an outlet for my distraction,” Juliette West ’14 said.

Though it is difficult to draw a direct correlation between doodling and improved focus during class, a study published in the journal “Applied Cognitive Psychology” in 2009 found that doodling can aid memory. The test, conducted by psychologist Jackie Andrade of the University of Plymouth in southern England, demonstrated that doodlers actually remember more than non-doodlers when asked to retain information from a lecture or meeting.

In her experiment, Andrade asked 40 participants to listen to a “rather dull” voicemail inviting someone to a 21st birthday party.

The voicemail was a continuous ramble in which the speaker mentioned her redecorated kitchen, someone’s sick cat, a new house, and a vacation that involved museums and rain. She mentioned eight place names and eight people who were definitely coming to the party.

Andrade instructed half the participants to shade in some squares and circles on a piece of paper while they listened to the voicemail,

without telling them specifically to “doodle.”

The other half of the participants did not doodle. All participants were asked to write the names of the people mentioned by the speaker that were coming to the party, meaning the doodlers had to constantly switch between their doodles and their lists.

After listening to the tape, all 40 participants were asked to recite the place names and the names of the people attending the party without looking at their lists. On average, those who doodled were able to remember 29 percent more than those who did not.Andrade’s study clearly separates daydreaming from doodling and proves that doodling does aid memory.

When you daydream, your brain focuses on something else entirely. However, when you doodle, your brain is forced to use enough energy to refrain from daydreaming but not so much that you don’t pay attention to the lecture or meeting that is taking place, Andrade found.

Essentially, doodling stops your brain from reaching the point of daydreaming where you would divert your attention to something else entirely, causing you to focus more and retain information better.

G. D. Schott, a neurologist at the The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, found similar results to Andrade’s study. He concluded that “doodling is a motor act, and when occurring under conditions such as impatience, boredom, and indecision, it seems to alleviate those conditions.”

“Providing pencil and paper to the anxious, the distressed, and the disturbed might even have unexpected therapeutic benefits,” Schott said.

School psychologist Luba Bek says different people learn best in different ways. Some people are auditory learners, meaning they depend on hearing and speaking to learn; some are visually-oriented, meaning they learn concepts and ideas best by seeing a visual represention of them and others are kinesthetic learners, meaning that movement while acquiring information helps them to retain new material better.

Kinesthetic learners “have to engage in some sort of activity alongside with learning.,” Bek said. “Sometimes it is fidgeting, sometimes it is walking back and forth while doing homework, and quite often it is doodling while listening to lectures and/or talking on the phone.”

“One time, a teacher called me out on doodling too much during class. She said I wasn’t paying enough attention and asked me to put my pencil down,” Mara Goeckner ’14 said. “I wish she would’ve asked me what the last thing she had said was, because I could have recited it to her word for word.”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY NADIA RAHMAN

hwchronicle.com/features

Feb. 13, 2013

Features B7

Time and time again Students with extended time face hassles due to scheduling issues and the complications of the Honor Code beyond the problems of obtaining accommodations.

By Claire Goldsmith

A

manda Reiter ’14 hunches over her Spanish test in the Silent Study room, stymied by an unfamiliar vocabulary word.

“One of the penalties of having extended time is that if you have a question about the test, you just have to suck it up,” Reiter said.

Under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, students with disabilities must be accommodated in their school. Often, students with learning disabilities such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are recommended to receive extended time after a series of tests administered by doctors and psychologists.

At Harvard-Westlake, students who have been granted extended time can take 150 percent of the time allotted to a typical student on any major exam. Eight to 10 percent of Harvard-Westlake students have extended time, school psychologist Dr. Sheila Siegel said.

Because she has extended time, Reiter takes many tests in free periods or after school, without her teachers present.

Since the beginning of ninth grade, she has used extended time on every major test and in-class essay.

Many of Reiter’s teachers split her tests into two sections so she can take one half during the class with her peers and the second half later.

“I’m really lucky that a lot of my teachers have faith in me and they allow me to come back, but you can easily hear

other people talking about [the test],” she said. “I know not to ask anyone because that would be against the Honor Code.”

The Honor Code stipulates that students “neither give nor receive unauthorized aid, as defined by [a] teacher both explicitly and implicitly, from any source on exams, homework, quizzes, papers, or any other academic endeavor.”

Junior Prefect Oliver Goodman-Waters ’14 said that hearing other students talk about a test he hasn’t yet taken would be a violation of the Honor Code “if hearing about the test would give an unfair advantage on the test.”

Reiter has heard rumors about classmates who obtain extended time but do not actually have a learning disability or other medical reason for the extra time.

“I’m sure there are some people, maybe not at this school or maybe at other places, who don’t necessarily need it,” she said. “I actually need it, it’s not just something that I’m getting because I feel like ‘oh, I just want some more time for tests.’”

Maxwell* ’14 has ADD and only began using extended time during his junior year.

“I just got it for SAT purposes,” he said.

Maxwell, who takes a full load of classes, has sports practice most days after school so scheduling time-and-a-half tests is particularly difficult.

In science and math, he said, he has to take the full test in one sitting; in history, he can take the multiple choice section during one period and do the essay section during a free period, though his teachers prefer that he take the entire

test at once.

“There’s too much of a risk,” he said. “You could just go look up the answers on the Internet.”

Although he takes all honors classes, Maxwell only uses extended time on in-class English essays and math tests.

“I should really be in a regular math class, but I’m in an honors class because I try really hard, so it’s always tough to finish the tests,” he said.

Maxwell also believes students could potentially obtain a diagnosis without actually needing it, “like if they have a family friend that’s an educational therapist or something, they could get a statement from them,” he said.

“I believe that some parents use ADD and ADHD as an excuse for why their kids aren’t doing as well in school,” Hana Chop ’14 said.

Chop, who does not have extended time, thinks students and parents might be tempted to search for a diagnosis as a leg up in increasingly challenging classes and on standardized tests.

“Especially in such a competitive environment,” she said, “some parents think that some kids need an edge over other kids and that happens.”

Siegel said this is not possible because the school must receive a doctor’s note explaining why the student needs extended time. In some cases, the school also needs to see results of educational and psychological testing.

Siegel adds that extended time would not help those without disorders and would just cause students to overthink.

A 2005 College Board study

‘There is always extended time in life’

By Ally White

A

lthough the Americans with Disabilities Act guarantees extra testing time for students diagnosed with certain conditions, some students believe extended time to be an unfair advantage.

“There’s no extended time in life,” a senior said.

This senior is not the only one who has strong opinions about the subject. Other students agree with the notion discussed in Heidi Mitchell’s, “Faking ADHD Gets You Into Harvard,” an article published by the Daily Beast on Jan. 25, 2012, that suggests that while extended time isn’t inherently wrong, preparatory school students often abuse the system.

But school psychologist Dr. Sheila Siegel said that “the reality is that unless you work on an assembly line, there is always extended time in life.

You can stay late at work or on the weekends. There’s very little place in life when there isn’t extended time.”

She also adds that, despite contrary belief, only students with a need for extended time would benefit from it. For kids with a disorder, the extended

time “makes a huge difference said that these tests generally and levels the playing field,” consist of an entire neuropsySiegel said. However, extended chological test battery which time for students who don’t includes an IQ test as well as need it would actually hurt a test of achievement. These them, because with too much results are then analyzed by time, students overthink, and the test evaluator to “look for then change their first an- differences in performance on swers, which are generally the timed and untimed tests and correct ones, Siegel said. look for a pattern.”

Currently between eight Having these tests adminand 10 percent of the student istered and analyzed is “exbody receives extended time, Siegel said.

The proAs long as there is a cess to receive valid reason for why extended time the student needs at HarvardWestlake deextended time, I grant pends on the it.” diagnosis. For those with a —Dr. Sheila Siegel psychiatric diSchool psychologist nathanson ’s agnosis such as general anxiety disorders or those with tremely expensive,” said Siegel. physical disabilities including For those who cannot afford visual problems, specific cog- the tests, there are other opnitive tests are not needed. tions, though they take more A letter from a doctor is suf- time and are still costly. ficient. However, for other isAfter the tests have been sues such as ADD, a doctor’s analyzed, Siegel reads the renote is not enough and testing port and then writes her own is generally required. Neu- report. Teachers are then noropsychologist and Assistant tified of the extended time.

Professor of Clinical Neurolo“As long as there is a valid gy at USC, Dr. Carol McCleary reason for why the student

“

measured the effects of extended time on the SAT s c o r e s of higha b i l i t y, mediumability and low-ability nondisabled students and students with learning disabilities, including ADD and ADHD. Different groups of students took the same test under normal time restrictions, with timeand-a-half and with double the normal time allotted.

The study found that extra time helps high- and medium-ability test-takers both with and without learning disabilities.

“For medium-ability students, particularly in the doubletime condition, the provision of extra time may give them the opportunity to work through the items in a more thorough and effective m a n n e r, thereby increasing their chances of generating a right answer,” the study said.

GRAPHIC BY ALLY WHITE AND CAMILLE SHOOSHANI

needs extended time, I grant it,” Siegel said.

Siegel has the final decision on permitting a student to receive extended time.

While it is rare, she has on occasion disagreed with the tester when there was “just not enough evidence to support extended time.”

The steps a student must go through to receive extended time differ depending on the school. At Marlborough, for example, all students seeking extended time must have a full neuropsychological battery. The parent then sends the testing to the division director who speaks to the tester to confirm diagnosis and suggested accommodation(s).

The division director then determines the accommodation a student will receive for testing at Marlborough, said Assistant Head of School Laura Hotchkiss.

The amount of time awarded to students also differs depending on the school. According to Assistant Principal Toni Staser, at Beverly Hills High School, the amount of extended time is qualified based on the impact of the disability and therefore both 50 percent extended time and 100 percent

extended time can be awarded.

At Harvard-Westlake, on the other hand, students are only granted 50 percent extended time.

“The feeling of the administration has always been that if you need more than a time and a half, there’s no way you can finish your homework,” Siegel said.

Another problem is that of logistics.

“There’s just not enough hours in the day and enough staff,” Siegel said.

Once Harvard-Westlake grants a student’s request for extra time, he or she is not guaranteed extended time on all graded assignments.

Teachers are not required by the administration to give extended time on graded assignments other than tests. Often in subjects such as English and history with frequent reading quizzes, students must finish these quizzes in the time allotted to their fellow classmates.

While there are some teachers who like to proctor their own exams, most teachers set up extended time assignments with Upper School Testing Coordinator Candris Madison to be administered in silent study.

The Chronicle

B8 Features

highstakes

Seniors apply to and select schools

Feb. 13, 2013 Four seniors with diverse interests apply regular decision and select their colleges.

ILLUSTRATION BY JACOB GOODMAN

By Rachel Schwartz Phillip*, The Athlete Phillip was deferred from Harvard University early action although he was told he would be recruited. He will be going to Princeton University on an official recruitment visit next week. He said that losing a spot at Harvard because of the coach’s difficulty negotiating with admissions and losing a spot at Duke University because he wasn’t ready to commit was rough.

Although he thought he would wait to see all of his options laid out, he said might just seize the opportunity offered to him by Princeton if he feels he is compatible with the school.

“A lot is hanging on that visit,” he said. “I just want to be done. I’m really lucky because I do get to go see for myself and form my own opinion.”

Doug*, The Brain While Doug was deferred early action from Princeton University, he has received good news from another school. He is a finalist for a full-tuition Trustee Scholarship from the University of Southern California. The Trustee Scholarship is among the most prestigious of meritbased scholarships offered at the university.

“It’s not my first choice, but I think it’s a great school and if I got a full scholarship it would definitely be in the run-

ning,” Doug said.

He will stay there from Feb. 28 to March 1 for a tour, a taste of campus life and an interview. He is also eligible for Presidential half-tuition Scholarships and quarter-tuition Deans Scholarships.

“Everything is a little up in the air,” Doug said.

Francesca*, The All-Around Since the end of December, Francesca has submitted 16 applications and completed nine college interviews.

“What I like about the interview process is that it made it more personal,” she said. “It’s not just me sitting in front of a computer with the Common App. “ For her first interview

with an alumnus of University of Pennsylvania, Francesca said she prepared questions beforehand. By her last interview, however, she was more confident.

“There were no disasters,” she said. “I think they helped.”

After getting deferred early from Brown University, Francesca said she does not have a first choice anymore.

“I will be happy wherever I go,” she said.

Arthur*, The Artist Since Arthur got into Brown University early, he says he has been having coffee and dinner with friends more often, spending more time on Facebook and watching more “Jeopardy.” He said

he still spends plenty of time on homework, though he admitted he has trouble getting through reading assignments.

“I am just going to try to keep the second semester grades up, mainly for pride,” Arthur said. “I feel like it would be a shame to be enrolled in a class and not have it truly benefit me in some way.”

Arthur says that he has spent some time reflecting on how his life will be changing in the coming months.

“It occured to me the other day just sitting in the quad how much I will miss Harvard-Westlake,” Arthur said.

“It still hasn’t really processed that I will be changing schools and moving to a different city.” * names have been changed

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Arts&Entertainment The Chronicle • Feb. 13, 2013

Music Man Performing Arts teacher Rodger Guerrero not only conducts choirs but also strives to continue his studies in music through his classes at USC.

By Michael Sugerman Whether he’s mandating proper abdominal breath, teaching sopranos their part by singing it for them or replicating accompaniment sounds with seeming ease, Rodger Guerrero is constantly at work.

Guerrero, who has directed Harvard-Westlake choirs for 12 years, can’t remember when he began singing.

“My mother was a regional opera star and concert pianist,” he said. “From the time [my siblings and I] were old enough to make pitches, she had us at the piano.”

Raised a devout Catholic, Guerrero went to church with his family every Sunday. These days were a constant source of religious, musical celebration in the Guerrero household.

“We’d go to church, and then we’d come home and have a huge meal,” Guerrero said. “For the rest of the day there were no phone calls, no black and white television and no going outside. We would all gather around the piano and sing.”

Guerrero’s passion for music would crescendo in his high school years under the tutelage of his demanding choir director.

“My high school teacher was extremely passionate,” he said. “As a junior, we sang a Bach motet, and that [composition] was incredible.”

As he sang increasingly complex and professional mu-

sic, Guerrero not only realized that he thoroughly enjoyed singing, but he had talent. Directly out of high school, however, he could not afford to go to college.

After a few months in community college, his father let him drive the family station wagon across the country to Los Angeles.

While in L.A., he attendPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF RODGER GUERRERO ed the Pacific Southwestern FOLLOW HIS LEAD: Guerrero conducts the Combined Men’s Choir, including middle and upper Choir Festival, where a close friend at California State school students, in preparation for the Middle School “Spring Sing” in Bing Performing Arts Center.

Fullerton was singing. There “He said to me, ‘I think we As a result of his participa- ter your oral exam, you have he was dazzled by the Loyola can get you a full ride,’” Guer- tion in the Loyola men’s choir, to write a book, a dissertation.

Marymount choir.

“The best choirs in Cali- rero said. “That experience, he became a tenor section It’s pretty intense.”

His work in and out of the fornia were featured,” he just that one day, probably leader in the 1984 Olympics classroom sets an example for said. “There were 20 college changed my life. I was numb, choir.

Guerrero knew that he his choir students. choirs, and the last group was completely numb. I came from “I spent the last three the men’s choir from Loyola a family in a small town in wanted to teach music. the middle “I just loved being able to years with Mr. Guerrero, and Marymount. of nowhere. share music with other peo- I think that it’s incredible and They sang Coming to ple,” he said. “I wanted to open inspiring that he manages to three songs the city was their eyes to the subliminal give us so much attention and and received How can we, as c o m p l e t e l y messages behind notes and teach us so effectively while two standteachers, tell you guys to different, not rhythms.” also pursuing his own studies,” ing ovations.

Since then, Guerrero has Ben Gail ’13 said. “I think that I looked at be lifelong learners if we to mention that the choir taught music, but he strives he is an excellent director.” them and I aren’t exemplifying that director, Paul to keep learning alongside his Guerrero will likely earn thought, ‘I S a l a mu n ov- students. his degree at the end of the want to go in our own lives?” ich, was like He currently has a MA in year, conducting Bel Canto, there.’”

—Rodger Guerrero a god among music and balances his direc- Chamber Singers and WolverThat day, directors.” torial duties with classes at ine Chorus as part of his final Guerrero Up until USC, where he is working to- exam. made an apthat point, wards a DMA in choral con“How can we, as teachpointment ers, tell you guys to be lifewith Loyola’s dean of admis- Guerrero hadn’t considered ducting. singing as a profession. He “It’s a performance degree,” long learners if we aren’t exsions.

The next Monday, with his originally wanted to venture he said. “With this, you are emplifying that in our own transcripts in hand, Guerrero into medicine, but his accep- conducting, singing, playing an lives?” he said. “We all want to marched onto campus, ready tance to Loyola – in addition instrument. However, you are be what we expect you to be. to interview. After his inter- to a phenomenal director to also researching and writing More knowledge is never bad. view, Guerrero was taken to guide him – made what Guer- essays. ou have written exams. There’s no reason not to teach the choir director, for whom rero called “unbelievable op- You then have to defend these an old dog new tricks. Why portunities” available. written responses orally. Af- not?” he sight read music.

“

2 seniors create a graphic novel for Senior Independent Study

By Rebecca Katz

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF LUCAS FOSTER AND AVALON NUOVO

COLLABORATION: The graphic novel “Cop Out” was written by Lucas Foster ’13 and illustrated by Avalon Nuovo ’13.

Avalon Nuovo ’13 was reclining in a dental chair waiting for X-rays of her wisdom teeth when her phone buzzed with an incoming text from Lucas Foster ’13.

“Hi, Rav. Pretty classic revelation/idea came to me during last period. Do you already have a planned independent study?”

That simple text, sent last April, would lead to a semester of writing for Foster and sketching for Avalon to create a graphic novel for an independent study.

The Senior Independent Study Program provides the opportunity for students in good academic standing to pursue in-depth interests that aren’t covered by their normal classes.

Aided by a mentor of the student’s choosing, the student is expected to produce a substantive final work by the end of the semester or year.

This previous semester, Foster and Nuovo comprised two of the six seniors who worked on an independent study. Unlike most indepen-

dent studies, however, Foster and Nuovo’s was collaborative.

“I’ve known for a really long time that I was going to do an independent study as a senior,” Foster said.

Foster and Nuovo’s graphic novel, “Cop Out,” tells a story through vignettes that focus on the protagonist, Peter. “[Peter’s] not too far away from an image of myself that I’ve had for a while now, and images of both my brothers and close friends. I really feel like I know the guy,” Foster said.

The vignettes were inspired by the slew of stories and tales that Foster’s oldest brother has told him over the years.

Foster and Nuovo originally planned to have a fully illustrated novel by the end of the semester, but they decided to make the project more manageable by agreeing to finish 40 pages by the January deadline.

Since then, they have made great progress and worked on the novella in a well-oiled cycle.

Foster worked on the script with his mentor, Eng-

lish teacher Ariana Kelly. Nuovo then illustrated the pages with her mentor, drawing and painting teacher Marianne Hall.

“We’re definitely connecting as creative minds during the process, but then executing the actual work separately helps to prevent any creative conflict,” Nuovo said.

Although they work separately most of the time, the partnership has emboldened both artists.

“Sometimes I get into a little bit of artistic ADD working on something for so long, so this is nice,” Nuovo said. “Even if I’m dissatisfied with a particular page or kind of getting bored with it, I can go to the next one and have a renewed interest in it.”

The duo hopes to distribute the finished novella to students online and to work together again in the near or distant future.

“My main goals are to construct a graphic novel that at least 10 people I admire deem worthy and have a better understanding of what it means to work with another artist,” Foster said.

B10 Features

Glass Act

The Chronicle

Feb. 13, 2013

The school has commissioned glass sculptor John Luebtow, who is retiring in June after 42 years of teaching at the Upper School, to create a 10-foot-high, 12-foot-wide memorial.

By Julia Aizuss

lic artworks, and I thought how great it would be to have It’s 6:42 in the evening and a permanent artwork by him 3D Art teacher John Luebtow on campus,” Gaulke said. is on his cellphone, anxious to Huybrechts and Gaulke begin working. were as interested “Where are in the process of the ya?” Luebtow asks. sculpture as in the One member of his product, so they defour-man crew is 12 cided to document the minutes late. The process and present it date to change the as an educational opglass in the kiln was portunity for art stualready postponed dents. from yesterday, Feb. Photography teach4. er Kevin O’Malley, who nathanson ’s Luebtow decides previously filmed docuJohn Luebtow to start without mentaries of Luebtow’s him. other commissions, is “He’s at Topanga. He’ll get documenting this latest project. here,” Luebtow tells the rest Luebtow’s projects take thouof the crew, and they prepare sands of hours’ worth of work. to move a 600-pound piece of In the past eight months, glass from the kiln where it Luebtow created scaled paper, was fired for four days. glass, and foam-core templates The nearly 10-foot high, of the four pieces in his sculp12-foot wide sculpture Luebt- ture along with a miniature ow was working on that eve- granite base and experimentning was commissioned by the ed with their placement onschool, and will sit on the emp- site. For his one-inch miniaty concrete foundation next ture glass model he put just as to Munger Science Center as much work into it as if it were Luebtow’s farewell gift to the the final product. He used difschool. He will retire this June ferent equipment to cut and after his 42nd year teaching polish it, marked placement at Harvard School, where he for supportive stanchions, and founded the Art Department bent the glass at 1200 to 1400 with the late Carl Wilson, and degrees Fahrenheit, to applyHarvard-Westlake. ing a reflective stainless steel Luebtow had planned to surface to the base and sandretire three years ago, but his blasting the glass pieces in orgood friend, President Thomas der to give the model 13 differHudnut, told him, “You can’t ent lined patterns in all. go till I go.” It was a tongueOnly then, once he had in-cheek order, Luebtow said, reached his final design in but he took it to heart. When miniature, could Luebtow beHudnut announced last year gin his full-scale sculpture. that he would retire after this The sculpture, which Luebtow school year, Luebtow chose to plans to finish in mid-May, retire at the same time. plumbs the themes that he has Visual Arts Department explored for the past 45 years: Head Cheri Gaulke first pro- line, form, space and light. posed the commission to Head The fruits of the path of School Jeanne Huybrechts he has followed are evident last April, thinking one of Lu- throughout his studio, a highebtow’s characteristic glass walled, two-story space. No sculptures would be a fitting wall is unadorned, whether way to celebrate both his and with posters, equipment or his Hudnut’s time at the school. own artwork. One wall bears “He’s a very accomplished photo collages of sculptures sculptor with works in major he has been commissioned to museums, collections and pub- make that have found homes,

Scholastic Art Award Winners Art Portfolio Gold Key

JULIA AIZUSS/CHRONICLE

COMMISSION: Top, John Luebtow polishes the glass for his sculpture. Luebtow and his crew work on the sculpture in the furnace, bottom left. The scale model of the glass sculpture he is building to celebrate his and Tom Hudnut’s careers, right. all over, from Century City to San Francisco to Melbourne, Australia. One room in his studio is devoted solely to many of his smaller glass and ceramic pieces.

Classical music blasts as Luebtow and his crew carry the piece of glass that will be put in the kiln today from the sandblasting booth, whose doors each bear a spray-painted blue smiley face. The kiln contains a furnace where the glass will be bent according to Luebtow’s design. To achieve the desired shape, Luebtow and his crew must move pipes into the furnace in the right position, as the glass will mold to the pipes’ wavy contours.

They will place the foam-core model marked with the glass’s intended design onto the pipes and then place the glass itself to line up with the model on

Gold Key Bea Dybuncio ’13 Mazelle Etessami ’14

Anne Liu ’13 Chelsea Pan ’14

Silver Key Darby Caso (2) ’14 Wendy Chen ’13 Leslie Dinkin ’13 Bea Dybuncio ’13 Mazelle Etessami ’14 Ben Gaylord ’13 Alyse Gellis ’13

Diana Kim ’15 Matt Leichenger ’14 Anne Liu ’13 Michael Rothberg ’13 Xenia Viragh ’15 Liza Woythaler ’14

Honorable Mention Darby Caso ’14 Wendy Chen ’13 Hugo De Castro-Abeger ’13 Savannah De Montesquiou ’13 Mazelle Etessami (2) ’14 Alyse Gellis (2) ’13 Maya Landau ’13 Matt Leichenger ’14 Emma Lesher-Liao ‘14 Anne Liu ’13 Merissa Mann ’13

Dara Moghavem ’13 Matthew Moses ’13 Amanda Reiter ’14 Gabriela Romano ’14 Michael Rothberg (2) ‘13 Sam Schlesinger ’15 Jamie Skaggs ’15 J.J. Spitz ’15 Alisa Tsenter ’14 Xenia Viragh (3) ’15 SOURCE: ARTANDWRITING.ORG INFOGRAPHIC BY MORGANNE RAMSEY

certain temperature into the computer program for the igniter system, a nonsensical symbol shows up instead.

By 7:41, though, there’s no more cause for worry.

“We got it,” Luebtow says, kneeling in front of the furnace, his son Matt crouched by him.

“Overcome,” he adds a few moments later, and then, more decisively, “Got it. Fixed it. Fixed it.”

As the glass in the furnace begins annealing, a cooling process in which the glass structurally realigns itself to prevent cracking, everyone prepares to go home. (But not before O’Malley insists on taking a group shot, or before Luebtow offers limes from a tree in his backyard.)

“I love you guys, thanks a lot, see you next week,” Luebtow says.

Alumna guest teaches during gap year

By Rebecca Katz

Wendy Chen ’13

the pipes. All this requires the help of a cart, crane and forklift customized for Luebtow’s work.

The affair is punctuated by banter among the crewmembers and Luebtow’s various orders and adjustments— “Move this a little bit, I want this one as close as possible,” “We’ll just let up the tubes and lay out the glass,” “As long as I got good movement on top and enough on the bottom…” Luebtow strides around, clad in a “fix-it-Grandpa” sweatshirt and Harvard-Westlake sweatpants, smoothly dispatching orders and carrying out his work.

By 7:25 p.m., the furnace is ready to be set. It closes at 7:33 but by 7:37 nothing else has happened: technical difficulties have arisen. Whenever Luebtow tries to input a

At a chance encounter with Hallie Brookman ’12 at a coffee shop off campus, Mia Ray ’14 excitedly approached her and effusively praised choreography she recently taught to her in her Advanced Dance I class.

After falling ill with viral encephalitis at the end of her senior year, Brookman decided to take a gap year before attending the University of Pennsylvania next fall.

Along with interning for a personal manager in the entertainment industry, beginning French classes, and playing tennis, Brookman returned to school to assist the Advanced Dance I class with their showcase in December.

She also visited as a guest teacher Feb. 5, and is assisting with the Advanced Dance II concert as well.

The Advanced Dance I

showcase is an outreach per- choreography she wanted to formance done each teach and watch them year for ARC, the perform it in groups. largest national “I just loved takcommunity of people ing a step back and with intellectual and watching them dance developmental disthe piece and really abilities. Brookman make it their own,” participated in this Brookman said. performance when Since she began she was a sophodancing dance when more. she was two years nathanson ’s “I wanted the old, Brookman knows Hallie dancers to have the what it’s like to be Brookman’ 12 same emotional exon the stage and can perience that I had relate to the dancers when I was performing for now.

ARC,” Brookman said.

“I just want to be there After helping out with the to help and be a second eye,” showcase, Brookman returned Brookman said. last Tuesday to choreograph Brookman plans to audia contemporary piece, which tion for the student dance the students said they adored. companies at Penn, and also It was her first time teaching plans continue to dance at a a class. studio in Philadelphia.

Although the time Brook“I really plan on continuing man had with the Advanced dance throughout my whole Dance I students was short, life, it’s always been a passion she managed to squeeze in the of mine,” Brookman said.

hwchronicle.com/features

Feb. 13, 2013

Features B11 Advanced Dance II prepares for annual concert

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM JEANNE HUYBRECHTS

STUDIO SOUNDS: The Jazz band spent eight hours in a recording studio, getting some practice with the ability to hear their jams played back.

Jazz performs in Vibrato Recording Studio

By Elizabeth Madden

Jazz Band recorded a compilation of songs Jan. 12 in order to enter a competition to be featured in the Next Generation Monterey Jazz Festival.

The festival will take place April 5-7. It will include performances by middle school through college level ensembles as well as competitions.

The top high school and college-level big bands and vocal ensembles will be invited to perform at the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, which will take place Sep. 20-22.

Contestants will be notified of their status this month.

“This is the first time Jazz

Band has entered this competition,” Jazz instructor Shawn Costantino said, “We have a lot of talent this year, so we thought we should go for it.”

The musicians recorded the CD at the Bridge Recording Studio, one of the most sought-after studios in Los Angeles and one of the best in the world, according to jazz band musician Robert Lee ’14.

Musicians played as one big band for some songs and in separate ensembles for others, such as the Jazz Explorers and the Advanced Jazz Combo.

“Playing in studios is all about precision and getting every note right,” Lee said. “On stage, it’s more about feeding

off the energy of your fellow musicians and the crowd.”

Some tracks featured on the album are classic big band charts such as Duke Ellington’s “Blue Cellophane” and “Us” by Thad Jones, Lee said. “[Head of School Jeanne] Huybrechts stopped by for about two hours [while we were recording]” Costantino said, “It was really cool that she came out and supported us.” The musicians spent eight hours recording in the studio, starting at 9 a.m. “[We] played through the tracks a bunch of times, and then listened to see where our errors were and which track to choose from,” Lee said.

“Each song got maybe around three takes. Mr. Costantino stuck around with the sound engineers [after we were done recording] editing and perfecting each track with a fine tooth comb to get the best result possible.”

Each student received a copy of the CD, and a few students have put tracks up on their Facebook pages as well as the music-sharing site Soundcloud to share with friends and family.

“I will certainly remember such a special day, because it was a huge step for our jazz band and new in the sense that we’ve never recorded together before,” Lee said.

Sophomore guest stars on ‘Criminal Minds’

By Sara Evall

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM MARIA GONZALEZ

TARGET OF THE SPOTLIGHT: In a photo by semifinalist Maria Gonzalez ’13, she captures L.A. natives from a different view.

Four reach semifinals of the Spotlight Awards

By Jensen Pak

Four students have reached the semifinal round of the Music Center Spotlight Awards, which recognize high school students for artistic excellence. Andy Arditi ’14 and drummer Daniel Sunshine ’13 have qualified as jazz musicians, , Megan Ward ’13 has qualified in the Classical Voice category and Maria Gonzalez ’13 qualified for photography.

“To win, you need to be very strong at your instrument, but even more so you must be a strong musician and auditioner, as you are competing against kids of all other instruments, not just your own,” Sunshine said. “Getting to the semifinals is a true honor. This is really the first jazz competition I have ever done, and seeing my efforts rewarded is a great feeling.”

The Music Center Spotlight program awards over $100,000 in scholarships to finalists, semifinalists, and honorable mentions.

The 15 semifinalists from each category attend a class with prominent musicians and teachers who provide feedback

about their performance before their semifinal audition.

Sunshine had his master class with Ndugu Chancler, who played the drums in Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller.”

Arditi played with Bob Sheppard, an assistant professor of jazz studies at the USC Thornton School of Music.

Ward has been participating in the Music Center Spotlight Awards for four years.

This year, she has reached the semifinals in the Classical Voice category and placed in the top 60 in the Non-Classical Voice category.

Ward had her master class at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with Cynthia Munzer, an associate professor of vocal arts and opera at the USC Thornton School of Music.

“This environment is nothing like a typical audition in ‘the real world,’ where you walk into a silent room and the atmosphere is very cut throat and competitive. The Spotlight Awards provide an opportunity to get positive and specific feedback every year from judges who genuinely want to see you succeed,” Ward said.

daughters had disappeared.

Napier played his younger Delilah Napier ’15 made daughter, Katie Morrison, her first appearance on televi- and his older daughter, Sarah sion as a guest star on the CBS Morrison, was played by Sophi show Criminal Minds in the Bairley. episode “All That Remains.”

Napier said she enjoyed Napier’s father is a for- working with Bairley, Olin mer writer on the show, she and the rest of the cast. She said. They know the writer worked with two of the main and executive producer of the cast members in a scene, and episode, Erica Messer, and she saw the rest at a read through. knew the cast of the show as “All the main actors were a child. She is now interested very sweet, and I knew them in acting and was in the fall when I was very little,” Napier production of the “Cherry Or- said. “Matthew Gray Gubler chard.”

[Spencer Reid] and ShemNapier ar Moore arranged [ D e r e k a meeting Morgan] between were great.” herself and Na p i e r I loved filming it. It the castsaid she enwas a great learning ing director joyed watchof “Crimiing the epiexperience because I nal Minds.” sode when had only done theater Napier said it aired on she thought Feb. 6, alacting at school. It’s a it was going though since to be a genher charcompletely different eral meeting acter was medium that I want to just to get to found dead know each in the epipursue.” other, but sode, there the casting —Delilah Napier ’15 were some director told strange asNapier that pects to it. she could read for a part in an “It was weird to see myself upcoming episode. dead and it was scary watch“They gave me the script ing yourself on film. It’s much and I had to cold read,” Napier more of a director’s medium, said. “Then they put me on not as much is up to the actor. film, and later that night I Total filming for the found out I got the job. In episode lasted four days for retrospect, I’m happy because Napier.

I didn’t think I was auditioning Napier found a new and would have been more experience in the world of film nervous.” acting.

The episode centered on “I loved filming it,” Napier the investigation of Bruce said. “It was a great learning Morrison played by actor Ken experience because I had only Olin, a writer whose wife had done theater acting at school. gone missing, and exactly It’s a completely different one year later, both of his medium that I want to pursue.”

“

The Advanced Dance II concert on March 1, 2 and 3 will feature over 50 dances.

There will be approximately 20 dancers from the class in the show and ten guest dancers from other dance classes.

All of the dances are selfchoreographed, Sidney Moskowitz ’13 said.

“I think we’re all pretty excited about it,” said Moskowitz. “It’s been a lot of work.”

—Nadia Rahman

String quartet records film score

Four students recorded the instrumental soundtrack to “Tutor,” a short film.

Paul Suh ’14, Heather Wattles ’15, Enya Huang ’15 and Matthew Lucas ’14 were asked to play an original score by Oliver Lewin for the film.

“The recording session was cool because we had to precisely play so that the music matched the scenes on screen,” said Lucas, who plays violin.

“It was challenging at first, but I think we did a good job.”

—James Hur

Middle school holds art exhibit

About 250 people attended the opening reception of the first middle school Spring Art Invitational on Feb. 7.

At the opening, artist Gronk talked to students and Blick Art Materials donated goodie bags.

“It was just a really lovely, festive, busy evening. There were a lot of mummies, a lot of tessellations and a lot of masks, but they were all different,” Middle School Art Department Head Brenda Anderson said. “It’s a really neat show.”

—Erina Szeto and Nadia Rahman

Students accepted to film festival

Films by three students will be screened at the Sun Valley Film Festival on March 14 -17. The festival announced on Feb. 4 that it had accepted “Finding Erica Jones” by Natalie Markiles ’13, “The Bookstore” by Alex Haney ’14, and “Just You and Me” by Amanda Reiter ’14. This is the first time being accepted into the festival for all three nominees.

“It’s really an honor especially because I worked so hard, there were 400 photos that I had to scan to create it,” said Reiter.

—Aimee Misaki

Film Festival’s finalists chosen From 158 films submitted by 32 different schools and programs, 23 films were selected as finalists for the Harvard-Westlake Film Festival,, including six Harvard-Westlake films.

The festival will take place on March 15.

“The work we received this year was excellent and diverse,” Visual Arts department head Cheri Gaulke said.

—David Woldenberg

B12 Features

The Chronicle

Feb. 13, 2013

Legal gambling

Some seniors celebrate turning 18 by going to a casino to try their luck at blackjack and the slot machines.

By Robbie Loeb

by buying cigarettes, Miller and Myerson decided they ays removed from would prefer the casino. their 18th birthdays, “Gambling in and of itself is Andrew Miller ’13 not necessarily a ‘responsible’ and Gregg Myerson activity,” Myerson said. “But I ’13 drifted around the tables, felt I handled myself in a retaking in the sights, sounds sponsible way.” and smells of the casino floor.

Myerson made his secThe perpetual pinging of the ond trip in three days to the slot machines soon faded into 18-year-olds-welcome Indian background noise once they Casino after his older brother uncomfortably took their seats surprised him on his birthday. at a blackjack table between a At the casino, Myerson middle-aged would consult Asian woman a handy card inhaling her his brother Marlboro gave him that Golds and outlines the a large, tatsituations in “Losing is hard. tooed man which the But part of betting $200 odds say to hit, per hand. stay, split or the game is The $15 double-down. knowing when minimum It brought table they him good forto walk away.” frequented tune on the -Gregg was the lowfirst trip, as Myerson ‘13 est available he came away on a Sunday $100 richer, night at the but lost his Morongo Caprevious winsino Resort nings plus $50 & Spa in Camore on the bazon, Calif., return visit.

30 miles from the Palm Des“Losing is hard,” Myerson ert home of Myerson’s grand- said. “But part of the game is mother. knowing when to walk away.

They made small-talk with Everybody loses sometimes.

Tyler, a dealer for 10 years, as I set a limit for how much I he dealt the two novices some would lose at $150 and that favorable cards. But their ear- was it. I wasn’t going there to ly luck quickly turned south make money, I was going to and both walked away losers have fun. If I were going to a after forfeiting $150. concert or a basketball game, I Miller said going to the ca- would have to pay to get in and sino made him come to terms have fun. At the casino, anywith his newly acquired adult thing I might have won would status. have been extra.”

“I felt old when they asked Miller said going to the cafor my ID and I was allowed to sino was worth the trip, “I had stay,” Miller said. fun with my friends and it was While many fresh 18-year- a good way to blow my birtholds celebrate their adulthood day money.”

D

STOCKXCHNG.COM

PLACE YOUR BETS: Above, Gregg Myerson ‘13 plays blackjack at the $15 minimum table at the Morongo Resort and Casino. Below, Myerson stands at the entrance of the casino.

Sports The Chronicle • Feb. 13, 2013

All six of the winter sports teams will be represented at CIF playoffs.

C4-5

Lacrosse players to participate in study

By Michael Rothberg

Lacrosse players will have the opportunity to take part in a lifelong study beginning this spring season to test the longterm effects of concussions.

The Institute for Scholastic Sports Science and Medicine at Harvard-Westlake is participating in a national study that tracks the neurological effects of head injuries on athletes throughout and beyond their middle and high school athletic careers.

The voluntary study, entitled “The National Sport Concussion Outcomes Study,” and funded by the NCAA, will test members of the middle school and high school lacrosse teams during the spring season. Participants will be tested throughout their entire lives if they remain enrolled in the study. Harvard-Westlake lacrosse student-athletes will be the first middle and high school participants in the study, Director of Sports Medicine Milo Sini said in a letter to parents of lacrosse players.

“This will be the first prospective study to compare concussion rates and severity indices between equipment types and characteristics.” Sini said. “It will raise awareness and greatly expand our understanding of the role sub-concussive head impacts play on an athlete’s cognitive health.”

ISSSM is contributing to the study in partnership with the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Michigan, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Though the study is only testing members of the lacrosse teams, the re-

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HANS GUTKNECHT

KEEP AWAY: Courtney Corrin ’16 protects the ball from an El Camino Real defender in the varsity girls’ soccer team’s 3-3 tie. Corrin has one game remaining on her five-game suspension handed down by CIF for her participation in a National Soccer Team camp.

Too cool for school

The girls’soccer team heads into CIF playoffs minus star midfielder Courtney Corrin ’16 who was suspended by CIF for playing with Team USA.

By Aaron Lyons Coming off of its secondstraight Mission League Championship, the varsity girls’ soccer team is aiming to look past its loss in the quarter finals last year and win the CIF playoffs.

“This team has surprised me in a good way on several occasions this season,” team captain Hannah Lichten-

stein ’13 said. “With the talent, coaching staff and desire that everybody on this team has to win, I see us going far.”

The team is currently ranked third in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, better than any team west of Texas. However, CIF seeded the Wolverines as only the third best team in Div. I of the Southern Section, and

the Wolverines will host Mater Dei on Thursday in the first round of playoffs.

“I think there are several teams with a great chance,” Simms said. “We are currently ranked number three so we are not the favorites.

We will need to stay healthy and get some luck as we are still a very young and inexperienced team.”

The team was shocked

when one of its younger, but more dominant players, Courtney Corrin ’16 was handed a five game suspension.

Corrin left school for a week to attend a camp for the U.S. Under – 17 Women’s National Soccer Team held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. When she • Continued on page C4

• Continued on page C3

Baseball enters season ranked 10th in nation

By Lizzy Thomas

Even a team that enters the season nationally ranked in the top 10 has room for a Cinderella story.

The varsity baseball team is the 10th best in the country, according to high school baseball website Perfect Game, and yet it looks to alleviate the pitching vacancy left by MLB signees Max Fried ’12 and Lucas Giolito ’12 from an unlikely source — first year varsity pitcher Conor Cuse ’13.

“Missing Fried is kind of a big deal but with the addition of Conor Cuse we’re going to have that hard-throwing pitcher back again,” pitcher Hans Hansen ’13 said. “Conor’s done so much better in the past year, and I don’t want to say he’s filling the spot of Fried but he’s going to be one of our dominant pitchers.”

Cuse, formerly relegated to

the lower level team by often wild pitching, is a power pitcher whose fastball clocks in at 87 mph, according to Perfect Game.

“He always could throw pretty hard but he didn’t have the velocity control, so he was playing on JV just so he could get playing time and get the velocity control he needed, which he has now,” Hansen said. “He’s going to be a very scary pitcher.”

“We definitely have the potential to make a deep run and with the late emergence of Conor Cuse as a pitcher, he’s going to be a surprise to lots of people,” Jack Flaherty ’14 said.

“People are hopefully going to be pleasantly surprised with the way he’s going to perform this year.”

“Conor has put in a ton of work and it seems to have really paid off and set him up to have a great senior year,” Head

Coach Matt LaCour said.

Cuse rounds out the starting rotation along with Flaherty and Hansen, two of the team’s returning pitchers.

Along with USC-commit first baseman Joe Corrigan ’13 and Georgia Tech-bound catcher Arden Pabst ’13, the Wolverines look to win their third consecutive Mission League championship and advance past the second round of CIF, where they fell to Placentia Valencia last year.

“The Mission League’s always a tough league to go through, but I’m pretty confident with the team that we have this year,” Flaherty, who committed to University of North Carolina this past fall, said.

With the exception of its two MLB-drafted pitchers, the team returns most of its roster from last year. Considering that Giolito missed

most of last season with an elbow injury, Hansen thinks the team brings back more than it loses.

“We only lost one starting person, that was Max Fried, and the rest of our lineup is last year’s juniors and sophomores,” Hansen said. “So now we’re one year older, and one year better. So I think we might be able to do something very, very amazing with this team.”

The team travelled to Las Vegas this weekend for three preseason games against Nevada teams, including Bishop Gorman, the Nevada state champion every year from 2006 to 2011. The Wolverines lost to Bishop Gorman in the process of going 1-1-1 on the weekend.

The team is set to open the season on Feb. 23 against Cleveland High School, with its first home game slated for Feb. 26 against Rio Mesa.

CAMILLE SHOOSHANI/CHRONICLE

WIND UP: Jack Flaherty ’14 pitches in the baseball team’s 2-1 loss to Alemany at O’Malley Family Field last season.

The Chronicle

C2 Sports

Facts &

Feb. 13, 2013

Figures

4

Head coaches the varsity lacrosse team has had in the past four years.

Shutouts kept by the girls’ varsity soccer team this year.

14

Consecutive Mission League championships by the girls’ water polo team.

42 Dollars raised by the varsity baseball team for leukemia research in honor of Chris Robinson ’14.

17 Clinton Hooks’ ‘13 three-point field goal percentage for the Wolverine basketball team.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF KENNY LOPEZ

FLY HIGH, NO LIE: Gaylord, above, soars over the bar in a practice at UCLA. Gaylord, left, sprints down the runway in an attempt to complete a figure-four jump at practice at Harvard-Westlake.

Top of the world

4,526

By Tyler Graham

Game to watch BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Feb. 13 vs. Templeton 7 p.m. @ Templeton High School

The Wolverines will have to take the three-hour drive upstate to Templeton High School to face the Eagles on their home court. Templeton has a 15-9 record and features senior Andy Garretson, who leads the team with 16.1 points per game. The 6-foot-6 center also averages 7.8 rebounds per game and should present a tough matchup for Wolverine bigs Sam Weintraub ’14 and David Winfield ’13.

Player to Watch: Michael Sheng ’14 After missing three games with a hamstring injury, point guard Michael Sheng ’14 returned in the Wolverines double overtime loss to Loyola on Feb. 4. He finished with six points, less than half of his average 13.6 points per game. However, Sheng did assist on David Winfield’s two game tying baskets at the end of both regulation and overtime.

Sheng will look to dominate as the Wolverines continue their quest in CIF without Derick Newton.

Junior Varsity Boys’ basketball (5-18) Last Game: L (48-54) vs. Loyola Girls’ basketball (4-12) Last Game: L (54-17) vs. Notre Dame Boys’ soccer (15-2-3) Last Game: T (2-2) vs. Loyola Girls’ soccer (9-9) Last Game: W (6-2) vs. Louisville

DANIEL KIM/CHRONICLE

When Ben Gaylord ’13 was 12 years old he went to a UCLA track and field camp over the summer, which ended up shaping his life.

Gaylord fell in love with pole vaulting after the coach at the camp had given campers small poles to play around with on the grass. Little did Gaylord know, he would excel in it for years to come.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Gaylord said. “The next summer I went to a specialized pole vault camp, and after that I started doing it more often and getting into it.”

In the 2012 track and field season, Gaylord was able to make it to the state finals and win fifth place. He was the only junior in the competition, so this year, with more experience under his belt, he has loftier expectations. Gaylord won’t be satisfied with fifth place.

“It’ll be really tough, I am going to have to practice hard

Ben Gaylord ’13 ranks as the best indoor pole vaulter in the state according to Athletic.net.

and stay healthy,” Gaylord said. “I do have three or four rivals in-state who are just as good as me or even better than me, so it’ll be a challenge.

I’m going to have to come to each meet with a purpose, and I think I can do it. If I work hard I can probably win state.”

Another one of Gaylord’s goals is to break the HarvardWestlake pole vault record.

The record is 16 feet four inches and was set by Jessie Stern in 1993.

“I definitely want to try to get out there and break that record,” Gaylord said. “I am getting pretty close. My personal record right now is 15foot-6, so if I can get a foot more this season that would be great.”

Gaylord is now ranked the number one pole-vaulter in the state and 19th in the country by Athletic.net as he heads into his senior season. To prepare for the upcoming season, Gaylord is pole vaulting three times a week, doing running workouts with the track team

and rock climbing or going to the beach to do upper body workouts over the weekend.

“It’s pretty intensive,” Gaylord said. “I would say I have one day off the entire week.”

Over the summer, Gaylord went to three pole vault camps at UCLA to continue to improve and perfect his technique.

“Pole vaulting is such a technical event that people can pole vault for 15 years and still have minor flaws in their technique,” Gaylord said.

“There is always something I can continue to work on and get better at.”

Gaylord plans to step in and become a leader on the track and field team in the upcoming season.

“Even though pole vaulting is an individual event, there is still a large amount of people on the team and it is great to use the knowledge that I have acquired from pole vaulting for so long to help people out and be a leader,” Gaylord said.

Pregame with the No. 3 team in the nation

By Lucy Putnam

“Feet, feet, feet…” the words ring through the crisp winter air as we link arms and go around the circle, making sure our cleats are touching one another, tightly linked. My back is cold in the chilly wind, but my face is warm, facing in toward my teammates.

We all lean forward as one, Malanna Wheat ’14 in the center of the circle because she was assigned to provide “inspiration” today by co-captain Hannah Lichtenstein ’13.

She chooses a clip montage from “Friday Night Lights” and reminds us of the words of the show’s Coach Eric Taylor: “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.” A ripple through the circle, then we break for the warm-up.

Warm-up is curiously silent, each girl pursuing her own ritual of preparation. For me, this means repeating my lucky number four in the taps of the ball on my knees, feet and head.

For Malanna, it is six. We break into pairs and knock headers back and forth. The defense splits off while the offensive players go to shoot on goal.

We defenders lob long balls across the field to one another, chasing each other’s stray kicks and trying to find our rhythms alone and together.

Captains are called for the coin toss and we jog to the side of the field. After the toss, we circle around cocaptains Emily Persky ’13 and Lichtenstein and again make sure our cleats are touching.

All talking stops.

Christine Sasaki ’13 begins: “Make your first tackle your hardest, because first impressions last a lifetime.” Emily and Hannah start with Chloe Castaneda ’15, sweeping their hands from player to player, touching each of us for good luck – a reminder of a ritual from seasons past.

We lock arms, Hannah starts a beat box, and Emily begins the chant: “this is our field and we dominate because this is our field.”

We repeat it over and over, increasing in volume until we culminate with “H-W on three” and break for the field.

Taking our positions in the back line, we four defenders finish our own ritual: a high

jumping double-hand clap between me and Malanna, a knuckle rub to Tiffany Guerrera ’15’s head, and a high-five to Brianna Gazmarian ’15.

We’re ready for the game. Rituals are not new but instead have been carried from past seasons.

Something new this season is our approach to the game plan.

In previous years, Coach Richard Simms would bring a detailed game plan with positions and clear expectations for each player based on the specific team we were facing and the coaching strategy for that particular match.

After trying this tactic for a few games, it was apparent we were not playing to our potential.

Richard pivoted as a coach and decided to try a new approach based on the chemistry and instinct of our young team.

One of Richard’s best strengths as a coach is that he realizes what we players need and adapts his plans and his systems to suit his specific team.

He took away the game plan and told us not to focus too specifically on our individual jobs in a game.

Instead, he found ways to work on bonding us as a team, building our inspiration and ritual, and improving our group communication.

He helped us understand that our winning plan was to back up our teammates, use our instincts and play with fluidity. This new approach lifted the team immediately.

We watched our game come together as the team played as one, each of us raising the others’ games with actions and words.

Our rhythm is played together, like a great orchestra or band, reaching new heights at the Mater Dei tournament where we emerged the champions and won the No. 1 ranking in Southern California.

Now our season has begun, and we feel the best may still be ahead of us.

From the back line, we four defenders exchange glances and give a shout of encouragement to the forwards as they kick off.

Feb. 13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/sports

C3 Sports Fencers to attend Junior Olympics Five students qualified for the Junior Olympic Fencing Championships in Baltimore, Maryland Feb. 15-18. Jack Graham ’15, Anne Kim ’15, Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski ’15, Jake Raynis ’14 and Justin Yoo ’15 all qualified for the tournament.

The fencers, some of whom are members of the HarvardWestlake fencing team and some of whom practice with the Los Angeles International Fencing Center privately, will compete at the Baltimore Convention Center in various disciplines of fencing: Epee, Saber, and Foil.

“I’m really scared,” KupiecWeglinski said, “it will be my first huge out of state tournament. It’s a lot of pressure, but I just want to do the best I can.”

—Jack Goldfisher

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HERB GAINS

BEFORE THE BIG GAME: Noah Gains ’15 went to New Orleans to see the Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII. Gains and Elijah Akhtarzad ’15, both teammates on the JV boys’ basketball team, were two of 70,000 fans in attendance at the game on Feb. 3.

Students attend Super Bowl XLVII

By Michael Aronson Elijah Akhtarzad ’15 and Noah Gains ’15 were two out of 70,000 fans attendance at the Superdome on Feb. 3 in New Orleans to see linebacker Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII. “It was more than just a football game,” Akhtarzad said. “It was about the atmosphere of the entire city.”

Akhtarzad flew into New Orleans with his father on Friday night before the game to participate in pregame festivities. He felt the bustling atmosphere of the game before even landing in New Orleans.

“The plane to New Orleans was completely packed with people going to the game,” Akhtarzad said. “Everyone on the plane was either wearing purple or red. The plane was so packed that the airline was announcing that they would pay people $600 to give their

ticket back because they were lowed to drive by had the playso overbooked.” ers and coaches. We Both Akhtarzad saw both teams wave and Gains went to to us going to the staThe NFL Experience, dium.” an event for fans in Both Gains and New Orleans to meet Akhtarzad arrived at NFL players and take the Stadium an hour part in football-relatbefore the game. ed games and activi“It was packed beties. fore the game,” Gains nathanson ’s Gains was able said. “The atmosphere Elijah to meet NFL MVP was amazing It was Akhtarzad ’15 Adrian Peterson the on a whole other level day after he won the than anything I have award. ever been to.”

“I got to shake Gains and Akhtarthe hand of the man zad both called the who ran for over 2000 34-minute blackout yards,” Gains said. in the stadium dur“The streets were ing the third quarter packed with people,” a weird experience.

Akhtarzad said. “Even “They easily could nathanson ’s a line to buy t-shirts have played durNoah seemed like it went ing the blackout,” Gains ’15 for a mile. The streets Akhtarzad said. “It near the Super Dome wasn’t dark at all in were closed before the game, the stadium, and everyone and the only cars that were al- could see. But the water in the

stadium wasn’t working. We didn’t really know what was going on for 20 minutes until a PA announcer said that there was a small power outage. We were pretty upset that we had to wait 34 minutes until the lights came back on.”

“Fans started booing once the lights went out, but because we were on the Ravens’ side, Terrell Sugs and Ed Reid were hyping up the fans in our area,” Gains said.

Both Akhtarzad and Gains are not fans of either team, but they both called the game a “once in a lifetime experience.”

“It was more than just two teams going at it in a football game,” Akhtarzad said.

“The entire weekend revolves around the game.”

“It was my first Super Bowl,” Gains said. “I would say that it’s probably up there with the greatest sporting event that I have ever been to.”

Lacrosse to take part in concussions study study at a lacrosse parents’ meeting. searchers plan to include oth“We think that what we er sports in the future. are doing is very important “There is growing con- and will help with trying to cern about figure out the cumulawhat outtive effect of comes and concussions what treatAll our studies we do on longments will be term cogniappropriate here are about making tive health, for children it as easy as possible and yet our in the fucurrent unfor your extremely busy ture.” Choe, a derstanding former Harkids.” of what facv a r d -We s t tors contrib—Milo Sini lake athlete ute to later and coach, problems is said. “In the inadequate,” future, we Christopher Giza said, the also plan to roll out some deprincipal investigator at vices as well, so probably an UCLA. accelerometer in mouthpieces The study is optional, con- and helmets, to measure the fidential, free of cost to par- head impacts that each athticipant lacrosse athletes and lete are getting.” non-invasive, according to In addition to the comChrista Choe ’94, a pediatric puterized baseline concussion neurology researcher at the tests that lacrosse athletes UCLA Brain Injury Research take, participants in the study Center, who spoke about the will also be evaluated for a set • Continued from page C1

“

of standard baseline assessMulti-sport athletes who ments with criteria such as play lacrosse are allowed to memory, reaction time and participate in the study. other physical measurements “This is something that we according to Choe. are very excited about from Participant athletes who an administrative standsustain concussions during point,” Athletic Director Terthe study will be evaluated ry Barnum said. “I think all of within 24 hours of the injury us who have watched or foland then reevaluated when lowed the news in the past 18 the athlete becomes asymp- months, you can’t go a week tomatic. without hearing something For the baseline about head injuries evaluations, UCLA or concussions. We researchers will come see this as an opto campus. The baseportunity to demysline measurements tify [concussions] a will be taken at the little bit. What this beginning and end study is going to do of each season of laover time is provide crosse throughout a us with very valuable nathanson ’s participant’s middle information about school and high school how these injuries ocMilo Sini careers. cur, why they occur, “We will work with the things that we can do to pocoaches to make sure it’s the tentially prevent them from least amount of downtime for happening and gather that your kids,” Sini said. “All our information. This longitudistudies we do here are about nal study is going to require making it as easy as possible some effort, but the outcome for your extremely busy kids.” will be well worth it.”

Oser commits to play for Stanford Offensive lineman Thomas Oser ’13 verbally committed to Stanford University on Jan. 14 to play football. Oser narrowed his choices down to Vanderbilt, Oregon and Stanford before making his decision on Monday.

Oser recently competed in the Semper Fidelis All-American bowl, a nationally sponsored event televised on the NFL Network on Jan. 4.

“I’m excited that I committed to Stanford,” Oser said.

“Great football, great academics, great people. It’s the place for me.”

—Michael Aronson

Six students place in Fencing Tournament Six students placed in the top three for their categories in the Southern California League individual Epee/Saber tournament on Jan. 13.

Jack Graham ’15 took gold for men’s high school saber, and Sophie Kupiec-Weglinski ’15, Molly Cinnamon ’14 and Anne Kim ’15 placed first through third place respectively for women’s high school saber.

Sylvie Sanders ’17 received bronze in women’s middle school saber and Noam Ringach ’17 took first place in men’s middle school epee.

—Enya Huang

Two football players named all-state Thomas Oser ’13 and Desmond Butler ’15 were both named to California all-state football teams.

There are three California all-state football offensive teams, three defensive teams and one multi-purpose team.

Butler will play linebacker for the first defensive sophomore team.

“This is really a great start to my career, but I only hope to keep improving,” Butler said.

Oser was named to the third offensive senior team by Calihisports. He will play center offensive line.

“Making all-state is an amazing honor, and I’m just really excited and feel very privileged to be included on such a list,” Oser said.

—Becca Katz

The Chronicle

C4 Sports

CIF Bound

All six varsity winter teams begin CIF playoffs this week. The varsity girls' water polo team is the only team defending a title, having won the past two CIF championships.

Boys’ basketball enters CIF after 2OT loss to Loyola

By Grant Nussbaum

JACK GOLDFISHER/CHRONICLE

RUN AND GUN: Mike Sheng '14 runs the fastbreak against Alemany in a loss at home on Jan. 11. He posted 11 points in the game.

Feb. 1

Injuries to three of the boys’ varsity basketball team’s four leading scorers could pose a threat to the team's title chances as it begins CIF playoffs tomorrow against Templeton. This comes following a double-overtime loss to rival Loyola in the regular season finale.

Forward Derick Newton ’14 suffered a shoulder injury against Chaminade on Jan. 9, and has been sidelined for the last 10 games of the regular season. Newton had led the team in scoring with 19.8 points per game. Head Coach Greg Hilliard said Newton would be able to return in the third round of the playoffs if the team wins its first two games. Hilliard said Newton’s absence has left a big void in the lineup.

“What we can’t do is duplicate his ability to score,” Hilliard said. “We can put in guys that rebound, play defense, set screens and do all the other parts of the game, but we can’t replace a guy who’s capable of getting close to 30 points.

The playoffs are a time when your key guy, your go-to guy, gets the ball a little more often, and we could certainly use that. There’s no way to really replace him, but we’ve got four

or five guys that might fill his role.”

Following Newton’s injury, forward Clinton Hooks '13 helped pick up the slack, putting up five double-digit scoring performances. But Hooks went down with an ankle injury following the team’s loss against St. Francis on Feb. 1 and did not play in the game against Loyola. Hooks is not cleared to play in the team’s first playoff game today, Hilliard said.

Guard Mike Sheng ’14 went down with a hamstring injury in a non-league game against Serra on Jan. 26 and missed three games. Sheng, who is the Wolverines’ secondleading scorer, returned to start in the team’s last game against Loyola, but played limited minutes.

The guard came up big for the Wolverines in his return, dishing two passes to center Dave Winfield '13 that resulted in layups to send the game in to both overtime and double overtime. Despite his apparent resurgence in the dying moments of the Loyola game, Sheng does not believe he’ll be fully healthy for the first playoff game tomorrow.

“I probably won’t be at one hundred percent,” Sheng said.

“Hopefully we can win our first couple of games easily

and I can get some rest, and I’ll be ready for the big game in the quarterfinals.”

Hilliard adjusted the team’s offense after losing Newton from a dribble-drive motion to a one-four high offense, which often utilizes the pick-and-roll to create open shots. The team stressed converting on offense as crucial for the playoffs.

“Those guys were three of our leading scorers, and we need to pick up some of that slack that we have now,” guard Francis Hyde ’13 said. “We need to find better shots, take open shots and knock them down. We’ve had good shots but we just haven’t been hitting as much, so we need to have a better shooting percentage throughout the game.”

“I think we just have to find another scorer,” Sheng added.

“Alex [Copeland '15] is filling that role, but we just have to be more efficient.”

Copeland is the Wolverines' third-leading scorer and posted 10 points against Loyola.

Despite the damages to the roster, the Wolverines still believe in their ability to win in the playoffs.

“I’m very confident in these first two games,” Sheng said. “They aren’t usually too tough.”

Girls' soccer head to playoffs without Corrin • Continued from page C1

returned, she learned that CIF had suspended her for at least four games.

“It was frustrating because you come back from playing with the national team and it’s such an honor, and then you come back and hear that you’re suspended for playing for your country,” Corrin said.

“It’s just upsetting.”

Corrin was suspended along with four other players from the Southern California section, which includes Los Angeles, Orange County, Pasadena and Riverside.

“I will be missing the first playoff game because technically I already missed three games, and I’m missed the Valencia game this Saturday,” Corrin said. “But lucky for me, I missed those or else I’d pretty much be done for the whole season.”

While away, Corrin missed games against Alemany, Louisville and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. During her absence, the team received their only loss from Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. In addition, she missed her team’s game against Valencia, their last game before the first round of CIF playoffs.

“Courtney Corrin is obviously a very talented player and an important piece to our team,” Lichtenstein said.

“I would say that in our loss against Flintridge Sacred Heart that Courtney Corrin’s

scrapiness and ball-winning would have been helpful. We are lucky to have a deep roster, particularly in center midfield, so four or five players can step into that position and do a very good job.”

Corrin considers herself lucky because she only has to miss the first CIF playoff game.

“For right now, all I can do is cheer them on and hope for the best until I can play again and I can actually do something,” Corrin said.

Although the team obviously wants Corrin back in their lineup, they are more focused on the immediate task at hand, beating Mater Dei in the first round of CIF playoffs.

“We knew right when we won the Mater Dei tournament that a target was going to be on our backs the rest of the season,” Lichtenstein said.

When you beat a team like Aliso Niguel or San Clemente, they want revenge and come back especially hard.”

Mater Dei finished third in the Trinity League, so Harvard-Westlake will be favored to win the game. Despite this, the Lichtenstein said that the team tries to not let rankings get to their head.

“We’ve lost twice this season and both times did not feel good at all,” Lichtenstein said.

“I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we’re going to do everything in our power to not have that feeling again.”

Additional reporting by Nadia Rahman and Erina Szeto.

GRANT NUSSBAUM/CHRONICLE

HEAD LOCK: Henry Schlossberg '13 battles for position over an Alemany wrestler on Jan. 16. The team lost the duel 33-27.

5 wrestlers prep for CIF individuals

By Lizzy Thomas

Two days from now, five wrestlers will take to the mat and fight to survive elimination, securing a trip to Temecula for the Feb. 22-23 CIF Masters tournament.

Jake Bracken ’14, Patrick Halkett ’14, Charlie Nelson ’13, Ryan Ruiz ’16 and Henry Schlossberg ’13 are set to compete at Friday’s CIF Championships.

The five advanced past the Feb. 2 League Finals, as team captains Nelson and Schlossberg both won their weight classes and Bracken, Halkett and Ruiz each took third.

This will be the third CIF Championships for Bracken,

who wrestles at 138 lbs.

“Being a junior, I have some experience and I’ve looked at everyone in my weight class and I think I have a pretty good chance,” Bracken said.

In spite of wrestling above his weight in the 120 lbs. weight class, Halkett qualified for CIF Championships for the second year in a row.

“He’s an awesome little stud,” Head Coach Gary Bairos said.

Nelson, who wrestles in the 220 lbs. weight class, has a good chance of placing in the top five of his class to advance to Masters, Bairos said.

Bairos attributes the freshman Ruiz's success to his work ethic.

“He’s been a wonderful

surprise this year, it really comes down to his work ethic.

He’s a different wrestler than when he walked in this year three months ago,” Bairos said.

Schlossberg looks to advance past the second day of the CIF Championships tournament, at which point he was knocked out last year.

“I think Schlossberg has the best chance to advance onto the Masters. He’s been a great leader, and all he does is win,” Bairos said.

The top five from each weight class will advance to next weekend’s Masters, where a top nine finish will clinch a spot in the State Championships tournament held on March 1-2.

13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sports C5

Girls' water polo seeks three-peat

By Patrick Ryan

Fresh off a victory over Alemany last Thursday, the girls’ water polo team will host the winner of the wild-card game in the first round of the CIF playoffs today. The wildcard game was played yesterday but results were not available as of press time.

The 20-5 win over Alemany marked the sixth year in a row in which the Wolverines have not lost a Mission League game. They are also in pursuit of their third straight CIF championship.

“Obviously we did a really nice job in the regular season putting ourselves in a good situation going into playoffs,” Head Coach Brian Flacks ’06 said. “But playoffs begin an entire new season.”

The team has moved up to Division III this season and Flacks said the significant difference from years past is the depth of the division, with more competitive teams that have a chance to win. Flacks said the team has improved both defensively and offensively over the course of the season, finishing with a record of 21-6 after starting 5-4. Ideally, the team would like to play a slow game with few turnovers and execution on offense to limit the opponent’s opportu-

PATRICK RYAN/CHRONICLE

SEASONED VET: Driver Kassie Shannon '13 shoots during the girls' water polo team's 20-5 victory over Alemany. Today, they play the winner of yesterday's Atascadero—Etiwanda game today in the first round of CIF playoffs, seeking their third straight CIF championship. nity to score goals in transition.

“It will be good if we can stay controlled in the playoffs and be slow and methodical and force the other team to play our speed as well,” center guard Sydney Cheong ’14 said.

“That’s where we can really dominate.”

Los Osos, the team the Wolverines played in the past two CIF finals, has smaller, faster players and prefers a high-paced, counterattacking style of play.

Flacks said to combat Los

Osos speed, the Wolverines need to limit the amount of turnovers and play offense in the frontcourt, utilizing the size advantage of the team. Mary Morrissey ’13, the team’s starting goalie for most of the season, has had a hip injury that caused her to miss a week of competition. Daily Hartmeier '16 replaced her in goal.

“Both have very strong attributes and it is nice for us to be able to have them be interchangeable,” center Morgan Hallock ’13 said. “Daily has

A late-season surge may not have come early enough for the team to claim a league championship, but the varsity boys’ soccer team won enough games down the stretch to finish in second-place in the league and earn home field advantage for the first round of CIF playoffs on Friday.

As the team finally starts to gel with first-year Head Coach Lucas Bongarra, the team is confident that it is building just enough momentum at the right time to make a run in playoffs.

“We started off slow and there were definitely some ups and downs,” Beau McGinley ‘13 said. “[But] I think that we definitely peaked at the right time.”

With a league record of 2-3-1 after their six games of the league season, the Wolverines finished 4-1-1 in their final six league games to improve to 6-4-2 on the season, good enough for second place in the league behind a 12-0-0 Loyola.

The team then nearly upset undefeated league rival Loyola in the final regular season game, but the Cubs used a late comeback to pull away with a 3-2 win.

“I thought we played a very solid game,” Bongarra said after the Loyola loss. “I thought we deserved something more.

It didn’t feel like a loss. Looking forward to the playoffs, this definitely gets us ready.

We were hungry already, but after this game, we are going to be even hungrier. ” Despite the loss to Loyola on the last game of the season, the Wolverines showed visible improvement in their second matchups with league opponents from their first matchup. The Wolverines lost to Crespi and St. Francis then tied to Alemany in their first meetings this season, but the Wolverines were able to win the rematches with against all three of those teams later in the year.

The improvement has both brought up the confidence of the team as it heads into playoffs but also helped the Wolverines avoid a tougher opponent in the first round because of a better seed.

“I think that we’ve improved notably over the season and I think we’re going to make a good playoff run,” Nick Knight ’14 said. “I think we’ll be competitive this year.”

Ty Gilhuly ’13 attributed the improvement of the team to the fact that it took some time for the team to adjust to Bongarra’s coaching style, but everyone had bought into his style by midseason.

“I think we had a tough time with Bongarra at the beginning because the atmosphere for this whole school soccer thing has been very relaxed, and there wasn’t much discipline,” Gilhuly said. “We just had trouble adjusting and had to buy into the program and start trusting each other.”

Princeton commit Hallock and Kassie Shannon ’13. The duo has won all 40 Mission League games of their careers.

“The seniors have really set the tone and created a culture for the Harvard-Westlake water polo program that hopefully will last as many years,” Flacks said.

“They have done an amazing job of winning league and winning back-to-back CIF championships, and hopefully we will continue to win championships and move up in divisions.”

Girls' basketball to face Notre Dame Academy

Boys' soccer hosts Dana Hills in CIF opener

By Luke Holthouse

been in, she has been healthy, and she has been playing really well for us in the tournaments. It’s good for them to compete with each other a little bit, it makes them better.”

The Wolverines have played a more difficult out-ofleague schedule this season, Flacks said. Flacks said that the schedule resulted in more losses in-season, but also prepared them for the stronger competition in the playoffs.

This CIF playoffs also marks the last run for the senior class, which includes

By Sam Sachs

LUKE HOLTHOUSE/CHRONICLE

TARGET MAN: Midfielder Beau McGinley '13 strikes a header over a Loyola defender in the boys' 3-2 loss on Feb. 4.

The Wolverines will host Dana Hills on Friday at 3:00 for the first round game.

Gilhuly said that the team is favored against Dana Hills as the home team and is expecting that the team advances at least to the second round, but possibly further depending on its next opponent.

Jonathan Loewenberg ’13 said that the experience of an early exit from last year’s team that lost to Thousand Oaks in the first round should motivate the team this year.

“I think we have a lot of kids with experience here in the playoffs and a lot of them are hungry to go a lot further than they did last year,” “I think that’s going to make a huge difference and regardless of who we play.”

Natalie Florescu ’13 leads the team in scoring with 13.6 Zoe Bohn ’14 leads the girls’ points per game. Hearlihy was basketball team with seven re- complimentary of Florescu’s bounds a game. The junior has improvement in her ability to helped lead the Wolverines to read defenses and control the a third place league game.

The Westfinish. mont commit is the This third place focal point of opleague finish was posing team’s game good enough to plans to stop the qualify the WolWolverine’s attack. verines for CIF Hearlihy also Southern Section emphasized the implayoffs. They will portance Bohn has face Notre Dame played this year, nathanson ’s Academy in the specifically stepping first round of the Natalie Florescu ’13 up as a leader and CIF Southern Secas a steady contribtion 4AA champiutor on the boards. onships.

“Bohn is a beast, “The keys to I mean she’s just a winning this first solid kid; she plays round playoff game hard,” Hearlihy said. are the same as Bohn brings verthey’ve been for all satility to the team of our games: inby averaging 6.2 tensity, hitting the points, 1.6 assists, boards hard, and and 1.3 steals. She nathanson ’s moving the ball also leads the team Zoe Bohn ’14 well on offense,” in field goal percentBohn said. age, shooting a team The Notre Dame Knights high 42 percent from the field finished 10-9 overall and 4-2 and 35 percent from behind in Sunshine league play, good the three point line. enough for a second place “We’re smaller and youngleague finish. The teams will er than a lot of teams, but meet Feb. 14. we’ve proven that we can still The Wolverines are 13-14 win when we play hard and overall and 6-4 in league; they stay focused,” Bohn said. finished their season winning The Wolverines will head four of their last six games. into the playoffs with confi“Every game we’ve been in, dence, "they are very beatable we’ve been very competitive, if we come out strong from the and I think that was one of our beginning of the game," Flomajor goals,” Hearlihy said. rescu said.

C6 Sports

Lacrosse hires 4th new coach in 4 years

By Eric Loeb

Following two consecutive Mission League championships, the boys’ lacrosse team will begin the season with a different man at the helm, as former assistant coach Alexander Weber takes over as head coach.

Former coach Jay Pfeifer, who resigned in order to pursue a graduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, led the team to a Mission League championship last season.

Weber, who played four seasons of Division I college lacrosse at the University of Pennsylvania, said he hopes to blend the culture of the program with that of the East Coast systems he has been a part of in the past.

“Simply put, I want our players to be focused, play hard and have fun winning with their teammates,” he said.

Despite the major success enjoyed by the program on the field, players believe there is

room to improve in other areas, including practice habits.

“The entire program here has gotten a bad reputation, and people are getting the wrong impression of the game,” Brooks Hudgins ’14 said.

Players say that under Weber’s leadership, the team will look to fix the problems. Ben Klein ’14 said major strides have already been made in the right direction.

“I think he is really trying to change the culture around lacrosse. He’s really trying to make us work a little harder,” he said.

The team opens the season with a game at Beverly Hills High School on Friday, March 1. However, last year’s leading scorer, Ross O’Shea ’14, will most likely not be on the field, as he underwent hip surgery during the offseason and has only recently left his wheelchair.

“He’s a natural scorer, and he delivered some big time

The Chronicle

Feb. 13, 2013

DANIEL KIM/CHRONICLE

COMING THROUGH: Tommy Choi ‘14 attempts to split a double team against Westlake last year.

The lacrosse team will look for success in its first season under interim head coach Alexander Weber. goals for us last year,” Weber said. “Things happen in sports, that’s part of it. You have to make the next play, and the next play for us is to keep preparing to nail our goals. I know

we will.”

As for expectations for the upcoming season, the Wolverines’ new coach kept them simple.

“Expectations are to win

every game, win the league, and enjoy every second of it,” Weber said. “I can’t say if this will all happen, but I can say is that we will do everything we possibly can to achieve it.”

Swimming program to launch season with new coach, pool

By Patrick Ryan

DANIEL KIM/CHRONICLE

MAKING A SPLASH: Henry Copses ’14 swims in a meet against Crespi last year. The swimming teams enter their first season under Head Coach Jonathan Carroll and in the Copses Family Pool.

The swimming team opens its season with new coach Jonathan Carroll at the helm. He was hired as the Head of the Swimming and Diving Program last May. “I was never aware that the job was open, it wasn’t anything I consciously aspired to,” Carroll said. “But it was certainly one that I felt that I could be a good fit given the type of kid that they produce and the type of athletic resources that they have.”

Carroll began swimming at a young age after he was diagnosed with asthma, and he went on to swim at the University of Pennsylvania. He then coached at a day school in Pennsylvania and was also

Coming off its 16th straight Mission League title, the boys’ tennis team is hoping to make it to CIF semifinals. The Wolverines are projected to win league again this year, but the main obstacle in achieving their CIF goal is University High School in Irvine.

Last season the team went undefeated, 10-0 in league but had an overall record of 23-4, losing to Corona Del Mar in the semifinals of CIF playoffs.

University has its strongest team in years, with three players ranked top 10 nationally in the 18s division. Senior Gage Brymer is the second best singles player in the nation while his classmates Stefan Menichella and Tyler Lu follow suit at numbers seven and ten respectively.

Apart from these high ranking individuals, University has depth, with players like junior Drew Dawson seated at 181.

Max Rothman ’14’s selec-

tion as best player on the team, Michael Genender ’15 is rated 22nd in nation, which will help combat the powerhouse that is University tennis.

Four starting seniors graduated last season, including Jackson Frons ’12. In addition, no current seniors, including captains Dylan Eisner ’13 and Harrison Kalt ’13 have committed to college for tennis.

“I think our team is better than it was last year,” Sam Hummel ’14 said. “We have really competitive players.”

Rothman is confident in his team’s ability.

“We have some young players and a lot of returning players who have improved,” Rothman said. “But we lack experience.”

Because of this lack of experience, the Wolverines’ scrimmages against Beverly Hills High and Peninsula High School will be extremely important in preparation for their league opener on Feb. 21 against Calabasas, Hummel said.

swim internationally. I want it to match the kind of seriousness and respect that some of the other athletic programs on campus receive.”

Many swimmers are still in club swimming season and Carroll says he will coordinate with the club coaches to make a program for his swimmers that is geared towards performing during the 12-week school swim season.

“I liked him when I first met him and I know he’s a great coach and I know he has accomplished many things,” swimmer Henry Copses ’14 said. “My club coach says he knows him really well and says [Carroll]’s a great guy.

I’m sure he will do his job, I’m sure he’ll be great and I look forward to having him as a coach.”

Golf embraces experience in coach’s second season

Boys’ tennis vies for 17th consecutive league title

By Lucy Putnam

a teacher before moving to California. He worked primarily as a club swimming coach before getting his graduate degree and accepting the job as the Head Swim Coach at Harvard-Westlake. Carroll has coached Wolverine alums in club swimming and is familiar with many of his swimmers.

This is the first season that the swim team will use the new Copses Family Aquatic Center.

The team had to practice off campus last year while the renovation was underway.

“I really wanted to make a program that fits the type of facility that it now is in,” Carroll said. “My goal is to make us produce the best caliber athletes that we can, whether they swim on Division I teams or whether they are able to

By Sam Sachs

LUKE HOLTHOUSE/CHRONICLE

RETURN TO SENDER: Sam Hummel ’14 hits a backhand in a match against Santa Monica last year.

ham ’15 and Jeffrey Aronson ’15 gained last year with the Head Coach Tony Kewal- varsity team. With the loss of ramani will begin his second Charlie Benell ’12, who graduseason with the boys’ golf team ated in June, Kewalramani this upcoming spring, and has will call upon them to step up implemented changes even be- as well as his upperclassmen, fore the season has such as captain Mistarted. The team chael Aronson ’13 opens its season Feb. and Bakari Bolden 28 against Brent’14, whom Kewalwood. Their league ramani describes opener is on March as someone who “is 5 against St. Francis. not only an amazing Kewalramani, golfer, but also has who led the team to a qualities of leader8-4 league record last ship that several year, has changed players on the team nathanson ’s the tryouts for the are trying to imiBakari Bolden ’14 team. They are now tate”. spending less time The third year establishing the members of varsity player Bolden has set the team, instead focusing on high goals for himself and the getting more time to practice team, hoping to win league as a team in order to improve both individually and as a chemistry. team.

The Wolverines, although “I feel as if the team is seen young, will be more experi- as the underdog this year, but enced. there is a lot of hidden talent,” Kewalramani cited the ex- Bolden said. “I think we are perience young players such as ready to go out there and show Adrian Berger ’15, Tyler Gra- them what we’ve got.”

Feb. 13, 2013

hwchronicle.com/sports

Sports C7

Track and field expects boost with surge of underclassmen

By Grant Nussbaum

’14 believes they can help raise the bar for the entire team After sending a school this season. record four “We had freshmen to such a success the CIF Maslast year, with ters meet and o u ts t a n d i n g “Now that [Corrin] is three of those freshmen like coming to the upper freshmen to Ben and Garschool team, we’re excited rett, and also, state finals last year, the of course, an because she’s one of the varsity boys’ o u ts t a n d i n g best in the nation.” and girls’ performance track and Ben Gay—Yasmin Moreno ’13 by field teams lord ‘13 last will look for year at the underclassstate meet,” men to step Manahan up once again this season, said. “To have them all returnwhich begins Feb. 28 against ing means that we can expect Crespi and Louisville. even more this year out of all On the boys’ end, the team of us.” will look to increase the role Manahan will hope to repof underclassmen including licate his accomplishments Garrett Robinson ’15 and Ben from last year, when he won Weissenbach ’15. The two run- the boys’ 800 meter race at ners were named to ESPN’s CIF Finals. Manahan finds the California Track and Field key to repeating is to continue Freshman All-State team for working and to not become their performances through- overconfident. out last season. Robinson “One cannot rest on his was the only freshman on laurels,” Manahan said. “Even the boys’ team to reach CIF though I was very successful Masters after placing fifth at last year, nothing’s guaranCIF Finals in the 400 meter teed, so I still have to work race. After the current sopho- just as hard, like it was the mores’ achievements in their first time. I’m still striving to first season, third-year varsity do just as well.” boys’ runner David Manahan For the girls, the team

“

DANIEL KIM/CHRONICLE

FULL SPEED AHEAD: Garrett Robinson ‘15 runs in a league meet. Robinson reached CIF Masters last year for the 400 meter.

boasts three current sophomores that advanced past CIF Finals in their first year, as well as freshmen that could make their presence known. Shea Copeland ’15 and Imani CookGist ’15 made it to CIF Masters on the same 4x400 meter relay team, and Alex Florent ’15, who set the school high jump record last year with a jump of 5-feet, 10 inches, reached the Masters for high jump. Like the boys, the girls will hope to up their performance in their second season. The experienced team members are eager to see what the freshmen can do, senior runner Yasmin Moreno ’13 said. Among the first-year year members is Courtney Corrin ’16, who won gold in the Junior Olympics this past summer for long jump and broke the varsity long jump record in seventh grade.

“She was in middle school for the past two years so she couldn’t run with us, but now that she’s coming to our upper school team,” Moreno said. “We’re excited because she’s one of the best in the nation. We also have some new distance runners like Lauren [Jones ‘16], who ran cross country and Nicole [Araya ’16], and I’m excited for them as well.”

Boys’ volleyball adapts to absence of height

By Luke Holthouse

Even without the size usually needed to climb to the height of the Mission League standings, the members of the boys’ volleyball team come into the 2013 season with confidence that their skill players can lead the team to a secondplace finish in league. Perennial powerhouse Loyola is expected to finish undefeated in league for the sixth straight year and take the league title, but the Wolverines, who placed third in league standings last year, believe they can finish as the outright runners-up this year and reap the benefits of homecourt advantage during a potential playoff run.

“We’re fighting for second,” libero Mike Hart ’13 said. “Our main goals for the season are to take second place, bring energy and having as much fun with the fans as possible.”

With a record of 17-10 overall and 8-4 in league, the team finished tied for second place with Crespi in league standings last year. After losing coin toss at a coaches meeting to settle the tiebreaker, the team was relegated to third place for playoff seeding and was forced to travel to Huntington Beach for its first round matchup.

The Wolverines lost to Huntington Beach three sets to one to end their season.

“Hopefully we can do a little more than just make playoffs this year,” Head Coach Adam Black said. “The league is pretty even. Loyola is the powerhouse, but it’s going to be a battle for the second, third and fourth place. I think with second place, we get home-court advantage for the first round and that would be nice for us.

We haven’t had that in while.”

Byron Lazaroff-Puck ’13

said the key for the team is for middle blockers to step up this year. After last year’s starters Jake Schapiro ’12 graduated and Davey Hartmeier ’14 quit playing to focus on his career as an offensive lineman on the football team, the team is still searching for a big man up front to block.

“We don’t have a really tall team at the net by any means,” defensive specialist LazaroffPuck said.

The only two middles on the roster are Robbie Loeb ’13, a three-year varsity player, and Jeremy Tepper ’15, who will likely receive ample game experience in his first year on varsity. Both middles are undersized for the position at 6-foot-2. However, several former volleyball players who quit to focus on other sports are considering returning to the court for their senior season, such as soccer players Beau McGinley ’13 and Jack Wildasin ’13 as well as basketball player Francis Hyde ’13. Both the basketball and soccer team qualified to CIF playoffs and the players may not be available for the volleyball’s season opener against Redondo Union on Feb. 26, depending on the length of their respective playoff runs.

The team feels confident about its starters at other positions, though. Puck said that Eric Dritely ’13 has solidified the starting setter job, Hart returns as the team’s starting libero and Chase Klein ’13 will lead the team as the starting outside hitter.

“I’m quite excited about it,” Puck said. “We’re still looking at what positions are open, [but] we’ve got a good group of guys here.”

DANIEL KIM/CHRONICLE

GROUND OUT: Tate Castro ‘13 makes a play at first base in last year’s game against San Fernando.

The team won a Mission League championship last season, its first league title since 2002.

Softball seeks 2nd straight league title

By Jordan Garfinkel

Following a Mission League Championship and a 19-win season in 2012, the varsity softball team has high expectations for the 2013 season.

Last year, the Wolverines swept through the Mission League on the back of star senior pitcher Lauren Li ’12’s 11 wins, 1.72 ERA, and 76 strikeouts. Li also led the offense with 6 homeruns and a .569 batting average in the ’11’12 season.

Although the Wolverines lost Li, they are still returning all of last year’s squad including centerfielder Jessica Johnston ’14, who is still confident that this team can reach the success of last year’s softball team.

“Although Lauren was a big part of last year’s team, I know the other pitchers are ready to step up,” Johnston said. “This year I feel confident with the group of girls. We all

work really hard and I expect worthy competitors within the to do just as well as last year, if Mission League. not better.”

“It has been very Coach Joe Aranda has consistent,” Aranda said. been the leader of the team “Everybody has been fairly for four years strong Notre and is confident Dame, Chaminade, that pitcher and Alemany.

Our infielder Chloe biggest rival is Pendergast ‘13 will Alemany.

Them be able to take and Chaminade charge as the leader can both be very and propel the team competitive teams.” in the upcoming The team took spring season. the summer off “I think we are because many of nathanson ’s going to be just as the girls play on good. Lauren Li Jessica Johnston ‘14 club teams, but was a big part of they are currently our team but we in preparation, both have everybody coming back on the field and in the weight from last year” Aranda said. room, for the upcoming spring “We have Chloe Pendergast season. back and I think she can pickThe softball season kicks up right where she left off. She off on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at is a senior and she is going to Birmingham High School be the leader this year.” for a home game against Despite being nearly Immaculate Heart, followed by unblemished against Mission another home game against League competition last Kennedy High School of year, Coach Aranda still sees Granada Hills on March 5.

The Chronicle

C8 Sports

Feb. 13, 2013

FIRST TOUCH with

TY GILHULY

LUKE HOLTHOUSE/CHRONICLE

TAKE A HIT: The Wolverines’ leading scorer on the season, center forward Ty Gilhuly ’13 fends off a Campbell Hall defender in a Dec. 4 non-league win. The team finished Mission League play with a 6-4-2 record. Despite having a losing overall record, the Wolverines advanced to the CIF playoffs and will face Dana Hills in the first round.

By LUKE HOLTHOUSE

Q A

What accounts for the team’s second-half improvement?

Q A

What has been your favorite moment during your HarvardWestlake career?

We had a tough time with Bongarra at the beginning because the atmosphere for this whole school soccer thing has been very relaxed, and there wasn’t much discipline and it was the most fun. It just was not how HarvardWestlake wanted to represent itself, undisciplined. At the beginning of this year, we got a new coach and completely different mentality with it.

I’d say probably the game versus Notre Dame, when we won with my free kick. That will be my best memory. I got fouled at the top of the box, and our team just needed it. That week, we had three home games, and before that we didn’t really know what our season would be like.

It really could have gone either way.

I think we just kind of woke up, and it was a turning point.

Q A

What does your recruiting process look like?

Basically, the schools that I wanted to go are like the biggest Division I schools, and I only really got Division III interest. I was seriously talking to some of those coaches, but I kind of decided my top choice was Duke. It wasn’t that realistic because they took one look at me and were like, “you’re not 6-foot2 and you don’t run like a 4.5 40 [yard dash].” For a lot of the bigger schools, they couldn’t get past the physical side because I guess they like to see potential and then make you develop. I’m kind of the opposite way, where maybe I don’t have that much potential athletically, but I think technically I’m better.

At this point, I’m considering taking a gap year and I might do some soccer things, like this Richmond program.

If I were to do something like that, I think that it could definitely increase the odds for recruitment and I might be going to more camps this summer.

Q A

Can you preview your first round matchup with Dana Hills?

Dana Hills got second in their league. We should beat them, honestly. It’s really about looking ahead, but if we beat them, then we play a top three team in the state, Santa Barbara. We’re actually posed for a nice playoff run, unlike last year.

Last year, we didn’t have very much momentum going into the last game.

I think this year is just different. We’ve really started to form and I think everyone’s going to be ready for this and just be able to put it together.

We’ll beat Dana Hills, I would expect, and then it would be the next game we’d really got to get up for. I think we have a lot of momentum right now, and we’ve been peaking during the past three games and just the end of league is when we started playing our best soccer. I think it’s good.