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The Parker Weekly Happy Second Semester!
Volume CX, Issue 6
CIRCLING BACK ON HISTORY
QUANTUM QUALIFICATIONS Visiting Engineer Dr. Farah Fahim Speaks to Science Classes Virtually
Parker Renames Circle Drive after Jo Anderson By Tess Wayland
A
familiar piece of pavement will now acknowledge and honor a key part of Parker’s history. In an email to the school community on November 24, Principal Dan Frank announced the renaming of Parker’s Circle Drive on Clark Street to “Jo Anderson Drive.” Anderson, a Black man enslaved by Cyrus McCormick, made significant contributions to the transformative invention of the mechanical reaper. McCormick is often named as the sole inventor of the tool that revolutionized agriculture in 1840s America and generated Parker’s founding finances. M c C o r m i c k ’s d a u g h t e r, A n i t a McCormick Blaine, inherited a portion of her father’s fortune, which she used to help Colonel Francis W. Parker found the school. Blaine gave over $3 million to the school from 1901 to 1934, according to Parker’s website, money that subsidized 50% of the price of student education and funded faculty pensions in full. Frank published an article detailing what he named as the institutional “ironies” of a school that calls itself progressive but is founded on wealth inherited from a slave owner and Confederate-sympathizer who profited off of the ingenuity of an enslaved Black man. In the Winter 2021 issue of “National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in Independent School Magazine,” Frank tells the story of Anderson in “A School’s Unacknowledged Past.” He views the renaming as an educational moment, a way for Parker to acknowledge its connections to America’s past, present, and future, including white supremacy. “This is a man who made his contribution to the creation of the wealth that founded our school,” Frank said. “That does link our school to the horrible, ugly institution of chattel slavery.” Many historians now credit Anderson for helping to prototype, refine, and design the mechanical reaper alongside McCormick, helping at the first public demonstration in 1831. A former curator at the family farm, Lester R. Godwin Jr., has said Anderson “has as much to do with the
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January 29, 2021
By Jacob Boxerman and Julia Marks
A classroom set up for an in-person day of learning. Photo by Kate Tabor.
THE NEW HYBRID LEARNING
Parker Announces New Schedule for Upper School In-Person Learning
O
By Nick Skok
n January 8, Head of Upper School Justin Brandon sent an email to the entire Upper School and families outlining the return to school plan. The plan gives students the option to come to school for two half days every other week, or to remain remote. In this two week cycle, ninth grade will be the first grade brought back to the building beginning February 1. The grade will be split into two groups, having one group come to Parker on Monday and Tuesday morning to take three classes, and the other coming on Monday and Tuesday afternoon. The group that comes in the morning will have asynchronous classes in the afternoon, and likewise the students who come in the afternoon will have asynchronous classes in the morning. “There are a few features like that that are built in,” Middle and Upper School Director of Studies and member of the Return to Campus Committee Sven Carlsson said, “the idea was that we are going to build structures that limit the amount of screen time in a way that can still maximize learning.” Twelfth grade will do the same on that Thursday and Friday, and that schedule will be repeated the following week, except tenth grade will come in on Monday and Tuesday while eleventh grade will come in on Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays will be treated as sort of a break day, with no academic classes meeting in the usual A through F periods. The day
consists of PE, Student Government, flex office hours, flex club, advisory and graderoom. “A big idea was to build it in the middle of the week as a break,” Carlsson said, “so that you don’t have three sprint days back-to-back-to-back. If you put it in the middle, people are going Monday and Tuesday, they have a break, and they go Thursday and Friday.” Many schools have listed having a day such as the planned Wednesday break as one of the top practices for schedules this year. “I’ve been to a couple of webinars and presentations from schools that have those schedules, and they talked about how their community appreciates that kind of break in the week,” Brandon said. For students whose grade does not go into the building on a given week, they will be entirely remote, meeting with each class three times and having one class meeting per week designated as an office hours period. “I’m not concerned about the loss in educational value,” Upper School Mathematics Teacher Ethan Levine said. “I do agree that it is actually harder to do some things in whatever in-person environment we’re going to have than it would be to do them when everyone’s just on a zoom meeting. But it’s only a total of seven classes if we continue this the entire semester.” Parker will be providing each student a packet containing COVID-19 PCR screening tests from SafeGuard Surveillance, LLC. Each student will bring their saliva sample
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F
or over a dozen years Parker has hosted the Annual Robert A. Pritzker Visiting Engineer In Residence -- a scientist in a unique field to provide perspective and new information to students. This year’s Visiting Engineer, Dr. Farah Fahim, visited the Parker community for the first time, presenting to Upper School science classes. Fahim spoke to three science classes in two presentations. She presented on her work with quantum computing and scalability to “Modern Physics and Philosophy Topics,” and in a joint presentation to “Physical Computing” and “Science and Fiction” Fahim spoke about her work with artificial intelligence. For the past 12 years, Fahim has worked at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. At Fermilab, Fahim’s work focuses on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and more. Prior to Fermilab, Fahim received her master’s at the University of Limerick in Ireland, after which she worked as an engineer at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK. George Austin, Upper School Science Teacher and Co-Chair of the Science department organized Fahim’s visit and attended the two presentations. “Both of them went really well. I appreciated how she was able to make the work a place where the students had a good foothold,” Austin said. “But then she stretched, and she got into some of the things that originally, you might have thought, I’m not gonna be able to understand... hopefully you walked away with a little bit of knowledge from the experience.” Matthew Garchik, a senior in the Science and Fiction class, heard Fahim’s presentation on neural network machine learning. “I think it was really great to hear from an expert in the field. Especially because she seems to be at the forefront of some emerging technologies, which was very exciting,” Garchik said. “I certainly
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T he P arker W eekly
“The Weekly” is supported by an endowment created in memory of Brad Davis ‘98 “Weekly” Staff ‘96-’98, “Weekly” Editor-in-Chief ‘97-’98
In this issue:
staff
Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Online Editor News Editor Features Editor Opinions Editor Photo Editor Political Liaison Culture Critic Culture Critic Columnist Columnist Columnist Columnist Cartoonist Copy Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor
Zach Joseph Julia Marks Nick Skok Tess Wayland Jacob Boxerman Emma Manley Sofia Brown Gabe Wrubel Grace Conrad Leila Sheridan Scarlett Pencak Lilly Satterfield Rosey Limmer Spencer O’Brien Denise Román Grayson Schementi Maddy Leja Samantha Graines Max Keller Alya Satchu Eden Stranahan
The Editorial Board of “The Parker Weekly” consists of the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, News Editor, Features Editor, Opinions Editor, and Online Editor.
Letter From The Editors
Hi Parker! Happy Second Semester! It’s crazy to think that this school year is halfway done -- and what a year it has been!! Whether you are staying remote or meeting in-person, we know that school will still look different to what we love and miss, and we hope that this issue of “The Weekly” helps brighten your day and strengthen the feeling of community we aspire to create. We are always proud of our staff who works on these issues, so please be sure to congratulate our writers! We have some great pieces to check out. Be sure to read Suhani Aggarwal and Sadie Gallagher’s piece on vaccine distribution and Harry Lowitz’s piece on driving during the pandemic. And, of course, we cannot sign off before mentioning our wonderful website, parkerweekly.org, which we continue to update with exclusive and exciting content!! We miss you all so much. Stay safe! Love, Zach, Julia, and Nick
writers Zach Joseph ‘21 Julia Marks ‘21 Spencer O’Brien ‘21 Denise Román ‘21 Alex Schapiro ‘21 Grayson Schementi ‘21 Leila Sheridan ‘21 Nick Skok ‘21 Gabe Wrubel ‘21 Jacob Boxerman ‘22 Sofia Brown ‘22
Emma Manley ‘22 Tess Wayland ‘22 Sadie Gallagher ‘23 Samantha Graines ‘23 Eli Greenwald ‘23 Alya Satchu ‘23 Eden Stranahan ‘23 Lucy Wrubel ‘23 Suhani Aggarwal ‘24 Arjun Kalra ‘24 Harry Lowitz ‘24
contributing faculty Faculty Advisor Faculty Advisor
Kate Tabor Eric Rampson
Quote of “The Weekly” “Bold of the admin to assume I’m capable of getting up for class by 8:10.” - Emma Manley
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Playlist of “The Weekly” A DOZEN GREAT SONGS By Alex Schapiro
The full mix can be accessed at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2fMAJCZedDfnMtxkBqVcYS or by scanning the code below.
REBORN
VENUS
by KIDS SEE GHOSTS
by Shocking Blue
REAL GAMES
WALK ON BY
by Lucky Daye
by Thundercat & Kendrick Lamar
IN MY BONES
CASKETS
by Jacob Collier, Kimbra, Tank, & The Bangas
by Nehruviandoom & MF DOOM
LIGHY MY FIRE by The Doors
WORLD SPIN REMASTERED by A Taste Of Honey
STRANGE WAYS CRYSTAL EXPRESS
HELL N BACK
by Raury
by Bakar
by Madvillian, Madlib, & MF DOOM
Have something to say about what was published in this issue of “The Weekly”? Email our Managing Editor at twayland@fwparker.org and write a Letter to the Editors to be published in our next issue!
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From Parker to the World QUARANTINE CAREERS How Career Week Will Work This School Year By Sophia Rosenkranz
On January 7, 2021, an email was sent out to the Upper School detailing an event set to take place in February. Career Week, as described in the email by Upper School Head Justin Brandon, “will take place February 8-11 online after school from 4:30 p.m.-6 p.m..” Career Week will be run differently than in years past. Instead of taking place during school, it will occur after school and will open the week with keynote speaker Ian Freed, Parker Alum (Class of ‘81). Freed is the “CEO of Bamboo Voiced Based Learning. Prior to founding Bamboo, Mr. Freed worked at Amazon, where he led groups that created Alexa and Echo,” Brandon said via email. Additionally, Career Week will also include panels featuring a plethora of different industries. Assistant Director of the Alumni Office Maggi Steib has been planning and organizing Career Week. Steib has been making sure panelists are informed about
all of the logistics and described how connecting with the Alumni is vital to the event. According to Steib, the panelists will include Alumni, current parents, and a few past parents. Alumni are a central component of Career We e k , a n d Steib states that these events connect A l u m n i with current students by discussing their professions and staying connected with Parker. “As the Alumni engagement person, obviously it’s a big deal to bring our Alumni back and keep them connected to the school,” Steib said.
Steib commented on a large aspect of Career Week which is connecting with people. “People talk about networking,” Steib said. “I think sometimes it’s hard for students to wrap their head around how the networking works. But it’s actually a big deal.” Career We e k c a n foster new or past interests and can provide more information about specific industries. “Obviously, I think there’s value in students having opportunities to talk with professionals in a variety of fields, things that they may be especially interested in, I think making those personal connections, that’s very very important,” Steib said.
“I think there’s value in students having opportunities to talk with professionals in a variety of fields, things that they may be especially interested in...”
Due to the pandemic, Career Week will be hosted virtually, prompting different opportunities and new experiences. “I think the virtual setup is more inclusive, so we can have Alumni from all over the country participate,” Steib said, describing how it may eliminate travel expenses and logistic obstacles. Senior Zoey Blickstein has never experienced a Career Week. “To get the most out of Career Week, I think that people should enter with an open mind so they have the opportunity to learn something from it.” said Blickstein regarding the week-long event. Throughout quarantine, people have engaged in passion projects and have dived deeper into their interests, perhaps reflecting, creating, and thinking about passions they otherwise didn’t have the time to develop. Because of this, Career Week might be influenced by passions explored during the pandemic.
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TIME, PATIENCE, AND A VACCINE A Look Into the COVID-19 Vaccine and its Distribution By Suhani Aggarwal and Sadie Gallagher While everyday Americans were moving into lockdown and attempting to stay safe, scientists were testing and beginning to develop vaccines for COVID-19. This started as soon as the first wave of the coronavirus swept through the United States. After nine months of work, on December 11, the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine was given emergency use authorization from the FDA. Only four days later, the Moderna vaccine was also FDA authorized. Within 24 hours of the approval, both vaccines were being packed and distributed to Americans. Most states will follow the CDC recommended distribution list, starting with healthcare workers who are at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus as Phase One. In Phase Two of distribution, people with chronic medical conditions will be vaccinated, and around March of 2021 the vaccination will get distributed to the rest of the U.S population. America is working toward herd immunity, where enough people in the population have developed long lasting immunity from the virus. As the vaccination continues to be distributed, case numbers for the coronavirus should begin to lower as people become less at risk. Upper School Biology teacher Bridget Lesinski has been doing research and reading on the Pfizer vaccine and its distribution. “From what I have seen, I can’t see many large flaws in distribution or where it is starting,” Lesinski said. “It is hard with the two shot Pfizer vaccine for
scheduling purposes, but I read the first shot still gives you a good boost of immunity, and hopefully people will be on top of their second appointment.” The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the first MRNA vaccines in history. Although the vaccines are new technology and new to humans in general, Lesinski doesn’t see that as a problem because immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci and other scientists have been studying this type of vaccine for around 15 years. A n n e Nelson, Parker ’s school nurse, got the Pfizer first shot of the vaccine on January 1, 2020, and plans to get her second on January 23 2021. “Getting to the location of where my shot was was far, but the overall process went well,” Nelson said. “I scheduled it one day before I was able to get it, but when I checked again, everything was booked.” Dr. Ritu Garg, an internal medicine doctor at Loyola University of Chicago, recently received the Pfizer Vaccination and understands the distribution of the vaccine. “Overall I think the distribution of
the Pfizer vaccine is very difficult because of the temperature setting on negative 17 degrees, but one flaw of the vaccination is the side effects which you encounter after you get your first part of the vaccination,” Garg said of the Moderna vaccination and distribution. “Moderna vaccination has the benefit of having a better temperature setting than the Pfizer vaccination, so to this the vaccination will get distributed faster, and now since we have two vaccinations, more people could be possibly vaccinated,” Garg said. Nelson believes the only flaw is the distribution line. “I think getting it from the federal to the states was fine,” Nelson said. “But the problem is, we need a federal response, because the state government is different in each state.” Nelson explains how some states are doing better than others, and a federal response would make the distribution work better and get out faster, especially considering that we have most vaccines, but less than a fraction of it is actually being properly utilized. “I spoke with a friend who works from home, and she recently got her vaccination
“The shot won’t bring max immunity, although it will lessen the possibility... Still, America is struggling because of impatience, and three weeks is quite a while to wait for some Americans.”
scheduled for April,” Lesinski said. “That gives an interesting timeline for the future and when things will begin to feel normal again.” Even with the vaccine distribution, Lesinski wonders what school could look like as only 18+ students can receive the Moderna vaccine and only 16+ with Pfizer. Dr. Garg believes getting the vaccination distributed will take a decent amount of time, saying it would be difficult, as people don’t know how long the immunity of this vaccination will last, and it will take a whole year to finally get back to normal. Some people are concerned about taking this vaccination. “Many people have fear as to how this vaccination was developed in such a short period of time, but these companies have worked hard on this vaccination module, and this vaccination is specifically designed for a pandemic,” Garg said. Nelson hopes people don’t rely too much on the first shot. “The shot won’t bring max immunity, although it will lessen the possibility,” Nelson said. “Still, America is struggling because of impatience, and three weeks is quite a while to wait for some Americans.” Lesinski, Garg, and Nelson all expressed hope that this vaccine will bring the world back to normal, but know it will take time and patience. Nelson sees hope for June, July, or August, but still does not see activities like school being normal. Most Americans see hope for this vaccine, but all will take time.
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Finals and Food
FIRST AND SECOND SEMESTER FINALS Parker Faculty and the Student Body Share Their Opinions on Finals
The week that is known to cause stress and pressure on students worldwide. Knowledge acquired throughout the year is jam-packed into the minds of students as they attempt to perform well on the closing evaluations of the semester. As the first month of the new year comes to a close, Upper School students prepare for their virtual finals. Parker faculty have spent the recent months planning a final that would be best suited to a remote platform. Upper School French teacher Cynthia Marker decided to use the online application FlipGrid for her final evaluation. She intends to create a final that stimulates a conversational skill level through the use of dialogue. “I usually don’t opt for a two-hour intensive exam. I don’t find that to be very productive,” Marker said. “I like the final to be something you can be proud of and an opportunity to show off the confidence you’ve built in expressing yourself in the target language.” Upper School English teacher Alicia Abood is likewise using a conversational approach to finals. Abood is striving to have
By Alya Satchu her students engage in in-class discussion and debate. If in-person learning was still taking place, Abood says that she would have done her finals slightly differently. “There’s a good chance I would have done something more small group based and more collaborative if I would have been able to get more time for students to work on it,” Abood said. Throughout recent meetings within the Student Government, the student body has expressed appreciation for teachers actively trying to make finals a less stressful experience, especially being online. A majority of students agree that doing finals that are project or presentation based would have a more reliable outcome since more opportunities to cheat present themselves on a virtual exam. “Finals virtually is different, but I think teachers are doing a good job giving more projects rather than tests,” sophomore Jaritzi Lopez Martinez said. “Even though it’s stressful, it still helps.” Junior Aidan Young also believes that taking an approach to finals involving
projects would be more beneficial. “Taking an exam, especially with academic integrity, makes it difficult,” Young said. “A project, in terms of studying and working with someone else or working by yourself, is a lot less complicated. Communication is important and projects encourage people to interact with someone else.” Only skepticism and uncertainty surround second semester finals, but Marker stated that if the Upper School is still engaged in remote learning, she will continue to try and limit screen time for her students. “If we’re still on Zoom then, I’d probably be inclined to make finals less tiring and stressful by choosing a conversational piece over a research project. I would like students to have concrete documentation of their progress and even enjoy demonstrating all they have learned in French.” Young believes that the current format for virtual finals is operating sufficiently. “If we do stay online I think this format is working well, I haven’t been overly stressed,” Young said. “The main source
of stress comes from the outside world and the news.” Throughout the Spring of 2020, Parker faculty scrambled to organize final presentations, projects, exams, and more to thoroughly assess information learned over the semester. With more time for preparation, Abood is feeling more confident in the planning process for second semester finals. Amidst the newly introduced hybrid format, Abood mentioned that finals would heavily rely on the amount of meeting time between her and her class. “If we’re in a hybrid format, I feel like I may be seeing my students the same amount or even less than I am right now,” Abood said. “It’s just going to depend on how many opportunities we have to really be together and to build our class community. Abood misses the in-person learning format and specifically the “energy” that students bring to her classroom. “I miss the energy of being in a room with students. I think that students have done an excellent job of trying to bring themselves to Zoom and trying to participate.”
(SENATE) FOOD FOR THOUGHT A Look Into The Senate Food Lottery
Every Wednesday, students walk into the Humanities Center to talk to their peers about school issues in the Student Government Senate. On the way into the room, many grab a plate of hot wings, tacos, or whatever food is being served that week. But not this year. Since Upper School students are not meeting in person, current Senate Heads have had to adjust the Senate food system. In order to continue providing meals to Senate attendees, the Senate heads created a food lottery system. Each week, a student from each grade is chosen to get food delivered to their house. If a student attends Senate, they get a point, and if they talk at least once during Senate, they receive another. The Senate heads use an algorithm on Google Sheets to randomly select a winner from each grade. “There’s not that much senior attendance, and so this has been a good way to still keep seniors involved,” Senate head and junior Eli Moog said. “And also, I think it’s drawn in freshmen, sophomores and juniors so we’ve been really happy with trying to make Senate feel more normal and also incentivize people to come into the discussion.” Once a winner is chosen, the amount of points they have resets to zero. “That’s been a great way to ensure that it’s pretty random and fair,” Moog said. The Senate heads contact the winners from each grade and each of the four
By Emma Manley
Participants at a Zoom Senate meeting. Photo courtesy of Mia Bronstein.
winners email the Senate heads to choose a meal to be delivered to their house. For delivery, the Senate heads use Postmates and schedule the delivery time so that the food will be delivered during or before Senate. “I think it’s a great way to increase engagement during COVID-19, and I think it’s one of the best plans that any organization within Parker has had of how to maintain what we loved about being in-person and bringing it to people virtually even if we have to sacrifice a little bit,” Student Government President and senior Carter Wagner said. Last year, the Senate heads received $75 per week. This year, they are receiving $80 per week in the form of a $200 Postmates gift card every 2 and a half weeks. The cost of food, delivery, tips, and tax must be under
$20. “You get less food, but this time it’s very much that you get to pick the place, you get to make it how you want, and I think it’s been really, really fun,” Moog said. When the high school is in-person, the Student Government money is usually used for Senate food, Participatory Budgeting, and Committee funding for events such as lunches. “This year, Music Committee doesn’t need money to have a Spotify to run in the hallways, and normally there would be money for a committee to host some event,” Moog said. “Those are all great things, but none of that can happen, and sadly Senate lunches can’t happen, but I think we found a good way to still make it happen.” During in-person school, having food at Senate allows students to go straight
to Senate rather than having to go to the cafeteria. It is also an incentive for people to attend. “There are people who are like ‘maybe I want to go to Senate, maybe I won’t’ and they’re on the fence, and I think just having that little opportunity to win food, if it turns someone who might have not been engaged to become engaged, I think that that’s great,” Wagner said. “The point of it is to involve people as much as possible who wouldn’t necessarily want to be involved in student government.” For the past few years, the Senate budget has been up for debate. In 2018, the Senate budget was lowered and a cap was put on the budget. One candidate for the 2019-2020 Student Government Treasurer believed that Senate was using too much money and another wanted to raise the Senate budget. At the beginning of the year, Wagner believed that $80 a week was slightly too much. “I felt that it was within my role to give a little bit of pushback on the amount that was being proposed and to make sure that we were spending our money as well as we could,” Wagner said. “At the time, I thought that we didn’t necessarily need a meal for all four grades to come and that at a certain point we had reached a level where people were showing up regardless of the food incentive. Now I have a lot of faith and
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Remote Learning and Finals PANDEMIC STUDENT DRIVING
Parker Upper Schoolers Interact With Driving and the Licensing Process Amidst COVID-19 By Harry Lowitz Every year, Parker Upper Schoolers begin the process of learning to drive. The goal is to walk away from the Secretary of State’s Office one day with a new form of ID, a driver’s license. But that event is the tip of the iceberg. COVID-19 has interfered greatly with this process, and the iceberg has grown even larger. Naturally one would wonder, how are Parker students navigating the driving process during the coronavirus? Ninety-five point eight percent of Parker Upper Schoolers who responded to a survey sent by “The Weekly” said that they either had their license or planned to have their license by the end of high school. The data proves that the importance of learning to drive is somewhat universal at Parker. About 60.5% of respondents said that the coronavirus had complicated or affected their process of learning to drive and getting a license or permit. What is it affecting? A major change that came with the coronavirus is online driver’s education classes that many Parker students have participated in. Some students are facing
the decision between online classes and in-person classes. They will consider convenience but also how it will prepare them for being a driver. Freshman Zachary Kinnison started taking driver’s ed classes on November 9. He said the classes were “boring” but it was helpful that they were online because it would take more “effort” to commute to in-person classes, and he “can’t do other things to pass the time.” Sophomore Anya Landolt has experienced both in-person and online driver’s ed. She started her classes at the beginning of 2020 and was still completing the class in March when her driving school went online. “Doing it in person is definitely much better than online,” Landolt said. “It is very hard to pay constant attention to the online classes, and it’s extremely easy to not pay any attention during class but still pass. I definitely learned much more in person than I did online.” Like Kinnison, freshman Ethan Dennis
recently took driver’s ed online, and he weighed in on the matter of in-person versus online classes. “I feel like it would have been the same either way,” he said, “because it’s really just basic textbook learning.” After completing a permit test and getting an instruction permit, driving students typically take behind-the-wheel classes in a car with an instructor. Some students are uneasy about the possible coronavirus risks when being in a car with a driving teacher. However, junior Sammi Coleman, who completed two behind-thewheel classes during the coronavirus, said that the necessary precautions were taken and she felt safe. When a student receives their permit too long after turning fifteen, it delays their receiving of a license because students must, in addition to driving for 50 hours, have their permit for nine months before getting their licenses. This presents an added frustration for driving students who were unable to get their permits when they wanted to because of the Secretary of State’s Office being
closed. Landolt faced this inconvenience because the Secretary of State’s Office closed, and she did not get her permit until June 9, a few months after she became eligible. Her birthday is in early January, but because she needs to have her permit for nine months, she will have to wait until March to get her license. Once driving students have received their instruction permit, they must complete 50 hours of driving with an experienced driver in order to be eventually eligible for a license. Many students have found it more challenging to complete the 50 hours because of the coronavirus, citing the fact that they had nowhere to go or specifically the loss of the commute to school. Some students are also worried that the infrequent nature of their driving time might prevent them from progressing their driving skills. The coronavirus also presents aspects that make it less challenging to find the
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SMILING THROUGH IT ALL
Junior Kindergarten Learns Remotely and in-Person Amidst Pandemic By Sofia Brown Instead of tired eyes and turned-off cameras, in a remote JK class the Zoom boxes are filled with smiling faces, sleeping kids, stuffed animals shoved in front of the camera, waving family members, and shaky images as they walk around the house. The entire kindergarten started out the year learning in-person, and then went remote following the weeks of Thanksgiving and winter break. While in-person, no positive COVID-19 cases were reported in any of the three JK classes. According to Lower School Director of Studies Barbara Hunt, the Lower School staff is “a well-oiled ship,” because everyone works well together and does their part to ensure the safety of both the students and the faculty. During in-person learning, each kindergarten class is split into two pods, A and B, with nine to ten students per pod. Families who chose to opt out of sending their kids in-person were able to enroll in a separate remote program. The JK staff still utilizes the regular classrooms, with the new addition of desks, for learning and playtime, but also spends a majority of class time outdoors, both on- and off-campus at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Bailey Garden, or Webster parking lot, when the weather permits. “They really do crave that interaction,” Early Learning Resource Specialist Meagan Mitchell said. “Even though they were in smaller pods, masked, and more than six feet apart, they just love being around other
kids.” Previ ousl y a soci al worker i n Washington DC, Mitchell’s position this year is new and mostly involves supporting students in hitting all the standard academic and social developmental milestones for their age. While her job normally entails meeting with students one on one, during remote learning she started teaching lessons with entire classes. During those lessons, Mitchell noticed the difference in some kids’ participation levels in a remote setting. “It’s been nice to see some kids that maybe were a little more reserved in school, and once they got on Zoom they were talking much more,” she said. Engagement levels for each student also tend to vary day by day depending on whether or not they’re in the mood to talk. Either is accepted in a JK classroom setting. Before Mitchell’s lessons, every day of remote learning began with a “morning meeting” at 8:30 a.m., which usually consisted of a literacy or math lesson. Before jumping into the learning, students took some time to say their “good mornings” and adjust to being on the Zoom meeting. Later on, one of the teachers introduced a
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) question that targeted a certain concept, for example, the word fair. In addition to discussion, the morning meetings also included some hands-on time. In anticipation of remote learning, the lower school faculty sent each student home with a “toolbox” of materials at the beginning of the year to ensure that every kid has the best possible experience no matter what they may or may not already have to work with. For JK students, the boxes included a wide variety of items to play and learn with in class, such as chalkboards for letters and numbers, modeling clay, watercolors, and beads. Students were allowed the freedom to decide if they wanted to join in on using the certain item the teacher was using that day or instead play with something else. “We’re trying to give a lot of organic experiences as much as we can in terms of different ways of interacting with each other so it doesn’t get stale, and also to try to meet the different needs of each kid,” JK teacher Tisha Johnson said. She also noted that it’s very common to see all 20 kids doing
“Even though they were in
smaller pods, masked, and more
than six feet apart, they just love being around other kids.”
something different while she’s speaking, but as long as they’re not being disruptive to the group, then it’s allowed. While each day brought a new variety of tasks, most students always showed up with smiles on their faces ready to share and connect with each other. PE class offers an entirely new way for the students to interact, especially because they get to spend it with their classmates from other pods. At the beginning of the school year, JK’s in-person gym class was outside on the field with cones and ropes to section off different groups of students. However, as the temperatures dropped, they were forced to move inside. Additional teachers and new sanitation protocols helped keep classes running smoothly. Gym classes continued to meet weekly during periods of remote learning. In addition to their class toolboxes, each student also received a “PE essentials bag,” with an assortment of toys and equipment geared towards indoor activities. The materials are used both in-person in order to reduce cross-contamination and in their homes over Zoom. After a little music and dancing to start off the remote classes, they’d play games similar to Simon Says or a mini scavenger hunt for items in their bags. PE teacher Jan Zoufal was very impressed with how the kids handled the unique situation, saying that the students
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The Parker Weekly, Page 7
Parker News
SENATE’S NEW ROLE
Senate is changing and here’s a look at how By Arjun Kalra
During the pandemic, many forums where students can talk have been taken away and the Senate has tried to fill that void. The conversations held in the Senate have become the basis for reforms to the way online education is conducted, specifically examinations and the PE curriculum. The Senate runs every Wednesday during lunch. During that half-hour, there is a discussion about a specific topic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Senate heads feel they have had an improved relationship with the administration. “The relationship has been more balanced than I think it has been with past Senate groups. I don’t mean that as an insult to past Senate groups or the administration. It’s because no one, teachers and students alike, has done this before,” junior Jackson Antonow, one of four Senate heads, said. “This group really wanted to be solution based. We identify an issue, now what are we gonna do about it? And a lot of the conversation, almost every week, is about how to address specific issues,” Head of Upper School Justin Brandon said. “COVID has really obliterated
communication, there’s no more hallway forums, Mr. Brandon can check in and get students’ perspective, so Senate has become the closest thing to that, and I appreciate how Senate has created a place for conversation about things outside of just student government,” senior and student body president Carter Wagner said. One adjustment the Senate has made has been sending out Google forms after the Senate to get a broader sense of student opinion on that issue. “We have started sending out Google forms this year which are just straight numbers and because we’ve had a lot of people respond to some, we have tangible numbers and proof that we can bring to our meetings, which the administration has been responsive to,” junior Alex Carlin, another Senate head, said. Every Friday afternoon, the Senate heads meet with Brandon to discuss what was discussed among the students in the Senate meeting. These meetings have existed for years but have gained importance in the past year. “It’s been helpful to have them give me
the student perspective during the Friday meetings because I don’t have as many opportunities to talk to students as I did in the building,” Brandon said. The Senate heads also believe that the Friday meetings have gone a long way in furthering the agenda. “We’ve done a good job using our Friday meeting to present what’s on the mind of the student body to Mr. Brandon, and because we’re online, he’s not speaking to many students which means that we are the best way for him to hear students’ voices,” junior Eli Moog, another Senate head, said. Because people have seen the impact of the Senate, more people have started to come which in turn has increased its impact and legitimacy. “It’s been truly incredible the number of people we get in Senate, it’s in the 30s or 40s which is higher than I think it’s been in past years, and I think this is because people see that if they come to Senate, their voices can be heard and that we’re getting things done,” Carlin said. One of the most visible changes
was reforms to the operation of the gym program. “The most visible work we’ve done is PE and looking at how we can make the PE class experience more enjoyable for students,” Brandon said. One way the Senate has tried to work with the administration is through debating topics that the administration and teachers want talked about. “One of the things the Senate heads have been doing is asking Mr. Brandon what topics he wants discussed, which allows Mr. Brandon and teachers to have questions and answers they may not have otherwise,” Wagner said. The Senate has distinguished itself as a place where students can voice their grievances and provide solutions to problems in the school. Despite a change in administration, the Senate heads remain hopeful this will continue. “I think students have really seen how useful Senate can be and how much we work with the administration. Going forward I think that future Senate heads will recognize this and follow our lead to keep Senate as relevant as it is,” Antonow said.
PARKER’S REACTION TO THE BEARS What’s Next?
By Eli Greenwald The Chicago Bears have had a very up and down season. This is according to members of the organization. They started with a record of 5-1, then they went on a six game losing streak, and they ended up making the playoffs with a great stretch to end the year. They lost to the New Orleans Saints in the first round. Parker is filled with Bears fans, and a lot of them have mixed feelings about the season. Physical Education Teacher Willie Banks is a lifelong Bears fan. “I have a very different opinion compared to most Bears fans,” said Banks. Banks had more of a negative take when it came to what the Bears have to do next, and how the season went as a whole. “They have to get rid of their general manager and head coach,” said Banks. The Bears General Manager is Ryan Pace, and their head coach is Matt Nagy. Banks thinks that the Bears should get rid of Pace because back in 2017, when the Bears drafted their current quarterback Mitch Trubisky, Pace traded up in the draft to get Trubisky, passing on two of the most talented quarterbacks in over a decade, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. Mahomes is a once in a generation talent. “Nobody else wanted Trubisky,” Banks said. Banks believes that the Bears should fire Matt Nagy because he is widely considered as an awful play caller. He even handed over his play calling duties to
offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. “He was supposed to be this offensive guru, and now he stopped calling plays,” Banks said. Banks also thinks Nagy should be gone because he does not play to Trubiskys strengths. “Trubisky is not a pocket passer,”
where he covers everything inside the NFC North, the division the Bears are in. Keller also happens to be a huge Bears fan and has a lot of opinions about the offseason.“Nagy, Pace, and Trubisky all need to go,” Keller said.
Soldier field full of fans at a Bears Game.
Keller thinks they Photo by Nick Skok. Banks said. “He should look to draft needs to be rolling a quarterback in this out, and Nagy keeps having him drop back year’s draft. It’s time for a new era in in the pocket. I don’t understand it.” Chicago, likely led by a rookie QB from the As for Trubisky, Banks thinks he 2020 draft class. should stick around. “Trubisky is currently Keller is not feeling confident about the playing better than he ever has in his career,” Bears next year because they have a very Banks said. “He just needs a better coach… difficult schedule. “Looking at the Bears Trubisky can be manageable, if he gets a schedule for next season, it’s unlikely they coach who is willing to let him roll out of remain contenders. This failure to remain the pocket and throw. That is his strength.” contenders will lead to the firing of Nagy, Sophomore Max Keller runs an leading the young QB they drafted this year instagram account called NFC North Report,
alone in an experimental system,” Keller said. “A new coach and GM need to be brought into Chicago to handpick the QB of the Bears’ future and hopefully lead the franchise in the right direction,” Keller said. Sophomore Lucas Daskal runs a podcast along with Keller called RedZone Buzz where they go around the NFL covering what to look for every week in the NFL season. Daskal, a big Bears fan, believes that the Bears have a great defense, but they just can’t find a way to figure it out on offense. “Our defense was great,” Daskal said. “They aren’t the problem. The Bears find their Kryptonite in the train-wreck of a system they call an offense.” Daskal also believes that the Bears should fire their coach and get rid of Trubisky, but he also thinks they should hold on to Pace. “Fire Nagy, keep Pace, and move on from Mitch,” Daskal said. Daskal thinks the Bears should try to draft Florida quarterback Kyle Trask in this year’s draft. “Draft Kyle Trask. He’s a Heisman finalist and can do it all. If the Bears can get Trask, they will be in great shape going into the 2021 season.”
The Parker Weekly, Page 8
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Finals
IS THIS REALLY FINALS?
A Comparison of Last Year’s Finals to This Year’s It’s a Wednesday night, the week before finals. This same week last year, I spent hours combating my nerves by studying the ins and outs of Algebra II and memorizing a carefully selected poem I was to shakily present in front of my freshman English class for what was my first ever finals. This Wednesday evening, I’m face to face with a set of untouched chemistry problems due tomorrow. I’ve just turned in a French II quiz on VHL, and there’s no math final for me to work myself up over. In its place, there is a simple unit test which we would have had anyway, finals or no finals. “This project isn’t going to count for what a normal final would, think of it more like a wrap up to our unit.” This is a phrase that’s been echoed to me throughout this week by my teachers, many of them just as tired of staring at a computer screen as we are. All of my teachers, with the exception of math, have opted to assign us projects. Many of them are struggling with testing students due to the growing awareness of the fact that many of my classmates are referencing Google mid-test, as noted by
By Eden Stranahan
my chemistry teacher when students filled in the correct formula of an ionic compound in a way not taught to us by her. M y Advanced Chemistry final takes the form of an
spent the week before reviewing nearly every topic covered from September to January in full-blown preparation for a heavily weighted test. Our Freshman Advanced Biology class had two hours to fill out a lengthy multiple choice test in a first floor science classroom filled with overly prepared, anxious freshmen. T h i s y e a r, there seems to be Comic by Maddy Leja infographic. We have a nonchalant attitude each been assigned towards the vast a different topic to learn about, primarily majority of my finals. With a steady flow focusing on its chemistry and molecular of regular homework and even a quiz the formulas. Although a final project, we have week leading up to finals, it feels as if it’s been learning new material throughout this any other week of remote school. I even week entirely unrelated to the project, a have the luxury of my last class on Friday system I don’t recall last year when we had being cancelled. My English teacher gave
our class non-elaborate details on how to prepare for our final debate about “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid Thursday morning, and told us she had no further needed instruction, resulting in cancelled class. We all enjoyed an early end to our Friday schedules. Last year, the weekend before finals I stuck to a rigid schedule of studying with friends, alone, and at assorted coffee shops and rooms in my house. This year, those coffee shops are closed, it’s no longer safe to study alongside whomever I want, and I don’t have tests to schedule in studying time for. Although I will spend the weekend designing and researching an infographic on mRNA vaccines, coding a choose your own adventure project, and filming a FlipGrid, many of my other projects I’ve been lucky enough to already finish, and my math test falls next Thursday. As a normal unit test, I most likely won’t begin preparation until the week of. A concept entirely unknown to me,
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FINALLY FINISHING FIRST SEMESTER Upper School Finals Continue Amidst Remote Learning By Samantha Graines
Stress, studying, and various take-out meals typically fill the hallways of Parker during Upper Schools finals week. Aspects of finals this year will look very different for members of the Upper School, from being remote, to the content of the finals, and the last-minute cramming of information with teachers or peers. Many cities around the country are still requiring in-person exams where the only difference is that students must be masked. Although Parker’s finals are still occurring this year, I am thankful that they will look different. This year has been filled with so many academic differences that would make a typical finals exam not compatible. All of my classes have run smoothly, but there is still a part of me that wonders what content I am missing as we have lost 50 minutes of fundamental learning time in each class. I believe Parker’s Upper School finals success depends on the teachers’ ability to come up with creative and cumulative ways to exhibit this semester’s learning. Last spring, my math final was a graphing Desmos project, and my science final was creating a social media account about one part of evolution. Math and Science are classes where there is typically a test, but these finals were crafted with elements that made me confident in my learning. This year teachers are tasked with choosing how they assess our learning. I believe that projects are the way to go, as we are in a pandemic. Yes, tests are important.
It is necessary to know the information, or create a project on a topic shows much and tests are a good way for teachers to more learning than an assessment, where ensure that students have learned all of dishonesty is a possibility, and is more the curricula, especially in a time where meaningful to students and teachers alike. distractions I think that and lack there are of time is creative inevitable. ways to Te s t s a r e work around o f t e n this that deemed will make to be the it a more superior meaningful way to test experience knowledge. for teachers They can and students also help alike. I am teachers to not saying be the best that tests version of are not ever themselves effective, by teaching but amid Comic by Maddy Leja differently a global if their students are pandemic, there are not learning. millions of better ways to close the semester. I understand that side, especially from a Now that where I stand on finals as a teacher’s perspective, but I do not agree with whole is clear --we should not be having it for multiple reasons. First, there are many normal finals this year -- I would like to barriers that I think prohibit the effectiveness address my specific classes. School this of tests. One of them is cheating. At the end year, for me, has had its ups and downs, but of the day, cheating on the tests is tempting in all it has been okay. Two of the hardest to some, and does not truthfully test one’s things for me have been performing as well understanding. Second, I think that there on quizzes or tests that I would in school are creative ways to work around formal and being confident in the work that I turn tests that are more personalized, honest, in. These are both two elements that will and beneficial. Lastly, the ability to present be very important during finals. Tests this
year have been more of a challenge than expected. Honestly, I am not sure why, but I think part of it is that I have struggled to patiently wait for the “ah-ha” moment in our online environment. I am hoping that I will perform well on all my finals, and that all of the hard work I have put into this semester will show. Going into the end of the semester, I was expecting to have a test in math and science. Instead, my math final was a 17 problem proof packet and a presentation of one of the proofs, but the catch is we do not know which problems will be graded or which proof we had to present. I am very happy with this final. I think it is a great culmination of our semester’s learning. A core part of our class this semester has been doing proofs, presenting them, and learning from each other, so I think this matched the vibe of our class. I think that this final sets me up to be more successful than tests as I have struggled with that in the past. It was really frustrating for me when I would be able to do the homework confidently by myself, but the tests would relay different information. Another reason I am content with this final is that my math teacher was more than willing to help us, and let us collaborate with our peers. Following in the footsteps of math, I also have a project for my science final. At first, I was happy about not having a test, but
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The Parker Weekly, Page 9
More Finals!
ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO
How Parker Students Feel About Their First Semester, and Tips Going Into the Next By Lucy Wrubel
This year more than ever, in-person interaction has proven itself vital in the academic achievement of many students, which is something that has been taken for granted in previous years. Last year no one could have predicted that all upper school students at Parker would be waking up, sitting on a screen for hours on end, doing homework for a few more hours, and going to sleep, all just to repeat it all again. Due to the pandemic, students worldwide have been faced with this experience and the new obstacles that come with it. A variety of challenges has appeared, such as mental health difficulties, trouble managing time, screen exhaustion, loneliness, and trouble keeping grades up. On the other hand, some students are thriving under remote learning. As Parker students are wrapping up their first semester, they look back and reflect on how it went compared to last semester. Senior Emma Jung said, “I think that first semester went really well. The scheduling was so much better than last spring and I feel like it’s a good amount
of on and off screen time, with how my schedule and classes worked out.” Last spring, many students and parents were not happy with the school’s effort to keep up the vigor of the course in each class. Freshman Grant Koh and junior Aidan Young both agree that the first semester went well, especially given the tricky circumstances. In March, when Parker initially moved completely remote, “it was so abrupt,” said Young. “Now, I feel almost nearly fully adjusted. In fact, I feel so adjusted where the transition back would be abrupt if we went back after finals.” Many other students like Young have adjusted to remote learning. They have learned more about themselves as students, and learned about their learning styles. Koh suggests a strategy he has found useful -putting away distractions such as a phone in order to maximize concentration. Other students, such as Jung, have found that it is helpful to take breaks in between homework sessions because it is unreasonable to be looking at a screen for so long. Another
adequate solution to excess screen time is printing out homework when possible. One of the most important attributes to a strong academic career is organization. Young swears by one of his stepping stones to success, which is nothing more than to simply “keep organized.” His planner plays a vital role in his everyday organization. When Young explains his plans and goals for the second semester, he explains the importance of his planner, saying his main plans are “sticking with my paper planner. I don’t ever want to let that go forever, honestly.” Young argues that writing down what he has to do on a physical piece of paper regularly is what keeps him and his success on track. In fact, one of his main worries about moving hybrid is not being able to maintain the consistency of his planner. In addition to using a planner, putting distractions aside, taking breaks, and printing out work when possible, there are countless other good habits that Parker students have developed throughout this
experience. Of course, with good habits also comes weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses, and remote learning has put a spotlight on certain faults, making these flaws more easily discoverable for some students. Koh, for example, has discovered that group projects do not work over Zoom. Trying to coordinate with classmates remotely adds a layer of stress to group projects. In terms of personal troubles that have come to surface, Koh discovered that he “should not put off the lion’s share” of his homework for days that are lighter in classes. In the next semester, he is going to try to split work periods up when possible. As a senior, coronavirus setbacks have been extra frustrating, and this applies to Jung and many others. Jung had a tough time adjusting to remote learning at first but adapted and grasped ways to help with the transition. Something she plans on doing more of in the second semester is keeping in touch with friends as well as remaining positive despite the various
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DOES PARKER’S UPPER SCHOOL STILL EXIST? Parker Trails Behind Other Private Schools’ Plans for In-Person Learning By Benjamin Kagan
It has been over six and a half months since July 10 when Principal Dan Frank ‘74 wrote to the school community, “Parker will open school on campus for all students, five days a week, within the scope of normal school hours for the 2020–21 academic year,” and it has been 322 days since our embryonic democracy was last fully assembled on March 13, 2020. Parker has made so many claims and false promises of a return to school, that the confidence once held in the administration has now evaporated. The mental health of students is deteriorating, and the pandemic has not improved significantly which makes the possibility of a full return to campus feel far from the foreseeable future. “Being isolated [for this long] is very difficult... It is so hard for you all,” Evelina PereiraWebber, a Parker parent emeritus and a child psychotherapist said. The winter spike in cases that we are seeing was not a surprise to anybody and plans should have been made accordingly. Before Parker’s school year had even started, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had said, “We need to hunker down and get through this... winter, because it’s not going to be easy.” Dr. Fauci knew before school started that the number of cases during the winter would be much higher than the numbers in the fall. It feels like Parker looked at the good numbers Illinois had during the fall and assumed or hoped that the COVID-19 numbers would decrease
or stay the same in the winter, even though some semblance of in-person learning, that was not likely. students’ mental health will just continue Parker chose to start the school year on the dangerously sinking trajectory that with the entire high school participating it’s already on. “ I think for adolescents in remote learning with no solid plans your age being in high school, it’s extremely for a return to hard to not be school. The in-person and school was to not have well aware of in-person the predicted interactions winter spike because I and knew it think that’s was going the way that to rais e an students in issue in your age implementing group learn in-person the best,” learning Pereiraor social Webber said. activities I n d u r i n g addition to the colder the effects of months, yet the biggest Comic by Maddy Leja the administration decision -- to delay did not act swiftly in the fall and failed to in-person learning for the upper school -get the high school students back in the even small decisions that the school makes, building. Now, many upper school students like the choice to disable private chatting are at a mental breaking point with the between students, has a major impact on administration’s failure to act. “Online the Parker community’s ability to socially school has gotten to a point where staring at connect. For example, by choosing to a screen has become very challenging both disable private chats between students on physically and emotionally, and I know that all Parker licensed Zoom accounts, the many people that I’ve talked to feel the same school has made it virtually impossible for way as me,” said sophomore Max Keller. If students who don’t have each other’s phone the administration doesn’t take significant numbers to engage with one another, and action to give the high school students has alienated new students even further
from veteran Parker students. Without the chat feature, there is no way to have a quick private conversation or even to exchange phone numbers without sharing the information with everyone in the class. “I think it’s pretty hard for people your age. I think that they are reaching out more for therapy because people are getting more anxious and not sleeping so well,” PereiraWebber said. One of the claims that has frequently been made by the administration is that the Upper School returning to campus isn’t safe. Again for a medical matter, I will turn to the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci who said, “If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not really very big at all, not like one would have suspected.” Parker is very much in the minority of private schools in terms of not letting all of its students back on campus for the first semester, even if only for a limited degree. Schools similar to Parker all over the country have granted their students some experiences on campus. “In-person learning for me has definitely been a relief to finally be able to see my friends face-to-face instead of on a screen. It’s also been a relief that our school has looked out for both our mental health and physical safety and has given us the option to be in-person some days,” Grey Raphaely a student at The Little
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The Parker Weekly, Page 10
Colonel Columns
THE JOYS OF LIFE Rainbows
I’M PRETENDING YOU ASKED Or As I Like to Call it, OCWNSINSE
By Nathan Siskel Rainbows are red. Lemons hurt my mouth. Hi, I’m Nathan Siskel and I’m writing this column for Grayson today because he says he is under the weather. Just a few minutes ago I judged a cockroach for eating stuff that comes out of bats. That sentence was an active product of Zach’s censorship. Anyway, there’s this cave and bats live on the top of it, and cockroaches live on the bottom, and the food falls down for the cockroaches as if from the heavens. Then they roll around in their food and eat it and roll around in it some more, like a child in the snow. B B C ’s D a v i d Attenborough told me so. And w h i l e D a v i d ’s voice soothed me, I found the image on the screen to be… disagreeable. But then I said to myself, “Nathan! What are you doing, judging this cockroach, a fellow resident of this beautiful Planet Earth?” I guess what I’m trying to say is that cockroaches don’t need any more hate for their lifestyle, even though they are marginally less aware of the situation than I am. Yo u k n o w, sometimes I want to be a flower girl, like at a wedding, but there’s one issue. I’m a boy. Which really shouldn’t be an issue, but it is. But I fear I’ve started this story in the middle of it, so let me go further back. I was born on a cold winter day and pronounced male because of the various bodily protuberances with which I was festooned. Again, Zach’s censorship created that loopty waterslide of a sentence. Growing up, I often felt the constraints of society’s perception of my maleness to be, well, constraining. And I think you do too. Moving along, when I was five years old, I went to a wedding. Naturally, I had already developed a healthy love of flowers because honestly, what’s not to love? But I had never considered all the possibilities of throwing flowers around, especially in churches. This wedding opened my eyes. Flowers are even better when they’re being flung at the feet of a woman who’s about to make a really big decision. Fast forward, I’m seventeen and watching YouTube videos. THAT’S A LIE I was watching Tiktoks, this column is about shame, and I refuse to have any! In this video, a man with many muscles was throwing flowers all around a church and everyone was LOLing and ROFLing it up
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in the comments. And here we’ve arrived at my dilemma. I wanted to be, as anyone who knows me would understand, my macho, manly self while still being the flower girl! In other words, I don’t have the muscles necessary to make being a flower girl ironic, and THAT, dear children, is the issue. But why be ashamed of my waifish body and whimsical demeanor? Why let that decide whether or not I fling flowers at a dear friend’s feet as they walk the aisle towards the biggest gamble of their adult life? I DON’T KNOW WHY! P R O B A B LY A REASON T H AT I S DUMB AND BAD! So, for the second time in this column, I refuse to be ashamed. I’ll take a lesson from those cockroaches, those proud poop rolling insects of the Blattodea family, and I will hold my head tall, on its celery stalk of a neck, and lob little flowers all around a church in that name of GOD and MY OWN DIGNITY! Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings today, and I hope you’ve learned something valuable about me, cockroaches, the institution of marriage, and maybe even yourself. Bye bye, and have a beautiful day. Rainbows.
“Growing up, I often felt the constraints of society’s perception of my maleness to be, well, constraining. And I think you do too.”
“But why be ashamed of my waifish body and whimsical demeanor?”
TIPS
Continued from Page 9 changes coronavirus has caused to the typical senior year. Furthermore, the effects that the coronavirus has had on education in the past year is unlike anything anyone could have seen coming. Regardless of this, students all throughout the world have handled this situation differently, nonetheless finding solutions and ways to improve throughout. First semester brought a lot of challenges, but now it is time for students to incorporate the lessons they have learned into their work during the second semester in order to continue working towards improvement.
By Spencer O’Brien If you haven’t had junior year history class yet, there’ll be a week or two there before you study Lincoln and the Civil War where you study the eight guys who came before Lincoln. Mr. Bigelow does a really good job at turning the few pages in the textbook about the eight presidents prior to Lincoln into about a week of lessons, before spending about a week (if not more) on Lincoln and the Civil War. This is no fault of his, seeing as there is nothing exceptional about the eight presidents who came prior to Lincoln and the history books make that VERY clear. I couldn’t even remember their names (except for the loml, James Buccanon. No, not the winter soldier, the 15th president of the U.S.A.). Let me tell you their names: Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. You get special points if you’ve ever heard of any of them. Anyways, these men have worked wonders in the worlds of racism, taking land away from Native Americans, and taking land from Mexico because they felt like it. I’d like to make an argument for why important bad men, like some of these guys or our last president, Mr. Trump, should either be remembered or forgotten. History has forgotten bad men because they did no great deeds. Now in society today we like to claim that no one should be forgotten, so why should we push these guys out of our minds? There’s a nice little saying, “If we don’t learn history, we’re doomed to repeat it.” We didn’t learn our history, and today most of America still treats the Native American population like they don’t exist, and Trump just spent the past four years trying to get Mexico to pay for a wall to keep out its own citizens. Sound familiar? While yes, Trump didn’t annex Texas because he felt like it (James K. Polk did!!!), but the general disrespect for another country to an extent where you almost go to war with them is still fairly close. We need to tell our children the worst stories so that we don’t watch them become characters in it. “If we don’t learn history, we’re
doomed to repeat it,” right? Well, my fifth grade teacher hammered the Civil War into my impressionable mind as something that probably shouldn’t happen again and I was grateful for it, but then I watched some dudes march on the capitol a week ago, and I realize that this saying might have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. We teach our children about evil Hitler and the atrocities of the holocaust and yet, we let genocide happen in China, and most Americans don’t bat an eye. Learning the atrocities of the past means nothing if we don’t have morals to stop them when they seemingly happen again in the future. So all we can do then is to encourage people to be good. To remember Trump or forget him is meaningless if we can’t stick together when things get tough. So here’s the conclusion of my article: Be good people.
“Now in society today we like to claim that no one should be forgotten, so why should we push these guys out of our minds?”
The End.
COMPARISON Continued from Page 8
as last year’s math final took my time and energy the entire week and weekend prior. I’ll still have rooms in my house to work in and will even be presenting my finals from my own room to a lit-up computer screen where my classmates are, also from rooms in their own houses. Finals. One of many things looking different this year. Maybe this is one thing that has changed for the better.
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Colonel Columns
LET’S GET REAL A Positive Take on our Gym Program
EDITORIAL
Pleasing Everyone Leaves No One Happy By “The Parker Weekly”
By Denise Román When I step outside every morning, I run. The morning breeze caresses my face as I run through the empty streets of my neighborhood. The only thing I can hear is the sound of my headphones playing “Remember When” by Wallows and the faint sounds of cars rushing to their destination. On snowy days, my room quickly converts into a mini-gym with a yoga mat and a speaker. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I started exercising again every morning. So, if anyone asks how I’m dealing with social isolation and the pandemic, I tell them I run. I have always been a fitness enthusiast since I didn’t grow up with a fitness education in my public elementary school. When I came to Parker in eighth grade, I looked forward to P.E on Wednesdays and Fridays. From badminton class with Mrs. Zoufal and interval training with Mr. Davis, I enjoyed it all. So, I started to exercise by myself from that point forward. Every morning during the weekends, I went on runs with my dad at our local park. Exercising helped relieve my academic stress and improved my mood throughout the day. Once I reached my junior year of high school, I stopped prioritizing exercising because I became progressively more busy with school. It wasn’t until the beginning of quarantine that I decided to start exercising again. I grew tired of being at home, and boredom was slowly creeping up on me as the days passed. As someone who wasn’t a homebody and found happiness stepping out of the house, quarantine wasn’t ideal for me. So, the only way I could be safely outside of the house was by running around my neighborhood. There are many benefits to exercising that I didn’t know about before quarantine. One of the most interesting benefits of exercising is that it keeps your thinking and judgment skills sharp. Exercise stimulates your body to release proteins and other chemicals that improve the function of your brain. Also, it helps your body manage blood and insulin levels. Exercise can lower your blood sugar level and help your insulin work better. In terms of mental health, exercising
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can alleviate anxiety, boost self-esteem, and make you happier. I recently listened to a podcast that talked about how many high school students in the U.S no longer have a similar gym program that they had in person. For example, instead of exercising on Zoom, they’re required to complete assignments about topics in health. Some students reported no longer attending their gym classes because they considered t hem bori ng since the discussions were not engaging. Although the school had gym programs, some students wished that they could exercise on Zoom. After hearing the podcast, I thought to myself, why aren’t they able to have a gym class on Zoom? I thought the podcast would answer it, but it surprisingly didn’t. After talking to my friends that attended other schools, I found out that some high schools have set rules to respect the privacy of their students. M e a n i n g , students aren’t required to turn their camera on, nor unmute themselves to participate in class because teachers are aware that most students don’t have space to fully engage during class. Most importantly, they can’t require them to complete exercises outside of class because of the space issue. Before the break, I got a sense in my gym class that some students didn’t want to place their time and effort into exercising. Although I understand that it can be hard to exercise at home because you’re stuck in one place, I encourage everyone to look at our gym program through a positive lens. More than anything, I want Upper School students to reconsider going back to exercising on Zoom as a gym class. I believe that exercising as a group motivates others to push through the exercises being given. As a Parker student, I can say that I’m privileged to have a gym program with amazing gym teachers that continue being invested in my health and well-being.
“Exercising helped relieve my academic stress and improved my mood throughout the day.”
“I want Upper School students to reconsider going back to exercising on Zoom as a gym class.”
After a tumultuous period of discussion and planning, Parker is finally making the transition to a hybrid learning format. This leap has caused dispute among various groups in our community, and we on “The Weekly” Editorial Board want to clear the air on some miscommunications circling around. Additionally, we would like to point out some areas in which we believe we can all have a better relationship with each other during this time. The first thing that is important to understand is that everyone wants to return to “normal” as quickly as possible. Everyone involved has differing ideas of how to get there and the speed at which we should. Even if it may feel like it, nobody is purposely holding up the transition back to hybrid learning to hinder the Parker experience for the students. It is not uncommon for the administration to clash with the student body, “The Weekly” is no stranger to disputes with them, and this hybrid schedule has been the source of one of the largest conflicts in recent memory. Many groups in the high school were upset by the schedule’s format, as they believed it didn’t suit their personal needs best. What we at “The Weekly” say is that many of those people aren’t seeing the full picture and need to step back to understand the gravity of this transition. One explanation for the massive pushback in response to the new schedule is that many different groups at Parker have different needs and need to be accommodated accordingly in the schedule. For instance, the now second-semester senior class may push back from adding classes back into the schedule while this would be welcomed by many parents who have been calling for more class time since the start of the school year. Neither group is wrong to have their own preferences for their education, and we must all acknowledge this. For all the differing outlooks on the return to school situation, the easiest group to blame is the administration. They are faced with a logistical nightmare for the ages in working to fit as many students in the building as allowed by current regulations.
On top of this, they are getting pushback for whatever route they do choose to go because they are bound to upset a subset of the Parker population. No matter how hard they work, they’ll simply never be able to accommodate e v e r y o n e ’s needs simultaneously at this point in time. The phrase “trying to please everyone ends up pleasing no one” rings very true in this unique situation. We, as a student body, and as a Parker community, need to recognize and acknowledge this. For this reason, we ask you to drop any hints of cynicism and come to appreciate the importance of this big step we are taking as a school. At the end of the day, we all want to be back in our beloved model home. While the current state of the schedule may not be what we were expecting, we should adopt a more empathetic perspective and consider the needs of the school as a whole. The administration may not have handled the process perfectly, but who can blame them? It’s not like they have experience with this before. At the end of the day, we are still going back to school, and that is all that we should be thinking about.
“What we at “The Weekly” say is that many of those people aren’t seeing the full picture and need to step back to understand the gravity of this transition.”
“The phrase ‘trying to please everyone ends up pleasing no one’ rings very true in this unique situation.”
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Politics & Continuations PRIORITIZE POLITICS
Why We Should Center Current Events in Classroom Discussions By Leila Sheridan
Donald Trump was just impeached by the House for the second time, which is the first time in history a president has been impeached twice. Illinois just became the first state to end cash bonds by passing the Pretrial Fairness Act. Domestic terrorists attacked the Capitol last week. Joe Biden’s inauguration happened, and he isn’t riding the Amtrak as post-presidentelects have done due to security concerns. These moments will undeniably be taught to future United States history students in their renovated “Brinkleys” and “Zinns.” So why aren’t we taking more class time now to unpack these events? I understand that the nature of online learning has whittled down traditional curriculums to become less expansive, and, with this loss, it’s sensible that teachers will use as much time as possible to teach the course material. But sometimes we can’t pretend that math equations and conjugation
techniques are our priority. As someone who really loves learning and is an inherently curious person, I genuinely always look forward to delving into the coursework of each of my classes. However, I wish we spent more time recognizing that school is not always the priority, and sometimes we need to talk about politics, learn from one another, and center current events in classroom discussions.
“Sometimes we can’t pretend that math equations and conjugation techniques are our priority.”
FINISHING
Continued from Page 8 now that I am in the midst of trying to do it, a test is looking good to me. The reason that I am having difficulty with this project is because it is researching a brand new topic. I do not think that this project truly showcases my learning for the semester, but on the other hand it is offering me the opportunity to apply chemistry to my life which is equally as important. I do believe that a project is better than a test, so I am happy, but I am just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. My topic is PVC, so maybe my next piece for “The Weekly,” will be a feature of PVC’s relevance in our life. Last year, my Spanish final was a test. Although that did a good job showing my learning for the semester, I think my Spanish final this year does an equally as good job, if not better. My Spanish final is two parts: a written dialogue and a five minute conversation with my teacher. The written dialogue is supposed to incorporate many of the different grammatical concepts we have learned this year as well as new vocabulary. The written aspect does not necessarily address if I can apply the new aspects without assistance, but it still shows how I can apply it and be creative. I am quite nervous for the speaking part because I think this is harder to prepare for, and I am not as confident in my speaking ability, but I understand that this is an important way to show my learning. I also think the speaking part is a perfect COVID-19 final, as it is hard to use outside resources on. On the humanities side, I was not expecting to have any tests. My expectations were met. For English, our final is a
Without comprehensively discussing current events, I worry that people will have to suppress their emotions, which inevitably would influence students’ ability to do classwork. Furthermore, political discussions offer rich insights into one another’s perspectives and experiences that we might otherwise not be informed of. graded discussion on the book we have been reading, “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid. I am excited for this final, and I think it is a great way to feel connected with my peers. Overall, English this semester has been a place that has fostered a sense of community, so I am happy that this theme will stay prevalent. A graded conversation also provides ways to show comprehension, analytic skills, and speaking skills, so it will have a little bit of everything. I will become a documentary filmmaker for my history final. We were tasked with creating an eight to ten minute documentary on a terrorist group with a partner. My partner and I chose the communist terrorist group The Shining Path. This has proven to be more difficult than expected, but since our class is about exploring different terrorist groups, it is a great culmination. I also like this choice for a final because the second half of the documentary is to tie The Shining Path back into the concepts that have guided our history class Randall’s Laws of Terrorism and the moralization gap. Although I will not be sitting in a coffee shop this weekend studying with my friends or cramming for a test, I am confident that my finals experience this year will reflect the past semester. I am happy and thankful that my teachers have adapted their teaching style to the unknown challenges of the coronavirus.
I’m not suggesting that every single class should open with a conversation about the previous day’s events, but when significant events take place as we have seen recently, there should be an opportunity to have an open dialogue. Of course, students may wish to not speak, but simply providing a space for this discussion could help build deeper awareness within the community. I won’t feed into the argument that we shouldn’t have finals because I’m sure people are tired of hearing that, but I just want to recognize that we literally had finals during an inauguration. I’m still processing how students were expected to devote undivided attention to their C and D period finals as Biden was sworn into office. It seems tone-deaf to make students sit for an exam or present a project during
this significant transfer of power. Once again, I understand that classes and course curriculums are not always malleable and thus cannot be terminated or amended as politics comes into play. However, I think it’s important that students engage with current events and pay attention to these historical moments, which, in the case of the inauguration, will be relatively unfeasible to do in live time if you have had a class period during it.
“It seems tone-deaf to make students sit for an exam or present a project during this significant transfer of power. ”
STILL EXIST Continued from Page 9
Red School House, a progressive JK- 12 private school in New York City, said. One school in the Chicago area that managed to open with their students on campus every other day is Loyola Academy. Molly Hoey, a student there said, “I’m so happy that Loyola is in-person, and I always feel very safe when I’m on campus. It is much better than online learning because I feel like I’m learning so much more, and I’m very glad I get to see my friends.” In addition to many other Chicago area schools, Latin has also been able to have their Upper School students on campus since the beginning of the year. Their current model allows students to be on campus for half of a day, five days a week. On January 8, Head of Upper School Justin Brandon released a communication detailing a plan that allows Parker students to return to in-person learning for two halfdays every 10 school days. “I’m really excited to go back into school. Since I’m new to Parker, I can’t wait to see all my classmates and teachers in-person,” Quinn Kass, a new-to-Parker freshman, said. Although this plan is better than no inperson learning time, many students feel frustrated that along with the in-person learning time came many major changes to the upper school’s operating procedures and schedule. “The most frustrating aspect of the entire in-person school process is the lack of communication. Students haven’t been polled or given the opportunity to share their beliefs on this issue since early fall and that shows in the student outrage,” Student
Body President, senior Carter Wagner said. Parker Upper School students are desperately in need of a reprieve that only the administration can provide. “Kids are getting more anxious and are really turned off by being on Zoom,” Pereira-Webber said. I wish our administrators stopped treating us like we are the least important part of the “Parker Community” and instead would start legitimately caring about the social-emotional needs of students -- a concept that they spend so much time talking about. According to the Parker website, “We pursue educational excellence by cultivating creative problem-solving through vigorous effort so all can experience joy in learning and come to understand how individual and collective labor can improve society.” Although the school claims that this statement is part of Parker’s core philosophy, they have yet to fulfill it this year. If they were genuinely concerned about putting an immense amount of effort into creatively problem-solving this situation, then some upper school students would have been on campus on September 9th. According to Middle and Upper School Director of Studies Sven Carlsson, “Another priority goal is we like being together because we’re not a virtual school. We weren’t before COVID-19. We won’t be after COVID-19. We are an in-person school, and we like being a community together. I think it’s a question of as soon as we can safely be together we’ll be together.” Sadly, Carlsson’s statement only seems to apply to the JK-8 part of our model home despite many medical professionals deeming that attending school is a relatively safe activity. This administration seems to have forgotten that fwparker.zoom.us is not the same thing as 330 West Webster Ave.
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More Continuations CIRCLE DRIVE
later development of the reaper as Cyrus McCormick.” McCormick’s grandson, Cyrus McCormick III, credited Anderson for his contributions in his 1931 book “The Century of the Reaper,” writing that “Jo Anderson deserves honor as the man who worked beside [McCormick] in the building of the reaper.” Nine people were enslaved by McCormick at his family farm in Virginia, inherited in 1846 after his father Robert’s death, according to a Princeton report. According to historical archives, McCormick remained loyal to the Confederacy even after he moved to Chicago and corresponded with Robert E. Lee after the Civil War. McCormick is estimated to have earned $11 million from the reaper, over $250 million today by some estimates. The patent acts of 1793 and 1863 excluded enslaved inventors like Anderson from receiving credit for their work. Anderson was never given his share of the profits. Frank first presented Anderson’s story to the Board of Trustees and faculty in Fall 2019 following the congressional hearings on reparations. Plans to publicize the story to the rest of the community were delayed by COVID-19 until this fall when the Board decided to honor Anderson. Frank says his research was initially prompted by a conversation about colleges that were acknowledging their ties to institutional racism and slavery in America, renaming buildings that honored slaveowners. Former Seventh Grade Assistant Justin James posed to Frank that Parker may have connections of its own to slavery. “All my years at the school, never heard that story, never pushed the origins of the McCormicks,” Frank said. In his article, Frank also emphasized the need to “look at the gap between our stated ideals and marketing profiles and the truths named by our current and former students of color.” “We have been rightly challenged to be as enlightened and progressive as we say we are by our own students and alumni of color and their white allies and to include their stories in our portrayal of who we are as educational communities,” Frank wrote.
CAREER WEEK
Continued from Page 4 “If students have used some of the quarantine time to explore different paths for their futures, then they may have more interest in particular panels or even specific people who are going to be at the panels,” Steib said. Throughout the pandemic, national news and events could create an impact on Career Week. “Maybe we’ll have more students interested in the social justice panel this year, especially with everything that has been going on across the country,” Steib said.
Continued from Page 1
Frank is referencing @FWPAnonymous, an account formed by Parker alumni to chronicle stories from current and former community members about racism and oppression they experienced at the school. In a letter to the school organized by the heads of the account last summer, @ FWPAanonymous asked that students were taught “Parker’s history as a progressive school that benefitted from oppression.” “We have no idea how and when Parker integrated, when it first began hiring Black teachers, or anything else about the school’s history involving race and racism,” the letter said in Clause 2f. “Our lack of knowledge here is an institutional and educational failure on Parker’s part.” “Those stories have been told,” Frank said, referring to the school’s history with race. “We can continue to find newer ways to do so. The facts are really important: what the school did, what it didn’t do, when it did it, how does that compare to other people.” @FWPAnonymous also brought attention to the school’s current naming protocol in their letter to the school. “Rooms, art, and other spaces named after families must have their names changed, and we demand Parker discontinue the practice of naming a room or space after a family’s donation,” @FWPAnonymous said in clause 5dii. Parker’s current building is named for Blaine and its alcove after the first principal, Flora J. Cooke, while many other spaces in the school are named after donors, such as the Heller Auditorium, the Kovler Family Library, the Sheridan Cafe, and the Harris Center. Upper School English Teacher Teresa Collins asked her American Literature students to imagine a new name for Parker as their final project. “One of the things that’s come up in our class is – does a name ever really tell the full story and what responsibility do members of the community have to learn this story,” Collins said. “We see in Chicago honorary street names all the time, but because it’s on signs or because it’s on a plaque, there’s not a whole lot of room for the full story.” Career Week can be important for a variety of reasons and sophomore Phoebe Friedman highlighted what she thinks is important about Career Week, detailing how one’s career path may not be defined. “I definitely think it’s important for high schoolers to be able to see the options,” Friedman said. “I think it’s a great opportunity to see what your interests may be.” Steib explained what the Alumni office believes is one of the key aspects of Career Week. “Part of what has motivated the Alumni association and our office, the Alumni office, to do this, is also an issue of equity,” Steib said. “Some students have access to professionals that others students may not, depending on who your parents are, what fields they work in.” Steib also highlighted how connecting
“How many people are going to know the story of Jo Anderson because they’ve been members of the Parker community, and they know the story that Dr. Frank told about what he discovered,” Collins said, “and how many people, in time to come, are going to just look at it and not realize what it means?” Frank said he wants to teach the story or incorporate it into the curriculum in the future. A plaque describing Anderson’s contribution to the school and his enslavement will be installed at the driveway, though the official naming ceremony has been delayed. Frank said the Board discussed honoring Anderson in a space towards the front of the school. “Circle Drive became the focal point,” Board Member and Parker parent Valerie Chang said. “Its prominence for this school as an entry and egress point seems to be fitting.” Collins pushed back. “There are other spaces on our campus that naturally encourage a person to pause and reflect,” Collins said. “Circle Drive is not one of those places. It’s a place where you zoom in and then you zoom out. It’s a thoroughfare and it’s a space that is meant to be traveled. It is not a space that is meant to be visited for any length of time.” Collins hopes Anderson’s story is told and acknowledged on a sustained basis. “Just having the conversation, inclusive of the layers of stories, is pretty powerful and important as a first step,” Collins said. “From there I think it’s up to the people who inhabit the space after the renaming has occurred.” Frank agreed. “It isn’t just, ‘Oh yeah, remember that one time back in 2021, there was a story that went around,’” Frank said. “How do we make this an ongoing understanding of who we are?” Frank included a brief summary of Parker’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work at the end of the NAIS article, framing Anderson Drive as one piece of the school’s work. “The symbol isn’t the answer,” Frank said. “It is part of the effort but it’s not the fullness of the effort by any means.” with people is vital to the week. “Part of this is also providing opportunities for all of the Upper School students, for everyone to be able to connect with Ian Freed and not just the students who may have a parent that went to school with him.” Regardless of having a virtual format, Career Week aims to have students connect with panelists and perhaps dive deeper or be introduced to a passion or interest. “I will be attending, even for the panels that I may not find as much interest in, but you never really know,” Friedman said. “It’s all an experiment,” Steib said. “We’re learning by doing.”
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VISITING ENGINEER
Continued from Page 1 enjoyed the talk, I thought it was a good change of pace from our normal class.” Both Austin and Garchik agree that remote learning has provided new chances for learning. “Being on Zoom has facilitated new discussions and opened up new opportunities for connections with professionals and other people who could be beneficial to class,” Garchik said. According to Austin, each year, the science department researches and selects the visiting scientist, based on a number of criteria. “We tend to want to find areas of science that haven’t been represented in the past,” Austin said, “as well as different sorts of folks that have not been represented by our past scientists and engineers... She wanted to really try to bring more girls into the science community and into STEM careers. That’s so Parker, this is kind of what we try to do.” Additionally, May 4 of this year marks the 100th year anniversary of Albert Einstein’s visit to Parker. “That was an amazing opportunity that we had from the past,” Austin said. “And we want to combine it with the amazing opportunity we have now...We wanted to think about who is the next Einstein.” Fahim is also involved in outreach activities with students, primarily collegelevel, in programs such as “Ask an Engineer.” “I’ve also participated in a lot of panel discussions where students normally get to ask questions about, what did you do to get where you are at?” Fahim said. “I haven’t, given presentations as much as I’ve interacted, about explaining something in particular, that has been, you know, asked off of me or something.” Fahim says that while speaking to a high school audience is similar to speaking to a college-age audience, some adjustments do need to be made. “You have to be watchful of the jargon that you’re using,” Fahim said. “Say somebody is doing electrical engineering, I would talk a lot about ‘CMOS’ and ‘Cryo-CMOS.’ But then, when I’m talking to say, high school students, I switched it from Cryo-CMOS to cryo-electronics.” According to Austin, Fahim will be returning for more events including a public lecture on Wednesday, March 24 and visits with clubs, faculty, and classes. Fahim encourages students interested in engineering to understand their own interests, and find an area of work they are passionate about, rather than one that feels like the ‘right choice.’ “If you’re fighting yourself all the time... are you enjoying your work?” Fahim said. For Fahim, the best way to learn and improve is to experience. “Doing is learning....the more I do, the more I learn,” Fahim said.
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Last Continuations!
HYBRID LEARNING Continued from Page 1
to Parker on their given day. Students who’s grade is scheduled for in-person learning on Mondays and Tuesdays will need to submit their sample to Parker on the Friday or Saturday prior. For students who are inperson on Thursdays and Fridays, samples will need to be submitted on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week. If a student has positive screening results, the Nurse’s Office will contact them and provide the next steps. According to Carlsson, Brandon showed the current plan to the Return to Campus Committee in November or December and some edits were made. This month, Brandon shared with faculty and some tweaks were made. “The schedule is being mutable,” Carlsson said, “it’s actually responding to the changes people are saying.” Originally, the criticism they received from the remote learning schedule was a lack of class time. But after the hybrid schedule came out, the criticism shifted to wanting less screen time to alleviate screen fatigue. “The calls for more class time were not as loud as they once were,” Brandon said. After receiving faculty feedback, one of the changes in the new schedule was it dropped the fourth class meeting of the week and replaced it with office hours. When creating the new schedule, there were a few goals that the committee felt had to be implemented. One of them was to get every student to meet with every class the days they are at Parker. “That was the biggest thing. In all of the schedules we looked at, not every kid would’ve met every single one of their teachers,” an unnamed member of the Return to Campus Committee said, “which felt like a waste of coming in at all.” After looking at the return plans of schools across the city and country, Brandon says they learned the importance of monitoring screen time, and this became another goal because “zoom fatigue is something that we now see as a reality,” he said. There has been controversy on the safety of returning to school, but according to Carlsson, another issue was, from a pedagogical standpoint, whether the hybrid learning plan would hinder education. Teachers have gone back and forth as to whether they believe this will help or hinder their teaching, and parents have been across the spectrum as to whether their child’s education would be better on this hybrid schedule or entirely remote. “The progressive calling of the school is the child and the needs of the child,” Carlsson said. “Even in the criticism I’ve heard, it’s coming from a standpoint of ‘what is the best for students.’ In that sense, we are trying to learn from the criticism and listen to it.” As Carlsson said, this schedule is going to go through changes. It is not going to satisfy every student, teacher, or parent. There will be students who want to return to school in a more frequent form, and
there will be students who want to return to school less than the current schedule. “I wanted to be on the Return to Campus Committee because I wanted to help give you all something to look forward to,” the unnamed member of the committee said, “but this isn’t it.” Brandon is looking forward to potentially expanding the frequency of students attending classes in the building, but only in a safe manner. “I hope that this is the foundation for our return to the Upper School,” he said. “I hope we are able to expand but there are so many factors at play. But we need to start this process, which is this initial version of our schedule, and see how we do.”
SENATE FOOD
Continued from Page 5 trust in the Senate heads, and I think they’ve been running it very very well.” According to Student Government Treasurer and Senior Alex Schapiro, about $1400 of the $5000 budget has been spent. Two committees have used or are planning to use Student Government money. “There’s not a lot of other committees that are using the Student Government funds, so it’s better that Senate is taking advantage of them than if they were just sitting away and not being used,” Schapiro said. “They’re not inhibiting anybody else using the budget.” To keep students and delivery drivers safe, the Senate Heads choose for the orders to be left at the door of the student’s home. When the food is delivered, a Senate Head will text the student. “It reduces the interactions, and then definitely we try to tip very kindly and generously because we understand that people are putting themselves at risk for Senate food,” Moog said. “Senate is only useful if there are a lot of people who bring that diverse viewpoints,” Schapiro said. “And if we have to track people down by giving them food, okay because they usually do end up participating.”
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PANDEMIC DRIVING Continued from Page 6
time to drive. “I think that it’s easier to get your 50 hours with the coronavirus because people are wanting to get out of the house more,” Landolt said. Coleman described her experience completing the 50 hours during the pandemic, “It was actually really nice because there obviously weren’t as many people on the road,” Coleman said. She noted that she was able to spend more time driving on major streets and highways because they were less packed. There is also an increased amount of open parking lots that are conducive for driving practice. Senior Carter Wagner got his permit in his sophomore year, but he never completed his 50 hours of driving until the coronavirus took full form, and he decided to utilize his extra free time and devote the weekends to getting in driving time. Even though he already has his license, Wagner has been benefitting from the more empty roads of the pandemic, much like the students completing their 50 hours. “I’m a little nervous for when the pandemic stops,” he said. “I’ve never driven by myself in the city not during a pandemic.” Some students have been discouraged from driving by the pandemic. “There’s no real reason to go out and drive, and it feels kind of silly to,” an anonymous junior who is currently completing their 50 hours said. “The coronavirus has put things in perspective and it makes me think that driving isn’t really worth it.” The Secretary of State’s office has been closed since November 17. In early December, the office opened up some locations for new driver services. That decision was partially dependent on the fact that many student drivers had already taken their tests at their school, which of course, does not apply to Parker students. One location that opened for student drivers in
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“did an unbelievable job and were so much fun to work with.” Because she was teaching an activity-based class where students could move around freely, Zoufal found that it wasn’t as hard for them to stay focused online. Though it was a rocky start for all classes technology-wise, the students quickly learned how to join meetings and use the mute button when it wasn’t their turn to talk. The tech-department helped by streamlining the joining process through an app pushed out to the school-issued JK iPads. From there, students can see a shared Google Spreadsheet with links that the teachers updated daily in the weeks of remote learning. The lower school faculty was committed to no more than 120 minutes of Zoom time a day and spaced the online schedules with breaks between 20-30 minute sessions of
December is the Chicago North Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, which is about a twenty-minute drive from Parker. Most of the office’s locations reopened on January 5 with plenty of safety measures including a face mask requirement, plexiglass dividers, and limited indoor capacity. The Secretary of State’s Offices were expected to be significantly busier upon reopening. Landolt described the experience of going to the Secretary of State’s Office for her permit during the coronavirus as a “pretty sound one.” “Everyone wore masks and all the stations were sanitized between each person,” she said. “There were many people there in the line and in the building, but I did not feel uncomfortable or unsafe at any point.” “The line for getting my license was ridiculously long,” Coleman said. “I waited for like three to four hours there.” She also described some disorganization at the Secretary of State’s Office, citing a confusion with which lines were for which service. When getting his permit from the Secretary of State’s Office, Ethan Dennis waited in a line outside for three hours. The first word that came to mind for him was “cold.” He said his legs had gotten numb. However, Dennis noted that once he was in the building, it was “efficient.” Coleman enjoys driving now that she has her license. She said it made her feel responsible and independent that she could easily get places by herself and she even called the driving experience “cathartic.” “I want to learn to drive so I have the freedom to go where I want when I want, “ Landolt said. “The way I see it, getting your license means having a lot of independence.” learning. The kindergarten schedule for inperson learning is full-day this year. While parents are encouraged to take their kids home at 11:45 am for a break, other options for staying at school during those times are available. “[The kids] are very able to adapt,” Mitchell said. “You could see as we went through the weeks that they got much more comfortable with it and were really able to take this on.” Hunt agreed that “what’s happening is still really good given the circumstances. It’s different, it’s not that Parker-y the way we like it to be, but it’s time for the kids and they’re still getting a good experience with it.” Johnson saw a similar positive attitude among the students. “You can see their eyes and their smiles light up every day,” she said. “They’re really truly happy to be together.”
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