The Lynx Link Newspaper: May 2015

The Lynx Link Table of Contents:

May 8,2015

Tennis.....................2 MS Baseball.............3

Volume 1 Issue 2

Memphis, TN

Closing the Gap Between the Lower and High Schools

Mr. and Ms. Lausanne.................3 Governor’s School ...4 College Acceptances............5 College Athletes......5 Spanish 2 Working with Lower School...6 Hola! Although Lausanne is a very cohesive school, the Lower and Upper Schools do not have a large amount of interaction.

Prom.......................7 Senora Jara’s Spanish 2 Higher Level Class has helped close the gap between the upper schoolers and the lower schoolers, National Honor while also showing the Lower school what they have to look Society Inductions....7 forward to in their Spanish career here at Lausanne.

Rap Battle..............8 Read the full article on page 6!

Into the Woods......9 Upper School Art Show.................10

Farewell to the 2015 Seniors! We wish everybody the best of luck at college. You will definetely be missed here at Lausanne!

Advice Column......11 1

Sports Girls and Boys Tennis Dahlia Katz ‘17 Hannah Meskin ‘17

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he spring season of 2015 has been a very successful season for both Lausanne boys and girls tennis teams. The season began at the end of February with indoor conditioning which led into outdoor practices after Spring Break. The boys team is led by junior Josh Woodman, and have only lost one match against MUS. The girls team led by senior, Sofia Puerto has lost three matches.

The boys team started off the season strong by getting invited to a tournament hosted by MUS. The tournament comprised of some of the best teams in the state including McCalley and MUS. The boys have kept up their strong momentum with beating key teams including St. George’s, ECS, and Harding. The boys tennis team being comprised of mostly juniors, has great potential to go far into the tournament this year, and next year.

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The girls team, composed of mostly sophomores has done very well this year, and will have a very strong team for the next two years. The girls have had some tough matches including ECS, Hutchison, ad St. Mary’s.

They have had a very important win against St. George’s.

On April 17th-18th, Hannah Meskin, Amanda Scheidt, Dahlia Katz, Rebecca Price, and Marcela Pereira played in a tournament at St. George’s. The girls tennis team has had a very successful season, and this is just the beginning to their achievements in the next couple of years.

The tennis team is coached by head Coach Joel Bailey and Assistant Coaches Julie and Andrew The tennis team puts in a lot of work every day after school and it really does show when they are playing their matches. The team ranges from freshmen to seniors, who are all very talented and committed to the sport of tennis.

Lausanne Middle School Baseball Jason Shwer ‘17

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his year was the inaugural year for baseball at our wonderful school. We have had the idea before, but this year, it was put into place. Practiced opened up February 8th, and was led by coach Chris Mitchel. We have two teams at the school, the 5/6th grade team, and then the 7/8th grade team. 8th graders Yusef Thomas and Richard Kinley lead the 7/8th grade team to their first victory ever in the history of the sport. In the team’s first game, we faced off with Northpoint, who is known for their baseball excellence. It was a tough battle, but we were able to get the victory 7-5! The 5/6th grade team is led by Clayton Roberts, who hit big in the inaugural game for their team. The 5/6th grade team was able to get the victory 14-1 over St. Francis in their first game ever! Hopefully, we can see this progression with the baseball program lead into higher levels of baseball within the school. Clearly, we had a great start for the school in the baseball program!

Mr. and Ms. Lausanne Hannah Meskin ‘17 and Dahlia Katz ‘17

This year Mr. and Ms. Lausanne are seniors Evan Page and Natalie Russell. Both Evan and Natalie have been at Lausanne for many years and embody the role model Lausanne student. When asking Evan and Natalie about their favorite memory at Lausanne Evan says that, it was in fifth grade in Mr. Steven’s class. He says, “ Mr. Stevens made us all believe that fifth grade ruled the school and we would scream FIFTH GRADE RULES everywhere we went.” This was a great feeling to Evan and it helped the fifth graders transition from lower school to middle school. Natalie says that her favorite memory is just a “normal day of school.” For Natalie she says a normal say at Lausanne is anything but normal. “If you sit inthe breezeway or the hallway on any give day you’ll find someone playing their guitar, people on skateboards, students filming for Lynx Live, and much more. We have such a wide variety of creative students here and no two students are the same,” said Natalie. She remembers how, “Everyone is so unique and able to extress their personalities and opinions freely; no one is ever afraid to be themslves and that’s the beauty of Lausanne. Our school has such a diverse student body as well and it’s interesting to walk down the hall and hear multiple languages being spoken.” Natalie explains how, “Students always greet the exchange students with open arms and make sure their transition to Lausanne, as well as America, goes smoothly. So while I love the annual traditions like the drive in, senior run through, sports fest arts fest, etc.” Natalie summarizes that her favorite Lausanne memory and what she’ll miss the most is the everyday student life. Natalie says, “You never know what you’re going to see when you arrive on campus each morning and as a result, each day is a new and exciting adventure here at Lausanne.

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Achievments of Lausanne Students Students chosen for TN Governor’s School Sarah Boxer ‘18

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his year, five talented Lausanne Upper School students were accepted into the Tennessee Governor’s Schools, organizations that provides stimulating and rigorous courses for students in disciplines including the Arts, Humanities, International Studies, Engineering, Science, Prospective Teachers, Scientific Exploration of Tennessee Heritage, Business and IT Technology Leadership, Agricultural Science, Computational Physics, Scientific Models, and Data Analysis. These twelve programs take place over the summer in various universities across the state of Tennessee.

Eleanor Bates ’16, Elizabeth Goetz ’17, Arpad Kovesdy ’17, Ashley Thomas ’16, and Emma Whitehorn ’17 were chosen to participate due to their interest and incredible achievements in the respective programs of the Sciences, Physics, Engineering, Business and IT Leadership, and the Arts.

Armand Amini ’16, Matthew Crowe ’16, Elizabeth Goetz ’17, Paul Rozzi ’17, and Nupur Singh ’17 all received the honor of being chosen as alternates for the International Studies, Emerging Technologies, Engineering, and Science programs.

When asked to comment on her excitement to be attending Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Emma Whitehorn noted that she is “really excited for it” and says that it will “be nice to be away from home.” In order to apply for the school’s theater program, she was required to submit a portfolio, perform, and participate an 4

interview. However, the application process varies depending on the program the applicant is interested in. Emma is attending Governor’s School to take theater courses, and will be participating in the program for four weeks over the summer.

Arpad Kovesdy, accepted into Tennessee Governor’s School for Engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, applied for both the Engineering and Science programs and will be taking classes from both subjects. He was encouraged to apply by the interest meeting held earlier this school year and the recommendation some of our Lausanne juniors, but also because he wants to pursue engineering in college. The application for the Engineering and Science programs consisted of multiple essay prompts. Arpad commented that he thinks his participation in the programs will be very helpful, as they will allow him to explore the different branches of engineering and will aid him in understanding what field of study he wants to pursue.

Congrats to each of the ten incredibly gifted Lausanne students that were accepted or chosen as alternates for this year’s Tennessee Govenor’s Schools- Go Lynx!

Pictures by: Ms. Lotterhos

College Acceptances Tony Chen ‘16

College Athletes Abigail Grayson ‘16

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ach year, Lausanne sends off a highly accomplished and diverse group of seniors to colleges around the world. This year, our seniors in the Class of 2015 have garnered acceptance letters from some of the world’s most prestigious universities – Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Dartmouth University, Washington University in St. Louis, just to name a few.

Mrs. Martha O’Neill, one of our college counselors, says she is extremely proud of all the seniors every year for their individual successes.

In addition, Mrs. O’Neill offered some advice to the students who are still in the preparation stage for the college application process. “It all starts freshman year with your grades,” she says. The first grades that show up on transcripts are vital, as they form the basis of students’ GPAs. Starting off high school with a high GPA will not only make the remaining few years slightly less stressful but also provide many more opportunities for the future – colleges will be looking for students will strong grades and test scores. That being said, colleges also look for an upward trend in academic performance. In other words, while a 2.75 in 9th grade may not be exactly desired, bringing that up to (for instance) a 3.25 or higher will show a work ethic that colleges will surely appreciate.

Mrs. O’Neill further recommends to the underclassmen, “Find something you are passionate about. Take that and pursue it. Colleges want to see that you have found something that you are passionate about.” While a career plan, or even just a college major, is far away from being finalized, the most important thing to commit to a few extracurricular activities that are personally significant.Again, congratulations to the seniors on their accomplishments throughout the year. You will be sorely missed when they go off to college next year.

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ccording to Mrs. O’Neill, one of Lausanne’s college advisors, the LCS sports program has been “gaining (the) awareness” of universities in recent years. A variety of schools are now looking at Lausanne as a source of talented athletes, such as recent graduates Lauren Avant (’10) who played for the Lady Volunteers and Rhodes Lynx as well as Cameron Payne (’13), student of Murray State, who declared NBA draft at the beginning of April.

Mrs. O’Neill continued , saying that while there are certainly larger schools such as Murray recruiting at Lausanne, it is actually smaller colleges (with quality athletics programs in spite of their size) that have expressed the most interest in Lausanne athletics. What is truly noteworthy of the interested universities, however, is not solely their athletic programs but their all-around quality, demonstrating how our athletes have not only earned attention through just athletic endeavors but through their more than qualified academic backgrounds.

The college advisors have seen Lausanne providing the unique opportunity for athletes to succeed both within their sport and in the classroom. The students are not only achieving within a single field; even within Lausanne’s 2015 graduating class alone we have students going to schools nationally recognized both for their athletics and academics.

This year we have four students officially signed to play sports in college. Both Spencer Mackey and Skal Labissiere are headed to Division I schools-- University of Memphis for football and University of Kentucky to play basketball, respectively. Gus White and Cullen Robinette are going to play Division III at Hendrix College-a consistently ranked top private school; the former is signed for football and the latter for lacrosse. As is evident, these scholarships go to a diverse variety of students. While some explicitly pursue sports as their sole passion, others, such as Spencer Mackey, have stated that originally they wanted to go to “college just for school,” but, when given the offer, choose to take advantage of the opportunity. The future holds great potential for these athletes and we look forward to witnessing the numerous college achievements that these students will garner.

Current Events at LCS Spanish Two Higher Level Reading to Lower School Margo Huber ‘17

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the words he used and their pronunciations and meanings. Christian agrees with Jason and further explains that, “even if they are 8 year olds, you enhance your Spanish speaking skills by talking and presenting to a crowd.” The Spanish 2 HL class and the 2nd grade students agree that this wonderful experience teaches young kids the importance of language and improves fluency and skill in high school students. On behalf of both the lower and high school students who take a language, thank you, Señora Jara, for providing this fun opportunity to connect with the Lausanne community and better our Spanish skills.

eñora Jara’s Spanish 2 HL class faced a fun and meaningful challenge this quarter: to read their original Spanish stories to the lower school students. The students began by creating stories about any desired topic. Senior Morgan Walker, who wrote about a leprechaun falling in love with a fairy, says she liked being creative and writing a children’s book while applying new verb tenses to her writing. However, the best part for these writers was actually going to the 2nd graders and reading their stories. “I had never felt connected to the younger kids at Lausanne until now,” says Christian Locastro, who enjoyed getting to know a new part of his school. Jason Shwer says he liked spending time in the lower school because the kids were engaged and very interested in Spanish. He says that this program is important to continue because the younger kids can experience the type of work that goes on in a high school class, and this project creates an interactive lesson, from which both the lower school kids and the high school kids benefit.

Christian and Jason highlight an important benefit of this project, which is that bridges are built between language barriers globally and between large age differences at school.

As the Spanish 2 HL students presented their books, they prompted the lower school students to infer what each page was about based on illustrations and the words to which the 2nd graders had already been exposed. Jason says, “it was interesting how much Spanish they already Pictures by: Señora Jara knew,” and that the vocal interaction as well as the prompting forced him to really think about 6

A Night With Gatsby

National Honor Society Inductions

Aynsley Hartney ‘16

Zack Brownlee ‘17

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elcome to West Egg. Or maybe North Egg as we headed to prom downtown at the old North End Restaurant know known as the Balinese Ballroom in the Pinch District. On Saturday, April 25, the upper school was invited to spend the night with Jay Gatsby. The magical atmosphere set the stage for an unforgettable night. Everyone looked stunning. Daisy would definitely have approved of all of the Lausanne glitz and glamour.

About halfway through the dance, the D.J. suddenly called the seniors to the center of the dance floor. With seniors shoulder to shoulder, words from Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” flooded the room. What a special memory for the seniors.

The night was over as soon as it began, one might think. People danced the night away under the flickering lights – what a great way to start wrapping up the year. A fun night had by all!

Picture by: Aynsley Hartney 7

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he annual honor society inductions have rolled around, and once again many students have joined the prestigious ranks of each subject’s honor society.

Being in an honor society is a privilege and assists in being able to get into college, which every Lausanne student strives to do. As Anita Pershad put it, during an interview where she was asked how the National Honor Societies have helped her, “Having these honor societies on your resume can help show the colleges you apply to that you are capable of meeting the academic rigor of those institutions. Also, since many of the honor societies at Lausanne are national societies, with induction qualifications that are uniform across the nation, it’s a way colleges can compare you with other students other than standardized tests.” The many national honor societies do not only add to a student’s repertoire for college, they also help build the character of the students. Having a good character is something that helps in all aspects of life and it could be argued that the character building aspect of the honor societies is the most important facet of the institutions. Mr. John “Pythagoras” Brewster had this to say on how student’s characters are built through these many high standing organizations. “Recognizing students in the different subjects by inducting them into the respective honor societies gives those students the recognition they deserve. They deserve to be recognized for all the hard work and effort that they put into their classes, and that recognition should make them feel that their effort has been worth it. Their character of dedication to their studies is made public to peers and parents which in turn, should enhance their character.” This shows that NHS is not just an organization to honor students for their accomplishments in certain subjects, but to also help them become a better person. The National Honor Society helps student excel in school and gives them the confidence to do better in school. As long as Lausanne supports National Honor Society students as Lausanne well continue to do wonderful thing and reach their potential.

Rap Battle Luis Barranco ‘16

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little over a month ago, a new craze began during a Wednesday lunch session. A few juniors including Alex Taylor, Ben Calkins, and Josh Clein decided it would be fun to host a rap battle at school. With the help of a few friends, the battles began on a sunny afternoon, outside in the Lausanne amphitheater. When speaking to one of the main masterminds of the project, Alex Taylor, he said the idea came about when he and Ben Calkins were hanging out over weekend together with other friends. One of the friends, who was rapping to an excessive degree the inaugural participants, began free styling at an excessive, in which he says, “he was decent”. Later on, at lunch they continued to freestyle and the idea of holding rap battles came about.

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With the help of Josh Clein, they as Ya Boi Krish) and heated rival were able to secure a matchup Joseph Igoni (Known as Jigoni). between Krish Mutiah and Luis Krish has repeated called out Barranco as the inaugural rap Joseph with no response from battle. When asking him about the Jigoni camp. Alex did not how he felt on the popularwant to divulge more into there ity of the first battle, he said he future plans saying, “We like to was happy at the result but was keep our cards close to the vest.” mainly shocked at the sheer He also encourages anyone who mass of people. Afterwards he wants to participate to contact and his compatriots were uneasy him, Josh Clein , or Ben Calkins. about continuing the battles

Stay tuned to the Lauafter members of administration sanne Rap Battles twitter page, approached the founders and where matchups will be posted participants. Administration sup- at the end of the school week ported the events and wanted to with a promotional poster. The take this to a larger stage in the future of rap battles at Lausanne form of midday madness. The shines bright.

Lausanne Rap Battle founders declined such move, as they did not want to lose control of their creation. I asked Alex, why have a layoff between battles. He said “There was pressure living up to expectations on the second battle to the first” and felt they could not produce a matchup that would live up to the first battle. He feels the hype is an integral to a battle saying, “If it’s a matchup that everyone wants to see, the word will spread by itself”. When speaking upon the future of the rap battles, he spoke that he does not want the battles Asa Shaw after his vitory in the rap becoming a skill based combattle! petition, saying “keeping them original and not taking them seriously” the projects motto.

When speaking upon matchups, he spoke that “they are working on a mega battle” in which they are hoping to announce it in the future. According to multiple sources within the camp, the highly anticipated battle, that the LRB waits to announce is between former Lausanne Rap Battle King Krish Mutiah (Known

Theater/ Arts Review of Into the Woods Rachel Layton ‘17

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opefully, everyone had a chance to go see Into The Woods this past couple weeks! It was truly one of Lausanne’s best productions so far. From the set, to the costumes, to the actors and actresses themselves, it was a professional level performance. A lot of hard work, as well as fun, went into the production of Into The Woods, especially from Lausanne’s seniors.

So, who were this years seniors? Caitlin Freeman and Ben Staton took the duel leads of the Baker and his wife. Zoie Brown played Cinderella’s role wonderfully, and Thomas Clark was cast as Cinderella’s father.

Natalie Russell played the lead narrator, and of course, Carly Nahon was the beautiful (eventually) witch. And who could forget Emilie Vanness who doubled up both as the beautiful Sleeping Beauty and has been a wonderful stage manager for the past few years. This year’s theatrical seniors have truly been some of the best.

As you can imagine, there were a lot of emotional moments for the seniors as this was their final production before they go on to bigger and even better things! Some of our seniors have been here since day one, like Carly Nahon who 9

was coming to rehearsals since she was in baby carriages. And Natalie Russell, whose entire family has been helping out with Lausanne theater for years.

And as for the performance itself? There’s not a person in the audience who wasn’t moved by the Baker’s end of ‘No More’. Both Ben and Caitlin’s voices meshed perfectly together, and the audience’s response to their performance was outstanding. And throughout every night of performance, there was a standing ovation for Cinderella’s solos, shock at the Narrator’s stories, and amazement at the Witch’s solos and the reveal of her beauty at the end of Act One was one of the highlights of her character. Yes, there is truly no doubt that the class of 2015’s actors, actresses, and technical crew are some of the overall best Lausanne has seen. Seniors, you will all be missed very much, and thank you for all you’ve offered the school and the theater!

Pictures by Ms. Lotterhos

Upper School Art Show Ara Hanissian ‘17

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n Sunday, the 19th of April, Lausanne held its art exhibition in the Fred Blackmon Gallery at the Elder Performing Arts Center. Students from some of Lausanne’s upper school fine arts classes contributed works for the display. The pieces ranged in media from paint or pencil to coffee to sculptures and other threedimensional media. Some were stylized and some were more realistic. Those that were stylized were not a mere emulation of styles that came before. Unique and unfamiliar variations of style were found in the diverse body of student work. Those realistic were representative of the progress students are making in their skill in fine arts. Talent as well as a great deal of intent and devotion was apparent.

High school art shows tend to show whatsoever the students may have been assigned to do, without much deviation. The pieces at the Lausanne show, however, displayed a great deal of expression. This kind of expression is not discouraged, which is very promising, especially considering that the pieces 10

demonstrate the high level of technical skill of our students. It is important to highlight that fine arts can be a medium of release for some. This is not only facilitated by technical instruction of a caliber for which we should all be grateful to have available, but there is a kind of symbiosis afoot.

same applies for the rest of the upper school fine arts classes.

The product of their hard work is extraordinary. I encourage the readers to visit the Visual Arts galleries on the school website to witness this themselves.

The creative capacity of students at Lausanne is allowed a refreshing and beatific transmittal to our community. That is, in one major way, through fine arts. To enhance that transmittal is a venerable goal. Take, for instance, sophomore Leah Blatteis’ experience with the Michaelangelo Project. She entered the program practicing her stylized form, to which Ms. Manzo, Program Director of the Michaelangelo Project at Lausanne, explained that it was imperative to learn fundamental techniques for art to improve both the stylized and realistic forms.

Leah remarks, “learning realism and observational drawing became a crucial part of my practice and I wouldn’t be half as good at both of my art styles if it wasn’t for that information.” If you have seen Leah’s work, you know to be grateful for her having that learning experience. The

Pictures By: Haddie Kim

Credits Editors In ChiefDahlia Katz Hannah Meskin Section EditorsRebecca Price Nassem Yousef Emily Thomas Sarah Edwards Christian Locastro WritersEpiphany Jones Jason Shwer Luis Barranco Rachel Layton Zack Brownlee Tony Chen Ara Hannisian Aynsley Hartney Sarah Boxer Rosie Gruen Claire Tanenbaum Margo Huber Abigail Grayson Dahlia Katz Hannah Meskin InterviewersEmma Cavagnero Olivia Fox Holly Moore- McMiller Allison Boshwit Maggie Strassburger PhotographersMaggie Lin Carrie Lotterhos Matthew George Haddie Kim

Advice Column

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halom, hola, bonjour, hi my international friends. Louie the Lynx here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Lausanne’s elite (no, we’re not talking about the basketball team right now).

Anyways, I’ve been getting lots and lots of messages from apprehensive students about prom (mostly freshman, but don’t worry your secrets safe with me). I’m here to help you embarrass yourself a little less prom night. Let’s start from the beginning: 1. This message goes out to all of the soon to be Oompa-Loompas. What are you doing to yourself? Orange is the new black, not the new white. You will not win prom queen because you look like a more ripe tomato than the person next to you. Pale is the new tan, ladies. Michael Jackson tried to change who he was, and look how that turned out. Embrace the color of your skin, for confidence is key my friends!

2. Obviously every girl wants to have the most amazing dress at prom, which is totally great. However, it is important to keep in mind that you will most likely not be making a grand entrance down a staircase with everyone in the room looking at you, and the boy you have had a crush on since freshman year will probably not fall in love with you. So make sure you pick a dress you love and one that you don’t mind wearing for a few hours. Comfort is key, regardless of what you think. Because when the night approaches and your stumbling in stilettos, I’m gonna be watching, and you’ll be wishing you took my advice.

3. Winning prom queen is practically every girl’s dream (even if you don’t want to admit it). Everyone wants to have their Mean Girls moment by breaking the crown and tossing it out to the “wannabes” and “losers.” But the truth is, being prom queen will not instantly make you popular or make your problems go away (and who wants to be Lindsay Lohan anyway). When you graduate, no one will care if you were prom queen in high school. Instead of thinking about that, have fun and make a memory that will last you a lifetime.

So there you have it! Follow these steps and you’ll be sure to have the greatest prom experience in history. Leave your morals at home and put yourself out there. Show your date the best moves on the dance floor, I’m talking the Lawnmower, Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide... you know the “hot” moves (wink wink). And who knows? You might just catch me there, so be sure not to embarrass yourselves too much ;) You know you love me, XOXO Louie

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