[2023/24] The Green and White Vol. II, No. 1

The Green & White VOL. II ... NO. 1

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The 2024 Election

[SATIRE] Nothing of note happens at Junior Lock-in

Mai Malesky ‘25 Co-Editor-in-Chief

On the brink of a contentious and highly anticipated presidential election, our school (like many nationwide) finds itself with a new generation of voters.

To some at DA, the right and duty of voting in 2024 can be unfamiliar, daunting, or even unimportant. I set out to find some future voters. I spoke to four fellow DA students about their perspectives on the election next year, and their responses varied. Source. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article268233312.

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What even is “Self-Plagiarism”?

Shriya Dharmapurikar ‘26 Co-Editor-in-Chief In one of the first Sophomore Class meetings of the school year, two honor council representatives went on stage and did a standard presentation about the honor code. At the end, they

explained that they’d have been seeing a rise in cases of self-plagiarism. I was confused as to what the word “self-plagiarism” really meant.

Are my imaginary friends finally being recognized as

“Stop the steal”: DA varsity men’s soccer robbed of victory on homecoming night

Talk It Out: DA’s most controversial club

Max Tendler ‘24 Co-Editor-in-Chief

It’s October 6th, 2023 — a warm autumn evening, and the stands watching over the DA soccer field are ablaze, fans hotter than a million suns. The air electric, screams of fury and joy battle for dominance as a sea of green and blue erupts in the wake of a referee’s whistle.

A few hours previous, though, the game had just begun.

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legitimate students by the school administration? Seems unlikely. I looked to Claire Hong ‘24, president of the Honor Council, for an answer.

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Ama Mensah-Boone ‘24 Guest Writer “It’s really hot in here,” a freshman whispers to their friend. Both of them stand near the door, leaning against the wall since there are no seats left; nearly thirty Upper Schoolers are crammed into an upstairs room in the STEM Building for this school year’s first Talk It Out Meeting.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2023

Joshua Yoon ‘25 Staff Writer

Perhaps the biggest expectation for the Junior Class Council this year was that they’d hold more social events for the class of 2025. In previous years, our Class Council has often received criticism that they don’t really do anything. As a result, the elected council members started off their term this year with an ambitious poll (democracy!) that allowed members of the class to vote on a major social event for the year. We chose an Among Us themed Junior Class Lock-In. In the weeks following, the class president, the Class Council, and the lead class advisors started to plan the biggest event the Junior Class and probably the world has ever seen.

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The venerable Mr. Adair: A career retrospective Connor Ennis ‘24 Guest Writer Mr. Jordan Adair, the film, c reative nonfiction, legendary English te- southern fiction, and a crossoacher who’s worked at ver class with Mr. Ebert called DA for 29 out of 43 ye- Reality and its Representations. ars of his teaching ca- He also coached basketball for reer, plans to retire his first five years, but he said, after this school year. “That just about killed me,” Continued on Page 3 He’s been involved in many different aspects Join us! of the community. He’s taught English at every Email Max Tendler, Sarah Muir, Mai Malesky, or Shriya grade level during his Dharmapurikar to submit an tenure, AP Art History, article or join the team! as well electives on war, FRONT PAGE

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MONDAY, JANUARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 14, 2024 2023

What even is “self-plagiarism”?

Continued from Page 1 Claire told me, “self-plagiarism is to reuse work that you have done on a past assignment and present it as new.

For example, copying sentences from a previous essay and pasting them into a new one would be self-plagiarism.” I’d found my answer! I was still left wondering, though, does the rest of the DA student body know what self-plagiarism is?

Interviewing other students, I found that an alarming number of them had no idea what I was referring to when I asked “Do you know what self-plagiarism is?”

Of the 32 students I interviewed, 21 responded with “no.” 7 guessed a definition that was close, but not completely accurate. Only 4 students I interviewed could tell me confidently what self-plagiarism is, one of which was Gabby Goodman ‘26— a member of the honor council.

In fact, the concept of whether self-plagiarism should even be an honor council violation at all is heavily disputed among students. For example, Kai Forbach ‘26, Social Events Committee chair, explains that, “if you wrote something legitimately, that’s your work;

I feel like you should be able to use that in whatever context you want.” Siddharth Srivats ‘25 offered that it “saves student work, and I’m for the students here.” Alex Huang ‘24, has mixed feelings. “I think it’s probably bad in certain instances to reuse work when you’re supposed to be using new work. But I also think it probably depends on the assignment because I can think of some more open-ended assignments, particularly pertaining to English, in which I think it would be a benefit to draw upon an existing body of work that you’ve done.”

Lily Goldin ‘25 told me, “I’m just confused by the whole concept [of self-plagiarism]. I think we need to be educated about it first, because how can I form an opinion if I don’t know what self-plagiarism is? But I find it fascinating that it’s in the honor code and I [didn’t] know.”

From my interviews, it seems that a large part of the student body doesn’t really know what self-plagiarism is. However, I also discovered that the idea of self-plagiarism is up for debate among DA students, some of whom believe it shouldn’t be an honor code violation

The Open Gradebook: A years-long battle concludes Zaina Taha ‘25 Staff Writer

The end of the quarter can often cause students to be caught in a whirlwind of stress, with last-minute assessments and countless looming deadlines.

However, one of the most anxiety-inducing aspects is the uncertainty surrounding grades in certain classes, where teachers chose to keep grades hidden until quarter report cards were released. Fortunately, the Student Academic Committee recently got an open grade book proposal approved. This means that from now on, students will have

access to their grades in all their classes two weeks before the end of the first and third quarters, and these grades will remain accessible throughout the entire quarter.

ter report cards, we could only see our letter grades, but being able to see my exact grade gives me a better understanding of where I stand in a class.”

The decision to implement this open grade book policy has been met with enthusiasm from many students. For example, Erin Lee ‘25 acknowledges that while it can be a bit scary to have easy access to all her grades with a click, she also appreciates that it reduces the stress of uncertainty. She notes, “In the quar-

Similarly, Kathryne Hong ‘25 finds the open grade book system beneficial. She explains, “Being able to access a detailed breakdown of my grades allows me to identify both my strengths and weaknesses and focus my efforts on areas that require improvement. Thus, I can prioritize my studying, allocating my time and resourc-

Spirit Committee did not stick to the norm. AsSpirit Committee co-chair, Ama Mensah-Boone ‘23, said:“We wanted to show off a lot of different sides of our school…I feel like [a lot of] those are kinda forgotten.” Indeed, the diverse performance showcased the traditional fall sports introductions and the Alma Mater but it also featured showings from the Dance Club and XIV Hours.

The creative events that took place were unforgettable. Start-

ing off strong with musical chairs between the lowerclassmen and then the upperclassmen. This competition starred collisions and arguments that filled the hollow gym. Next was the sleeping bag/sack competition: a choppy race from start to finish (my personal favorite due to Sarp Erden’s (‘25) headfirst collision), littered with sudden stops and uncontrolled turnarounds that flipped the tide every second. Of course, the unbeatable enthu-

Pep Rally Recap

es effectively to maximize my learning outcomes.”

While the end of every quarter will undoubtedly still carry its fair share of academic demands and challenges, the implementation of the open grade book policy will hopefully alleviate some of the stress students experience during this time, creating a more transparent learning environment.

Nicholas Wang ‘25 Staff Writer

The Pep Rally on October 6th marked a star event of Durham Academy’s Homecoming. On a crisp Friday morning, the Upper School masses began to roll into Kirby Gym. Despite the early gatheringmorning time, the Spirit Committee’s work quickly reversed the lethargy. With no time wasted the gathering was soon, as an anonymous Junior termed it, “electric.” The Pep Rally is a long-standing tradition at DA, but despite this, the 2

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siasm from Ama and Clay tied the occasion together. Overall, the 2023 Upper School Homecoming Pep Rally successfully established itself within a busy fall, bringing a distinct lightheartedness to the student body.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2023 THE GREEN & WHITE

The venerable Mr. Adair: A career retrospective Continued from Page 1 explaining how those difficulties led to his passion for cycling. He also has been in ten theater productions at Durham Academy.

In his time here, he expressed his appreciation for how DA has supported him in his many passions, such as with the creation of the ASSIST Team and the Veteran’s Day Assemblies, which began in 2006.

Mr. Adair also detailed his training and preparation to bring Art History to DA. It all started with him simply asking the headmaster at the time for permission to teach the course.

“And he said, ‘Well, if you make it an AP, I’ll let you teach it.’

And I said, ‘DA will [need to] give me some training’. So, they paid for me to go to two different training sessions, prepping to teach the course. The second one was up at the... Chicago at the Art Institute, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

And, it was great. I got to spend four days there. My wife came up.

For three of the three additional days. We were there for three days and then did some things together with Frank Lloyd Wright stuff. And then the next four days she left. And then I stayed for four days, did the workshop.”

He then told the story of a service initiative he engaged in with the Rotary Club connections of former history teacher Mr. Gould.

Mr. Adair took four student trips over spring break down to San Ramon, Nicaragua, which is Durham’s sister city. The engagement culminated with a $13,000 fund drive to build a school in a rural community there.

After discussing what he loved about the school, I asked what he would like to see improve or change in the community.

Mr. Adair expressed his belief in de-emphasizing grades, and said “I value a more holistic perspective on students, on being able to

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see the whole student divorced from how they might do with a grade and more about how they might grow as a person.” He also expressed his support for the movement away from APs, saying that it is good that DA is trusting in the “tremendous faculty we have here to create rigorous, advanced classes that actually do something other than adhere to an established syllabus - that allows for a lot more creativity.”

He then explained his disagreement with the current schedule system.

“I know that this was initiated by students. But my belief is that we do better as teachers and students flourish better if they see their teachers more often. So we’re in a class schedule here where I see my students for 75 minutes, twice a week, three if I’m lucky. [I] never see them on consecutive days.

Which makes it harder, like, something happens in class and I need to follow up on that. I get you the next day in class. We can kind of sort through that kind of stuff.

It was harder for my senior electives, for instance, with my work class in particular. I brought in a lot of veterans when I had shorter classes that met more frequently.

I was able to spread my veterans out, have them come in, and then the next day debrief their visits. Now it’s harder to do that because you have long periods of time sometimes between it. Um, ll of that aside, I mean, that’s a minor issue compared to the academic freedom that I have at a place like this.”

Getting on a more personal level, he talked about his wife of 41 years, Pam Brown, who has already been retired for three years after working for 25 years in Student Services at the Duke Fuqua School of Business. She was frequently brought up during our conversation, especially since she was his answer to the question of who has been the most impactful person in his life. He

met her in 1981 at a personal development workshop in North Andover, Massachusetts that his brother and sister-in-law recommended for him.He married her one year later. They have both been on a journey of sobriety for over 35 years, and he said that she has played a crucial role in this part of his life.

Besides his wife, Mr. Adair also mentioned his cooperating teacher at a public high school in Williamsburg, Virginia, as well as his supervising professor at the School of Education at William & Mary as people who have also profoundly affected his life for the better.

His passion for teaching and love for his students shone throughout the entire interview. He said, “I’m lucky that I’m able to go to a job that I really like. You know, I mean, I think there are a lot of people who may make a lot more money than me who don’t like their jobs. I’m in a field that I think is one of the most underappreciated, underpaid, but most noble professions. And I’m at a place that values teachers and I feel lucky for that.” He talked about how he has loved keeping in touch with former students over the years, and as mentioned in the discussion about grades, he explained how he strives to know the students on a deeper level than just what arises to the surface in an English class.

He also said “I think to treat students like they’re children is a mistake. I mean, I don’t teach elementary school, so they’re children, but high school students are a different animal, and I think they just want to be treated like young adults. They want to be treated with respect, and they want their opinions to matter.”

In a shift to inquiring about his broader view of life, I asked about how his health scares have changed his outlook. In January of 2022, he suffered a heart attack, and he was out for a month early this school year

with nearly fatal complications from a gallbladder surgery. Both scary events he said “[gave] him pause about his mortality,” and brought his love for athletics and staying fit into question.

This led Mr. Adair to consider retirement after a long and fruitful career, but it was certainly not an easy choice for him. He elaborated on the decision, saying “When you have taught as long as I have and your identity is wrapped up in your professional life as mine is, you know, I said, Okay, I’m going to retire. And then you kind of go, Well, really, should I retire?

This last episode has reinforced the decision to retire as being the right one. Um, you know, I’m 68 years old. My wife is eight years older than me. So we want to do things together. I’ve had a great career. I feel blessedthat I’ve been able to teach as long as I have in a profession that I absolutely love.”

After this, I asked him about any goals he has for life in retirement.

He mentioned that he wants to continue cycling, travel with his wife (they have a trip to Scotland planned in 2025), and write.

Mr. Adair talked about how he normally sticks with non-fiction writing, an area in which he has experience and skill. For example, he has written many book reviews, and done freelance writing for The Independent and PopMatters magazine. He was unsure if he wanted to write a memoir, but he stated that he certainly wants to write about teaching.

This desire once again reinforces how core it has been to his life.

The last main question I had for Mr. Adair was if he had any advice for future generations here at DA. “Be open to new things. Don’t go to college predetermined on what you’re going to study. Be open to what you might discover. You never know who you might meet or what you might experience. That will shape how you see the world.”

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MONDAY, JANUARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 14,2024 2023

The venerable Mr. Adair: A career retrospective Continued from Page 3 He also reemphasized the importance of gratitude, talking about how thankful he is for his life and the people in it (especially his wife).

We finished off with a lightning round to get to know him just a bit more. Here are his responses (some longer than others): Piece of media that has influenced your life the most: “Well, my mother was a classically trained pianist and organist who instilled in me a love of the arts, and of music in particular.

So I value art. An artist and what the artistic world has to offer to us and helping us understand human nature and human behavior and music, in particular, has been really important. I don’t go too many days without listening to music or just appreciating all the different kinds of music. I love listening to classical music probably more than any, but I have very eclectic tastes, you know, from jazz to rock, to alternative, to contemporary, some contemporary music.”

Favorite movies: Citizen Kane, Chinatown, and Blade Runner.

Favorite books: Infinite Jest, the Great Gatsby, and Huck Finn. He also loves to read nonfiction, such as the biographies of artists and musicians.

Favorite musical artists: Rosanne Cash, Bruce Hornsby (his former classmate), The Allman Brothers, Joni Mitchell, and The Grateful Dead.

Favorite color: Red Favorite Food: Mediterranean Any student who has had Mr. Adair will attest to the fact that he has made an indelible impact on the Durham Academy communi-

ty. From being an English, AP Art, film, and Literature in War teacher, to bringing incredible veterans to our school each year, to creating a non-disciplinary support group for students struggling with addiction, to being an adult who supports every student’s passion, and wholeheartedly believes everyone can succeed.

On behalf of the entire school, and especially every student who has been lucky enough to learn from Mr. Adair: Thank you, we all wish you the best in retirement.

Celebrating 20 years at DA: Mr. Phu, Profe Simón, and Mr. Meyer Aayaz Husain ‘25 Staff Writer

This year marks a number of teachers’ 20th year teaching at Durham Academy. To honor their dedication to this school, we thought we’d take a deep dive to celebrate a bit of who they are and what they’ve done for our community.

Thomas Phu After over 20 years of teaching, Mr. Phu continues to be an integral part of the DA community. When he’s not teaching or coaching, though, Mr. Phu loves to hike, and aimsto trek the Himalayan mountains’ foothills and traverse from Pakistan/India to Nepal and then to Bhutan.

When asked about his favorite memory at DA, Mr. Phu explained that he’llnever forget the moments when frustrated students finally understand a concept and he gets to watch their frowns turn into smirks. To him, teaching isn’t just about forcing them to recall facts and figures— it’s about teaching them toproblem-solve. He further reminisced on how special it is to see his goalkeepers take command of the field knowing that their success came from hard work and a true love for the game.

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When I asked what piece of advice he’d give his younger self, he offered, , “don’t try so hard to prove to yourself that you should be [at] a place like DA.” Instead of sacrificing precious seconds worrying about proving himself all the time, nowadays, he reminds himself of the invaluable cultural knoweldge and wealth of personal experience that he can bring to every class.

Beyond teaching, though, what brings him back year after year is the community.. Specifically, he values how every teacher is here to help one another—something he couldn’t say for his old school.

At the end of the day, for Mr. Phu, DAis a place where he can not only pursue his passion for teaching and coaching, but can learn and grow as a person through the process. Part of that growth has included his Diaspora Kitchen class, a course he pioneered last year that’s allowed students to learn about different repatriated cultures through their cuisine. While his vision for the class shifted with time, he believes that it has a lot of untapped potential and hopes to continue it in the future.

Liliana Simón Ms. Simón, better known as Profe Simón, has found her place at DA over the last 20 years. In her free time, Profe Simón loves reading, camping, and running.

Her favorite part about teaching is when she receives letters in Spanish from her former students telling her about how they are doing. Similarly, she told me she’d never forget the moment when she took her daughter to the hospital for surgery and the main surgeon was one of her former students.

Some of Profe Simón’s favorite DA traditions are the plays and theatrical performances because of their high quality and, as the faculty advisor of the Rise Against Hunger club, the ability to raise money during these events. She alsomisses taking a handful of students to the Inca trail in Peru every year.

Although she wishes she could get back the countless hours of sleep she has lost in her 20 years of teaching, that doesn’t take away from the gratification she feels when she sees students have their “wow” moments. Every day, Profe Simón hopes to open doors for her students and help

them realize they can explore a whole new world through Spanish. When I asked Profe Simón about her motivation to stay at DA for so long, she explained that it is because of the friends she has made at DA as they have become her family, helping her through the highs and lows.

As the creator of Spanish Lab and the Heritage class, the first teacherto implement a multiday exam, and the first teacher to not use textbooks, Profe Simón has come to love teaching Spanish because it allows her to teach the students a variety of critical themes in novel and creative ways while also helping them develop the necessary skills to speak and understand the language as effectively as possible.

Michael Meyer Over the past 20 years, Mr. Meyerhas cemented himself as a highly accomplished and beloved DA music teacher. When he isn’t teaching, he enjoys hiking, making music in his adult a capella group, The Seven Deadly Bibs, and performing in his men’s chorus group, Vox Virorum.

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THE GREEN & WHITE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2023

Celebrating 20 years at DA: Mr. Phu, Profe Simón, and Mr. Meyer Continued from Page 4 Mr. Meyer told me he’ll never forget the moments when students try something new, whether that be an instrument or a music group, and they find their passion. When I asked about his favorite traditions at DA, he answered with a few: Special Olympics, In The Pocket’s annual potluck, XIV Hours’s performances during the exam week, the Alumni and Family In The Pocket show, and Senior Challenge.

If he could give his younger self

one piece of advice, he’dtell him to mellow out more. Rather than being so harsh on students, he wishes he would have better understood that students are still developing and shouldn’t be treated on the same level as adults. Additionally, he wishes that, in his early days of teaching, he had placed more of an emphasis on helping students learn the importance of problem-solving. Now, as the parent of two DA alumni, he’s witnessed the highs and lows that his children went through

and can better understand his students/advisees and engage with them on a deeper level.

sic. He tells me he’ll always cherish that, even after he leaves DA.

When asked about his motivation for staying at DA for so long, Mr. Meyer said that this school has become a part of his identity and he doesn’t know where he would be other than here. Lastly, he describes his love for every class/group he teaches because they all bring together people from different backgrounds and skill levels and allow them to connect over a common medium: mu-

Conclusion The mark Mr. Phu, Profe Simón, and Mr. Meyer have left on our school has been indelible. So, I think I speak for all of us when I say: thank you. This school—this community—is made better every day by just your presence and the incredible work you do here. Here’s to many more years to come!

Talk It Out: DA’s most controversial club Continued from Page 1 Talk It Out is the Upper School’s largest political club and also has a reputation of being one of the most controversial places on campus. Leaders Myra Pasha (‘24), Lucas Radcliffe (‘24), Stella Edwards (‘25) and Maya Patel (‘25) seek to create a safe space on campus to discuss extremely divisive topics that are at the forefront of American politics.

“This [club] was my brother’s baby, so I got to see it grow up,” Myra shared with leadership after the first club meeting ended. “As he graduated, I didn’t want it to go away. After 2020…politics are only going to get harder to discuss, and we need a space for that.”

Lucas, the other senior leader of the club, echoed that sentiment. “I have always had an interest in history and politics.

No one really wanted to talk politics with me, not even my friends, so this space––this club––was really important to me. You know, I started thinking, how would I leave this community better than I found it?”

In their first meeting, the club didn’t shy away from discussing extremely controversial topics.

While it took the conversation a little while to heat up, abortion, gun rights and affirmative action were all explored in depth.

Sophomore Leonardo Colacito spearheaded the dialogue 5

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about gun rights, leading the club to talk about everything from government mistrust to repealing the Second Amendment. “Guns are such a permanent solution to everything and we need to stop thinking about them that way,” senior Neta Ariely suggested, but quickly met resistance. Sophomore Spencer Hill offered another interpretation: “[Guns] are like Pandora’s Box, and we already opened it.”

The discussion about affirmative action saw almost everyone in the room participate, especially freshmen, and quickly turned to a discussion of the long-reaching effects of systematic injustice against minorities. “Without something like affirmative action to fight back, you can’t call [the United States ] a fair playing field,” senior Connor Ennis argued. “You can’t call [college education] we have now a fair playing field.”

While Myra and Lucas have been involved with the club for years, Maya and Stella are working hard to make sure that the club won’t fade away when the Class of 2024 graduates in the spring.

“My reason for wanting to lead the club? I mean, when I started high school, I was the shy but opinionated type,” Maya laughs.

“Talk It Out really helped me find ways to articulate things that are difficult to talk about and po-

larizing in the DA community.”

“It’s really exciting to see my peers express their voices in ways that deepen the understanding of others,” sophomore Atlas Lad adds. He currently serves as the club’s Leader-in-Training and hopes to work with Stella and Maya to continue the club’s presence in the DA community in coming years.

Omar Pasha (‘23), who led the club for three years and is currently trying to start a branch at UNC Charlotte, stopped by and attended this year’s first meeting.

“What I liked [about this meeting] is the diversity between ages and how everyone is getting involved,” he noted. “We still have big turnout, but there’s way more underclassmen now.

The club is in amazing hands.”

getting them to be able to talk to each other about difficult things.”

Talk It Out is currently advised by Mr. Saxena, but Mr. Ulku-Steiner, who advised Crossing the Divide, dropped in on the meeting. Although he couldn’t stay for the entire meeting, he challenged students in the club to be brave and step out of their comfort zones.

Before leaving, Mr. Ulku-Steiner reminded all of the club members of why Talk It Out matters so much: “Whoever pushes back against an opinion, whoever speaks up to contradict the majority, you are advancing everyone’s thinking. You are a hero in this room.”

How I lost my love of STEM

However, there’s one thing that many DA students still want to know: what happened to Crossing the Divide? Why did the club change its name to Talk it Out?

Shriya Dharmapurikar ‘26

When asked this question, most of the club leaders laughed.

Omar, who had the most involvement with the name change, shed light on the situation: “We wanted to start a new chapter by changing the name of the club to Talk It Out and make it more aligned with our goals. But, more than the name [of the club], it’s about the concept. It’s about getting people into a room and

In fifth grade, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell you I wanted to be a computer scientist, I wanted to go to Stanford, and I wanted to work at Google someday.

Co-Editor-in-Chief

If I told my friends the same thing now, they would be shocked.

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MONDAY, JANUARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 14, 2024 2023

“Stop the steal”: DA varsity men’s soccer robbed of victory on homecoming night Continued from Page 1 After a brief rendition of the national anthem by XIV Hours, the DA varsity men’s soccer team entered the field to roaring applause by a surprisingly sizable crowd. Kai Wong ‘24 described the atmosphere as “freaking fantastic.” Ava Claar ‘24 estimated 200+ spectators. “The crowd is super big, I think this is the most packed I’ve ever seen the stands, which is awesome. On theme and in spirit,” she told me. We weren’t the only ones bringing the energy, though.

Opposite our boys in green stood Ravenscroft, whose fans I can only describe as the worst.

One Ravens fan in particular kept playing the loudest, most annoying cowbell I have ever heard probably in my entire life.

He was my enemy. Maybe even more than I wanted us to win, I wanted that guy specifically to lose.

For a brief moment, around halfway through, it seemed my prayers were answered: the ball went soaring past the Ravens’ goalie and securely into the net.

Cheers erupted from every direction; the energy the crowd produced in that moment alone could have powered a small village in the Netherlands for about a year. It was awesome.

And then, as soon as it started, it was over.

The Ravens shot their first penalty kick. It went in. 0-1.

“So, we just scored a crazy goal, everyone went crazy, and then they just took the goal off the… off the scoreboard.” That’s student body president Caleb Chen ‘24. Rumors were floating around the crowd that it was offsides, or maybe that the sprinklers turned on at just the wrong moment to cancel out the goal.

We shot. They blocked it. 0-1.

Then, the second worst sound in the world (right after that stupid cowbell) rang across the field: the ref’s whistle. “Offsides.” Pandemonium.

They shot. Goal. 1-4.

had

Some noted their excitement about finally being able to vote.

As Kenna Wells ‘24 explained, being able to vote is exhilerating and “makes my voice heard,” especially after a “long history of black people and women [fighting] for the rights to vote.” Lulu Burnside ‘24 added on to that, telling me that it’s thrilling to participate in an “important part of our democracy.” Others saw

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We shot. Cheers! 1-2.

“I’m running on pure distress right now,” Connor Ennis, ‘24, told me.

They shot. Goal. 1-3.

We shot. Blocked. 1-3.

When I asked Spirit Committee Co-Chair Clay Meredith, ‘24, for comment, he declined.

“Too devastating,” he replied as he walked off into the night.

Special thanks to Ama Mensah-Boone for the title inspiration!

Game over.

“I’m annoyed; this is blasphemy… I don’t understand how the goal goes in, [then] five minutes later it’s offsides. It doesn’t work like that.” Oma Nwafor, ‘24, was outraged. And she wasn’t alone. Evan Pfeil, ‘24, told me he was “so unbelievably angry at the call they made.”

It wasn’t all bad, though. Despite the rough call, the crowd still largely seemed hopeful.

Mailyn Moore, ‘26, described the atmosphere as still having “definitely good energy.” Ava Claar told me, “I’m staying optimistic. We got this.” As we went into overtime, however, that optimism was put to the test.

The 2024 Election Continued from Page 1

They shot. Groans. 0-2.

The mood was dismal. Dozens poured out to their cars. The cowbell rang ceaselessly.

Students, including student body president Caleb Chen ‘24 (center), react to the referee’s call to rescind DA’s point. Source: Max Tendler

voting as more of a common responsibility. Jet Bilsborrow ‘25 stated that while he’s not enthusiastic about voting, he believes it’s paramount—“something everyone must do.”

essential preparation. Jet jokingly noted that he feels his generation is significantly less informed than older voters and implied that he hopefully learns how to correctly research candidates with time.

A few students felt apprehensive that they and their peers were not sufficiently-informed voters. Angus Cook ‘25 sheepishly admitted that he needs to spend more time researching because he believes learning about each candidate is

When asked about their peers, the other interviewed students referenced the range of enthusiasm their schoolmates felt about being civically engaged. Kenna mentioned how her peers’ perspectives “differ, some people are

very excited and others may not… realize how exciting of a chance [voting] is.” Or take Angus, who specified that, “sadly,” most of his peers are not enthusiastic about voting while some of his friends see voting as “their duty.”

As 2023 comes to an end and 2024 campaigning begins to pick up, I urge you to reflect on these four schoolmates’ perspectives and decide what voting means to you.

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THE GREEN & WHITE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2023

The 2024 Election Continued from Page 6 As Lulu wonderfully articulated, voting is an opportunity “to take on an exciting new role.” If you have noticed a failure in our nation and want to remedy it, voting is your first step of action, your first step to use your voice as an American adult. Learn from your schoolmates, take the time to consider what matters to you, and inform yourself about which candidate will advocate for you.

If you need any assistance registering to vote, take a look at: https://www.ncsbe.gov/registering/how-register

How I lost my love of STEM Continued from Page 5 I loved science as a kid; it was my favorite subject in school. I also never felt like math was too problematic, it always just came to me.

I like to credit this to the fact that I was forced to do Khan Academy math as a child. As a result, I breezed through math until about 6th grade. That was when I was placed into advanced math.

That’s also when I started really hating math. My class had 6 girls: just barely enough to count on two hands. I dreaded every single day of D-period Pre-Algebra. Everyone else knew what was going on as if they had all learned it all on their own before. That wasn’t the worst of it. Everyone knew I

was too stupid for the class. They made it pretty clear. Someone called me, “a Karen” because I was like “the dumb blonde” of Pre-Algebra. Another guy (who wasn’t even in the class) told me that the only reason I got into the class was because they needed a “female quota” and I was “taking spots away from smart guys.”

The funny thing was, I wasn’t even doing badly in the class. I had an A- the entire time. The reason I felt stupid was because everyone else told me I was stupid.

When I walked into Honors Pre-cal this year, everything came back to me. I saw the same guys who made me feel unintelligent. The crying, burnout, and

deep self-hatred all rushed back.

I stayed in the class for about 2 weeks, and then I couldn’t do it. I switched to regular PreCal, and I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

If you asked me right now what my hopes and dreams are, I’ll tell you I want to be a lawyer. I’ll tell you I love public speaking, reading, and writing. I don’t think I’m smart enough to be a computer scientist anymore. But sometimes, a little part of me wonders, if little coder Shriya still exists.

Maybe she’s there, and she’s lost her spark. Or, rather it has just been extinguished. For now.

[SATIRE] Nothing of note happens at Junior Lock-in Continued from page 1 The idea, from its inception, seemed like an unlikely one. Filling a twelve-hour lock-in with interesting-enough activities while only being limited to the first floor Stem and Humanities building seemed impossible to say the least, and super, really impossible to say the most. More ambitious seemed the lock-in itself. Replicating the videogame Among Us in real life only added to the difficulty, as it had council members “assigning imposters, establishing an ‘emergency meeting’ equivalent, or determining the appropriate number of imposters,” as one member told me. Put simply, they put a lot of work and effort into making it work and ensuring they were doing right by the class of 2025.

Thank god their efforts paid off, and absolutely nothing of note happened to ruin the night in any regard!

Over six meetings were held over the course of two weeks to ensure an unforgettable experience. They created missions including obstacle courses, mazes, and cup stacking to make it extra 7

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special. With the help from a few other early-comers, they set up the necessary environment and filmed the introduction video to the Among Us. Surely, after all the commitment given by the right group of people, Thursday was about to see one of the most unexpected surprises for DA. The fruits of their rigorous efforts were shown on full display at the site of the lock-in. With the help of faculty chaperones, who voluntarily devoted their evenings for the cause, the event was a flawless success with high show-up rates, a miraculous breakthrough of the real-life Among Us which the participants enjoyed, and most of all, a safe wrap up of the event! The diligent work of everyone involved had surely been worth it.

Not only was the Among Us a major success, but other activities such as the Forniteand slap boxing tournaments, Amare and Kyngston’s FE!N concert, movies, and karaoke were just as impressive. It was a surprise the event was able to host and coordinate such a wide range of events, given the limited budget and time. One might say that it truly

would have been a misfortune for someone to miss out on it.

The bigger message that the lock-in conveyed was that high school juniors simply sitting on their phones, too “cool” and irresponsible for a school lock-in might have been a misconception after all. One junior, eyes reddened presumably from exhaustion after a night of fun, reported that many students were “getting into it,” and described the mood as “hype and high.”

No lessons other than that one were learned that night.

That perfectly normal, relatively uneventful, night in.

Join us!

Email Max Tendler, Sarah Muir, Mai Malesky, or Shriya Dharmapurikar to submit an article or join the team!

Ultimately, it seems the event reminded the class of 2025 of the integral community of the Durham Academy junior class—a special group seldom highlighted outside of the Cavalier Cup (which is mostly rigged by the seniors anyway) and occasional class meetings. After witnessing first hand the intense preparation that goes into planning such an event and the difficulty of running it, a second coming of anything similar to the Lock-In seems improbable. Regardless, the genuine passion of those who truly wanted to serve the group must be a memorable precedent for the remainder of the journey the class of 2025 has to complete at DA. THE GREEN & WHITE

MONDAY, JANUARY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 14, 2024 2023

DA Conversations: Movies, Music and More — Technical Theatre Sophie Williamson ‘27, Taylor Winstead ‘24 Staff, The DA Podcast On this episode of DA Conversations, Sophie Williamson ‘27 and Taylor Winstead ‘24 interview Myles Zapotoczny ‘25 about Durham Academy technical theatre. We discuss the Upper School’s fall production The Play That Goes Wrong, and the upcoming Upper School winter musical, Into the Woods.

*We recorded intros of students’ voices during the Upper School Club Fair this year saying “hello” and thank all the students who participated. **Our from

intro music Podington

was Bear

Link is in the QR code to the right!

Real Reels Episode 1: Teacher Outfit of the Days Angus Cook ‘25, Kyngston Gaddy ‘25, Nicholas Wang ‘25 Staff Writers

Real Reels Episode 2: Guess the Song Angus Cook ‘25, Kyngston Gaddy ‘25, Nicholas Wang ‘25 Staff Writers

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