The Bridge, April 2021

VOLUME LI ISSUE V

NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON

Challenging Tradition

Senior superlatives have long been a classic yearbook staple — and source of controversy. Read more on p. 6. Photo: Sofia Lozano ’22

APRIL 2021

Reflecting on the Shootings: Martha Neubert Q&A Interview by Janice Cho ’21

On March 16th, eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent and seven of whom were women, died in a spree of shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. Less than a week later, 10 people died in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado. These shootings have reignited age-old conversations about the deep-rooted issues of racism, toxic masculinity, and gun control in the United States. The Bridge spoke with Dean of Equity and Social Justice Martha Neubert to reflect on the recent events.

Below are excerpts from the conversation.

What was your initial reaction when you heard about the Atlanta-area shootings?

My initial reaction was, “Please let everyone be okay.

I’m pretty sure they’re not.

What do you mean it was at spas? Oh God. Was this racially motivated?” When I first heard the reports, the media itself made some note of race and ethnicity, but in the same article, it said the gunman said it wasn’t racially motivated. [This was] the first time that I recall the media essentially saying, “Thanks for your input, [but because of the context] we’re questioning it.”

The gunman claimed that it was “not racially motivated.” What do you think?

I don’t know that it was

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racially motivated because the people were Asian, though I think that’s a factor. I think what makes it racially motivated was that he was a white man. His racial identity has to be considered a motivating factor, given the mass shooter demographics and statistics.

What do we determine as racially motivated? It’s fascinating to me that, when we have shootings of a kind of people, overwhelmingly, that shooter has been young, male, and white, but the racial motivation has been attached to the victims, not the dominant positioning of the shooter. So, I do think it’s racially motivated — by notions of supremacy and fears of inferiority.

Describe your reaction to the Cherokee County sheriff’s remarks that “yesterday was a really bad day for [the gunman].

And this is what he did.”

Sir, when I have a really bad day, maybe I’m passive-aggressive, maybe I go home early, but definitely, people aren’t dead at the end of my bad day. This leeway that men are given to act out on their aggression and anger because there’s “nowhere”else to put it is a societal issue. Whether it’s violence against women, shooting up a grocery store, or calling somebody a bitch, society grants men permission to not have to deal within a range of emotions.

If a boy punches a wall, we just say, “Oh, he was just so angry.” I’ve never met a girl

The Second Amendment in the U.S Constitution has long been a source of controversy. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

who punched a wall, though I’m sure one has. And, it can’t be biological completely — because most men don’t shoot places up. Most men don’t hit women. But we’ve allowed men’s violence to be explainable and justifiable, if not expected. So [the sheriff] saying [the shooter] had a bad day — there’s a sympathetic tone to that.

What concerns or hopes do you have moving forward from this incident?

I hope it won’t happen again. I’m concerned because it will. I have hopes that your generation is going to come to a place where you say, “All right, the Second Amendment is the Second Amendment, but this is nonsense.” Have a gun, defend your family, go

hunting, [have] a well-regulated militia — sure. That’s a fundamental right. But now we are so far past what the Founding Fathers envisioned.

The [gunman in the Boulder shooting] bought his gun six days beforehand. It is absurd that I can go to Springfield and buy a semi-automatic — what do I need with a semi-automatic weapon? It’s beyond complex, frankly.

What about your concerns or hopes about the future of the racism and toxic masculinity you described?

This generation is facing a massive demographic shift that will drive [and is driving] a transfer in power, which means some folks are going to lose or perceive that they

are losing what they’ve always had. For people in dominant groups, that is going to be, at minimum, challenging, but at maximum, impossible for people to wrap their minds around and adjust to the reality [that] the world no longer bends only to their will and they might have to bend to it.

Is this shift a hope or a concern?

It’s both. — because [the shift is] also, to me, what we see happening with voting rights. There is a massive effort right now around essentially suppressing or denying voting rights to American citizens. How is it that we’re still in a place discussing actualizing voting rights for certain people? It’s 2021. Not only can we do better, we must.

How Will the 2010s Be Remembered?

By Gina Atwood ’21 History is the study of past events, yet it yields so much advice for our future. In every history class, it is routine to memorize important dates, facts, and people. But, have we ever stopped to think why these specific events need to be remembered, or if there is a completely contrary perspective that has been forgotten?

So far, throughout the 2010s, there have been a myriad of notable events. We have seen revolutionary technological advancements, various presidents’ administrations, a global pandemic, and much more- quite a bit to be taught in future classes.

Though every person has lived through the same events in the last ten years, a disconnect has been brewing amidst all this change. In the last year, this disconnect has grown to a point of seemingly no return. Each person, whether in the U.S. or internationally, has a drastically different interpretation of our shared history. From elections to wars, perspectives can vary, which innately creates friction when trying to represent these events.

This is the paradox of history. Who writes it? How will these formative years be remembered? What will be taught in our history classes in 50 years? In hopes to gain more perspective, I asked two prominent history teachers at NMH to think about these past few years and what potential essay questions they would assign to future

Chris Edler (left) and Ted Kenyon (right) reflect on how they would teach their future history classes about the present. Photos by Glenn Minshall.

students.

U.S. teacher Ted Kenyon directly addressed the most recent American presidency, focusing on the polarization of our country and whether or not Donald Trump truly represented the American people.

Kenyon asked, “To what extent was Donald Trump a product of the time, or did he define the time?”

This question offers a thought-provoking perspective, for we do not often ponder if our presidents are just beneficiaries of the time, or if they are actually a megaphone for the people. Kenyon also touched upon what factors affect the collective remem-

brance of history, such as who is in power, what political parties are prominent, and the attitude of the nation.

Each of these aspects work in unison to mold how history is taught, though they manifest themselves in different ways. Who is in power and which political parties have the majority can physically impact our education system and directly change what students are learning through the curriculum. The attitude of the nation, however, is more complex, for depending on how patriotic the population is, history can be slightly distorted.

While Kenyon focused on

the Trump Era, World History teacher Chris Edler incorporated the forms of communication that were amplified during Trump’s administration. Edler questioned, “What role did social media play in elevating Trump to the presidency? And to what extent did his use of social media lead to a call for reform and regulation?”

Throughout his presidency, social media, such as Twitter, has become a primary source of communication. Now, the country has been faced with the challenge of restricting his personal accounts due to false information. Chris Edler chose to weave Trump’s

administration and his use of technology together, which gives a more multidimensional recap of the time period.

Both history teachers chose to focus on the presidency of Donald Trump, which is clearly one of the most impactful events over the last 10 years. Their questions invoke thought and challenge our own interpretation of history.

Though one can develop an educated, well-researched answer to these essay questions in 2021, the answers are always subject to change in the future. That, again, is the paradoxical nature of history.

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How The Creamie Coped With COVID

By Reyna Faust ’21 There are many things that make NMH feel like home — not just the people and our traditions on campus but also traditions and landmarks outside of campus, including the Northfield Creamie ice cream shop.

This year, however, students have not been able to travel off-campus, meaning there were no more drives to the Creamie after school with friends during the fall. There won’t be team runs there in the spring, or just a stop to enjoy a bite on the way to campus with family. According to Tim Bowen, the owner of the iconic ice cream shop, the Creamie misses the joyful NMH students arriving on campus and athletes coming for a sweet treat after practice.

The Creamie has a follow-

ing that extends far beyond NMH students, which allowed

them to stay open this past summer. “Families traveling are usually like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to stop at The Creamie,” says Bowen. Local customers go to the Creamie as a gathering place, but with the current pandemic, people aren’t able to hang out.

One of the ice cream shop’s challenges this year has been that businesses are being asked to be responsible for other people and their health.

Not every customer would willingly stand six feet apart from others, or keep their mask on in a place like the Creamie, where it can be easy to retreat back to old ways and forget necessary rules.

Natalie Foster ’20, who has been working at the Creamie for the past four years, explained, “Since it is an outdoor area, many customers thought they didn’t have to

wear masks, which sometimes put us in the difficult position of turning people away when they refused to put a mask on.” However, she added that, “As the summer wore on, we had an easier time getting people to comply to COVID safety rules.”

Unlike past years, the Creamie didn’t promote their business this year in hopes that the shop wouldn’t get too busy so people could properly social-distance. They also took a different approach to hiring staff in the last business season. The Creamie usually carries a large staff to allow for more flexible hours. This year, however, they had a smaller crew so that there was less exposure to other people.

“It worked out okay because none of our employees were really traveling around,” says Bowen. This meant that their

staff had to be ready to take on more shifts. Luckily, the employees enjoy working at The Creamie, which allowed them to finish off the summer strong. “People like to work with us. We’re fun.”

Foster also described her time working at the Creamie as “such a great experience” with “Tim and Mary [as] amazing bosses.”

Bowen is passionate about the environment he has created at the Creamie. Teary-eyed, he explained that in the next business season, he hopes to see more joy within his customers — “I miss smiles on people’s faces; I miss what we all miss.” He hopes that this year he will be allowed to have live music, gatherings, and bring people closer together since we have been apart for so long.

a bonus.” Jordan said she enjoyed how friendly everyone was and how she immediately felt at home. “I loved everything about it.”

On the track, Jordan is a star. She’s been excelling at it since a young age, being recognized for her speed and hard work, and always being a strong competitor. She runs the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and does the long jump and triple jump, and has qualified and competed in these events at the USATF Youth Outdoor Nationals. In the past, she has also done

the Pentathlon, 400, and high jump. Jordan also plays as a center back for the girls varsity soccer team.

But NMH has helped Jordan with more than just speed and strength. “I was able to grow my self-confidence and self-awareness, and that allowed me to not be so timid on the track.” She had a supportive community of friends and coaches that helped her gain confidence. Jordan also expressed the benefit of being able to teach others and how that has helped not only her teammates grow, but herself,

too. “It flipped a switch for me—it’s okay to be confident in something I love.”

Off the track, Jordan is a Resident Leader in Mackinnon, and she participates in the clubs Calling for Action, Photos to Solitary, and End the Silence. Throughout her time at NMH, Jordan has developed the skills and confidence that allow her to be the kind and supportive leader that she is now, both as an RL and in team environments.

Her roommate, Katelyn Fecteau ’21, says that “being friends with her for four years

now, she has grown a lot as a person—she is more open to trying new things.”

On and off the track, Jordan has grown as a person at NMH. These four years have been formative and were “the best choice of [her] entire life.” She has become a stronger and faster athlete and become more confident in her abilities and more aware of herself and who she is. “I feel supported no matter what.”

Natalie Foster ’20 has had a sweet time working at the Creamie for the past four years.

Photo by Tim Bowen.

Jordan ’21: Growth in Speed & Self

By Carra Fitzgerald ’24 Many people at NMH know Jordan Lafave ’21, member of the varsity soccer and varsity track teams, for her amazing speed, but Jordan is also much more than an athlete.

NMH has helped shape her into the leader she is today, both on and off the field.

Coming to NMH as a ninth grader, Jordan said that “the community of the school [was what] I was really drawn to.

Academically, they were really encouraging and supportive, [and the track program] was

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“My Roommate Can’t Smell”

By Lulu Calame ’23 I live with a smell-deaf roommate. Medically, she is considered anosmic, having a complete loss of smell. I am her personal consultant for whether a shirt is clean or dirty. I describe her perfumes for her; our favorite smells like New York City in the spring — not the trash or car exhaust, of course, but more like the air and bustle and excitement. When we walk to dinner, she asks me what I think the food is before we see it, and when I tell her it smells like grilled chicken or spring rolls or stir fry, she always smiles, telling me I have a superpower. And to clarify, she does not have COVID-19.

Smell is an incredible thing.

It helps me identify something with my nose before laying eyes on it, like thermal cameras that can sense body heat through a brick wall.

Smell is one of the crucial five senses that provides me with signals about my surroundings. While I would jump out of bed in search of something burning if I smelled smoke, my roommate would simply keep sleeping. She cannot tell if milk is spoiled unless she tries it.

My roommate’s condition is somewhat of a medical mystery. She has lived with no sense of smell for as long as she can remember. Neither she nor her doctors know if she was born without smell or if it developed early in her childhood after getting her adenoids, the tissue high in the throat behind the nose, removed. According to the

Never take your sense of smell for granted. Illustration by Chau Anh Nguyen ’22.

National Library of Medicine, it has been proven that children whose adenoids are removed, or who have abnormally enlarged adenoids, have a “reduced ability to smell, with the retronasal olfactory function being more affected” — essentially, the anatomic systems used to smell are malfunctioning. It is imperative to note, however, that my roommate’s sense of taste is as acute as mine.

The concept of smell is ab-

stract even for those of us who experience it, so for someone who doesn’t, it is almost impossible to imagine. My roommate told me that she can partially imagine what foods like an apple pie or a brownie might smell like because she can taste it. She imagines smell as a way of tasting something before actually eating it. Trying to conceptualize the scent of an inedible thing, however, is frankly impossible for her. “I can’t eat

my shampoo,” she explained, “I can’t even imagine what chemicals would smell like… because I can’t ingest that into my body.”

The intangible quality of smell also means that it is not something my roommate considers at all unless someone else explicitly brings it up.

“When I’m in my own little world, nobody can smell,” she told me.

For the 98% of people in the United States that have

a sense of smell, smell also plays a crucial role in our memory. More specifically, according to The Neurobiology of Olfaction by Anne-Marie Mouly and Regina Sullivan, it “vividly triggers[s] the evocation of emotional experiences.” This emotional tie most of us have between scent and recollection constantly works to illustrate and preserve memory.

However, my roommate feels that she has made up for that olfactory disadvantage with a heightened emotional association with sound and, more specifically, music. She has an impeccable memory for music in film and can cite any scene from a movie after hearing the song from that scene once. She has been a singer and musician — playing the guitar, piano and drums — since she was four, which she thinks was inspired by this heightened attention for sound. “What I hear is what’s ingrained in me,” she concluded.

Looking to the future, a lack of smell could pose dangers and obstacles for everyday living. My roommate will not be able to run to the stove after forgetting about the cookies she is baking, or smell when something in the fridge has gone bad. Living in a world without the added stability of smell is hard. However, my roommate handles this disadvantage with grace.

It takes living in the same room with her to discover her unique lack of smell in a world of scent.

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Rethinking Senior Superlatives

By Chunwen Ko ’21 and Dariya Kozhasbay ’21 How many of you would like to be remembered as “God’s Gift to Men”?

That’s a real senior superlative that has appeared in past Gemini editions. No, we’re not joking.

Senior superlatives have long been a staple of American yearbooks. However, they are not without controversy.

From beauty standards to heteronormativity, these superlatives can reinforce a lot of biases in our community.

Addressing what the yearbook does and has done is an integral part of confronting these biases.

Thus, we have several recommendations for the Gemini and for the entire NMH community.

First: get rid of senior superlatives for physical features. These categories create a falsely objective standard for features with which we were born. We should be able to celebrate each other’s features and differences instead of telling each other what is “best.” In addition, societal beauty standards are unfair to begin with and can never truly be fair. And if categories like “Best Arms” and “Best Figure” would be unthinkable, why is “Best Eyes” any more permissible?

Second: create more categories that celebrate people’s personalities and eccentricities. Instead of recognizing people for largely immutable features, we should recognize them for how they present themselves. And we have

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tives are inherently a problem: it’s just one of the very many channels through which our internal biases can manifest themselves. To use the senior superlatives as a scapegoat would be perpetuating these problems, since they cannot be compartmentalized and neatly stored away. By pretending that we can fit it all into a box and put it away will get us nowhere. Rather, they have to be recognized and adjusted holistically, since the “systemic” part of systemic oppression signifies that it’s everywhere.

And yes, that means the Gemini needs to do its part — but so do we.

The Bridge Old NMH yearbooks are full of memories and traditions, but also bias. Photo by Sofia Lozano ’22.

done so in the past! In 1985, students voted for “Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Bean,” and in 1993, we voted for “Day Dreamers.”

These are but a few examples of past superlatives that have celebrated people for who they were and how they presented themselves. A modern example of this would be “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day.” What a lovely category!

Third: rethink superlatives that reinforce ideas of hierarchy. Let’s look to a superlative that has since been retired — “Most Likely to Succeed.”

What does it even mean to succeed? These categories pit students against each other and force societal ideals of “success” onto all students.

Current categories like “Most Likely to Be Your Boss” further enforce such ideas.

Sure, hierarchies naturally exist in society: but how can we further these notions of superiority while we preach egalitarianism? The Class of 1999 decided that the entire class would be the “Most Likely to Succeed” — and in a way, they were right.

Fourth: as a community, we must rethink how other biases can appear in our senior superlatives. Perhaps it would serve us all well to give way to some introspection. How come, whenever we think about “Best Eyes,” we think of blue ones belonging to a Caucasian person, or why, whenever we think of a “Class Clown,” do we automatically think of a man? Also, why do we usually end up with a Class Mother and Class Father for “Class Parents”?

While obviously our ideas of what parents are reflect our own parents, and we think we can speak for most of us here and say we have (or had) one female mom and one male dad. However, as a group that actively advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and acknowledges intersectionality, we should be stepping away from the traditional idea of what parents are, at least on as small of a level as voting for a yearbook category.

“Our job as the Gemini,” said Bambi Nandabhiwat ‘21, the Gemini’s Editor-in-Chief, “is not to fix [biases], to educate the school like DSJ. It’s just to follow a senior tradition.” But whose job should it be?

We are not implying that the concept of senior superla-

Founded in 1969 thebridge@nmhschool.org Editor-in-Chief Janice Cho ’21 Managing Editor Celes Moon ’21 Digital Editor Sydney duKor-Jackson ’21 Layout Design Editor Sally Pak ’21 Features Editor Dillon Stone ’21 Opinions Editor Dariya Kozhasbay ’21 Arts Editor Chunwen Ko ’21 Sports Editor Leah Sutton-Smith ’21 Photo Editor Chloe Key ’21 Social Media Editor Tram Huynh ’21 Faculty Advisor Jennifer Sutton

Riding into a World Championship

By Leah Sutton-Smith ’21 Chloe Rourke ’23 has been riding horses since she was five years old. She owns two horses of her own, one of which she “grew up riding — we’ve done everything together.” Chloe started going to shows when she was 12, doing “English pleasure” style. Then she transitioned to Western style, which originates from ranches and working with cows, and “fell in love with it.”

Chloe’s been successful in showing for several years, winning in several different categories, and “[winning] reserve champion for the Northeast the past few years.”

This year, she qualified for the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) World Championship, which is the highest level of competition for this style of riding.

In February, she traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, for the show. “It was one of the craziest things that I’ve ever done,” she said. “It’s one of the biggest places I’ve ever been in. But I was really happy with my performance. It was good to be down there with a good group of people.” Part of what Chloe loves most about showing is the people she gets to meet. “The atmosphere and the people are so amazing.”

So what does this style of riding look like? “I compete in the ‘reined cow horse,’ which is a combination of reining and working cattle.”

Reining is an aspect of Western riding that focuses on control of and communication with a horse to execute certain skills and moves. ‘Working a

cow’ involves “boxing or fencing it, to show the judge how well you can control [it]. It’s taking everything that people do on ranches, and showing it to judges.”

Many skills, like speed and agility, are needed to excel at this. “We have this thing — ‘cowy’ — which is how much your horse pays attention to the cow, and how much they do on their own. But I also have to be checking in with [my horse].” Chloe is good with cows too, and can read them well. “Once you’ve watched them, you can tell which ones will be lazy based

on body language.”

The connection that a horse and rider have is essential in this type of riding. “Having a horse that you can put all your trust in is super important.”

Being around her horses is part of why Chloe loves riding so much. “I have connections with them that I can’t really explain.”

People who don’t know much about riding often comment that it isn’t a real sport. When Chloe hears this, she “tries not to get frustrated, even though it does frustrate me. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much you’re

doing to support the horse.”

The time that Chloe commits to riding makes for a very busy schedule. “When I was rowing [last fall], I would go from classes, to crew, to ride, and then to dinner. I actually got a full sports credit this term for riding because of how much time I was spending.”

Chloe plans for riding and showing to be a big part of her future. “I’m definitely showing this year, [and] I would like to do it in college as much as I can. I definitely still get nervous for showing.

But I think, having competed at the highest level now, all

my other shows will feel like nothing.” She’s thought about working with horses as a job or internship, too, maybe as an instructor: “I’ve taught summer camps before, and I really liked that.”

Chloe doesn’t know where her riding career will go next, but her love for and connection with her horses and the people she meets through riding aren’t going anywhere.

She wishes that “everybody [could] ride a horse at least once. It’s an amazing experience.”

Chloe Rourke ’23 recently competed in the National Reined Cow Horse Association World Championship in Texas. Photos courtesy of Chloe Rourke.

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A Trifecta of Spring Athletic Leadership

By Aaron Burstein ’23 This spring brings new beginnings and a sense of hope that is felt across the world and across the NMH community. Part of what drives this hope at NMH is our spring sports teams. The possibility of a spring sports season and games has brought excitement for all athletes, especially students who are about to graduate.

Tobin Lonegran ’21 (PG) is one of those students. She “fell in love with” lacrosse at an early age. “It’s just always fun.” COVID has impacted Tobin, like it has all athletes.

“Losing the season last year was really hard. It’s nice to have hope that there will be some games this season.”

Tobin showed great en-

thusiasm when discussing her team for the upcoming season. “I think we have some strong players, [and] a lot of freshmen and sophomores that are coming in that are really strong.”

After a hopefully successful spring season filled with competition, Tobin will be headed off to Colorado College. “I’m excited to go out west, and have a new experience, a new community, and a smaller [college] where academics are also a priority.”

Another new athletic leader at NMH is Faye Stevens ’21, a senior from central Vermont beginning her first track season with the Hoggers. She has been an athlete for nearly her entire life, but only discovered track her freshman year in high school. The Decathlon,

which consists of 10 separate events, appealed to Faye because of its rigorous solo work. Faye has always had “no excuses” mindset, and competing solo allowed her to employ her mantra.

NMH gave Faye the facilities, program, and academic refinement to help guide her to Vassar next fall. “I didn’t think it would be an awesome transition from public high school in central Vermont to college out in the big world.

It’s been very worth it!” This spring season is Faye’s first with a chance to train on an actual track. “I love to meet new people and I’m so excited for that. I’m not excited for the shorts tan and the sock tan, but it’s worth it.” Faye hopes to connect with all her new teammates and achieve

the team-oriented goals.

Down the hill by the river, Matti Key ’21 began her final crew season. Matti is a fouryear senior who has been an integral part of the girls’ crew program since her freshman fall. “A valuable lesson that I’ve learned over years of rowing is that in order to get the whole team to be better, you have to push yourself for others, making sure you’re healthy — your mental state as well — and bringing others along with you.”

Her hard work across the years has led to her commitment to the University of California San Diego. Her excitement for her college commitment has been shared by her enthusiastic teammates.”We are there with each other 100 percent all the time.

I love it, and it’s what makes crew so amazing to me — how supportive the team is.” Matti and her teammates are eager to be on the river this spring and maybe even race.

The work ethic shared by these three athletes showcases the effort needed to succeed in athletics and also provides hope to anyone just starting out in a sport. Success is on the other side of hard work for anyone, no matter if this spring is your first or your fourth season competing here at NMH. These three teams are set for success due to their incredible leaders. We are all excited to see our teams in action and to compete for the first time in over a year.

Faye Stevens ’21 (left), Tobin Lonergan ’21 (middle), and Matti Key ’21 (right) are leading their sports teams this spring. Photos courtesy of the athletes.

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O2GOs Are the Way To Go

By Jessi Shin ’24 In mid-February, green plastic containers called the O2GO containers started appearing around campus.

Manufactured by the company OZZI, the containers arrived on campus and were distributed to students by Sustainability Director Becca Malloy and the Eco Leaders at the entrance of Alumni Hall.

The O2GO containers are made of a type of plastic called polypropylene. Each container is microwavable, freezer safe, and BPA-free. In addition, it is completely recyclable. Currently, the school has purchased hundreds of containers in hopes to reduce the amount of waste created due to the use of to-go boxes.

Everything starts with a student receiving a token.

During meal times, they are allowed to bring their token to any line and exchange it for a green container that can be used to hold the main meal.

After using the container, students are expected to wash out food remains and bring it back to the dining hall once they are ready to use another one. They exchange the used container for another token, which allows the students to receive a new container and the cycle continues. This is the system that was created.

Director of Dining Services Rich Messer and the Eco Leaders acknowledged the problem earlier this year of excessive waste being created due to COVID-related precautions— the extensive use of plastic single-use plastic containers. The Eco Leaders

The Ecoleaders have invited students to use environmentally friendly OZZI containers for their to-go meals. Photo by Charlie Bell ’23.

then set out to solve the issue.

With Malloy, Messer, and the dining staff, they discussed solutions in numerous meetings. Messer was the one who proposed the idea of using O2GO containers. “We’ve had a $50,000 supply budget for the last 20 years … $50,000 was the whole year,” Messer recalled. “And in September, this year, we spent more than

$50,000,” he says, due to the extra orders of to-go boxes and single use items.

Although the O2GO containers cost thirty-five times more than the disposable plastic containers that have been in use since the beginning of the school year, they are far more environmentally friendly, and also can be used over 300 times. “Our goal is to

use it at least 35 times in order to sort of break even with the cost of it,” Malloy said.

“I think that when our community saw other [members of our community] using the OZZI containers, there was a little bit of a recognition that they could be going green, too, and that it’s the thing that people are doing. It was exciting,” she commented.

She also added that she hopes to see this become a cultural commitment where the broader NMH community is engaged. With O2GO, Messer remarked, “we can feel good about [our] impact on the environment while also saving the school’s money and teaching students that [sustainability]’s the right thing to do.”

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Chinese New Year Behind Masks Photos and text by Peter Luo ‘23 The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, the most important traditional holiday in China, differed this year compared to past ones after a year since the emergence of the pandemic. As I walked around my home city of Beijing, the smog seemed to veil not only the towers and buildings but also the festive sentiments.

The red lanterns and banners lost their charisma and attempted to compensate, in futile, for the loss of smiles now covered by masks on the streets.

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Grades: Inevitable But Problematic

By Cynthia Zhang ’23 “How did I get an 82%?”

You cry in disbelief as the red number flashes at you sinfully. Have daunting grades like these ever made you question our obsession over grades?

In an unscientific, anonymous survey with 21 NMH students, more than 70% of students responded that letter grades motivated them to perform better at school. In comparison, with the pass/ fail system NMH used last spring, 60% believed that it wasn’t worth putting an effort in classes knowing they would receive an easy “pass.” “We are so conditioned to doing everything for [grades],” remarked history teacher Chris Edler. “[It’s hard] to get high schoolers thinking about learning for the sake of learning. If we stopped giving grades on the assignments, half of the kids [wouldn’t] do it.”

Without a doubt, grades hold students accountable and reward their effort. Hence, it is often not the grades in themselves that worry students; it is the role of GPAs in the college application process that concerned 95% of the respondents. In particular, the problem is a result of how colleges fall back on setting GPA benchmarks to slim down their overwhelming application count. Using GPAs to filter applicants before looking at other factors — such as personal qualities and extracurriculars — reduces a student’s entire profile to a single decimal number.

Now, we arrive at the core

One of the most important things in many students’ lives is the simple percentage at the top of a paper.

Photo by Julia Swanson ’24.

issue: grades take away from educational value as soon as students become defined by a singular, cumulative GPA. Twenty 20 out of the 21 respondents answered that learning wasn’t always the path to getting good grades.

“Instead of wanting to go to school to learn, I feel like I am motivated by a letter,” one anonymous responder admitted. Ken Saito ’23 reflected that “most students nowadays complete work with grades in mind instead of the material and learning.”

Like 20% of the survey respondents, Peter Luo ’23 deemed that grades represent neither his knowledge nor his efforts. In humanities subjects, he believed that teachers

can distinguish if a student engages in class out of will or reluctance. However, these open-ended classes can also be a game of figuring out what the teacher likes best. Many times, Luo asserted, “teachers don’t make their expectations clear, so the student has to fail once to know what [teachers] want. But that failure already drags their grade down.”

Meanwhile, Luo finds himself working mostly for grades in challenging STEM courses, like AP Physics 1 and AP Calculus BC. Luo’s priority was to maintain a high GPA in these classes, so he works with an outside tutor whom he is comfortable making mistakes in front of. If grades weren’t so pivotal in college admissions,

Luo would’ve worked for the knowledge without caring so much about his GPA — to “feel that you’re doing something meaningful, besides just getting [good] grades.”

Aside from our motivation strayed from bettering ourselves as learners, grades can also restrain students from taking challenging courses that genuinely interest them.

Students are afraid of leaving blemishes on their transcripts.

“We are taught not to fail, when we need to be taught not to quit,” one anonymous responder wrote.

The problem with the American education system, Edler believed, is that it “[doesn’t] acknowledge that kids have different interests

and passions.” She explained that students fall in a toxic cycle to pursue higher-level courses that they’re not interested in just to show colleges they have the intellectual capability of doing so. Often, the only thing that matters to students is, “what’s the recipe to get the grade I want?”

So, if these capricious letters do not measure our real knowledge intake, what is their value? Are A’s simply golden tickets to Ivy Leagues?

How do colleges assess our aptitude to learn if our only desire is to get good grades?

Are our efforts devoted to pleasing the teacher more than the learning?

Luo believes that an accurate grade “should ideally [measure] how hard you have been working.” Chuch imagines that education would be better through an “activity-focused approach, where we don’t even talk about grades that often at all, except to become better at what we’re doing.”

The GPA system is frustrating to students, teachers, and admissions officers who constantly search for better ways to grapple with it. It is human nature to be driven by grades to improve, but when grades only quantify academic performance and lack representation of students’ actual efforts and knowledge, they become controversial. Grades are inevitable because they add a push to educational excellence; the question is whether they play too much of a role in defining who we are.

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Stanning BTS — in Pajamas

By Celes Moon ’21 Lying in bed with a chicken drumstick in one hand, I eagerly wait for the event to start. I can hear the faint sound of my grandma watching the TV from the living room, so I turn up the volume of my computer. I try to imagine myself at the concert hall with other fans next to me, but this breaks as soon as I look down at my patchwork pajama pants. Until last year, I couldn’t have imagined myself buying tickets for an online concert.

Like the rest of the world during the pandemic, the entertainment industry has had to find ways to keep artists in touch with their fans, one of which was online concerts. A big component of attending a concert is the artist-fan interaction, and the atmosphere created simply by being at a hall and sharing those feelings with thousands of other people. So, how was this going to be simulated during an online concert and to what degree would it actually feel like an in-person concert?

When popular Korean boy band BTS opened up the chance to attend an online concert, fans were relieved to get some sort of comfort amidst the hard times of the pandemic. As a fan myself, I took this opportunity to join in and support the band.

BTS concerts are notorious for their ridiculous competition to get tickets due to the sheer size of their fan base. In previous years, many people opted to go to “PC-bangs,” or Korean Internet cafes, where

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An online concert set-up: in bed, with Korean fried chicken. Photo by Celes Moon ’21.

the internet is supposedly faster, and even practiced clicking the mouse button on computers to buy tickets.

Since an online concert has no maximum capacity, however, I had no competition buying my tickets. There was no anxiety of not clicking the button fast enough or frantically clicking on random seat choices.

Recently, Reyna Faust ’21 also had the chance to attend

an online music festival in Brazil with her family. After seeing an advertisement for the festival on GLOBO, a major newspaper in Brazil, Reyna wanted to try it out.

She mentioned that attending this festival was relatively easy, as all she had to do was subscribe to the streaming service.

But how was the concert itself? For me, as relaxing as my environment was, I think

that this partially took away from my immersive experience. My head and heart knew that I was supposedly at a concert, but my body was as comfortable as any other weekend night when I would binge-watch Netflix.

The way that fans could interact with each other was through a chat function at the edge of the screen, and it was nice to read fans’ comments but most of the time,

it distracted from the performance and even caused lagging in the video. In order to get rid of the chat, I had to make the entire screen just of the performance, but then it simply felt like I was watching a Youtube video rather than being at a concert.

The biggest and probably only positive of the online concert was that I got to see BTS perform their new songs in real time. They could easily move through a variety of backdrops as many stages were set up next to one another. Props were also taken to the next level because they had greater flexibility to bring in more grandiose gadgets, such as a merry-go-round.

When asked about her experience, Reyna replied that she was glad that this online festival occurred because it brought her family together.

Still, she expressed how a concert is about “being in a large crowd with everyone there for the same purpose” and how that atmosphere was lost due to the concert moving online.

While online concerts are temporarily bridging the gap between artists and their audiences, it seems like it can’t be a replacement for the excitement of attending a real concert. Reyna sentimentally described her memories of “singing all together” and how “it reminds me of a good car ride and you’re belting all the songs with your friends.”

Ultimately, this thrill of joining voices with other fans and artists in a physical space can’t be simulated online.

Is Gen Z More Prone to Depression?

By Kwabena Appiah ’22 Mental health has plagued us since the beginning of humanity. The struggle to survive in this harsh and unforgiving world has always put us on edge. But in this day and age, things are a little bit different. Born with smartphones, social media, and the Internet at their fingertips, Gen Z is already starting to make its impact on the world.

But for some reason, many believe that Gen Z is actually the most depressed generation of human history. How could this be? We are more connected than ever and have brought much more awareness to mental health issues compared to other generations before.

According to the APA, “only 45% of Generation Z individuals say their mental health is good, or very good…

11% less than the next closest generation.” And compared to other generations, “Gen Z is least likely to report very good or excellent mental health (45%), compared to millennials (56%), Gen X (51%), Baby Boomers (70%), and older adults (74%).”

Social media, school, and current world events are leading factors in chronic stress among Gen Z. Due to this stress, Western Governors University reports that Gen Z is experiencing increased levels of anxiety and depression.

Certainly those factors can be “depressing, anxiety-creating, and maybe isolating” says Michael Carter, a counselor at NMH. However, he added, “I think students are often way

Social media and the pandemic have had large impacts on students’ mental health. Photo by Julia Swanson ’24.

braver and more creative. And I have a great deal of hope.

One of the reasons I work with adolescents is because I think there’s a great deal of hope that’s still there, despite the challenges.”

Though most of these situations are very stressful, social media seems to be the biggest problem of them all. According to the Pew Research Center, 90% of teens in 2019 used at least one social media on a daily basis.

Social media can be very addicting and its overuse can lead to increased anxiety and depression. How we are perceived on social media particularly tends to take an emotional toll on some people. “Subconsciously, you’re

always picking up your phone after you post something just to see what others are thinking about and how they perceive you online,” says Tidiane Chikiam ’23.

Technology and social media also often provide a false feeling of connectedness.

Sometimes, friends would just be constantly checking their social media profiles, even when they are physically hanging out with each other.

Furthermore, young people today are unable to physically hang out with each other like before. Gen Z teens are spending most of their time at home and much less time at school.

Although some schools, like NMH, are open physically, it is still very different compared

to previous years. Many social activities are not happening due to COVID health risks, and the future of graduation for seniors is still uncertain.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had obvious effects on the mental state of Americans, especially the American youth.

A nation-wide stress survey by the APA in 2020 found that “reported stress levels among Gen Z adults have been increasing slightly over the past two years, from 5.6 [reported on a scale from 1-10] in 2018 and 5.8 in 2019 to the high of 6.1 recorded in 2020.”

With the rising mental health decline in teens today and stress caused by social media and the pandemic, things haven’t been looking so

good for Gen Z over the past few years. But that doesn’t mean this is set in stone; we still have a lifetime ahead of us.

“I think these last few generations have started getting rid of the mental health stigma,” says Peer Educator Lily van Baaren ’21. “And I think, years ago, [mental health] wasn’t a thing a lot of people were concerned about. People didn’t understand — but I think we’re doing a better job [now]. And I think NMH is doing a good job. We’ve definitely made a lot of strides in certain resources that people can use if they need help.”

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Small Businesses Cope with COVID Photos and text by Charlie Bell ‘23 When the COVID-19 pandemic hit my hometown Hanover, New Hampshire, small restaurants were badly impacted because they were no longer able to have indoor dining. As a solution, the town created booths for each restaurant to sell food and serve takeout. This was a great solution for keeping

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these small businesses open during these hard times, such as Boloco Burritos and Lou’s Bakery.

Boloco Burritos, my favorite restaurant, is a modern Mexican restaurant that specializes in bowls and burritos similar to Chipotle. Lou’s bakery is the most popular diner in town, and it is a favorite of the Dartmouth students while they live on campus.

Since college students have

not been on campus as much, these restaurants that depend on them have been greatly affected. During the summer, parking spots outside the restaurants were converted into outdoor seating along with the booths to alleviate the issue. This allowed for diners to have the opportunity to feel as if they were eating at the restaurant, but it was a safer and more socially distanced environment.