Getting interviews for this piece was not easy. People are uncomfortable speaking on this topic, afraid the government will personally attack them for their stances. For that reason, all writers and interviewees have been granted anonymity and are referred to by single names.
On June 14, Nancy joined an estimated five million protesters nationwide who marched in unison while chanting and carrying signs opposing President Trump’s executive orders and the U.S. Army’s first-ever military parade. The “No Kings” protest coincided with the Army’s 250th anniversary and Trump’s 79th birthday.
“To see that so many different kinds of American people are fighting back was really inspiring, and it felt like a moment of hope in a very dark time for us,” she said.
Over the first five months of his second term as president, Trump issued a series of executive orders clamping down on immigration and, with the help of Congress, passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The legislation expanded the number of immigrant detention systems, increased funding for border enforcement and militarization, established more invasive background checks, and obstructed immigrant access to federal aid programs.
On the day of his inauguration, Trump issued the “Securing Our Borders” executive order. He cited national security and public safety concerns and condemned the recent “large-scale invasion” of “illegal aliens” including “potential terrorists, foreign spies” and “other hostile actors.”
usually lack judicial warrants, pretending to be local law enforcement in order to enter a home, manipulating people into giving away their rights. Such ruses are taught to ICE trainees.
Students and adults face challenges both in entering and exiting the country as they attempt to visit relatives.
To see that so many different kinds of American people are fighting back was really inspiring, and it felt like a moment of hope in a very dark time for us.
“So many of the immigrants here are hardworking people who are trying to escape a much worse situation back home,” Nancy said. “They’re not dangerous felons or terrorists — they’re just trying to make a living for themselves.”
According to federal data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, as of Sept. 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement were holding almost 60,000 people in detention, 70% of which had no criminal convictions. White House officials announced plans to increase daily arrests from about 600 to 3,000 in the first few months of Trump’s presidency.
The effects of these policies are most apparent along America’s southern border. As of Sept. 7, detention centers in Texas are holding 13,000 people, double that of the second highest state, Louisiana. The Houston community in particular, one of the most diverse and immigrant-rich in the state, has increasingly felt the impacts of these changes.
“America preaches that we provide so many opportunities, but we’re actually just restricting them. It’s contradictory and hypocritical,” said Rory, a member of the Latinos Unidos Affinity Group. “It’s heartbreaking.”
ICE agents often use deceptive strategies to trick their targets. One ruse involves agents, who
Marianne worries that her mother, who lives abroad, might not get a visa to enter the country. “She’s elderly, so she’s concerned that she might get stopped for some reason while traveling alone, and she won’t know what to do,” Marianne said. “There’s an underlying uneasiness.”
As concerned citizens rally and lawyers challenge Trump’s new legislation, policies continue to evolve. On Sept. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a federal judge’s order that temporarily prevented ICE agents in Los Angeles from stopping people without reasonable suspicion. The decision allows agents to detain suspects based solely on race, language or other external characteristics.
Marianne worries about the volatility of the current immigration policy. As an immigrant herself who is married to a natural-born citizen, Marianne understands how others in her situation would be concerned about their children.
Proponents of Trump’s policies argue that strengthening the borders and ending undocumented immigration is a necessary step to ensure a more orderly society.
recent orders, however, immigration as a whole has become increasingly difficult due to layoffs in federal agencies and drastically higher costs for the proper documentation. The only people guaranteed a residency permit are the wealthy few who can pay for Trump’s “Gold Card,” which provides investors a path to citizenship if they fund one million dollars into U.S.-based projects.
According to the official government website, the “Platinum Card,” proposed in September, would “allow foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without paying taxes on a non-U.S. income,” all for $5 million.
“It’s unfair because, if you are highly educated and have the means, the immigration process is simple,” Marianne said. “But if you’re not, the process becomes very complicated, and people get taken advantage of.”
Historically, immigrants have served as a cornerstone for the growth of the country. The diversity of the U.S. has become a defining aspect of its identity.
“If you’re not Native American, your family, at one point, was an immigrant here.” Marianne said. “There was definitely a sense of needing immigrants to keep working for this country. To all of a sudden say that we’re not welcome anymore seems very shortsighted to me.”
Nancy points out that America has a long history of mistreating marginalized groups.
America preaches that we provide so many opportunities, but we’re actually just restricting them. It’s contradictory and hypocritical.
Many supporters consider undocumented immigration not only a source of terrorism, drugs and organized crime but also a strain on government and public resources. In “Securing Our Borders,” Trump claimed “a nation without borders is not a nation.”
Some immigrants who have lawfully entered the country denounce undocumented immigration as a shortcut to the process. With Trump’s
“There’s always been some sort of minority that was treated absolutely horribly, whether that be Eastern Europeans or East Asians or now Hispanics,” she said. “It seems like the only people who America is proud of are white.”
While undocumented immigration has no clear solution, the federal government and its citizens have a duty to treat all humans with dignity and respect.
“If we truly focus on the humanity of people,” Marianne said, “it becomes easier to find a common ground.”
SIGNS OF THE TIMES On June 14, thousands of Houstonians gathered downtown as part of a nationwide protest against federal overreach.
The summer
we turned politically active
Political discourse, civil rights, First Amendment at the forefront after summer of drastic policy change
Story by Nia Shetty & Amina Zegar
Senior Caroline Basu could not sit on the sidelines any longer.
Grabbing her handmade signs, she and ve family friends headed downtown to the No Kings protest, a nationwide demonstration on June 14 opposing new policies implemented by the Trump administration.
Although Basu was initially hesitant to attend, when she arrived along with 15,000 fellow protestors, she felt safe, noting it was an ideal way to feel heard and join in the camaraderie.
“I de nitely wanted to contribute to the numbers there,” Basu said. “It was so worth it.”
Basu attended the event to oppose what she describes as the Trump Administration’s unserious attitude towards the country’s founding principles.
“It just seems like Trump has no respect for the Constitution,” she said. “Amendments shouldn’t just be something that you can ippantly get rid of just because you want to.”
From June to September, the Trump Administration issued over 35 executive orders, which have incited debate as to whether or not his policies actually bene t Americans. As the President’s attacks on late-night talk show hosts and perceived political opponents increase, so do concerns surrounding free speech.
On Sept. 10, popular right-wing in uencer Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a speaking appearance at Utah Valley University.
Kirk’s death has emboldened his supporters to speak out against his detractors in the name of free speech, despite his advocacy for the First Amendment.
Some have questioned why there was so much outrage from conservatives about Kirk’s death when the same people did not publicly acknowledge the murder of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa
“It’s crazy that our government is willing to lower ags at half-sta for Charlie Kirk but
won’t do it for a [State] Speaker of the House,” Basu said.
Following Kirk’s assassination, many in uential gures ocked to social media. While most agreed that violence has no place in politics, some called for a lowering of angry rhetoric, others vowed vengeance.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at least 40 higher education faculty, sta and students have been either terminated or suspended for comments regarding Kirk’s death. A Texas State University student was expelled after a video was posted on X in which he mocked Kirk’s assasination, according to the Texas Tribute. Gov. Greg Abbott reshared the video, demanding that TXST “expel the student immediately.”
After the alleged killer was in custody, ABC late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it”
cerns were the reason for the cancellation, many suspect that Colbert’s frequent quips and jokes about the administration could have ultimately a ected his future on air.
”
You could listen to one news station with one political agenda and never know about the Bill’s other impacts.
MADISON MANN SPEC VP
Senior Gemma Huang often enjoyed watching Colbert with her parents and was shocked to learn that the highest-rated late-night show was cancelled.
“It de nitely makes you feel a bit weary,” Huang
servative backlash was immediate, and ABC suspended Kimmel for nearly he should be
Political
Basu said.
“Unless he
that a talk show host has faced
CBS announced that “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert would not have his contract renewed. His last episode is scheduled to air in May. While Paramount
“It de nitely makes you feel a bit weary,” Huang said.
Senior Madison Mann, vice president of the Students Political Education Club, says that the polarization of the country has only worsened during Trump’s second term, which has a ected free speech. Mann continues to follow multiple news sources to understand di erent perspectives, and she has discovered that news organizations are drastically di erent in their coverage of important issues like the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
polarization of the country has only worsened during Trump’s second term, which has a ected to to
with one political agenda and never know
“You could listen to one news station with one political agenda and never know about the Bill’s other impacts,” Mann said. “It’s hurting the general public’s knowledge because most people I talk to only listen to sources from
hurting the general public’s knowledge because talk listen from
Even with threats to free speech, some students remain engaged in political advocacy. Basu remains politically active despite the heightened
Even with threats to free speech, some sturemain advocacy. remains politically active despite the heightened hasn’t reduced said. “If anything, it has made me even more
“It hasn’t reduced any motivation for me,” Basu said. “If anything, it has made me even more
While the current political climate has prompted students
tives, Mann says that ultimately her generation will get o the couch like she did.
While the current political climate has prompted some students to question the media they consume and seek out a broader range of perspectives, Mann says that ultimately her generation will get o the couch like she did.
“The new legislation is going to change a lot of things,” she said. “People are going to notice and become more politically involved and aware.”
SUMMER IN THE CITY Students who became politically active found an outlet on June 14 at the No Kings protest.
Photo courtesy of Anonymous
Hill Country flooding leaves trail of devastation
Destroyed vehicles lined the banks of the Guadalupe River following the July 4 flooding.
At 12:49 a.m. on July 4, not a single drop of rain had fallen at Jennifer Bowen’s home in Hunt, Texas. At 3:15, Bowen’s adult children, Bo (‘05) and Ellis (‘08), were awakened by neighbors as water approached the front door. They scrambled up the stairs to a cliff behind the house.
Two minutes later, the flash flooding began.
Bowen, the Admission Administrative Assistant, was on a riverboat cruise in Serbia with Nikki Vlasek, Senior Associate Director of Admission. While Bowen was aware that it was raining in Hunt, she only realized how bad it was when she got a message from a friend, who asked if Bo and Ellis could help look for his missing mother.
“And then my phone just started erupting,” Bowen said. “I was shocked. Just shocked.”
Bowen considers herself and her children among the luckiest of those affected by the deadliest flash flood the U.S. has seen in nearly half a decade.
The flooding claimed 138 lives.
THE DISASTER
On the afternoon of Thursday, July 3, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch that included Kerr County and surrounding areas. At 1:14 a.m. on Friday, a flash flood warning was issued for Kerr County specifically.
At 4:03, the warning was upgraded to a flash flood emergency, urging people to seek higher ground immediately.
By then, Bo and Ellis had been stranded on the cliff behind their house for over half an hour, during which the Guadalupe River had risen 26 feet and surged as high as 29 feet.
While alarms had been installed following the 1987 Guadalupe River Flood, they were located south of Kerrville — beyond proximity of major regions along the river.
At 5:16, the City of Kerrville Police Department issued its first evacuation warning. As the water rose, 14 helicopters, 12 drones and nine rescue teams were deployed.
On July 5, over 1,000 personnel arrived to help with the search and rescue effort.
Aweek after the tragedy unfolded, Bowen and her children drove to Hunt and surveyed the aftermath. The trip from Kerrville to her house normally takes 30 minutes. That day, it took over two hours.
As she neared her home, volunteers crowded along the highway offering food, water and supplies, including gloves, Clorox, mops and brooms, to help residents begin the daunting task of cleaning up. At one point, 30 strangers showed up at Bowen’s house and started clearing away the debris in her yard. Bowen also encountered dozens of people on horseback, accompanied by cadaver dogs, searching for missing persons.
When we have a natural disaster, we’ve all gone through it as a community, so people are really eager to give back.
CLAIRE NUCHTERN SERVICE LEARNING COORDINATOR
“I’ve never seen so many volunteers in my whole life,” Bowen said. “It was just overwhelming. People are still good.”
In the weeks that followed, the St. John’s community pitched in. Supported by Service Learning Coordinator Claire Nuchtern, juniors Mira Pemmanda and Andy Trejo set up in the Circle on consecutive Saturdays, collecting supplies for the San Antonio River Foundation. In just two days, they filled half a U-Haul with around 50 boxes containing non-perishable food, hygiene products, cleaning equipment, and clothing.
Nuchtern attributes the level of participation to a sense of collective loss. “For a lot of the issues we work on, like food insecurity and homelessness, the St. John’s community isn’t as personally affected,” she said. “But when we have a natural disaster, we’ve all gone through it as a community, and so people are really eager to give back.”
Bowen also saw several H-E-B disaster relief trucks in her area handing out food, water and cleaning supplies. Walmart, Buc-ee’s, Kendra Scott and even Texas-based teams from the NFL, NBA and MLB also pledged donations to area foundations. James Avery has sold over $7 million worth of charms, with proceeds going to the Hill Country.
Following the disaster, the School’s counseling team met to determine how to support the well-being of community members.
According to Counseling and Wellness Coordinator Cynthia Powell, the first step in the School’s response
involved consolidating information and making a plan. Head of School Dan Alig emailed families and Upper School students providing resources, and the administrative team organized a prayer gathering on Tuesday, July 8.
Once the community was informed, administrators began preparing for the start of the school year. The counseling office worked with a trauma and grief center to train and support the faculty. They also organized a parent meeting that offered information on processing grief and having difficult conversations with their children.
When the school year commenced, Lower School Counselor Bianca Nuila brought the third-grade students together for a private meeting to offer them additional tools for coping. The initial Chapel services across all three divisions honored those lost in the floods and offered students more resources for support.
Moving forward, the counseling team is responding to all needs on a case-by-case basis. Counselors remind students to reach out whenever they need help. “There is no right or wrong way to grieve,” Upper School counselor Claire Wisdom said. “And our doors are always open.”
Nuila faced a distinct challenge — defining grief and providing support to Class Three, which Margaret and Ellen would have been in this year.
Nuila began counseling at the School when the third graders were in kindergarten. She frequently invites students to lunches and meetings to build genuine relationships.
“It has been a goal of mine to know every student by name, strength and need,” she said. “When they do have those big emotions, they know they can come to me.”
Nuila emphasizes that counselors are not just for trying moments: “I want to be that person there to support the kids all the time.”
Upper School math teacher Caroline Kerr (‘01) grew up visiting Hunt. Her grandparents built four neighboring houses in the late sixties and dubbed them “Kerplunk.” Since then, her family has visited for many special occasions.
Kerr’s extended family was staying at the homes to celebrate Independence Day. In the middle of the night, one of Kerr’s cousins awakened some family members, concerned about the potential severity of the flood. As they checked their phones, they thought the storm would pass, so they went back to sleep.
A few hours later, Kerr’s cousin checked his phone again and realized the rain had not let up.
Instinctively, the family rushed to evacuate.
Story by Eshna Das & Yutia Li
Design by Jennifer Lin & Emily Yen
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Bowen
Following a path that Kerr’s grandparents had recommended many years ago as the best response to an emergency, they drove up a hill and slept in their cars overnight. When they returned the next day, all the cars they left behind were gone, and one of the original houses had been swept away. The other three homes were severely damaged, but everyone made it out.
“It was a matter of a few minutes that made the difference,” Kerr said.
Though grateful that her family members survived, Kerr mourns the memories created in the homes.
“The house was a very special thing to my family, and there’s grief over losing something that felt like a place for us to be together.”
POLITICAL FALLOUT
Following the disaster, people rushed to social media. Some offered support; others placed blame.
“There were an unfortunate number of people who, at the very least, expressed that Texas had gotten what it deserved because of its conservative political leanings,” said senior Creighton Garcia, a board member of the Student Political Education Club.
On July 4, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a state disaster declaration, and President Donald Trump followed with a federal disaster declaration two days later. On July 21, state leaders convened for a special legislative session, during which politicians raised questions about the lack of a flood warning system and evacuation orders.
In 2017 and 2018, the Upper Guadalupe River Authority applied for state funding for a new flood warning system but were denied. They submitted grant applications again in 2024 but could not proceed “because of the low state match for applicants’ funds,” according to The Texas Tribune. Yet when an unrelated project fell through and left the River Authority with $3.4 million in reserve funds, city leaders chose to use the surplus to lower taxes rather than fund a system — a decision that has heightened scrutiny of both government officials for their hesitancy to fund a system and the River Authority for its priorities.
“Trying to pinch pennies when it comes to something like early, advanced warning systems for weather events, especially in areas like Texas that are prone to flash floods, can be enormously devastating for communities,” Garcia said. “I would hope to see more of a push for updating weather service systems and for not being afraid to spend money on that.”
The insufficient response also cast a critical light on the Trump Administration’s budget cuts to the National Weather Service, which manages the country’s data and infrastructure system and is the official source for issuing warnings during critical weather events, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides direct government and financial aid to coordinate disaster preparation and response.
“What could happen without the funding, and could we see something like this on an even larger scale, like with a hurricane hitting a vulnerable community?” Garcia said.
In the aftermath, the tragedy became embroiled in partisan policymaking. During the special session, Republicans proposed a plan to redistrict the Texas congressional map, which would add five new GOP seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
of how unpredictable the world is,” Wisdom said. “And I think some of that politicization is our brains looking for control. That might feel like a helpful way to make sense of loss.”
LOOKING FORWARD
The July 4 flood is the most recent in a string of deadly flooding events in the last century.
In 1932, 10 bodies were recovered following the flooding of the Guadalupe. In 1987, a second flood swept away 43 people, 10 of whom died. Almost 12 inches of flood water caused the river to surge 29 feet within a few hours.
Senior Adaline Thompson, president of the Environmental Coalition of Students, attributes the unprecedented severity of the 2025 flood to climate change.
“A flood this powerful hasn’t happened in decades in that area,” Thompson said. “It shows we need to think about what we’re doing when we are contributing to climate change and think about all the lives taken.”
The week before the flood, the Trump administration shut down the website for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which contained crucial data on climate change. The weather service also began reducing weather balloon operations due to a staffing shortage.
In the face of trauma and tragedy, we’re reminded of how unpredictable the world is.
CLAIRE WISDOM UPPER SCHOOL COUNSELOR
In Memoriam: Margaret Bellows, Ellen Getten
Story by Bella Dodig, Yutia Li & Dalia Sandberg
On the first day of school, Head of Lower School Andrew Herman gathered students and teachers for an opening assembly. Herman held up a singular lit match, then broke it to represent how one flame can be easily extinguished.
Herman then passed around matches to each of the 40 Lower School teachers and staff in attendance. One by one, they used their matches to light the next until the whole circle was ablaze. The combined light represented how they are stronger together than as individuals.
The match demonstration set the precedent for the lighting of the Paschal candle in Chapel the next day, which honored dearly departed Mavericks Anna Margaret Bellows and Ellen Elizabeth Getten. Margaret and Ellen died in the July 4 flooding at Camp Mystic during their first summer away from home.
Margaret was 8. Ellen was 9.
Whether through tight hugs or contagious laughter, Margaret brought pure joy everywhere, friends and family said. She exhibited spirit in sports — field hockey, soccer, basketball — and in the classroom.
According to those who knew her, “Ellen woke up happy, went to sleep happy and made everyone around her happy.’’ She loved baking cookies with her grandparents, watching American Idol and cuddling with her collection of avocado stuffed animals.
In protest, Democrats left the state to stop the House from voting on the map. Accusations flew — Republicans were blamed for using the flooding as a cover to advance their own agenda while Democrats were criticized for abandoning flood victims and bringing the legislature to a standstill.
“It’s unfortunate that it became so political,” Nuchtern said. “Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, if a natural disaster hits, it’s going to affect all of us.”
School counselors think of instant politicization as less of a conscious decision than an impulsive coping mechanism.
“In the face of trauma and tragedy, we’re reminded
Margaret and Ellen both entered St. John’s in kindergarten and had been in the same advisory for the past two years. At Camp Mystic, the girls participated in dance parties at Bubble Inn, performing Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
Margaret is survived by her parents Patricia Bellows and Warren Bellows IV (both ‘03), her sister Mary Bellows, a sixth grader at St. John’s, and extended family members, including grandmother Ruth Bellows, who taught English at SJS.
Ellen is survived by her parents Jennie (‘03) and Doug Getten, her sister Gwynne Getten, a sixth grader at St. John’s, and extended family members.
To commemorate Lower School Night at the first home football game on Sept. 12, the Spirit Club distributed red pins inscribed with the girls’ names. They will be forever remembered as beloved members of the St. John’s community.
An emergency vehicle clears a road in the Texas Hill Country. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Bowen
Ellen
Margaret
Performative Males: Feminists or Fakes?
Story by Genevieve Ederle & Amina Zegar
by Jennifer Lin
If you ask Lamar senior Miguel Salavarria what music he’s listening to, he’ll name a random Drake song — but that would be a lie.
“I won’t tell anyone that I listen to PinkPantheress,” Salavarria said. “I don’t want to be labeled as performative.”
The “performative male,” one of the latest personas popularized by TikTok, is a man who pretends to have stereotypically feminine interests with the ulterior motive of forming a romantic relationship. They are often depicted as drinking matcha, listening to female artists like Beabadoobee or Clairo and reading feminist literature.
The performative male trend debuted in the era of the “pick-me girl,” a young woman who pretends to have traditionally male interests while denigrating other women. According to senior Avery DiNardo, the popularity of such labels provides an opportunity to call people out for their insincerity in the dating realm.
“A lot of guys I know will only listen to a certain type of music to fit the genre they are known for listening to,” DiNardo said. “At that point, we are all performing.”
DiNardo adds that performative males result from Gen Z’s tendency to fit a specific aesthetic for validation.
“It’s not just to get girls — it’s also to get clout,” sophomore Mae Pearson said. Sophomore Ana Salavarria, Miguel’s sister, first discovered performative males while scrolling online. She came across a TikToker describing a “final boss performative male” who listened to artists like Lana Del Rey. Finally, Ana could put a name to the archetype she had encountered countless times before.
“It started with women romanticizing 6-foot-2, feminist literature-reading men,” Ana said. “Once men caught on, performativity spiraled into the joke it has become today.”
Although the trend began as a lighthearted way
to describe guys who adopted interests that appeal to the female gaze, women online started calling out such performative behavior. Senior Brandon Wu understands women’s aversion to the archetype.
“Being a performative male is acceptable, but we also shouldn’t shame women for calling them out,” Wu said.
While some men feign their passion for effeminate interests, others were genuinely invested before the trend caught on. Senior Aaron Wu (no relation to Brandon) likes to discover underground music, but he is concerned that the trend has restricted his self-expression.
“With this whole performative trend going on, you can’t authentically listen to songs like Clairo without other people saying it’s for show,” Wu said.
If someone who’s not being their authentic self discovers [that they] like this kind of clothing or enjoy matcha, then I don’t think it’s bad. They’re exploring.
JOSHUA FREEMAN (‘25)
Joshua Freeman (‘25), who attends Georgia Tech, views performative men differently after witnessing a friend prepare for a “performative male contest” on Tech’s campus. The winner arrived wielding ten Labubus, multiple tote bags and a homeade sign that read “HERstory not HIStory.”
“If someone who’s not being their authentic self discovers [that they] like this kind of clothing or enjoy matcha, then I don’t think it’s bad. They’re exploring,” Freeman said.
According to Ana Salavarria, both genders can learn something from the rise of performative males.
“Just be yourself,” she said. “Why would you ever change your interests for anyone?”
Illustration
Chloe Laborde’s ultimate cure for summer boredom is tanning in her backyard. On a bright day, after checking the UV index — which is pinned on her phone’s homescreen — she puts on music, lies on her back for up to four hours and “hopes for the best.”
The junior, who has naturally fair skin, sometimes burns, but in a few days, it fades into the tan she desires.
“I’m probably killing my skin, but I like how I look when I tan,” Laborde said. “The sun brings up my mood — it’s like reverse seasonal depression.”
During the spring, when the weather gets sunnier, Laborde sits outside while doing homework.
Because her dad is a dermatologist, Chloe grew up avoiding direct sunlight and wearing long-sleeved rash guards. Now, she only applies sunscreen under three conditions: if she is at the beach or lake, when the UV index is greater than 8 or when her dad instructs her to do so.
“Tanning is just a default summer activity with my friends, and my friends will all hang out at someone’s house to tan together,” Laborde said. “The goal is to be more golden; I like to feel
BURN NOTICE
28% of Gen Z respondents from a 2024 survey said getting a tan was more important than avoiding skin cancer.
Despite the rising number of skin cancer diagnoses at younger ages, sunbathing is back. According to a survey by the American Academy of Dermatology, 28% of Gen Z respondents said getting a tan was more important to them than avoiding skin cancer.
In the United States, there has been a 31.5% increase in melanoma rates between 2011 and 2019.
31.5% increase in melanoma rates between 2011 and 2019. 5 or more sunburns double the risk of melanoma.
“What we often see is late 30- and 40-year-olds coming into our office with skin mimicking those in their fifties and sixties, with etched lines and discolored areas on their face and neck,” said St. John’s parent Suneel Chilukuri, a
cosmetic and dermatologic surgeon.
In the early 20th century, tan skin reflected a blue-collar background and working outdoors. But when fashion designer Coco Chanel returned from the French Riviera in 1923 with a golden glow, the tan became a symbol of leisure. By the 1960s and 70s, people began using cooking oil and reflective blankets to darken their complexion.
While Chilukuri was in medical school, he would sit outside every weekend to tan with friends. He used a reflector, baby oil and iodine to turn even darker. Yet in 2000, when he had to get a spot removed from his shoulder due to cumulative sun damage, he stopped.
apparent, but it does make people look better,” Carroll said. “But a tan is too dark when people start to think that someone is a different race.”
Skin-lightening products are popular in regions of Asia and Africa, where pale skin is often favored. According to a 2015 study published by PubMed Central, intentional outdoor tanning is most popular among white people.
There’s a natural proclivity for human beings to want what they don’t have.
DR. SUNEEL CHILUKURI
“It was quite a different experience back then,” Chilukuri said. “But when I started seeing what this leads to and what type of surgeries people were doing, I had to change my tune.”
Skin cancer occurs when repeated UV exposure damages DNA, causing cells to grow uncontrollably. Research shows that having five or more sunburns doubles the risk of getting melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer. Just one blistering sunburn during adolescence more than doubles the risk of developing melanoma later in life.
“Back in the early 2000s, being pale was the promoted trend because people wanted better skin health,” Chilukuri said.
In recent years, the Korean ideal of “glass skin,” which describes clear, glowing skin free of blemishes and marks, has gone viral. But on social media today, Chilukuri sees more people talking about tanning, whether promoting vitamin D intake or better appearance.
Junior Jacey Carroll, who is Black and lightskinned, suns herself twice a month to achieve a caramel color that lasts. Carroll consistently checks the UV levels and only applies sunscreen to her face, shoulders and wherever tends to burn.
“When I’m pale, I look like a dead zombie,” Carroll said. “When I’m tan, I look sunkissed, and it brings out my brown features more.”
For Carroll, tanning feels like a chore.
“Honestly, it’s really uncomfortable,” Carroll said. “It feels good for a little bit because you’re soaking in the sun, but then the sun starts to burn you, and you just want to go inside.”
A sunburn is evidence of cellular damage. As cells are injured, the skin changes hues depending on the type of melanin produced. For people who freckle easily, such as fair-skinned redheads or blondes, damage shows up as a reddish color. For people with darker skin, it presents as a bronze hue or hyperpigmentation.
“Black people get tan, too. It’s not going to be as
“There’s a natural proclivity for human beings to want what they don’t have,” Chilukuri said. For those who do not want sun exposure, there are synthetic methods to achieve that sunkissed glow. In the 1980s, tanning beds, which emit UV radiation, surged in popularity. Indoor tanning has steeply declined in recent years due to an increased awareness of its severe health risks.
Common UV-free alternatives include spray tans and self-tanning products, such as mousses, drops, mists and lotions. Self-tanning products temporarily darken the skin for a few days or up to a week.
The global self-tanning market is expected to grow from $1.2 billion today to nearly $2 billion by 2032.
On special occasions, Laborde uses spray-on tanning water, like she did for her cousin’s winter wedding.
“My method is horrible, and it never works out well,” Laborde said. “But it mimics the happy feeling you get when you wake up tanned.”
For those who worry about chemical overload from spray tans, one may consider using tanning agents made with vegetables such as carrots and beets. Chilukuri says organic spray tan salons may be a safer option to create a dark brown or orangish-brown hue without the short- and longterm damage associated with tanning booths.
At home, Chilukuri makes sunscreen easily available for his family and friends, citing options that are both cosmetically elegant — not greasy or smelly — and affordable. He recommends his family apply sunscreen to their faces and necks every day.
“While I do not want my family members’ skin to look older than their chronological age, I am more concerned with inflammaging and skin cancer.”
Chilukuri also concedes that, though life’s “not just about appearances, appearance is the easy way to get somebody’s attention.”
Chilukuri says the best way to protect from sun damage is by wearing a wide-brim hat or breathable fabrics that have built-in UV protection. The next best thing is to use sunblock.
For girls with mothers and grandmothers who have etched-in lines, Chilukuri always asks, “Do you want to have similar skin in the next few years?”
This is an evolving story. Since we first wrote this article, new legislation has passed, politicians have spoken, and Camp Mystic has announced they will reopen. There will undoubtedly be more updates in the days and weeks to come, but this story reflects the situation as it stands as of Sept. 29.
We would like to note that two things can be true: the camp owners were considered role models by their campers; they may have also made terrible executive decisions that endangered children. We implore everyone to bear in mind the sensitive nature of this story and to contextualize the perspectives of our interviewees.
On Wednesday, Aug. 20, parents who lost their daughters in the Camp Mystic floods gathered at the State Capitol in Austin to petition for increased summer camp safety regulations. Donning pins with a Heaven’s 27 insignia as a tribute to the 27 Camp Mystic flood victims, parents delivered testimony and urged lawmakers to take action.
Within 24 hours, the Texas Senate unanimously passed the Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act, requiring the use of real-time weather alerts, warning systems and emergency plans for all Texas-based camps.
In letters addressed to state legislators, the owners of Camp Waldemar, located just down the river from Mystic, objected to increased restrictions, writing that “the combination of devastating floods and the heavy financial burden proposed under new state regulations presents an impossible challenge” for camps hoping to reopen.
Camp Mystic ownership supported the legislation, noting that it “would have saved lives on July 4.”
Just over a month later, Camp Mystic announced it would reopen for the 2026 season and shared plans to build a memorial for the 27 girls.
Parents who lost their daughters objected to the camp’s plans, claiming they were not consulted in the decision to reopen or the construction of the memorial.
CiCi and Will Steward’s 8-year-old daughter Cile has not yet been found. In an Instagram post, the couple wrote: “To promote reopening less than three months after the tragedy — while one camper remains missing — is unthinkable. Our families remain trapped in the deepest throes of grief, yet your communications
‘It will never be Community reflects on Camp Mystic’s legacy and
treat our never-ending nightmare as little more than a brief pause before resuming business as usual.”
In an email to Camp Mystic parents, ownership briefly mentioned plans to improve safety but did not release any details.
“We are not only rebuilding cabins and trails, but also a place where laughter, friendship and spiritual growth will continue to flourish,” the message read. “As we work to finalize plans, we will do so in a way that is mindful of those we have lost.”
AN ESCAPE FROM THE WORLD
Before the tragedy, Camp Mystic was one of the most well-known camps in Texas.
Every summer, hundreds of families make the five-hour trip to Hunt to drop off their children at one of the region’s 13 camps. With only 1,332 full-time residents, Hunt’s population more than doubles with the annual influx. For generations of Texans, these camps have fostered connection, personal development and spiritual growth.
their last year the summer before their senior year of high school.
Assistant Dean of Students Lori Fryman worked at Camp Mystic for five years, serving as a counselor for the first three years and babysitting the assistant director’s kids during her last two.
“At camp, you’re the kids’ go-to person,” Fryman said. “You’re their family away from their family, and that’s one of the reasons the relationships you develop go far past your time at camp.”
Fryman considers Camp Mystic an “escape from the world” and says that “the most carefree you can be is when you’re at camp.” She taught guitar, cheerleading and even lacrosse, despite having no prior experience. “At Mystic, you’re always learning new skills.”
Mystic campers participate in daily activities, including water sports, horseback riding and art. On Sundays, they attend religious ceremonies and participate in Bible study.
Senior Olivia Major attended Camp Mystic until she was 15. “It was just such a good community,” she said. “When I would go through the green gates, I felt like I was going home.”
She would tell me to trust my path and not to worry about surface-level or trivial things because I would end up where I needed to be. She would always tell me to have faith.
Established in 1926, Camp Mystic is a private, all-girls Christian summer camp located between the Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek. To secure a coveted spot, parents place their daughters, often newborns, on a years-long waiting list. After being accepted, girls start camp at eight years old, completing
OLIVIA MAJOR
At the beginning of their first summer, campers participate in a sorting ceremony, drawing either a red or blue slip of paper to determine whether they will join the Tonkawa or Kiowa tribe. The older girls then put the new members on their shoulders and carry them across the field to their respective tribe hills.
“It’s like you’re joining your family,” said Major, a member of Tonkawa. At the end of every monthlong session, the tribes participate in a camp-wide competition, which includes trivia, fishing and a canoe race. Major still remembers when the Tonkawas won her final year.
“I really wanted to win. Everybody was weeping, and my parents were there,” Major said. “It was a pretty big deal.”
Another camp tradition is chicken letters, in which counselors require their campers to write a letter to their parents every Sunday before they can eat chicken in the dining hall.
be the same’
considers path forward following deadly floods
“It’s super funny because some people would never write, but they had to write their chicken letter every Sunday,” Major said.
The Eastland family has owned and managed Camp Mystic since 1939, with Dick and Tweety Eastland serving as the camp directors for the past 51 years. The Eastlands mail every new camper a handwritten welcome note, and by the time they arrive, they know them by name.
“They weren’t just our directors,” Major said. “It was like they were our parents.”
Senior Lulu Flores, who attended Camp Mystic until she was 15, describes the Eastlands as “the mom and dad of the camp.” When she broke her thumb at the beginning of her second year, Dick attended every doctor’s visit and even hosted a private Bible study session for her.
“I was worried that my camp experience would be ruined, but they wanted to be involved and make sure that I was okay,” Flores said. “That was something they did to accommodate me without anyone else there.”
The Eastland family continued the weekly Bible study visits for the rest of Flores’ time at Mystic, discussing life and religion. “I had a lot going on. I would confide in the two of them, and I really knew they were there for me,” Flores said. “I would also talk to Dick about my struggles with Christianity, and he would just listen.”
Spiritual growth is one of Camp Mystic’s core principles, with campers, counselors and staff gathering on Senior Hill every Sunday to participate in services known as Vespers. Together they sing songs, read scripture and listen to motivational speeches.
Major received her first Bible at camp and credits much of her religious development to Mystic.
“At Mystic, I got to grow in my faith by myself, which I really appreciated,” she said. “In the month at camp, I felt so connected to God, and when I would go back, I felt that same connection.”
Camp Waldemar, Mystic’s “sister camp,” was also founded in 1926 and is located 20 minutes north of Mystic. Senior Josephine VanHoutan attended Waldemar for five years.
“Everyone in my extended family went to Waldemar,” VanHoutan said. “We have a community there, and it was definitely a big part of my life growing up.”
At camp, VanHoutan felt strongly connected to her faith. “I always saw God there,” she said. “Seeing the camp’s beauty and learning to be kind to everyone has shaped me for the better.”
While Mystic and Waldemar are rivals, VanHoutan emphasizes their friendly relationship. “We were close to the Mystic girls. A lot of us are from Houston, and it’s crazy to think that it could have been us.”
TRAGEDY AND AFTERMATH
In the early hours of July 4, seven inches of rain fell in less than five hours, causing the Guadalupe to rise over 20 feet and engulf the two Mystic cabins where the youngest campers were housed. The flooding claimed the lives of camp director Dick Eastland, two counselors and 25 campers. Among the victims were Lower School students Margaret Bellows and Ellen Getten, who would have entered Class Three this August, and recent Kinkaid graduate Chloe Childress.
Olivia Major was in bed that morning when her mother opened her door, crying. “I knew something was wrong,” Major said. “When she told me, we just cried.”
This summer marked Camp Mystic’s 99th year. For generations of Texans, Mystic is not just a summer camp — it’s their legacy.
While Major looked forward to one day sending her kids to Camp Mystic, now she’s not so sure. “It still doesn’t even feel real,” she said. “I imagined it would become a family tradition.”
In the midst of the tragedy, Major has found comfort in recalling Tweety’s advice: “She would tell me to trust my path and not to worry about surface-level or trivial things because I would end up where I needed to be. She would always tell me to have faith.”
when news outlets began to air the story, Camp Mystic became the center of a social media storm.
While thousands of people expressed their support and condolences, some claimed that religious and political affiliation contributed to the natural disaster. The first time Flores opened her phone July 4, she didn’t know what to expect.
“There were videos calling the camp demonic or elitist, and I was so mad I would comment back — it was really hard at first,” she said.
Other social media accounts reported misleading or false information, even using AI to create fake videos depicting the rescue of missing children. Flores fell victim to some of these viral hoaxes: “I didn’t know which information was true and which wasn’t.”
Camp Mystic’s safety protocols have also faced public scrutiny. The camp is situated on steep hills and narrow valleys alongside the Guadalupe in a region called Flash Flood Alley. While flooding is common, water has never reached the cabins.
You’re their family away from their family, and the relationships you develop go far past your time at camp.
LORI FRYMAN ASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENTS
In the spirit of Camp Mystic, Major says Dick Eastland, who died attempting to evacuate girls from the raging floodwaters, would have encouraged campers to find joy.
“While at the same time mourning the whole situation, he would want us to celebrate what Camp Mystic was because it was his life.”
Flores remembers Eastland every day.
“He shaped my life in the best way possible,” she said.
In mid-July, a Vesper service was held at Rice Stadium, in which members of the Houston-area Mystic community joined together in prayer, grief and reflection. St. John the Divine Church also hosted a vigil.
Other camps along the Guadalupe sustained damage, but all campers survived. Heart of the Hills, an all-girls Christian camp in Hunt, was preparing to welcome campers for their next session on July 5 when the flooding occurred. Camp co-owner Jane Ragsdale died attempting to save camp staff. She was 68.
While neighboring Camp Waldemar sustained extensive structural damage, all campers were safe and accounted for. The camp released a statement July 15 stating that they were “holding one another in prayer as we face this together.” VanHoutan recalls scrolling through Instagram and coming across illustrations of Waldemar and Mystic campers holding hands.
“We’re like sisters,” VanHoutan said. “We’ll be here for them when they need it, and the same goes for them, too.”
In the aftermath, members of the broader camp community posted stories on social media with missing persons information and shared links to relief organizations. But
In 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency classified Camp Mystic as part of a “high risk flood zone,” according to The New York Times. Camp Mystic challenged FEMA’s initial ruling and successfully reversed the high risk classification, exempting them from purchasing required flood insurance and allowing them to pursue expansion.
Major recalls camp plans to implement flood warning systems, including gauges equipped with alarms to indicate when water levels rose. Yet Major remembers that the plans fell through when camp administrators decided the precaution was unnecessary and costly.
Mystic’s lack of safety equipment meant it did not receive accreditation from the American Camp Association, a recognition given to camps for meeting roughly 200 safety criteria. Eight out of 13 Kerr County camps received accreditation last summer.
“We feel guilty because we sent our girls to a camp we thought was safe,” said Doug Hanna, father of Hadley Hanna, in a testimony to the Texas Senate on Aug. 20. “We didn’t know we were sending our daughters to sleep in cabins that were removed from the flood plain through an administrative process.”
The same day, Mystic wrote in an Instagram statement that “the safety and well-being of every camper is our priority, and our policies and practices are designed to ensure a safe and supportive environment.”
Little remains known about the camp’s future safety plans as they prepare to reopen next June.
Yet even when Camp Mystic reopens, Major acknowledges “it will never be the same.”
“It’s hard for me to accept,” she said. “I’m going to have to sit with it and process.”
Story by Bella Dodig & Lee Monistere Design by Jennifer Lin & Michelle Liu
Country clothes, take me home
Story by Amina Zegar
Acertain fashion trends” Pan said.
Senior Khoi Chu shares a similar sentiment.
through style,” Chu said.
fter attending schools without a strictly enforced uniform policy in New York and Washington, D.C., junior Josephine Barbee came to freshman orientation expecting to see her fellow female classmates wearing Rock n’Rags, a D.C. tween fashion staple. To her surprise, the self-proclaimed Yankee found herself in a sea of athletic clothes, speci cally Gold Hinge skirts.
After spending his summer in Massachusetts, Chu felt that the South, and more speci cally the School, had a more homogenous fashion culture.
“In the North I could express my true self
“I’d never even heard of them,” Barbee said. “Yet almost every girl I saw was wearing one.”
The United States is often described as a melting pot of cultures, landscapes and ideas.
As students jet-setted across the country this past summer, many noticed that the the country’s diversity also a ected teens’ sense of style.
Junior Grace Pan, who spent the majority of her summer in Northern California for a program, also noticed a di erence in attire.
“Everyone was dressing nicer,” Pan said. “Jeans and a top was considered casual instead of workout clothes.”
Chu noticed New Englanders often thrifted clothes and shopped for Brandy Melville rather than wearing athleisure. Instead of sporting Free People shorts and a Longchamp tote, his campmates often wore denim shorts and carried an oversized bag. Thrifting gave Chu a sense of the New England fashion scene.
Barbee
to Houston, her pages on Instagram and TikTok
Barbee attributes the drastically di erent style across the US to social media. When she moved to Houston, her pages on Instagram and TikTok re ected a new style of clothing. Barbee says that the di erent feeds often create an echo chamber for style, leading many people to emulate the apparel of those around them.
“If you go to an event outside of school, you will nd a million people wearing the same articles of clothing,” Barbee said.
styles from other states. Like Barbee, Cozart gets much of her fashion inspiration from social
Junior Maddie Cozart enjoys the relaxed athletic styles of the South, claiming that they allow her to move freely compared to popular styles from other states. Like Barbee, Cozart gets much of her fashion inspiration from social media.
popularity of athleisure, noting most style choices
Pan attributes Houston’s climate to the popularity of athleisure, noting most style choices are catered to their practicality. Pan also suspects that Texas has a larger culture of conformity compared to other states. She admits that this conformity often limits her personal style.
“As a person of color, I have de nitely felt that there is an unspoken cultural superiority around
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Cozart said. “But then everyone started wearing it, so I bought one and I loved it. I was de nitely
“Originally, I thought most of the popular athletic shorts and skirts were really ugly, and I hated it,” Cozart said. “But then everyone started wearing it, so I bought one and I loved it. I was de nitely in uenced.”
apparel. “Even when we are out of uniform, it’s if
Pan acknowledges the lack of diversity in apparel. “Even when we are out of uniform, it’s almost as if we still are in uniform.”
Oh, deer! Students hooked on outdoor hobbies
Story by Rian Du
Junior Daniel Cykowski was tired and impatient after a three-hour drive to Texas City, ready to give up on the trip. Yet once he cast his line, the frustration faded away, replaced by the kind of calm that made the long wait worth it.
Suddenly, the line snapped taut. Cykowski leaned back while his father stood by, ready with the net as the waves slapped against the dock’s wood. Minutes later, Cykowski hauled in the biggest catch of his life, a two-and-a-half-foot long red sh. It was the moment everything clicked.
For years, shing and hunting has provided an escape from academic rigor. Passed down through families, these traditions carry a legacy of fathers teaching sons and friends sharing weekends outdoors and preserving skills that link one generation to the next.
White-tailed deer hunting season opens Sept. 27, quail season follows on Nov. 1, and while shing is open year-round, new licenses take e ect Sept. 1. The hunting and shing season marks a time when some students troop into the underbrush and open waters, rods and ri es in hand.
lies in the challenge: “Trying to chase something that is doable but still di cult is what makes it exciting,” Cykowski said. “Catching a big one feels like an accomplishment every single time.”
Now that he drives, Cykowski shes everywhere, from lakes around Houston to coastal spots along the Gulf. He has also taken up y shing, where he focuses on precise, stealthy presentation, replicating insect life near the water’s surface in Colorado and New Mexico.
“Fishing has given me an appreciation for the outdoors and for conservation,” Cykowski said. “It makes you think about the sh you catch, how you handle them and the care you show for the environment they live in.”
Cykowski has integrated his passion into his school life as co-founder of the Outdoor Club, in which he organizes and leads outdoor activities, fostering a deeper connection with nature and environmental stewardship.
Fishing has given me an appreciation for the outdoors and for conservation.
DANIEL CYKOWSKI
After a long week of classes, junior Daniel Cykowski trades in his collared polo for camou age overalls and casting vests. Cykowski learned to sh when he was six. He recalls the salty breeze o Galveston Bay, the creak of the pier beneath his feet, rod in hand, scanning for the telltale tug that meant the sh had taken the bait.
“My dad showed me a space where patience mattered more than speed,” Cykowski said. “I just stuck with it, and it’s helped me balance school and stress.”
What began as semiannual family time has become a monthly ritual. For Cykowski, the appeal
Just as shing has become a ritual for some students, others nd that sense of tradition in the quiet hours of the hunt. That morning, junior Matthew Byers sat in silence with a chill seeping through the blind and the sound of branches cracking in the distance. Hours passed before a buck nally stepped into the clearing.
He steadied himself the way his father had taught him, heart racing as he lined up the shot. For Byers, the moment exempli es what keeps him drawn to hunting: the combination of challenge, determination and the sense of earning something meaningful.
“My most memorable hunt has to be when I shot my rst deer, an 8-point whitetail,” Byers said. “I had gone on dozens of deer hunts before with no reward, so when I nally got one, it meant all those hours sitting in a blind paid o .” Byers learned how to track deer and handle a
ri e from his father, who remains his hunting partner today. What began as weekend trips has grown into a family tradition that has shaped his patience and perspective.
“Hunting has a payo like no other activity,” Byers said. “It can be incredibly di cult and requires patience, but that makes the reward better than anything else.”
Most of Byers’s hunts take place on his family’s ranch in south Texas, where the brush is thick, and the hours can stretch long, occasionally spending afternoons dove hunting in open elds, but it is the deer blind that taught him his greatest lesson.
“Patience is the biggest lesson hunting has given me,” Byers said. “It taught me that results are not always easy to see in the short term, but if you stay consistent and do not lose faith they will be as rewarding as ever.”
OUT OF SCHOOL Daniel Cykowski reels in a fin-nomenal catch.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Cykowski
Photos by Georgia Pulliam Design by Noelle DiNardo & Emily Yen
Josephine Barbee models styles popularized in the South (left) and North (right)
Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.
Story by Eshna Das & Mikail Khan
Every Friday night, Keith puts on his headset, logs into a game at 8 p.m. and drinks a beer or two.
“It feels like I’m floating,” he said. “After a hard physics test, it just helps me feel better.”
When Keith (not his real name) joins multi-player games like Valorant or Roblox, he treats the occasion like a social hour. “My friends are too lazy to go out,” he said. “So it’s an easy way to bond.”
When he’s online, time flies. Most weekends, Keith logs off around 3 a.m. “Those seven hours feel like two, maybe three,” he said.
Yet Keith does not consider himself addicted to video games.
“There’s not a need to play,” he said.
Keith’s experience is typical. Video games are central to student life, with roughly 85% of teens playing them and 41% having them as part of their daily routines. The addictive nature of these games correlates with a dopamine rush.
Both short-term rewards and long-term achievements within video games trigger a flood of dopamine through neurotransmitters associated with pleasure and motivation. The longer students play, the more this cycle repeats. The response is amplified by game design elements that keep users engaged. Social features, including in-game and voice proximity chats, also fulfill psychological needs for autonomy and connection.
The dopamine rush received from video games is often related to gambling addiction. The World Health Organization classifies both gaming and gambling disorders as conditions characterized by repetitive, persistent behaviors that negatively impact a person’s life. Games often use compul sion loops — a cycle of play, reward and progress that perpetuates dopamine releases.
Over time, brains adapt to high-frequency dopa mine releases, leading to increased tolerance and worsening withdrawal symptoms.
“Every time I do schoolwork,” Keith said, “my hands instinctively go to the W, A, S and D keys.”
No matter how often they play, most students feel like they have control over their video game usage. Junior Wes Kozar, who started Gaming Club his freshman year, wanted to create a space for like-minded students to bond over their shared hobby.
On weekdays, Kozar limits video game usage by setting a one-hour screen time limit, which he spends playing with friends. On weekends, he typically spends six to eight hours gaming.
“I certainly can spend too much time playing video games,” Kozar said, “but I don’t find that it ever gets in the way of doing my schoolwork because I know my priorities.”
For Kozar, video games are a key way to interact with others — especially during successful Brawl Stars matches.
“It makes playing the game so much more enjoy able when everything does work out,” Kozar said.
Seniors Maddox Kuy and Aiden Wu both experienced video game addiction in middle school. On school nights, they would lose two to three hours of sleep a night playing Minecraft or Valorant.
Wu noticed he was suffering withdrawal symptoms after amassing 400 hours on Valorant in seventh grade.
“If I won a game, I’d receive a massive dopamine rush. If I lost, I felt like the hours spent were such a waste of time.”
When high school started, Wu stepped away from video games.
”If I won a game, I’d receive a massive dopamine rush. If I lost, I felt like the hours spent were such a waste of time.
AIDEN WU
“It takes away important time I could be spending with my family, or just doing anything productive,” Wu said.
Both Kuy and Wu were fortunate that they avoided the long-lasting symptoms of a video game addiction.
“For me, it was just an unhealthy attachment to
there were things outside of gaming.”
Kuy still frequently plays games on his phone.
“It takes a lot of effort to do more enriching activities,” Kuy said. “Games don’t take that much effort, so it’s an easy dopamine farm.”
Wu has noticed that mobile games have recently risen in popularity.
“Students prioritize short-term dopamine,” Wu said. “Clash Royale and Roblox are big examples of that, and that’s why students have played a lot more recently.”
Science teacher David Castillo has observed the mass video game usage in his students. Instead of avoiding it, he uses gaming as a way to encourage bonding. He brought an old Nintendo Switch from his house for his students to play games and problem-solve.
“The Switch allows my advisory to work together and manage the conflicts of the game,” Castillo said.
Since the Nintendo Switch console allows for up to eight students to play at a time, his nine advisees can alternate each round, even though some of them choose to just watch or hang out.
“If a student wanted to play competitively during lunch while they’re eating, that does not strike me as bad,” Castillo said. “If a student was trying to play during class, that would violate the boundary.”
Castillo says that students can still lead a healthy lifestyle if they game in moderation.
Illustrations by Emily Yen
Creating [core] memories
Pilates help students stretch their limits, form community
Story by Bella Dodig & Dalia Sandberg
Photo by Ella Hughes Design by Ella Hughes & Noelle DiNardo
Once a week, junior Avery Pollock and her father Adam (‘87) attend a 6:15 a.m. Pilates class, a tradition they call “Family Fridays.”
“Being there with him motivates me to be my better self,” Avery said. “It’s a good way to start my morning and get my blood flowing.”
Two years ago, Solidcore’s investment portfolio came across her father’s desk. Intrigued, Pollock went to see for himself. After one class, he raved about the energy and intensity of the workout. Soon, the whole family was attending classes regularly.
“Solidcore is a fun way for us to do something that is not forced,” Pollock said. “It’s a great bonding time.”
Founded in 2013, Solidcore is now one of the most popular Pilates franchises with 110 locations nationwide, including three in the Greater Houston area: Rice Village, the Heights and Post Oak.
Solidcore specializes in a type of Pilates known as “reformer Pilates,” different from “mat Pilates,” which utilizes resistance bands and weights and includes a stretching period. Reformer Pilates features a customizable apparatus with springs and a moving platform. Students participate in high-intensity, low-impact exercises on the reformer, which is designed to break down and build back slow-twitch muscle fibers. During Solidcore classes, instructors blast music while attendees perform exercises on a reformer that the company calls “Sweatlana.”
While performing a platform lunge during her first Solidcore class last December, junior Allison Lu felt dizzy and left the room. It wasn’t until January that she returned.
“In my first class, I felt embarrassed because everyone around me seemed to know what they were doing,” Lu said.
Despite her first impression, she decided to give it a second chance and “became obsessed.” Now she regularly attends multiple classes a week.
For Lu, Pilates is a stress reliever. “Wednesday and Sunday became my favorite
days,” Lu said. “I would go into class really tired from the school day and come out ready to do homework.”
For others, Pilates complements high-intensive sports training. Senior Maddie Garrou, who plays club soccer year-round and will play collegiately, uses Pilates as a form of injury prevention. After sampling different studios, Garrou settled down at LHTX Fitness, which features mat classes.
“It strengthens muscles you don’t usually use in other activities,” Garrou said. “On my off days, it’s the perfect way for me to be using my muscles without overly exerting myself.”
Girls soccer coach Rachel Fabre began Pilates 25 years ago. The one time she took a break, she suffered a serious knee injury. Since recovering, she has not stopped.
“Pilates builds a flexibility component that traditional strength training typically doesn’t allow in the flow of a lift. That said, I view pilates as a wonderful supplement to a good strength program,” Fabre said.
Connor Lewis is a Solidcore coach at the Heights location. She notes that men mostly attend their first class with their significant other. “Guys assume it’s for girls only, but once they come in, they end up liking and sticking with it,” Lewis said.
Nolan Hughes (‘24), who plays club baseball at Notre Dame, went to his first Solidcore class in April with his mother and sister Ella, a junior design editor for The Review. Over the summer, he attended 25 classes to supplement sports training. Hughes concedes that he feels like a “fish out of water” in the female-dominated Solidcore environment.
“I never like to go in alone,” Hughes said, “but in class, the lights are dark and the music’s loud, so nobody pays attention.”
During Solidcore classes, instructors curate Spotify playlists to energize students. Avery and her dad sing along to their favorite tracks and have even developed inside jokes about certain songs.
“We are all locked in, but at the same time, we can have a little bit of fun with the music,” Pollock said.
For Lu, music can make or break a class.
“If the music isn’t good, I won’t be as motivated or enjoy the class as much,” Lu said. “It’s important to find an instructor whose music taste you align with.”
The base price for a Solidcore class in Houston is $36, yet memberships and discounts can bring the cost per class down to less than $10. Mat Pilates classes range from $30 to $40, depending on the studio. For senior Mattie Trefz, cost is a major deterrent to getting a membership.
“The price is insane,” Trefz said. Instead, she visits the West University Rec Center.
In class-based Pilates, students often develop close relationships with their favorite coaches.
“My instructor became more of a friend,” Lu said.
“I enjoyed going to class just to catch up with her.”
Lu credits much of Solidcore’s appeal to an emphasis on community-building. Coaches often ask members to high-five their workout buddies before and after class and incorporate group challenges into exercises.
“I feel pushed to do better because the people around me are always giving it their all,” Lu said.
The more classes he attends, the more Adam Pollock feels integrated with Solidcore.
“You develop a little bit of a community with the people you see every day.”
Additional reporting by Ella Hughes
MAVERICKS
Facilities team keeps school going When in Rennes
Story by Riya Nimmagadda
Playing carnival games after midnight in Marseille, getting lost on public transit and meeting her host family's new baby were not experiences Elliana Faykus imagined when she decided to spend her junior year abroad in France.
Faykus spent last year in Rennes, France, with School Year Abroad, a program that enables students to spend one year studying in either France, Spain or Italy. Faykus, who has always been a Francophile, jumped at the opportunity.
“I’ve always loved French culture, so to have the opportunity to study and live there for a year was perfect,” Faykus said. Convincing herself was easy. Convincing her parents was not.
“She was heading to a foreign country where I wouldn’t be able to check in on her every day,” Elliana’s mother, Twana Griffith-Faykus, said. “It was both exciting and a little daunting.”
the city as a classroom. Every Thursday, her experiential French class traveled around Rennes, learning about the city’s monuments and exploring sites such as the Saint-Pierre Cathedral and the Palais Saint-Georges. As students explored, they would interview random people on the street to improve their communication skills.
Faykus also completed a capstone project focused on community service. Before leaving for France, she founded a nonprofit organization, It’s Your Day, that hosts birthday parties for kids from underserved communities. For the capstone, she talked to nonprofit entrepreneurs in France about what inspired them.
Faykus traveled independently with her friends to experience French culture. Throughout the year, she ventured to Nice, Lyon, Monaco, Mont Saint-Michel and Saint-Malo.
I love my family, and they are 100 percent what got me through the program.
Griffith-Faykus said her daughter was serious and passionate about studying abroad.
ELLIANA FAYKUS
“She was showing me a level of independence and intellectual depth I hadn’t fully seen before,” Griffith-Faykus said.
Academic Dean Jennifer Kuhl reassured the family that they could trust that the SYA program would be beneficial, and that the School would help her reacclimate. Kuhl guided Faykus and her family by providing SYA alumni contacts and comprehensive information on the experience.
“It made the whole process feel manageable and trustworthy,” Griffith-Faykus said.
Arriving in France in late August, Faykus discovered that she was the only student from Texas in the program. During her first week in Rennes, she explored the city and bonded with her host family, including a 4-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister.
She also got lost on public transportation. Before leaving for France, Faykus and her mother had discussed myriad dangerous scenarios, but the one challenge they didn’t prepare for was how to navigate the bus system.
On the first day of school, Faykus arrived at the right stop, but she took the wrong bus amid multiple transfers and got to class late.
During the first few months, Faykus adjusted to completing all her assignments in French.
Compared to St. John’s, “the classes there were easier and had less work but everything had to be done in French, which presented its own set of challenges.”
Although SYA does not offer AP classes, Faykus studied independently for AP Precalculus, English Language and Composition and, yes, French Language and Culture.
While Faykus took some traditional classes like math and English, SYA emphasizes using
“If we had a long weekend, we could go wherever we wanted in France, and it was just so much fun,” she said. “On one of my last breaks, I traveled with both my host family and friends and just went everywhere we could for a week.”
Last September, her host parents told Faykus that they were expecting another child in May.
The boy, Maël, was born just weeks before she returned to the U.S.
“That was when I felt the closest to my family,” Faykus said. “It was an incredibly powerful experience.”
On the weekends, Faykus took her host siblings to the playground and library. For her birthday in August, her host family sent a video of them singing “Happy Birthday” and wishing her luck for her senior year. They are even planning on coming to Houston for her graduation.
“I love my family, and they are 100 percent what got me through the program.”
When she returned to Houston in late May, Faykus took some time to decompress, a process that French teacher Shelley Stein (‘88) describes as a “reverse culture shock.”
Faykus recalls how seeing the “Welcome to America!” sign at the airport felt disorienting.
“It was really special living back in my same house with my parents, seeing my dog again and seeing how everyone, including myself, has changed,” Faykus said, who stayed in her room for a week to readjust.
At 17, Stein went on a summer French immersion program that she said was life-altering.
“Going abroad as a teenager can be one of the most formative experiences that you have. You’ll become more confident, learn to problem solve in ways that you’ve never had to do before and realize that you can navigate anything thrown at you,” Stein said. “It is your own little taste of adult life.”
Story by Angel Huang & Sarah Nguyen
When French teacher Shelley Stein ('88) noticed what she described as pink water leaking from her classroom ceiling, she rushed her students to the library. Stein, who had just organized her new bookshelf, was shocked to realize that the toxic liquid was within inches of her prized collection, so she quickly returned to save her books from the deluge. Within 10 minutes, facilities workers arrived to turn off the chiller in the third-floor attic and clean the mess.
“It was like a horror movie,” Stein said. “But thanks to them, it ended quickly.”
The next day, the damaged ceiling tiles had been replaced, and there was no sign of the spilled coolant.
Members of the facilities staff tackle unexpected emergencies like this every day, which interrupts work on long-term projects. Each year, facilities receive roughly 3,500 work orders, which vary from event setup to arranging hundreds of chairs for class meetings, according to Richard Still, Director of Safety, Security and Physical Plant.
“All of our facilities guys care about the school,” Still said. “Nobody here treats it like just a job.”
Salvador Aquino, the School’s facility manager, often works over breaks and holidays, doing maintenance that is not possible while school is in session. Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring and summer break are as busy for staff as they are relaxing for students.
“While students are here, it’s busy,” Still said. “But it’s three times busier when they’re not.”
The staff, led by Still, began preparing for the 2025-2026 school year on the Monday after Commencement in May.
Throughout the summer, over 40 inspections, ranging from fire alarm checks to PA system tests, must be completed for certification so the School can open in August. Staff check every classroom, repaint walls, rearrange furniture and install whiteboards as needed.
Another big undertaking is the Great Lawn — the grass must regrow each summer so it is in good condition for the school year.
This summer, staff also dedicated time to working on the Kensinger Center. While the new building was constructed by contractors, it was cleaned and organized by the facilities team. The main tasks included determining the correct occupancy for the building and obtaining all the necessary permits.
After every Friday night home football game, some staff stay as late as 1 a.m. to pick up trash, ensuring the campus is ready for the next day.
“I like to keep the school looking nice and clean because to me, the first impression is always the most important,” Aquino said.
The team works constantly throughout the school year, often seven days a week, to keep the School running.
“Even after working Monday through Sunday last week, everybody came to work this Monday morning with smiles on their faces, doing their job,” Still said.
Most of this work happens behind the scenes: every event must be set up, every spill cleaned, every power outage resolved as quickly as possible — so quickly, in fact, that students often do not even realize the power was out just a few minutes before they arrived at school.
Staff also disinfect each classroom every night, though most people do not notice.
“I never realized how much they do,” sophomore Aris Hanna said. “I don’t think I’ve given them nearly enough credit.”
Though their work often goes unseen, the facilities staff is the backbone that keeps the School running smoothly.
“When you see them, you ought to say thank you,” Still said. “They work very, very hard.”
BON VOYAGE Elliana explored museums and monuments across France during her year abroad.
Photo courtesy of Elliana Faykus
Mavs reflect on military service
When D’Hania Hunt was considering where she might attend college in the late 1980s, she watched a segment on “60 Minutes” about West Point, which included a montage of cadet training. From that moment, she knew she wanted to attend the Academy.
Her father, who was in the U.S. Army Reserves, provided additional inspiration.
“It seemed to be something that nobody else was doing,” Hunt said. “I also really wanted to give back to my country.”
Students attending military academies go through physical and leadership training before serving at least five years in the military. During her first year at West Point, Hunt was only allowed to leave campus two weekends each semester, but that didn’t mean there weren’t exceptions.
“I was a part of the theater club, and I got other chances to go off campus and see a couple of Broadway shows,” Hunt said.
After graduating in 1993, Hunt served in the Army for 23 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2016. She began her service in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and was later deployed to South Korea and Iraq. During her first deployment to Iraq, both her brothers were deployed to the Middle East at the same time. While she was stationed in Baghdad, Wesley (‘00) was in Northern Iraq, and Wrendon (‘01) was in the Persian Gulf with the Navy.
As a military intelligence officer, Hunt researched governments and identified danger zones in foreign countries to help troops navigate unfamiliar terrain. When she was promoted to lieutenant colonel, Hunt led two military intelligence units.
Anyone who visits her office in the Admissions suite will see mementos of her time in the military, including a surfboard from Hawaii, the ceremonial sword she received after graduating and a Stetson hat, which was part of her 1st Cavalry Division uniform.
While Hunt no longer dons the Stetson, she wears a number of “hats” at school. Beyond her work in admissions, Hunt teaches linear algebra, coaches cheerleading and is the Director of Community Engagement.
You find out more about yourself, and then inevitably you rise to that level of expectation.
DAVID COHN DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS
The military taught Hunt how to follow others when needed but also to lead by example.
“I learned to ‘speak soft, sweet words, for one day you might have to eat them,’” Hunt said.
As a junior, David Cohn was recruited by the U.S. Naval Academy to play lacrosse. After graduating from Annapolis, he served in the Navy for nearly seven years.
“I knew going into the recruitment process that I was going to devote a couple years to the Navy,” he said. “As a 17-year-old, it is difficult to think about what will happen in the next 20 years.”
As a student-athlete, Cohn attended lacrosse practice and weekly physical training while main-
taining a demanding academic schedule.
“It all blends a bit, and you just get into a rhythm,” Cohn said. “You find out more about yourself, and then inevitably you rise to that level of expectation.”
As they near graduation, Navy students participate in service selection, where they line up in order of merit to select their first assignment.
“It’s a highly anticipated moment, as each candidate gets to pick not just their ship, but the port where they will begin their Naval career,” he said.
Cohn chose to serve in San Diego, where he worked onboard the USS Jarrett for over two years. As a communication officer, Cohn was responsible for the operation and command of surface ships. In his second tour, he served as the Security Detachment Officer-In-Charge of Mobile Security Squadron Five.
Later deployments included Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
After seven years, Cohn retired from the Navy in 2013 but remained in the Reserves for a year. He began coaching lacrosse at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.
Cohn said the principles he established during his years of service have helped him lead young athletes.
“I got to see a lot of the world,” Cohn said. “It was a really eye-opening experience that shaped who I am today and taught me a lot about leadership.”
Story by Mikail Khan & Genevieve Ederle
Photo by Georgia Pulliam
HATS OFF West Point
graduate
D’Hania Hunt retired as lieutenant colonel after serving 23 years.
Part-time jobs, full-time hustle
In school, if AJ Alagarsamy writes down the wrong number on a math test, the worst outcome is a bad grade. But this summer, the stakes were much higher.
Alagarsamy turned a shadowing opportunity into a full-time paid internship with Gray Rock Gathering and Marketing, a Houston-based oil company. He balanced spreadsheets, built quantitative models to price options and manage risk and combed through pages of data to pull out key insights. His results impacted the company’s financial decisions, involving thousands of dollars.
He realized, “This could be an enormous mistake if I tell someone the wrong number.”
As the youngest person in the office by nearly a decade, the junior felt added pressure. “It is intimidating walking in, knowing you are the only high schooler,” he said. “You have to carry yourself like you belong.”
Alagarsamy, the vice president of Business Competition Club, traces his interest in finance back to sixth grade when he started investing. He took AP Computer Science last year, which helped him develop coding skills.
While his parents encouraged him to enjoy his summers, Alagarsamy wanted to pursue his passion.
“I was not expecting the amount of pushback that I received from my parents with the whole ‘be a kid’ thing,” he said.
I felt a bigger sense of identity in a way. I found this for myself. I’m getting paid, and it’s my money.
LAELA ABOUDAHER HMNS TEACHING ASSISTANT
Alagarsamy says the summer taught him invaluable skills: fluency in Python, proficiency in Excel and the ability to digest complex material quickly. More than anything, the internship showed him the importance of relationships.
“Connections are pivotal,” he said. “It is near impossible to get a job in finance as a high schooler without connections.”
Summer jobs typically pay slightly above minimum wage ($7.25/hr), although some paid significantly more, but most
students work for reasons besides money. For junior Jordan Frawner, employment created a sense of nostalgia. After attending Westbury Baptist Day Camp for nine years, Frawner wanted to become a counselor there.
Junior Andy Trejo worked three- to eight-hour shifts as a lifeguard at the Colonial Pool in West University Place. Besides getting CPR-certified and discovering that there are “kids who come to the pool just to mess with lifeguards,” Trejo learned responsibility and how to deal with crises.
While working as a part-time waitress at Little Matt’s restaraunt in West University, junior Claire Chih dealt with orders piling up and rude customers. She initially took the job her freshman year to branch out and engage with customers.
Senior Ziya Ali started working as an assistant coach at Sugarland Gymnastics when she was a sophomore. The job helped Ali open up, since she needed to be “loud and excited” for the kids she instructed.
“It’s just really fun to work with kids, get them active and make them enjoy doing something that’s not school,” she said.
Senior Finn Brewer, who lived up to his name by brewing boba at the Sharetea in Rice Village, thinks every teenager should seek employment.
“It teaches you so many valuable skills that school doesn’t teach you about responsibility and people skills,” Brewer said.
Senior Cameron Nguyen got his first job at Sharetea in Memorial four weeks ago. He works three weekday shifts.
“I was a little intimidated because I felt like I had to be super-uptight and extreme on every kind of level,” he said.
Within a few shifts, Nguyen found that his work environment was relaxing and fun. Plus, he gets one free drink per shift.
“It’s a good way to end your day, just relaxing with some of your coworkers and drinking boba.“
When Jeremy Johnson was in high school, the future Associate Director of Admission and College Counseling worked behind the counter as a “sandwich artist” at Subway. The job provided Johnson a sense of autonomy and accountability while learning to manage working relationships and
laying the groundwork for his current responsibilities.
“I can build a mean sandwich now as well,” he said.
As a college counselor, Johnson has not observed an uptick in student getting jobs, he has seen increased interest in internships, some of which are unpaid. He connects the preference for internships to the desire to gain experience and appear competitive for colleges. The School’s internship program, which matches rising seniors with potential career opportunities during their summer, bolsters student participation.
Johnson says both internships and jobs teach varying skills and require different levels of commitment. Jobs provide real-life experiences
It is intimidating walking in, knowing you are the only high schooler. You have to carry yourself like you belong.
AJ ALAGARSAMY FINANCE INTERN
and salaries, while short-term internships let students delve deeper into specific interests. Johnson says each are valuable if students can manage their time.
According to a Review survey, roughly twothirds of respondents would rather get an internship than a job. Senior Laela Aboudaher observed that the majority of her peers last year leaned towards internships. While Aboudaher did not participate in an internship, she worked at the Houston Museum of Natural Science as a teaching assistant for three weeks.
“I felt a bigger sense of identity in a way. I found this for myself,” Aboudaher said. “I’m getting paid, and it’s my money.”
During the academic year, Chih picks up one five-hour shift per week, Brewer clocks at least six hours per week and Alagarsamy will work during winter break.
Ali, who already dedicates 20 hours per week to her own gymnastics training, adds five hours as a coach. The extended time commitment does not tire her out because she looks forward to working with the kids.
“They have such an energy,” Ali said. “As a high schooler, I’m always so exhausted, but then when I work with them, I don’t feel as tired.”
Story by Sophia Kim & Wanya Zafar
Laela Aboudaher taught camps at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Photo by Georgia Pulliam
DON’T SPILL THE TEA Senior Cameron Nguyen mixes up a boba tea storm at Sharetea.
Photo courtesy of Cameron Nguyen
1
THE POWER RANKING: RIVALRIES
SJS vs. Kinkaid
Of course we’re No. 1!
(After all, we’re the great big cookies at the top of the jar.)
SJS vs. Kinkaid Football
While the Mavs are clearly superior, we’ve been lacking in the win column against Falcon football. (Our 12-year losing streak means no current student has ever seen an SJS win.) 2
UV rays remain undefeated.
Government 3 4 5 11 12 13 14 15
Redheads vs. The Sun Rachel vs. “We were on a break!”
6
7 9 10
8
After “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series finale, we can all agree: Conrad with Belly, Steven with Taylor, Jeremiah with Denise and Cam-Cameron/Benito with us.
Conrad vs. Jeremiah UT vs. A&M
Hook ‘Em or Gig ‘Em? After being on hiatus for 13 years, the rivalry was renewed last year. This year’s rendition will take place Nov. 28.
October vs. Sleep
12 Hoco signs, 11 quizzes taken, 10 college apps, 9 APRs, 8 spirit dress days, 7 tests a’coming, 6 grades a’failing, 5 hours of sleeeeep, 4 football games, 3 nights of cryin’, 2 essays due and Halloween all in a month.
The GoRillas may lift 200 pounds, but have they ever done a lunge on a moving platform with their hands above their head in dim lighting?
Future CEOs, have some self-respect: Go see Maroon 5 instead.
Huda vs. Cancel Culture
Whether you like it or not, she’s the new “mamacita” of the internet thanks to “Love Island.”
Sorry, NFL fans, it looks like Taylor Swift’s popularity keeps reaching “New Heights.”
Whether it’s comparing music taste or hand size, can we agree that both groups need to stop?
16 17 18 19 20
The age-old “Friends” debate. The only lamer justification is “It’s not you, it’s me.”
Do they want to join your club or are they just hungry?
“Who really controls the steps on the Met?” - XOXO Gossip Girl
Clubs vs. Domino’s Pizza Blair vs. Serena South Park vs.
Is free speech really “free?” You must respect our authoritahh.
Well, now it’s us, too, awwww. (WHYYYYYY?)
If there’s no party, at least you can get a patty (melt).
Sorry, but it’s hot, we need some AC, and if the match is close, then we might not make it back in time for the second-half kickoff.
Only 23% of Texas students take the ACT, which is why we crush it.
We publish articles all year, but even we can admit that at the 20-year reunion, everyone will be breaking out the yearbooks.
Honorable Mentions: Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton, Kendrick vs. Drake, Jim vs. Dwight, Labubus vs. Lafufus and Edward vs. Jacob
Design by Ella Hughes
DANCING THROUGH LIFE
Stories by Juliet Dow, Sarah Nguyen, Angel Huang & Sophia Kim
Cover by Jennifer Lin & Emily Yen
Photo credits (clockwise from top): Julie Kent (courtesy of Josephine Barbee), Joshua Jones (courtesy of Joshua Jones), Erin Bray (courtesy of Erin Bray), Libby Agarwal (courtesy of Libby Agarwal)
The Big Game comes home
Why the Kinkaid Game is moving back to campus for the first time since 1978
In 1979, 10,000 St. John’s and Kinkaid fans attended the first game between the two schools at Rice Stadium. Since then, spectators have flocked to the game to bask in the excitement of watching football on a college campus — the epitome of the Friday Night Lights experience.
This year, due to a scheduling conflict with the Rice Owls football team, the Mavericks will play on Skip Lee Field.
The rivalry matchup against Kinkaid is typically played on the last Friday in October, but this year, Rice is playing a nationally televised home game against the University of Memphis on Oct. 31.
So, for the first time in 47 years, the game will not be played on a neutral field. Technically, Kinkaid is the home team. Due to construction on the Kinkaid campus, the schools agreed that St. John’s will host the game this year before Kinkaid hosts in 2026. After two years, the schools will convene and revisit plans for moving forward.
It’s a big crowd for sure, but I think it will feel more intimate.
DAN ALIG HEAD OF SCHOOL
The game will look different for both players and spectators. For starters, it will be played on a Saturday afternoon, bringing a college game-day feel to South Campus. Because Halloween falls on the Friday, administrators decided that the game would be better attended if it was on Saturday, Nov. 1, while giving students time to go trick-ortreating.
Football captain Winston Silsby is excited for the change.
“It’s a great opportunity for a storybook ending at Skip Lee Field,” Silsby said.
Students and parents will be invited to the annual tailgate before the game in the VST lot. Kinkaid will also host their own event in Senior Lot.
“We’re going to bring both communities together in a dynamic way that will be different but, at the same time, exciting,” said David Cohn, Director of Athletics.
To accommodate all the fans, Head of School Dan Alig said that additional bleachers will be set up behind both end zones. While seating will be
an issue, Alig says there will be room for people to stand.
“It’s a big crowd for sure,” Alig said, “but I think it will feel more intimate.”
Some students are unhappy with the change of venue. Senior Will Burgess says that the game will not feel special being played in the same stadium as regular season games.
“Most football games, it’s mainly high schoolers in the stands. The Kinkaid game is truly an allschool event,” Burgess said. “Cramming that into St. John’s just kind of ruins it.”
Players feel a duty to defend Skip Lee Field, especially in the last game of the season.
“Never beating them at Rice feels like a missed opportunity,” senior lineman Joe Dalicandro said. “Now, we won’t have the chance.”
Although plans are not yet finalized, there will be some new pregame traditions. Fans can expect food trucks and games at the Lower School playground and Big Red.
Hosting the game gives St. John’s the opportunity to incorporate more school spirit.
The South Campus will be decorated with red and black, and spectators will stand shoulder to shoulder in the stands.
“The students will hopefully be more spirited because we are at our own school,”
senior cheerleader Sophia Camargo said. “It’ll definitely help the vibe.”
Cohn concedes that competing at Rice was not necessarily the best experience for the players since teams were not allowed in the locker rooms.
“All those little things make it really special, and we were not able to do them,” Cohn said.
Playing at home may ultimately give alumni a reason to return to their alma mater.
“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase both of our campuses and also bring a connection back to the alumni,” Cohn said.
LEVELING THE FIELD
In the days following the game, Skip Lee Field will undergo major changes. The grass will be ripped out to install a new water retention management system, which is required by the City of Houston for all new construction projects. After the system is installed, the field will be converted from natural grass to artificial turf, so the field will no longer have its signature curvature. This project is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2026 football season.
The track will also receive an upgrade, including a new color scheme. The project will require track athletes to practice before school at Lamar during the upcoming spring season.
The students will hopefully be more spirited because we are at our own school. It’ll definitely help the vibe.
SOPHIA CAMARGO
A ticket to the game last year at Rice Stadium cost $13. This year, as with all SPC games, admission will be free.
With seating for 47,000, kids often wandered unsupervised to the upper deck at Rice Stadium. Lower School parents who may have felt uncomfortable letting their kids roam free will feel safer knowing their children will be running around a familiar place.
For years, fans have complained about parking at Rice. Before the game, there were not enough people directing traffic. After, trying to get out of the lot is a free-for-all.
While senior Carter Lawrence was driving out of the parking lot after last year’s defeat, he accidentally delivered his own revenge.
“I ended up hitting the Kinkaid coach’s car in front of all the Kinkaid players while they were walking to the bus,” Lawrence said. “It was really crowded and cars were just going every which way. Thankfully, there wasn’t any damage.”
In 2022, former prefect David Schaefer (‘25) had his own run-in leaving the game after rearending the car of Dean of Students Bailey Duncan. Schaefer himself recounted the story during a Chapel talk last year.
“It’s definitely more inconvenient than last year.
I liked having practices in the afternoon, and it was a good way to unwind after school,” junior Rafael d’Souza said. “But at least the track will get a long-overdue update.”
Alig hopes that changing the location will give the School a chance to create new traditions for upcoming generations and inspire newfound school spirit in students, parents and alumni.
With a month to go before the game, there is still lots of work to be done.
“There are a lot of logistical challenges we need to work through between now and then, but I think it’ll be a great event,” Alig said.
Game Day Info:
Tailgate in VST parking lot.
Game at Skip Lee Field.
Saturday, November 1st @ 2 p.m.
Wear red and black.
Story by Ainsley Bass & Riya Nimmagadda
Photo by Emily Xie
HOUSE PARTY The bleachers will be filled with cheering fans on Nov. 1 when the Falcons flock to Skip Lee Field.
Sports photographer captures the moment
Jack Chavez brings drive, excitement to Maverick athletics
Story by Eshna Das & Lee Monistere Design by Ella Hughes
While taking photos at his first Maverick girls’ basketball game last winter, Jack Chavez was greeted by junior shooting guard Elizabeth Patton, who was trying to keep the ball in bounds. He got a kick to the head – and a perfect photo.
“She’s mid-air, and I was like, this will be sick,” Chavez said.
Chavez held on to his camera as long as he could until Patton’s foot clipped his right ear.
“I protect the camera first because I can recover,” Chavez said.
Patton apologized, but Chavez urged her to get back on the court. “It was hilarious,” Chavez said.
When Chavez was a kid, he was a baseball fanatic who knew every player dating back to the 1980s. He pasted dozens of pictures of athletes on the walls of his childhood bedroom.
“It’s weird now to look back at those iconic pictures,” he said. “Because this is what I do now.”
I got lucky, but I also worked hard when I got the opportunity.
JACK CHAVEZ SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER
Chavez played baseball until his sophomore year of high school. As a freshman at Stephen F. Austin State University during the pandemic, Chavez spent the spring semester working several full-time jobs to pay for college. When he was not working or studying, he spent time at the gym.
After deciding he wanted to open a gym, Chavez dropped out of college. At 21, he saved enough
grateful that didn’t work out,” he said. “Because it got me here.”
In 2023, Chavez moved to Houston and, after a two-year phase as a day-trader, decided to switch gears.
Chavez began filming highlights for Five Tool Baseball, a media organization. A few months later, he was hired by VYPE Media, which focuses on high school athletics. He then borrowed his father’s camera and began taking pictures. That fall, Chavez took pictures of Maverick athletes on behalf of VYPE. He instantly knew he wanted a full-time job.
Chavez developed a plan to work for St. John’s. “It was pretty simple and very naive.”
Chavez was juggling photography, waiting tables at two diners and showing up — unpaid — at St. John’s on Tuesdays and Fridays to film basketball games, hoping to get noticed by the right people.
This fall, Director of Athletics David Cohn offered him a full-time job taking pictures and posting them on social media.
“It almost doesn’t feel like that should have happened,” he said. “I got lucky, but I also worked hard when I got the opportunity.”
Chavez starts his day with a morning run then heads to a Heights coffee shop, where he edits and posts photos on Instagram while listening to sports photography podcasts. At 4 p.m., Chavez
volleyball captain Maddox Kuy said. “If he comes
because the easiest thing to do is get the pitcher and hitter,” he said.
“So I’m really proud of my pictures because I never
Sophomore Luke Walker first met Chavez when playing lacrosse. When he saw pictures of his team on Instagram, he felt energized.
“His pictures are amazing,” he said. “He’s putting in work every single day — no one does it like he does.”
Even though he’s no longer playing competitive sports, Chavez still has a competitive spirit. He wants to take his greatest photo of all time.
“It’s a challenge for myself to always stay hungry,” Chavez said. “It’s like a moving target. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there.”
Chavez’s current favorite photo is one he took of Cole Allen (‘25) during boys’ basketball senior night last year. Chavez is proud of how he captured Allen screaming with the cheerleaders while the crowd cheers in the background.
“You can just feel it,” Chavez said.
Another one of Chavez’s favorite shots is of Sebastian Williams-Adams (‘25). Chavez found out from Cohn the day before the start of the winter SPC tournament that he would be traveling
”He’s putting in work every single day — no one does it like he does.
LUKE WALKER
to Dallas to take photos for all sports, but the highlight was the Mavs game against the Falcons in the boys’ basketball 5th-place game.
“Anytime it’s Kinkaid versus St. John’s, it feels like something crazy is going to happen,” Chavez said. “The energy’s high.”
The officials allowed Chavez to sit directly underneath the hoop, something he had never been permitted to do before. He captured Williams-Adams dunking, but the better photo was his reaction shot.
“I was just pumped because I never sit right behind the backboard,” Chavez said. “It wouldn’t have the same effect if it was off to the side. It’s the one time I happened to do it, and I got one of my favorite pictures.”
While Chavez took the road less traveled, he would not have had it any other way.
“You’re going to have a bunch of failures,” Chavez said. “And I really believe that if you have a strong work ethic, whatever you put your effort and time into will work for you.”
Jack Chavez is always in pursuit of his greatest photo.
HE SHOOTS, THEY SCORE School sports photographer, Jack Chavez comes to school every day at 4 p.m. to start taking pictures.
Photos by Jack Chavez
From Center Stage to Houston Ballet
After
an illustrious 30-year career, Julie Kent finds a new home
Story by Juliet Dow Design by Ella Hughes
As a little girl, Julie Kent would go to the ballet studio, watching in awe as her mother and sister pirouetted across the floor. She yearned to dance in one of those classes, so when she turned eight, she finally enrolled.
“I was so excited,” Kent said. “I got to wear leotards and tights.”
Kent, an artistic director of the Houston Ballet since 2023, studied ballet in Maryland with aspirations to dance professionally. At 13, Kent knew she wanted to pursue a career in ballet, so she dropped all her other activities — gymnastics, swimming and karate — to devote her time completely to dance.
“Like anything, as you become more interested and you progress through the levels, the demands on your time are larger,” Kent said.
Kent trained at the Maryland Youth Ballet during the year and spent her summers at intensives — programs dedicated to training young ballet dancers.
“Summer intensives are a great opportunity to go outside your home ballet school, see what other dancers are doing and be exposed to other great teachers and companies,” Kent said, who spent her first week-long intensive at the Chautauqua Institute at 13.
Throughout high school, she attended several intensives including the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre. In 1985,
at 16 years old, she became an apprentice at ABT — a paid Union position for ten weeks. In 1993 at 24, Kent became a principal dancer at ABT, the highest ranking position within a professional ballet company.
Kent danced with ABT for 30 years, the longest serving principal dancer in the company’s history.
During Kent’s time at ABT, she met Principal Dancer and Associate Artistic Director Victor Barbee, whom she married in 1996. Her children, William and Josephine Barbee, a junior, were born in 2004 and 2009. While Julie and Victor worked, they relied on their trusted nanny, family, friends and preschool for childcare.
“Like any working parent, you don’t do it alone,” Kent said. “You have a support system.”
After an illustrious career that includes film credits in “Dancers” (1987) and “Center Stage” (2000), Kent retired from performing in 2015.
“It was really hard to let go of that identity as a dancer,” Kent said. “It was my life, not just my work, during those 30 years that I was a part of ABT.”
Despite the downside of leaving all her friends, Kent still found a silver lining. She began working with ABT, instructing teenagers at summer intensives. It was an ideal way for Kent to support her company and see summer intensives from an educator’s perspective.
“Growth is really important in life and it was
just a huge growing point for me and a wonderful, beautiful one as well,” Kent said.
Kent started work as the artistic director of the Washington Ballet in 2016. It was a huge opportunity for Kent but a big decision to make as a family, she said. Moving to Washington meant leaving ABT, which was a huge part of Kent and her husband’s life. During her time at The Washington Ballet, Kent and her husband staged productions of Giselle, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and “many other iconic ballets.”
After seven years of working for the Washington Ballet, Kent and her family moved to Houston to become the artistic director for the Houston Ballet.
Kent describes her new role as a multi-layered job. She hires choreographers, recruits dancers and “creates every opportunity possible for the transformative power of dance to shape lives,” she said.
“At the heart of it, it is really setting the artistic compass for the organization and inspiring the dancers to keep them motivated and constantly reach higher,” Kent said.
Whether it’s working on the stage or behind it, Kent focuses on expressing compassion and emotion through dance.
“I love the ability to really connect deeply without words through dance and I love the community that holds that up,” Kent said.
WIs Abby Lee Miller good for dance?
Workshops taught by “Dance Moms” coach give students a taste of life at the top of the pyramid. Is the drama worth it?
hen freshman Gracie Stamey arrived at her workshop with the Abby Lee Dance Company, she expected to snap a quick selfie with Abby Lee Miller and learn a short combo. Instead, she watched in shock as Miller yelled at a student “the second we got there” because they wore the incorrect shoes for a picture.
Miller founded the Abby Lee Dance Company in 1980 and starred in the Lifetime Network’s popular reality show “Dance Moms” from 2011-2019. Miller was known for her harsh teaching style and daily “pyramids,” in which she ranked her students based on their performance. Her blunt quips, including “save it for your pillow” and “everyone’s replaceable,” (available as a t-shirt for $35 online) earned her both praise and criticism. Her workshops, which she teaches across the country, are popular among Maverick dancers.
In May, Stamey attended one of these classes at Tribe Seven Dance in Cypress. She first heard about the opportunity through an Instagram post, but the class sold out in seconds, leaving her unable to register. Due to the overwhelming
demand, Miller announced another session two days later, which Stamey and others from her competitive dance team at Motion Dance Center registered for.
At the Tribe Seven Dance studio in Cypress, dancers participated in the three-hour class with no water breaks followed by a mock audition designed to prepare the aspiring performers for the dance world. Girls were separated into three groups: pop stars, backup dancers and those who would be cut entirely. Miller designated Stamey as one of three pop stars, which earned her a scholarship to a future virtual class.
Stamey says Miller’s temperament was similar to her persona on “Dance Moms.”
“I wouldn’t say that Abby is mean — she’s just really strict,” Stamey said. “She’s not afraid to yell. She’s not afraid to tell you when you’re wrong.”
Freshman Mary Margaret Johnston attended one of Miller’s workshops at Sound Box Dance Studios in 2023.
“Abby was nice at first,” Johnston said. “But as we went through the class, she was correcting
people and yelling at everyone.”
Johnston also participated in a mock audition in which Miller ranked the dancers.
“It was high-stakes, scary and really nerve-wracking,” she said. “But I think it is good to get used to that sort of pressure.”
Junior Maya Reyes signed up for Miller’s class to prepare for the 2023 Dance Awards Nationals.
“She was more normal than you would expect,” Reyes said. “[The show] definitely amplified certain aspects of her personality to gain more publicity and views.”
Miller even told Reyes’ class that “Dance Moms” cut everything except what they thought would “stir up drama,” creating a TV persona that did not quite match Miller’s true personality or teaching style.
All three dancers said they improved after taking Miller’s class.
Stamey says Miller’s unconventional teaching method is what motivated her.
“The yelling and strictness was effective,” she said. “It made me do better and push myself to work harder.”
Story by Sarah Nguyen Design by Ella Hughes
ON POINTE Julie Kent performed ballet at the Met.
Photo courtesy of Josephine Barbee
The duality of dance competition culture
Coaching styles determine levels of intensity, burnout
Story by Angel Huang & Sophia Kim
At the Youth America Grand Prix dance competition, Joshua Jones was waiting backstage when he heard a thud. The performer onstage had fallen during their routine. Immediately, his fellow competitors cheered, celebrating their higher chance of winning.
Jones was not surprised.
“I’ve heard of similar things before, and it’s very normalized in the dance community,” Jones said.
The sophomore, who dances in Terpsichore, started performing recreationally in fifth grade at Hunter Dance Center before switching to competitive ballet and contemporary dance at the Vitacca Ballet & School for Dance. By eighth grade, Jones, who attended Hogg Middle School, had advanced to the highest level at his studio and devoted the majority of his time to dance without worrying about school.
“In eighth grade, I would be burnt out from dance, but then I wouldn’t have to do homework,” said Jones, who described his time in middle school as “stupidly easy.”
The transition to high school proved more challenging. When Jones came to St. John’s, he struggled to balance dance with his academics. Many of Jones’s fellow trainees, who were homeschooled, did not understand why homework took priority over practice. His coaches also did not sympathize with his situation.
“Most coaches never went to high school, and they never went to a high school like this,” Jones said. “I had a lot of talks with my coaches about how burnt out I was, and they would be like, ‘I’m so sorry, take the time off you need.’ But then I would take a day off, and they would get mad at me.”
Practice during competition season was even more intense, sometimes involving 30 hours a week. Jones said dance competitions are stressful because they prioritize the mastery of technique over performance quality, an environment that only adds pressure.
“It’s really cutthroat,” Jones said.
While many dance teachers claim that competitions are about improving, he said many dancers just want to win so they can go to finals.
In August, Jones switched to the Academy of City Ballet of Houston, which is less strict and does not require as much rehearsal time. He maintains a healthier balance between school and dance.
“If you’re going to a studio where you don’t feel happy, you will eventually just start to dislike dance,” Jones said.
Senior Libby Agarwal performs in Terpsichore and competes for West University Dance Center. She loves the community at the Center and the way dancers encourage each other to improve.
“We’ve been dancing together our entire lives, so the bonds have gotten pretty close there,” Agarwal said. “Dance naturally brings people together.”
She brings the same mindset to competitions.
“I’m not competing against other people,” Agarwal said. “I’m competing against myself to do better than I did in the past. These girls are my best friends. I don’t consider it competing against them.”
she is and how much she cares about each little part of our dance.”
Annie Arnoult (‘93) is the director of Hunter Dance Center and the executive artistic director of the performing contemporary dance company Open Dance Project. She does not enter students, even those on the pre-professional track, in any competitions. She said training exclusively for competition dance limits students to the “particular tricks” inside of their choreography, which helps them win the competition but restricts their versatility.
If you’re going to a studio where you don’t feel happy, you will eventually just start to dislike dance.
JOSHUA JONES
TERPSICHORE
While Agarwal acknowledges that competitive dance can be “cutthroat,” she said her teachers actively avoid fostering the same type of harsh, competitive environment they grew up with. Still, Agarwal has observed how judges critique using an “old school standpoint,” in which a foot pointed at the wrong angle could dramatically reduce a dancer’s score.
Senior Erin Bray dances at the the Center with Agrawal at the elite senior level and performs at school with Terpsichore. During choreography week, when choreographers teach new dances, Bray practices six hours a day.
Bray doesn’t consider her dance environment to be as competitive as other dance studios.
“You cannot commit to colleges for dance, so there isn’t that pressure to succeed in that way,”
Sophomore Ashi Ali enjoys dance, but instead of pointe shoes and tutus, she wears a vibrant Bollywood costume. Ali dances for Rhythm India, and although she does not enter competitions, her teachers expect her to perform at a high level.
“We want to become a bigger company,” Ali said. “We want to be as professional as possible.”
Ali’s group made history last year on Sept. 29, becoming the first Bollywood company to perform at an NFL halftime show. To prepare for their performance at the Houston Texans game, her teacher challenged Ali with high expectations.
“It helps us become better dancers,” Ali said. “Everything is so much better because of how strict
Instead, she focuses on developing technique. “They have to have their fundamentals so practiced and known and mastered that they can put those fundamental building blocks together in a completely new way.” Arnoult feels a responsibility to teach methods that promote longevity, whether they are three or senior citizens.
“Dance doesn’t have to stop when you reach a certain age if you do it right,” Arnoult said.
Isabel Wallace-Green (‘15) currently dances professionally at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Company. Wallace-Green grew up performing with the Houston Ballet Academy, with limited onstage opportunities until joining Terpsichore.
“Growing up at Houston Ballet, we were so focused on the technique and gaining the foundation of movement that we didn’t really have that many performance experiences,” Wallace-Green said.
Yet her strong technical foundation is what helped her become a professional. She attributes Houston Ballet’s technical prioritization to building her “toolbox,” skills that she draws on in performance. Still, she observes a different skillset in her peers who trained in competitive dance.
According to Wallace-Green, competitive dancers have “a certain level of confidence.” Although she doesn’t like to use the word “tricks,” she said former competitive dancers “know reliably where their body’s going to be and execute regardless of the pressure. Competitive dance instills that in people.”
Wallace-Green deeply enjoys her career, although she acknowledges that it comes with performance anxiety, self-judgement and criticism. She further acknowledges that making it in the arts world is difficult, but for those wanting to take the leap, she has some advice.
“As long as you are your greatest cheerleader and your greatest champion, I think anything’s possible,” Wallace-Green said. “Believe in yourself, because you’re the only one who can make what you want to do happen in the long run.”
KICK IT UP A NOTCH
Senior Erin Bray has been a member of Terpsichore since freshman year.
Photo courtesy of Erin Bray
Photo illustration by Ella Hughes
DANCE LIKE NO ONE’S WATCHING
Senior Libby Agarwal has been dancing since she was two.
Photo courtesy of Libby Agarwal
Photo illustration by Jennifer Lin & Michelle Liu
Why you should care
When catastrophic floods swept through Hunt, Texas, I was in Colorado, playing in my biggest softball tournament of the summer. The day after the tragedy, my teammates discussed what had happened for about two minutes during warmups before playing ball — winning games felt more relevant at the time. I didn’t even realize that some of my teammates lived in the Hill Country until the tournament was over.
The next day, I saw Mr. Alig’s email titled “With Heavy Hearts” as I waited for an airport shuttle. Everything in the background seemed to fade away as I, frozen in shock, tried to make sense of the loss. When the shuttle arrived, I put my phone in my pocket. Catching my flight home was now at the forefront of my mind.
Today, it often feels like there’s no time or place for sensitivity. We’re taught that having the memory of a goldfish is a strength, and we should only worry about what directly affects our lives to avoid unnecessary stress.
Isolationism can be liberating. At St. John’s especially, our bubble shields us from realities beyond our community. Social media only helps us maintain this insularity — once the algorithm figures out what content appeals to you, it doesn’t feed you anything else. Most of us don’t care about issues if they don’t directly relate to us, and why should we?
In August, Eshna Das and I asked Upper School Service Learning Coordinator Claire Nuchtern if SJS students have the civic responsibility to engage in volunteer efforts for disasters like the Hill Country floods. Her answer has stuck with me — the less affected you are, the more obligated you are to help.
It wouldn’t have been difficult to take a little time out of your weekend to donate to a supply
drive or, in my case, simply check in with my teammates who live in the Hill Country.
The flood was a wake-up call for us to pay
Too often, we don’t step up until an
issue directly affects us.
attention and help out in our communities, but it shouldn’t take a natural disaster that hits close to home to remind us to be present for others.
Too often, we don’t step up until an issue directly affects us.
It’s like playing on a sports team and only choosing to work together when you’re losing badly.
The most successful teams build a strong foun-
dation of trust throughout the season, enabling them to lean on each other during setbacks. A good teammate consistently cheers on and lifts up those around them. The same is true of the strongest communities and their members.
Caring starts in our everyday relationships and often doesn’t involve grand gestures. Practice showing up for your family, friends and the people around you instead of treating it as an obligation, and then they’ll show up for you when you’re in need, too. When we make connection and support a regular priority — not just something we turn to amid crises that directly affect us — we strengthen our community, bit by bit.
Only then can we begin to fathom how to navigate tragedy — together.
To generate a better alternative, stop overusing AI
Let’s play a game: one of the following hooks for this opinion is AI-generated. Can you guess which one?
“AI interferes with the development of students, pulling them down a rabbit hole of mindless prompting.”
“AI enhances our abilities and drives innovation — it’s building new ways to see the world.”
They were both written by me. Seems innocent, but if you were a teacher, how could you have known? Would you have flagged my language — or my em dash? Would I be accused of cheating?
Generative AI has gained a foothold in almost every facet of life, especially among students. During finals season last spring, ChatGPT usage peaked at almost 100 billion tokens — the basic unit of text processed by an AI, each about four letters — in a single day. A month after school let out, it barely reached 35 billion.
Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, large language models have rapidly gained popularity for their accessibility and humanlike outputs. New versions like GPT-5, released Aug. 7, feature longer conversation memories and superior reasoning skills. Meanwhile, Google’s Veo 3 can generate scarily lifelike video and audio.
With limitless applications, who can blame students for turning to AI, especially when assignments can be completed in minutes instead of days? Whether conjuring up practice questions, last-minute birthday gifts or dating advice, these AI models take on whatever shape you need.
At the end of the day, this technology has no
concept of good or bad, right or wrong; it analyzes patterns in your inputs and matches them to the data on which it was trained. Even in simple tasks such as counting letters or reordering words, it resorts to probabilities. When facing something unexpected, AI makes mistakes.
Other times, models hallucinate false information without any indication of these errors. Written in small gray letters underneath the chatbot’s interface is a warning that should be bolded, underlined and aggressively emphasized: “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.”
It’s critical that we understand the purpose behind these models: to gain our approval. Often, companies train LLMs to deliver responses that receive high ratings, resulting in sycophancy. Models falsely agree with and even flatter you to keep you engaged.
Take, for example, the case of a Canadian man who spent 300 hours across 21 days talking with ChatGPT about a mathematical formula, which would revolutionize the fabric of human exis tence. Despite repeated reality checks, the AI reassured him of his incredible ingenuity. Devel oping the formula became his only focus in life. When he shared his theory with a different AI, Google Gemini, the illusion finally broke.
Other notable LLM drawbacks include hidden biases in model architectures, alleged privacy violations and concerning environmental impli cations. You may have heard that producing a hamburger patty takes about 700 gallons of water, but training GPT-3, a now-outdated model, took almost 200,000.
Perhaps most relevant to students is that using ChatGPT stunts your mind’s capabilities. Studies show that when people rely heavily on LLMs,
neural connectivity and brain activity decrease dramatically. The ability to think critically is one of, if not the most, central components to being human. Is generating a polished essay or shortcutting a math problem worth sacrificing that ability?
None of this means we should abandon AI completely. It’s a valuable tool when used properly, and with its increasing prevalence in society, avoiding AI altogether is practically impossible. Simply put, we need to be mindful of the tools we’re using and how we’re using them. We must look past the tempting convenience and flattering praise to understand the reality of artificial intel
Opinion by Yutia Li
Illustration by Emily Yen
Opinion by Brian Kim Illustration by Emily Yen
Why Boys vs. Girls (State) should learn from each other
Opinion by Nathan Kim
Ifound myself in the midst of testosterone-driven pandemonium, observing a situation that seemed all too familiar.
In a world where clickbait headlines and viral videos dominate the news, Texas Boys State was the perfect microcosm of the circus we call our current political system. I watched as future statesmen covered themselves in baby oil, ripped off their shirts, interrupted each others’ speeches, booed candidates off stage and fruitlessly initiated impeachment proceedings.
Every June on the University of Texas campus, the American Legion hosts over 1,100 rising seniors for Texas Boys State — a weeklong leadership program in which participants ostensibly work together to get elected and establish an entire government from scratch.
The American Legion website preaches that Texas Boys State teaches young men “to understand and appreciate our democratic republic.”
Democracy doesn’t feel like the most fitting word.
”• The “Speed Act,” in which drivers caught going slower than 55 miles an hour in the left lane would be launched into the sun (in partnership with SpaceX and NASA).
Yeah…
But just as Boys State had its faults, Girls State was far from perfect.
In many ways, the girls in attendance described their experience more like a sorority summer camp than a civics boot camp. Doss and Johnson despised the “literal book of songs” they were expected to sing. According to Huang, instructors would patrol the halls of the dormitories during “Flat on Back” time, a mandatory midday break. Additionally, girls were encouraged to bring poster boards and markers to design campaign posters.
TXBS is infamous for its cutthroat elective process, insane antics and, honestly, not much else.
It was anarchy, and my experience was more akin to “Lord of the Flies” than a civics program.
The very next week, over 600 girls met on the campus of Texas Lutheran University in Seguin for the sister program: Texas Bluebonnet Girls State.
While Boys State is Conservative, chaotic and surprisingly strict — given its otherwise lax culture, Girls State is Liberal, orderly and tightly managed by the adult staff.
Seven SJS seniors participated in Boys State: Patrick Tsang (elected State Party Secretary), Colin Callahan (Senator), Jack Stanger (House Representative), Brandon Wu (House Rep), Luke Nanna (Justice of the Peace), Evan Nanna (County Counsel) and myself (Supreme Court Justice).
Our lofty positions didn’t translate to much work. TXBS is infamous for its cutthroat elective process, insane antics and, honestly, not much else. Most of our time was spent trying not to fall asleep following speech after speech for nine hours every day, and by the time most of us assumed our roles, the program was over.
Meanwhile, the four SJS seniors at Girls State: Valentina Doss (elected Party Chair), Gemma Huang (City Treasurer), Katherine Johnson (City Attorney) and Madision Bibb attended meetings, drafted policy, placed into the Senate or House and ran for elected office. The adult staff enforced decorum and kept order.
What better way to show the difference between the two programs than the policies drafted. Guess which two were passed at Boys State:
• A $68 billion wager (the entire Education budget) on a roulette wheel spin with a 2% chance of collecting $2.38 trillion (and a 98% chance of requiring education to be privatized).
• A bill that would allow minors to receive gender-affirming care without parental approval.
For programs that espouse training future civic leaders, both programs squander so much potential. At Boys State, the energy that could be channeled into practicing policy-making is spent on inane theatrics. At Girls State, the structure that could cultivate serious governance is wrapped in kitsch.
The polarity tells us something larger about how we teach civic engagement. We either glorify chaos and call it “patriotism,” or we suppress enthusiasm and call it “decorum.” Neither approach prepares us for the messy and oftentimes boring work of governing. These programs shouldn’t be competing caricatures; they should be where we learn how to turn ideas into action, how to argue without demeaning others and how to legislate without gimmicks. What we need, now more than ever, is a curriculum that fuses Boys State’s raw intensity with Girls State’s sense of propriety, producing leaders who are both passionate and highly competent.
If we can strike that balance — if Boys State can temper its anarchy with substance and Girls State can shed its rigidity for greater freedom — both programs could become what they claim to be: beacons of democracy, proof that our generation has what it takes to make our nation greater when it’s our turn to lead.
At Boys State we had two mottos. The first: “Learn by doing.” I implore all of us to do just that. Many of us will soon be able to vote — if we aren’t already — and as we begin stepping towards adulthood, we must use that incredible privilege. So vote. Volunteer for a campaign. Read the news. Do something. We chanted the second motto whenever the adults told us to pipe down. We would reply, “Our Boys State!” drowning out our counselors. We should carry that same sense of ownership into our civil life: take opportunity and action into our own hands; take charge of our local community, state and country — and decide what to do with it. Otherwise, we’re just teaching the next generation to perpetuate the dysfunction we already have.
Print Deputy Editors Bella Dodig, Yutia Li, Riya Nimmagadda
Copy Editors Ainsley Bass, Juliet Dow, Brian Kim, Sarah Nguyen
Executive Design Editors Jennifer Lin and Michelle Liu
Business/Production Manager Riya Nimmagadda and Evan Williams
Staff
Isabella Adachi, Harry Alig, Hudson Brock, William Burger, Colin Caughran, James Chang, Noelle DiNardo, Juliet Dow, Rian Du, Viv Fox, Sophia Giron, Asher Gurr, Harrison Hadnott, Melody Han, Maggie Hester, Henry Kramer, Ved Kulkarni, Nicholas Laskaris, William Liang, Katelyn McCollum, Akshay Pandya, Kavan Pandya, Mabrey Stokes, Ailey Takashima, Caroline Thompson, Payton Tu, Calla Wight, Preston Wu, Emily Xie, Brayden Zhao
Advisers
David Nathan, Shelley Stein (‘88), Sam Abramson
Mission Statement
The Review strives to report on issues with integrity, recognize the assiduous efforts of all and serve as an engine of discourse within the St. John’s community.
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We mail each issue of The Review, free of charge, to every Upper School household, with an additional 1,000 copies distributed on campus to our 711 students and 98 faculty.
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The Review provides a forum for student writing and opinion. The opinions and staff editorials contained herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Head of School or the Board of Trustees of St. John’s School. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the entire Editorial Board unless otherwise noted. Writers and photographers are credited with a byline. Corrections, when necessary, can be found on the editorial pages. Running an advertisement does not imply endorsment by the School.
Submission Guidelines Letters to the editor and guest columns are encouraged but are subject to editing for clarity, space, accuracy and taste. On occasion, we publish letters anonymously. We reserve the right not to print letters.
Photo Illustration by Michelle Liu
Photo by Dustin Wyatt
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: STAYING GRATEFUL
Schoolwide sickness in the first fortnight of school may be behind us, but this month’s challenges await — we have a busy road ahead. Nothing compares to October Madness: juggling activities, mid-semester grades, the PSAT/SAT/ACT gauntlet and major assignments each week. Within these few months, it’s hard to look at the big picture and identify what we are grateful for — allow your EICs to give it a shot.
It feels different returning to campus this year. On July 4, a tragedy deeply affected our school as an unexpected flood took the lives of community members (see pages 4-5, 8-9). A summer meant to bring new traditions and memories for families became one of loss.
Over the summer, students completed internships that had a real impact on the community (pg. 15). On the lighter side, as new trends unfolded, we also took a moment to laugh and poke fun — if you are a performative male, this sentence is for you (pg. 6).
It is so easy to get caught up in the fall frenzy, yet we often lose sight of what matters most: embracing moments with each other. Instead of constantly anticipating the next three-day
weekend, enjoy every long carrier, welcome every Chapel talk and engage with every advisory activity.
Say thank you to the facilities staff. As you can see from the picture above, they continue working hard to keep our campus running (pg. 13), even on a Sunday.
Embrace morning workouts, whether cross country or pilates with your family (pg. 12). Appreciate video-game sessions with your friends — without getting addicted (pg. 11). Soak up some vitamin D on sunny afternoons, but don’t forget your sunscreen (pg. 7).
For the seniors, this is our last year together. It is okay to feel nostalgic that time is moving so fast, but it is also important to practice gratitude. As we attend our final Homecoming game at Skip Lee Field against Kinkaid, we get to make one more football memory at home (pg. B2). We get more time with our families before we head off to college as our parents organize Senior Tea. We get to laugh in Senior Country (and hopefully, keep it clean).
As we spend late nights and weekends in the publications room, your editors on The Review will also stay grateful — for every last-minute in-
FREEDA OF THE PRESS
terview, every late-night Rice Box order, and every grammar mistake we catch. And to every community member who is not on this publication, we are especially thankful for you — without you all, we wouldn’t have any issues (pun intended).
And if you are still reading this article, we thank you for making it to the last paragraph of the final page!
With warm regards,
Eshna Das
Lee Monistere
Dalia Sandberg
by Emily Yen
LEAN ON ME
The Review EICs want you to find gratitude in everything you do this year.
