September Issue 2008

The Review

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The Official Student Newspaper of St. John’s School Vol. 60, Issue 2

2401 Claremont Lane; Houston, TX 77019 | http://sjsreview.net | review@sjs.org

SJS Weathers Hurricane Ike

September 2008

Emergency Systems Reconfigured

By BRET VOLLMER

Downed trees were one of the most visible ways in whichSJS was impacted by Hurricane Ike

By MELISSA YUAN Hurricane Ike resulted in dramatic changes in multiple aspects of SJS life.

Preparations for the hurricane began Sept. 10. “We prepared for the hurricane the best we could,” Assistant Headmaster Mark Reed said. All objects with the potential to blow away were either moved indoors or tied down. Mr. Reed said he believes the measures were effective, since the damage occurred only below ground. SJS

also shut down the systems that it could.

As for the matter of school cancellation, Mr. Reed said that even the decision to cancel Friday was made in order to allow families to prepare their homes for the hurricane or to evacuate. The decision to cancel Monday Sept. 21 was made in order give those who had evacuated enough time to receive the notice and return home.

Due to power outages caused

by Hurricane Ike, communication between the school and

SJS families proved to be important.

Since the servers were down during the hurricane as a result of power outages, it was difficult for the school to communicate with members of the community. One problem was the inability to use the SJS email system when the school was out of power.

As a result, the administration is planning on asking faculty and staff to add a cell phone number to their contact pages on Whipple Hill profiles

BRET VOLLMER | The Review

in order to create cell phone directories for future use. The school is also working on a way to avoid the email and communication problems encountered during this storm.

Mr. Reed added that SJS is looking into obtaining a generator with an automatic switch for the pump so that the next time the school loses power, the pump will automatically switch on the generator.

Overall, Mr. Reed said he thinks the phone system was “a See IKE p. 4

In response to difficulty contacting members of the SJS community directly following Hurricane Ike, school officials have committed to reconfiguring the emergency communication systems.

These recent efforts follow a major change enacted earlier this year when SJS adopted AlertNow, a rapid communication service provided by telecommunications company Saf-T-Net, as its notification system. Administrators’ current objective is to explore solutions for problems encountered when the new system was implemented after Hurricane Ike and modify emergency communication procedure accordingly.

Designed specifically to address schools’ needs to communicate information during emergencies, AlertNow relies primarily on phone systems to send messages.

“What happens is, we give them a list of phone numbers and record a message,” said Director of Technology John Ritter. “[AlertNow] then calls all of those phone numbers and either plays that message for a live person or records it on the voicemail.”

A problem arose during Hurricane Ike however when SJS lacked some community members’ cell phone numbers and had consequentially had difficulty contacting them.

“The problem seemed to be more with faculty than it was with families,” said Head of See ALERTNOW p. 3

Upper School to develop religious coursework with new faculty member

By LILIANA VARMAN & ARVIND MOHAN Entering the SJS community with his experiences from teaching a class and giving sermons as a pastor, Greg Han will co-sponsor Chapel Guild and teach the new Religion and English course.

Although Mr. Han will teach a spirituality class at SJS, religious studies was not always his top priority. “The first thing I wanted to be was an architect, and then I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. I really enjoyed the sciences [and foreign languages] in high school and that is what took me to Georgetown,” he said.

Index News...........................2 Sports.........................5 A&E...........................7 Photo Spread...........10 Features...................12 Opinions...................15 BeyondSJS................18

Even though Mr. Han experimented with various fields, religion was always his first vocational curiosity. “I remember being at church and being really enthralled with the minister and the pulpit. I think I preached my first sermon in third grade,” he said.

His theology class, a required course at the Georgetown University, convinced him to further pursue religion as an academic study.

Initially, Mr. Han did not expect to study religion in undergraduate school.

“I was looking at religion for graduate school as a doctorate program. Some of the applications that I filled out, some were by choice and some of it was… un-

SJS alumna spends year in Chile Jane Hong (’03) recalls fond memories made working in Santiago page 10

expected. It has lots of twists and turns,” he said.

As for inspiration, Han turned to his friend’s parents, who were “big into thinking about your faith,” he said. In addition, his theology professor and thesis advisor continued to influence him.

He also looked to God for motivation as to what he should study. “If you’re looking for God, there’s never actually the ‘bolt from the blue’, the moment when you get up and say, ‘I know exactly what I want to do,” he said.

Mr. Han’s belief system was influenced by his family and his life experiences.

However, his main tenant was that faith seeks understanding. “It is my view of

Senior to present “wacky” ISP Michael Steves (’09) looks forward to breaking a leg (and a maybe hip) in his upcoming play. page 7

the Christian faith that drives me forward into the unknown,” he said.

In addition, he said that the religious differences between his parents also shaped his views. “My father immigrated from China when he was just a teenager, so I’ve got half of my family who’ve been in the U.S. for many generations and been Christian for many generations, and then another half of my family is not only American, but they’re not Christian either,” he said. “I think we all have a mix of beliefs, some are religious and some are not… there is much we can learn from other belief systems. We have a lot to learn from See FAITH p. 4

Science teacher returns to school Find out about Mr. Martin’s life as a war veteran, teacher, and SJS husband. page 14

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September 2008

The Review

Facilities and Operations staff member retires

By ARVIND MOHAN Jesus Gonzales has decided careers. “He needs a break; he years ago, when there was a job to retire to care for his elderly has been working for a long opening at SJS, Mr. Medina recmother, after ommenddedicating 19 ed Mr. years of service Gonzalez as a Facilities for the Operations staff job. “Afmember to SJS. ter [I was] Mr. Gonzalez asked if was unavailable he was for comment. a good Mr. Gonzalez worker, I began working said ‘yes’, at SJS in 1989. and then Born in Monhe got the terrey, Mexico, job,” Mr. he immigrated Medina to the United said.

States and be“He came a key part w o u l d of the school’s also help Facilities Opme set up erations staff. events.

His wife also He always worked alongtried to side him until make sure she became ill the school with cancer and w o u l d subsequently l o o k passed away. good,” Coworker Mr. MeEdison Medina said. dina, who has Mr. worked at SJS Medina for 28 years, a d d e d happens to be that Mr. Mr. Gonzalez’s Gonzalez brother-in-law. was well“[Jesus] was an liked at Photo courtesy of The Quadrangle inspiration. He Mr. Gonzalez worked at SJS for 19 years.

SJS. “Even may have been though he was shy, he 64 years old, but he worked just time. He can now enjoy the was friends with all the Spanlike a young guy,” Mr. Medina ish teachers and many people said.

[Advancement]. He also “He was an inspiration. He in According to Mr. Medina, loved the children and would Mr. Gonzales’ primary reasons may have been 64 years old, tell me that [SJS] was such a but he worked just like a nice place with very caring for retirement was to care for his mother who suffers from people,” Mr. Medina said. young guy.”

Alzheimer’s and cannot live “We were always togeth- Mr. Medina by herself anymore. er; it will be hard to replace In addition, Mr. Medina [Mr. Gonzalez],” Mr. Medina mentioned that his brother- simple things in life,” Mr. Me- continued. “I know that he in-law wanted to spend more dina said. was very sad to leave and that time with his adult children, Mr. Medina chuckled when he he [would have wanted] to Jessie and Elisabeth, who have recalled the story regarding the say ‘thank you’ to everyone at gone on to establish their own hiring of his brother-in-law. 19 [SJS],” Mr. Medina said.

Photo courtesy of Marci Bahr

Sarah Dunlap (‘11), Alex Beckham (‘11), Caroline Gibson (‘11) and Lily Bernicker (‘11) getting ready to ride their bikes

Students bike Tour de Pink

By ARIANA DICKEY

Every year, SJS gathers students who donate their time and money to participate in the Tour de Pink, a charity bike ride to benefit breast cancer research.

The Tour de Pink was held on Sunday, September 7 at Prairie View A & M University and depending on the distance of started between 7 and 8 in the morning. Bikers cycled anywhere from 12 miles to 100 miles.

There were approximately 20 SJS students present at the Tour de Pink this year. Each participating student aimed to donate 75 dollars or more towards finding a cure for breast cancer.

The students partake in the Tour de Pink for a multitude of reasons. Some ride to support friends or family members who have or had breast cancer, while

others ride for “the challenge of the ride, the good cause that it is contributing towards and because the ride itself is really fun,” said Catherine Fondren (’09), president of the SJS bike team.

“I did the Tour de Pink to have fun riding with my friends for a great cause. It was tons of fun and very rewarding,” said Madeleine Moorhead (‘12).

At the event, there were plenty of rest stops along the way, with music, food and “people just having a good time. It’s a very social event,” Fondren said.

Atissa Ladjevardian (’12) said, “Even though it was challenging during some parts of the 23 mile ride, it was for a good cause and I really enjoyed riding for women with breast cancer. I can’t wait to ride again next year.”

Roxana Allen wins Southwest Region Award

POOJA SALHOLTRA | the Review

Ms. Allen poses in her Chemistry lab coat

By ARIANA DICKEY Chemistry (H) and organic chemistry (H) teacher Roxana Allen recently won the American Chemical Society’s Southwest Region Award for Excellence in High School Chemistry.

The award is presented to teachers who get involved in chemistry education outside the classroom and who use innovative techniques within the classroom. Teachers are nominated and judged on his or her ability to challenge and inspire students, a willingness to keep up-to-date in the field and evidence of active involvement within the profession. This award is also given for “being enthusiastic about teaching chemistry,” which according to Ms. Allen, is the award’s most important criterion.

In 2003, Ms. Allen was presented with the American Chemical Society’s Aczel Award, the same award that

chemistry teacher Jennifer Kuhl won this year.

Ms. Allen has been teaching chemistry for 24 years, 19 of which were spent at SJS. Before teaching chemistry, she worked in cancer research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, but she found that the breast cancer cells she worked with were not

“Yes, [Chemistry] is hard, but if you just try it and work hard at it, you can be successful at it. And it can actually be fun.”

- Ms. Allen

quite as exciting as she had expected. “[The cells] did not talk to me,” Ms. Allen said.

Since her laboratory experience was not compelling enough to hold her interest, Ms. Allen decided to become

a teacher. When she was a student teacher at Midland High School, Ms. Allen worked with a man who had been teaching for 50 years.

She said, “Having a mentor who is good at his job and enjoys teaching makes teachers continue to teach. He inspired me to keep teaching.”

One of Ms. Allen’s science idols is Ken Lyle, a former SJS chemistry teacher. Ms. Allen said she admires him “because his passion for teaching the kids chemistry was so great.”

A man named George Hayek once said that “Chem is try.” Ms. Allen said she uses this phrase to inspire her students. She said the message she wants to get across to her students is that, “Yes, [Chemistry] is hard, but if you just try it and work hard at it, you can be successful at it. And it can actually be fun.”

news

September 2008

SJS seeks solution to communication problems

A fallen tree blocks the circle driveway as a result of Hurricane Ike

ALERTNOW cont. from p. 1 the big issue. We are looking As a result, the administration is asking members of the community for more extensive contact information and also modifying the notification system itself.

“We’re going to add a feature to the system that would allow people to put in additional phone numbers in,” Mr. Wilson said.

Administrators are also cognizant of the limitations of phone-based communication.

“The problem was that we were trying to communicate a lot of detailed information, and to do that in a phone message isn’t very practical,” Mr. Wilson said. “The weakness of the phone system is that if you’re trying to leave a detailed message on people’s voicemails, well, you can only leave as much as their voicemail allows you to leave.”

School officials are discussing alternatives means of communicating more detailed information to supplement AlertNow. The current idea is to use e-mail. However, apart from requiring that many community members have power in order to be an effective communication tool, e-mail also presents administrator with an additional set of concerns.

“Investigating how we do this email thing is going to be

at a way that we can economically and reasonably keep up our email system through the duration of an outage of this sort,” Mr. Ritter said. “It’s not just like we can take our email server home and plug it in and have all our email, directing to it from another location.”

Relying on e-mail as an additional emergency communication tool would require SJS to safeguard the system failures common during natural disasters, either by procuring a generator to ensure power for the on-campus systems or by hosting its own off-site e-mail server.

“If we [begin to host an SJS email server] we have to worry about security and being able to keep information private on posted servers,” Mr. Ritter said.

“We’re having to investigate (how SJS would host an e-mail server) pretty seriously to make sure that we can handle it well and not put ourselves in a situation where we get on blacklists or we get taken advantage of by spammers because we put up a server somewhere else that is insecure.”

Alternatively, there is similar scrutiny over using generators.

“If we go the generator route there is a cost involved that the school would have to investigate,” Mr. Ritter said. “The cost of a generator and supply-

ing it with fuel and those kinds of things is of a significantly greater order of magnitude… so we’re trying to be thoughtful about where we put that money.”

Currently, the emergency communications system is relatively inexpensive for the administration. SJS pays just a few thousand dollars for a year of service from AlertNow. However, using a generator to support campus communica-

BRET VOLLMER | The Review

tions systems would increase costs; because the SJS e-mail server and network are lesser priorities than other campus functions, they would be assigned a generator only after additional generators had been procured for higher priority issues.

“We’re weighing the costs all over campus,” Mr. Ritter said.

School officials continue to be open to suggestions for possible solutions or ways in which the

system can be improved.

Despite these obstacles and limitations, however, school officials spoke approvingly of the new AlertNow notification system as a whole.

“The emergency phone system did a great job in general.

We continue to learn from the disasters that have happened both to us and in other areas and we’re continuing to tweak the system to get it better and better,” Mr. Ritter said.

VAIL KOHNERT-YOUNT | The Review

Trees suspended over the power lines have leaft residents without electricity.

SAC plans November retreat for freshman class

By SARAH KOSLOV For the first time at SJS, the freshman class will go on a class retreat to Camp Cho-Yeh. The retreat, planned by SAC, will provide a time to build up grade unity.

Freshman class president Ned Lu (’12) said that this is an opportunity for students to get to know each other in a more relaxing environment.

“High school has been busy for us,” Lu said. He is looking forward to the trip and has confidence in its success. “We are going to try and make it a tradition,” he said.

English teacher Angela Flowers, one of the retreat coordinators, echoed Lu’s enthusiasm.

“One of the goals [of the retreat] is to encourage bonding between the ninth graders, the senior peer leaders, and the faculty and administrators,” she said. She views the retreat as a time for the new students to think about their unique place

in the Upper School and what they bring to the SJS community.

The trip’s motto is “SJS class 2012: Unique and United”.

They will spend two nights on the retreat and participate in activities such as team building, arts and crafts, athletics and reflection time to think about important issues relevant to their lives.

The response to this trip has been one of enthusiasm and jealousy – enthusiasm from the freshman and envy from the sophomores who just missed the opportunity. Andrew Mintz (’10) said, “I think its bologna. Juniors should have a trip also.” Caldwell Flores (’11) echoed Mintz’s sentiments and said, “I think it’s a good idea, every grade should get one.”

Flores reflected on how difficult it was to meet the new freshmen who did not come from the SJS Middle School last

year, and he said that he thinks this is a good step to unite the new U.S. class. “Last year, you had to go out and find the new

“I came not knowing anyone, [making friends] was a gradual process. If we had a retreat it would be a better opportunity to focus on each other rather than school.”

- Kali Lang (‘11) kids…and they were very well hidden,” Flores said.

Kali Lang (’11) was a not only new to U.S. last year, but also to the SJS community. She said, “I came not knowing anyone, [and making friends] was a gradual process. If we had a retreat it would be a better opportunity

to focus on each other rather than school.”

Grade unity seems to be a common concern among the faculty and the students. “I think being new is very hard, [and] it’s better when you get a chance to know each other,” Ariel Malloy (’11) said. The retreat will provide this year’s ninth graders with the opportunity other new freshmen did not get — the chance to focus on each other without the pressures of academic life.

Furthermore, members of the Peer Leadership program, a group formed by Upper School counselor Pat Reynolds, will accompany the freshman on the retreat. The Peer Leaders are all SJS seniors, and the two leaders for each freshman advisory will attend. By going along with the freshman on the retreat, the Peer Leaders can help strengthen the bond between the senior class and

freshman class.

Most students agree that the retreat will be beneficial to students by creating bonding opportunities and helping students discover their identity both as a class and as individuals. SAC and the administration worked diligently in efforts to create class identity for each class.

SAC is also working towards making another retreat for seniors. With the freshmen retreat planned, SAC has set their focus on the senior retreat.

“We are glad we are going to have a legacy to leave as well as something to give to our senior class,” Head Prefect Patrick Ryan (’09) said.

SAC is eager to make these retreats an annual tradition.

The seniors will venture to Camp Allen in March to begin their farewell to high school as a class.

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news

September 2008

SJS works to restore normalcy following disaster IKE cont. from p. 1 great success,” especially considering that this was the first time it was used. “I think our families know that getting to the website would be the best source of information, but I think the phone calls worked very well, and we’re very happy with that,” he added.

However, he said he was disappointed in the television and radio coverage of SJS. Although the school’s plan consists of a system that notifies television and radio stations about school news, SJS coverage during Ike was either incorrect or nonexistent.

In addition to cutting off power, the school suffered other damages caused by Ike. Several trees fell as a result of the strong winds brought by Ike. A tree limb also snapped off, breaking two windows of the glass overhang of the Middle School library and cracking four glass panels. As a result, the library became filled with water and leaves.

The Winston building suffered a significant amount of damage as a result of the hurricane. The entire basement of the building was flooded, including the cafeteria, the bookstore and the Breakthrough Houston office. Additionally, though the roof damage was minor, a lot of water still entered the building.

The Winston basement alone experienced four to five inches of flooding.

Although the school does not set aside funds specifically for natural disaster relief, SJS does set aside funds for repair and replacement. The ones used to fix the SJS campus will come

The miniquad after the destruction from Hurricane Ike from this group of funds.

Such funds will be used to renovate the cafeteria. About two and a half feet of sheet rock have been pulled out to let pipes and studs dry. They have also been anti-fungaled and anti-molded. “I wouldn’t call [the process] remodeling at all; [the cafeteria] will look exactly as it did before,” Mr. Reed said.

The cafeteria is expected to reopen Oct. 6.

Another big challenge for students and faculty alike is to make up the seven days of school cancelled due to Ike. While the administration plans to make schedule changes to

regain a few lost days of classes, it has also instructed faculty not to expect to make up all the work missed by the end of the first semester.

Mr. Reed said that the school’s current plan is to make up three or four of the missed days, although the exact details of the plan are still being considered.

Upper School Head Kef Wilson added, “There were a number of vacation days that we looked at taking away, but the problem is people have already planned vacations. You hate to take [those holidays] away, but if you don’t, it’s hard to get days back.”

BRET VOLLMER | The Review

Another problem this situation posed was how to make up work for the seven days of school lost.

“One of the challenges is you’re kind of tempted to ask teachers to reduce workload, but meanwhile we’re seven days behind. I think people have a reasonable amount of flexibility in their syllabi. Even in AP courses there is built in time for review so you’re just looking at less time for review before the AP exam,” Mr. Wilson said.

Much of the burden of making up time lost falls upon teachers

and students, a contingency further complicated by the fact that many continue to lack power or are dealing with other problems created by Ike. The administration has encouraged teachers to be sensitive to students’ situations while also trying to reestablish a sense of normalcy. It is also promoting accommodation in action as well as in word, such as providing a babysitting program for teacher’s children who have not returned to school yet.

Meanwhile, SJS is offering extended campus hours to offer students who still lack power a place to work. “We had not planned to create the evening study hall. That was something we came up with a couple days ago,” Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Reed said that the school tried to do as much as possible to clean up the school, but were limited due to the lack of power. “The majority of the harder work was done the Sunday we got power,” he said “The one thing that we didn’t really plan that ended up working out okay was who was going to clean up the debris and who was going to deal with the damage. Fortunately, enough people were available and willing to help,” Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Reed echoed these sentiments and said, “We’re incredibly appreciative of the maintenance and cleaning staff [for helping out], and the kids and families who came out to help.

There’s no way we could have started school without them.

We really do feel fortunate to have people who are so dedicated to the school.”

New faculty member brings experience in religous studies FAITH cont. from p. 1 each other.”

Mr. Han said he believes religious studies give students the opportunity to learn about ways that people have tried to give meaning to their lives, as well as to learn about different ways of seeing the world. He added that he likes that spirituality is interdisciplinary in that it incorporates aspects of philosophy and anthropology.

Upon graduation from Harvard Divinity School, Mr. Han moved to Houston and became a minister at St. Philip Presbyterian Church. As a pastor, Mr. Han said, “You never know quite what to expect. [The job has] got some structure to it.

You’re part community organizer, part CEO of a nonprofit, part budget writer, part counselor, part teacher, part preacher and part pastor,” he said.

Sermon writing played a key role in his job as a pastor. “I always want to speak to the mind and to the heart [when I write a sermon]. I just want people to leave Sunday morning with something to chew on. If people tell me that they were talking about my sermon on the way home from church, I feel like I have done my job,” he said.

He continued, “When I write a sermon, I rely on the Christian faith. I don’t want to sound schmaltzy, but when I’m in the pulpit, I try to get out of the

way and let God do the talking.

Some days it’s easy, and other days it’s not.”

Even though he was a pastor, Mr. Han said he always considered a teaching career as well. He first heard about SJS from an associate of St. Philips.

“Since I was a youth pastor, [the SJS kids and I] would talk about school and they would tell me about how challenging, exciting and important their work at SJS was,” Mr. Han said.

After hearing of an opening for the job position earlier this year, he applied. After meeting several times with Mr. Allman, Mr. Han said he had a good feeling about the opportunity SJS could provide him. “I’m really excited to be here,” he said.

Although both occupations involve educating others, Mr. Han noticed several ways in which being a teacher is different from being a pastor. “I think there are some transferrable skills, but I know that I’m stepping into a very new situation.

There’s a lot to learn: course management, curriculum development, grading. I think that they are all big learning curves,” he said.

In addition to teaching, Mr. Han will be a co-sponsor of Chapel Guild. “I think Mr. Bonasso has been doing excellent work,” he said. Mr. Han also said he hopes to be a positive asset to SJS by providing his point of view, asking questions,

POOJA SALHOTRA | The Review

Greg Han will be the Religion and English teacher and Chapel Guild co-sponsor and listening to other points of views.

Mr. Han will also serve as a co-advisor with Assistant Headmaster Mark Reed.

This year, Mr. Han will coteach a religious views class with Kyle Parrish (’01), as well as teach English.

Next fall, he plans to teach three courses, and is currently trying to develop religion electives for 2009-2010 academic year.

Mr. Han said he would like to teach a world religions course

as well as a course on ethics. He plans to incorporate elements of philosophy, literature and culture studies into his religion classes.

Although Mr. Han has had a lengthy career as a pastor, he said he is unlikely to take on such a role in the SJS community. “I think the beauty of chapel is that it provides the opportunity for a variety of speakers.

I’m more interested in drawing upon the variety and skill of the amazing people within and outside of the SJS community,”

he said.

Mr. Han’s first day was supposed to be Monday, Sept. 15, but due to Hurricane Ike, he has just arrived on campus. “I’m really excited to be here and to meet and work with students.

I’ll eventually be surfacing out of the English department. I’m really just looking forward to working with students and faculty and doing my best to continue to make SJS a positive learning environment,” he said.

September 2008

Tailgating club aims to fire up fans

sports The Review

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Girls volleyball undefeated

By SHEILA NEWAR One of the newest clubs at SJS is the Tailgating club, originally founded by Stuart Dickerson (’10) and Krishnan Rajagopalan (’10).

This new school sponsored club barbeques before the Friday night home football games on the playground and outdoor basketball court.

Dickerson and Rajagopalan thought of the idea right around the beginning of football preseason this year.

“The reason for the start of this club was that there was not really anything that people did on Friday afternoons, just a lot of menial time before games,” Dickerson said.

The club was created in order to increase the school spirit and provide an environment where upper school students can bond with other grades and relax.

Dickerson and Rajagopalan went to Gordon Center, a middle school history teacher and coach, with their ideas and an invitation to be their club sponsor.

The duo also asked Barbara Dipalo, an upper school history teacher, who is the co-sponsor.

“While Mrs. Dipalo and I are there to supervise and make sure things go smoothly, Stuart and Krishnan are doing 99% of the work,” Center said.

“The administration was really supportive of the group from the word ‘go,’ and they thought it would be a really good way to get the spirit up at the games,” Dickerson said.

Rajagopalan and Dickerson have been providing all the supplies for the events so far, but in order to compensate for the food and necessities, attendees have each paid two to three dollars.

The club is relaying messages and plans for the week through their Facebook group.

The tailgating club is open to the upper school students and faculty. They are currently meeting an hour before kickoff, but are encouraging people to show up anywhere after that as well, “The club is extremely flexible.” Center said.

Mae Nasser (’10) attended the last Tailgating party. “I wanted to tailgate, to be with friends and get pumped before the game. It was a great bonding experience with people from other grades, plus it shows support for our football team,” she said.

Despite the fact that they were off to a great start with their first get-together, the club has yet to hold a second event due to a few issues.

“Obtaining a grill and the right to use the grill has been a little rough, but that’s been straightened out,” Dickerson said.

Also, the sixth grade Mo Ranch trip prevented the club from meeting that weekend because Mr. Center was one of the chaperones on the trip. And of course, Hurricane Ike also cancelled two of the football games.

But despite these minor setbacks, the tailgating club is ready to come out as strong and spirited as ever for the upcoming games.

Meryl Gibbs (‘12), Mary Ashleigh Boles (‘10), Julia Gibbs (‘09), Lindsay Patterson (10) and Alexa Carrasco (‘09) huddle up during an important match

By STUART DICKERSON With the girls volleyball season well underway, the Mavericks have achieved a lot of success, and the team is still undefeated.

The Mavericks have posted a 9-0 match record, and they have only dropped one game all season.

“We’ve done so well because of our experience,” Varsity Coach James Fuller said. “Our core team has been playing together for about 3 years, and it has helped us out.”

This core team consists of senior starters Julia Gibbs (’09) at setter, Alexa Carrasco (’09) at outside hitter and Emily Cain (’09) at middle blocker.

Outside of the seniors, the team has received large contributions from rookies Angela Ha (’11), who plays libero, and right side player Meryl Gibbs (’12).

Mary Ashleigh Boles (’10) also contributes as a solid anchor and a veteran outside hitter.

Yet even with all the success, the team remains modest and takes nothing for granted.

“We want to be low profile or ‘the dark horse,’ so we make sure to stay very humble,” Boles said.

Still, the team does not come into this season without a winning tradition; the Mavericks’ eventual goal is to trump last season’s benchmark of a 2nd place finish at SPC in Fort Worth, and underclassmen contributions have definitely helped.

“We have players who can fill in for what we lost with the seniors last year,” Fuller said. “We had good senior captain leadership last year, but this year, our captains are doing all they need to do.”

“All underclassmen have exceeded expectations. They’ve really done an amazing job of stepping up,” Boles said.

In this way, the team’s huge success has come unanticipated.

“This hasn’t been necessarily expected, but we work hard, and we train hard,” Fuller said. “We have high expectations and expect to do well.”

To this affect, the team has held some morning practices as early as 5:45.

“We run short sprints and shuffles before practice to get quicker, and we focus mostly on defense during practice with digging drills and a lot of serve-receive,” said Boles. “We rarely scrimmage.”

And yet all seasons come with their trials, this year’s being in the form of a Category-3 Hurricane that ravished the Houston area.

“I think our team needed that time off to relax, but after a few practices we realized we needed to get back in the gym,” Fuller said.

The team got back to work in a fury, practicing with no lights and no airconditioning during the later part of the week off.

“We’re just eager to get on the court and see if we can keep the winning streak alive,” Fuller said.

Boles had similar thoughts to her coach’s.

“It’s been tough, but I think the hurricane has just made us more relaxed and more eager to play matches,” she said.

“We’ll play HCYA before conference play, so it’s good that we can get one real match in beforehand.”

The team still faces its most challenging matches in the future, and it will begin SPC counter play on September 26, highlighted by an Episcopal match on October 7th and the Kinkaid counter on October 16th.

“We’re remaining humble about the situation because we haven’t played our conference matches yet, which is the true test, and that will help figure where we are as a team,” Fuller said.

With the team firing on all cylinders, people can’t help but take notice to the success that the Mavericks are attaining.

“We hope that we can get some more fans to come out to the matches,”

CLAY NICKENS | The Review

Boles said.

The positives are abundant, and the Mavericks are ready to take on whatever challenges they may have to face, and Boles feels confident they will rise up.

“The team’s ultimate goal is probably maintaining our team chemistry and motivation, and along that path we all really want to show everyone else that we are number one in SPC.”

Alexa Carrasco prepares to serve CLAY NICKENS | The Review

6

September 2008

sports

Athletic Profile:

By SAM DUNN Rush Moody (’10) has gained considerable attention this season as the starting fullback for the Mavericks varsity football team.

Moody is 5 feet 10 inches tall and 185 pounds. His enormous 250 pound bench press and 4.7 forty yard dash time make him a useful fullback.

Moody plays an important position in the Maverick offense, and although he didn’t have much competition for the starting spot, he said he doesn’t let his talent go to his head.

Moody downplays his talent, describing himself as “alright.”

“It’s all about getting better,” he added.

Moody credits the offensive line for much of his early success. He has scored a touchdown in both games this season and predicts to average at least one a game for the rest of the year, though that is uncertain. “[It] depends on the situation.

I mean, I’ll do whatever the coach asks me to do,” he said.

Moody said he gets enough playing time, just not much time on defense and special teams. When asked what was his favorite thing about playing on Varsity was, Moody re-

Varsity fullback Rush Moody (‘10)

sponded, “Brotherhood, girls and Coach Paul.”

Players are asked to be out on the field by 3:45 p.m. to start pre-practice, and this year the captains have asked the players to be out by 3:30 p.m..

After two hours of full practice, the team then goes to the weight room to lift for about 20 minutes. However, Moody said practice doesn’t bother him.

“It’s hot, but not bad. You get used to it.”

Offensive practice is held on Mondays, and defensive practice is held on Tuesdays.

Wednesday is usually a combination of the two, and on Thursday, the team has a light, pre-game practice followed by a team dinner.

On game days, players show up two hours early for home games and three hours early for away games. The games themselves usually take at least two and half hours.

Because of this huge time commitment, student-athletes have to work extra hard to get their school work done. In order to balance football and school, “It’s all about prioritizing. Math and science are important, history not so much.

Time management is also key,” Moody said.

This season Rush is anticipating the Episcopal game the most. “I [really dislike] those [guys],” he said.

Although Kinkaid has traditionally been SJS’ primary rival in years past, as the rivalry between SJS and Episcopal has become more heated, athletes and fans have come to look at the Episcopal game as a hallmark of the season.

Episcopal has switched to a 3-4 defense this year (which means three defensive linemen and four linebackers) which should allow Moody to be able to run more easily. Our football program runs a veer-option offense which makes the quarterback, fullback and tailback the primary threats on the offense.

With gaps in the defensive line, the Mavericks’ running game should be facilitated.

Moody is also looking ahead to next season. Next year, the Mavericks will have five returning starters and 15 returning players overall. The Varsity will be a young team with only two senior linemen. “Next year will be an adventure. We’re

going to have a lot of new guys blocking for us,” Moody said.

When not playing football, Moody enjoys hanging out with

CLAY NICKENS | The Review

friends, playing video games and driving his red and black smart-car around town.

Sports teams respond to widespread rescheduling

By SARAH NASSER & BHAGWAT KUMAR During the seven school days that Hurricane Ike forced SJS to close, studentathletes missed important practices and games in addition to tests and quizzes.

In particular, the girls and boys cross country teams were affected because of

the dire necessity that runners have to run each and every day in order to stay in top shape.

“Taking a week off from running is a big deal. It really affects your endurance,” said captain Brittany Beavers (’09). “If you take a week off you basically lose a lot of what you’ve been working hard for.”

Captain of the boys team, Henry Chapman (’10), agrees. “A lot of us took 11 days off. As Coach Mercado has said, if you miss seven days, that’s a whole month of training gone, so we’ve gotten pretty far behind,” he said.

After missing a meet on the first day that was cancelled, September 12th, the girls team’s practices were scheduled throughout the later part of the week, but, “not everyone [came] because some people were out of town or didn’t have power,” Beavers said.

However, all the runners practiced on their own which, “shows everyone is pretty dedicated to cross country. Everyone loves it,” said Beavers.

One week after the first meet was cancelled, the team attempted to attend the rescheduled meet on September 19th.

They were not able to because school was still cancelled.

“Now we only have three more meets counting SPC, so that was kind of an important meet that we missed because it’s always good to have a lot of meets under your belt before you go to SPC,” Beavers said.

Official practices resumed for both teams this past Monday, September 22nd and things our looking up. “[The lost time] can be fixed. Nobody really got into bad shape or anything. Everyone’s doing fine, we just have to back into our schedule,” Beavers said.

As for the boys’ team, things are a bit shakier. “It depends on whether people step it up after everything and try to work hard and also how the other teams do, so we’ll see at SPC,” said Chapman.

As for the field hockey team, while three games were missed because of the break, the team had about six practices during the missed school days, so the team, “didn’t miss all that much,” said captain Kelley Harrison (’09).

Still, the team’s missed games included a “big rival game” against Kinkaid and the team’s first conference game against Episcopal School of Dallas, according to Harrison. “We’re a little behind on get-

ting our momentum up to actually playing games,” she said.

So, even though the team missed a chance to play against Kinkaid before conference play started, their field is in good condition, and, “hopefully Coach Chambers can get us all running again,” Harrison said.

For the Maverick football team, Hurricane Ike caused a cancellation of one game and the rescheduling of another.

This will gave great effects on the team, shortening the Mavericks’ season from ten games to nine and also causing the last game of the season to be against Greenhill instead of Kinkaid.

“Kinkaid is usually the grand finale of our season, and now it’s going to be a huge game, but we’ll still have another game and potentially two after that if we go to the SPC championship game,” said captain Timothy Bernica (’09).

In terms of practices, the team resumed official practices Wednesday, September 17th. “We had three or four practices in the week to try to keep up the best shape as possible,” Bernica said.

When asked if the layoff will affect the team’s performance, two players had differing responses.

“We’ve been working really hard this week on running a lot more sprints after practice, so the coaches are trying to get us back into shape, so I think it shouldn’t be an issue,” Bernica said.

However, Matthew Symmes (’09) replied by pointing out that the more practices the team has had will allow more time to prepare for St. Marks’s, a team that is, “probably considered one of the tougher games on our schedule.

In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.”

He added by describing that, having not played a game in three weeks, “it will be really hard to get back in the mindset of getting back to game speed, getting back to being ready to hit people. We will be a little more rested and healthier but seeing the speed of the game will be difficult.”

a&e

7

The Review

September 2008

Saved by the bells Students find new outlet in resurrected activity

JENNY LEWIS | The Review

DANIEL PERENYI | The Review

Michael Steves (‘09) takes center stage among his hand-picked cast; left to right: Aneel Henry (‘09), Ben Rice (‘09), Christian Woo (‘09), Shea Herlihy-Abba (‘09), Kema Christian-Taylor (‘09) and Michelle Leon (‘11).

Michael Steves (‘09) presents...

Sex, Drugs and Hip Replacements

By BHAGWAT KUMAR “It has sex and drugs and old people - come see it.” Michael Steves’ (‘09) description of his upcoming play may be anything but typical. In fact, Steves’ Independent Study Project (ISP) is far from your standard fare.

Steves chose to write and produce a play called Sex, Drugs and Hip Replacements for his ISP. Steves said he chose the title because he “thought it sounded funny.”

The project originally started as a screenplay, then became a book and finally a play because he believes that plays are the easiest to write and offer more creative freedom. Moreover, Steves had always wanted to write a play and an ISP provided him with the opportunity to do so.

Steves’ play centers around a retirement home, and the main two characters are elderly men.

The lead, Alvin, is a sexist and former womanizer, while the other senior, Frank, is a more depressed character.

In one of the scenes Alvin celebrates his birthday by spending a night on the town with Frank and his grandson.

Steves said, “Sex, drugs, and hip replacements ensue” during this birthday bash.

One of the play’s themes is what people do to find meaning in their lives. Many of the main characters, including Alvin and Frank, never truly find happiness and share a sense of abandonment.

Another theme of the play is the way society behaves to-

ward the elderly. This idea arose when Steves watched his family interact with his grandfather. His grandfather has Alzheimer’s and is “struggling with how to be a mature adult while at the same time turning more and more into a child,” Steves said.

“Certain people I know are characters,” Steves said. In fact, many of the characters in Steves’ play are based on family members. Alvin and Frank are based on his grandfathers.

Another character is Ada Turner, a black woman who

“It was a matter of finding the character in the actor.”

- Michael Steves (‘09)

was abused by her husband and is romantically involved with Mahesh, an Indian man whose children lost touch with their cultural identity. Other characters include an Asian nurse who used to deal drugs and sees her future in her patients, an insecure Grim Reaper who has problems with his manhood, the Reaper’s friend Thaddeus and God. Steves has already selected people to play all of the characters, as Ben Rice (’09) plays Alvin and Shea Herlihy-Abba (’09) plays Frank. Christian Woo (’09) plays the nurse, Aneel Henry (’09) is Mahesh, Ethan Edmondson (’09) is Thaddeus, Kema Christian-Taylor (’09) is Ada Turner, Michelle Leon (’11) is God and Steves will be

playing Alvin’s grandson, Paul.

Steves did not hold auditions for characters but rather tried to find people who he knew had an interest in theater and that could suit his creative vision. He personally knows all of the actors and chose them because they could bring a high level of energy to the characters. “It was a matter of finding the character in the actor,” he said.

Steves will be using skills from his former Middle School Boy Scout troop and stage crew from SJS. They will design one backdrop made up of two sides for the two scenes that will be performed.

The hardest part of the production was actually getting started with the play. Steves kept only a few lines from the original and almost completely changed the plot. He said that the best part of this project was “realizing that I could do it.”

While it was a lot of work, Steves enjoyed writing and producing the play. “I did it over a really long period of time, so I could really take my time with it,” he said.

Though he finds it hard to judge his own work, Steves said that “[the play] is pretty good; it’s very entertaining.”

Sex, Drugs and Hip Replacements will be shown on an undetermined date in October, and Steves encourages everyone who can to watch it. “It’s vulgar and wacky and probably something you’re never going to see at St. John’s,” he said.

“It’s awesome.”

Kate Clarke (‘10) and George Alcorn (‘09) rehearse the first scene.

CLAY NICKENS | The Review

By VERONICA CHU The start of a new school year often brings a dizzying array of choices for students seeking to participate in extracurricular activities. Students can follow their interests by choosing to be part of groups like choir or orchestra. This year Handbells joins the multitude of extracurricular activities available to students.

Co-founders Anna Ziemnicki (’09) and Hannah Smith (’09) had been wishing for Handbells’ return since its cancellation. “I always liked Handbells,” Ziemnicki said. “I thought it was cool. I did it in middle school and thought it was really fun.

So this year I got Hannah Smith and some of our musically talented friends and brought back Handbells.”

Handbells, however, is not an entirely new group. It existed as a popular activity until two years ago, when not enough people signed up to meet minimum requirements. However, Handbells has enjoyed a successful comeback.

When asked why she joined Handbells, Lauren Woo (’12) said, “My sister forced me, but I’m glad I joined. It is really fun! Plus, the actual Handbell instruments are cool!”

The class meets twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays during 8th period. “Right now

we just started, so we’re basically playing random songs from a practice book,” said Ziemnicki, “but we’re hoping to get into some pop music. That would be really awesome.”

A full year of Handbells counts as one Fine Arts credit, making the activity a compelling choice among other alternatives like dance groups and Design.

“The experience is great,” said Woo. “Usually we pull out the tables and then we get out our bells. If we have new music, most of us highlight our note or notes and then we just start playing. We’re really efficient.”

Each player is assigned one or two handbells and plays his or her note each time it appears in a song. “My favorite hand bells are F and G5,” said Ziemnicki, “although my ultimate all-time favorite is A5.”

The Handbells group does not have any uniforms, but they are getting custom-made gloves for the members, which Smith said she is “really excited about.”

Other people are excited about Handbells’ return too.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Paxton Tanner (’12). “I would go check it out.”

Handbells will be playing at future choral and orchestral concerts along with an upcoming Chapel.

Becoming familiar with The Foreigner

By CAROLINE GIBSON In a last-minute switch, theatre director Beth Sanford pulled the long-planned fall play from the upcoming Johnnycake season and replaced it with The Foreigner, a Southern comedy

by Larry Shue.

Her original selection, The Skin of Our Teeth, was a “classical comedy” by Thornton Wilder. Ms. Sanford said that, while it would have been a “dynamic” production, not enough students auditioned to fill the roles available in the play to her satisfaction. The play has a strong ironic tone and would have required much more work on behalf of the actors to get the subtle sarcastic tone and the complex characters exactly right, she added.

The Foreigner, with its cast of seven, was better suited for the amount of people willing to try out. The play is a humorous take on a pathologically shy man who masquerades as a foreigner to avoid being spoken to; as a result, over the course of the play he becomes privy to the secrets of the guests of a Georgia fishing lodge. This play brings “its own set of difficulties” to overcome, said Ms. Sanford, but she said that she is looking forward to working with the cast and that she hopes to use her own experience to help the actors interpret their parts.

The Foreigner will be performed on Nov. 21 and 22 in the Lowe Theater of the Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center.

8

September 2008

a&e

a new leaf

Alexa Carrasco (‘09) reviews the season’s latest flicks The Family That Preys

The Women After not being able to enjoy the “hurrication” as much as I had hoped, I was desperately seeking a feel-good movie. And surprisingly, The Women proved to be far better than I expected.

The cast made the movie what it was, as I was impressed by every lead actress. Surprisingly, Meg Ryan played the main character Mary Haines extraordinarily.

She played a very downto-earth woman who had married into extreme wealth but was content with her old life.

As her marriage progresses, she finds that it is falling apart and that her husband is having an affair with a perfume saleswoman named Crystal, played

by Eva Mendes.

All in all, Meg Ryan truly captivates audiences by playing the part of a woman who was at first dominated by her husband and society, but who, in the end, manages to make her own life and reconnect with her family.

Not only was Meg Ryan’s character played by a strong actress, but Mary Haines’ friends were also cast flawlessly. Having starred in one of my favorite roles as Grace on the hit TV show Will & Grace, Debra Messing once again went out with a bang. Somehow, she also manages to find roles that fit her perfectly, and her role in The Women was just that.

Her role as Edie Cohen, a mom of four girls and pregnant with a boy contrasted nicely with Mary Haines’s circle of friends.

Her role was characterized as the caring friend who cannot keep her mouth shut. Debra Messing’s extraordinary acting made her character’s role in the movie pivotal; she truly did an outstanding job.

A major shock to me was the role of Alex Fisher, an extremely feminist writer, which was played by Jada Pinkett-Smith. I had always thought of PinkettSmith as a girly girl; this role, however, was somewhat rough and very different from everything else she has starred in.

Still, Pinkett-Smith played her role well and provided a lot of the comic relief throughout the film. She brought the blunt and sarcastic character to the group.

Completing the circle of friends was Annette Bening, who played Sylvia Fowler.

Mary Haines’s best friend since college, Sylvia Fowler portrayed the epitome of the phrase successful and independent woman.

The plot was that of most other chick flicks: woman gets in trouble, woman leans on friends for help, and woman succeeds.

Yet, in this movie, many more

boundaries are explored. The Women deals with the friendship of women with different personalities, goals and sexual orientations that come together and prove that in the end, their bonds can never broken. The movie also deals with the hardships that mothers and daughters face and how they are fixed.

I cannot say that this movie is a must-see because in reality it just is not. Despite that fact, however, it is a good movie that I believe most women would like because it deals with things and feelings very near and dear to our hearts. Unless men were dragged to this movie or were looking for more information on a woman’s mind, I would not recommend this movie for a guys’ night out; the most action in this movie is scheming to get a husband back and using the manicurists at Saks to get gossip. All in all, this movie is definitely categorized as a chick flick.

For all women and girls looking for a good chick flick to see with their girlfriends, The Women might be a good choice. It will make you appreciate your friends and families all the more: the exact thing you need after “boy troubles.”

So, although The Women exceeded expectations, it did not change my life. I could have gone without seeing it; however, I am glad I got to see such a brilliantly cast movie of nothing but strong, successful women actors. And in spite of my intial skepticism, The Women was an ideal feel-good movie to lighten my spirits after weathering a hurricane.

KAT OSHMAN | The Review

Tyler Perry has done it again.

Yet this time, as opposed to starring in more than one role, Perry chooses to concentrate his acting on one character while directing and producing one of the best movies of the summer. Perry hit it out of the park with this film.

Centered on the dynamics of a family, Perry explores interracial relationships as well as inter-socioeconomic relationships. The most powerful friendship in the movie centers on the long-lasting bond of a black woman who owns a diner and a white social elite widow who owns her late husband’s company. The main theme of the movie develops around these two dynamic characters.

Charlotte Cartwright, played

by Kathy Bates, is the widow who was left in charge to run the Cartwright business. Her son, William, is vying for power and to become the CEO of the company by any means possible. Meanwhile, Charlotte is forced to bring in a CEOelect to take her place, as she has terminal Alzheimer’s. Perry’s skillful direction and writing threaten the relationship between mother and son and show how in the end karma prevails.

Interestingly enough, Perry also explores the common misconception that one needs money to be happy. Rather, he emphasizes the irrelevance of material things in determining one’s emotional satisfaction. In doing so, Perry portrays two different marriages: one marriage where the wife brings home all the money and the other in which neither spouse brings home a significant amount.

Perry demonstrates that with money comes problems and that the simpler your life, the more satisfying it will be. What is even more surprising is that these two marriages are those of two sisters. The new lives that each sister has with their families demonstrate the stark contrast between their respective lifestyles.

Perry’s new movie also deals with the relationships that exist within a family. He first points out that these relationships are very fragile and often not as strong as we think that they are. Through affairs, fights and divorce, Perry shows that in the end you really do get what you deserve.

Though Perry’s movie has many different themes and subplots, all in all, it is a fantastically created movie that explores and redefines new boundaries within cinema. It explores “touchy” issues of race and sexuality, all while teaching a lesson.

I highly recommend seeing this movie, maybe not in theaters but at least when it hits DVD. This movie would not be my first choice to pay $8.50 for, but I would definitely recommend paying the $3.99 to rent it. It is very easy to empathize with all or many of the characters, and the attachment to the characters is surreal; by the end of the movie, you too will be screaming at Jillian Cartwright to divorce her unfaithful husband.

One last thing that is very interesting about the movie is its focus on “preying”. The movie centers on people preying on each other’s weaknesses. Likewise, the movie also has a significant amount of praying in it, as the main character teachers her lessons by religious means.

She prays for the well-being and reconciliation of everyone in her family.

By forcing us as a society to be open to different circumstances, Perry isconstantly challenging us to be more accepting of one another. With this monumental film, the social norm and status quo may be placed under further scrutiny as we reflect upon the issues the movie raised.

So, if you have nothing to do on a Saturday night, or you have already watched Igor twice, go out with a couple of friends and hit the theater to see Tyler Perry: The Family That Preys. You will learn a lot about the way human beings think and act, and you may even strengthen your relationships with those around you. It is a great movie, and one that I certainly recommend seeing, even though Madea does not show up in this one!

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9

September 2008

The shows must go on

KAT OSHMAN | The Review

Caroline Gibson (‘11) and Bhagwat Kumar (‘11) spotlight fall TV premieres House

90210

The opener for Season Five brought back all of the old characters and a still cynical but brilliant Dr. House. House and his team are treating a woman named Lou. Meanwhile, House and Wilson’s relationship is still tense and is made worse when Wilson announces he is leaving the hospital. Most of the characters try to convince him to stay, but House resorts to blackmail and verbal abuse.

All in all, the season premiere was very well done.

It showed House actally caring about somebody else rather than being the coldhearted person he usually is. There was a great mix of House dealing with his personal problems and trying to diagnose his patients.

That and the way Wilson’s departure affects all the characters made it a great start to the new season. The writers blended the new focus on House’s personality with the traditionally medical aspect of the show that has been the same for all its seasons.

If you’re a sucker for a good scandal or just need a blast of drama, then the revamped ‘90s soap 90210 is right for you.

In fact, you might find yourself seriously addicted. The Wilson family moves from Wichita, Kans. to Beverley Hills, Calif., just in time for Mr. Wilson to fill the principal’s office at West Beverley Hills High School. The kids, Annie and adopted Dixon, are thrown into new, fast-paced lives alongside their ridiculously wealthy, messed-up and famous classmates. Their new friends include bad-girl Naomi and top jock Ethan. Also, some old drama is dredged up from Mr. Wilson’s own past growing up in Beverley Hills with his movie-star (and alcoholic) mother. The acting isn’t bad, and while it’s hard to believe these are all 15-year-olds, we started getting caught up in the fun.

If you missed the two-hour premiere on the CW, never fear: we’re sure you’ll get the drift after the first few minutes.

Airs Mon., 7PM on FOX

Airs Tues., 7PM on the CW

Gossip Girl Last season was lame. However, this season is filled with promise. In just the premiere, all of the characters’ summers collided at East Hampton. There is considerable intrigue as Nate Archibald struggles to keep his relationship with a married woman a secret, Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey get back together for a bit and Chuck Bass continues to be enamored with Blair Waldorf while she discovers that her date to the exclusive Vitamin Water party is actually a lord from England.

Although she had been using the lord to make Chuck jealous, Blair grows quite attentive to her boyfriend when she hears his accent and his title. The acting and music was so much better and the flow of the episode has improved. While the believability of the storyline is still questionable, the dialogue is much more realistic.

(Remember the infamous “I killed someone”? I mean, are you kidding me?) While some of the outfits still make us roll our eyes, these New York elites are finally starting to act and look how they are supposed to. Naturally, we can’t help feeling excited about the new season and the surprises that are in store for us.

Airs Mon., 7PM on the CW

Heroes

Privileged

This was an amazing start to Season Three because it was so similar to how the whole show started. All of the characters are seemingly separated, but as the show progresses, the viewer sees how their lives are all going to collide. The episode had the perfect blend of showing not only what each of the characters had done since the end of Season Two but also what they are currently doing. Our only complaint is that there is still a lot that remains unexplained, like why Linderman is invisible to everyone except Nathan and who the thief who stole a formula from Hiro is working for.

The episode ended in classic Heroes style, with more problems than answers being revealed. Thus, it promises an exciting season that will make up for Season Two being almost cut in half by the writer’s strike. We look forward to seeing how the season unfolds and how so many characters with so many different agendas will all be brought together.

Two teenage orphans being raised by their extremely wealthy grandmother who doesn’t have time to monitor their behavior: sounds like another Gossip Girl, but it’s not. The series is from the perspective of a Yale-educated tutor seeking a meaningful life while learning the ropes from the wealthy grandmother.

Meanwhile, she practically babysits her two materialistic, carefree charges, who are constantly getting into trouble and trying to get her fired. The tutor’s own past creates drama as well.

Alternately ditzy and somewhat insightful, Privileged is an interesting new perspective on wealth and power in Palm Beach, FL, based on the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls

by Zoey Dean. Should you watch it? Sure, as long as you’ve watched Heroes first because this shouldn’t be your top priority.

Airs Mon., 9PM on NBC

Airs Tues., 8PM on the CW

10

September 2008

photo spread

The Clean

After Ike hit Houston, SJS studen

Photos by Bret Vollm

photo spread

September 2008

n-up Crew

nts pitched in to clean up campus

mer and Clay Nickens

11

12

features The Review

September 2008 Left: Jennifer Carroll (bottom right) stops to take a photo while eating dinner with the host family she lived with during her year studying abroad in Zaragoza, Spain.

She said her experience in Spain was rewarding and a great experience. “If I had a chance to do it again I definitely would,” she said.

Below: Jennifer was sure to document all the city had to offer. Below is a picture of a back view of the Basilica de Pilar next to the Ebro River.

All photos courtesy of Jennifer Carroll

¡Bienvenidos!

Jennifer Carroll returns from her junior year in Spain

By TIFFANY SHYU Jennifer Carroll (’09) has rejoined the SJS community after spending her junior year abroad in Zaragoza, Spain.

She initially decided to travel to Spain because, aside from wanting to practice her Spanish, she had also “never been to Europe before, and wanted to get to know the language and the culture [in Spain].”

During Carroll’s time in Spain, she stayed with a single woman who conveniently lived within walking distance of the school Carroll attended. “She was pretty young, so we were pretty close.

Her parents and sister lived nearby so

we spent a lot of time with her and the family,” Carroll said.

Upon arrival, Carroll was nervous at first. She said, “I never did anything like that before, so I didn’t know [what to expect].” However, she found her host family “very welcoming, and [they] made me feel at home so I got used to it really quickly. They treated me like family, so I was really comfortable.”

Carroll’s curriculum at the school was made up of six classes: AP Spanish literature, Spanish language, Spanish cinema, English, history and math. All of her classes except for math and English were conducted in Spanish, which Carroll found to be very good linguistic

Jennifer Carroll (far left) at lunch with her advisory in Spain.

”

practice for her.

“I was really excited and eager to be fluent, and I felt like I was pretty prepared. A lot of students didn’t know what to do with that and it was hard at first but you pick it up really quickly,” Carroll said. In fact, Carroll found that the only hard thing was “switching back to English” after getting so used to speaking in Spanish all the time.

Carroll was also involved in many extracurricular activities while she was in Spain. She played with a basketball team for a short period that was actually ranked as the number one team in the province and she also took a dance class.

Carroll’s school also offered excursions to several different places, among them Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia and San Sebastian in the Basque Country.

There were many differences in the Spanish lifestyle that Carroll needed time to get used to.

“Everything is kind of two hours back, which is nice [in terms of] waking up in the morning,” she said, “but getting used to eating dinner so late and staying out late [took more adjustments.]”

Aside from the lifestyle of the community, Carroll also had to adjust to her family’s personal lifestyle. She had a curfew while she was there, and even though her host mother was very understanding, “she had a thing with not going around the house in your shoes or even bare feet; you had to wear house slippers,” Carroll said.

Carroll was also surprised by her host mother’s sense of privacy. “She was nice to chat with but sometimes she would come into my room and start going through my stuff and start ask-

ing me questions,” she said.

Despite the various adjustments, Carroll said she found her experience re-

“I was really excited and eager to be fluent, and I felt like I was pretty prepared. A lot of students didn’t know what to do with [the language barrier] and it was hard at first but you pick it up really quickly.” warding and learned much from it. “In addition to being familiar with the culture and being fluent in the language, it was also the first time I had that much responsibility learning how to manage everything on my own,” she said. “It was tough but it helped me mature a lot.”

Overall, Carroll describes her trip as an amazing experience. “If I had a chance to do it again I definitely would,” she said. “I learned a lot from it and I still obviously have a lot to learn from other things, but, for the first time stepping outside of the country, and seeing it from the outside and learning about, it was great.”

features

13

September 2008

Two new students embark upon a year abroad at SJS

By MARIAM MATIN Faced with a new year, new teachers, and new friends, Laura Raedts, 18, and Daniela Torres Pinto, 16, are spending a year away from home to experience high school the Houston way.

Though she has visited Miami, Pinto is from a small Chilean town called Rancagua and was quite shocked at coming to such a big city. Raedts is visiting America for the first time from Brussels, Belgium, a bigger city, so she received less of a shock, but still found everything to be on a larger scale.

“Belgium has about ten million people,” said Raedts, “and Houston has 4 million, and that is a lot for me... It is big, hot, and the food is really fat. The American people in Belgium tell me they are kind but superficial.”

Not only was the size of the city a change for Pinto, but the size of the school was also. “It’s a big school,” said Pinto. “I got lost my first day.” Raedt’s hometown school, however, was about 100 people, so “about the same as here.”

Pinto thinks Americans are more independent and thinks because so many of the students here play sports, they stay in shape but also keep busy with all the homework.

“A lot of the rules are different [here],” said Raedts. “We are not allowed to drink, the parties are different, the people are different, what people do on the weekends [is] different. In Belgium, we do not go to football games. We go to bars and see people and talk. The subject of conversation is different, but we are globally not different.”

Both Pinto and Raedts agree that the people are very kind. Their host students Pierce Turcotte (‘10) and Susan Frost (’10) introduce them everywhere they go, and people are not shy to talk to them.

But Pinto and Raedts are not staying at their host students’ homes, but with

host families. Raedts is staying with a family that has no kids that go to SJS, and Pinto is staying with Alexis Bailey (’12) and her parents met Bailey’s father in June when he was in Belgium for business. Her parents felt more reassured after meeting a member of the family of which she would be a part of for the next year.

“Maybe my family here is not as open with their emotions,” said Raedts. “They are not different from my family… People, they always come up to us and say ‘hi’ and that is different from Belgium, but maybe that’s normal for Americans.”

Raedts was nervous because she is shy and thought she would be isolated, but was pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and kindness that she and Pinto received. Also, Raedts found a lot of reassurance from her older sister who participated in an exchange with a New Yorker a few years ago.

The school-year exchange is a surreal experience for Pinto. Sometimes, she says it feels like she is not here, speaking English, and because of such a dream-like attitude, she had almost no fears about coming to America. Raedts laughed, saying that sometimes she wakes up and wonders where she is.

Raedts is not sure what her favorite part is yet, because it is too early for her to tell. But Pinto had a lot of fun ice skating, because to her it was “funny.”

Already Raedts has experienced the basic feel of the Houston, going to football games, Briar Club, The Galleria, museums and Galveston. She and Pinto attend all these events with each other, their host families, and other students from SJS. Even if they are comfortable, however, they still face several challenges. Obviously, there is a significant language barrier. And although Pinto speaks Spanish, and Raedts speaks French, they find the smoothest communication between

Bobbie Richardson | The Review

From left to right: Laura Raedts, 18, and Daniela Pinto, 16, pose for a photo. lot of homework. “Too much!” exeach other.

Pinto has been learning English for claimed Pinto.

Both Raedts and Pinto are studying in about 8 years, and Raedts has been taking classes for 2 hours a week for 3 years. America for one year, and in that year they are not allowed to leave the United Both are determined to improve.

Raedts asks questions whenever she States. They are also not allowed to see does not understand, and Pinto keeps their family for the duration of their stay, the most difficult challenge they her dictionary all the time.

“My host family says that I am already have faced so far.

“I miss my family a lot,” said Raedts. improving,” said Raedts. She practices by listening to music lyrics, reading “But we use Skype and internet and it subtitles during movies and talking to is free.”

She also finds comfort in a bear that people. Pinto listens carefully while other people talk and tries to follow and her sister gave her that laughs when you push a button its hand, and she somerepeat.

“When we are in a big group it is hard times listens to music if she feels lonely.

“When I’m homesick,” said Pinto “I to understand,” said Raedts. “Everybody talk with other people or think sometalks at the same time and really fast.”

In preparation, Raedts and Pinto read thing different. I am going to be so extheir history textbook ahead of time. cited when I go home.” Pinto especially “We understand about half,” said Pinto. misses the mountains in Chile.

They also miss the affection between “But the teachers give us extra time.”

“I love Mr. Curry,” said Pinto. Raedts friends. “In Belgium and Chile, everybody [kisses],” said Raedts. “But here agreed, “He is so nice.”

They also both agree that there is a everybody’s just like ‘hi!’.”

Hurricane Ike: 20 avocados and nowhere to go

By EMILY FOXHALL The clear, plastic drawer in our refrigerator was overflowing with avocados.

Standing in the most popular spot of our house where our pine floor has transformed to dark brown, I peered into the cooling device wondering how, now that our family party was canceled, we would ever eat them all.

My mom had bought enough avocados to make guacamole for 60. But because Hurricane Ike was not one to obey what was scrawled in my planner, I knew that rather than spending Saturday night eating Mexican food with infrequently seen relatives, I would be recovering from the aftermath of a category two storm. So, grabbing an avocado and a fork, I unscrewed the lid of the Pace salsa jar and got to smashing.

Before the sun rose the next day I awoke to the shrill beep of our alarm, signifying we were now without power. Parting my curtains, I saw the water creep up my front lawn as the wind swirled in the trees on the front lawn.

Ike had arrived.

By mid-morning, we had our fridge plugged into the red, rumbling generator on the porch and were venturing past our doorsteps to investigate the damage.

However cliché, there is no denying the fact that disaster brings people together.

Helping neighbors rake their lawns, yanking stray tree limbs out of gutters, and exchanging stories of the night before, I wandered through my neighborhood until finally returning to my house to share salads (with avocado piled high) with my Harper street neighbors.

Little did I know, though, this avocado-enhanced meal was a foreshadowing of the week to come. Our generator died, but we managed to trail multiple, bright orange extension cords across the

street to a functioning outlet and keep the bumpy fruits chilled until we thankfully received power ourselves the next day.

With precious air conditioners functioning once again and our fridge plugged back into its own outlet, our house soon resembled a refugee camp.

Who could deny hospitality to a friend stuck in a dark, hot house? It was increasingly incredible how many people wandered by to find that we had power and then decided to stay. There were always at least five extra settings at our table for meals. We pulled air mattresses out of their hiding spots in the closet for people to sleep on and equipped our couches with sleeping bags and pillows.

It got to the point where even my parents gave up trying to keep track of who was there and who wasn’t, simply accepting the fact that people were constantly coming in and out, eating some chips and guacamole with each visit.

With school canceled for the week, there was nothing to do but bond. I spent my days chatting with whomever was in my house at the time, loving every moment whether I knew them well or not.

Having had the opportunity to spend so much time getting to know others, my friendships have reached a whole new level. It’s amazing what a week of sitting around my dining room table and talking can do. I may have missed six days of Biology class, but lessons have still been learned.

We all need to slow down and enjoy our lives and the people in them. It’s time to put down the BlackBerrys and close our Facebooks and instead check in on a friend. Admittedly, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of school assignments, college applications, and extracurriculars. But that is no excuse

for ignoring what is truly important: the relationships in our lives. It took a hurricane and a drawer full of avocados for

me to see it, but truly there is nothing better than taking a breath and spending time with a friend.

14

September 2008

features

The Man Behind The

Mascot

Clay Nickens | The Review

Mac Loftin takes a break from his work as the new SJS mascot.

Ms. Chan may have spent a year away from SJS, but the only thing that’s changed are the hats on her head. Based on the constant smile on her face, it would be hard to guess she has just returned to teach in M201 after undergoing treatment for cancer.

On June 6th of last year, Ms. Chan was in the Intensive Care Unit with her husband, who had just undergone a quintuple coronary bypass, when her phone rang. She answered to find it was her doctor calling with some bad news: the ultrasound she had gotten in May showed that she had breast cancer on both sides of her chest.

For ninety-nine percent of people diagnosed with breast cancer on both sides, this diagnosis is a death sentence because it signifies the patient had cancer on one side that has already spread to the other side. At that point it is stage four cancer, making the problem quality of life rather than length.

Ms. Chan, however, has two unrelated cancers, rather than a metastatic cancer.

The only surprise in this diagnosis is the severity. From the moment the doctors saw a little white dot on her mammogram, Ms. Chan, thinking of how her mom died of breast cancer, had the feeling that breast cancer would be her diagnosis.

It was during an ultrasound that she became absolutely certain of her diagnosis.

As a biologist, Ms. Chan recognized that there was a major problem. There were blood vessels going into places blood vessels should not be. Her doctor’s confirmation of her suspicion brought the hymn line “be not dismayed whatever betides, God will take care of it” from her heart to her head.

For the next year and a half that hymn provided her comfort she had never needed more in her life. While her husband was still in the ICU, a hospital in Los Angeles called Ms. Chan to tell her that her niece, who had stage four cancer, was dying. As the young woman’s only close relative, Ms. Chan had to be with her niece; however, she could not leave her husband alone. Luckily her brotherin-law was able to fly down from Canada to take care of her husband while she was away. Ms. Chan’s niece died on July

By ANN-CHARLOTTE PROFFITT and ARVIND MOHAN Before this August, the word Rocket’s Mascot]. He’s got “pep rally” created visions of sweet moves,” he said. Loftin cheerleaders performing Boom also said that he tries to get inPyramid. Now, however, someside Maverick’s head. “I try to thing new graces the grassy think, what would he think? patch outside Winston Hall. A What would he do? And I sort horse named Maverick jumps of go from there. I really just and slaps hands along with the try to concentrate on Maverstudent body. But who is the ick,” he said. man behind the mask?

The mascot also has had a noMac Loftin has been preparing ticeable effect on the SJS comto don the Maverick costume munity. “The mascot is great. ever since this summer. He said It makes me love the school that he received an e-mail inin a whole new way,” Michael vitation that he accepted, and Steves (‘09) said. he was then initiated into the Christian Woo (‘09), captain world of Maverick. of Maverick Guard, had a simiDuring the football games, lar opinion. “It brings lots of Loftin plays a key role in the spirit to the school. We’re tryClay Nickens | The Review spirit department. “I show up ing to unite the school spiritto the games and I dance. It is Loftin waves to SJS fans in the wise, so it’s great, [especially] a very important job,” he said. bleachers at Skip Lee Field. for the Lower Schoolers,” she Loftin is also responsible for said. joining in the cheerleader’s tough,” he said. “Kids also pull Overall, Loftin wishes Mavroutines during the pep rallies. on the tail and yell at me, but I erick to be perceived in this At the last pep rally, he ran can’t do anything to stop it.” To way. “I think everyone in the among the students and high- prepare for such grueling or- community will be able to find deals Loftin said that he drinks their inner Maverick. They can fived most onlookers.

While being the mascot seems half his weight in Gatorade. each be their own Maverick,” harmless and easy, Loftin said Loftin said that he was willing he said. that it has not been all fun and to don the suit, however, beLoftin said that he definitely games. “It can get up to [what cause he loves the school. plans to continue as the masFor his inspiration, Lof- cot next year. “I love being the feels like between] 120 and 140 degrees in that suit, and there tin looks to Houston’s sports mascot. It’s like a dream come is no ventilation; it can get teams. “I adore Clutch [the true for me,” he said.

Back in the Classroom Beloved science teacher Eva Chan rejoined the SJS community this August after a year spent battling cancer.

By SARAH WINDHAM

JENNY LEWIS|The Review

SJS teacher Eva Chan has returned after a year undergoing cancer treatment.

1, 2007. She was still grieving when she on July 31, 2007. went in to have simultaneous bilateral An experience like this might make mastectomy and reconstruction on July a person question whether or not there 23rd. On top of it all, when she was still is a God, but Ms. Chan’s faith kept her in the hospital recovering, she got a call, grounded. “I’ve been a Christian my this time from another niece with stage whole life. I would say without my faith four lymphoma, who later passed away to sustain me, everything would be a

lot more difficult... The old saying says, ‘there’s no such thing as an atheist in the trenches.’ When it’s really something that’s life or death, faith can sustain you,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be this faith or that faith; I wish everyone that goes through it has their own faith to fall back on [because] it gives you hope.

Hope counts for everything . . . through it all God never gives you more than you can take. If he can’t take away the bad stuff, he sure can make you stronger. So I guess I became a little tougher after that and I’m singing praises every day, all the time.”

Another place where Ms. Chan found comfort was in the SJS community. “I want to thank everybody for their support and prayers . Thanks to St. John’s for great, A plus health insurance! That’s the first thing. The most practical thing.

But it’s also the continuous emails, the get well cards, the phone calls and everything you can think of,” she said.

Ms. Chan is now on the road to recovery. This Labor Day she finished an entire year of treatment for one of her breast cancers and is now starting the drug for the other breast cancer. One of the side effects of her chemotherapy is poisoning of the nerves in her hands and feet which causes the sensation of burning or walking on pins and needles.

The neuropathy medication to treat this pain makes her feel “fuzzy headed” and she cannot teach in that condition, so she wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to take her pill, then goes to the gym and swims between 800 and 1000 yards before school.

Always one to think about her students, Ms. Chan is trying to get the message out that breast cancer does not just affect older women. Girls should start doing monthly self-exams in their late teens, particularly those who are about to go off to college. Early detection is critical in treating breast cancer.

Also, interested students can walk with Ms. Chan in the Race for the Cure and the Why Me walks. Ms. Chan’s response to those who are not planning to participate in either event is: “I already walked once in the Why Me and I have neuropathy and I did the 5K! So you have no excuse!”

15

opinions The Review

Editorial Ike Communication Commendable Following Hurricane Ike, when SJS families were grappling with a loss of power, potential property damage and additional issues, the school did a commendable job keeping community members informed and preparing to resume classes.

The efficiency of the schools’ notifications seems primarily due to its decision to register with a rapid communications service earlier this year.

Beyond the fortuitous timing of the change, the update exemplifies the administrations commitment to putting the concerns about the safety and wellbeing of the community above all else.

Though no one knew the exact path for Ike, the school handled the situation well. Making last-minute preparations once they learned more information about Ike’s path toward Houston, the administration and maintenance staff dealt with the impending storm impressively.

Members of the integral SJS maintenance staff were hurrying to secure other parts of the campus, roping the outdoor benches together before students even left school Thursday afternoon.

The administration, too, was quick to respond by

writing off, through constant communication, any possibilities for mass confusion among parents and faculty.

Whether there could have been more efficient or effective ways to deal with the storm should not take any attention away from the school’s praiseworthy job. The situation was handled to the best of the administration’s ability and the result was a relatively calm and informed community as well as a hardly damaged school.

Aside from the maintenance staff, three administrators in particular should be especially appreciated. Mr. Reed, Mr. Allman and Mr. Swan all regularly checked in on campus while it was closed to ensure plans regarding the school were running smoothly.

While Hurricane Ike delivered a major blow to Houston, the school’s preparedness was sufficient. The Editorial Board praises the intense effort the administration and maintenance staff put forth to keep the school safe. It is a sign of a true community when everyone sees the need in supporting one another as well as reaches out to help prepare and recover from damage wrought by Hurricane Ike.

September 2008

The Review

The Official Student Newspaper of St. John’s School 2007-2008 Editor-in-Chief: Bret Vollmer (‘09) Managing Editor: Rebecca Welbourn (‘09) Business Manager: Allie Adkins (‘09) News Editor Jade Law (‘09)

Features Editor Emily Foxhall (‘09)

Arts&Entertainment Editor Sports Editor Anoushka Sinha (‘09) Hudson Duncan (‘10)

Copy Editor Photo Editor Opinions Editor beyondSJS Editor Leeor Mushin (‘09) Vail Kohnert-Yount (‘09) Liliana Varman (‘10) Katherine Carmichael (‘09) Staff Writers Jessica Allen (‘11), Alexa Carrasco (‘09), Gabi Chennisi (‘09), Veronica Chu (‘12), Stuart Dickerson (‘10), Ariana Dickey (‘12), Allegra Fradkin (‘11), Meryl Gibbs (‘12), Caroline Gibson (‘12), Sarah Koslov (‘10), Bagwhat Kumar (‘11), Joe Martinez (‘11), Mariam Matin (‘11), Arvind Mohan (‘10), Anne-Charlotte Profit (‘12), Sarah Nasser (‘09), Sheila Newar (‘10), Andrew Perry (‘11), Tiffany Shyu (‘09), Sarah Windham (‘12), Blake Wulfe (‘10), Melissa Yuan (‘11) Circulation Manager Caroline Parks (‘09)

Advertising Manager Ryan Cordill (‘09)

Promotions Manager Melanie Lilienstern(‘09)

Assistant Manager Lizzy Ehrhardt (‘09)

Photographers Jennifer Lewis (‘10), Clay Nickens (‘10), Daniel Perenyi (‘09), Bobbi Richardson (‘12), Pooja Salhotra (‘12) Illustrator Kat Oshman (‘09)

Business Staff Richard Bilger (‘11), Parker Chambers (‘09), Allie Deluca (‘11), Geoff Dunn (‘09), Christy Lee (‘11), Meagan Longoria (‘10), Phoebe Massey (‘09), Tim McDugald (‘11) Neeraj Salhotra (‘09), William Wallace (‘11), Jack Waller (‘11)

Advisor Kyle Parrish (‘01)

As the student newspaper of St. John’s School, The Review provides a forum for student writing and opinion. The opinions (signed) and staff editorials (unsigned) contained herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Headmaster of Board of Trustees of St. John’s School. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the paper. Letters to the editor and guest columns are encouraged but are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, accuracy and good taste. The Review reserves the right not to print letters received. Either e-mail letters and guest columns to review@sjs.org; give them to Meghan Hall, Elizabeth Rasmussen, Bret Vollmer, Kyle Parrish or Carol Munn in the office of The Review (Q-210); or mail to Editor-in-Chief, The Review, St. John’s School, 2401 Claremont Lane, Houston, TX 77019.

Letter From the Editor Dear Readers, I won’t waste time describing how severely Hurricane Ike affected The Review this month, simply because our situation is by no means unique. Throughout the school students and faculty alike have been profoundly affected by the recent disaster which has

left numerous stories of power outages and evacuations.

To see how SJS itself was affected by Hurricane Ike, look for stories in our News section on how the school fared during the hurricane and how the administration is preparing for future events. In Sports, read about how Maverick athletic teams have responded to the time lost, and look to the photo spread for photos of both the damage and consequential cleanup.

Additionally, for those who would rather learn about events other than the hurricane, be sure to read about upcoming theater productions in A&E and about SJS alumni ac-

tivities in our beyondSJS section. Finally, be sure to read about chemistry teacher Eva Chan’s recent successes in her fight against cancer.

We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of The Review. Please send us any suggestions, questions or feedback you hay have.

Bret Vollmer

Editor-In-Chief

Letter Policy Letters to the editors and guest columns are welcome but are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, accuracy and good taste. The Review reserves the right not to print letters recieved, and all letters must be typed and signed. Give letters, guest columns and classified advertisements to Bret Vollmer or Kyle Parrish in the office of The Review (Q-210) or email to review@sjs.org.

16

opinions Top ten reasons the best sport at SJS is...

September 2008

CROSS COUNTRY By ANDREW PERRY Staff Writer

Football dominates other sports in most high schools, but one particular sport cast in football’s shadow deserves to be the most popular. This sport deserves pep rallies, cheerleaders, its own mascot, a marching band, fireworks, its own stadium and much more. This sport deserves to have each and every student try it at some time during his or her high school years. I am talking of course about cross country.

Cross country may be the most overlooked sport, but it is without a doubt the hardest. Running cross country takes both stamina as well as a strong mind. With this thought in mind, I have made a list of the top ten reasons why students should run cross country.

These reasons are hopefully enough reason to switch to Cross Country. Hopefully by now you are not even reading this article but instead are running to your coach to tell them that you cannot play on their team anymore because you are switching to cross country. But if you are reading the article, here are the ten best reasons to join the school’s greatest sport.

Discover River Oaks You can explore River Oaks on runs to the Bayou. River Oaks turns into a system of obstacles and running through it turns into an adventure. So if you do not live in River Oaks for example, you will have a better feel for the neighborhood when driving around. Also while running through the posh and classy neighborhood you have to avoid cars, dogs and serial killers following you through your run, making you more aware of your surroundings.

Co-ed Meets Trust me, if you ever want to be with the opposite sex for a long period of time you want to be with them after running a meet. Girls and boys alike will love it when you are sweaty and tired. If you ever have been worried about talking to girls because you have nothing to talk about, now you do: cross country.

Beating Many Teams At Once If you have ever played a game with another team and won and then wanted to beat more teams cross country is the place for you. In cross country you race against many teams all at once. Racing so many teams gives you the chance to beat every team in one fell swoop. Along with this reason, team bonds are formed when you have to motivate teammates to keep running their absolute hardest. Nothing builds team bonds like sweating, bleeding and crying with another teammate.

Early Practices Waking up at 5:15 a.m. and stumbling over to run at school at 5:45 a.m. is one of the many elements of cross country. Running in the morning gets you pumped and ready for the school day ahead. Running in the morning gets your mind sharp and your muscles relaxed and limber.

Renewed Optimism Cross country brings a special type of optimism that fills your whole day. With cross country, you develop a sense of optimism because you figure how to deal with the fact that you have a long run after school. You find that things that usually look bleak, look a little bit brighter. If you have an upcoming test: look at this way, you have to run which takes your mind off the test which relaxes you and will allow to get that long awaited A. Your girlfriend dumped you, oh well you have to run a couple of miles and there’s no time to think to much into it except that there are more fish in the sea. With this kind of optimism you will never be down again.

Running in Memorial Park Going to Memorial Park is one of the huge advantages to cross country. In football and field hockey you can play on the same field every day. If you’re at an away game you can go on a field exactly like the one you practice on every time. In volleyball you play in an airconditioned gym every time. In cross country your practices vary from the track around school to the bayou to Memorial Park to River Oaks.

Skimpy Clothing For meets, the type of clothing you can wear is very skimpy. Walking around in clothing that shows more skin than you do in everything except the shower in builds confidence. Walking around and running in clothing that makes you feel like you are naked builds confidence in your body— a great way to impress the ladies.

This confidence will show and before you know it you will be confident in every part of your life.

Good, Skimpy Merchandise In cross country you can get a very stylish, comfortable jacket along with some very sleek sweat pants. Some sports give out t-shirts or sweatshirts or ponchos in swimming’s case, but cross country a nice jacket for that balmy fall day. Unfortunately in Houston there are basically only humid, hot days but just in case we get one of those balmy fall days, you’ll be ready.

Cross Country Retreats Most sports hold team dinners occasionally, but cross country takes it to the next level. In cross country you go on retreats. During preseason Cross Country went to the mountains and hiked, ran and had fun. Later in the season the cross country team is going to a lake house after a meet. Both retreats are very relaxing and very scenic.

No Car Required I am a sophomore and many of my peers are anxiously waiting to get a car when they turn sixteen. Knowing that my parents will undoubtedly give me a bike for my sixteenth birthday turning sixteen will still leave me without a way to get around. But with cross country, you will be able to run everywhere. I know from experience that girls especially love to go on a date without a car. Girls are always thrilled to hear that together we are running twelve miles to have diner and a movie.

opinions

17

September 2008

Spirited Away from SJS Too cool for school spirit By BLAKE WULFE Staff Writer Players frantically raising their arms in an a attempt to energize the lifeless crowd, cheerleaders trying to engage uninvolved students with acrobatic stunts and loud cheers, and Maverick Guard waving the school banner in an attempt to rally the student body are unfortunatly all common occurrences at this years football games. However, it was not always this way.

In the past groups like Pots and Pans made the football games not only more fun to attend, but also created support for the football team.

Pots and Pans was a simple idea thought up by David Sklar (’07) and Eugene Wu (’07) and implemented by Patrick Wilkey (’09), Grant Williams (’09), and Jeff Wu (’09) simply because they felt a need for more school spirit. They thought that banging pots and pans was a great way to make the crowd cheer as loud as possible and make the most noise using various kitchen items.

The fan section, which seemed chaotic, was in a vital way organized by Pots and Pans not only increase noise, but also increased spirit organization.

The enthusiasm of the older kids, especially the football players, seeped down to the underclassmen both during the day at school with pep rallies and intensity, but also at the games.

I remember football games

where I, along with friends, was herded behind the concession stand and covered in black and red face paint by upperclassmen we did not know.

I remember cheering even though I couldn’t see anything because I was afraid I would be singled out for not cheering.

And I remember chanting cheers that I could not understand, but sounded good and probably made sense to everyone else.

Our past enthusiasm was a result of the number of lowerclassmen that attended games, and although this was in part because of the intense football fans in my own and other grades, it was mainly because of the great leadership from upperclassmen who led cheers and made a lot of noise.

People ask why our fan base is lacking this year, and while the underclassmen’s lack of spirit and attendance play a role, this deficit is a result of the

This year as one of the many juniors not playing football, I have tried, along with my classmates, to create a supportive and boisterous crowd, but a need for organization hurts these efforts. these efforts.

However, groups are being created and actions are being taken to turn around our season, both in relation to the fan base and the team. Hopefully these groups will fill the leadership position void that Pots and Pans has left behind.

Tailgating Club, led by Krishnan Rajagopalan (‘10), Stuart Dickerson (‘10), Robin Doody (‘10), Hudson Duncan (‘10) and Andrew Mintz (‘10), is one new student ideas created to increase enthusiasm for sporting events, specifically football.

Students in tailgating club arrive early to games, eat excellent BBQ and get excited about the approaching football game.

While Tailgating Club currently does not have any other established activity than just eating, students will definitely create more pregame entertainment as the year progresses, and even if face painting or cheers, this type of activity will help not only bring more people to

the games in general, but also will help energize fans prepare and be energized for that night’s football game.

In addition to large student led groups, SJS now has a mascot this year, which, while lacking in detail and set activity, does help to enthuse the crowd and involve more of the student body.

These efforts to create a more unified and enthusiastic fan section will lead school spirit back to its past level, but without the personal involvement and efforts of individual SJS students, no amount of leadership can create a fan base worthy of our football team.

DANIEL PERENYI | The Review

I remember cheering even though I couldn’t see anything because I was afraid I would be singled out for not cheering. lack of leadership at the games in creating chants and scaring younger students to both show up and cheer.

This year as one of the many juniors not playing football, I have tried, along with my classmates, to create a supportive and boisterous crowd, but a lack of an organization impedes

While the seats are filled with more people, the school spirit has resembled an empty crowd.

16 going on 60 mph Why Texas driving restrictions on teen drivers are unnecessary By ALLEGRA FRADKIN Staff Writer

As a Texan you are entitled to your fair share of legal rights by the time you celebrate your sixteenth birthday; you can maneuver a motor boat, hold a job, operate a moped and even get married (with parental consent). However, you cannot drive a group of friends around in your car.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, until you have held a provisional license, granted at age 16, for six months, you may not drive with more than one unrelated passenger under the age of 21 For these six months, you cannot drive between midnight

and 5:00 a.m. (except in emergency cases), and talking on a cell phone while driving is strictly prohibited.

Poorly lit streets and a high incidence of nighttime crime justify the law preventing middle-of-the-night driving.

Drivers’ chatting on the phone while attempting to concentrate on the road has resulted in a spike in automobile accidents.

According to Allstate Insurance Company for example, 32 percent of teens find using a cell phone while driving extremely distracting and potentially detrimental, so banning phones sounds like a promising proposal. However, 56 percent of teens admitted to frequently making and answering phone calls, and 13 percent said they regularly send text messages while behind the wheel.

The law concerning driving with friends was created

to minimize distractions for novice drivers akin to the cell phone prohibition, but it often goes ignored, especially by SJS students who feel restrained by the unnecessarily strict rule.

Many students feel that after sitting through the 32 required

the freedom and privilege to drive with as many friends as can legally fit into their car.

A number of students admitted to neglecting this restriction on a regular basis. They claimed their disregard for the law had yet to provoke any sort of nega-

Some parents even admit six months with a permit was enough time to get acclimated behind the wheel and the additional six months of holding a provisional license was pointless and impractical. classroom hours of drivers’ ed (which basically consist of watching outdated films that are either exaggeratedly gruesome or star fanny pack-sporting teens from the 80’s who cannot act), after driving the required seven hours with an instructor, after observing a peer’s driving for seven hours and after driving for six months with a parent while holding a permit, they have earned

tive reaction from a policeman or for that matter most parents.

Allstate reports that 77 percent of parents allow their teens to drive illegally with friends within the first few months of receiving a provisional license.

Some parents even admit six months with a permit was enough time to get acclimated behind the wheel and the additional six months of holding a provisional license

was pointless and impractical. They thought they would be just as responsible at 16 and a half as they were at 16.

Driving ages vary by state, with Texas falling about in the middle, but if you find the Texas drivers license restrictions excessive, then you may want to steer clear of New Jersey, where provisional licenses are not granted until age 17. On the opposite end of the spectrum if you really want to drive early then you should probably move to South Dakota, where you only have to be 14 and a quarter to get a provisional license.

Perhaps it is time that the Texas DPS get on board and officially modify the restrictions placed on first-time drivers. After all, it seems odd that in Texas one can legally marry at 16 but is forbidden to drive home from the reception with one of their friends.

16

beyondSJS

Inspired by her love of high school science, in 2003 alumna Emily Nolte (’03) founded the Medical Mentorship program, an experience where high schools students are given the opportunity to shadow doctors during the summer. The program is popular with students at SJS today.

President of the Science and Math Club during her career at SJS, Ms. Nolte said that science has always been a passion of hers. Inspired by her freshman year Biology Honors class, taught by Alice Kagi, Ms. Nolte chose to participate in a program at Texas Children’s Hospital providing high school students with an in-depth look at the hospital atmosphere.

Ms. Nolte recalled the experience as powerful and informative. The program meant so much to her that she was devastated when she heard of its collapse the following year. Instead of searching for another summer opportunity, she decided to take the initiative to start her own, and she determinedly founded the Medical Mentorship program.

However, founding the program required tenacity. After her summer program, Ms. Nolte continued volunteering at Texas Children’s Hospital and became president of the Junior Volunteers during her senior year of high school. As she grew familiar the volunteer services staff at Texas Children’s, she began discussing the creation of another summer program for high school students.

Energized by her vision, Ms. Nolte found many doctors willing to mentor students and rounded up 20 SJS students to participate in the program. Now, six years later, over 100 students have gone through the program. The pioneering group of students has just graduated from college, and many of those students, Ms. Nolte was proud to report, are continuing on to medical school.

Although some changes have been made, Ms. Nolte insisted that the program has retained the same basic principles and struc-

September 2008

The Review

Sparking an Interest in Science Alumna Emily Nolte seeks to inspire with her Medical Mentorship program at Texas Children’s Hospital

By JESSICA ALLEN ture for the last six years. The program is now open to any schools that wish to participate, and the number of doctors and specialties available to the students expands each year.

The program’s intensive program requires students to participate anywhere from two to six weeks. Each participant is assigned to a different doctor and specialty each week.

Students rarely leave their doctor’s side the entire week, following them as they practice in the clinic, attend lectures, do research and even perform surgery.

Ms. Nolte also said that the same people who were involved in the program six years ago remain active today. Ms. Kagi is instrumental as the assistant director of the program, helping Ms. Nolte select applicants and coordinate logistical details. In addition, many of the people that Ms. Nolte established relationships with as a Junior Volunteer continue to work in the Volunteer Services office.

Although leaving Houston made directing the program more challenging, Ms. Nolte continues to be involved. After graduating from SJS, she ran the program as a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

According to Ms. Nolte, the most challenging time in terms of logistics was in the spring of 2006, when she spent a semester in Prague. She now lives in Atlanta and flies back to Houston a few times a year to pre-

pare for the program.

The program is open to rising juniors, rising seniors and students who have just graduated from high school who have taken at least two years of high school science.

After submitting an essay and two letters of recommendation, only twenty students are accepted into the program each year, limited by the lack of space in operating rooms.

Applicants are judged not by their academic record but by their dependability and demonstrated interest. According to Ms. Kagi, who sits on the program’s advisory board, the best students are not necessarily what the program is looking for.

Over the years, the program has also remained very rigorous and tightly controlled.

Applicants that are chosen go through two different orientations. During the program, they must follow the doctors around from “dawn to dusk,” hopefully granting them an accurate view of the medical profession.

Students spend time with both brand new doctors that are just out of medical school and established doctors who are experts in their fields. After each week, the students are required to write an essay detailing what they experienced.

“It’s really a big deal to get high school students in with doctors in an operating room,” Ms. Nolte said. “This is stuff that college students and even med students would love to do, so it’s a really awesome opportunity at a

much younger age.”

Ms. Nolte said that alumni of the program leave with a much greater appreciation for doctors. Many are shocked at how much administrative work doctors have to do, and a few have even said that they understand why it appears that doctors are always running late.

Ms. Nolte said that the program is integral in helping many students decide whether or not they want to pursue a career in medicine.

“Most students really leave the program with much bigger respect for doctors,” Ms. Nolte said. “Students either leave and say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is totally what I want to do! I can’t wait to go to medical school!’ or ‘That’s great, I totally respect doctors, but I don’t want to be one.’”

Ms. Nolte does not hold it against those students who decide that being a doctor is not for them. “I think that’s just as important, if not more important, than knowing that it is what you want to do, so then if you go to college and you’re not totally stressed out about getting your pre-med requirements only to go to med school and find out it’s not really what you want to do.”

Ms. Nolte was one of those students who discovered she did not want to be a doctor. However, her experience with Texas Children’s Hospital helped her realize how much she loved the hospital environment and that she wanted to work with them in the future.

Now, in her new home in Atlanta, Ms. Nolte serves as a financial consultant for hospitals, helping them negotiate between insurance companies and working with them on managing care issues.

Although her own life continues to get busier and busier, Ms. Nolte remains committed to the Medical Mentorship program, albeit from a distance. Though running the program long distance proves difficult, the reward is clear.

A Fresh Start And A N ew C hallenge Mr. Rubin reflects on his old life in Kenya and embraces the change that a new home will bring My son Alex is now five, and like many five-year-old boys he loves tae kwon do. He loved it in Kenya, and he loves it here in South Africa.

One of my finest days in Kenya was a long trip we took to a place called St. Andrew’s Turi. I drove little Alex and several other tiny students from Hillcrest Preparatory School across the country to compete in a tae kwon do tournament It was the first time I’d seen Kenya’s upcountry since the violent post-election shockwaves. Though scars remained visible, you could see the healing beginning.

It was a 10-hour day—four hours driving there, four hours driving back, and a two hour competition.

Alex’s fight lasted a sum of two minutes. He lost, but he was happy that he didn’t cry.

Fortunately, Alex’s current tae kwon do school emphasizes practice over fighting. The students spend most of their time shadow boxing. (I am aware there is a better word, but I just don’t know it.)

Students take a particular stance, keenly aware of the position of every part of their bodies. Then they move to another stance, or a punch or a kick. It’s amazing to see the concentration the kids are able to achieve. Their breathing matches

their steps, and when they are all moving together, it’s really quite remarkable to observe. I’m starting to like the practice more than the fighting.

Practice is a powerful thing when you think about it. Studying can be practice, if you do it properly, if you are training your brain to think deeply about complex issues. Practice probably comes up most when you consider sports, and there is something serene about a great athlete practicing his or her skill to become the best he or she can possibly be. I’m starting to think that practice helps in general life as well.

See, life is full of unexpected changes. Houston and particularly SJS have been in my thoughts and prayers in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Thanks to the sparse news coverage on my side of the Atlantic—we got 15 minutes of coverage before Ike struck, 15 minutes after, then moved on to the next catastrophe—I don’t know the extent of the devastation.

However, I do know that it’s nice to have something to fall back on when things go in unexpected ways, and this is perhaps the purpose of the shadow boxing. You learn the moves; you learn confidence in what you are doing and how you are doing it. That way,

when faced with something new, you can still continue to be you rather than marvel at the newness or shrink back in fear.

South Africa’s present troubles stem from its traumatic past. As I write, about a dozen cabinet ministers have just resigned in the wake of President Thabo Mbeki’s resignation, and the country seems to be on the brink of political turmoil. To be sure, I know nothing of South African politics, so I can’t anticipate what will happen.

However, I’ve never been in a place so full of contradictions. The KFCs and McDonald’s imported from the States are juxtaposed with slums even larger than the infamous Kibera slum in Nairobi.

Fancy new cars drive on newly paved roads next to the matatus that I became so familiar with in Nairobi.

A few weeks ago, I took my family to the apartheid museum. Perhaps the most amazing museum I’ve ever seen, it traces the roots of apartheid emotionally and historically to its end and addresses the aftermath still present today. Nelson Mandela faced adversity with dignity as he struggled to build a coalition of leaders from scratch in his conflict-torn country.

And though the challenge I currently face is small compared to

Scott Rubin, a former SJS physics teacher, moved to Kenya with his wife and two sons in 2006. He currently lives in South Africa, where he continues to teach high school.

Mandela’s struggles, his example still inspires me now that I’m working at a start up for the very first time. It’s a school, but it’s still a start up. My teaching colleagues at the African Leadership Academy are brilliant. The students hail from about 30 different countries, mostly from Africa but a few from the States.

I’m currently teaching statistics and building a curriculum by drawing from Africa’s rich and diverse culture. Though perhaps it is the hardest part, the beauty of a start up is that everything must be worked out from scratch. There are no set policies going in. We lack a school mascot, no traditions about walking across the quad are enforced, and there are no assessment policies or lab equipment or…

You get the idea. There’s a lot to do. It’s truly awesome to be in on the ground floor of something

like this. I find myself remembering my shadow boxing, or at least whatever is analogous to that in the teaching profession. I find myself recalling a phrase or a practical that worked really well at SJS, or a contextual reference that worked at Hillcrest or Sidikho.

Even with whirlwinds of activity in the country and at the school, still when I walk into the classroom all the practice in the craft of teaching that I’ve put in over the years comes back. The interaction between student and teacher is a remarkable thing, and I feel particularly blessed with the opportunity to teach these students at this time.

The routine will eventually become more routine, but I’ve only just begun. Keep practicing whatever it is you are passionate about.

17

beyondSJS 360 Degrees In 365 Days

September 2008

ne Hong.

urtesy of Ja

All photos co

Alumna Jane Hong reflects on a whirlwind year of revolutionary revelation

By MELISSA YUAN SJS alumna Jane Hong (’03) is your offer and go after what a self-professed goalsetter. Lit- you want,” she said. “You’re tle did she know that the big- not going to go after what you gest risk she ever took—reject- want if you have something to ing a high profile Wall Street fall back on. He told me not to job in favor of spending a year drag it out, so I said no.” in Santiago, Chile, working for The cliché that when one a nonprofit—would change door closes, another door her life beyond what she could opens rang true for Ms. Hong. have imagined.

Just a week after she turned A graduate of Princeton Uni- down the job offer, she first versity, Ms. Hong has both a heard about Endeavor Global, strong will and ambition, at- a nonprofit company that fitributes which became evident nancially assists entrepreneurs in eighth grade when she set in emerging market economies her heart on attending the Ivy in countries like Chile, ArgenLeague school. “I was set on it,” tina, Uruguay, South Africa, she said. “I’ve always felt very Egypt and Turkey. comfortable setting my goals “I just thought, this is amazand my paths.” ing. I have to work for [them].

Once in college, all signs I don’t know how, but I’m gopointed toward a future career ing to work for this company,” in finance. “Being in a school Ms. Hong explained. like [Princeton], it’s so easy.

Though the application proCommercial banks and finan- cess was grueling and competicial institutions recruit so ea- tive, Ms. Hong was not discourgerly and aggressively at top aged. “It made me work that schools. It’s the fast track to much harder,” she remarked. [getting in the business],” Ms. “When you’re disadvantaged, Hong said. “Everyone wants to it forces you to work harder.” be in New York City.”

The risk was not small, and However, Ms. Hong felt Ms. Hong had already cast something pulling in the oppo- aside her security blanket. She site direction from the beaten would not know if she had path to Wall Street. “Part of me been accepted into Endeavor’s was just so not sure I was ready program until five months later to handle New York. I wasn’t in April. ready for my job,” she said.

After receiving offers from Though Ms. Hong had always Endeavor Chile and Endeavor relied on her clear vision for Argentina, Ms. Hong had a the future, she remarked, “Col- decision to make. Though she lege had thrown me for a loop. had a small network of friends Something came over me right in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she before senior year, and every- sought the challenge of leaving thing just went out the door.” her comfort zone and chose to During the summer between work in Santiago, Chile’s “abher junior and senior year in solutely gorgeous” capital city. college, Ms. Hong earned a “I was isolated and alone, prestigious internship at Gold- and I learned what I needed,” man Sachs, a private equity and she explained. “I learned a lot investment banking group in about myself when I wasn’t New York City surrounded and took advan- However, Ms. Hong by my friends. tage of the onceFriends are great i n - a - l i f e t i m e felt something pulling and you’ll always learning oppor- in the opposite direc- need them, but tunity. tion from the beaten you can learn a However, Ms. path. Though she had lot by yourself.”

Hong did not always relied on her Yet embarkanticipate the ing on a new startling revela- clear vision for the adventure ention that the ex- future, she remarked, tirely alone was perience would “College had thrown a double-edged provoke. “I felt me for a loop. Some- sword. “I didn’t like I had hit a thing came over me know anybody,” wall,” she said. “I Hong said. right before senior Ms. started thinking, “There were ‘Oh, how much year, and everything days when I was can I grow from like, ‘What am I here? I don’t really know.’ I doing?’” thought about career developMs. Hong had only ever studment and what I was looking ied French in school, and the for. I was completely lost.” most basic tasks seemed inThough Ms. Hong didn’t surmountable when coupled know what she wanted, she with the challenge of commuknew that she wanted some- nicating in an entirely foreign thing different than the job she tongue. Even going to the growas offered in New York. “My cery store was “a nightmare,” dad really gave me the best ad- she said. vice. He just told me, say no to However, Ms. Hong tack-

nceton in 2007. ri P om fr g n ti a u d gra ntiago, Chile, after Sa in g in k or w r a Ms. Hong spent a ye

Even though Ms. Hong initi year I felt so good, I changedally struggled with the language barrier, she said,“B y th end of the my plane ticket three times.

I didn’t want to go back hoe m e!” led these obstacles with her trademark determination. “I just thought, look, walk to the grocery store with your dictionary,” she remarked. “Sure, you’ll look like a fool, like some lost tourist with a map, but at least you’re using your resources, you’re being smart, and you’re adapting.”

Most importantly, Ms. Hong learned a lesson that was valuable in any language. “It really taught me how to manage my attitude,” she said. “I’m not saying every day is a great day. There are definitely still days when I’m like, I hate this.

Who doesn’t have those days?

But you can minimize that for sure.”

Energized by the challenge, Ms. Hong worked hard at Endeavor. Sure enough, the ratio of good days to bad days steadily improved. “By the end of the year I felt so good, I changed my plane ticket three times,” Ms. Hong laughed. “I didn’t want to go back home.”

Though she was thousands of miles away from her family, Ms. Hong found she had discovered a new home and an extended family to go along with it. “My office was like family to me in the end,” she said. “They

threw me a goodbye barbeque, and I couldn’t stop crying. They were like, Jane, this is a goodbye party, not a sob show.”

Though Ms. Hong reluctantly left Endeavor, her experiences there have left an indelible mark. Upon returning to the United States, she felt ready to conquer the unique challenges of New York and accepted a job offer with Goldman Sachs.

Though she detoured from her original route, Ms. Hong said that taking the long road was worth it. The lessons she learned in Santiago rang true in both hemispheres, and she once again sought to adapt to a new setting, this time the “go, go, go environment” of New York.

Ms. Hong said that the steep learning curve in the financial world echoed her struggle with mastering the Spanish language. Though her colleagues spoke English, she said that it didn’t seem like it at first.

“There’s so much jargon on the floor that you don’t understand anybody,” she remarked.

Once again, Ms. Hong turned to her father, who reminded her to draw upon what she learned from the year before.

“He asked me, ‘Well what did you do in Chile? You took a notepad, heard a word you didn’t know and you looked it up,’” she recalled. “And that was basically it. It was a foreign language.”

Ultimately, Ms. Hong was just as determined to adapt to her new surroundings as she had been in Santiago, though she was much more prepared for the challenges, having already done it once.

“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” she said. “You have to work for it and half the battle’s your attitude. Chile showed me that so much is your attitude and how you handle it. I could still be sitting here and saying I don’t know anything. Instead, you can take it and say, I’m going to change it, I’m going to learn something, and I’m going to be proactive.”

Despite leaving her second home behind, Ms. Hong said that her experience in Chile will stay with her forever. “Regardless, I’ve made a promise to myself that Endeavor will always be a part of what I do,” she said. “Maybe I won’t work for them per se, but I’m going

odds&ends Thumbs Thumbs down up 11-day hurrication Post-Ike damage Dr. Doina returns! Only 11 takers for St. Mark’s Spirit Bus Picnicking on the Plaza City-wide power outages still unresolved

Staffers of the Issue

Word for Word “Let’s do LSD - come on!”

—Librarian Ms. Patrick, helping seniors find information on research topics “What’s a classic smell that makes you think of the ‘90’s?”

“Teen spirit.”

—Mr. Johnson and Jose Ordonez (‘09) “If I’m anything, I’m sequential.”

—Math teacher Dr. Sharp handing out numbered worksheets “Illegal drugs - that’s always good.”

—History teacher Mr. Popp, discussing topics for political polls “Does anybody have a bobby pin?”

“I have some gum.”

—Rebecca Welbourn (‘09) and theatre teacher Ms. Sanford “Did you guys read Othello last night?”

“I didn’t have power...”

—English teacher Ms. Reynolds and Amber Malloy (‘09) at the beginning of a pop quiz

Melissa Yuan (‘11)

Mel proved invaluable to the editors this issue. In addition to working diligently on her assigned article, Mel helped with research for the last-minute “Ike” articles and assisted other staffers with hard-to-get interviews. She is truly an asset to the staff, and the Editorial Board appreciates all her hard work.

Bhagwat has maintained a high level of dedication to The Review throughout his time on the staff. For this issue, he dropped everything to help another staffer perform critical last-minute interviews. Bhagwat continues to help out whenever asked, and his work does not go unnoticed by the editors.

name ali berkman grade 12th relationship status single sjs cafeteria item spaghetti and meat sauce and tacos sport to play field hockey sport to watch anything Michael Phelps if i did an olympic sport it would be figure skating professional sports team the red sox movie 10 things i hate about you, breakfast at tiffany’s and the royal tenenbaums…a three way tie! tv show gossip girl (is that even a question?!) book to kill a mockingbird radio station 104.1 starbucks tall caramel macchiato Sue Mills item cardigan sweaters restaurant sushi king comfort food texadelphia fast food ew vegetable asparagus breakfast food cinnamon sugar bagel with strawberry cream cheese Facebook or MySpace? Facebook holiday thanksgiving color green dream vacation fiji! dream date anywhere with Chace Crawford drink orangina sing in the shower? daily kids? 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl kids’ names? Chloe, Wilson and Hunter when i grow up i want to be a lawyer if i were an inanimate object i would be who asks these questions? when i grow up i want to live anywhere but Houston favorite spot on the sjs campus senior country!! do you read the review? all the interesting articles

Bhagwat Kumar (‘11)

sixty seconds with ali berkman (‘09)

DAN PERENYI | The Review