Sentinel april 2009

The Sentinel

St. Luke’s School New Canaan, CT

Renaissance Weekend

Inside This Issue...

Helping Who? (2) Prom: How to Ask (3) Day of Silence (3) Earth Day (4) Spring Holidays (4) The Potential Mr. Luke’s (5) Tips to get to College (6) (told by college-bound seniors) Hannah Montana Review (6)

April 2009

A Day in the Life of Steve

Alexandra Jaffe Editor

You can see a sporting event nearly any day or hear musicians play and sing over 20 times in the school year. There are even 9 days where you can watch an upper school drama production. But there is only one Evening of the Arts.

Renaissance Weekend is a unique event hosted by St. Luke’s School that combines many different artistic areas and showcases the artistic work of St. Luke’s Upper School students. The Evening of the Arts on Friday features an exciting lineup of art, music, and poetry this year. The event has been expanded to include the Global Scholars presentations on the night of Thursday, April 16th.

The Evening of the Arts is Friday, April 17th, and includes the Art Opening, Poetry Reading, and Composer’s Concert.

The festivities begin with the Art Opening at 4 o’clock in the Community Court.

Senior artists will be showcased and will be present to answer questions about their pieces. In addition, works from all Upper school art students will be on display.

The Poetry Reading is the next highlight of Renaissance Weekend. Held in the library at 5 o’clock, the Poetry Reading features the works of the senior creative writing class, members of the literary magazine, and special guests.

Acoustic music, coffeehouse favorites, will accompany the reading, as well as a brief drama skit directed by Mr. Anglin. This reading is particularly special because there are very few outlets for students’ writing, aside from the literary magazine. “In the past, the Poetry Reading has been a big hit and this year will be no exception,” says Mr. Flachsbart, the master of ceremonies of the reading.

Following the Poetry Reading,

Continued on pg. 2

Alexandra Jaffe Editor

Everyone knows and loves Steve.

But how well do you really know him?

The Sentinel asked Steve to relay a typical day in his life. Here’s the truth about the smile behind the sandwich.

4 am- Get up, shower, feed my 5 babies, cats: Dharma, Tashi, Samson, Mozart, and Princess.

5 am- Go out to warm up the car, lace up the 27 eyelets of my boots, get in car, and take the familiar 52 mile trek to St. Luke’s via the Tappan Zee Bridge and Hudson River.

6 am- Arrive at SLS (shortly after Mr. Cantrick), open up the kitchen, turn on all equipment, and pull out necessary components for day’s menu out of the fridge.

7 am- The other guys arrive to bail me out and we get started on breakfast.

7:30 am- The floodgates open for breakfast which starts the feeding frenzy in the piranha pit known as the cafeteria of St. Luke’s. For the rest of the day, I literally “Go forth to Serve.”

8 am- Nonstop serving breakfast and lunch is now in process.

9 am- Carefully orchestrates making lunch and continuing breakfast, conducting the

Continued on pg. 2

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School News

Renaissance from pg. 1 the Composer’s Concert will take place in the Performing Arts Center, showcasing original musical pieces by Upper School music students.

The concert is an opportunity for students who have written an original musical piece to perform.

Come support your friends at Renaissance Weekend and enjoy a stroll through the arts!

Steve from pg. 1

efforts of his staff. (Note: the kitchen was designed to feed 100, but each day it needs to feed 600.)

10 am- Breakfast finally closes, now all attention to lunch.

11 am- 5 and 6th grade lunch, must deal with screaming, starving middle schoolers.

12 pm- There is an urban myth that there are 3 lunches, but really there is 1 continuous lunch as the line never seems to die.

1 pm- Lunch is officially, but not actually, over for all of St. Luke’s, though latecomers continue to trickle in for the next hour.

2 pm- Cleanup starts now, but continues until past 4 pm.

3 pm- Start ordering and organizing for next day’s lunch, and snack time begins.

4 pm- As the kitchen gate closes, kids poke their hands through the grate asking for food. Finally able to escape, I get into the car, only to sit in traffic for over an hour.

5 pm- Drive down to New Jersey to fuel up the car and swing by the post office to grab mail.

6 pm- Get home, pull in and realize that each time I went in and out of the house it was dark, or nearly dark.

7 pm- Greet the animals, then trim hedges, cut grass, or complete any pressing home maintenance projects.

8 pm- Work on a Top Secret project that has been in production for the past year.

9 pm- Realize that if I don’t get in shower now, I will fall asleep dirty and messy.

10 pm- Since I haven’t eaten all day, I scarf down a 1 pound bag of Twizzlers, or something else that will give me some kind of energy.

11 pm- Try to stay awake for the nightly 11 o’clock episode of Ultimate Fighter.

12 am- Realize it is now tomorrow and I need to get up soon. Lights out.

Community Service? Or not...

Alex Polyakov Contributing Writer

Let me tell you a story. One day in April last year, I came to school out of dress code, went to my first two classes and got on a bus to Columbus Magnet School, in the heart of Sono. Once there, I was assigned to a class of first graders, in a class taught by a teacher whose name I don’t remember.

Firstly, I was asked to read a book to the kids. Then, I was to sit and watch while the kids’ dance teacher came in and once again, read them a book. She then taught them to awkwardly contort in what pretended to be dance. Halfway into this, it was about noon and time for me to head up to the library and meet up with the rest of my advisory for pizza, cookies, and grapes that the school had bought for us. After that, I went back to meet my assigned class on the playground, where we spent half an hour running around playing tag. (Side note: all of the first-grade girls seemed to want to be tagged by me. Devilishly handsome looks aren’t conducive to tag.) Following this rousing game of tag, we went back into the classroom, where the teacher sat me down in front of the class and asked me questions about my school life (forget tag, you have Honors Pre-Calc to look forward to!). This went on for about 15 minutes, and it was time for me to get back onto the bus and head back to school, where we had an assembly, in which my peers enthusiastically (read: half asleep) told us about the activities that they had performed.

Some licked envelopes for a convalescent home (one spent the time playing on his Gameboy). Some put woodchips from one pile into a wheelbarrow and moved it 400 yards to dump them into another pile.

Perhaps I fit the model of the jaded, cynical, sarcastic teenager. But, neither I, nor my co-volunteers (I use the word volunteer loosely. There’s a poetic irony in mandatory volunteer work) saw either significance in or impact of our work. It’s a day off of school, which is great. But it’s also a means of deluding

April 2009

ourselves into thinking that we’re helping.

Community change doesn’t come from a weekday afternoon of playing tag with kids, or licking envelopes in a retirement home, or moving woodchips. Our naive, romantic selves tell us that these are the little things that matter. I may have served as a role model for some young boy that day, when they weren’t busy running around the classroom paying attention to nothing but their feet. Those envelopes would have taken a nursing home worker a whole hour to lick! But I still can’t help feeling there’s something phony here.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the idea of community service, but I wish that the activities we did had a more tangible, meaningful impact on those in need in our community and didn’t seem like invented chores.

Top 10 Worst Ways to Ask Someone to Prom

1. Pay Nick Conforti to make an announcement for you at town meeting.

2. Write a five paragraph essay explaining why you would be a superior date.

3. Post the question on MySpace (if you still have one.)

4. Have it posted on a paper at the front of the school.

5. Wait until she is in class then have the Acafellas burst in and serenade her.

6. Text pictures of your biceps.

7. Tell your parents to call her parents.

8. Send her a note titled “Prom and Beyond,” featuring a list of the names of your future children.

9. Ask her in Pig Latin.

10. Steal her car keys and don’t give them back until she agrees to be your prom date.

April 2009

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School News

Prom: Fishing for a Date?

April Walsh Contributing Writer

A school of junior girls sit in the cafeteria fretting over the same event that has been haunting them for weeks: Prom? This year’s prom is to be held at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk for a night among the fish.

T h e word derives from promenade, which creates the pretense that this event is carefree. However, many high school students feel the preparation leading up to prom is entirely the opposite.

This is a night to strive for perfection… starting with the perfect date. Some dates are through obligation, some are through friendship and some are through romance.

Still all that matters is that your perfect date is someone that you will have fun with.

Television shows set the bar ridiculously high for male high school juniors and seniors asking girls to prom.

For instance, in the first season, Morgan walked into her room to find a mini blowup pool filled with many different colorful fish and “Of all the fish in the sea, prom with me?” written across her mirror.

Morgan excitedly called Gary on the phone to scream, “Yes!” The OC season 3 features Adam Brody (Seth) asking Rachel Bilson (Summer) to prom by ordering her a stack of pancakes with “Prom?” spelled out in chocolate chips. Tremendous effort makes it difficult for a girl to say no! How are real high school students, not scripted on a reality show or in a drama supposed to compete with this?

It seems as though real kids in the surrounding area have caught onto this

phenomena. Recently, a young man dressed up his younger brother in a tuxedo in order to impress his prospective date. The younger brother marched into a high school math class carrying a single red rose. His instructions were to ask the selected girl to Prom. Who can say no to a six year-old?

Perhaps a favorite is the young man who attached glow-in-the-dark stars to a young girl’s ceiling. The girl wants to become an astronomer and was ecstatic! Well it seems that at St. Luke’s the boys have stepped up as well within the past few years. A student last year spelled out “Prom” in lacrosse sticks across Watson field at Pedrick Stadium. It seems boys have gained the courage to ask in new and creative ways.

The media blasts image upon image of various hairstyles, dresses, tuxedos, limos, makeup techniques, corsages, and…. AHHH! All of this preparation for a few hours?

While the selecting and careful craft of asking someone to prom can seem silly and overwhelming, the thought is what counts. The materialism associated with prom may seem lavish, but this is offset by the amount of care and consideration that St. Luke’s students apply to the event. So really, the girls sitting in the cafeteria have nothing to worry about. The pictures may seem cheesy and the prom king and queen may seem cliché; however, prom allows the entire junior and senior community to come together for a night to remember with the baby belugas and stingrays at the Maritime Aquarium!

The Day of Silence Kelly Wendt Sentinel Staff Writer

Today, Friday, April 17th, the SLS campus is going to be a little bit quieter. For the fourth year in a row, the St. Luke’s GayStraight Alliance (GSA) will be celebrating the Day of Silence, a silent protest to end the anti-gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) harassment and bullying.

For the past four years, the GSA has chosen to celebrate the Day of Silence due to homophobic remarks, such as ‘that’s so gay’ and ‘no homo’ that are often heard both in and out of the classroom. These remarks can be very harmful to students

who are allies, have relatives that are GLBT, or who identify themselves as a part of the GLBT community. Therefore, the vow of silence that some choose to take on the Day of Silence is symbolic of the silence caused by these homophobic remarks, because students feel afraid to speak out or be honest about their identity when remarks such as ‘that’s so gay’ are made.

This year marks the 14th national Day of Silence, which was started by a group of college students at the University of Virginia. Thousands of students across the country will take a vow of silence or otherwise participate by showing solidarity through wearing t-shirts or having speaking cards to support the GLBT community.

One common misconception of the Day of Silence is that all who are participating must be silent; many students are not silent for various reasons.

Whoever you are, an ally or a respectful student who chooses not to participate, think about your friends, teachers, administrators and fellow students whose voices you are not hearing.

School News Appreciate Your Planet

Alexandra Jaffe Editor

Every year on April 22nd, students at St. Luke’s are subjected to an assembly in which members of the St. Luke’s community present information about Earth Day. However, many students leave the assembly feeling slightly bored but no more enlightened about significance of the day.

This year, I challenge each and every member of the St. Luke’s community to get involved in Earth Day. W i t h global warming and climate change becoming even more pressing issues today, it is important to have an appreciation for the environment. Because current students will all-too-soon be the adults in charge of making decisions about our environment, they especially need to gain awareness of the problems plaguing our natural world.

And equally important to understanding the problems is for students to realize the potential for change. Every person has the capability to make a difference in determining the fate of the environment.

Now that may sound cliché, but it really is true. Even a fifth grade student can get involved, on either a personal or community level.

There are many ways to get involved on a personal scale. Make sure to recycle all bottles and cans—it takes literally not more effort on your part to recycle, but every glass bottle and aluminum can that you recycle saves tons of energy and raw materials. Turn off the lights whenever you leave a room and check that the light bulbs in your house are energy efficient.

Even taking such effortless steps to save energy helps the environment.

On a community level, there are countless ways to get involved at school or around town. This year, the St. Luke’s Environmental Club, under the leadership of Kara Clark and Helena Whitte, and advised by Mr. Havens, will be attending an environmental conference in New York City. On Earth Day, the Environmental Club will lead an awareness assembly about the day. Kara Clark says, “It is so important for everyone at St. Luke’s to get involved this year.

Each person’s efforts make a difference.” As well as school activities, there are also numerous events held in the area in support of Earth Day, including charity concerts by famous headliners and local community service opportunities. Even if it as simple as attending a concert or turning off unnecessary lights in your house, get involved for Earth Day. The environment needs you.

Spring Celebrations

Megan Cullinane Sentinel Staff Writer

Every year, between late March and early April, both Jews and Christians celebrate their religions’ sacred holidays.

However the purposes of these celebrations are entirely different.

Passover, a Jewish holiday, commemorates the Hebrews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt. To honor the liberation of the Jews from the Egyptians, Jewish people refrain from eating unleavened bread the week after the first night of Passover. These traditions have upheld years of celebration and remain much the same today.

Easter, a Christian holiday, was

April 2009

celebrated four days after Passover this year. Easter Sunday is the holy day on which Christians believe Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. In addition, Easter signifies the end of a Lent, a fortyday period of sacrifice and religious reflection for many Christians. Historically, Christians celebrating Easter would spend their day at church praying and celebrating the rebirth of Jesus.

However, over time, Easter has become an increasingly secular holiday.

Instead of honoring the traditional meaning of Easter by going to Church and praising Christ, it has become a chance for children to miss school and for families to buy each other gifts. An Easter icon has developed as well. The Easter bunny has its origin in Germany, where the first edible chocolate Easter bunny was made. Over time it developed into a celebrated symbol of Easter. Every year children embark on Easter egg hunts in search of dyed colored eggs hidden by the Easter bunny. This tradition is practiced in many Christian homes including the Cullinane household.

“Our mom makes up baskets for us every year,” explains senior Caroline Cullinane.

“When we were younger, she would hide them in a scavenger hunt and my siblings and I would have to follow the hidden clues to find them.”

Although Easter had lost some of its traditional value, there are those who still hold strong to the traditional meanings.

Although recently some pet food companies have begun to produce kosher food so that the family pet as well can partake in the Passover Seder, Passover itself has retained more of its traditional significance than Easter.

One new Easter tradition the disciples couldn’t have anticipated: celebrating Christianity’s most sacred holiday with marshmallow birds http://www. marshmallowpeeps.com/ Visit the site to play games, print out coloring pages, and learn the history of marshmallow Peeps!

In case Fido wants to keep kosher this year too: http://www.kosherpets.com/fordogs. html

April 2009

School News

Who Will Be Mr. Luke’s?

Alexandra Jaffe Editor This May, some senior and junior boys have stepped up to try to reduce the cost of prom. They will be competing in a pageant contest to become the first “Mr. Luke’s.” Before the actual night of the Mr. Luke’s contest, the contestants wanted to share a little bit about themselves with the SLS community. The Sentinel asked each contestant two questions about themselves.

1. Why would you make the best Mr. Luke’s?

Zach Taylor says, 1. I am unique.

2. I don’t know what I’m good at… let the public decide.

Aggie Kelly says, 1. My unique torso shape is unlike any you’ve ever seen before. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

2. “I got more Mack than Craig and… believe me sweetie I’ve got enough [bread] to feed the needy”—Notorious B.I.G.

Glenn Champion says, 1. I am Mr. Luke’s because I define excellence.

2. If I were a contestant on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ I would win.

Andrew Hilboldt says, 1. I’m doing this for the kid who truly leads a “thug life” and thinks it’s hopeless.

2. I’ve been called the song bird of my

2. The one asset that might surprise people is the fact that I drink my own urine. I do it less for its sterile makeup but more for its taste.

The Sentinel Staff

Here are their answers: Jake Pressman says, 1. Well, first of all I’d make the best Mr. Luke’s because of my stunning good looks, but that’s such a given it’s almost not worth mentioning. I’m also what we’d call a “Renaissance Man,” excelling in both the arts and academics. I must say, I sing like an angel.

2. I am actually a direct descendant of the Cro-magnons. The observant members of the SLS community might have noted my heavy set brow as evidence of this. Oh, and did I mention my beard growing skills? I know they’re not quite up to par with Marwan’s skills, but they’re pretty good.

one that rivals Mark Anothony’s statue of David; furthermore, it is this same body that will be a real conundrum to beat in this prolific and harmonious competition. However it only continues from there.... having no way of entertaining myself while working in the fields I began singing to myself day after day until my vocal chords became so strong.

NOTE: Adam Trampe, Billy Prince, and Doug Walker declined to respond.

2. Is there anything special or unusual about you that you want the SLS community to know?

generation.

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Editor Alexandra Jaffe

Ali Watson says, 1. Im an 8 year veteran so people at St. Luke’s know me. Some people even call me the mayor because I know so many people.

2. People pretty much know everything about me.

Nick Conforti says, 1. The only way I can truthfully answer your question is to ask another question: who would make a better Mr. Luke’s than I. Growing up in a poor farming family from Brussels, Belgium I worked out in the fields milking all sorts of farm animals from elephants to even the smallest mouse.

Milk as you can assume was quite the translucent commodity. Anyway, it was there, on my family’s poor farm where I developed my sculpted body,

Staff Writers Caroline Cullinane Alex Fomon Kelly Wendt Megan Cullinane Jenna Decatur Contributing Writers April Walsh Alex Polyakov Staff Member Jon Salamon Faculty Advisor Mr. Flachsbart Photo credits: Internet sources

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School News

Infallible Tips on Getting into College Caroline Cullinane, Alex Foman and Jackie Krasnokutskaya

on visits helps you narrow down what KIND of school you would like to attend (small, big, urban, rural, etc.). Alex says: “I thought at the end of junior year that I had a finalized list of all the schools I wanted

Part One Caroline “C.C.” Cullinane: After getting deferred and ultimately rejected from her first choice college, Caroline bounced back during the third quarter with an acceptance to her new first choice school, Tufts University. She lived happily ever after.

Personal tip: Transfer in the middle of high school. Jackie “Jackie O” Krasnokutskaya: The cool thing about Jackie, is that instead of applying to the entire Ivy League (which she was well-qualified for), Jackie chose her schools based on their specific architecture programs, choosing to apply to schools not because of their brand name but because of her intended major. Personal tip: Live in three different foreign countries before your senior year. Alex “Fomalope” Foman: Also deferred from her first choice, but by the time she got the regular decision back, Johns Hopkins had run away with her heart.

Personal tip: Speak Swedish and hold a dual citizenship. .

Some Advice: 1. Don’t apply to thirty schools on an ego trip to see if you will get in. You won’t be accepted if the admissions people don’t think you really want to go there. You also make it harder on people who do really want to attend by raising the number of applicants.

2. Start looking at colleges over break and summer vacation. IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY. Even if you don’t know yet what specific college you want to go to, going

to apply to. But, by putting off visits, I had to schedule time during the stressful first quarter of senior year to find out that I needed a new list.”

3. Write your essay over the summer. This may be a little hypocritical to recommend, none of us wrote our essays over the summer. However, after being booted from procrastination nation by the cold slap of reality, all three of us had to get our acts together at the last minute to apply. Caroline sent in her Georgetown application at 12:45 am of the day after it was due. Alex sent her Brown application in at 11:59 pm the night before the cut off. Jackie was still working on her portfolios the night before she had to send them in. It’s not pretty.

4. Don’t show up to a college interview with a cardboard box of middle school trophies. Colleges don’t care what you did when you were 12.

NOTE: Part Two of Caroline, Alex, and Jackie’s College Tips will be printed in the next issue.

April 2009

Hannah Montana Review Jenna Decatur Sentinel Staff Writer While this heartwarming comedy may seem like your average Disney movie made for young girls, there’s actually much more to it. Not only is this movie great for those of all ages, but it will also keep you laughing the whole way through. The movie starts out as a day in the life of the famous pop star Hannah Montana. However, her fans don’t know that in reality, she’s just an average girl named Miley Stewart.

Miley, originally a small town country girl from Tennessee, overlooked her old life in favor of the glamorous life of a pop star. It isn’t until her father, Robby Ray Stewart, brings her back to her hometown, that she eventually realizes how much she misses that small town charm.

When she first arrives, Miley finds life in Tennessee shocking compared to her life as a celebrity. Rather than continuing to live glamorously as Hannah Montana, Miley is forced to deal with chickens and barns. She reunites with her old hometown friend, Travis, who reminds her of who she really is. Miley realizes that she can’t handle the stress of being two people at once and dealing with the “best of both worlds.”

She must decide between glamorous fame and superstardom and the country life she has learned to love. This movie includes several new songs by Miley Cyrus herself, as well as Taylor Swift, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Rascal Flatts. Whether you are 10 years old or 18 (or older), the Hannah Montana movie is one that everyone will enjoy.