SEPTEMBER 2025

Editorial: Adults are dismantling childhood. It’s time to grow up

In the wake of the recent cuts to PBS, students must take ownership of their own education. The Editorial Board

The unsigned editorial represents the consensus opinion of the Editorial Board, which consists of the student editorial staff in the masthead on this page.

It was bound to happen eventually.

Daniel Tiger has become political. The childhood shows we all knew and loved have been caught up in the partisan bedlam of our current day and age. How we got here is a mystery, but what we must do now has never been clearer.

Because of the persistent push from the Trump administration, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), has been closed. This action has seriously endangered childhood classics like Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street, as well as extensive educational resources meant for K-12 classrooms.

And Republicans across the nation have wasted no time in promoting their new, preferred alternative to the educational programming of PBS. The White House has established the rightleaning educational video platform PragerU as a new educational partner. As one element of this partnership, the White House has featured a new “Founders Museum” displaying AI-generated videos of founding fathers.

What happens if the next Skibidi Toilet contains subliminal messages from the Chinese Communist Party? What happens when brainrot becomes racist or antisemitic? These possibilities may seem far-fetched, but with extremist and brainrot content flourishing simultaneously in the absence of public media, who knows what could fester in the depths?

Public media has been historically reliable, and because social media content has a lower barrier of entry, it is more vulnerable to extreme content.

The death of PBS foreshadows something rotten for the future of the next generation, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

The museum features videos of such things as an AI-personified John Adams repeating the right-wing mantra “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” Daniel Tiger would disapprove. PragerU’s other videos involve figures like Christopher Columbus telling us, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?”

Platforms like PragerU simply cannot fill the void left by the departure of PBS. But they are representative of the content that might attempt to: artificial, inauthentic, partisan attempts at imparting a forced perspective to the youngest among us who can’t form our own. And these attempts would not be limited to either end of the political spectrum.

As PragerU has quite deftly demonstrated, there is no longer any barrier to entry in the world of short-form political messaging aimed at young and malleable minds. It’s now as simple as plugging a prompt into generative AI and posting it to a social media feed. With the public media we once knew gone, the most radical and unpleasant elements of our world are free to try their hand at influencing the next generation.

Take Five:

How can clubs be helpful to new students?

Students shared their recommendations for those looking to get involved with the Haven community.

Charlie Grueser ’28

Contributor

“I would recommend trying all different kinds of clubs, and going to their interest meetings and talking to people to see what might interest you.”

Norah Magargee ’26

“I made a lot of friends from clubs. I’d recommend my club [Dance Haven], it’s an outlet to dance, and also it connects you with a lot of other dancers.”

“I stuck really strongly with Tech Crew, because I found a lot of camaraderie in it. You get very close with a lot of people and you learn a lot of cool skills.”

It’s easy to question how we got here. Was Daniel Tiger too woke? Was Clifford too red? Was Cookie Monster too blue? But doing so will not help to remedy the onslaught of partisan forces upon childhood education.

In the absence of the programs we once counted on, we must not submit to the mindless drivel that promises to replace the dear relics of our childhood should we do nothing. The death of PBS foreshadows something rotten for the future of the next generation, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

In a world where even children’s television has become politicized, students must take ownership of their own education. Media literacy has never been more important, and Haven students are uniquely well-positioned to retain their marbles in this messy age.

Not only are there public libraries across the district, Haven has its own library where students can do their own research instead of submitting to passive consumption. And it is in that same library where freshman classes are instructed on media literacy.

Perhaps the time has come for the retirement of groans at the mandatory voyages to the library and instead an adoption of an independent understanding of today’s world.

Daniel Tiger was murdered. For many students, it’s hard to know what to trust anymore, but learning how to actively question what we consume has never been more important.*

“Freshman year, I tried to sign up for a bunch of clubs. My favorite by far was Film Club. You eat free candy and you watch movies. Everyone should join Film Club.” Wyatt Stevens ’27

“Clubs are a really great way to get involved with your school community and feel more at home. Strath Haven is a really awesome space to be, and if you have an interest, then there’s definitely a club for you.”*

Report Card

A+

4 DAY SCHOOL WEEKS

+ Less school

+ Time to rest and relax

+ Break from assignments

CBA D+

BUS CHANGES

- So confusing, bad communication to students

+ Hopefully more efficient for drivers!

- I missed my bus :(

BUILDING TEMPERATURE

- Affects what you can wear to school

- Varies between classroom, some are HOT some are FREEZING

+ Grateful to have access to air condtioning

ACTIVITIES FAIR

+ Great chance to get involved

- So windy, posters blowing everywhere!

+ So many amazing clubs at Haven

5TH BLOCK TEACHER MEETINGS

- Reduces one on one time with teachers

- The library is occupied

+ Hopefully working on things to improve our school!

Editors

About

The Panther Press is the student-run publication of Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, PA. The Panther Press publishes 500 copies bimonthly in print and is distributed to classrooms and students at Strath Haven High School. The publication is also online at www.shpantherpress.com.

The goals of The Panther Press are to inform, educate, and entertain the student body, faculty and staff, and community readers.

We strive to report and analyze issues that concern students in a manner that is fair, objective, responsible, and accurate.

Through the use of journalism, technology, and workplace skills, the students who lead and create the newspaper develop as critical thinkers and communicators.

All content published in the newspaper and on the Panther Press website is created by Strath Haven students for a primary audience of students, with the understanding that our publication also reaches a broader audience that includes teachers and staff, families, and community members.

The views represented in The Panther Press, as well as the selection and curation of content by the editors, do not represent the views of the entire Panther Press staff, the adviser, the school, or the administration.

Please consult the ABOUT page on our website for additional information.

Submissions

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Social media participants should remember that anything posted in response to The Panther Press social media is public and reflects on our publication, our school, and the poster. Replies and comments will be screened for defamation, profanity, or libel. 2025-2026 Editorial Board

Editors in

Maisie Sentivan ’27

Ally Herndon ’27

Bianca Blake ’28

First week of school concludes with rallies, yearbook distribution

Shortened classes and a modified schedule allowed students to participate in a range of back-to-school activities.

Eli Graves ’26 Reporter

On August 29, Haven students poured out of all the classrooms throughout the building to celebrate the end of the first week of school.

The pep rally, run by Assistant Principal Mr. Tom McLaughlin and student council members, consisted of a performance by the Panther Marching Band drumline, the reveal of the potential homecoming themes, a basketball half-court shot competition, and the long-awaited Haven Yearbook distribution.

“I think [the pep rally] was pretty hype,” sophomore Joya Denninger said. “Maybe in the future we could have more activities. I felt like everyone wasn’t as hype as they have been in the past.”

Along with the pep rally, an informational assembly was held in the auditorium, run by principal Mr. Andrew Benzing. Plans and expectations for the year were shared, such as keeping the cafeteria clean and continuing to be safe, responsible, and respectful Haven students.

Class advisers also shared their classes’ plans for the year, such as Frosh, junior

prom, and senior prom. The assembly included a short performance by the Strath Haven Cheer Team and a “Minute to Win It” cup stacking competition between the grades.

“The assembly was very informative, so I’m excited to see all of the stuff they talked about play out in the school year,” senior Pearl Tweedy said. “My favorite part was the ‘Minute to Win It’ challenge, where, of course, the seniors dominated.”

The distribution of yearbooks concluded the pep rally, giving students plenty of time to leaf through and examine the 240-page publication.

“I feel like [Strath Haven Yearbook] picked a lot of good moments,” junior Kaylin Fava said. “There were events and stuff that I didn’t think were going to be in there.”

The pep rally itself, however, left some students feeling dissatisfied.

“Honestly, [the pep rally] was kind of insignificant,” junior Caroline Boerth said. “But I like the community aspect of getting to look through the yearbooks with everybody.”*

Student orientation welcomes class of 2029, new students

Student Council-led ‘barbecue’ featured food and school tours, welcoming the freshman class and new students to Haven.

Matthew Ramirez ’26

Editor-in-Chief

With over 230 confirmed RSVPs to attend, according to an email by principal Mr. Andrew Benzing, the ‘New Student BBQ’ orientation was a way to welcome new students to Haven.

The two-hour-long orientation featured yard games like Spikeball, giant Connect 4, and cornhole in the gymnasium, food in the cafeteria, and an opportunity for new students to find their classes and familiarize themselves with the school, ending with dessert donated by parents of the class of 2029.

“This is the first opportunity to really see how to get from class to class, as well as just to get comfortable with each other in the building,” Student Council adviser Herr Alex Paul said.

When compared to previous iterations of the orientation, this year planners of the event did away with the scavenger hunt-style tour of the school in favor of letting new students explore the school on their own.

“New members of the Student Council in the spring do the eighthgrade tours, which are a lot more formal,” senior and Student Council president Minori Saito said. “This is more just fun – letting them explore the school.”

As many students are anxious about starting high school, some feel less nervous after meeting new people and growing accustomed to the school at the orientation.

“Everyone seems really welcoming, that’s good to come into,” freshman Lia Kraemer said. “I’m excited for the community and the extra activities that are provided.”

Others seemed apprehensive about the transition to high school.

“I think the work’s going to be harder, but I think that it’s going to be more fun to be around other people,” freshman Amber Fan said.

While orientation is the first of many Student Council-led events at Haven, the council hopes to continue to create an exciting school experience for all.

“We just hope you guys know that we’re putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to make all this happen,” Saito said. “We’re really trying our best to create a fun environment and to plan fun events that everyone will enjoy.”*

LEARNING ABOUT HAVEN • TOP: A group of

WRAPPING UP WEEK ONE • LEFT: Eva O’Connell (11) cheers with the rest of the Strath Haven Cheer Team, displaying good sportsmanship for sporting events. TOP: Daksha Nair (12), Maya Putty (12), and Minori Saito (12) point out familiar faces in the yearbook. BOTTOM: Ella Leggett (12), Magdalena Coppock (12), and Hari Ghatpande (12) compete in the Minute to Win It cup stacking challenge.

PHOTOS: ELI GRAVES

MEET HAVEN’S NEW STAFF

There are many new staff members leading classes and programs throughout the halls of Haven this fall. We set out to learn a little more about six of them. Look for more new teacher profiles in the November issue.

Mr. Gavin Stewart, School Counselor

Adrian Gonzalez-Diaz ’29

Contributor

For Mr. Gavin Stewart, connecting with the students individually is his main priority as the ninth grade student counselor at Haven.

After graduating from West Chester University, interning at Wallingford Elementary School (WES), and spending last school year as a long-term substitute at Haven, Stewart has returned as a full-time counselor this year.

He is looking forward to “meeting the new ninth grade class, getting to know them and watching them acclimate and change over the year to the high school environment.”

Stewart insists that establishing a close relationship with the students on an everyday basis is essential to counseling.

“I like to be with the students. If I could be with students 100% of the day, I would do that. It’s the best part of the job. That’s why I’m doing it.,” Stewart said.

To achieve this, Stewart strikes up conversations with everybody and is planning on meeting with every ninth grader individually.

Stewart believes that working closely with students is not only important, but essential to involve the whole community.

“This is a school of kind, curious, and well-intentioned staff, students, and families. I’ve seen how they look out for each other in pretty selfless ways, which is cool,” Stewart said.

As for the future, Stewart’s main goal is to keep developing ways to connect and support newly arrived ninth graders. To achieve that, he is launching a new initiative: a Freshman Academy to help integrate freshmen students into the high school.

“I will be in every ninth grade English classroom six different times, engaging and trying to get to know all of the students,” Stewart said.*

Ms. Taylor Rose, Special Education

Izzy Boland ’29 Contributor

Originally an occupational therapist at Strath Haven High School and Strath Haven Middle School, Ms. Taylor Rose returns after getting a degree in special education.

“I went back to get more specific in special ed, because of the stuff that I wanted to do,” Rose said.

“I did an online special education degree at [Eastern University].”

After getting her degree, Rose worked at Elwyn Davidson School for a year. She gave the school a try because it was a private school, which she thought she would like more. However, she likes the environment in public schools better.

“[Being at a public school] was a lot more collaborative. [I] got to work in different settings that I didn’t have in the other school, because there weren’t really general education classes,” Rose said.

Rose notes that there are more people to manage at Haven, giving it a different feel from Elwyn Davidson. However, she likes that she can work with more people.

“I’m glad to be back and being able to talk with a bunch of different teachers about the students and how they’re doing,” Rose said.

Rose reflects on the difficulties of it being her first time being in a special education role.

“It’s like starting almost from the beginning again,” Rose said. “I’m learning a lot about my organization and the way that I want to run things, so it’s taking a little while to just get used to it.”

Despite the challenges of starting a new role, Rose finds some parts going better than expected.

“I get to do a third block Learning Center, and my group of students are really fun,” Rose said. “I feel like we already kind of know each other pretty well, which I wasn’t expecting.”*

Ms. Dani Lyons, School Counselor

Josselyn Dixon ’29

Contributor

After working at Harrison High School for the past two years, school counselor

Ms. Dani Lyons transferred to Strath Haven.

The Temple alum is the counselor responsible for students in grades 1012 with the last names R-Z. So far, she’s been mostly focused on meeting students, but during the school year she will also be meeting with teachers, parents, and even writing college recommendation letters.

“The focus is always on the students, but it just kind of depends on which way I’m doing it,” Lyons said.

While she’s only been at Haven a short time, she’s already received a positive impression.

“I love that it’s a smaller community than I’m used to,” Lyons said. “At my last high school, three middle schools were coming into one. I like that it’s more close knit, and everyone’s been so nice.”

Right out of school, Lyons worked in sales. When she realized it wasn’t the right fit, she briefly considered being a teacher, but ultimately settled on being a counselor.“I really get to know my students beyond just academics,” Lyons said. “I can know about the other things that you’re passionate about and that you’re good at. I really like that. I get to know you, rather than in a large group. I’m able to build deeper relationships.”

It seems that she has done her best to learn more about her students’ passions so far, as she has learned about the many clubs and activities in Haven, even going to the Haven-Upper Darby football game.

“If I’m your counselor, please come and see me so I can meet new people,” Lyons said.*

Annual Activities Fair offers banquet of opportunities

Haven’s yearly Activity Fair presented a plethora of clubs for students to get involved in.

Joya Nath ’28 Reporter

The sidewalk outside the cafeteria was abuzz with glittering poster boards, excited pitches from student club leaders, and wide-eyed students on Friday, September 5.

Each year, the Activities Fair, typically held at the beginning of September, allows clubs and organizations at Strath Haven to welcome new members and get a head start on a successful school year.

Throughout all three lunches, students are invited to walk around and take a look at each booth, where they will be met with information about the clubs and an opportunity to sign up for whatever piques their interest.

Junior Emily Zhang was one of many student leaders who volunteered to promote their club. Zhang is a part of Leap Into Learning, a community service group that reads to younger children once a week.

“I feel really honored to share my love for this club

with everyone else,” Zhang said. “I think there’s been a lot of people who are interested.”

The fair typically proves to be especially helpful for freshman students, offering them a first look at all Strath Haven has to offer.

“It’s been awesome,” freshman Jane Yau said. “It feels really welcoming, like everyone wants us to join their club.”

Joining a surplus of clubs is often how students find their circle and community at school. Many students find themselves signing up for many clubs on the day of the fair, later slimming down the choices and deciding which they will stick with.

“We have around four pages full of names, which is great,” junior Kay Liberi said. “We’re excited, although probably around a quarter of those people will show up.”

Liberi is a representative from Unite for Her, a

club that raises awareness and support for breast and ovarian cancer. Many clubs at the fair focus on fundraising and organizing events for select causes.

“We are just trying to get people involved for a good cause,” Liberi said.

Following the activities fair, most clubs take the next step of setting up an interest meeting where all students who sign up are invited to learn more.

“I think it was a really nice way to promote Speech and Debate, seeing that all the kids who signed up are still sticking with it,” sophomore Noel Springer, who could be found at the Speech and Debate booth, said. “A lot of kids actually followed through with the interest meeting.”*

MS. DANI LYONS

MS. TAYLOR ROSE

MR. GAVIN STEWART

Mr. Daniel Kahn, Chemistry

Charlie Grueser ’28

Contributor

Mr. Daniel Kahn, a new chemistry teacher joining Haven from Motivation High School in southwest Philadelphia, first heard positive things about the school from his neighbors.

From his first visit, Kahn has appreciated Haven’s kind staff and student community.

“After my first interview, I was just really impressed with the school. People seemed really friendly,” Kahn said.

MR. DANIEL KAHN

Joining a new department at a new school, Kahn was excited to begin working with new people. Although already charmed by the student body and his initial welcome to the school, his fellow staff members would be critical to the beginning of his time at Haven.

“The head of my department was great and supportive, and then the head of the school was great and supportive. So I was like, seems like a really awesome place to work,” Kahn said.

Kahn’s only complaint has been the difficult and trafficfilled commute — including both the drive on the Blue Route and the journey up the stairs to his fourth-floor classroom. However, he says it’s worth it for the student community he gets to be a part of.

“I really like the students in all my classes,” Kahn said. “They’re awesome.”

Starting at a new school can be difficult, and Kahn is still getting settled in with the flow of Haven’s schedule and policies.

“I’m excited to get past all that learning all the ropes, and just getting into feeling comfortable teaching,” Kahn said.

Kahn understands that there is a lot of curiosity surrounding new teachers. Sharing some things students might not guess about him, Kahn revealed an interest in music, and a popular fantasy tabletop game.

“I like to sing and play music. I’m also a big Dungeons and Dragons player,” Kahn said.

Excited for the rest of the year, Kahn predicts that he will be fully accustomed to the new school environment, thanks to Haven’s welcoming students and staff.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Kahn said.*

Ms. Megan Gress, Learning Support

Rowan

Brown ’29

Contributor

New special education teacher

Ms. Megan Gress became an educator for more than one reason.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Gress said. “I want to help people with different ways of thinking than I have.”

When looking for jobs, Haven stood out to her as a school that could provide stability. Having gone to Penncrest High School in Media, she was familiar with some of the opportunities that Haven provides.

“I knew that Strath Haven was just a really great school, and I knew that a lot of teachers stay here for their entire career, so that’s something that I was really looking for,” Gress said.

In her free time, Gress enjoys staying active in many different ways. In addition to fitness, she also enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

“I played [lacrosse] in college, so I just got out of playing a recreational sport. I also like to run and work out my free time,” Gress said. “I’m really close to my family. I like to be with them and also see my friends from college.”

By the second week of school, Gress was already feeling accepted into the Haven community.

“Everyone was super nice — I was actually really surprised at how welcoming everyone was and how helpful they all were,” Gress said.

Despite the positive start, she is still adjusting to her role at Haven. Gress completed her student-teaching at an elementary school while in college, so working with high school students is fairly new to her.

“This is a big shift from having kindergarteners and second graders to having twelfth graders,” Gress said. Every day there is one specific thing that she looks forward to.

“Just being around students and other staff, and interacting with others is probably my favorite part of the day,” Gress said.

Gress hopes to make progress with her students during her time at Haven.

“I hope to create good relationships with my students so that they can feel like my office or wherever I am is a space that they are comfortable in,” Gress said.*

Mr. Rene Duffault, Health and Physical Education

Mat Mataac ’28, Matthew Ramirez ’26

Contributor, Editor-in-Chief

Mr. Rene Duffault is no stranger to WSSD.

While studying at West Chester University, he completed his student teaching at Nether Providence Elementary School and Strath Haven Middle School.

“I did five years there in the Health and Physical Education program,” Duffault said. “I spent last school year in and out of the two schools.”

In his youth, he became closer with his teachers since his parents worked a lot during his childhood education, influencing his career in teaching.

“My teachers kind of ended up being like my parents at school,” Duffault said. “Realizing how much impact some of my teachers had on me in a very positive way made me want to turn around and do that for students who maybe had the same circumstances.”

Duffault’s energetic personality also influences his active teaching style.

“I don’t like to sit down when I’m in health class, I like to move around,” he said. “I like to influence and challenge them, so I’m moving with them.”

Since Duffault’s experience at the middle school involved a period schedule, the high school’s block schedule has been a big adjustment for him.

“Transitioning to an 80-minute block period was probably the biggest challenge, because it feels like sometimes I’m doing two lessons in one because of the amount of time we have,” he said.

Looking to the future, Duffault expresses his desire to connect with his students through the sports they play.

“I get a lot of students who play sports in some of my classes, and they’re always trying to play me in basketball,” he said. “Playing basketball with them in Phys Ed, and hearing that their season’s starting soon, it makes me really want to get involved and coach and just be able to be there and support them.”*

MS. MEGAN GRESS

MR. RENE DUFFAULT

TIME TO JOIN • LEFT: Tyler Slaughter (11) signs up for Best Buddies. MIDDLE: Carter Sturgis (11) smiles from behind the American Red Cross table. RIGHT: Gwen Satterthwaite (10) signs up for Leap Into Learning in the middle of the bustling courtyard, PHOTOS: MATTHEW RAMIREZ, ABBEY MINTON

Haven seniors experience Taiwan through summer abroad program

The NSLI-Y program gave seniors Casper Stockman and Zach Pita the opportunity to learn Mandarin and become exposed to Taiwanese culture.

Darcey Strachan ’28 Haven Happenings Editor

During the summer, seniors Casper Stockman and Zach Pita traveled to Taiwan for a six-week program.

The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) is a free language program that allows high school students to travel to foreign countries and learn a given language. Stockman and Pita chose to expand their knowledge of Mandarin through their summer abroad program.

“The environment, as you can imagine, was really conducive to learning Mandarin,” Stockman said. “I was surrounded by the language, and I was not only spending so much time every day learning it, but it was focused in a way that normal school often isn’t.”

Instead of learning four subjects all at one time, students are focused only on learning the language through a university for a few hours a day. However, the work still may feel very difficult for students.

“At least for me, it was pretty academically rigorous, so I had to work pretty hard and had a couple of hours of homework every night,” Pita said. “But I still had a lot of time to go out and explore.”

Aside from language classes, participants of the program gain cultural knowledge of the country through exploration and a residence with a host family.

“It was probably the most rewarding part of the experience,” Pita said about the host families. “We slept at their house every day, and they provided food for us and all that stuff – aside from that, we had a lot of independence to kind of go wherever we wanted to.”

To apply to this program, interested students must complete essay questions, fill out personal information, secure a letter of recommendation, and eventually be interviewed. Whether you apply to learn Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, or any of the other languages they offer, you don’t have to be able to speak the language or have any academic specialty before the trip.

“You just need to be ready for new experiences,” Pita said.

The accessibility of this program through the lack of language prerequisites, free cost, and straightforward application process provides an easy way to get started for students who are interested in learning a new language and traveling.

“If you’re adventurous and you like language learning, you should absolutely apply for the program,” Pita said. “It’s pretty awesome, and it’s free.”*

Featured Club: Foodie Friends supports self expression, camaraderie

Students can practice their baking skills and engage in service projects throughout the year, all while making new friends.

Claire Salera ’27

Haven Happenings Editor

An array of eye-catching baked goods, each producing its own aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, and strawberry, sits patiently upon the countertop in the cooking room, waiting to be eagerly eaten by Foodie Friends members lined up around the space.

These colorful desserts were enjoyed at the Foodie Friends’ first meeting on Monday, September 15. The meeting’s theme was a children’s birthday party, and treats included Cosmic Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, a cake from a childhood show called Max and Ruby, apple cider donuts, and more.

Foodie Friends is a club where students bake their own treats at home according to the meeting’s theme, and bring them in to share with friends and new faces during fifth block. While enjoying their treats, club members discuss ideas for future themes, club fundraisers, and service projects, and then have the opportunity to vote for their favorite treat from the meeting.

want to do a book drive and a food drive – we’re planning a couple of different donation drives. Those will be a couple of our non-themed meetings.”

To plan these events, the presidents have remained in touch with the former club leaders to ensure smooth sailing for the future.

“We have some ideas that we’re talking to the past presidents about, they were the ones who really wanted to push for a book drive,” Shelton said. “We are trying to seriously do that book drive in November.”

While enjoying treats, club members discuss ideas for future themes, club fundraisers, and service projects, and then have the opportunity to vote for their favorite treat from the meeting.

Club president, junior Roxanna Shelton, and vice presidents, senior Sabine Fried and junior Kaylin Fava, help reserve the cooking room and pick themes for the monthly meetings.

“We try to meet once in a while to choose the schedule, so we met before school started,” Shelton said. “Everyone brought things that hopefully reminded them of their childhood memories.”

It’s no secret that baking is a common pastime for Haven students, and the club provides students with an outlet to share that talent. A love for the hobby is what encouraged Fava to first join the club as an underclassmen.

“I like baking for other people, and I love it when people love my baking,” Fava said.

However, not all meetings are restricted to sharing and bringing food. Expanding to include projects that benefit the school and district community is a goal that the presidents have for the club this school year.

“[We plan on] making goodie bags for Media Food Bank, or giving cards to the lunch aides,” Fava said. “We

These projects require planning and fundraising by club leaders. In addition to meeting outside of school to plan for meetings, the club leaders have been brainstorming ways to fund various service projects.

“We’re definitely going to try to do some bake sales. For Halloween and different holidays, we might [sell] goodie bags or boo bags, we might label [them], or something for Valentine’s Day,” Shelton said.

Something that encourages club members to keep coming back is not only the food, but the chance to win “Best Dessert”. The person whose dessert has the most votes at meetings wins a special prize at the following meeting.

“I liked all the food, and I’m glad people brought stuff in,” club member and junior Hannah Kille said. “I baked chocolate chip cookies, and I won the contest!”

The club leaders seek to not only provide a place for food sharing and giving back to the community, but also for meeting new people.

“I like just getting together and eating some food with a random group of people,” Fava said. “I think it’s a nice, chill fifth block. It’s fun.”*

SCRUMPTIOUS SCHOOL YEAR TO COME • TOP: Foodie Friends club presidents Roxanna Shelton, Sabine Fried, and Kaylin Fava hold up treats at the first meeting for the club on Monday, September 15. BOTTOM: Students enjoy treats at the first Foodie Friends meeting on Monday, September 15.

PHOTOS: CLAIRE SALERA

NO TROUBLE IN TAIWAN • TOP: Casper Stockman (12) poses with friends from the NSLI-Y program on June 28 in Taiwan. BOTTOM LEFT, RIGHT: The NSLI-Y students visited many culturally relevant spots in Taiwan, including Jamkang University, Tamsul, New Taipei City, Taiwan, on August 6.

PHOTOS: PROVIDED BY CASPER STOCKMAN

Featured Class: Wood Tech 1 provides students with hands-on learning experience

Students learn life skills by imagining possibilities with machines in wood tech.

Kaitlyn Ho ’26, Jane Yau ’29 Editor-in-Chief, Contributor

While students in other classes scribble at desks, in room 331, the buzz of the miter saw in wood tech filters through the haze of sawdust.

Wood tech is an elective option for all grades, and emphasizes hands-on learning through the use of power tools and a dash of creativity.

Wood tech teacher Mr. Brett Thomas has always known that he wanted to work in the art department.

“I went to art school and I spent more time in the wood shop than anywhere else. And as a teenager, I always worked in construction, so it just made sense,” Thomas said.

“With wood tech, you actually get to bring it home after you work on it, and it’s something you accomplished. It’s really not just a grade.”

Mr. Brett Thomas

By using machines such as the drill press, miter saw, band saw, and lathe, students build confidence in their real-world capabilities.

“I really enjoy watching kids make progress, and I enjoy watching kids own their mistakes, and when they admit that they have to start a project over because they know that it’s going to turn out better the next time around,” Thomas said.

Senior Keegan Mansor enjoys wood tech because she is able to make products that she can hold. Currently, the class projects include building a tissue box and making pens.

“It’s not like we’re sitting down the whole day,” Mansor said. “With wood tech, you actually get to bring it home after you work on it, and it’s something you accomplished. It’s really not just a grade.”

Mansor’s dream project, which she says she will likely work on after wood tech, is to build a resin table. Resin

tables are characterized by their unique and often colorful mixture of resin and wood.

Other students are also exploring the opportunities wood tech opens up.

“It’s just giving me a new challenge. It’s realizing that I need to go back to basics and start classes. I know so much about other topics, but here’s something I don’t know a lot about, and so it’s cool to learn. It is a lot of new skills I learned, but it’s fun,” senior Annika Slootmaker said.

Wood tech not only helps students express their creativity but also encourages them to explore new

perspectives.

“I guess just in the past week, I realized I’ve been in school for 12 years already and I thought I learned a lot of stuff, and here I am and learning brand new things,” Slootmaker said. “It’s a whole world that I just didn’t know about before…[it’s] teaching me that I can learn new things even when I didn’t think I could, and it’s making me more creative, like when I was a little kid.”*

The Wall: Radio broadcaster describes influence of high school, career path

Have you ever stopped to catch a glimpse at the Wall of Honor? We continue a series of interviews of noted alumni with the daughter of Mickey Vernon and co-host of a radio show for exceptional women.

Mark Ball ’26 Reporter

Gay Vernon, the daughter of twotime American League batting champion and professional baseball player Micky Vernon, is a 1970 graduate of Nether Providence High School and former co-host of a radio show hosting Rosalynn Carter and other famous women.

According to Vernon, in high school she participated in cheerleading, senior chorus, Meister singers (a little group within the senior chorus), Student Council, the foreign exchange student club, JV basketball, the yearbook staff, dance committee, the National Honor Society, and had a small part in the senior play, “You Can’t Take it With You.” She also helped run the school store for two years, selling pencils and notebook paper, was involved in the musicals, and was on the staff of “The Web,” which was a literary magazine.

the one I chose, I could volunteer and learn how to run a TV camera my freshman year without declaring my major,” Vernon said.

Vernon had a very brief one-year stint doing sports on a tiny TV station in Manchester, New Hampshire. The rest of her career was spent in radio, where she started out in small markets doing behind the scenes work, gradually gaining opportunities to work on the air.

“In early 1981 or so, I was finally offered a job in Boston as a newscaster and as an interviewer for features that were going to be used in a so-called morning show,” Vernon said.

interview a lot of outstanding women for a specific radio show called ‘Exceptional Women,” Vernon said.

Guests on the show included included Sally Ride, the first woman in space, and Sunita Williams, an astronaut that was stuck on a shuttle for about nine extra months and just returned home.

“Lots of them were famous, and many of them, you would not know their name and you would just be bowled over,” Vernon said.

“I worked alongside very professional, wonderful, talented people everywhere I went, and that was really huge, because when you’re collaborating with people who are smarter than you and more creative than you, it just helps you move your career along.”

more creative than you, it just helps you move your career along,” Vernon said.

The small class size at Nether Providence High School and encouragement from teachers allowed students to use their voices often and be heard. This made Vernon very comfortable speaking to groups and panels when she got to college.

“And then, of course, I became a speech and communications major. I just felt even more comfortable being on the campus radio and TV stations, leading to the career that I loved,” Vernon said. Vernon was also honored with The Jimmy Award for her support of the Jimmy Fund at Dana-Farber in 2006, an institution that helps patients with cancer.

After high school, she went to Marietta College, a small liberal arts school in Marietta, Ohio to major in broadcasting and music.

“I didn’t want to go to a big university where perhaps in my freshman year, I would have to choose one or the other for that path. At a small college like

Most of Vernon’s radio career was spent working for two different radio stations in Boston by serving as the news director, morning news anchor, public affairs director, and doing the interviewing for public affairs programming. At the second station, WMJX, she hosted a show called “Boston Life,” welcoming all kinds of people to come in and tell her about the wonderful community work they were doing.

“I was lucky enough to meet and

Gay Vernon

According to Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Vernon co-hosted with Candy O’Terry “Exceptional Women,” which won 23 Gracie awards.

“I worked alongside very professional, wonderful, talented people everywhere I went, and that was really huge, because when you’re collaborating with people who are smarter than you and

Mickey Vernon, Vernon’s father, was a professional baseball player and lived only two blocks from the high school. Because of this, Jim Vankoski, a retired social studies teacher, dean, and baseball coach at Nether Providence High School, met him and has since known Gay Vernon for many years. According to Vankoski, Vernon is the type of person that you would meet for five minutes and then become your best friend.

“She would be at home in any type of environment with any type of person no matter what the educational level happened to be. She’s an inspiration,” Vankoski said.*

WOODSHOP FUN • LEFT: Wood tech teacher Mr. Brett Thomas leans over the wood planer in the classroom on September 20 during fifth block. RIGHT: Tissue box projects in progress by the wood tech class sit on top of a nail board drying rack. PHOTOS: KAITLYN HO

GAY VERNON ‘70 PHOTO PROVIDED BY JOHN BRAND

Artist Spotlight: Freshman contributes to Haven culture, pursues passion for art

From murals and yearbook covers to screen printing and inspiring others, freshman Evelyn Smith has a lot to offer.

Kay Liberi ’27

Contributor

For freshman Evelyn Smith, art isn’t just an outlet for personal expression, but an opportunity to better understand and represent the student body. Throughout Smith’s middle school experience, she helped make school-focused art projects possible.

Smith has been making art ever since childhood, and has always had a creative mindset.

“When I create art, I have an idea. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, but as long as I get my thoughts on the paper, it’s good. I heard somebody once say, ‘make it happen first, and then make it good later.’ I kind of live by that,” Smith said.

Mr. Daniel Masse, a sixth grade art teacher at Strath Haven Middle School, taught Smith in his art and connections classes.

the drawings for a short story, Smith gained valuable collaboration skills.

“If I have the opportunity to create art for something or someone, I definitely do,” Smith said.

“A lot of artists are very set in their ways and don’t take coaching. But, if I would feed her new material or give her a suggestion for a way to go with her artwork, she always did, so I thought she had a lot of potential to keep making herself better,” Masse said.

Since she was young, Smith had an imaginative feeling about her artwork that has since evolved as she explores different art styles. While she does like to create for herself, Smith is also described as being incredibly catered towards people around her.

“She’s given a lot of her creativity to our school, and I know she’ll keep doing that,” Masse said.

Through working with a picture-book author to make

Detours: Albums of Summer 2025

Specifically in middle school, Smith took on the task of creating her class yearbook covers in seventh and eighth grade. She was also actively involved in the art club and explored different media like 2D art and screenprinting.

“She printed a lot of T-shirts when she was in my screen printing club, so a lot of people are wearing something that she not only designed, but physically made,” Masse said. “So many people know and respect Evelyn for the creativity she’s given to our school.”

During eighth grade, Smith worked on a mural with freshman Jolin Chen, and they formed a meaningful connection through the art they made together.

“I would say she’s really funny, creative, smart, and overall, a nice person to be around,” Chen said. “Just be friends with Evelyn. I’m sure you won’t regret it.”

Smith’s fans believe she has the potential to make a positive impact on the high school community.

“She’s the kind of person who just walks into a room and brings this energy and creative vibe: her sense of humor, her way with people, and her way of giving away her creativity,” Masse said.*

So many new albums came out this summer — read to hear our opinions on some of the biggest and best!

Kaitlyn Ho ’26 and Evie Fernandez ’27

Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor of Print

No wonder there was no song of the summer, there were too many fantastic new albums to choose from.

1.“Wishbone” by Conan Gray

Someone always gets the short end of the stick; in this case, it’s definitely not the listener, because this album is incredible. This fourth Conan Gray album, released on August 15, returns to a more familiar sound after the more rock-influenced sound of “Found Heaven”. This album has no skips for me, but some major standouts are “Actor”, “Vodka Cranberry”, and “Eleven Eleven”. The album takes on even more meaning from the trilogy of music videos Gray created with actor Corey Fogelmanis, which tell the story of Wilson and Brando, two disillusioned kids falling in and out of love. The songs featured (This Song, “Vodka Cranberry”, and “Caramel”) had themes that felt very accessible to anyone, and the amazing cinematography only elevated them. I would definitely recommend watching the videos before you make any hard judgements on the album, because it helps to put a face to the emotions Gray lays out so

vulnerably in “Wishbone”.

2.“Man’s Best Friend” by Sabrina Carpenter

After much discourse over the album cover and the photo shoot, “Man’s Best Friend”, released on August 29, delivered on Carpenter’s usual clever cynicism. At first, I thought that some of the songs, especially “We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night” and “Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry”, were bland, but over the past few weeks, they’ve randomly popped into my head and stayed there. My personal favorites are “My Man on Willpower”, “Nobody’s Son”, and “When Did You Get Hot?”, though the internet has been all over “Go Go Juice” and “House Tour”. Overall, it was a fair sequel to “Short n’ Sweet”. Definitely not better, but not terribly worse, either.

3.“A Matter of Time” by Laufey “A Matter of Time”, released on August 22, shows a clear maturity in Laufey’s music. There’s a healthy mixture of complete departures from her normal sound (“Sabotage”) and some more familiar themes (“Snow White”). As a former dancer, I thought

the ballet motifs throughout the album were gorgeous, and intertwined well with the fairytale concept. She’s always been great at bridging classical, jazz, and pop, which really shines through in songs like “Forget-Me-Not”. I definitely loved the laugh at performative men in “Mr. Eclectic”, which featured Clairo as well (especially great considering they’re considered the artists that performative men listen to, along with beabadoobee).

4.“I Barely Know Her” by sombr He has a pretty signature sound – the echoey, sad, but also a little groovy moment, and he definitely stuck with that. I like a lot of the music, and I think all of his newer songs are consistent with the older releases that he also put on this album. Both thematically and auditorially I think his music is very similar, which creates a nice, cohesive energy, if a little boring at times. Standouts for me are definitely the singles he had put out, as well as the older songs that were on the album, like “undressed” and “12 to 12”. Overall, a good listen but I didn’t necessarily need to listen to it all the way through more than once, I

think he got his point across fairly easily.

5.“Bite Me” by Reneé Rapp

This album was so much fun. I think her sound is great, and I love the variation of slower and faster songs. I also think she showcased her voice in incredible ways, displaying techniques like her belt, and fun riffs. “Shy” in particular stood out to me as one of the strongest songs on the album both lyrically and musically, with a building chorus that shocks you with how strong the emotion in her voice is. I also really loved “You’d Like That Wouldn’t You” and “Leave Me Alone” for their less serious, more sassy energy and lyrics. Overall, this album is one of my summer standouts for sure, and I’ve been listening to it on loop since its release.

HONORABLE MENTION

The “K-Pop Demon Hunters” soundtrack catapulted to the top of the charts, smashing the Billboard Hot 100 charts where it’s been on top for the past 12 weeks. Even if you’re not a K-pop fan, you can still enjoy the addictive beats and insanely talented voices.*

CREATIVE MINDS AT WORK • Evelyn Smith and Jolin Chen paint the mural located in SHMS. After they were given a topic to work with, Smith and Chen painted this in their 8th grade year, and made it their own. PHOTO: MR. DANIEL MASSE

WORDS TO INSPIRE • A snapshot of the mural located at the middle school. The mural illustrates the words ‘Don’t watch the clock do what it does; keep going’, and was a crowning achievement of Smith and Chen in middle school. PHOTO: MR. DANIEL MASSE

Teacher Creations: Middle school art teacher creates Delco side gig

Mr. Brad Hosbach showcases love for his hometown through his screen printing business.

Josie Wieland ’26 Arts Editor

Don’t know what to wear to the next Eagles game? Well, Mr. Brad Hosbach has you covered.

With an idea that started out as a joke, Hosbach turned inspiration from one “Virginia is for lovers” shirt into his small business, Primitive Shirts, where he screen prints an array of apparel for Delaware County fanatics.

“When I saw that there was such a passion for the area that we live in, I just kept going with it,” Hosbach said. “Making a shirt out of every funny landmark or people eating sandwiches off of a Wawa trash can wouldn’t work in Montgomery or Chester county.”

makes it possible through his passion.

“I’m truly a one-man show. I’m printing my own stuff and running to the post office right after school. Usually people that know me cut me some slack if I’m a few days late shipping something out, because they know I have other stuff going on,” Hosbach said.

“Jason Kelce wore a couple of my shirts on his podcast, and then in the movie [about him] on Amazon Prime. I felt cool for a couple minutes.”

Mr. Brad Hosbach

It all began when Hosbach fell in love with screen printing during an independent study in college, feeling inspired to make his own t-shirts.

“My dad said for a few hundred dollars, you could invest in all the equipment and do it on your own, and it would be a great side business in the summer when you’re not teaching,” Hosbach said.

Although the process of screen printing involves lots of trial and error, Hosbach always finds a rhythm that keeps him going.

“If there’s not enough space in between the screen and t-shirt, the print might come out wonky, but once you have those first couple shirts done, you can adjust. It’s very repetitive, almost therapeutic,” Hosbach said.

Balancing Primitive Shirts with being an art teacher is no easy task, but Hosbach

Hosbach’s commitment to his work can be clearly seen through the engagement in his middle school art class.

“He [teaches] in a way that’s very intriguing, and we actually get to learn about artists. He even has paintings and different prints he shows us, so that’s really neat,” freshman Evelyn Smith, a previous student of Hosbach’s, said.

For Hosbach, meeting people during events and markets is the biggest perk of owning a business, as he has formed many connections with other local small business owners and even some big Philly names.

“Jason Kelce wore a couple of my shirts on his podcast, and then in the movie [about him] on Amazon Prime. I felt cool for a couple minutes,” Hosbach said.

Sean Bruton, owner of Lunch Break Vintage, has seen the growth of Hosbach’s process through working alongside him.

“When something comes into his brain, he puts it down on a piece of paper and then it turns into a sticker that I end up carrying at my shop, which is really cool,” Bruton said.

Hosbach’s designs, namely his

“Phishadelphia” logo, are worn all across Delco.

“Sometimes I’ll say, ‘Hey, I made that shirt.’ It’s cool to see somebody on the train or downtown wearing that shirt, and I’d say it’s probably one of my best sellers,” Hosbach said.*

Visit Primitive Shirts on ETSY:

Panther marching band warms up with band camp

The band’s members and leaders reflect on their band camp experience.

Roland Rennick-Zuefle ’27 Reporter

Students and staff alike began the 2026 marching band season with a return to band camp.

During the week before the start of school from August 18-22, marching band director Mr. Nicholas Pignataro led new and returning members through a week of new music and new challenges.

“They are really picking up the process of learning,” Pignataro said. “They’re owning the way they learn. Whatever changes happen in the future for new music or new routines, they’ll have a way to pick it up because they have a foundation.”

While the camp itself may only last a week, the planning is a year-round process.

“The music is vetted and picked,” Pignataro said, “We talked with the drill writer to get the show to work. We get music written for us, or we buy music from a publisher. Then after all that, we spend hours planning the schedule, making sure the facilities are ready and open, getting things ordered throughout the summer and throughout the years that it arrives, putting it together, cleaning the spaces, making sure the air conditioning is on.”

Preparation goes beyond the faculty, as student leaders go through their own training to prepare for leadership.

“We did a lot of tasks that went normal band camp, such as putting together folios and dot sheets, and also going through some leadership training with

Mr. Pignataro,” flute section captain and student director Katie Snyder said. “It was a really good week that prepared us and helped us be ready to not necessarily being a master at the museum of the drill, but be able to be at a point where we could teach the other students.”

Band camp requires a large amount of responsibility for members as the new

show is introduced.

“We were outside for long hours, but people just stuck with it,” Snyder said. “They got to practice on time. They were always where they needed to be, had their equipment, and if someone forgot, there was always a leader there who could help them out.”

New members are faced with the challenge of learning everything for the first time.

“I expected it to be a little hard,” drumline member freshman Jacob Graden said, “I knew it was for a long while each day, but I also heard good things about Mr. Rudolph, which were true.”

To wrap up the week before the first halftime show, the band conducted its annual marching competition, which junior and drumline member Will Walker won.

“I lament that it had to go to video review,” Pignataro said. “But I’m glad that the video review made sure that the right winner won.”

Snyder believes hard work and changes added cohesion, making this year’s band camp special.

“I think that this is our best band camp yet,” Snyder said.*

DISCLAIMER: Reporter is a member of the marching band.

Eagles High School Football Challenge Friday, Sept. 26 King Field

AND WSSD BAND NIGHT

Appearances by Eagles legends, cheerleaders, Swoop, and the drumline

Performances with our students by the Eagles cheerleaders and drumline

Eagles-themed activities, decorations, and giveaways

Autograph sessions with Eagles legends

Photo opportunities with player cutouts and the iconic “Birds” letters in the bleachers

Gates open at 5 p.m.

More information via email

WSSD Communications.

GAMEDAY GEAR • Mr. Brad Hosbach holds one of his Eagles shirts at the pop-up market outisde of Lunch Break Vintage on Wednesday, September 3. The event was a celebration of the start to the Eagles season. PHOTO: JOSIE WIELAND

MARCH-OFF FINALE • Students wrap up band camp with march off. Occurring annually at the end of band camp, this competition tests their ability to follow marching drill. PHOTO: KATHRYN BARRETT

Public media memories left defunded

PBS must limit access to its content, leaving teachers and families struggling to fill the gap.

Lavanya Dixit ’27, Evie Fernandez ’27, Fiona Seale ’28

Health and Sciences Editor, Managing Editor of Print, Opinions Editor

Wild Kratts, Sesame Street, Curious George, and Odd Squad are just a few of the many shows on the Public Broadcasting Service Kids Channel (PBS Kids) that sculpted what we call our childhood. But after President Trump’s $1 billion cut to public broadcasting, other publicly funded non-profit news broadcasting channels were left to fill a major void.

A resource for teachers

Health and physical education teacher Mrs. Jenna Butler used PBS clips to teach lessons in her health classes. However, after PBS was defunded, these resources are fading.

“I would pull from that resource [PBS] to get different videos about concussions, the students would watch the video and answer the questions,” Butler said. “Now those videos and questions are not available because PBS has shut down that portion of their education site.”

The wide range of educational topics PBS covers made PBS a great resource for many educators. Now, educators feel the impact of its new limitation.

PBS’s federal funding cut-off led to their content — largely entertaining, educational programs — becoming harder to access. The integrity and centrist feeling of the operation could become lost in translation.

Parents know better than most the importance of impartial education in their children’s lives.

An executive order issued on May 1, 2025, titled Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media, argues that National Public Radio (NPR) and PBS, which receive taxpayer funds through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), do not meet the government’s expectation for fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.

traditional American values and a patriotic attitude through children’s entertainment integrated with educational content.

The organization creates right-leaning educational short videos for children. It has fallen under criticism for biased conservative ideology, with one video featuring an animated Christopher Columbus saying, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.”

Ten states have approved the utilization of PragerU videos in the classroom setting, but educators have voiced concerns regarding the accuracy and style of the content.

“I think a lot of our media exists as a distraction now, taking away the things that have always been more informative, educational, and so on...I feel like PBS always gave us things to enhance our lives and not just try to escape from reality.”

Mr. Robert Zakrewski

For English teacher Mr. Robert Zakrewski, he followed PBS as something valuable for his own children and himself.

“My sons noted that PBS Kids is good because there are no commercials. They love that they’re going to get a show that wasn’t going to be broken up…it was all publicly, governmentally funded, and that quality meant something to me too,” Zakrewski said.

Due to their lack of funding, PBS has and likely will have to continue placing a paywall on some of its content. This creates major hurdles for teachers who had previously used PBS programs in their lesson plans.

“It’s annoying. I have to pay for it now, which, you know, we’re teachers, so I can’t be spending a whole lot of money on extra stuff,” Butler said.

The PBS replacement

To fill the gap PBS Kids has left, the Trump administration has partnered with PragerU to make a series for the 250th anniversary of the USA.

PragerU is a nonprofit media organization that aims to promote

To avoid federal funding from supporting what the government deems as biased and partisan news coverage, the CPB Board must cancel current federal funding of PBS and refrain from federally funding PBS in the future. PBS provides content for over 132 million users, including information on science, history, culture, literature, and public affairs. Most prevalently, PBS offers educational media via PBS Kids to engage students in learning about a variety of topics, ranging from math and science to art and spelling.

kids who grew up on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Wild Kratts, that cultural connection is dissolving.

“It’s harder and harder to find a cultural reference point that the whole class get[s]… everyone’s experience has been individualized, so to find those things that we share and can build from is harder to do,” Zakrewski said. “That’s what culture is, it’s a shared experience, I feel like the culture is being fractured.”

Nostalgia comes in heavy waves as students understand that with the defunding of PBS, younger generations don’t get to experience educational programs like we did.

Ad Fontes Media, a media bias tracking website that rates individual stories from news outlets and plots them on a graph, with axes labeled ‘Bias’ and ‘Reliability.’ PBS has been labeled ‘middle’ in terms of bias, and ‘reliable’ in terms of reliability, while PragerU has been labeled ‘hyper-partisan right’ in terms of bias, and ‘unreliable, problematic’ in terms of reliability.

Though PragerU has been backed by many right-wing politicians as an alternative to PBS, the Trump administration has denied that they are using it to replace PBS. At the end of their 250th anniversary, PragerU included a disclaimer that reminds watchers that it is not backed by the Department of Education or other governmental entities.

With the sobering reminder that while PBS tends to present its stories in a centrist way, PragerU’s rightwing narrative needs to be viewed more critically. This means that young children need to be taught better media literacy skills.

“As someone who teaches stories, I always stress that stories come in all shapes and sizes and sure, stories may come in a novel, but we’re trained on the arcs of stories and character types from when we read and what we watch,” Zakrewski said. “I think it has a huge role in our perspective because our life is formed by the stories we’re told, not just when we’re young but also as we age. What we put into our heads is going to affect how we see the world.”

A common childhood thread

Losing PBS also means losing common ground in the youth population. While the love for PBS TV shows united generations of

“I was really sad when I found out it was being defunded because PBS Kids is such a childhood core memory, and I think I learned a lot from the show,” junior Laney Suh said. “All of the kids of the coming generations won’t be able to experience the same joys that I had watching PBS. These days, the media is filled with so much, and I think PBS Kids was always such a safe option.”

Many students connected with family, especially siblings, through watching PBS as children.

“My initial reaction to hearing about PBS getting defunded was mainly sadness because I grew up watching PBS in my house with my brother,” junior Mara Carey said. “We would be so excited to learn new things, chill, and watch it. I’m really confused as to why they would end it, because I think it was really educational.”

and these both educational but also entertaining stories become something that you pass on like shared vocabulary or a shared experience,” Zakrewski said.

Losing accessibility for all

PBS Television shows were beloved because of their accessibility. Students are mourning the loss of valuable and equalizing resources.

“When I was a kid, I watched PBS because it was pretty much free, and my mom liked it,” senior Zach Pita said. “I was really sad and a little bit mad when I found out it got defunded. I think it was really valuable to my childhood because it was something my family could always afford, and because those stories imprinted on me a lot.”

Students also built meaningful relationships and memories around PBS. Sophomore Brooklyn Elia, for example, used to watch PBS with her father while on vacation.

“We were watching Daniel Tiger, and at the end of every episode, he would go to the screen and he would do this thing called Hugga Hugga, where he would take his nose and rub against another person’s nose as a symbol of ‘I love you,’” Elia said. “That’s how my dad and I used to symbolize to each other that we loved each other every night. …[PBS being defunded] really hurt me a lot.”

“I was really sad and a little bit mad when I found out it got defunded. I think it was really valuable to my childhood because it was something my family could always afford, and because those stories imprinted on me a lot.”

Zach Pita ’26

PBS was such a staple in childhood entertainment; it was important that kids had access to safe, educational, and beneficial programs. They not only provided recreation for younger kids but also taught them valuable life skills and previewed academic topics.

Zakrewski thinks that more modern forms of media aren’t the same as PBS.

“I think a lot of our media exists as a distraction now, taking away the things that have always been more informative, educational, and so on,” Zakrewski said. “I feel like PBS always gave us things to enhance our lives and not just try to escape from reality.”

PBS has bridged generations — it’s been around since 1969, and even Haven teachers were brought up on its content.

“Things like Sesame Street have been a part of my children’s life and mine, so it’s interesting how these characters

Kids are shaped by their environment — they aren’t born with opinions, ideas, and biases. In an increasingly digitized environment, children rely more and more on what they see on their screens to mold them, and having reliable, centrist educational TV programs is key to the development of skills that they’ll need later in life.

“From what I can remember, shows like Curious George and Arthur, which were my favorites, were pretty well written, entertaining, and definitely taught me values like kindness, empathy, and forgiveness, which I hope reflect in my personality today,” Pita said. “I’m sad to see what’s happened to it, and I’m very grateful that my parents raised me as a PBS kid.”*

Isaac Lothrop ‘26

INFOGRAPHIC: ISAAC LOTHROP

What are some school issues?building

Juliette Loyd ’27

“It’s the variety of temperatures. A lot of my classrooms are freezing cold. The hallways are super hot, or my other classes are burning hot, and no inbetween. A lot of us have learned to adapt by wearing layers, but it’d be nice if the building had more climate control.”

Now that the 10-year capital plan is approved, construction on the high school is currently slated to begin in September 2026.

Kaitlyn Ho ’26, Clark Kerkstra ’27 Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor of Web

Two years ago, excitement and fervor ran through Haven at the prospect of the longawaited removal of the “temporary” trailers.

And two years later, the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District has begun the process of the fabled renovations. At the September 16 Facilities Committee meeting of the school board, district administration presented a timeline for construction and discussed the bidding process for an architect.

The project is the first priority as a part of WSSD’s 10-year capital plan. Superintendent Dr. Russel Johnston believes the plan will allow the district to prioritize the high school instead of haphazardly jumping from project to project.

“The thing that the capital plan does for us is it helps us say, ‘The high school’s first, and let’s bite that off and take it on well,’” Johnston said.

At the September 16 meeting, the district introduced the construction management firm that will oversee the entire process. The firm selected was CHA Solutions, operating out of Bethlehem, Pa. “CHA came to the table with sort of an out-of-thebox view of how to do the scheduling of events of the school, trying not to affect the learning atmosphere,”

Director of Buildings and Grounds Mr. Robert Maloney said.

According to Johnston, the avoidance of disruptions is a key priority for the district.

“We’re trying to maximize the summers as much as we can, and to minimize how much construction there would have to be during the school year,” Johnston said.

Examining the timeline

The preliminary schedule outlined in the RFP (request for proposal) posted on the district website indicates that construction is set to start in September 2026 at the start of next school year.

During this school year, the architect and construction management firm will work together with the district to select the specific renovations that will be made and design the renovations.

“The biggest challenge in a renovation is what you don’t see,” Maloney said. “It’s like peeling an onion. Once you start digging into it, it’s like ‘Maybe I have another issue, and I want to work on the HVAC.’ [or] ‘Well, the water piping is very old. Now we need to replace all of that.’”

Board members and administrators have marked the capital plan by the moniker “Warm, Safe, and Dry.” According to Johnston, who has experience with districts undergoing construction, the specific renovations included in the plan have not been identified, but the removal of the trailers remains a top priority.

“What will happen with those classrooms that have lived beyond their lifespan is really important, and that students are coming into classrooms that they know are going to be there for them and the students who come after them for a long time,” Johnston said.

With upcoming school renovations and changes in the conversation, some students share concerns about the current school building.

Matthew Ramirez ’26 Editor in Chief

Andrew Coccodrilli ‘28

“I don’t really like how we’re a closed campus, but I understand how that could be a problem for some people. But I’d say, if you’re parked within the lot, you should be able to go to Wawa or something just ‘cause we live right next to one. It’d just be something nice to have.”

Maisie Strachan ‘26

Rheya Singh ‘27

“The school bathrooms. I just feel like they’re always really dirty. There’s random leakage in the stalls. I don’t really like toilet paper either. I definitely [would like to see it fixed] — just more cleanliness, the dispensers, and fixing the leakages and stuff like that.”

In accord with the timeline presented at the September 16 meeting, the construction management firm was selected after extensive pitches and consideration. Johnston says that the district will look to secure an architectural firm for the actual design by the end of October, but that the process may take longer.

“We’ll narrow in [on] what exactly we are going to change through the selection of an architect,” Johnston said. “An architect will really help us refine those plans and have more community conversations and communication and conversations with students about what are the major improvements we need to make to the high school.”

Roadmap of renovations

Those renovations — including potential new special education classrooms, changes to the pool and locker room, a new auxiliary gym or turf field, renovations to the library and media lab, and potential modifications to the auditorium — are still subject to change.

But other renovations that fall clearly under the banner of “Warm, Safe, and Dry” are on more solid ground. These include improvements to the roofs, elevators, fire alarms and fire protection system, electrical systems, HVAC and mechanical systems, ceilings, casework and flooring, replacing the trailers, and new learning spaces.

“There are some improvements, though, that are behind the walls that won’t be directly seen or felt. It’s just that there won’t be as many of those breakdowns,” Johnston said, referring to flooding during a fire alarm that went off during a downpour last year.

Maloney attributed much of the delay in the renovation to the lack of a capital plan like the district has now.

“I think that the project was getting kind of kicked down the road,” Maloney said. “The capital plan was never in place two years ago, three years ago, five years ago, and until that capital plan is in place, you don’t have a road map of what you’re going to do.”

And this time, Johnston wants to get student input on the renovations.

“This is such a great learning opportunity for our students that we’re really excited about what this can mean,” Johnston said. “A lot of architectural firms will run what’s called a charette, and it gives students an opportunity to really weigh in on what will be the specific changes we’re trying to make.”

The district, which is finalizing negotiations with CHA, feels more confident about the project with a construction management firm selected.

“I think the collaborative approach, some innovative and out-of-the-box thinking that we hadn’t thought about before, put CHA ahead of the other groups,” school board member Mary Jo Witkowski-Smith said.*

“Every single classroom is freezing, even though it’s September and we’re all wearing shorts out because it’s 80 degrees out, but in the classroom, it’s around 50 degrees, and I need to wear a winter coat. The bathrooms are also nasty, and they are never properly stocked. They never have tampons in there. Why can’t we get that stuff fixed now? Especially during third block, when only the third floor toilets are open, like why can’t they at least be clean? And where are the tampons?”

Andre Fan ‘26

“In the pet shop (band storage room), there has just been more and more stuff that’s being added, but there’s not enough space to add more. Because I’m the bell section of the band, I have to deal with the fact that there’s less and less space to store bells. There are also mice in the building, and I actually found a dead mouse two years ago on the bell sets. They’ve been around. The mice exist.”

Ava Henderson ‘27

“I’ve noticed roaches coming out of the drains in the locker room, and I’m not a fan because after I’m done swimming, I find the roaches, and I’m just mad. I’ve seen [mice] in the library, and that’s just disgusting, and the paint falling off the walls is not that fun. I’m not a fan of cockroaches running around and mice running around and stuff.”

HEALTH & Sciences

Crozer Health closure impacts community, affects students

After the healthcare provider and employer closed, former employees find themselves struggling to find new employment, and the community struggles to make up for the loss of services.

Lavanya Dixit ’27

Health and Sciences Editor

Crozer Hospital, a once-bustling medical center admitting upwards of 19,000 patients annually, closed on May 2, 2025, after declaring bankruptcy. Crozer Health, comprising Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, was a leading healthcare provider and employer, as well as the only trauma and burn center in Delaware County. The hospital also provided mental health care and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment with their Crisis Center and Community Campus, respectively.

School nurse Ms. Jennifer O’Berg worked at Crozer for 18 years before the closure. She acknowledges that the closure was difficult due to the loving work family the employees created.

“Most of the people who worked at Crozer started either [18 years ago] or even longer than that,” O’Berg said. “We called them lifers. We were a big family there, so it was really tough for everyone during the closure because everybody was very sad to leave people they’ve been around for many years.”

The closure was abrupt, as Crozer trauma medical director Ms. Amber Batool finds, leaving employee benefits unaddressed and making it difficult for the 2,600+ employees who were laid off to find employment.

“They haven’t funded pensions,” Batool said. “All of us lost our paid time off that was accrued. They had not mastered our 401(k). We lost all that money, and we have to file now in bankruptcy court to get that money back to us, which we know we will probably never get back. [There are] so many individuals with lost jobs…they have created resources, but it should’ve been more robust.”

According to Batool, the quality of the hospital had been declining for years before its abrupt closure following the purchase by private equity firm Prospect Medical Holdings. “We did not have that much funding available to purchase the basic things to take care of our patients,”

Batool said. “But, the people who were there truly love the mission of helping other people, so we still worked with limited resources to provide the best care that we could for the patient.”

The absence of Crozer most directly affects the community’s access to immediate medical care.

“The community suffers greatly from this because [Crozer] was a trauma level two center, the closest one, as well as a burn center,” O’Berg said. “Now you have to drive at least 20-30 minutes to get to a local trauma center, and local hospitals like Riddle, Mercy Fitz, or Bryn Mawr are already overburdened by patients.”

Crozer provided medical attention to students involved in car or sports accidents. It also provided primary care, mental health, reproductive health, counseling, and psychiatric services for high school students.

O’Berg points out that the closure may affect students’ attendance metrics due to the extended wait time and drive time needed for these services.

“[Students] may have to change their primary care physicians,” O’Berg said. “They’re either going to have to try to follow their doctor or find a new one who already has too many patients, so I think basic care and everyday care are going to take longer…They may not get to see their physicians, get their meds refilled, get a physician’s note, or a diagnosis.”

Without Crozer, it is more difficult for high school students to take advantage of the programs Crozer had available, with students who went to Crozer to partake in shadowing losing that opportunity.

“There were a lot of local students who volunteered at Crozer, and that pipeline to nursing or allied health and medicine is broken,” Batool said. “There are fewer job opportunities or internships during the summertime. There was also a program [MedCareers] that was run where local high school students who were interested in medicine used

to come and do shadowing and get education.”

Delaware County aims to fill part of the gap left by the Crozer closure by opening Belmont Behavioral Health to provide mental health services by operating a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year crisis response center and a 23-hour observation service. It will also include a crisis stabilization unit and a mobile crisis team. Many of the services taken away by the closure of Crozer are yet to be replaced.

“There were a lot of politicians who came, and that’s why there was a hope that someone would save us, but no one has been able to keep their promise,” Batool said. “I really hope that they’re able to pass some laws where this should not happen in the future, as there are still a lot of other hospitals in the Philadelphia area that are at risk of becoming bankrupt or closing.*

Opinion: Labubus to landfill, overconsumption contributes to climate change

What’s trendy on social media doesn’t always make it a necessity, and buying that new obsession may have a bigger cost than you think.

Eli Graves ’26 Reporter

From Stanleys and Owalas to bubble skirts, microtrends and the promotion of overconsumption is everywhere. But what is its real impact?

‘Overconsumption’ is exactly what it sounds like; Merriam-Webster defines it as “excessive consumption or use of something.” ‘Microtrends’ is a more informal internet term for trends that change rapidly and don’t leave a lasting impact.

With microtrends moving so quickly, we end up spending more than we need on clothes or items like water bottles, and when the trend is over, where do these items end up? Landfills.

“Landfills can generate methane, which contributes to climate change,” science teacher Ms. Kathy Freeman said. “When organic matter decomposes, methane is a byproduct of decomposition. It’s 25 times more heat-trapping than CO2.”

The sun’s rays are reflected onto Earth, and some of the radiation from the sun is released back into the atmosphere. But greenhouse gases, like methane, “trap” these rays from the sun, heating up the earth in all directions and directly contributing to climate change.

“Imagine these gases as a cozy blanket enveloping our planet, helping to maintain a warmer temperature than it would have otherwise,” NASA’s official website states.

According to author J.B. MacKinnon, the U.S. population has grown 60% since 1970, but overconsumption and spending have increased nearly 400%. We are using our resources 1.7 times faster than resources are able to be regenerated.

“Eventually, we run out of space,” Freeman said. “We have this finite amount of space, and we have an infinite supply of trash and waste that we generate, and we have to find some way to handle that waste.”

One way to handle this waste is by limiting the amount

of microtrends we buy into and ultimately reducing our contributions to landfills. But because of social media, microtrends spread like wildfire, and with quick and easy online shopping sites like Amazon, reducing waste can be a difficult task.

“I use Amazon a lot, and just buy things that I could get elsewhere,” senior Levi Ouellette said. “So yeah, I’m definitely guilty of [overconsuming].”

Ultimately, companies and big corporations know how to feed products to us. But we as consumers have power, too, and we can choose whether we buy into it or fully consider overconsumption’s large-scale impact.

“Overall, being more aware of [overconsumption] is a nice first step,” Ouellette said. “Just thinking, do I really need this? Do I really need it in a day versus a week? Do I need to be shopping on Shein?”

The more we know about climate change, the more we can do to stop the Earth from continuing to heat unnaturally. But it’s also important to remember that microtrends and overconsumption are unfortunately very accessible, so if you’re reading this and feeling upset with yourself for letting this happen, all it takes is one change in behavior to help the planet.

Music teacher Mrs. Lindsey Reinhard-Silva thinks that we are not necessarily to blame for our tendencies toward overconsumption.

“We just have such an accessibility to it. If you’re scrolling on Instagram, it’s immediately there as an ad that you click ‘shop now’, and there it is,” she said. “I think it’s important to strike a balance of not beating yourself up, but also recognizing the impact it has.”*

HEALTHCARE IN PERIL • Crozer’s abrupt closure left the community with many gaps to fill. The community is looking for ways to make up for the absence of the healthcare center. sentence in present tense and the second sentence in past. PHOTO: LAVANYA DIXIT

CRUMBL CHAOS • Senior AP Art student Pearl Tweedy’s work “EATING THE NEW MATCHA DUBAI CHOCOLATE LABUBU CRUMBL COOKIE” explores the impact of microtrends on our everyday lives. PHOTO: PEARL TWEEDY

Perspective: The Common App-ocalypse

In a world that can feel loaded with pressure, learning how to better manage your college application stress can be a lifesaver.

Anabella

Larin ’27, Kay Liberi ’27

Reporter, Contributor

The sentiments of senior Tess Kelly have been echoed in many schools throughout the nation.

“College application season sucks,” she said.

For many seniors, fall is not just a time for pumpkin spice, pretty leaves, and Friday night lights games. It is a time for deadlines, essays, and big life decisions. It’s no secret that applying to colleges can be a frustrating and overwhelming time for many students.

“It’s hard to avoid the constant mental reminder of the college application process. No matter how much you’re trying to de-stress, it’s sort of always looming and present,” senior Casper Stockman said.

From writing essays to trying to choose the “right” schools, the fall months seem like nonstop work and stress. However, for some students, the stress doesn’t come from the workload alone, but also from the constant comparison to those around them. Even casual conversations with friends can now lead to stressful reminders of college.

“A lot of my friends in math class [used to be], ‘Oh, what grade did you get?’ But the common thing now is, ‘What colleges are you applying to?’” Kelly said.

To cope with the pressure, many students are finding different ways to manage their stress.

“I’m doing my applications one at a time, and I have a calendar with a set of deadlines that I set for myself for when to get them done,” Stockman said.

In addition to breaking down the never-ending list of

tasks into more manageable deadlines, spending time with friends and family and having hobbies outside of school can help maintain balance in stressful times.

“I spend time with my family and do other fun hobbies, because in addition to doing my college stuff, I feel like what helps is just destressing,” senior Elizabeth Mboowa said.

The balance between work and fun is extremely important, not only for mental health, but also to ensure that there is time to make the most of the last year of high school.

“[Enjoy] your extracurriculars and [put] more of yourself out there because it’s your senior year. Try all the things that not only your school community has, but also your neighborhood has; try to enjoy it before you leave,” Mboowa said.

Each student has different strategies that help the most with managing their stress, from leaning on schedules and support systems to focusing on getting enough sleep and finding creative outlets.

As stressful as the process can be, there are so many ways to manage it. In the end, after writing the essays and filling out applications, the most important thing to do is take a step back and breathe.

“Just do your best, and things will work out,” Mboowa said.*

Students in Science: Senior eyes healthier future through immunology

Andre Fan, who recently interned at a Penn lab, has loved science since he was young.

Josselyn Dixon ’29

Contributor

Senior Andre Fan aims to become a doctor. His ultimate goal is to get both an MD and a PhD, and this last spring and summer, he took steps towards achieving his dream.

Starting in the summer of 2024, Fan has interned at the THINK lab at the University of Pennsylvania. According to the Penn Medicine Center for Immunotherapies, THINK stands for Therapeutic Innovation in NK Cells. The center works in immunology, which is a special interest of Fan’s.

sixth grade. The lab specialized in CAR T-cell immunotherapy. Put simply, it is when a patient’s T-cells are genetically modified so that they can more effectively fight cancer.

“That concept was so fascinating to me, that we were able to take the cells out and modify the DNA to make them better at killing cancer, and I actually did my sixth grade Genius Hour project on it,” Fan said.

“We know we’ve made great technological leaps and leaps in knowledge for science, but there’s always something that we haven’t learned...”

Andre Fan ’26

The immune system is very, very complicated,” Fan said. “We do [research], and we still don’t understand all the interactions. We’re still trying to figure out how certain things in the system work, and so that’s something I’m really, really curious about figuring out.”

He has been interested in science since he was a kid.

“Since elementary school, my parents have signed me up for a bunch of science summer camps, learning about black holes, the universe, and space,” Fan said. He discovered his interest in immunology specifically when he started learning about the Carl June Lab, also at the University of Pennsylvania, back in

Along with Genius Hour, Fan has utilized other opportunities at Haven, including Science Olympiad, of which he is the captain. He also took a Field Career class last year.

“Field career replaces one of your classes, and you go during school hours to an internship,” Fan said.

Fan used this opportunity to intern at the THINK lab during school, continuing what he had done the summer before. After the school year, he continued the internship over the summer.

“I shadowed a mentor over there, and did a project of my own with some basic lab skills,” Fan said. “It was a project involving protein design. I designed new proteins and used different AI models to create the sequence and predict the structure and predict binding, and then I

asked it to set up a pipeline to basically test the proteins I created.”

The reason Fan loves science so much is that he loves the thrill of discovering new things.

“There’s so much we already know about science,” Fan said. “We know we’ve made great technological leaps and leaps in

knowledge for science, but there’s always something that we haven’t learned, something that hasn’t been researched, or we still don’t have the technology to find out. I love exploring that.”*

ABOUT SCIENCE • Andre Fan (12) poses for a picture at the Cellicon Valley conference in Philadelphia on April 30. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANDRE FAN

SENIOR STRESS • A mess of college preparation and application materials. A huge collection of college prep resources is common for many stressed high school students who are overwhelmed with their academic responsibilities. PHOTO: KAY LIBERI

Women in STEM club helps students build STEM knowledge, confidence

The club, founded to introduce high school students to science fields, has expanded its reach to elementary and middle school students for the new school year.

Claire Salera ’27 Detours Editor

36.8

million people held STEM careers in 2021, according to Science and Engineering Indicators. 18% of that number consists of women.

Women in STEM is a national science-based club that introduces Haven students to STEM careers, programs, and opportunities, while preparing young women to become even more involved in STEM careers.

The club, which meets on Wednesdays once a month, aims to not only prepare young women for a future in STEM but also to further its impact on the community. The September 17 interest meeting was run by club presidents senior Kaitlyn Ho and junior Lavanya Dixit and introduced the club to new and returning students.

concepts to them, and elementary schools as well,” Dixit said. “The elementary school doesn’t enforce as much science learning as they do English or math.”

Active club member and senior Maya Hartung believes that getting children involved in STEM at a young age is the goal of the STEM presentations.

“[It’s] a really good way to expand our STEM education for young kids in our district, and to increase their passion for STEM. ”

Maya Hartung ’26

This year, leaders of the club want to build off of a successful 2024-2025 school year by incorporating some of the things that worked well last year into meetings again.

“We want to continue inviting and hosting guest speakers because that’s a really good opportunity for people to see how STEM careers develop, and the process that other women go through navigating the STEM field,” Dixit said. “We heard feedback and people found it to be very useful and informative.”

However, this year, club leaders are trying something different to expand the club even further. Not only does the club aim to build STEM knowledge for high school students, but also for the community. One of the club’s goals this year is to build upon the STEM knowledge of younger students in the district as well, through giving presentations and making STEM kits.

“We want to visit the middle school and present STEM

“[It’s] a really good way to expand our STEM education for young kids in our district, and to increase their passion for STEM,” Hartung said.

In addition to providing free STEM education to students, the club leaders aim to raise funds for supporting a new project this year, one that would be available for elementary school classrooms.

“We want to fundraise and raise money for making STEM kits. These would be a box that has all the materials needed to conduct a little experiment, and a QR code to a video of us walking them through the experiment, telling them what they can learn from it and how it’s applied in the real world for classrooms,” Dixit said.

Women in STEM ran a table at the activities fair on Friday, September 5, to encourage people to join the club. New members attended the interest meeting on September 17, including freshman Damini Mydur, who is already brainstorming for the club.

“I’m really excited to put together the STEM kits and little presentations. I have a few ideas in mind already, so that’s going to be fun,” Mydur said.

With many events planned for the school year, the club presidents are excited to see how the club grows.

“We’re really excited to see how this year goes!” Dixit said.*

Learn about all of Haven’s clubs and activities:

Recent research reveals ChatGPT affects brain functioning

A study by MIT indicates that using ChatGPT alters the way the brain responds to a prompt.

Lavanya Dixit ’27, Evie Fernandez ’27 Health and Sciences Editor, Managing Editor of Print

With the release of ChatGPT-5, the latest model of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, on August 7, and MIT’s latest study on ChatGPT’s effect on the human brain, artificial intelligence (AI) is a topic of discussion.

MIT’s study involved three groups in the first phase: a large language model (LLM) group, which utilized an LLM, like ChatGPT, to assist in writing an essay; a search engine-only group, which was permitted to use search engines to assist in their writing of the essay; and a brain-only group, which used no tools.

After each group wrote an essay, the LLM group was no longer permitted to use any tools, becoming the LLM-to-Brain group. Meanwhile, the brain-only group was asked to use LLM, becoming the brain-to-LLM group.

to-brain group showcased less neural connectivity and recall ability.

English teacher Ms. Miriam Drew acknowledged that simply copy and pasting from generative AI won’t foster engagement, critical thinking, or creativity.

“People complain that school seems to kill creativity, but you’re making choices yourself to do that if you’re using these tools in inappropriate ways.”

Mrs. Miriam Drew English Teacher

Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record each group’s brain activity.

The first phase results found that the brain-only group had the widest-ranging neural connectivity patterns, followed by the search engine-only group. The LLM group showed the least.

After the LLM group was required to stop using LLMs and the brain-only group was told to utilize LLMs, the LLM-

“People complain that school seems to kill creativity, but you’re making choices yourself to do that if you’re using these tools in inappropriate ways,” Drew said. Drew finds it important to be transparent about the discussion of AI use. While the school’s current policy outlines that no AI should be used for school work, Drew recognizes that it is important for people to discuss AI usage and its effects.

“It’s important to open a dialogue about [AI usage],” Drew said. “Part of that dialogue should be, what are you doing to protect your learning? And what are you doing to protect your brain as you’re engaging with these tools?”

Librarian Ms. Beth Cohen also finds it important to make sure you know about how generative AI does its job, because having a better understanding allows for an increased awareness of the cognitive risks that come with using it.

“Remember, generative AI doesn’t know anything… It’s different in the sense that Google is actually looking for content, whereas ChatGPT is literally just putting together strings of words in plausible patterns,” Cohen said. “It’s just generating a string of words that make sense without understanding the concepts behind it.”

Drew wonders whether schools should begin teaching students how to work smartly with AI tools.

“Do we need to be doing lessons in class that show students what ChatGPT said and discuss how you can evaluate that, verify it, consider what’s not there, and worry about stereotyping?” Drew said.

and thinking, they find it important to note that there are also positive uses for AI.

“I think it can be a good start to a research process. I think it can help you narrow a focus or a topic into a manageable research topic or a more focused research question,” Cohen said.

“...If you are offloading the process to something else, you’re really turning your education into just something that has to be completed, and not something where you’re learning.”

English teacher Mr. Matthew Morris also sees the uses for AI, but does not believe that there is a place for it in the classroom yet.

Mr. Matthew Morris English Teacher

“ChatGPT can be a tool for getting things done, but largely, those are things that I think we should as humans be questioning whether they need to be done at all, if it’s something that can be completed with no thought,” Morris said.

Though many are worried about possible ethical scenarios and students losing important skills from a lack of practice

Regardless, it’s difficult for teachers to decide how to combat AI. Some have suggested going back to Blue Book-style exams, where everything has to be handwritten in an exam booklet. Teachers are considering how to ask questions in a way that would make it harder for generative AI to answer them — for example, asking for personal details that ChatGPT would have a harder time fabricating.

“One of the things that I really try to concentrate on in school is process,” Morris said. “And if you are offloading the process to something else, you’re really turning your education into just something that has to be completed, and not something where you’re learning. If you’re using AI to complete an assignment, you’re not getting whatever benefit your teacher wanted you to get out of it.”*

WELCOME IN • WiSTEM co-presidents Kaitlyn Ho and Lavanya Dixit smile at the club interest meeting while presenting the group’s Schoology code. The meeting, which took place on September 17 in Ms. Kathleen Freeman’s room, introduced students to the club and their plans for the school year.

PHOTO: CLAIRE SALERA

Shot clocks for Pa. high school basketball may come in 2028-29 season

A change of pace can turn the game into a race.

Savvas Zeibekis ’26 Sports Editor

Along awaited change could be coming to Pennsylvania high school basketball in the 2028-29 season.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) has been a part of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) since 1925, which is a national organization that writes rules for each sport and advocates for athletes, prioritizing their health and safety in every rule and regulation they make.

The PIAA adopts rules and regulations for each sport that the NFHS puts out, with the exception of four sports.

Currently, 31 states plan on having shot clocks for the 2026-27 season. This is part of a new wave that began in 2021 after the NFHS recommended to all states that the shot clock be adopted.

In the world of basketball, the shot clock is standardized in professional leagues and college basketball. It is a clock that counts down at the beginning of each possession, that if it runs out, forces the team in possession to turn the ball over. This forces teams to shoot the ball or turn it over before the clock runs out.

kind of pushing the pace of play a little bit too much, and forcing a different style of play,” junior basketball player Ryan Schofield said. “Penncrest [for example], they play with a very slow pace of play, and it wears down defenses. It’s a very smart approach, but the games are very low scoring. … When you see those different paces of play clash, and there’s no shot clock, it is very messy.”

Schofield identifies that some teams won’t be able to keep up. It is already seen in the Central League that slower and faster teams have clashes which can get “messy.” A shot clock forces those slower teams to adapt, and play on the same level as other teams.

“Personally, I’m a huge proponent of it. I prefer a faster pace game… It’s a better game for kids to play in, and for fans to watch.”

Mr. Tim Livingstone Head Basketball Coach

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the shot clock is set to 24 seconds. The NFHS’ proposed time for high school basketball in Pennsylvania is 35 seconds.

The PIAA needs to successfully vote three times on this issue in order for it to pass, and as of publication date, have passed one of these votes.

The shot clock can have massive impacts on the game of basketball, as a lack of one makes it easy for teams to hold the ball while they’re up. With a shot clock, the game has to go on, and players have to keep playing at a certain pace to meet the clock.

“I think it is [a necessary change]. 35 seconds is reasonable. I think anything less than that would be

Senior basketball player Paul Oblek highlights this as well. “I think it’ll make the game more enjoyable, because any team won’t be able to just run out the clock the entire game. It’ll give teams an actual chance to score,” Oblek said. “Some teams will benefit from it, some teams won’t.”

“Personally, I’m a huge proponent of it,” boys basketball head coach Tim Livingstone said about the proposed changes. “I prefer a faster pace game… It’s a better game for kids to play in, and for fans to watch.”

The change could have impacts beyond the high school basketball court.

“For the next level, obviously not many kids get to play [at] the collegiate level… regardless, for those that do, I think it’ll obviously better prepare them for a shot clock at the collegiate level,” Livingstone said.

As for Strath Haven basketball, the team should be well prepared for the change in pace.

“We already play with a little more pace than people might be accustomed to in the past… [for example], some of the drills we do and things of that nature,” Livingstone said. “Kids that aren’t thinking about it [the

shot clock], need to think about it, because it isn’t a fairy tale.”

Plans for these shot clocks include high costs, as schools have to pay for a shot clock, and then train and pay somebody to operate it.

The PIAA hopes that by giving three years to implement this change, schools will be able to raise funding for the big change. *

Varsity girls tennis powers through for senior night

Despite the heat, the team successfully won all their matches. Kaitlyn Ho ’26 and Adrian Gonzalez-Diaz ’29 Editor-in-Chief and Contributor

The girls varsity tennis team defeated the Marple Newtown Tigers in a 7-0 match on Thursday, September 18 at Haven’s tennis courts. They played under the fiercely beating sun for their last home match of the season, as the side of the fence fluttered with colorful senior posters.

The seniors honored for varsity girls tennis include Lila Martell, Minori Saito, Olivia Stransky, and Maisie Smith. Seniors honored for junior varsity girls tennis include Audrey Sill, Julia Smirnova, Mia Fagone, Anna Bronchetti and Mira Gold.

“It’s fun because I’ve seen the players for four years, but it’s also a little nostalgic and a little sad, because they’re moving on. But it is nice how the team recognizes their senior leadership, because this is all them,” coach Mr. Andy Perella said.

Freshman Lexi Glass won all twelve of her games, and is excited to play tennis at the highest level possible in the future.

“[Senior night has] more excitement, more anticipation, before recognizing all the seniors,” Glass said.

Senior night is organized by the juniors on the team, which means the celebration afterwards — complete with pizza, brownies, and cupcakes — are all them.

The girls junior varsity tennis team, which played at Wallingford while the

varsity team played at Haven, came to enjoy the celebration, as well as principal Mr. Andy Benzing and superintendent Mr. Russell Johnston.

“It’s kind of just hitting me right now that I’m a senior,” Saito said. “I was the only freshman girl on the tennis team to join and I’m just thinking about how long my journey has been on this team, and they’ve made me feel ever since I was a freshman to even now — this team is my

home.”

To Saito, this team will be one of the most memorable parts of Haven.

“They’ve made me feel so welcome. They’ve made me feel so like a part of something much bigger at this school.

And I’m just really grateful for my teammates,” Saito said.

The next match will be against Lower Merion at Lower Merion High School on September 25. *

TIME TO SHOOT • Theo Jauregui (12) shoots the ball over a Radnor defender during the 2024-25 season. The game clock in the background doesn’t have a shot clock. PHOTO: SAVVAS ZEIBIKIS

SENIOR NIGHT MOMENT • Minori Saito (11) poses with her mom in front of her senior poster. Out of all the seniors, she has been on the varsity team longer, since her freshman year. PHOTO: KAITLYN HO

OPINIONS

The summer you turn team Conrad

The hit teen television series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” has a history of dividing the nation between two love interests, but does the debate still stand?

Fiona Seale ’28, Joya Nath ’28 Opinions Editor, Reporter

As the third and final season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” hits our screens, we are again forced to beg the question: Who is the better brother?

To die-hard “The Summer I Turned Pretty” fans like us, the answer has always been obvious: team Conrad for life.

The first season of the series, based on books by Jenny Han, was released in 2022. Han also created and produced the TV adaptation. The third and final season made its debut on July 16, 2025. Episodes are now released weekly on Wednesdays, and young people around the nation are as hooked as ever.

The hit series follows Belly, a teenage girl who has been thrown into a tumultuous love triangle ever since she “turned pretty” the year before her sixteenth birthday. After having spent every summer since she can remember at Cousins Beach with family friends, brothers Conrad and Jeremiah, Belly finds herself drawn to both in unique ways. Set three years after season two ended, season three opens with Belly and Jeremiah in a long-term relationship, their love seemingly stronger than ever. After facing trials and tribulations, love and losses, the three young adults are brought back together, and old feelings quickly resurface. Conrad, with his enigmatic and quiet manners, has been our brother of choice from the beginning, although many fans had a distaste for his moody, ‘sad boy’ schtick. Those fans most likely opted to root for Jeremiah’s fun-loving spirit.

It’s safe to say that Jeremiah made a few not-so-small mistakes at the beginning of season three, backing up our notions that his intentions with Belly were never sincere.

FIONA SEALE

“Jeremiah’s feelings for Belly are just to get back at his brother,” sophomore Lizzy Deaver said.

Indeed, Jeremiah’s constant competition with his older brother often makes his relationship with Belly seem like a power move and nothing more.

Another difference that continuously makes Conrad stand out is his bright future. While Jeremiah is in the midst of not being able to graduate his senior year of college, Conrad is working towards a medical degree at Stanford.

“[Conrad’s] very driven for success,” sophomore Jane Allsman said. “Jeremiah has no plan in life and makes stupid decisions.”

Season three has highlighted Jeremiah’s childish ways, and with the new season there seems to be an influx of jumpers from ship Jeremiah.

“The switch happened after the last episode of the second season,” sophomore Kaylee Fortney said. “I just knew it didn’t feel right. Jeremiah’s not the one.”

While many fans fell for Jeremiah’s charm in earlier seasons, Conrad’s quiet carefulness is finally prevailing.

“[Conrad’s] always taking care of everyone in the show. He’s always looking out for Belly,” sophomore Shira Jasner said. Perhaps most importantly, are Conrad and Belly just fated in the stars? Is there something to be said for the long-lasting effects of teen love?

“Belly was obsessed with him in high school,” sophomore Gwen Satterthwaite said. “It’s meant to be.”

Book readers and romantics can agree that the intensity, the yearning, and the electric connection between Belly and Conrad is indisputable. It was always their story.

Jenny Han did what “Twilight” couldn’t; she created a love triangle where both boys are viable options, and there wasn’t one obvious choice. Both brothers have their strong points and their flaws, and that’s what makes this seemingly cringey and unimportant show so great. Whether you’re on the right side of history with team Conrad, or you’re still hung up on Jere, we respect your opinion (sort of). Only time will tell who Belly will choose.

“[Conrad] actually wants what’s best for Belly,” sophomore Elizabeth Whitehead said. “[Jeremiah’s] not a bad person, he’s just a bad person for Belly.”*

Can classics, modern books coexist in Haven’s English classes?

All books are equal, but some books are more equal than others.

Giana Gliko ’26

Reporter

What was your last required read?

Throughout high school, students are assigned to read a plethora of books in English and history classes. Historically, many have been classics: books revered for their timelessness, craft, and complexity.

“It’s [classic books] a totally different style and a little bit hard to read, but because of that, there’s more nuance to it and it’s a little bit more complex, and therefore a little bit more beautiful,” senior Eme Choi said.

Classics are covertly and overtly embedded in modern culture, music, and film, thus helping students improve cultural literacy. Numerous songs, movies, and books are indirectly based on classics or are direct retellings of them. For example, many of Jane Austen’s novels have been professionally dramatized, and even Haven’s theater department joined in with the fall 2023 production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo And Juliet.”

“They have provided a foundation for the world, and they have staying power,” English department co-chair Ms. Reagan Lattari said.

Notwithstanding, books by contemporary authors are sometimes included in the curriculum, but not always, although they often provide more relevant characters and experiences. They can also shed light on contemporary issues and experiment with unique forms.

“[Contemporary books] are better for understanding writers’ craft, because it’s how books are written today,” sophomore Colette Sauve said.

Some freshman English teachers include contemporary literature in their curriculum, and all of them provide space for pleasure reading and opportunities to pick up modern books through robust and accessible classroom libraries. In some English classes, time is allocated each class day for independent reading.

“A benefit to reading newer work is that you’re getting exposed to often ignored or mistreated groups that have been left out of the canon,” Lattari said, “You’re getting some diversity. You’re hearing from women, you’re hearing from minority authors, you’re hearing from authors that

are exposing you to different parts of the world.”

However, education is changing to address the rise of consumerism and instant gratification brought about by technology. For example, the freshman English classes began using a newer, simpler translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” last year. The College Prep classes only read the graphic novel.

“These big, long, whole-class novels are not the direction we need to be going, because it’s hard to keep students’ attention. I’m not having discussions like I used to,” Lattari said.

Students are rarely satisfied by everything they read in school. Classics spotlight a primarily white male protagonist’s perspective, and this singular perspective can be isolating. According to The Stanford Daily, an estimated 90% of classic literature taught in high school is written by white men.

However, modern books often sacrifice nuanced themes for a driving plot, providing the temptation to choose an easier read.

“Classics can be old and dated, and then modern books might not be as deep,” Sauve said.

All books, though, are more interconnected than they appear. Author Jerry B. Jenkins believes that the hero’s journey, a staple in the freshman English curriculum, appears in every story ever told. This is possible because of archetypes, types of characters and plot devices that recur in literature despite differences in time and place. The altruistic little guy from humble origins who suddenly finds the courage to become a hero? He’s an archetype.

“That seductive temptress from ‘The Odyssey’ is going to look a little different in your contemporary work. But she’s still there. How has she evolved? How is she treated differently?” Lattari said.

Intentionally or not, modern stories are inspired and shaped by classic literature, ultimately drawing their merit from the same patterns and archetypes. According to Sauve, successful books share the same qualities.

“What matters back then matters now. Human nature is human nature,” Lattari said.

Lattari emphasizes that books are mirrors and windows.

It is the reader’s experience of connection and learning - not a label of ‘classic’ or ‘modern’ - that gives a book meaning. “It doesn’t matter how unique it is, or how ‘diverse’ it is, but every single perspective matters, even if it is just your stereotypical person. Either one is good, just as long as you’re reading something, trying to build empathy and trying to see things differently,” Choi said.

A book taught in a curriculum should have legitimate meaning to the students who are reading it, regardless of when it was written. This means not dismissing modern books as having lesser quality, and not shying away from the technical or thematic challenges of classics.

Our classrooms are not Orwellian dystopias. Every book has value, just in different ways and to different people. According to Sauve, Choi, and Lattari, a mix of literature in Haven’s English classes is a viable solution.

“Whether it’s the canon of literature, or whether it’s a book that came out yesterday, I just think it matters that kids are reading. Stories are what sustain us and help us grow as individuals and make us better. Even those people talking on Tiktok are little stories,” Lattari said.*

ILLUSTRATION:

HUMAN NATURE IS HUMAN NATURE • A variety of classics and modern books are displayed side by side on senior Giana Gliko’s bookshelf. PHOTO: GIANA GLIKO

My biggest mistake is not sleeping enough

Choosing sleep can feel lazy, but it’s actually the furthest thing from it.

Fiona Seale ’28 Opinions Editor

It is currently 11:30 p.m. and I am writing this article instead of sleeping. While I’d consider myself healthy in other aspects of my life, the burden that I carry every day is an atrocious lack of shut-eye.

As an athlete, a member of the Panther Press and a committed student, getting enough sleep can be hard for me. For many overwhelmed high schoolers, sleep seems to be at the very bottom of the todo list. Everyone loves it, but during the busy school week, unfortunately sleep comes last.

I know it’s hard, but we need to start prioritizing it more.

If you’re a student athlete, getting enough rest is vital.

Sleep is often forgotten as one of the main components of physical and mental health. While many student-athletes point to a healthy diet and consistent workouts as the keys to success at practice and games, sleep can be one of the biggest catalysts in performance.

“If I have less sleep, I play so much worse, I can’t run as fast. I’m also just so mentally drained by the time I even get to the game,” sophomore field hockey player Elizabeth Whitehead said.

Constant school work and ambitious students are not a great combo. I always feel the need to push myself by taking the hardest classes and going the extra mile on assignments. Many Haven students understand the feeling of this selfimposed pressure.“ Students want to be the top of their class, the best of the best, and to do whatever they can to get there, but sometimes there needs to be a break, and realizing that that’s not always what could be best for you,” health teacher Mrs.

WJenna Butler said.

I am a constant perpetrator of the grind mindset: ‘Time to lock in!’ While sometimes it feels like staying up an extra hour to finish that assignment is the best thing for you, it’s not. Unless something absolutely needs to be done, getting even 30 minutes of extra sleep is so much more beneficial.

Your work won’t be up to its standards if you complete it half asleep, and focusing in class the next day is nearly impossible. Choosing sleep can feel lazy, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Choosing sleep actually puts your academic performance first. It ensures you’ll be able to put your best foot forward at school in the future.

One of the biggest reasons for sleep loss in phone usage. A 2022 Norwegian sleep study reported that even just one hour of screen time before bed increases insomnia by 59% and lowers sleep duration by 24 minutes on average.

“You should be putting your phones away, you should not be watching TV when you go to bed because the blue light is bad for you,” Butler said. “Scrolling not only doesn’t calm your brain down but actually activates it.”

While I admit that sometimes I stay up late on my phone, I think busy students who end up staring into their screen into the night aren’t wholly at fault. Think about it: Students wake up early to attend a seven- hour school day packed with classes, club meetings, and sometimes higher commitment programs like speech and debate, student council, or yearbook. After that, there is sports practice or a game that keeps them at school past dinner time. When they

finally get home they have to focus on knocking out their homework.

That go, go, go feeling can get overwhelming. Within human nature there is a built-in need for a little metime. For students who are that busy and who have no other openings in their day for time to themselves, those late hours are the only space. Sometimes scrolling is a necessary ritual for teens to feel like they have some sort of control over their lives.

Lack of sleep can catch up to you quickly. Studies have shown that ‘making it up’ on weekends is not a viable solution. Your psyche can suffer immensely if you don’t have enough sleep, your mental health rests on it.

“Lack of sleep will eventually almost

change your personality, you can really present in a constant state of irritation. It can increase anxiety, it can even affect depression,” social studies teacher Ms. Xaras Collins said.

While taking time to yourself on your phone or grinding out some extra work at night feels like putting your needs first, it’s not. Putting your health first is putting you first. Find time to do the work when you’re alert and awake and carve out specific time on the weekend to relax, catch up on your show and doomscroll on tiktok. You will thank yourself later if you make getting eight hours of sleep during the schoolweek one of your top priorities. I’m going to take my own advice. Goodnight.*

Why are we really hating on performative men?

The performative man trend is just a way for people to shame guys for liking what is perceived as feminine.

Kaitlyn Ho ’26 Editor-in-Chief

hat trends will define 2025? For many people, it is the performative man.

The performative man is one who walks around with a mandatory tote bag, headphones playing Clairo, Labubus swinging from his belt, and a matcha in hand. He quotes self-help books and gushes over Sally Rooney’s prose.

We have condemned this performative man. This is a man who pretends to be an ally to get girls, a man who doesn’t know anything about the feminist literature he claims to adore, a man that I can’t say I’ve ever truly met in my life.

The internet has been on a witch hunt for these performative men. A post of a guy reading on a park bench?

“It’s giving pick me.”

“She won’t let you hit bro.”

It’s fun to point fingers and condemn the performative man.

Yet, when someone posts their gym gains, no one says they’re performative. Instead, they get likes and clapping emojis.

In fact, all of social media is a stage. I know that aesthetic photo dump of yours was only posted after extensive consultation with your friends. There is also no way that influencer is not using a filter, or that they’re happy all of the time in their perfect, pretty bubble.

An article in The Guardian questions the root of the performative male epidemic.

“Performative righteousness is not solely the preserve of young men. I have often felt that the parallel vapidness and popularity of online social-justice messaging has created an entire generation (or two) of people obsessed with the idea of telegraphing their own worthiness rather than practising it,” columnist Rachel Connolly writes.

So if being performative is something we can all be blamed for, why do some keep criticizing men who do things we deem “feminine” or just attractive to women? Why is it any different from the careful cultivation of posts and comments that we’ve created?

For starters, we’ve become a lot more distrustful of each other. That means when men try to present themselves as feminist allies, our first instinct is to question their intentions. My dad always tells me to watch for the agenda: what does this person want from you?

It doesn’t help that there’s still a stigma around men doing things that aren’t considered “manly”. In reality, reading and drinking matcha aren’t really gendered things at all. It’s only when we assign those connotations to it that it becomes gendered — reading “Pride and Prejudice,” which is a romance novel, simply must be performative, because apparently guys can’t read romance.

I understand that the discourse suggests that performative men are not doing their research on what they’re showing off. I completely agree that it’s problematic for people to support activism and social justice for personal gain.

It’s true that men shouldn’t have to perform for women, but women have been pressured to perform for men since the beginning of time. If we’re going to critique the performative male, maybe we should take a look at the systems that make them think being performative will make them more attractive.

The risk of publicly shaming the men who aren’t participating in “performative male activities” is greater than the risk of letting true performative men slip through the cracks.*

ILLUSTRATION: JOSIE WIELAND

Reading Review: English teachers offer September book recommendations

Hear from four English teachers and me about our book recommendations. Izzy Boland ’29

Contributor

English teacher Ms. Reagan Lattari recommends: “Beartown” by Fredrik Backman (Simon & Schuster)

“It is a book that is very character driven. It tells a heartbreaking, beautiful story about a group of kids that want to get out of a town where they don’t have many options, and their only way out is through hockey. But the neighboring town also has a dominating hockey presence as well, and right at the beginning of the book, something awful happens with one of the boys on the better hockey team, and it tears the entire community apart,” Lattari said. “It’s the start of a trilogy, but you can absolutely read it as a standalone. People fall in love with the characters and will want to just continue to read about them.”

English teacher Mr. Chris McMahon recommends: “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles (Penguin Random House)

“The book is about a group of young people, roughly in their late teens and some a little bit younger,” McMahon said. “They travel from California all the way to New York, and the premise for this traveling is part of it involves leaving a past behind that they would like to keep behind them and start a new life. Part of it is trying to recapture part of a past that they long for, and part of it is also just about learning life and having adventures.”

English teacher Mr. Dan Peterson recommends:

“The Three-Body Problem” by Cixin Liu (Tor Publishing Group).

“It is about a scientist who kind of finds himself involved in an intergalactic conversation with aliens,” Peterson said. “The reason I like this book is because it stretches my mind to think about things in a totally different way. When I read this book for the first time, I just never really thought about some of the concepts in it, and it really just made me think differently about human beings and aliens and the universe and things like that.”

English teacher Mr. Kevin Haney recommends:

“Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson” by Mitch Albom (Doubleday).

“It’s the story of an ESPN writer who finds out that his favorite college professor is dying of ALS,” Haney said. “He called him up, asked if he could visit, figured it was going to be a one time visit, just to say goodbye and thank you for everything you did for me when I was younger. And that one visit turned into a series of visits every single Tuesday until the professor passed away.”

I recommend:

“The Inheritance Games” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).

This book is about a teenage girl named Avery who inherits billions of dollars from Tobias Hawthorne, someone she had never met before. However, to keep the money she must stay in his mansion for a year. This is difficult because the billionaire’s family are confused why she got the money and want it for themselves. Avery, who is shocked and confused, must work to discover why the money was left to her. I love this book because the plot and mysteries in it really captivated me. *

Car Talk: Senior shares surprise, joy of 2017 Ford Mustang

The dream car is nothing short of perfect to senior Ben Mitchell after repairs and personalization.

Mia Fagone ’26

Reporter

In the long line of cars snaking out of the senior lot after a long day at school, there it is: the shiny silver Mustang logo emblemed under the spoiler of an equally shiny grey sports car.

Once senior Ben Mitchell’s dream car, his 2017 Ford Mustang became reality when he bought it a month ago. Though he had been saving money for years, acquiring the car itself was more happenstance than on purpose. The Mustang had been sitting in a garage for years before being sold to a nearby dealership, where Mitchell purchased the car after hearing about it from a family friend.

“He noticed that there was a Mustang out there for a really good deal, but it needed some work, so I was like okay, I’m going to take up on that offer,” Mitchell said. While much of the car was in working order, some elements, like the exhaust and the engine intake, needed to be replaced. Mitchell also brought the car to the shop for work on the iconic sequential, or chasing, tail lights.

“It probably took me around five hours of compiled work to get that done, excluding the shop,” he said. “Now it’s a very personalized Mustang, it’s not like the ones you see on the road.”

Another defining feature of the car, a fan favorite among passengers, is the noise its engine makes.

“There’s something very potent and unique about it,” Mitchell said. “This particular version of the engine, the V6 Cyclone engine, it has this very deep but also trumpety sound that everybody can recognize.”

Though getting the car was unexpected, Mitchell hopes to keep it with him beyond high school and has many fond memories driving it around with friends.

“You can only be young with a sports car once in your life,” he said.*

SWEET RIDE • RIGHT: The mustang posed under the lights of Zac’s Hamburgers on MacDade Boulevard at night.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BEN MITCHELL

TOP: Senior Ben Mitchell poses in the rain with his revamped grey 2017 Ford Mustang.

BOTTOM: The Mustang’s interior, complete with the iconic Mustang logo on the steering wheel. PHOTOS: MIA FAGONE

September Crossword

Morgan Matthews ‘28

Detours Editor

Across

4. Woodworking job/last name of a pop singer

7. Popular pottery-based elective

8. Celestial branch of science

10. Haven Mascot

12. Doc. specializing in joints

13. Edward vs. Jacob saga

14. 2025 US Open women’s singles victor

16. 1984 Author

17. Name of Haven football coach/retired teacher

18. Supreme Court Justice Sonia

19. Alice by ____

Down

1. 70s singer David

2. Vehicular palindrome

3. Jane Goodall spent a lot of time with these

4. Nun’s living space

5. Pirate greeting

6. Soon-to-be-released Taylor Swift album, “The Life of a ______ “

9. Eagles coach Nick

11. Elite Haven choir

15. 2025 US Open men’s singles victor*

Cheese Corner: Going nuts over gruyère fondue

This is the cheesiest column you’ll see in this issue!

Roland Rennick-Zuefle ’27 Reporter

Welcome back to the Cheese Corner, where to begin our new school year, we’ll be taking a look at Switzerland’s gruyère cheese in and out of fondue.

Originating from Gruyerès, Switzerland as far back as 1150, gruyère is a nutty delight. Outside of fondue, it has a smooth but hard texture and a distinct nutty taste and aftertaste, which, while not as strong, lets the slightly sweet taste linger until you inevitably want to try more. In fondue (in the recipe I used, it was mixed with garlic and dry white wine), its melty texture makes it fantastic to dip bread and apples in, allowing them to share the nutty taste mixed faintly with the wine. Gruyère strengthens its taste as it ages, with the time frame ranging from six to twenty-four months, but as gruyure. com assures, “The maturation length may vary but the quality always remains outstanding!”

Its creation process begins with cow’s milk being heated in copper vats, into which cultures and rennet are added to coagulate the milk into curds. The curds are then heated up, put into molds, and compressed to get liquids and moistures

out. After a full day of being soaked in brine, the lengthy and varied aging process begins.

Like other swiss cheese, gruyère is historically known for the small holes, or “eyes” that appear across its sides, although much less so than emmental, the cheese most commonly associated with “Swiss Cheese.”

While the holes were once thought to be caused by bacteria within the cheese, it was recently discovered that hay dust had been getting onto the cheese’s sides that the bacteria had been forming around. However, holes have become less and less common as farming technology has made it harder for the hay dust to get onto the cheese.

While the recipe I used relied solely on gruyère, it and emmental are often used together in fondue. Gruyère is added to a pot of garlic and dry white wine, and stirred and boiled until ready to be served with bread.

Whether in or out of fondue, or aged for more or less than a year, gruyère guarantees among the best and nuttiest tastes Switzerland’s cows and farmers have to offer.*

Critter Corner: Morty and Leeloo

Sophomore talks about his experiences with an unexpected foster dog and his feline friend.

Mat Mataac ’28 Contributor

Sophomore Elmer MacMullan discusses his foster dog and cat in this edition of Critter Corner.

Q. What is the name of your dog?

A. The name of my dog is Morty.

Q. How did you decide on your dog’s name?

A. We were kind of cycling through it, and dad was like, I just like the name. His last name is Loaf, because we call him Mort or Morty or Morton, depending. So, we can call him Mort Loaf, which is incredible.

Q. How did you get him?

A. He was found in a Kohl’s parking lot by the fire department, and they took him into the station for a little bit, and they were looking for someone to foster this dog. And we were like, ‘that can be us.’ So, that is how he came to our house.

Q. Since you fostered him relatively recently, how did he adjust to being in a new environment?

A. It took us a bit to get him to be comfortable, to come inside. We think he was homesick because we know he belongs to someone, because he had a collar, buthe did not have a name or anything helpful on that collar because he’s a loser. Also, he and our cat are still not very friendly.

Q. What did you like to do with him while he was here?

A. We had some good walks, and we were chilling. Dad was definitely his favorite, and he did not care about me, but that’s okay.

Q. How would you describe your relationship with him in the brief amount of time you had him?

A. Medium. Mainly, I was nervous because I like the cat, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her. She’s so old.

Q. How old is your cat?

A. Fifteen.

Q. What’s the name of your cat?

A. Leeloo.

Q. How did you get her?

A. I got her when I was literally one year old, the same age as me.

Q. What do you like to do with her?

A. Just hang out. She is a yapper, and it’s chill. She also drinks from the teacups in my room.

Q. How would you describe your relationship with her?

A. I would describe it as pretty good. We’re pretty close since we’ve basically been through every major life event together, except for me being born.*

CHEESY DOES IT! • Gruyère cheese being served in fondue. Bread and apples for dipping are on the side. PHOTO: ROLAND RENNICK-ZUEFLE

LEFT: Morty. RIGHT: Leeloo. PHOTOS: ELMER MACMULLAN

1: John Paul Redmond (12) blows a kiss to the Media Bowl trophy at the home game versus the Penncrest Lions on Thursday, August 28. The Panthers defeated the Lions in a 16th consecutive win in the Media Bowl with a 35-0 victory.

MATTHEW RAMIREZ

2: Henry Strauss (12) hugs the panther mascot as he walks into school on the first day of school on Monday, August 25. “Summer went by too quickly and I hope school goes as fast as summer passed,” Strauss said. ETHAN LIN

3: Science teacher Ms. Katie Shepard waves her hands in the air as she acts like a ‘tree in the wind,’ creating an obstacle for AP Environmental Science students Ben Mitchell (12) and Sophia Brook (12), as they help balance a golf ball with string along with teammates Josie Wieland (12), Luis Sanchez (12) and Tess Kelly (12), on Tuesday, August 26. The goal of the assignment was to use communication to work with each other as a team to walk around the school without the golf ball losing its balance. MATTHEW RAMIREZ

4: Carter Sturgis (11) represents student council at Back to School night on September 4. Student leaders guided groups of parents to different floors of the building while offering answers to their questions. “I loved guiding the parents to their children’s classrooms. I literally had a HUGE group of parents,” Sturgis said. KATHRYN BARRETT

5: Darius Repici (9) dribbles the ball past a Lower Merion defender during the boys freshman soccer game on Monday, September 8 at Mesa Field. The Panthers fell short 0-3 against the Aces in the first game of the season. MATTHEW RAMIREZ * 2 3 4 5