The Coat of Arms Issue 47.4 by The Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms

Volume 47 Number 4

Menlo School, Atherton, California

Friday, March 26, 2021

serving Menlo's upper school since 1973

The Lapollas Reflect on Their Menlo Years as They Retire by TESSA FRANTZ

In the past 30 years many things have changed. There have been six presidents of the United States, countless celebrities have risen and fallen from stardom and some very questionable and short-lived fashion trends have passed. For Menlo specifically, the school has gone through years of physical alteration. Almost every building at Menlo has been rebuilt or remodeled. Still, amidst the changes in the outside world, the heart and culture of Menlo has remained strong. Bearing witness to the last 30 years of life at Menlo as unwavering members of the community are Dean of Students Tony and Associate Admissions Director Cindy Lapolla. On Feb. 2, Tony and Cindy Lapolla announced plans for their retirement at the end of this year, marking the end of a three-decade-long era. The Lapollas have spent their years at Menlo building relationships, making improvements to our school and creating memories with the entire community. Cindy and Tony met when working at Cranbrook Kingswood High School in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Then, in 1991, they moved to work side by side at Menlo. “We Left: Cindy Lapolla in 2004, during her second decade at Menlo. Right: Tony Lapolla smiles for a picture in 1999, near the end of his first of the couple's three decades in California. The Lapollas are retiring after working at Menlo for 30 years. Photos courtesy of Menlo Yearbook

Lapollas, page 4

TikTok Influences Menlo Sports Resume Under Updated State Guidelines Users' Lifestyles by ALEX LEVITT by LIZZIE FREEHILL

TikTok has developed viral trends that have gone beyond dances and comical short videos. BookTok, where people discuss their favorite reads, and HealthTok, where users can share recipes, workout routines and productive lifestyle tips are amongst some of the many trends that have spread across the app. The TikTok platform has also become a place for discussions regarding important topics such as mental health and body image, which has proven to be both beneficial and harmful. BookTok is a hashtag or side of TikTok where users can recommend, review and learn about new books. It is a way to get book recommendations through the internet because the brevity of TikTok videos makes it easier to digest and retain the information, according to freshman Anya Patel. Books that fall under fantasy and young adult (YA) genres have received the most attention from BookTok, according to an article on The Bookseller. “When [many people] first start reading books, [they] tend to gravitate towards [YA] because it is the most fun [and] very action-packed,” Patel said. Finding books that interest them may encourage people to become more frequent readers, according to Patel. During the beginning months of the

TikTok, page 8

On Feb. 19, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that restrictions on outdoor moderate and high-contact sports would be loosened, and on March 4, he announced that indoor sports would be subject to the same set of relaxed restrictions. These guidelines paved the way for Menlo athletics to resume competition with other schools, albeit with new protocols to help minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Amateur moderate and high-contact sports, such as football and lacrosse, may restart once a county’s adjusted weekly case rate is below 14 cases per 100,000 residents, while athletes in low-contact sports such as cross country and golf may compete regardless of COVID-19 statistics. Since San Mateo County had less than 14 adjusted cases per 100,000 residents on Feb. 26, all of Menlo’s Season One sports — football, cross country, girls’ volleyball and boys’ and girls’ water polo — were able to start preparing for their seasons, which resumed competition against other schools with a cross country meet against Crystal Springs on Feb. 27. California guidelines also dictate that once a season begins, it will not be canceled by the state if case rates increase. Many additional protocols have been added to high school athletics by the state in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. One policy that has drawn a lot of attention and confusion has been the requirements regarding if and when athletes need to wear

masks. “Masks are not required during competition, but they are required while on the sideline. Coaches and staff need to wear masks at all times,” Upper School Athletics Director Earl Koberlein clarified in an email to The Coat of Arms. The state also mandates weekly COVID-19 testing for athletes in outdoor sports until their county falls below seven adjusted weekly cases per 100,000 residents, and for indoor sports until their county falls below one adjusted weekly case per 100,000 residents. Despite San Mateo County falling beneath the case threshold for testing for outdoor sports, all Menlo School students and student-athletes are required by the school to get tested once every seven days. All athletes also need to receive an additional negative test result

within 48 hours of each game in order to participate. Menlo’s guidelines for family members attending games differ for each sport, but all attendees are expected to stay physically distanced from members of other households. Menlo athletes are also instructed not to carpool to and from games, even with the school not providing buses for transporting its athletes. Individual counties and schools also have the power to set additional restrictions or even prohibit high school athletics, although so far no counties in California have exercised that option. San Mateo County typically doesn’t impose harsher restrictions than the state, and Menlo School will play if they are allowed to, according to Koberlein.

Senior Zayd Mahmoud in goal against St. Ignatius on March 10. Photo couresy of Pam Tso McKenney

News

March 26, 2021

Menlo Executive Chef Takes on New Challenges Amidst Pandemic Ken Sligar Details his First Year Leading Menlo's Kitchen by ANNIE STENT

Menlo’s hybrid model means that 50% of the student body and the majority of the faculty is on campus each week. Many who are on campus do not bring their own lunches, so almost everyone makes use of the Flik dining service. Executive Chef Ken Sligar leads the on-campus dining management. Before Menlo, Sligar worked as a chef at IBM. Similar to most Silicon Valley firms, the majority of IBM’s workers continued to work from home even after the Bay Area started to re-open in August after being closed due to COVID-19. When people didn’t return to work, having a largescale dining service at IBM didn’t make sense, so like many people, Sligar was laid off. Sligar then applied for the open executive chef position at Menlo and now leads the kitchen staff in planning menus and preparing all on-campus lunches. One of his duties as Menlo’s executive chef is menu planning, which is a bit more difficult in COVID-19. “[I enjoy] listening to suggestions from [students and faculty] and trying to put that into the menu,” Sligar said. He hasn’t been able to get that sort of feedback from students or faculty because

of COVID-19 precautions. Without input from the people consuming his food, Sligar relies on seasonal trends to keep his food interesting and enjoyable. “[People] don’t want to be eating hard squashes and lots of stews when [the weather] is warming up, so that’s all part of the [menu planning] process,” he said. In addition to the lack of opportunities for suggestions, Sligar has to think about the fact that all the food has to be packaged individually. Because he has to take into account what his food will look like once it is packaged into boxes, he is limited to what he can serve. He has to think about presentation in addition to taste. Because of all these factors playing into the menus, Sligar has planned menus up to the end of April already. In terms of the actual food preparation, Sligar’s process hasn’t really changed because even pre-COVID-19, the cleanliness standards in a professional kitchen are high. “It’s all just second nature,” Sligar said. Despite the standard kitchen habits, Sligar’s team still uses additional precautions to keep everyone safe during COVID-19. Masks are required in the kitchen and extra disposable masks are placed at each station. The kitchen staff is also able to socially distance themselves from each other for the majority of the time. “It’s a fairly large kitchen [...] almost all of us

Before Menlo, Sligar worked as a chef at tech company IBM.

Executive Chef Ken Sligar in the Menlo School Kitchen. Staff photos: Sadie Stinson

have our own workspace, so we don’t really have to spend time standing within six feet of each other,” Sligar said. Like students and faculty, Sligar and the rest of the kitchen staff have to be tested weekly when they are on campus. Sligar has also received his first dose of the vaccine. “I’ve never been so excited to get a shot,” he said. His menu adjustments, preparation changes and COVID-19 precautions have kept Menlo’s kitchen running, but to Sligar, it’s still missing something. “For me, food is a kind of connection for people [...] I like to see that little smile when people first see their food, so it’s been difficult [not being able to see that],” Sligar said.

Menlo Teachers Begin Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines Under Phase 1B by MADISON LIU

The COVID-19 vaccination site at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, California. Photo Courtesy of Tripp Robbins

Since the beginning of COVID-19 vaccination phase 1B, several Menlo teachers have been able to get vaccinated. Phase 1B began in San Mateo County on Feb. 22 and in Santa Clara County on Feb. 28. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under phase 1B, residents 65 years or older can be vaccinated along with essential workers in the agriculture and food industries, education and childcare and emergency services sectors. Menlo teachers looked forward to being vaccinated for different reasons. “My mother had a stroke in August, and I have not seen her for a long time, so I was anxious to get vaccinated so I could go down and spend some time with her,”

Spanish teacher Rebecca Mouser said. Chemistry teacher Eugenia McCauley had a friend who was affected by COVID-19, which influenced her mindset on the virus. “Someone that I knew [...] got sick, and she was one of these people who months later was still exhausted, and that terrified me to see,” McCauley said. “When it came close to the time when teachers could get vaccinated, I was very much looking forward to it.” While teachers were eligible to be vaccinated, it was challenging for some to navigate the changing country regulations and find an appointment. “The county changes its mind frequently, so we’ve learned that you have to be nimble and be able to pivot to go with what [the county]

“When it came close to the time when teachers could get vaccinated, I was very much looking forward to it.”

says,” School Nurse Joan Barada said. There are also several vendors distributing the vaccine without a standardized system. According to Barada, counties offer vaccines only to their own residents and workers, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Stanford Health, CVS, Walgreens and more also have vaccination centers. Each location has a unique procedure, offers different vaccine types and has varying availability. Mouser tried to schedule appointments through Sutter Health, One Medical and Stanford Health before she found an opening through FEMA. Although the scheduling was challenging, McCauley had a pleasant vaccination experience. “I had a very good experience because I've never been to Levi's Stadium or any of the private lounges before,” said McCauley. “After [I got] the vaccine I waited for 15 minutes to make sure I didn’t have a bad reaction while overlooking the field, which was cool.” “[My experience] couldn't have been more organized, and I was really pleased with how well they did it,” Mouser said. “After, someone from FEMA came and checked on me every five minutes to make sure I was okay.” McCauley also thinks that once she gets her second vaccination, she will feel safer at school. “I think [being fully immunized] will ease my anxiety when I’m around people,” McCauley said. However, teachers are dependent on the number of vaccines available, so it is unclear when they will become fully immunized, according to local news outlet KTVU Fox 2.

Infographic by Staff Writer Makenna Olson

News

March 26, 2021

Seniors Reflect on the College Application Process Amidst the Pandemic by VALENTINA ROSS and LAURA ARTANDI

The college application process looked very different this year from previous years due to COVID-19. Many seniors were unable to visit schools, had to meet with their college counselors over Zoom and had to decide whether or not to send in SAT or ACT test scores, which were made optional at most colleges. Many seniors concur that the college process was still difficult, despite being at home all the time. In fact, this may have made it more difficult. “On top of pressure at home, school and in outside-of-school activities, college applications were a lot. Having to be at home throughout all of it too made those months really stressful, unhappy and overwhelming — I barely got any sleep, and I felt awful all the time,” senior Mallika Tatavarti said. Senior Roland Martinez-Luna felt similarly. “It was difficult to balance college applications, school work and other extracurriculars. I waited closer to deadlines to start writing several of my essays, which made it a lot more stressful than necessary,” Martinez-Luna said. Martinez-Luna also felt it was harder to find inspiration for what to write about while being in quarantine. Senior Ella Marks, who applied early decision (ED), also felt that the workload was heavy. “My friends and I always talked about how it feels like you’re working two jobs,” Marks said. “You have to go to school all day [...] with homework at night, and

then you also have a whole other series of Zoom calls and essays to write.” Seniors Peter Gray and Martinez-Luna both chose to apply regular decision (RD) to schools. “Because I wasn’t able to visit anywhere, I decided to just apply to a bunch of schools and see what happened,” Gray said. Martinez-Luna applied to more schools than he expected so that he could have more options when making a decision. Both Gray and Martinez-Luna felt they applied to a fairly balanced amount of schools with safeties, targets and reaches. Contrary to Gray and Martinez-Luna, Tatavarti applied ED. “I definitely knew I wanted to ED prior to COVID[-19], so I could get it out of the way and have that sense of security for the rest of my senior year. However, I think COVID really cemented that in for me, as it was really hard to stay motivated during the pandemic and online school. So I knew I really wanted to get the admissions process done with,” Tatavarti said. Senior Roxy Karrer also knew where she was going to college earlier than most because she committed to play volleyball at Johns Hopkins University. Since volleyball is an indoor sport, the pandemic complicated Karrer’s commitment process. “It made the process harder for all parties involved because athletes could no longer send coaches film of them playing,” Karrer said. Karrer wasn’t able to physically visit Johns Hopkins’s campus prior to committing but made the

best of her virtual resources. “I had done virtual tours and talked to current Hopkins players, which made me feel comfortable enough to commit,” Karrer said. According to Matt Mettille, Director of College Counseling at Menlo, fewer students applied ED this year than usual.

“My friends and I always talked about how it feels like you’re working two jobs.” For the class of 2020, about 58% of seniors applied ED. However, this year around 50% of seniors decided to apply ED. Mettille believes that the college application process was drastically different from other years. Particularly, the process of getting to know colleges virtually was very unusual for seniors. “I think students really had to do research about why they liked a school and what type of vibe [they would] experience if they attended that school,” Mettille said in an email to The Coat of Arms. Mettille also said that there were a few seniors who decided to apply to more schools than the typical student would. “Most seniors apply to 10-14 colleges, but we had some seniors that applied to [more than] 25,” Mettille said. Although seniors had to meet with their college counselors over Zoom, many felt

they were still able to have a strong relationship. “[My college counselor] definitely did get to know me pretty well. She was really sweet and gave me lots of resources and good verbal advice, and by the way she spoke about me to my parents I could tell she wrote a really thoughtful recommendation,” Tatavarti said. Martinez-Luna also felt that his college counselor was able to give him good advice. “My college counselor’s extensive knowledge and experience with the process allowed her to give me good general advice with writing essays and deciding what colleges/programs to apply to,” MartinezLuna said. However, some seniors, who prefer to stay anonymous, admit that they didn’t get detailed, helpful advice in regards to editing their essays. They had to rely on others to seek better support. “I got little to no genuinely helpful feedback on essays. I think that’s understandable given the amount of kids they work with, but because of that I got an essay coach who got to know me really well so that she could help me put my genuine self forward in the best possible light,” a senior said. Without this outside help, some seniors felt they wouldn’t have known what made a good college essay and what would help them stand out during the application process.

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

News

March 26, 2021

Lapollas, cont. from page 1 were grateful and excited about being a part of a community and the chance to actually be a part of a school with a vision to grow itself,” Cindy Lapolla said. Being different and unique is something that Menlo has always prided itself on. These are qualities that we can see very clearly in our school events and spirit. One memory in particular that sticks with Cindy is the notorious homecoming football game that occurred in fall of 2019, which used headphones to broadcast music and announcements. “I wish we would have had [homecoming] this year, but I also will remember that last one at the night game with the crazy earphones that I didn’t think were going to work, and just how wonderful that night went. It's a nice memory of how this community comes together and is open to trying things in new ways as long as we get to be together,” she said. Similarly, the campus culture and student life were two aspects that attracted the Lapollas to change locations and workplaces. “There is a sense of kindness that I think is palpable in our community, and I don’t know that that is very common. That’s probably what I’m most proud of. The sense that you don’t really need a rule here, people kind of get it, you’re supposed

the most important aspects of their time at Menlo: their connections and memories with the students themselves. Cindy recalls a senior years ago who told her that the highlight of his day was coming to her office and seeing the Lapollas’ dog, Mowgli. Personal connections like these are ones

that have bonded the Lapollas to Menlo since the beginning. “I’m very grateful for the connections we’ve made and the strong bonds we feel with this community in terms of it being an extended family for us, whether it be faculty, students or parents,” she said. For the two of them, Menlo has been

Below left: Cindy with candy in 2002. Right: Tony with a dog at the track in 1999. Below center: the Lapollas pose for a photo together in 2005. Photos courtesy of Menlo Yearbook

“There is a sense of kindness that I think is palpable in our community, and I don’t know that that is very common. That’s probably what I’m most proud of.” quality of being able to have fun while still being driven and focused. “There are serious students here who have serious goals for their futures, but if you look around, they look silly at times. They’re dressed funny and they're jumping around. There’s lots of laughter and lots of joy in the day,” Tony said. “Something that I think has been important is not taking ourselves too seriously, even though there's serious work being done here,” Cindy added. Tony and Cindy end their time at Menlo expressing their gratitude for Menlo and the opportunities it has given them. “There have been some pretty incredible teachers,

“There have been some pretty incredible teachers, administrators and families that have laid that foundation and are the legacy of this place. We will remember them and what they’ve done for us forever.”

“I’m very grateful for the connections we’ve made and the strong bonds we feel with this community in terms of it being an extended family for us, whether it be faculty, students or parents.”

to bring your best self whatever that means in whatever you're doing today.” she said. They explained their gratitude to the previous heads of school, Tony Paulus and Norm Colb, for giving them creative freedom to expand and improve student life. “[The heads of school] gave us latitude to develop a student life program that would allow us to touch everybody,” Tony said. Student Life at Menlo emphasizes the personal connections made between students and has been a source of many traditions still intact today. “One of the things that Cindy was certainly involved

“It's been an honor to have been here for three decades.” with that I enjoyed every year was spending time with the seniors on the Senior Retreat and getting to see them outside the confines of Menlo school. It really speaks to people respecting each other for the individual and their uniqueness and respecting and cherishing that. That’s something that I will always remember and miss,” Tony said. The traditions and relationships between students and teachers make the Menlo community truly what it is today, and which often manifests through student life activities, according to Tony. The Lapollas also emphasize one of

a genuine family since they moved on campus their first year. “It holds a special place for us because of those early years and those times we had playing baseball in front of Stent with our kids and having birthday parties on the lawns,” Tony said. Both Cindy and Tony explained that Menlo students possess the unique

Above right: Tony sits at his desk in 1996. Above left: the Lapollas pose for a photo in 2005. Below left: Cindy laughs for a photo in 1993. The Lapollas are retiring after having worked worked at Menlo for 30 years. Photos courtesy of Menlo Yearbook

administrators and families that have laid that foundation and are the legacy of this place. We will remember them and what they’ve done for us forever,” Tony said. “It's been an honor to have been here for three decades.” One will seldom find an individual associated with Menlo who doesn’t know the name ‘Lapolla.’ Every year, they’ve welcomed students back to school dressed in hilarious costumes in accordance with the theme of the first day. They’ve raised their kids on our campus and have had conversations with students of every grade and personality. They’ve danced at least one dance at every school dance (excluding one), and they’ve worked in numerous positions, improving and loving the school as they went. Although this is their last year with Menlo, they’ll be remembered by alumni, students, faculty, parents and the Menlo community for many years to come.

Arts & Lifestyle

March 26, 2021

Staff illustrations: Grace Tang

by GEORGIA PAYE

“WandaVision'' premiered in January of 2021 and quickly became a hit show on the Disney+ streaming service and among Menlo students. The show features two Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch), played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Vision, played by Paul Bettany. The ninepart series is the first in Phase Four of the MCU and shares the continuity with the films of the franchise. The show was one of the 10 most-watched original shows on streaming platforms the week of its debut, according to Nielsen estimates. The show pays homage to past sitcoms, with Wanda and Vision living in an alternate

reality that takes them through different decades of time. The series is a first look into the personal lives of Avengers Wanda and Vision. “I personally like the show because I have always been a big Marvel fan and Wanda is one of the strongest Avengers, yet she is one of those characters that you don’t really know too much about. So, the fact that she was getting her own show had a great appeal to me,” senior King Christian said.

In the midst of COVID-19, many movies that are part of MCU have been delayed, such as “Black Widow,” which was set to release in 2020, but has been delayed until May 7, 2021. This marked the first time since 2009 that a MCU movie hasn’t

been released in a calendar year, according to The Verge. “I’m a Marvel fan and they didn’t release anything new in 2020 because of the pandemic, so I was super excited to watch “WandaVision” right when it came out,” senior Chris Cook said. The show is loved among dedicated Marvel fans who have been greatly anticipating the next phase of the MCU. “I’ve been a fan of the MCU for some time. In fact, I’ve watched all the movies in chronological order like three times now, which takes around 40 hours. WandaVision was just the next step in that journey, so I’d been anticipating it for much longer than many people [who] may have gotten into

it,” senior Luke Yuen said. After cliffhangers and devastating endings in “Avengers: Endgame” and “Spiderman: Far from Home,” fans have been anxious to see the aftermath and what comes next for the MCU. “Since the release of “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” people have been eager to see more of the characters during the aftermath, so “WandaVision” has had a lot of fast popularity [...] It sets up an engaging sitcom story that expands upon the magic of the Marvel universe, while leaving room for more ways that the story could progress,” freshman Katie King said. Similarly, junior Raunak Agrawal has been waiting to see the next phase of the

MCU. “I personally like the show because I got to see all these characters again after almost two years after the end of “Endgame.” I also was waiting to see how Phase 4 would work out,” he said. “WandaVision” doesn’t only appeal to die-hard Marvel fanatics, it has also gained popularity due to the show’s uniqueness. “I think anything Marvel makes is going to be popular no matter what, but the fact that

“WandaVision” is Marvel’s first production in a TV series format makes it something new for everyone in the audience,” senior Sabette Grieve said.

The series releases new episodes weekly, each featuring Easter eggs that viewers love to spot and pick apart. “I personally enjoy the show for all of the different Easter eggs that are worked in that draw from things from previous movies. It’s super fun to spot them and talk about them to my friends,” Yuen said. People have taken to social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok to share their findings from each episode. “I feel like I need to know every nuanced detail about the show or I literally can’t sleep,” Grieve said.

Arts & Lifestyle

March 26, 2021

Global Awareness Week Broadens Menlo Community’s Perspective by SOPHIE FANG

The week of March 8, Menlo’s Global Awareness Committee hosted Global Awareness Week in order to expand the Menlo student body’s consciousness about the wider world. The committee hoped to bring recognition particularly to areas and parts of the world that are underrepresented in news feeds and broadcasts according to Global Programs Director and history teacher Peter Brown. By raising awareness about the wider world, students were also able to celebrate the cultural diversity within Menlo. In prior school years, Menlo’s global program has been centered around Menlo Abroad, the international travel program. With COVID-19 restrictions and the cancelation of these trips, Brown has had to get creative. “Our abroad program is really the most significant thing we do for students in our global program,” Brown said. “This year, global travel is not possible.” In addition to Menlo Abroad, every two years there is a Global Exposition. The Global Exposition is an opportunity for the Menlo community to celebrate the diverse cultures at Menlo through performances, arts, food and travel experiences. In lieu of the traditional community gathering, Brown put in place a Virtual Global Exposition that includes a Padlet where families and teachers can upload photos celebrating their culture. “The Virtual Global Exposition is not a substitute for the real one, but doing the in-person version was not possible this year,” Brown said. Brown put together a committee of ten students who all share a passion for raising global awareness to help him plan student life activities that would not only be informational but also be engaging. Junior Mitsuka Kiyohara, a member of the planning committee, felt like Global Awareness Week was a necessary substitute

for the abroad programs. Kiyohara traveled abroad with Menlo to India her freshman year. “I enjoyed a lot of Menlo’s global awareness activities when I was a freshman and sophomore. I was sad that some

students wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so,” Kiyohara said. Another member of the committee, junior Reena Kagan, felt that planning Global Awareness Week was a way

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

she could have an impact on students’ perspectives this year. “Normally, [Menlo’s global program] is confined to the Global Exposition and Menlo Abroad. I thought [Global Awareness Week] would be a good opportunity to bring those things into the normal school year in a virtual format,” Kagan said. The virtual format of the student life activities posed difficulties for the planning committee. “We had issues just trying to find activities that people would be engaged in because we didn’t want to do too many things on Zoom,” junior Rusha Bhat said. However, there are some benefits to doing the activities virtually as well. “You can access a lot of different people [through Zoom] who you normally wouldn’t be able to, like people who live in other parts of the world,” Bhat said. The week included an all-school assembly in conjunction with International Women’s Day, featuring freshman Beti Essa, who lived in Ethiopia prior to attending Menlo, and speaker Amanda Parker from the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Foundation. The AHA Foundation is a nonprofit that focuses on creating liberty for all. They strive to raise awareness of issues such as female genital mutilation, honor violence and forced marriages. Later in the week, there was an advocacy “goose-chase” with a global awareness theme. Advocacies used the Goose Chase application which allows users to create custom photo and video scavenger hunts. Advocacies had to complete 35 missions including trivia and challenges. Global Awareness Week was an opportunity for students to think beyond their immediate communities to the global community. “It’s important to realize that there are so many different cultures, traditions, religions and people represented in our community,” Kagan said.

Essential Worker Students at Menlo Get Vaccinated by LAURA ARTANDI

As the COVID-19 vaccine distribution picks up, certain workers under the age of 18 have become qualified to receive the vaccine. Distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States started on Dec. 14, 2020. Thus far, the vaccines have been mostly distributed to senior citizens and more recently essential workers. Despite their age, some people under the age of

18 have qualified for the vaccine due to alternate reasons, such as being an essential worker. Junior Madison Peña has been working at a gelato store in San Carlos since November of 2020. Although she was initially more concerned about finding a job than being exposed to COVID-19, exposure is now something that she worries about. “Statistically people with COVID-19 come in [to the store], which kind of freaks me out,” Peña said. However, the store that Peña works at makes sure that there are numerous safety precautions put in place for its employees. “We are separated by dividers, and we have protocols that keep us safe,” she said. Additional protocols Peña described include no longer accepting cash, not offering samples and not taking anything back from

"I’m probably seen as the biggest COVID-19 risk [in] my family."

Essential worker and junior Madison Peña holds up a cup of gelato that she made at her job at Gelataio in San Mateo. Photo Courtesy of Madison Peña

the customer. Peña believes that since her coworkers and she are likely to be exposed to COVID-19, they deserve to receive the vaccine but not over other prioritized groups. “I don’t think that I need to get it over someone who’s an essential food worker and who has more risks,” Peña said.

“I think [people who are older] and waiters and waitresses who are touching people’s plates would definitely benefit from getting the vaccine.” On Feb. 22, Peña received an email from the San Mateo County Health Mass Vaccination Team that stated she was eligible to receive the vaccine. The email urged essential workers to be patient, as “the number of people eligible for vaccination is much larger than the number of doses available at this time.” Peña and her parents decided that she will not get vaccinated until the Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes out. According to Peña, the email from the county made her eligible for the Moderna vaccine. However, her parents don’t feel comfortable with her receiving this as it hasn’t been authorized for people under 18 years of age. Other essential food workers, such as junior Maya Julian-Kwong have also been given the opportunity to be vaccinated because of their jobs. “I’m probably seen as the biggest COVID-19 risk among my family,” Julian-Kwong said. Julian-Kwong and her family agreed that because of her essential job, she should get vaccinated. She received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday, March 16. Julian-Kwong, who works at Jamba Juice, said that she feels as though there is probably more that the company could be doing to keep the workers safe. “We don’t have a glass screen. I’m probably a little

exposed, but I don’t think about it that much [at work],” Julian-Kwong said. Although it’s not something she is constantly worrying about, Julian-Kwong still believes that young essential workers deserve to be vaccinated. “Being under 18 makes us less at risk, but working every day makes it so that we should get it at some point,” she said. Senior Sareena Sandhu works as an

"When people come in, they don’t [wear masks sometimes]. There is a lot of COVID-19 exposure there." employee at her dad’s “aviation business.” This was deemed an essential business, as it is where the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department is headquartered. “When people come in, they don’t [wear masks sometimes]. There is a lot of COVID-19 exposure there,” Sandhu said. Sandhu received the Pfizer vaccine on Saturday, March 6, and feels that receiving the vaccine was extremely freeing. “It definitely feels good. It takes a burden off of your shoulders when you are going to school or going to the grocery store. It’s a sign [...] that the end is in sight.”

Arts & Lifestyle

March 26, 2021

BIPOC Creative Arts Night Celebrates Different Cultures at Menlo by ERICA FENYO

“I think works of art — any form of culture — have the capability to give people certain hope and passion and belief and conviction that nothing else can,” Shirin

Neshat, an exiled Iranian visual artist who advocates for freedom and artistic expression, said. Sophomore Maya Debnath has organized the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) Creative Arts Night to do just that: give students hope and passion while highlighting their cultural pride. Debnath feels that many people view the arts through a eurocentric lens; the arts often lack the voices of people of color despite their importance in the world’s cultures. Debnath said it is easy to omit minority voices, especially at a predominantly white institution such as Menlo. She feels it is crucial to celebrate contributions to the

"[BIPOC Creative Arts Night] shows that European art styles aren’t the only contributions that should be respected and accepted."

Maya Debnath performs in Menlo's Got Talent as a freshman. Photo courtesy of of Pete Zivkov

arts that people of color make. “[This] BIPOC Creative Arts Night also honors the many styles of art that have been long lost from thriving cultures due to colonization. It shows that European art styles aren’t the only contributions that should be respected and accepted,” Debnath said. “This night will hopefully bring about

Menlo students of color’s pride in their cultural background, whether they are seeing themselves represented by their peers or showcasing their culture to others.” As a member of the Unity Club, Debnath worked closely with the club’s co-presidents, sophomore Montse Contreras and senior Allie Lev, to coordinate the event. “[Contreras] and [Lev] helped me set up the project in the beginning,” Debnath said. The BIPOC Creative Arts Night will also premiere during Unity Week, a Unity Club organized event with the underlying theme of intersectionality. Unity Week’s theme is all about equity in all aspects of life, whether it be academics, athletics or the arts. “This night will align with the equity in the arts aspect of Unity Week, so it seemed like a great opportunity to showcase the video at the same time,” Debnath said. Contreras believes that along with underrepresentation, BIPOC art is more than the painful experiences often portrayed. “I think along with the pain, which is so important, we also acknowledge that we’re not just here to share our painful experiences but also create art and beautiful things,” said Contreras. “[Menlo] has a lot of students of color who are very into the arts, but at times [I] don’t feel like there’s a lot of space for us. So, that’s why I think a night like this is so important.” While Menlo arts classes and performances such as the dance concert incorporate a few non-European styles, Contreras hopes to have more representation to make BIPOC students feel included and valued in the arts community.

Fellow Unity Club leader Allie Lev also reflected on the event. “I feel like an appreciation for this is normally focused on things that we traditionally see as art.

“This night will hopefully bring about Menlo students of color’s pride in their cultural background, whether they are seeing themselves represented by their peers or showcasing their culture to others.” Take dance, for example. We might think of ballet or hip hop, but we might not think of different cultural styles of dances. Also, I think this is a great opportunity to hone in and focus on songs and foods that we’re maybe not as familiar with,” Lev said. The celebration is a video compilation of student submissions because of COVID-19 restrictions, but Debnath hopes to create similar in-person events in the years to come. “In the future, I hope to keep having BIPOC Creative Arts Night and make it a fun annual event, just like the normal Creative Arts Night. I want to use this as a jumping point to pursue greater equity in the arts at Menlo,” Debnath said.

The Menlo Hackathon Returns, But This Time Virtually by LOUISA SONSINI

The Menlo Hacks team canceled their 2020 hackathon because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year they found an alternative solution: a virtual hackathon. The event took place in the typical 24-hour time frame on Saturday, March 13 through Sunday, March 14. Throughout the 24hour period, participants used Discord, a platform for voice calls, video calls and text messages to communicate. Although the hackathon was remote, it mirrored the previous in-person format and its components, including more challenging, coding-oriented games and fun, light-hearted ones. Throughout the event, attendees worked with highlyexperienced computer science "mentors" to get help on the various programming activities. As a result, middle school or high school students of any coding experience could have participated. During her freshman year, junior Grace Tang attended the event with little computer science experience. "I learned a lot [about coding] from the different workshops. They were all really interesting, like the one on web design," she said. This year, the Menlo Hacks team included nine members divided into two four-member teams: the sponsorship team and the technology team. Head of Technology junior Mitsuka Kiyohara ensured that all of the event's technological components ran smoothly. Kiyohara worked with senior Joshua Lowe, senior Sam Hutton and junior Marvin Mok to oversee application forms and devise the 2021 Menlo Hacks website. Kiyohara has been on the Menlo Hacks team since

her freshman year of high school and has participated in its annual hackathon since sixth grade. "My first hackathon really catalyzed my interest in computer science," she said. Head of Sponsorships junior Alex Acra was responsible for judges, mentors, workshops, marketing and sponsors. Acra led junior Michelle Li, sophomore Aiden Deffner and sophomore Sean Nesamoney. Like Kiyohara, Acra participated in Menlo Hacks throughout middle school and high school. Senior Manat Kaur directs and oversees both teams. "I make sure that everything is running on target to meet deadlines and that [the hackathon] is a fine-tuned experience," she said. The team of ten began their preparations in August and worked up until the hackathon event. While the Menlo Hacks team successfully held the event remotely, the preparation was not straightforward. "A lot of the fun of Menlo Hacks is being with your friends, being able to partake

in games and have midnight snacks," Acra said. "So, it was harder to motivate people to come. We had to double down on those efforts." For Kiyohara, the absence of in-person meetings was difficult at first. "I think the biggest challenge about being [virtual was] communication. However, we overcame [this] challenge by holding weekly Zoom

Staff illustration: Michele Hratko

meetings," Kiyohara said. Although this year brought new hurdles for the Menlo Hacks team, it also made the experience more rewarding. "I'm proud that we're actually able to run the event in a way that I think is close to what would've been a normal year," Acra said. "We did have to work harder to get there, but I think we got

to that point." Because the event took place remotely, it could accommodate people outside of the Bay Area, including international participants from Canada, India and Japan — an unforeseen outcome of the 2021 COVID-19-impacted year.

Arts & Lifestyle

March 26, 2021

TikTok Influences Users' Lifestyles by LIZZIE FREEHILL

Staff illustration: Sadie Stinson and Tatum Herrin

[Continued from page 1] shelter in place order, fitness YouTuber Chloe Ting gained a large following due to her workout challenges, such as the “Two Weeks Shred” and various abdominal workouts. According to sophomore Riley Jensen, Chloe Ting’s workout programs were a way to fill time during the beginning of the pandemic when she was stuck at home.

“Diet culture is glamorized on the app and it can be hard to escape. After liking one video, my For You Page was filled with ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos that showcased people eating less than a healthy amount.” The challenges gained credibility due to participants posting their positive results on TikTok. “You’re watching all these videos of people getting these amazing transformations from doing Chloe Ting workouts and if that’s not the case for you, it could really affect you personally,” Jensen said. Girls with model-like features often draw the most attention on the app, leading to a lack of self-confidence and unhealthy eating habits for many, according to senior Izzy Hinshaw. “Diet culture is glamorized on the app and it can be hard to escape,” Hinshaw said in an email to The Coat of Arms. “After liking one video, my For You Page was filled with ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos that showcased people eating less

than a healthy amount.” A For You Page is A body positivity movement began on TikTok as a result of the beauty standards that became prominent of the app, and videos with the hashtag body positivity have amassed over seven billion views. “I love creators like Sienna Mae and Victoria Garrick who aren’t afraid to be real,” Hinshaw said. Garrick and Gomez spread messages about eating sustainable amounts of food and normalizing all bodies. Mental health awareness and discussions are another occurrence on the app. TikTok users can share personal stories or hear stories similar to their own. The presence of the important and heavy topic of mental health on a platform like TikTok has its pros and cons. Conversations and speaking out against it helps to break a stigma around the topic of mental health, according to Mayo Clinic. “TikTok is super accessible and by simply discussing mental health on the app, users are actively destigmatizing mental health and mental illness,” Hinshaw said. For some, it is comforting to know they are not alone and that there are others who struggle with mental health. “I think [having] a larger community is great. Suffering in silence is a thing of the past, or that’s what people are trying to make it,” junior Will Murphy said. It can be validating to find people with shared experiences, but it is also incredibly important to continue having face-to-face conversations with loved ones and those that know you best, according to counselor Jake Fauver. “In all cases, I’m a proponent of pairing the online community with people in proximity: friends, family and counselors,” Fauver said in an email to The Coat of Arms. “Talking through it with those directly around you is essential to overall well-being.”

Senior Tessa Grosso is optimistic that TikTok can help people come to terms with mental health struggles and hopes that after they do, they will share their feelings beyond the screen with family, friends and professionals. “Perhaps TikTok is the bridge between self-realization and actually seeking help,” Grosso said in an email to The Coat of Arms. Likewise, Hinshaw believes it is important for teenagers to have in-person conversations. “Conversations about mental health with family friends are invaluable,” Hinshaw said. While TikTok has become a forum for positive mental health discussions, it can also prompt hate comments that can be detrimental when dealing with a sensitive subject such as mental health. “It is concerning that someone might come out about their struggles to this worldwide

“TikTok is super accessible and by simply discussing mental health on the app, users are actively destigmatizing mental health and mental illness." community that doesn’t always have their best interests at heart,” Grosso said. “There is massive scrutiny on the app, and I fear that sharing a story has the potential to be harmful to mental health rather than helpful.” The transformation from carefree one minute videos to conversations that can take a deep dive into the themes of mental

health, body positivity and more has made TikTok an app that can be considered both helpful and harmful. Users have the ability

“It is concerning that someone might come out about their struggles to this worldwide community that doesn’t always have their best interests at heart. There is massive scrutiny on the app, and I fear that sharing a story has the potential to be harmful to mental health rather than helpful.” to scroll for hours through an app where their feelings can be both empathized with or invalidated by a worldwide community. Whether one is listening to stories about the adversities of another or sharing their own, it is important to be vigilant of how the content you are receiving is affecting you, according to Fauver. “If following another individual makes you feel seen, heard and supported, then I think it’s a positive idea,” Fauver said. “Now, if what they are sharing brings you down, heightens the intensity of one’s own mental health struggles or leads to comparison, then that lets you know it’s not serving you, and I wouldn’t continue following that person.”

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The Menlo sexual education (sex ed) program has undergone several changes for the 2020-2021 school year. Before this year, sex ed was taught to all grade levels through yearly or biyearly questionand-answer style class meetings delivered by a guest speaker, while freshman received additional education through the freshman rotation seminar course. “The class meetings happen to be one of the ways that you can reach a lot of students in a short amount of time,” guest speaker and former Menlo Dean of Student Life Programs Cathy Chen said. The model this year and going forward

In the United States, 30 states mandate sex education for all students and 22 states require that the information taught in sexual education courses be factually accurate, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California, being one of these states, requires all schools to teach medically accurate, objective information to its students. At Menlo, students are required to take a sexual health course during their freshman seminar rotation in their freshman year as well as attend additional assemblies in their sophomore, junior and senior years that take a deeper look at topics covered in the original course. This year, the juniors and seniors attended sexual health assemblies taught by guest speaker and former Menlo Dean of Student Life Programs Cathy Chen with topics that ranged from consent to toxic relationships. Senior and Student Body Vice President Addie Ahlstrom described that she received feedback from the seniors that the assemblies taught by Chen were often unhelpful for gaining a better understanding of sexual health as they were too vague and lighthearted. “The way [Chen] was answering pretty serious questions about consent and not wanting to upset your partner, I just felt like those weren’t handled well,” Ahlstrom said. Senior William Akis explained that he felt most of the information being presented to him in his senior year during assemblies wasn’t new to him. “It wasn’t like I disliked the program. I just came out of it feeling like I’ve heard this and I already knew this,” Akis said. Junior Amy Wyatt expressed her frustration with the assemblies on sexual health her grade has attended this year. She specified that there were multiple conversations surrounding rape, consent and toxic relationships where she believed Chen

March 26, 2021

incorporates both class meetings and workshops into the sex ed program. Workshops, which were first conducted in February 2021, consisted of two advocacy groups brought together and led by one of eight trained faculty members. These workshops were intended to open up discussion and allow students to share more comfortably with one another. “You get to see what another student is thinking about, and [workshops have] you interacting with students that maybe you don't talk to on the quad,” Upper School Counselor Jake Fauver said. Fauver teaches the freshman rotation sex ed course and has been working extensively to develop the new sex ed program. According to Fauver, feedback from student surveys have shown that student response to the addition of the workshops has generally been positive. “People are dealing with more personal topics in their lives as they get older, so workshops that address [sex ed] are more helpful than ones that are more broad,” senior Ella Marks said. This year, more guest speakers are being brought in

didn’t give proper and helpful information for being in those situations. Wyatt said she felt as if the assemblies did not define toxic relationships in a concrete way, leading to a fear that some will assume they are imagining toxic situations and that it’s “all in their head.” The freshmen, many of whom have attended the freshman seminar sexual health course at this point, also had an additional assembly on sexual health this year. According to freshman Emmy Ford, although the original topic was sexual health, she and many of her peers felt that the speaker talked about issues that weren’t relevant to the freshmen or sexual education. “It was about weird stereotypes and people were really confused about it. It was a lot of mixed messages,” Ford said. “She was talking about baby clothes, onesies and how it would say ‘ladies man’ or ‘lock up your daughters,’ and was saying that it feeds into society’s stereotypes,” Ford said. Ford noted that Freshman Class Advisor Eve Kulbieda even interrupted the speaker at one point and described that the clothing was just for babies. Although there is debate over the effectiveness of the assemblies, the students interviewed generally agreed that the freshman seminar sexual health course, taught by Upper School Counselor Jake Fauver, is effective and productive as a starting place for learning about sexual health. “[Fauver] moves at a good pace to make it not extremely awkward, and he tries to make it as inclusive as possible,” freshman Zach Ruwitch said. Sophomore Chris Liao noted that Fauver did an excellent job of making the class lighthearted and entertaining while also talking about difficult issues.

to speak at class meetings. This year, Kate Bedford, who has taught sexual health to parents and students at numerous different schools, and Chen were both brought in to speak. Currently, Chen works at Village Coaches, an organization that supports adolescents in navigating through school and life challenges. Inside the class meetings and workshops, students are now receiving a more comprehensive sexual health curriculum. Topics that were covered in freshman year, such as contraception and sexually transmitted infections, are being reinforced at different grade levels. “[I find it more] effective if you revisit material [when] students are developmentally in a different place,” Fauver said. However, the counselors also acknowledge that learning sex ed in a Zoom environment is much more difficult than in person. “You lose the ability to turn and talk or giggle with a friend who’s sitting next to you when things are uncomfortable, and you lose the privacy of being in a classroom,” Fauver said. Some students have also felt that virtual sex ed doesn’t have the same authenticity and level of engagement as it does in person. “People feel screen fatigue and don’t pay attention,” senior Egan Lai said. Although COVID-19 limited more robust efforts for more in-person workshops, Fauver is hopeful for the future of the program. “I’m actually excited at the prospect of moving past [COVID-19] in how many more things we have accomplished this year that we can even do even better next year,” Fauver said.

However, there is a point of failure in the sexual health course for some members of the LGBTQ+ community, which is the lack of material and conversation surrounding nonheteronormative relationships and sexual health. One junior felt that the sexual health course did an accurate job of covering a wide array of information regarding nonhetereonormative relationships, however another junior believed there wasn’t enough material for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Both juniors who asked to remain anonymous noted the difficulty of asking questions anonymously, particularly those pertaining to LGBTQ+ issues, in the sexual health course due to the small size of the class. Another member of the LGBTQ+ community noted that not having an inclusive enough curriculum can be dangerous for students. “If sexual education in schools isn’t inclusive [of] certain groups, those groups are going to turn to the internet, which is not the best place to get information from,” they said.

Staff illustrations: Lauren Lawson

March ##, 2021

Let’s talk about sex (education)

by Penelope Stinson

If you search up “top teen shows” on Google, a myriad of different websites will appear with different recommendations for what your next binge watch should be. You can click through a couple of different articles, but they will all recommend the same few shows: “Riverdale,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Gossip Girl,” “Vampire Diaries,” “Outerbanks,” “All American,” “Euphoria” and even “13 Reasons Why.” These are shows that promise a juicy high school storyline with racy teenage characters and their frustratingly difficult parents who never seem to understand their volatile teenage angst. Whether the show’s premise is teenage vampires, teenage quarterbacks or teenage murderers, these adolescent-intended TV shows never fail on one aspect: the sex. Usually non-graphic, yet suggestive, sex scenes often make appearances in these teen-centered shows. And while the characters portrayed on the shows are supposed to be young, the actors and producers who generate these sexualized scenes are often not. Upper School Counselor Jake Fauver, who teaches the freshman seminar sexual health course, described his concern for the oversimplification of sex in current teenaged-based TV shows. “A lot of what they depict is either unhealthy, or they skipped the consent conversation or it goes really fast and there’s no dialogue. It doesn’t have any of the awkwardness that being intimate with somebody often entails. And, it always has to swirl in a sea of drama and gossip,” Fauver said. He hopes that the sexual health course that students take can allow them to develop a critical eye when watching shows with heavy sex scenes. Fauver described that he’s never believed that the shows should

Sex Culture in Movies and TV Shows Misinform Audiences, Students say be completely removed or banned, but rather kids should be able to understand why they aren’t realistic. Junior Meera Rajagopal expressed her disbelief at the amount of sex scenes that occur in teen-centered shows. “How are these kids in high school? I don’t think it’s normal, the one-night-stands and sexual stuff within friends of friends. It just gets to a point where it’s like, you’re just putting this in the show to talk about sex,” Rajagopal explained. She remarked that she often forgets that she’s watching a teenage-based show until she sees the characters walking through a school hallway. Sophomore Reese Weiden detailed the lack of consent she often notices during intimate scenes in TV shows. She noted in particular that many recent Nickelodeon shows that have hit Netflix, such as Victorious, Sam and Cat or iCarly, often have one-off jokes that abruptly have female characters, in particular, force themselves onto the male characters. “I feel like if younger audiences are watching that they might not realize that it’s an issue,” Weiden said. Weiden hit on the double standard that’s seen in many Hollywood TV shows, the difference in the portrayal of consent for men and women. For example, the TV show “Bridgerton” recently had issues with one of the female characters getting dubious consent from her male partner before they had sex, according to Oprah Magazine, creating debate over whether a trigger warning for sexual assault should have been added prior to the episode. Senior Egan Lai asserted that the main issue with most of the sex scenes in television is simply how many of them there are, which can lead to a normalization of an inaccurate portrayal of sex. “There’s an immense amount of [sex

scenes] and by making you desensitized to it, you might not place as much importance on whether or not consent is important or not to intimacy,” Lai said. Senior Izzy Hinshaw pointed out a particular plotline she often notices in many of the teen-centered dramas: having a character lose their virginity. “I think that sets the standard that you should lose your virginity in high school and, in reality, I don’t think that’s the story for many kids. When you have that standard it can make you feel like you aren’t good enough or experienced enough,” Hinshaw said. Fauver also brought up the statistics of high schoolers who have had sex by the time they grad-

u ate and pointed out that the number is lower than his students often assume it is. “Usually [students estimate] 70-80% of high schoolers have had sex by the time they graduate when the data shows that it’s 56%,” he noted. “I think there’s just a culture of comparison and assuming that everyone’s doing things because the loudest people are the ones that are,” Fauver explained.

Students Discuss Sex Podcast “Call Her Daddy” by Riley Huddleston

From the time the “Call Her Daddy” podcast got its start in 2018, it has released 110 episodes and reached number one on the iTunes podcast charts. Whether it be the humor, sex advice, stories or drama, the podcast’s fans praise it for a variety reasons. However, opinions vary on how sex and sex culture is talked about in the podcast. Senior Sabette Grieve first listened to “Call Her Daddy” around her sophomore year after a friend recommended it and loved it. “I thought it made me feel super good about myself and was super funny,” Grieve said. “[I liked] how open they were talking about things that people at school or in my family would normally think are really taboo [...] I think they actually do give really good advice.” While the podcast has

changed over time, recently having a split between the two co-hosts, Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn, Grieve still feels that “Call Her Daddy” and one of the hosts’ new, similar podcast, “Sofia With an F,” are good for both advice and entertainment.

A junior girl found out about “Call Her Daddy” from some older friends. “I originally loved ‘Call Her Daddy,’ and I totally got why everyone was obsessed with it,” she said. “I felt like I was in a conversation with them, and talking about sex in a casual and funny way was different.” Although she still enjoys the non-traditional conversation about sex that strays from the more “medical” way it had been discussed in school and at home, the junior girl’s all-positive opinions have changed. Since the two original hosts split into their own separate podcasts, she has begun to recognize some misogynistic aspects of the dialogue. “It seems more forced and blatantly misogynistic with one host, as there’s no one calming her down,” she said. Grieve does take issue with the way sex culture is talked about in the podcast, referencing episodes where the hosts talk about the cruelty that can be involved in social scenes, especially around attractiveness. Whether comments such as that one are joking are not, Grieve feels that the podcast is still telling the truth about [party and sex culture in college and after.] “I think that it sucks because what they’re saying is true, I don’t think they can [change] the culture,” Grieve said. “I think they portray [sex and hookup culture] in a truthful way, but it’s the culture itself that’s bad.” The junior girl agreed, saying that “Call Her Daddy” tells it like it is. “It shows what dating culture is rather than what it should be,” she said. Grieve also notes that some people may have a harder time listening to sex culture talked about in such a blunt way. “It takes a certain type of person [to hear about sex and hookup culture in the way they talk about it],” Grieve said. A junior boy said that he has heard about “Call Her Daddy” from friends and the internet, but hasn’t lis-

tened in depth. He adds that the things he has heard about the advice they give and stories they tell seem controversial. “It does seem entertaining, but at the same time I wouldn’t take their advice about dealing with sex culture,” he said. “Friends have recounted some stories to me, and [it] seems to display sex in a misogynistic light.” A sophomore girl started listening to “Call Her Daddy” over the summer when a friend recommended it. “I thought it was definitely entertaining [...] but also kind of degrading,” she said in an email to The Coat of Arms. The sophomore girl agrees that the host is not the kind of person she would take advice from. “I assume her main audience is [teenage] girls,” she said. “The podcast doesn’t have a realistic perspective on sex and sex culture for younger people, and I think it kind of enforces the idea that you shouldn’t care about the other person’s feelings.” The junior girl added that “Call Her Daddy” is both a good and bad way to be exposed to sex culture. Like Grieve, she thinks that the podcast has made discussion more open. “[The things they say] are so shocking that it has completely destigmatized [talking about sex for me],” she said. However, she also notes that it shouldn’t be people’s main source of education on the topic. “I think what people have to realize is that it’s an entertainment podcast, not one about health and wellness,” she said. “Some tips they give could be useful, but in terms of morals and how you should think about yourself and others, the things they say could be harmful.”

March ##, 2021

Let’s talk about sex (education)

by Penelope Stinson

Students Discuss Sex Podcast “Call Her Daddy” by Riley Huddleston

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March 26, 2021

Whether it be the birth control pill, IUDs, implants, condoms or shots, there are many different forms of contraceptives available today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 24.4% of women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 49 use birth control pills, an IUD or an implant. A junior girl currently has the Annovera ring, a vaginal ring that can be used for up to a year. She originally got the ring in eighth grade to help lessen strong period cramps but is now glad she has it for multiple reasons. “As I’ve had [the ring] throughout high school, it’s been a great thing because it stopped my period, and it’s a good practice to use it [to prevent pregnancy],” she said. The junior girl also added that she hasn’t experienced any negative effects, and she’s glad that her parents were accepting. “I know some people can’t be honest with their parents, but it’s really great that [mine] are on board.” The junior girl believes that there is stigma sur-

rounding contraceptives, as they are often only associated with having sex. “It can be difficult because even if a girl just wants to control her cycle or be [sexually] safe, it can feel like a taboo topic,” she said. Although condoms are often used by biological males for pregnancy and STI prevention in a sexual relationship, contraceptives such as vaginal rings, birth control pills, IUDs and others are used for the most part by biological females in a sexual relationship, according to counselor Jake Fauver. Another junior girl got an IUD in eighth grade because she had a heavy period that gave her anemia, among other side effects. She noted that it was really controversial in her family because she was young, but she is glad she got it. “[Getting the IUD placed] was the most painful experience of my life. I got my period for [around] 100 days at first, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it was worth it,” she said. While contraceptives are widely used and available in the United States, there are still pros and cons. Contraceptive types range in effectiveness, with no contraceptive being 100% effective. Furthermore, almost all contraceptives result in some side effects, whether they be emotional or physical. Fauver believes that the sexual education program at Menlo has improved the information it provides about contraceptives in recent years, but it is still a work in progress. He also thinks that students get curious about contraceptives at different points in their lives, so addressing it multiple times is important. “I think we’re laying a good foundation [in] ninth grade that we’re working on building on [later],” Fauver said. He also thinks that there is a problem with the weight of contraception falling on biological females in relationships. “Biological males often don’t need to or care to think about it at all, [...] and we need to

normalize the conversation [for males],” Fauver said. Fauver referenced male contraceptive studies that halted because the biological male subjects would report pain or discomfort as a side effect from the contraceptives being studied, although it was often similar to what biological females experience on their contraceptives or periods. “I’m all for more equity in [...] research,” Fauver said. “And even if the research and science doesn’t [result in more male contraceptives], biological male partners should be more informed and play a bigger part in the conversation of contraceptives.” erywhere,” she said. She said the physical expectations for how a woman should look are unrealistic and extremely harmful towards body positivity. One of the main concerns with pornogoraphy is that it’s often free, meaning that the manufacturing of the porn itself can be unethical. “When I say porn, we’re talking about the free stuff that’s easily accessible on the internet. There are places to find consensual porn, where the actors are paid. When it’s free, the porn is almost always harmful,” Bedford said.

Kids these days differentiate themselves from previous generations in numerous ways. But, perhaps one of the most noticeable changes from past generations is a widespread, and often unbridled, use of the internet. Complete access to the internet comes with various pros and cons, but a concern is pornography usage among teenagers. The consequences of excessive porn consumption vary, but some common threats include misinformation about sexual relations, misrepresetation of consent and porn addiction, advocacy groups like ‘Fight the New Drug’ say. “[Porn] isn’t realistic at all; it sets unrealistic expectations for the actual thing,” a junior girl said. Aggressive and even violent sex misrepresents how sex can be a positive experience both outside and inside a relationship. “There is a huge number of kids getting an inaccurate, unloving view of sex, and that’s wrong,” sexual health expert and sex eductation teacher Kate Bedford said. Another aspect of the misinformation in porn is how women’s bodies and general ‘role’ are depicted: they are often objectified, meaning that they are treated as mere objects, in this case for sexual grat-

ification. According to Bedford, porn is also often shot to appeal to the “male gaze.” The term “male gaze” is used to describe when film or other media is produced for an audience of straight men. In the context of porn, the male gaze can warp the content because it is intended for straight men to watch. There is a lack or misrepresentation of female pleasure, and porn doesn’t focus on intimacy as a whole, but rather just the man’s pleasure. “Men get the opposite of education from porn. [Porn] doesn’t show appropriate consent nor does it show what’s actually pleasurable for women in real life,” Bedford said. Despite the male gaze, there are porn sites dedicated to dismantling the sexist filter on the majority of porn. For example, various sites have adopted the name “Feminist Porn,” which refers to porn that emphasizes equality in sexual settings. These sites are mostly directed towards women, and also often feature a wider array of LGBTQ+ pornography. The physical standards provided by porn also prove to be very difficult to maintain. According to another junior girl, the women shown on Pornhub and other free sites appeal to a certain body standard that girls are expected to have. “[That body type] is impossible to achieve. We have to be skinny but curvy and shaved ev-

Consensual porn refers to porn where actors have legally consented to any sex they have on camera. But porn can often show non consensual sex where sex workers may be coerced or forced to perform acts they had not consented to. Non-consensual porn can also involve people who were taken advantage of and/or assaulted on camera. Both of these examples show how porn can be an abusive work environment, or rather just abusive in general. According to Bedford, free porn can be made unethically. Sex workers can face abuse and underpayment from their employers. However, there are current ethical porn sites that emphasize safe and fair working conditions for their employees. When they were kids, older generations did not have nearly as much access to pornography as current teenagers do, which is why there is miscommunication on how to handle the issue, according to Beford. “Parents [often] feel particularly [...] overwhelmed because they don’t have any similar experiences,” Bedford said. “Porn is deeply outside of the parent experience, [which] makes it hard and scary.”

Staff illustrations: Sophie Fang, Lauren Lawson and Sophia Artandi

March 26, 2021 13 Opinions Let's Put an End to Asian American Discrimination by CHARLOTTE PALMER

Headlines about hate crimes against Asian Americans are common in recent months. From the BBC: “COVID ‘Hate Crimes’ Against Asian Americans On Rise;” and “As Attacks Against Asian Americans Spike, Advocates Call for Action to Protect Communities;” from CNN, and “Asian Seniors Assaulted in Unprovoked Subway Attacks” from ABC News. On March 16, eight people, six of whom were asian women, were killed in a series of mass shootings in Atlanta, GA. Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 150% over the past year, according to California State University’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. In January, an 84-year-old man from Thailand was attacked and killed on the street in San Francisco, and in February, a 61-year-old Filipino man was slashed in the face with a box cutter in New York. Hate crimes and anti-Asian sentiment are nothing new: Americans have always struggled with severe cognitive dissonance when it comes to Asian American stereotypes. Americans simultaneously applaud their “model minority” doctors and scientists while disparaging dirty, poor immigrants in Chinatown. COVID-19, with the help of prominent politicians, has flipped the switch toward the latter, blaming all Asian Americans for causing the pandemic. Junior Bella Ting is part of the social media team at LAAUNCH (Leading Asian Americans to Unite for Change), the organization her dad, David Ting, started with friends to combat anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. and increase Asian American representation in areas such as politics, corporations and media. “Trump’s rhetoric

during his presidency — the whole 'Kung Flu' and China virus thing — that kind of language is super harmful and normalizes anti-Asian sentiment,” Bella Ting said. She believes that Trump’s rhetoric contributes to the harmful generalization of Asian Americans. “Some people associate every Asian person with China. Because the pandemic started there, people are using Asian Americans as a scapegoat,” Bella Ting said. The distinction she makes is an important one. While Americans have always viewed Asians as a kind of mono-race, politicians such as Trump perpetuate this harmful generalization and reinforce previously-held beliefs about Asians to shift the blame for COVID-19 off of themselves. Trump is not the only politician who has enforced harmful stereotypes against Asians. Last October, Rudy Giuliani was caught on a hot mic repeatedly bowing while mocking a Chinese accent. The reinforcement of anti-Asian sentiment for political gain is shameful and those who perpetuate it must be held accountable. So, what else can be done? When David Ting and his friends started LAAUNCH, they shared a common background and vision. “We were born and grew up in the U.S. and were alarmed about the record number of hate crimes directed against Asian Americans, especially during the pandemic. In addition, Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the states, but we are still underrepresented in government, corporate leadership roles, media and culture,” David Ting said. “LAAUNCH was started because we wanted to get Asian Americans to show up and vote in the November elections,” Bella Ting said. “LAAUNCH helped put together

Americans have always struggled with severe cognitive dissonance when it comes to Asian American stereotypes.

a digital media campaign that featured prominent Asian American figures, such as actor Hudson Yang from 'Fresh off the Boat' and NBA star Jeremy Lin, to encourage Asian Americans to get out and vote in key swing states. The campaign worked as a record number of Asian Americans ended up voting!” LAAUNCH has now turned to other ways of helping the Asian American community. “Now we are working on the STAATUS Index (Social Tracking of Asian Americans throughout the U.S.), which will help people better understand the underlying causes of prejudice, discrimination and racism towards Asian Americans,” Bella Ting said. Organizations like LAAUNCH are key to pushing back against the racist ideology thrust on us by politicians. They represent action among the American people towards tangible change, not just the performative social activism that we tap through daily on our Instagram feeds. “As part of our resource program, we recently posted a guide on how to combat anti-Asian racism,” David Ting said. “I think it’s great that people are finally starting to stand up for Asian Americans on social media. Companies such as Apple, ESPN, Nike and others sent out statements in support of the Asian American community and condemning racism.” Bella Ting works on LAAUNCH’s Instagram platform. “We live in a technology-based world, and the quickest way to spread our message is through social media,” Bella Ting said. She has craftily consolidated her artistic talents with her passion for Asian American issues. “Something that I kept in mind was to keep everything visually appealing as well as informative,” Bella Ting said. In addition to heavier content about combating antiAsian sentiments, Bella Ting also works

on some more light-hearted posts. “There aren’t that many Asian role models to look up to in the media, so we’re doing spotlights once a month to highlight Asian American public figures,” Bella Ting said. “We also have more fun content so people can learn about and interact with our culture, like our post about Chinese new year.” Social media is a powerful tool for social activism, if used correctly. Students should steer clear of clichéd posts meant simply to conform amongst peers. They should focus on what they can really do to help by finding information that others have not seen before. Posts that share meaningful messages about combating anti-Asian sentiments or that aim to educate Americans about Asian cultures are some of the easiest ways that students can help the Asian American cause. The Asian American movement is a controversial one. Historically, Asian Americans and non-Asian people of color have been pitted against one another, usually by white Americans who point to Asians as a model minority that other people of color cannot or will not emulate. Instead of giving in to these racial tensions, people of color should band together to create lasting movements that invoke positive change for all of us. I think LAAUNCH sets a great example. “Sometimes people have said, ‘you should focus on BLM’ or ‘what you’re doing is taking away from what’s happening with their movement,’” Bella Ting said. “We want to make sure that we have things like our ‘Asians for Black Lives’ post on our feed because if the [people of color] in America are fighting against each other, we’re not going to get anywhere. If anything, [people of color] who share similar experiences should work together to combat racism and discrimination.”

Social media is a powerful tool for social activism, if used correctly.

Read the full story at menlocoa.org !

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

14 Opinions TikTok ... Fast Fashion Is Now on the Clock March 26, 2021

by KAYLIE WU

In 2018, downloading the TikTok app was typical and cringey Gen Z behavior. However, TikTok has grown rapidly, and it was the world’s most downloaded app in 2020, according to Forbes. In November 2018, a report from Wallaroo Media concluded that the app had 680 million users. In February 2021, this number increased to 1.1 billion. TikTok is now a widely used platform across the world, making it the perfect place for trend-setting. The popularity of TikTok and its trends have impacted the world of fashion. According to an article from Vogue, the fashion industry has been impacted by TikTok in many ways. Many global clothing trends in 2020 started on TikTok, including the surprise comeback of 2000s style. Although TikTok has benefited the world of fashion, it has also hurt it. Thanks to TikTok, many fast fashion and mass-oriented clothing companies, which are infamous for using unethical practices, have successfully grown their brands. More explicitly, these clothing companies have been able to advertise their products on TikTok to the most ideal age group: Generation Z. According to Forbes, 60% of TikTok users are part of the Gen Z demographic. Gen Zers do the second most online shopping after millennials, according

to Statista. So, when a company uploads an advertisement video on their TikTok account, it has the potential to be seen by millions of Gen Zers who are likely to make online purchases. Fast fashion companies aren’t limited to advertising through their TikTok accounts; they also use famous TikTok influencers. On TikTok, many popular influencers have brand deals with clothing companies. When a fashion company lands a sponsorship, the sponsored TikToker gets paid to post videos wearing and advertising different products. With these sponsorships, fast fashion companies can grow even more. If a teenager sees a famous person they support modeling a certain item of clothing, they’ll be even more inclined to buy it. According to The Balance Small Business, sponsorships are one of the biggest aspects of a company’s marketing plan. Fast fashion brands are known for selling clothing at cheap prices. These low prices and constant sales are yet another factor that helps fast fashion companies grow rapidly. For example, in 2020, fast fashion brand Shein was one of teenagers’ most preferred e-commerce sites, according to Statista. Shein may sell cute clothes for a cheap price, but the brand is costing the world in a different form. Because Shein is a fast fashion

Although TikTok has benefited the world of fashion, it has also hurt it.

company, it relies heavily on current trends. This means Shein constantly produces new products to stay on trend — hence the “fast” fashion. However, to produce so much in such limited time, Shein resorts to unethical labor. According to Fashion Checker, 93% of its surveyed brands paid its garment workers below a living wage. The vast majority of garment workers — both at Shein and at other fast fashion companies — live in poverty, despite their constant factory work. Shein has been involved in several other scandals. In 2018, Shein stole another company’s design and sold it as their own, according to 34th Street. In this same year, Shein experienced a data breach, which comprised the emails and passwords of over 6.4 million users. During these controversies, the #BoycottSHEIN hashtag trended across social media platforms. Shein is just one of the many unethical and controversial fast fashion companies that have grown due to TikTok. F a s t f a s h i o n i s n ’t dishonorable solely because of its various scandals and mistreatment towards its workers; it is also extremely harmful to the environment. According to Vox, clothing production in the fashion industry is responsible for

Staff illustration: Michele Hratko

8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions — this percent is equivalent to the climate impact of the European Union altogether. Because of the fast fashion industry’s zero consideration towards the environment, factory wastewater has transformed flourishing rivers into biologically dead zones. According to National Geographic, because dead zones have such low oxygen levels, most organisms are unable to survive in the area’s hypoxic conditions. Additionally, the synthetic fibers that are used to make most clothes are created from fossil fuels, meaning that fast fashion brands must exploit a large amount of fossil fuel to produce their clothing so quickly. Furthermore, fast fashion wastes fossil fuels, contributes to global warming, destroys large bodies of water, kills life and hurts endless other aspects of the environment. In order to limit fast fashion’s alarming effects, buyers should do a little more research before ordering something online. It’s important to understand that TikTok advertisements often don’t accurately represent a certain brand. Instead of ordering from a fast fashion brand, you can probably find a similar product from a more sustainable brand.

The production of clothing in the fashion industry is responsible for 8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Opinions

March 26, 2021

Students Reflect on the Intense Academic Rigor at Menlo Menlo Is Known To Be Challenging, But Some Students Say It Pushes Them To Succeed by SUTTON INOUYE

“Menlo School’s mission is to empower students to explore and expand their interests, reach their fullest potential, develop the skills necessary for success in college and become ethical, responsible and engaged members of ever wider communities,” according to the Menlo mission statement. Posted on the Menlo School website, around the campus, and in most classrooms, this mission statement stays true as students push and challenge themselves to grow in and out of the classroom.

Students push and challenge themselves to grow in and out of the classroom. Senior Siena Bundy joined Menlo last year. “[Before joining Menlo], I heard that it was a hard school and generally had a very competitive nature. Not just with academics, but with balancing sports and extracurriculars as well,” Bundy said. "I have two older siblings, and they always told me that the high school is a big step up [from Menlo Middle School]. Although it was scary, I also took it as motivation," sophomore Dylan Gold said. Gold is returning to soccer this year and simultaneously hopes to join the tennis team if the athletic department allows it. "If I'm going to be playing two sports, it'll be difficult balancing my school work, practices and games," Gold said. It is no secret that Menlo's curriculum can be challenging, and students often feel pressure to succeed. "For me, [the pressure to do well in school] stems from myself: wanting good grades, to then wanting to

get into a good college," junior Marshall Seligson said. "It's up to me to motivate myself and to make the decision to apply myself in my classes." Seligson recognizes that there is subtle competition between students academically, but he has learned to focus on himself. "As I've gone through the grades, I've accepted that I'm never going to be at the top of the class or the smartest kid, so when it comes down to it, I've just got to do the best I can and wherever that gets me is great," Seligson said. Although classes are occasionally overwhelming, freshman Parker Brown acknowledges the benefit of challenging courses. "I like being challenged because it's what makes learning interesting," Brown said. "If I ever feel lost, my teachers have systems in place where I can meet with them to understand a topic better." Students also can choose their desired amount of academic rigor with their course schedules. Menlo offers multiple levels of classes, including honors, advanced placement (AP) and advanced topics (AT). "I like challenging myself [with AP classes] in areas that I'm interested in, and for me, that's STEM-focused," Seligson

said. "I think there is kind of an expectation for juniors to take an AP English, even if that doesn't come naturally to them." However, Seligson doesn't regret taking AP Language this year because although it is a challenging class, it has helped him grow as a student, learn more and improve. As the year is nearing the end, the sophomores are determining which English course to take as a junior. Like Seligson mentioned, there is pressure to join either AP Literature or AP Language. I have always had trouble finding the hidden metaphors or the important motifs throughout a novel, and analyzing famous works is difficult for me. However, with college in the back of my mind and my peers discussing which ones they will apply for, I feel like the AP classes are a requirement

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

for my success, despite whether I am ready for the challenge.

I feel like the AP classes are a requirement for my success, despite whether I am ready for the challenge. As a senior, Bundy recognizes students’ prioritization of their futures outside of Menlo. "Definitely for college applications, students look to AP classes, as well as being able to pass out of [those classes having AP credit] in college," Bundy said. "Menlo's teaching includes a lot of collaboration [among] classmates, and now I think that I can work very well with other people, which is going to help me a lot in college," Bundy said. At Menlo, teachers often have students apply their foundation to a larger scale or more complicated problems, making classes more academically rigorous. "Sometimes I like it when teachers give us the basics, and it's up to us to learn how to apply them, but with certain classes, this can be difficult, and I'd rather have the topic directly explained," Gold said. The inevitable fact is that grades and GPAs are a large factor in the underlying competitiveness and stress. So, with classes that are more difficult to achieve high grades in, some students prioritize their grades over challenging content. "The end of junior year and the beginning of senior year was the most stressful time for grades. With applications, it became a lot to handle," Bundy said. At Menlo, we don’t sugarcoat anything. Yes, Menlo is a school that requires us to push ourselves. And yes, maybe we do have to work a bit harder than our peers at other schools. Yet, students leave Menlo more prepared for the outside world.

COVID-19 Forces Seniors To Sacrifice Second Semester by BRADY KLINE

When Menlo announced its transition to virtual learning on March 11, 2020, it was devastating for students, most of all for the class of 2020. Those seniors missed out on the various end-of-year traditions that they had looked forward to for four years. There were no senior seasons for any spring athletes, and they had to have a fullymasked and socially-distanced graduation. However, the class of 2020 still got to enjoy the first six or seven months of their senior year before COVID-19 hit. Us current seniors have spent about five weeks on campus, are yet to have a single athletic competition, and have already missed out on many of the senior traditions we've been looking forward to. As the pandemic starts to get under control, we look to regain a bit of what we have lost so far this year.

Nothing will replace all of the memories we already should have created. However, nothing will replace all of the memories we already should have created. While the administration has tried to

recreate some of those traditions in a more COVID-19-friendly environment, they have not made up for the new memories that COVID-19 prevented us from creating. Screaming “Five Golden Rings” on the steps of Stent Hall, while wearing masks, wasn’t exactly the same as shaking the gym floors while covering them with toilet paper like we had all dreamed of. Perhaps what we looked forward to

Perhaps what we looked forward to most of all was being second semester seniors. most of all was being second semester seniors. We dreamed of lounging around on the quad during our numerous free periods, knowing where we are going to college and having little homework to do. While we are second semester seniors, it certainly doesn’t feel like it. Instead of lounging around on the quad during free periods, we lay in bed bored with nothing to do. While I thought most of us would know where we were going to college by now, in a year with so many unprecedented changes, most of my friends and I don't know where we're going next fall. Because of this COVID-

19-impacted reality, we still feel the same overwhelming pressure that we’ve felt the past three and a half years to get good grades. It also feels like we have similar amounts of school work in comparison to the first semester. When you combine these factors with Zoom fatigue, I feel that we've basically lived the same day a hundred times over: we wake up, get on our computer and spend the next six hours in front of it, just to have more homework afterward. As the COVID-19 cases have reduced,

Staff illustration: Andrea Li

current seniors get to look forward to something that last year’s seniors did not, the prospect of a normal start to college. While current college freshmen have struggled to meet new people doing online classes, and many of them are not even finding themselves on campus this year, we look to not have to deal with the same struggles. Additionally, we can hope to have a normal last summer with our high school friends before going off to college in the fall.

Opinions

March 26, 2021

While Contact Sports Resume, Schools Are Still Shut Down by ALEX LEVITT

I remember the exact moment when I learned that I would be able to have a football season this spring. After reading an article on the new state restrictions on outdoor contact sports, I felt elated that one part of my life would be returning to some level of normalcy in the midst of a year of unfamiliarity that has taken a toll on my happiness. But after circulating that article to my friends at Mountain View High School, who have yet to return to the classroom in any capacity, I started to get some responses that shifted my mood. “You can play football and we can’t be in school?” one sophomore wrote. “Nice priorities [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom.” As the day went on and I thought more about the discrepancy between our two situations, I started to feel irritated by the lack of science behind California's pandemic restrictions — a feeling I have had all too often in the past year. This feeling only intensified when on Thursday, March 4, the state announced that they would permit indoor contact sports to play after reaching the same case rate threshold

of outdoor sports. While I’m personally in favor of all reopening efforts, I’m still aware of the gross inequality between different sectors in this process. As of [insert date], high schools can only reopen if they’re in the red tier, which requires less than seven adjusted weekly cases per 100,000 residents. Simultaneously, indoor and outdoor contact sports may resume after their county has less than 14 adjusted weekly cases per 100,000 residents. An MIT Sloan School of Management study suggests that reopening guidelines should be determined by “the tradeoff between relative risk of infection and importance to consumers.” In both of these categories, schools would top contact sports in terms of reopening value. On Friday, Feb. 12, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that schools should reopen as long as students follow safety protocols, such as wearing masks in the classrooms. This announcement came after months of CDC studies showing the safety of in-person school, along with its significant mental health benefits for students. Studies of a similar scale regarding

high school athletes are harder to come by. However, I can infer with confidence that maskless, indoor high-contact sports such as basketball and wrestling have higher risks of COVID-19 transmission than regulated in-person school with masks and social distancing. Sadly, in the time period since that CDC announcement, California has not changed the case rate threshold needed for high schools to reopen, despite the relaxed guidelines on contact sports. This begs the question, with nearly undisputed evidence that schools should be prioritized to reopen over contact sports, what is leading Gov. Newsom and the California Department of Public Health to flip their priorities? The answer is their inability to stand up to teachers’ unions. Throughout the pandemic, these unions across the country have threatened to strike if their demands for staying at home weren’t met. As a result, a catastrophic number of schools have remained closed while nonunionized workers in other riskier fields continued to work in person. “The unions have made it pretty clear that they do not want teachers

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Editor-in-Chief............................................Carly McAdam Print Editor...................................................Sophia Artandi Online Editor.......................................................Emily Han News Editor....................................................Sylvie Venuto Assistant News Editor..........................................Alex Levitt Spread Editor......................................................Tessa Frantz Assistant Spread Editor..............................Riley Huddleston Arts & Lifestyle Editor..................................Ella Hartmanis Assistant Arts & Lifestyle Editor.....................Georgia Paye Sports Editor.................................................Chase Hurwitz Assistant Sports Editor.......................................Lexi Friesel Opinions Editor.............................................Louisa Sonsini Assistant Opinions Editor..........................Penelope Stinson Design Editor................................................Lauren Lawson Head Copy Editor...............................................Parina Patel Copy Editor....................................................Valentina Ross Video Editor.....................................................Laura Artandi Photo Editor.....................................................Sadie Stinson Staff Writers.................................................Abby Becker, Alexander Chen, Sophie Fang, Erica Fenyo, Lizzie Freehill, Sohan Gaitonde, Alyssa Grosso, Tatum Herrin, Sutton Inouye, Adam Karr, Claude Kingsley-William, Brady Kline, Ari Krane, Sofia Labatt, Sophie Leupold, Andrea Li, Jake Lieberman, Madison Liu, Alea Marks, Danielle McNair, Cormac Mulloy, Julia Naik, Makenna Olson, Charlotte Palmer, Annie Stent, Kaylie Wu Staff Illustrators.................Michele Hratko, Dorinda Xiao, Sophie Fang, Kate Richardson, Grace Tang Adviser............................................................Tripp Robbins

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back in school buildings,” Michigan State University Professor of Education Policy Katharine Strunk said to Education Week. Coaches, the equivalent of teachers in the world of high school sports, have had the opposite impact, often advocating for student-athletes’ rights to play sports. In December 2020, Junipero Serra High School football coach Patrick Walsh created the Golden State HS Football Coaches Community to convince the state to allow high school football this school year. After meeting with government officials, the organization claims to have been instrumental in the decision to restart contact sports. This last point on the teachers and coaches proves an unfortunate truth about our governor: his priorities are contingent on what will give him political power, not what the science says. No amount of invoking the “experts” in his press conferences can make up for the unscientific rules our state is subject to. The Newsom administration is inconsistent, ignoring the needs of its most desperate children and instead buckling under the weight of lobbying groups.

Mission Statement

The Coat of Arms is an Share your opinions with us on independent, student-led open any topic, whether we’ve covered forum for student expression. All decisions relating to the it or not. Reach out to the editor at: carly.mcadam@menloschool.org management and content of The Coat of Arms are fundaor to mentally the responsibility of The Coat of Arms students. Coat of Arms report50 Valparaiso Avenue Atherton, California 94027 ers strive to acknowledge their internal biases and tell mean(650) 330-2001 ingful stories with empathy, fairness and journalistic integrity. The Coat of Arms staff is committed to building on the Visit us online legacy of past staffs while setat menlocoa.org ting the foundation for future members.

Sports

March 26, 2021

Some Sports Have No Varsity Season Menlo's Extreme Athletes Go Above and Beyond...Literally

by DANIELLE MCNAIR

The Menlo Athletics Department is made up of 18 varsity girls and boys teams, yet some athletes in the school community take it one step farther than the varsity level and participate in a variety of extreme sports. Sophomore Linus Hansen is an avid rock climber. Hansen began climbing in a small gym in New York City called Steep Rock Bouldering. “I first started climbing because I was not playing a sport and decided that it would be an interesting thing to do,” Hansen said. Hansen’s passion stems from the challenge and improvement of rock climbing. “When you do a route that you previously thought impossible it’s a pretty amazing experience,” Hansen said. “What keeps me around is the personal challenge, the measurable improvement and the feeling of trying hard on a route.”

J u n i o r E m o r y Tu d o r i s a competitive swimmer. They have been swimming competitively since first grade. “Ever since then, I’ve been swimming yearround,” Tudor said. Junior Luke MacNaughton is a passionate surfer. “My dad loves to surf, and he taught me and my brother when we were super young,” MacNaughton said. “We moved to Hawaii when I was seven years old, where I discovered my love for surfing.” Lastly, junior Max Saito is an adrenaline-seeking skier. “I began skiing when I was three because my parents loved it, and now I love it, too,” Saito said. Hansen’s excitement towards climbing comes in waves. “What normally keeps me excited is watching or reading about routes that I would like to do sometime in the future,” Hansen said.

Menlo Mask Guidelines for Sports By Ella Hartmanis

General Guidelines for All Sports

California's statewide guidance is that "face coverings will be strongly encouraged to the greatest extent possible." According to Athletic Director Earl Koberlein, masks are required on the sidelines but not during competition. Additionally, coaches and staff are required to wear masks at all times.

According to Director of Sports Performance and Wellness Jesse Lindenstein, athletes must wear masks at all times, except during water breaks.

Strength & Conditioning

Basketball According to basketball coach Keith

Tennis According to tennis coach Bill Shine,

Larsen, currently, while basketball

players have to wear their masks

practices are outside, players wear

while not on the court, but can take

their masks at all times. However,

off their masks while playing.

once indoor practices resume the current guidelines may change.

Junior Max Saito flying through the air on his skis. “I go pretty big, I’ve jumped off 50 foot cliffs.” Photo courtesy of Max Saito

Tudor has always loved the water. “When I was little I used to swim in thighdeep puddles that formed when the golf course near my house flooded,” Tudor said. “Considering my love of water, swimming was a natural choice. I’ve always hated sweating and getting hot, so swimming is just perfect for me.” The sport has become a constant in Tudor’s life. “The same things that drew me to swimming in the first place keep me doing it. I love my team and I love spending time in the water. It’s that simple,” Tudor said. What sets Tudor apart from other highly competitive swimmers are some of their unique accomplishments, including open-water swimming. Tudor placed third in the Escape from Alcatraz swim, a race that takes place in the San Francisco Bay. Athletes participate in a one-and-a-half mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the mainland. Tudor is most proud of their work ethic and dedication every day at practice. “I think it shows a degree of perseverance that I find more impressive,” Tudor said. MacNaughton surfed often while he lived in Hawaii, but when his family moved back to California, he stopped going out as frequently. “It was hard for me to be motivated to get out there because the water was colder and it was less convenient,” MacNaughton said. “But COVID-19 helped because it has given me more time to go in the ocean.” W h e n h i s m o t i v a t i o n i s l o w, MacNaughton has a unique mindset that encourages him to get out. “99% of the time, even if I just catch one or two waves, I am going to enjoy it, so knowing that being out in the ocean is a better time than I am having gets me out,” MacNaughton said. “Plus, the ocean is beautiful no matter where you are,

and I always find the water calming.” Saito participates in a seasonal sport, which makes for an intense winter and more relaxing summer, where he likes to play tennis. “I go all out and have done some pretty crazy stunts while skiing,” Saito said. “I like to go pretty big; I’ve jumped off 50-foot cliffs.” Skiing for Saito sometimes results in serious injuries. “I fell on a big jump recently and hurt my chest. I have not been able to work out or play tennis since,” Saito said. “I also had surgery on my hand from an injury I got skiing and still have a scar.” After all these years, Saito is not scared of falling anymore. “Falling is not the most uncomfortable thing that can happen on the mountain anymore. It is usually pretty minor, and I am used to it,” Saito said. For these athletes, the recent COVID-19 restrictions have not altered their ability to pursue their sport. Hansen rock climbs in a gym several days a week and has been able to enjoy climbing outside even more during the pandemic. “I enjoy traveling safely to places like Las Vegas or Saint George, [Utah], where I can climb outdoors the entire weekend,” Hansen said. Luckily for Tudor, it is relatively easy to swim while staying safe. “During competitions, we swim with one person per lane and the pool acts as a giant vat of disinfectant,” Tudor said. MacNaughton and his family have relocated to Santa Barbara because school can be attended remotely, which has allowed him better access to the ocean. “I surf once a day at least, if not more. It has been nice being able to go out whenever I want,” MacNaughton said. Skiing is a sport allowed in the purple tier, so for Saito, his winter routine has gone untouched.

Cross Country Cross country had its first meet on

Baseball According to junior Max Peña, players wear masks at all times.

Feb. 27. According to cross country coach Jorge Chen, all athletes wore their masks until five minutes prior to the event and immediately after finishing the race.

Water Polo

Football

According to boys water polo coach

According to juniors Griffin Perks

Jack Bowen, any time players aren't in the pool they must be wearing their masks.

and Noah Kornfeld, the players wear their masks while getting ready and when not wearing helmets, but they remove their masks when wearing their helmets.

Scan the QR Code to Read the Full Version of Menlo's Extreme Athletes!

Sports

March 26, 2021

Left, Right, Dodge, Punch, Punch: Meet Menlo's New Esports Teams by CHASE HURWITZ

Junior Raunak Agrawal is one of two co-leaders of Menlo’s new Esports Club. Agrawal and his other co-leader, junior Kahaan Gandhi, help organize and communicate with student members.“We just encourage people to play properly. We made a charter that details the type of conduct we expect, so good sportsmanship, no rage-quitting, stuff like that,” Agrawal said. “We want to make sure everyone can have fun.” Additionally, Agrawal and Gandhi set up club meetings and organize game schedules. Esports is a form of sport competition played virtually through video games. The esports scene has been rapidly expanding for years and saw an even larger boost in popularity during the pandemic, as one of the only competitions that was left essentially unaffected by COVID-19.

The idea for the club was introduced by new computer science teacher Douglas Kiang, who ran a successful esports team at a school that he previously worked at in Hawaii. “At my [old] school, the athletics department actually came to me and said, ‘would you be interested in running the club,’” Kiang said. “I wanted to create a safe space where students could get together and would have support from the school in terms of computer hardware.” Kiang got fellow computer science teacher Mathew Redmond to be the second teacher advisor of the club. Redmond even had some previous esports experience from participating in Blizzard Entertainment’s Mythic Dungeon Invitational Tournament. “I played with the Big Dumb Guild team; we placed seventh overall and took home a small prize pool,” Redmond said.

Despite both teachers being advisers and lifelong video game players, Redmond credits Kiang with the creation of the club: “the inspiration, execution and credit for the Menlo Esports team absolutely goes to [Kiang].” The various esports teams compete in the PlayVS league — the “official scholastic high school and college esports league,” according to their website. The Esports Club competed in the fall season with two Rocket League teams and a League of Legends team but is expanding to include FIFA and Madden for the upcoming spring season. Because of this, Gandhi expects the club to grow during the second semester: “Not only did they add a bunch of new games like FIFA and Madden, but a lot more people have also gotten into games like Rocket League.” Additionally,

the Esports Cub is merging with the Super Smash Bros. Club, although PlayVS does not support a Smash league. “There’s two types of leagues: a state league and then a [regional] league,” Gandhi said. “You can have any amount of teams in the regional league but only one in the state league.” The varsity team plays in the State League, which competes for the championship within California. The regional league functionally acts the same except teams compete against other high schools in their region. While Agrawal and Gandhi organize game schedules with teams, Kiang manages the PlayVS software, which only a coach has access to. “[Nationally], there are over 143,000 players, 21,000 schools, across seven different games. So it’s a big league,” Kiang said. For reference, football has

Staff illustration: Dorinda Xiao

roughly 1,006,000 national high school participants, while girls volleyball has roughly 452,000, according to the NCAA. Gandhi, Agrawal and just about every other member affirmed the low commitment and relaxed nature of the club. Games are only once a week, teams usually don't hold official practices and there is an overwhelming emphasis on just having fun. “When the Esports Club was announced at the beginning of the year, I noticed that Rocket League was one of the sports,” freshman Eric Yun said. “I’ve been playing for a while and so have my friends, so we just decided to join as a team. We had a pretty good season and finished by moving up from the regional to the state league. It’s just fun; it’s five games, which are

five minutes each, every Thursday at four o’clock. It’s a pretty small commitment.” Junior Connor Yu plays for the League of Legends team and also highlighted the casual environment. “If you’re thinking about trying it, there’s really no risk at all. You’re just having fun,” Yu said. Nonetheless, for some students, playing the game competitively ruined the atmosphere. Senior King Christian played on one of the two Rocket League teams during the fall season; however, he won't be returning for the spring. “It was still fun playing competitively, but it took a little bit of fun out of the game since you’re always having to try. I just got kind of tired of it,” Christian said. Conversely, Yu felt that the competitive

nature of the league added a new element to gaming. “It made it a lot more exciting because it felt like there were some stakes on the line. Overall, it’s just more emotional,” Yu said. Despite preparing to run four different games in the PlayVS spring season, creating the club has not been without challenges. Initially, Agrawal wanted to offer firstperson shooter games such as Overwatch and Fortnite. However, PlayVS then pulled these two games from the California state league, causing many of the new members to lose interest. “We had about 70 responses on the first survey to see what students' interest levels were. But PlayVS getting rid of Overwatch blew out a lot of initial interest in the club,” Agrawal said.

Kiang and Agrawal had talks with Dean of Students Tony Lapolla who shared that getting first-person shooters cleared by the administration probably would not have happened even if California teams were eligible to play them in PlayVS. Additionally, COVID-19 posed a new type of challenge to the club organizers. “Camaraderie is hard to build when you're super far away from everyone,” Redmond said. “I can't wait for the time when we can start gaming in person again,” Kiang said. “I’m going to play music and hopefully people can come who aren't even competing, but they can cheer on players there, talk to folks, play the Pac Man machine in my classroom. It’ll be a good time."

Sports

March 26, 2021

COMMITTED CORNER

Jeremy Yun, Princeton University by LEXI FRIESEL

In fifth grade, senior Jeremy Yun began playing golf at the Princeville driving range on a surfing trip in Kauai. Now, years later, Yun is committed to play golf at Princeton University next year. After initially realizing his interest in the sport, Yun began participating in a variety of junior golf tournament circuits, such as U.S. Kids Golf, the Junior Tour of Northern California (JTNC) and the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). “It’s been a fun experience to meet kids from all over,” Yun said. “There aren’t many ways to play team golf outside of high school, so I play as an individual.” Yun

was not affiliated with any particular team program until he began playing for Menlo. Upon starting Menlo as a freshman, he began playing for the school’s varsity team. “It’s really been fun to see my teammates grow and to push everybody to be better,” Yun said. “I love riding the team van to practice, the celebrations for good putts and experiencing the game together.” Throughout high school, Yun has also continued playing the sport as an individual, competing in local and national level junior and amateur circuits. In an interview with The Coat of Arms, Yun shared that one of his favorite

memories with the sport was his freshman season, when the team advanced to the state championships as a varsity team in 2017 for the first time in school history. “Getting to spend four months with the team was a great experience because I got to know the guys on and off the golf course,” Yun said. The team placed third in the state, and Yun received the “Rookie of the Year” award, given to him by the Menlo golf program. Throughout his high school career, Yun and his team have received a variety of other awards and honors. In 2018 and 2019, his Menlo varsity team was named a West Bay Athletic League (WBAL)

Boys Golf All-League Team, and in 2019, Jeremy reached the 2nd Round of the CIF CCS Championship. As an individual, Yun won the 2019 AJGA Kansas Junior at Buffalo Dunes. He also qualified for the 2020 NCGA Amateur and was the qualifier medalist for the 2020 California State Amateur. Going into Princeton, Yun looks forward to continuing to play the sport at a competitive level on a team. “I’m excited to explore a range of paths at Princeton and to have the opportunity to play on another great golf team,” Yun said. “I’m looking forward to being part of the program.”

Yun (top center). Golf Photos Couresty of Jeremy Yun

JC Ng, Pomona College

Baseball Photos Couresty of JC Ng

by BRADY KLINE

Senior JC Ng committed this winter to play baseball for the Division III program at Pomona-Pitzer. The Pomona-Pitzer baseball team is a joint program between Pomona College, where Ng will be enrolled and play outfield this fall, and Pitzer College. Ng started playing baseball when he was four years old and has been playing ever since. Ng first realized that he wanted to pursue collegiate baseball in eighth grade, when he started playing competitive baseball and realized that he it loved and thrived from the competition.

Like many other student-athletes, especially in the class of 2021, Ng’s recruiting process was greatly affected by COVID-19. In addition to the summer and fall leading into his senior year playing for his travel team, Ng’s junior season playing for Menlo was supposed to be critical in getting exposure to different college coaches. Unfortunately, both opportunities were cancelled due to COVID-19. Without these opportunities to showcase his skills, Ng had a wide variety of schools he talked

to choose other players over him because some states allowed baseball to return. Ng was unable to play and get that same exposure because California was reluctant to allow baseball to return to play. Ng said of his challenging recruiting process, “It was a pretty long and very stressful journey, especially with the recent pandemic. A lot of coaches came in and out of touch, and sometimes when you’re really interested in a school and it doesn’t work out, it’s tough.” Ng said that when it came time to make

a decision, the biggest thing that stood out about Pomona-Pitzer was how the coaches had interacted with him throughout the recruiting process. He said that he had talked consistently with the coaches since freshman year, and they always believed that he would develop into a great recruit. Additionally, Ng felt that he shared similar philosophies and values to the coaches at Pomona-Pitzer, and he believed that it was the best fit for him to continue his academic and athletic careers.

Sports

March 26, 2021

In Photos: Students Finally Return To Play Sports by Laura Artandi, Reena Kagan and Peter Hanson (Far left) Sophomore Natalie Westermann smiles as she returns the ball in the first tennis match of the season. Photo by Reena Kagan (Left) Junior Greg Hilderbrand attempts to pass the ball over the head of a member of the Saint Ignatius team. Photo by Peter Hanson (Left) Sophomores Natalie Westermann, Alea Marks and freshman Claire Escher race against two Crystal Springs team members. Photo courtesy of Pam Tso McKenney (Below) Seniors Calvin Katz and Kamran Murray on the final stretch of the track in their cross country match. Photo courtesy of Pam Tso McKenney

(Right) Senior Lindsey Canessa and junior Emily Han play a doubles tennis match against Crystal Springs. Photo by Reena Kagan

(Above) Senior Connor MacMitchell plays in a water polo game. Photo courtesy of Pam Tso McKenney

(Left) Senior Alexandra McCusker competes in a cross country race against Crystal Springs. Photo courtesy of Pam Tso McKenney