The Coat of Arms Issue 48.4

The Coat of Arms

Volume 48, Number 4

Menlo School, Atherton, California

Thursday, March 31, 2022

serving Menlo's upper school since 1973

Senior Spring Break Trip Raises Questions About Equity, Exclusivity

by LAURA ARTANDI, SOPHIA ARTANDI, EMILY HAN, SYLVIE VENUTO & CHASE HURWITZ

In recent years, some Menlo seniors have gone on spring break trips to Mexico with friends, and with that, students have developed a variety of opinions surrounding the luxurious trip and Head of School Than Healy’s presence.

According to senior and Student Body President Sammie DostartMeers, who refers to the trip as a “tradition,” the trip has been going on for as long as she can remember; however, for roughly the past five years, the vacation has become centered around Punta Mita, Mexico.

Dostart-Meers’s family owns a large compound in Punta Mita, and she has been present for multiple previous senior spring breaks. “I’ve always really liked it because I saw the joy and fun my brother’s class [2019] got to experience,” Dostart-Meers said.

According to Dostart-Meers, students stay in a variety of different housing options, from homes to hotel rooms. While some students stay as guests with students who have property, others rent lodging with their friends and a few parents to supervise. Others stay in lodging with their families. People stay in different neighborhoods throughout Punta Mita that range in price. In one neighborhood where Menlo students are staying, villas can cost around $2,000 to $6,000 per night, according to the villas’ websites. Some students

rent a condo and split the cost between families, with many houses fitting six to seven students.

Healy has also been in Punta Mita during spring break in previous years. While some students see the trip as a senior tradition, Healy takes issue with referring to it in that way.

“To my mind, ‘tradition’ evokes a long-standing pattern, maybe even [something] school-endorsed,” he said.

Senior Meera Rajagopal is planning on attending the trip this year for the first time but said she dislikes the concept. “It’s just the ultimate example of how privileged Menlo is,” Rajagopal said. “Moral-wise, I’ve never liked the concept of the Mexico [trip].”

Rajagopal attributes her attendance this year to a fear of missing out. “All of my friends are going, [...] and socially, I don’t want to be excluded from what’s going on,” Rajagopal said. She believes that there is a certain pressure to attend the trip.

“I think the pressure to go to Mexico and be with everyone [is negative],” Rajagopal said.

Spring Break, pg. 5 Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

Menlo Becomes Testing Ground for the New Electric Bus Project

by GEOFFREY FRANC

The fleet of five buses that transports students from across the Peninsula to Menlo each day now counts an electric bus among its ranks, with another slated to arrive in late March or early April.

The new bus is a pilot program of Zūm Services, the contractor hired by Menlo to provide student transportation to and

from campus.

Menlo’s new bus was one of the first six all-electric school buses deployed by Zūm in early March. The others serve the Nueva School, Oakland Unified School District and San Francisco Unified School District, according to a press release from the company.

The electric buses are part of Zūm’s project to operate a 100% electric fleet by 2025. “Zūm is one of the first players in the market, which is electrifying the school buses and converting the fleet to electric,” Zūm’s founder and CEO Ritu Narayan said.

According to Narayan, of the 500,000 buses on the road today, only 1% are electric. The rest collectively emit 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, and each bus emits 11 tons of carbon dioxide per year. “[There’s a] massive impact that EVs

Check out our website, menlocoa.org

Sophie Stone reviews the achievements of Menlo students in the 2022 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Illustration courtesy of Austin Fujimori

Annie Stent and Kaylie Wu argue that cumulative grades should be visible to students on Canvas.

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

[electric vehicles] can play in helping communities improve the air quality and environmental health, and that’s the work that’s starting to happen in the country,” Narayan said.

Electric buses tend to cost more upfront than their combustion-engine counterparts because of the high cost of lithium-ion batteries. Electric buses cost 3-4 times more than traditional diesel school buses, according to Narayan.

Electric Buses, pg. 3

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News

March 31, 2022

Menlo Removes Mask Mandate Two Years After Shutdown

by ALEX LEVITT

After two years of lockdowns, school shutdowns, capacity restrictions and mask mandates, Menlo is beginning to look much like its pre-pandemic self: classrooms are full of maskless students and teachers, and COVID-19 restrictions are mostly lifted. As of March 14, masks are no longer required in nearly all indoor spaces on campus, a development that followed both California’s and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s loosened mask guidance.

The school still “strongly recommends” masks indoors, as stated in an email to the Menlo community from Head of School Than Healy on March 4.

In order to gain a better understanding of student reception to the shift in guidelines, The Coat of Arms sent four reporters – one from each Upper School grade – to collect data on mask-wearing.

Out of 225 students observed in classes held on March 14, 56% did not wear a mask for the entirety of the period.

"It's so exciting to not have to wear masks anymore and just see everyone's faces."

38% of students wore a mask for the whole class, while 6% wore a mask for part of the period. 64% of teachers also did not wear a mask in observed classes.

While the scope of the data is limited to just 16 classes, multiple trends can be observed. The most striking comparison is between the grades: in classes observed by upperclassmen, 76% of students did not wear a mask at all, while in classes observed by underclassmen, 37% of students did not wear a mask at all.

Teachers’ mask decisions also largely correlated with the choices of students in their class. In classes where teachers chose to not wear a mask, 75% of students did not wear a mask at all, but in classes where teachers wore a mask, 46%

of students did not wear a mask.

As seen in the data, students were generally supportive of the shift. “It’s so exciting to not have to wear masks anymore and just see everyone’s faces,” junior Natalie Westermann said. For others who removed their masks on the first possible day, the mood was one of pent-up excitement: “I feel like [ending mask mandates] is long overdue,” junior Charlie Knoll said.

However, a number of students continued to wear masks. “[I continued to wear a mask] for the safety of me and my family,” freshman Raul Sandoval said on March 14, the day the mandate was lifted.

“I also just feel more comfortable [with a mask on].”

While over 50% of students went maskless, and a minority of students voluntarily wore masks for the entire class period, many students were unsure of what to do. Students tended to follow the masking patterns of their fellow classmates, resulting in most classes being almost entirely unmasked or entirely masked. “I don’t want to be the only one wearing one but also the only one not,” sophomore Eric Yun said. Fellow sophomore Sam Virsik explained that similar to Yun, he’ll wear a mask if his teacher or classmates want him to but prefers not to.

While a majority of teachers also removed their masks on March 14, about one-third of teachers continued wearing masks in the classes observed

by The Coat of Arms’ reporters, although they weren’t necessarily opposed to the school’s policy change. Spanish teacher Rebecca Mouser is one teacher who chooses to wear a mask. “I’m happy that students don’t have to wear masks anymore, and even more importantly that it feels like it’s safe enough that you can go without them in the classroom,” Mouser said. “I’ve had a particularly difficult time in a language class hearing my students [...] but I just feel like I need to continue [wearing one] because I am around family, some of whom are not vaccinated yet, and my mother is elderly.”

News

March 31, 2022

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Russia Invades Ukraine, Triggering Worldwide Backlash

by AGNES SHAO Staff illustration: Agnes Shao

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Putin has made many claims for why he chose to invade Ukraine. He has expressed concern over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into Eastern Europe and former Soviet Republics, especially Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Chechnya. Putin has also accused Ukraine of committing genocide and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a Nazi, even though Zelenskyy is Jewish. In a lengthy speech, Putin said Ukraine was not a real country: “Ukraine has never had its own authentic statehood.”

He argued that Ukraine was created by the Soviet Union under its first leader, Vladimir Lenin, despite overwhelming evidence of Ukrainian culture and history predating the Soviet Union. Putin has also expressed concern that Ukraine has the knowledge and desire to obtain nuclear weapons, thus posing a threat to the Kremlin. While there is no evidence that Ukraine is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, The New York Times reported that Putin has exaggerated the threat to use it as justification for an invasion.

Other than military and economic reasons, Putin could also have personal reasons for invading Ukraine. “I think […] he’s trying to build a legacy for himself as the one who reconstituted the Russian Empire,” Nelson said.

Jealousy towards other powerful world leaders could play a role, too.

“Putin seeks to expand his authority and extend his power and influence. In addition, in the past, other countries [such as] the United States and others have been dominating, and Russia is trying to gain more power and control,” Menlo history teacher Sabahat Adil said.

"

Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that began in 2014. The invasion is the largest conventional military attack on a sovereign state in Europe since World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin has proclaimed that Ukraine is a part of Russia. Menlo history teacher Matthew Nelson believes that as part of Putin’s agenda, “he intends to dismantle the idea that Ukraine deserves autonomy.”

This adventurist foreign policy shown by Putin is nothing new. There was a democratic uprising in Ukraine that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and an attack on Ukraine’s two eastern provinces.

Putin’s intimidation of Ukraine continued to build until Feb. 21, when he declared that Ukraine must be returned to Russian control. On Feb. 24, his army began a full scale invasion.

As of March 23, at least 977 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, according to an update from the United Nations Human Rights Office. A total of 2,421 civilian casualties have been recorded in the country, including 925 killed and 1,496 injured, the UN said.

Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $7.3 billion in total assistance to Ukraine. In addition, the United States provided three sovereign loan guarantees totaling $3 billion. “In this time of uncertainty, we have a clear way forward: help Ukraine defend itself.

Support the Ukrainian people. Hold Russia accountable,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 2. On March 8, the United States banned the import of Russian energy products.

Other countries such as the United States have been dominating and Russia is trying to gain more power and control." — history teacher Sabahat Adil

Putin's motive for invading Ukraine is very personal. He's trying to build a legacy for himself as the one who reconstituted the Russian Empire." — history teacher Matthew Nelson

Electric Buses, cont.

An electric bus awaits passengers on the Loop on March 15, 2022. Only one electric bus was operating at the time, but another is slated to arrive in early April. Photo by Peter Hanson

Monetary incentive programs like California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), which knocks $140,250 off the purchase price of a LionC (the electric bus model purchased by Zūm), don’t bring the price down to parity with a diesel equivalent, according to Narayan.

“The voucher programs are very helpful, but they are not [an] economically viable way to scale up the deployment of electric vehicles in the long run,” she said.

However, Director of Public Relations at Lion Electric (the electric buses’ manufacturer) Brian Alexander said that the combination of federal, state and local incentives should bring the purchase price of an electric bus down to

that of a diesel bus and sometimes lower.

While incentive programs exist in many other states, including funds from the Volkswagen Dieselgate settlement, the financial climate for electric school buses in California is better than in the rest of North America, according to Alexander.

“Depending on where you are there’s really a lot of incentives, and California has just always been ahead on that, so California is just still our biggest market,” Alexander said. “The orders come to an extent from where the incentives are, and we have great incentives in California.”

Despite the incentives, Zūm charges Menlo an extra 35% to operate an electric school bus instead of a diesel one, according to Menlo Chief Financial

Officer Bill Silver. “Unlike Teslas which, actually, on an operating basis, are competitive if not less expensive than running a gas engine car, these EV buses are very expensive,” Silver said. “The price has got to come down.”

Even with the high cost, Menlo continues to offer its bus service for free to its students, according to Silver.

“They’re free because frankly, we want families to use these buses more than they’re [currently] using,” Silver said.

“We have capacity on every one of these buses, and we wish more people would use them.”

Director of Operations and Construction Loren Arms hopes that the price of electric school buses begins to drop as they become more popular. He said the school desires to expand the electric bus network, but that cost is still a challenge. “Do we want to go that route? Absolutely,” Arms said. “But we will consider the cost whether we go that route.”

The school desires to expand the electric bus network, but cost is still a challenge.

Narayan is confident that the price will decrease over time. “Our estimate is by 2025 electric school buses might be of the same cost as diesel school buses,”

Narayan said.

Lion Electric is a Quebec-based company that is currently the leading manufacturer of electric school buses in North America, according to Alexander.

Even with the high cost, Menlo continues to offer its bus service for free to its students.

“We have the most of them on the road, and we have the most miles driven,” Alexander said. “We've been doing it the longest.”

According to Alexander, the LionC comes with either a 100, 125 or 155 mile range, but the 125 mile variant operated

by Zūm is not long enough for the school, according to Silver. “We couldn’t do what we do with just EV buses right now because their range is too limited.”

Despite these challenges, the school is satisfied with Zūm’s operations, having only switched from their previous operator at the beginning of the 202122 school year, according to Arms. “We thought that this vendor would do a lot better on the on time arrivals and also be more communicative.”

Another reason the school chose Zūm over other contractors was their sustainability initiatives. “They buy carbon credits so that the emissions are offset,” Arms said.

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News

March 31, 2022

Eve Kulbieda To Leave Menlo After Eight Years of Work Kulbieda will be Dean of Students at Castilleja School at Beginning of 2022 School Year

by LIZZIE FREEHILL

Dean of Student Life Programming Eve Kulbieda is leaving Menlo after eight years. After the conclusion of the 2021-22 school year, Kulbieda will become the Dean of Students at Castilleja School in Palo Alto.

Eve and her husband Mike Kulbieda have contributed greatly to Menlo, and their children attended Menlo daycare.

Mike Kulbieda will also be leaving his role as Assistant Director of Technology at Menlo at the end of the year; he is going on to work at Avenues: The World School in San Jose.

Kulbieda worked in education for 11 years before she came to Menlo. Her previous roles included teaching in her home country of Australia, serving as Dean of Students at ISF Internationale Schule in Germany for six years and

Eve Kulbieda welcomes freshmen to the Upper School for the 2021-22 school year, her last at the school. Photo courtesy of Menlo School

founding YSC Academy for elite soccer athletes in Philadelphia, PA. The Dean of Students role no longer exists at Menlo, and Kulbieda’s current position as Dean of Student Life Programming is being dissolved next year. Although she wishes she could stay at Menlo, Kulbieda is looking for the next step in her career and has been hoping to return to a Dean of Students position.

“I was super excited that the role came up at Castilleja and that I was the lucky candidate who will get to do it,” Kulbieda said.

Arriving in the fall of 2014, Kulbieda began teaching four math classes at Menlo, including Analytic Geometry and Algebra (honors and non honors) and Precalculus. In her first year, Kulbieda also partnered with English Department Chair Margaret Ramsey as Freshman Coordinator.

Kulbieda became the Freshman Class Dean the following school year, working alongside Dean of Freshman Transition Cindy Lapolla. Kulbieda partnered with Lapolla from the fall of 2015 until Lapolla retired in spring 2021, and Kulbieda took on the role alone for the 2021-2022 school year.

“I really, really love the Freshmen Dean role here,” Kulbieda said. “It’s so awesome because you’re bringing [students] in, you’re blending a class and you’re setting up school culture.”

When the school year began virtually in the fall of 2020, the freshman class was unable to build bonds on campus and have the same experiences that would bring

them closer together. “During a time like COVID where it was really easy to just lay off and not do that much, [Kulbieda] was the complete opposite,” Jackson Deutch, Freshman Class President for the 2020-2021 school year, said. “She was super motivated, always talking with us, always pushing us to do well and always

Kulbieda's current position, Dean of Student Life Programming, is being dissolved at the conclusion of the school year. making sure that we were on task, which I really appreciated about her.”

In fall of 2019, Kulbieda assumed the role of Dean of Student Life Programming. The job included advocacy and assembly programming, developing the student life calendar and the wellness program, leading advocacy teams and grade coordinator teams, and collaborating on student support such as student council.

“I think [Menlo has] really given me my North Star as an educator in that the number one thing I want to give to the world and get out of my career is that every young person is safe from themselves and from the world,” Kulbieda said.

Menlo Administration Pushes Back Against Senior Ditch Day Plans

by ANDREA LI

Senior ditch day is controversial: the meaning and the history of the day depends on whom you ask. However, the generally agreed upon definition is that it is a day where seniors plan to skip school. This year there has been added pushback against ditch day from the administration for several reasons, such as the day potentially disrupting teacher schedules or conflicting with after school extracurriculars.

Although there is an impression with students that ditch day has been a longstanding tradition, ditch day has never been consistent: some years seniors insist on skipping, while other years they don’t, according to Upper School Director John Schafer.

Moreover, senior ditch day can interfere with teacher schedules. “[Ditch day] is actually very disrespectful to the teachers, to just not show up to class. If the science teachers organized a lab, [...] it just is a bummer to plan for the day and all of a sudden no one shows up,” Schafer said.

Student council president and senior Sammie Dostart-Meers believes that there can be a solution to some of the problems the administration has raised.

“I think what we’ve tried to do is talk with the school about maybe letting all the teachers know [when it will happen], and that way they can plan around it [while] trying to also work around athletic schedules,” Dostart-Meers said. “[The school] seems open to compromise, which I’m very happy about. I just don’t think a school-run ditch day is the best way to go.”

Despite this, Dostart-Meers also

understands this resistance from the administration, to a certain extent. “I understand why [the administration is] a bit worried. I think they’re trying to compromise with the school [running] senior ditch day,” Dostart-Meers said.

“But personally, for me, that feels a little bit like the antithesis of a senior ditch day.

The point is that it’s organized by seniors, and the school’s not involved.”

However, Schafer also believes that ditch day can be problematic because of the confrontations between students and the administration. “I'm not trying to impose, but [...] if there was a day of reflection and bonding, I’m in favor of that. If the day is, ‘I want to stick it to the school because they can’t tell me what to do,’ I’m not interested in enabling that,” Schafer said.

According to Schafer, a senior-run ditch day can also be less inclusive to those with other commitments like sports or drama, as having a senior-run ditch day may force some students to prioritize the ditch day over their extracurricular commitments.

However, senior and drama participant Claire Lenden doesn’t necessarily agree with this perspective.

“I don’t quite see [ditch day] as exclusive because people are making that choice to choose drama over doing [...] this day. It’s a personal thing that you get to prioritize: you get to make that decision,” Lenden said. “I can totally see the other side of the argument, though.”

For senior Tyler Flynn, ditch day is seen as a special tradition that can be happily anticipated. “I remember as a freshman, I thought it was awesome that

the administration seemed to be fine with all the seniors just not showing up one day. Ever since then, I’ve been looking forward to my senior ditch day,” Flynn said.

However, Flynn also understands the reasons behind the administration’s hesitance to continue ditch day but would prefer to keep the day. “I understand why they push back, but I don’t think it needs to be as big of an issue as we are making it. It [...] rewards seniors for the work they’ve put in during their high school experience,” Flynn said. “I would like to keep [ditch day] because it’s a super fun day, and there’s no reason to strip that experience from the rising grades.”

Lenden also understands that it’s the administration’s responsibility to look after the students. “​​I think that it

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

makes sense as to why they’re pushing back. I think it’s totally within their right as administration officials. [...] I don’t fault them or have any malice towards them for pushing back because it’s their job to ensure that we all get educated properly. But in terms of [if] I like the fact that they’re pushing back? Not really,” Lenden said.

Ultimately, Dostart-Meers believes that there can be a balance between the disruptions that senior ditch day may cause and the fun seniors have, and this balance can be achieved by coordinating with faculty. “I would really love to have it both where it’s senior-run, but the school knows the appropriate amount of information to keep them not liable but also aware of students not coming to school,” Dostart-Meers said.

Arts & Lifestyle

March 31, 2022

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Spring Break, cont.

Senior Maya Julian-Kwong said that there are certain pressures to attend as well. “I’ve been the past couple of years, and when it was less people, I thought it was really fun. But now that it’s become such a big thing, [...] I definitely think people feel the pressure to go and spend money on insanely expensive trips,” she said.

Senior Amy Wyatt has been traveling to Punta Mita with her family, separate from the senior trip, since she was in elementary school. “It’s beautiful, and I love it there,” she said.

However, although Wyatt has never experienced peer pressure surrounding the trip firsthand, she has heard that peer pressure surrounding the spring break trip is very common. “I’ve heard from many other people that it’s become a source of pressure and stress, and I think that makes it significantly less fun, and it’s also just really unrealistic to expect families to attend such an expensive vacation in the first place,” she said.

Wyatt will be staying with her family in Punta Mita this year but clarified that she would be attending regardless of whether many Menlo seniors were going.

“I’m going there because I want to go there, not because that’s where everyone is going,” she said.

Dostart-Meers believes that the trip is a great opportunity for the seniors to bond with one another. “You really have no other time when you get to spend multiple days with your grade. [It] feels completely unfiltered. Like, you’re not on school property,” she said.

Senior Ben Banatao went to Punta Mita when his sister, ‘19, was on her senior spring break trip, and he agrees that it’s a great bonding experience. “It’s pretty fun, going on vacation with most of your class and being with your friends.

You don’t really get the chance to do that

Staff illustrations: Dorinda Xiao

with a lot of people,” Banatao said.

Dostart-Meers estimates that around 60 of the 143 seniors are going to be attending the trip this year.

Although the trip is heavily centered around seniors, underclassmen have attended in the past. This year, some sophomores and juniors will also be attending the trip. Banatao doesn’t see this as an issue. “Personally, I don’t really have a preference. [...] I know some people want to be more exclusive with just seniors,” Banatao said.

Because Dostart-Meers also attended

"There's obviously an equity issue, [...] and I don't really know how to mediate that.

I think there's a really big part of Menlo that's just excluded from this because it's such a monetarily exorbitant trip." the trip while she was an underclassman, she believes underclassmen should be included. “I’m very happy to include them, [...] and I think it’s kind of our job to include them a bit. Like, obviously [we] have our own special things for just the senior class, but [we should] welcome them if they’re there — why not?”

Dostart-Meers said.

Senior Logan Deeter agrees with the sentiment of multiple-grade inclusivity. “I don’t think it’s disrespectful or they’re [impinging] on our trip just because they’re going along to the same area. I don’t even look at it as them

being invasive on our trip. The more the merrier,” Deeter said.

“It’s also a social thing for some parents because a lot of other parents [are] there,” Julian-Kwong said.

Healy has traveled with DostartMeer’s father, Steve Dostart, to stay in Punta Mita around four times in the past few years, twice during spring break. “[Dostart] is a board member and a friend, and he’s invited my wife and I to join him at his place,” he said.

Students have mixed opinions on Healy’s attendance. “[Healy’s presence] shouldn’t warrant any concern or any backlash. He has every right to go to Mexico if he wants. It’s not a seniors-only thing,” Deeter said.

Rajagopal believes that there are issues with Healy’s attendance. “I think it’s a little inappropriate for the head of school to be going on vacation with students and staying [on] the same [property] as them,” Rajagopal said.

Healy explained that while he’s there he doesn’t spend a lot of time with the students. “I don’t think I’m the person they necessarily want to see while they are on vacation,” Healy said.

Senior Kayla Davis, who has not been on the Punta Mita trip, also believes that Healy’s attendance is potentially problematic. “The fact that [Healy] is going with them [...] just feels really weird,” she said.

“I think it’s offensive to suggest that if I am invited to join somebody somewhere that my capacity to be fairminded in any situation is compromised,” Healy said. “I don’t have a lot of control over what people think and say. All I can do is live my life [and] make the decisions that I think are fair and right for the school and for individual students in such a way that allows me to sleep well at night. I think I have.”

Certain neighborhoods in Punta Mita are very expensive, and factoring in the cost of travel, lodging and other necessities, vacationing there can be extremely pricey. As it is not a schoolsponsored trip, there is no opportunity for financial aid.

Banatao believes that while the trip is definitely expensive, not many people are being excluded this year. “It seems like pretty much anyone that wanted to go is going this year,” he said.

Senior Louisa Moyer believes that the cost of the trip is one of the main issues, especially for students on financial aid. “It sucks for students that are on

financial aid. It feels like a foregone conclusion that you aren’t able to go because it’s expensive,” she said. “A lot of the people who are going might not be trying to exclude others, but the entire activity is inherently exclusive just because of how expensive it is.”

“There’s obviously an equity issue, [...] and I don’t really know how to mediate that,” Dostart-Meers said. “I think there is a really big part of Menlo that’s just excluded from this because it’s such a monetarily exorbitant trip. [...] The question is, ‘How do you make it a trip that all seniors can go on that isn’t run by the school?’” she said.

Senior Ayla Seddighnezhad believes that getting the school involved in the spring break trip could make it more inclusive. “If it was school-organized, it would be a lot more inclusive and [feel] more like a senior trip rather than just having some friend groups go and others not,” Seddighnezhad said.

According to Healy, the school administration has never considered offering an official, school-regulated spring break trip. “Students love school trips when it’s school time that they are missing. [...] Would students flock to a school-sponsored trip on a vacation?

Probably not, because we would have school-based expectations on those trips,” Healy said.

Although she believes there are equity issues, Dostart-Meers hopes the tradition remains at Menlo. “I think it’s a really fun tradition to have some sort of trip like that, but in a more equitable manner,” she said.

Some seniors predicted that the trip will continue with the future senior classes. “I don’t think it will stop immediately,” Julian-Kwong said.

“I think since people [from other grades] are going this year, it won’t really stop — even though it probably should,” Rajagopal said.

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Arts & Lifestyle

March 31, 2022

"Life Beyond Menlo" Program Overtakes Senior Projects

by RHEA NANDAL

Menlo juniors will now complete junior projects during M-Term. In lieu of a senior project, seniors will spend the last two weeks of school participating in the newly-extended Life Beyond Menlo program.

In the past, senior projects have been independent projects for seniors to complete at the end of the year on a topic that is important to them. They may have pursued a new skill, gotten involved in a non-profit internship or engaged with their community in another way. While the main program for seniors this year will be Life Beyond Menlo, they will have the opportunity to opt out of the program and instead complete a senior project or TA at the Borderlands program.

“Life Beyond Menlo is a series of workshops and sessions that focus on things that students would encounter in college and prepare them for life after high school,” Director of Community and Civic Engagement Ava Petrash said.

According to Petrash and Upper School Director John Schafer, plans for the program include teaching students how to eat healthy in college, manage their time efficiently, change a tire, invest money, save for retirement and cook.

Over the pandemic, seniors were not required to complete a senior project.

According to Schafer, the administration had hesitations due to the limited availability of internships. Last year, the seniors had a shortened version of the

Life Beyond Menlo program, and other grades didn’t have an M-Term experience.

Before the pandemic, juniors took a variety of classes during M-Term including archeology, ​​ forensics, music production and ceramics. “We wanted to ensure that M-Term was a cohesive experience and was focused on similar topics so that all experiences built on each other. The junior project builds on the ninth and 10th grade classes more clearly than those previous 11th grade classes,” Petrash said.

Senior Class Dean Ryan Dean attempted to give seniors a voice in the decision-making process. “It’s not always possible to give students what they want,

"The last thing seniors want to think about is another graduation requirement." but it’s always possible to ask them,” Dean said.

Dean sent out a survey to the senior class asking what M-Term experience they’d enjoy. 65% of students who filled out the survey chose to have a choice between senior projects and Life Beyond Menlo and 27% chose to not have any M-Term experience.

Senior Indira Abhyanker shared the majority’s opinion. “Having

senior projects [be] optional is a good compromise because it gives those who want to pursue a project-based passion the freedom to [do] so, without the added stress of it being a requirement for everyone,” Abhyanker said.

According to Dean, a large issue with the senior project is that it’s too tedious.

“COVID-19 has been hard. [...] The last thing that seniors want to think about is another graduation requirement,” Dean said.

Petrash believes a benefit of junior projects is that they can be developed. “I think a junior project is a cool opportunity for juniors to explore what they’re passionate about before the college admissions process begins and they start to think about potential majors. Ideally, they could explore something in the Junior Project that could inform those future decisions,” Petrash said.

Some juniors are excited for the junior project. “I think [the junior project] will give me the freedom and time to combine my interests and create a passion project, one that I can now extend into senior year,” junior Tori Chou said.

Not all juniors prefer the idea of a junior project. “I think it’ll be a little more stressful to do the project as juniors just because of the workload we’re dealing with,” junior Avery Herrod said. Junior Emma Borders agrees. “I think we’d have more time to devote [to] this project as second semester seniors,” Borders said.

The Menlo School Parent Association (MSPA) had concerns about the Life Beyond Menlo Program. Class of 2022 parent lead Kerry Liu expressed concern to the administration on the lack of communication with parents. “There were a lot of parents that were surprised or disappointed that seniors weren’t doing a senior project but more so that there wasn’t a comprehensive plan to replace the senior project,” Liu said.

While the class of 2022 never got a senior project, Schafer hopes for this change to be a transitioning period to a better future of M-Term.

A Menlo student works on their senior project in 2011. Photo courtesy of Pete Zivkov

Unique Dynamics Exist Within Each Language Department

by SOPHIE STONE

Each of Menlo’s four foreign language programs — Spanish, French, Latin and Mandarin — have a distinct dynamic due to the variations in class size as well as extracurricular and club opportunities. Average class sizes range from 17 to 18 students for Spanish to 10 students for Mandarin and Latin, which affects both the way teachers interact with their classes and how classmates interact.

Latin classes are known for being close due to their small size and the Junior Classical League (JCL). The average Latin class size is 10 people, with seven blocks taught for the six levels.

Senior Kayla Davis, who has been taking Latin since sixth grade, is currently in Adv. Latin Lit II: Prior Post AP Latin, a class with only four people. “[The small class size] allows us to form more of a connection with the material because everyone is doing the translating and everyone is making presentations. There’s really time to focus on each person,” Davis said.

Staff illustration: Sophie Fang

Latin teacher Dobbie Vasquez wishes she had more students to fill the lowerlevel classes, but enjoys having smaller class sizes for the advanced levels. “I think we have a wonderful time, and everybody gets to participate in class. […] People can’t come in and not speak,” Vasquez said.

The Mandarin department is another small department, with an average class size of 10 students. Sophomore Noah Babel has been learning Mandarin since kindergarten, and he’s currently taking AP Mandarin, which combines with AT Mandarin to form a class of 12 students.

“It’s easy to practice Mandarin when you’re a small group. You can have more discussions, and there are more conversation elements,” Babel said.

This year, Mandarin doesn’t have a Foundations One class, since most of the incoming freshmen were placed into higher levels, and there weren’t enough students to fill a level one class. Head of the Mandarin department Mingjung

Chen believes that students often perceive Mandarin as one of the most difficult languages to take. “For a speaker that has English as a native language, they have to learn the characters, and pronunciation is so different,” Chen said. “So I would like to have smaller lower-level classes.”

Menlo’s Spanish department is the largest language department at Menlo, making up 20 of the 40 total language blocks, with an average class size of 18 to 20 students. Sophomore Makenna Olson is currently taking Intermediate Spanish with a class of 17 students. However, she doesn’t feel that this prevents her from forming connections with her classmates,

"People can't come in and not speak." teacher or the material. “I think that even though there are so many of us, we get a good amount of practice and one-on-one time […] I would say my class is pretty large, but I like that number, and it never feels too busy or too quiet,” Olson said.

Head of the Spanish department Patti Frías believes there are benefits to having a larger class size when it comes to how students interact with each other.

“We want our students to be able to use the language confidently in very natural settings, [...] and world languages in general [need] communicative activities,” Frías said. “[Students will] talk to their elbow partner or walk around the room, and we're doing a lot of those activities where students have to produce the language in a somewhat spontaneous way.”

However, due to the large number of students taking Spanish, time to ask questions in class can be limited, and

time to meet with Spanish teachers during tutorial fill up fast. “I do wish there were more after-school programs, tutoring or options for students that feel like they are falling behind or weren’t taught specific [Spanish] subjects in their old school or previous level,” Olson said. Spanish teachers often have to find other times to meet one-on-one, such as in the morning or after school, to accommodate all of their students.

Depending on how many blocks are taught for each level, the French department’s class sizes range from nine to 18 students. In her Upper Intermediate French class, junior Avery Herrod is one of 18 students, the largest class in the program. “I liked it more when was smaller because it was a lot more intimate, which made it a lot more comfortable,” Herrod said. “During the first month or two, it was really intimidating.” According to Herrod, having a big class has allowed her to connect with more people outside of her grade.

"It never feels too busy or too quiet."

French teacher Corinne Chung also prefers a smaller class size. “Having nine or 10 students in a class is a dream.

I have a lot of time to make them speak, to see how they do and to follow their improvement,” Chung said. Chung believes that students can connect more with each other in smaller classes. “Often when students come into my class, they say that they missed their class from the previous year and that they missed their group,” Chung said. “For foreign language [classes], smaller is better.”

Arts & Lifestyle

March 31, 2022

Students Reflect On Makeup Use At Menlo

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by SONIA DHOLAKIA

With masks no longer required indoors, students are able to see their peers’ entire faces in class, and students might be more focused on their

appearance than they have all school year.

This includes debating whether or not to wear makeup to school.

Junior Emma Borders began wearing

Staff illustration: Tatum Herrin

makeup regularly in middle school. “At first it was more just for special occasions, like the bar and bat mitzvahs in middle school. And then it became more of an everyday thing,” Borders said.

Borders believes wearing makeup improves her confidence. “It definitely just makes me feel better,” Borders said.

“I feel a little bit more put together.”

Freshman Amber More wears makeup to school practically every day.

“I like wearing makeup because it just makes me feel pretty and gives me that little confidence boost,” More said.

Also citing that makeup makes her feel confident, Senior Lo Cioffi spends around 10 minutes doing her makeup each morning.

Sophomore Elizabeth Powell does not wear makeup for confidence reasons, but instead as a method of personal care. “[Wearing makeup] is kind of like a self care thing, in the morning just setting aside time to do that for myself,” Powell said. Additionally, Powell stated that she views putting on makeup as a fun experience.

Senior C.C. Golub used to regularly put on makeup for school, but does not anymore. “[I stopped wearing makeup] because I didn’t feel like I needed to impress anybody [at school], and I also really did not enjoy breaking out from makeup,” Golub said.

Freshman Alexa Muchnick and sophomores Ana Banchs Rodriguez and Stella Buch don’t wear makeup to school, citing the amount of time it takes to put on makeup. “It’s partially laziness, just having to wake up earlier and think about my appearance more,” Muchnick said. “Where I am right now, it just feels unnecessary.”

With fewer people wearing masks indoors, there is more attention focused on one’s face than before. “[With masks coming off] I think there is definitely more of a pressure to put on foundation, put on concealer so you can hide any blemishes,” More said. “Especially because there’s a lot of security around having masks.”

“I think a lot of people have the mindset of ‘people don’t really know what I look like completely,’” Borders said. “So I think people will naturally be a little bit more focused on [their appearances] because it’s kind of a new thing.”

Even with masks, some students feel there is still pressure for girls to look their best both at and outside of school.

“Girls are kind of pushed to be the most beautiful they can be because society values them for their beauty,” Cioffi said.

Buch feels that pressure to wear makeup isn’t only present at school. “I feel like there’s kind of pressure for girls to wear makeup all the time, beyond just school, because that’s just the normal of how girls are supposed to look,” Buch said.

Borders believes people should wear makeup to school for themselves, not for others. “If you’re waking up super early to do your makeup because you feel like you have to, I feel that’s problematic,” Borders said.

“I don’t think we should be focused so much on what we look like just because we’re going to school to really focus on learning,” Cioffi said. “But at the same time it’s normal as a teenage girl to want to feel pretty, so I don’t blame anyone or think it’s wrong for girls to wear makeup to school or feel that they should.”

Selected Student Profile: Ari Kaufman

by ABIGAIL BECKER

Q: What’s one item on your bucket list?

A: Probably cliff diving. On some remote island. It could be really fun to jump into water 80 feet above the air.

Q: Do you have any cool collections?

A: Funky earrings. Whenever I go somewhere, I like to get different, weird-ish thing. I went to Colorado and got sparkly cowboy boot earrings.

Q: Who is the most iconic superhero in your opinion?

A: I think the most iconic superhero is Batman. Because, as much as I’m more of a Marvel person, everyone knows Batman. But I’d probably say my favorite is Quicksilver.

I like the comics and I think he’s very underrated. Great character, although there are some strange relations with his sister. Don’t look into that.

Q: I’m not going to look into that. What’s your earliest memory?

A: The first time I was left home alone for six hours and I thought my entire family had just left because I wasn’t aware that I was going to be left home alone.

Q: Did they come back?

A: Yeah, they’re here now.

Q: Do you have a go-to comeback?

A: I guess it’s just a short just a “mhm, sure,” so they know that I think they’re wrong. If they’re too cocky to understand I’m being sarcastic, they get to live in their oblivion, and I get to know I was right.

Q: If you could delete one word from the English language, what would that word be?

A: Mississippi or Massachusetts because I think they’re really bad state names. I have a thing about state names. I think Massachusetts should be Boston. It’s a much better state

name than Massachusetts.

Q: Do you sing in the shower? What’s your go-to shower song?

A: Probably [“Shower”]. I think it’s by Becky G. I just always found it ironic. I’m singing in the shower. Or just any Taylor Swift.

Q: Would you rather have a permanent mullet or permanent buzzcut?

A: Probably a permanent buzzcut, because I could at least wear a wig. I don’t think I could pull off a mullet. A lot of respect to the people that can, but I’m not one of them.

Q: Name something that’s super overrated?

A: Sleeping at night. I’m a big napper. I’ll take a three hour nap and then take a two hour nap at night and call that my nighttime sleep. I do better when I’m nocturnal.

Q: So, how many hours of sleep do you get on average?

A: Depends. Sometimes four sometimes and sometimes 12. Not a very consistent sleep schedule.

Q: What’s the nicest thing anyone has said to you?

A: “You seem like a very approachable person.” One of my good friends said that to me and I’ve always gotten “you seem really intimidating,” so I felt really flattered.

Q: If a genie gave you three wishes, what would they be?

A: Can I do the infinite wish thing?

Q: No. A: A consistent stream of $50,000 a month because I don’t think a million dollars once is good. I would like a consistent cash flow. Also, probably a nice Gibson guitar.

Q: Name something that’s underrated.

Photo courtesy of Ari Kaufman A: Being home alone. I love being home alone. That sounds really weird, but I love it when my parents and brothers are out so I get to exist outside of my room and still be alone.

Q: Do you think that ghosts exist?

A: I don’t think I can say they don’t. I personally don’t like to think of it because I think it’s creepy - that there are infinite souls floating around. But I don’t think I can say they don’t exist.

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Arts & Lifestyle

March 31, 2022

“James Bond: Casino Royale” Themed Prom Will Be On Board a Four-story Boat

by MADISON LIU

a deposit to the venue that was quite a bit of money, so they gave us a two-year grace period to use the yacht,” Ferrell said.

Additionally, Commodore Cruises and Events provides several services that Menlo normally coordinates. “The boat is really easy. At this venue, almost everything’s taken care of,” Ferrell said.

According to Commodore’s website, the student cruise “Prom Package,” which Menlo has selected, includes a DJ, sodas and juices and a dinner buffet.

While prom operates under a large budget, it is intended to pay for itself. “We estimate attendance by looking at past years, and we usually try to have the entire event covered by the per person rate, but if not as many kids show up or there's some unforeseen costs, then

"We estimate attendance by looking at past years, and we usually try to have the entire event covered by the per person rate."

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On April 23, Menlo will host the first off-campus prom in two years aboard Commodore Cruises and Events’ Cabernet Sauvignon yacht. The boat will depart from Mariner Square on the Alameda Waterfront and sail around the San Francisco Bay during the four-hour event.

This year’s prom theme will be “James Bond: Casino Royale.”

According to Commodore’s website, the Cabernet Sauvignon is the largest vessel of the company’s 6-vessel fleet at 124 feet long, four decks tall and with a maximum capacity of 350 people. The first deck is a lounge and gallery, the second deck is for dining, the third is a dance floor and the fourth is an open-air sky deck.

Assistant to the Upper School Director and Student Activities Coordinator Frances Ferrell plays a major role in prom planning. “I act as the liaison between the parents, the school and the students to put all the pieces together,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell prioritizes student voices, collaborating with a group of juniors to choose the event’s theme. According to junior Helen Barkley, who volunteered to help, the small committee is responsible for nominating possible themes and producing a theme announcement video. The other student volunteers are juniors Sofia Labatt, Laura Artandi, Sophie Fang and Sofia Munoz-Pacheco.

On March 10, the committee first met to begin planning the event. “We talked about some possible ideas and set up a Google Form for juniors and seniors to vote on the final theme,” Barkley said.

The three themes proposed in the form were “Masquerade”, “James Bond: Casino Royale” and “City of Stars - A Knight on the Bay.” “James Bond: Casino Royale” garnered 53% of votes, or 88 votes out of 156 total, the most out of the three proposed themes, according to Ferrell.

"Usually the parents help me kind of scout locations about a year in advance, especially because some of the big public schools book places up super quick."

“We are going to call it Menlo Royale 0022 and we will have casino gaming on the first floor of the boat,” Ferrell said. “The tables might be decorated with dice, cards or other casino themed items.”

Planning for this year’s prom kicked off at the beginning of March, but preparation usually starts much earlier. “Usually the parents help me kind of scout locations about a year in advance, especially because some of the big public schools book places up super quick,” Ferrell said.

However, this year’s prom requires significantly less planning because the Cabernet Sauvignon had been selected and booked for the Class of 2020’s prom, which was canceled due to COVID-19. “We had to pay

the school does kick in,” Ferrell said. Prom is typically $125 per student with around 300 students attending.

The Commodore “Prom Package” costs a rate of $109 per attendee. Menlo also purchased the “Casino Package” for $3,000. Ferrell estimates that the grand total for this year’s prom is just above $38,000. The total cost per student is $126, but tickets will remain $125 and Menlo will cover the difference.

Menlo will also take care of all transportation for the event. “The school will cover all transportation, so it is not passed on to the parents and is not a factor in the price per student,” Ferrell said. Every attendee will both leave for and return from Alameda to Menlo.

Only students with unique situations will be granted exceptions.

Menlo also hosted prom on the Cabernet yacht in 2018. “I thought it was a super fun venue, and it was exciting to go on the top level, which was open,” Sarah Kornfeld (’18) said.

However, the boat is not without drawbacks. “The only thing was that it got a bit cold, and when we danced or the wind was high, the boat got choppy,” Kornfeld said.

Current students also have concerns about attending prom on the boat. “I personally don’t like the idea of prom on a boat because I don’t want to be trapped for several hours without the option of leaving,” senior Max Pena said. “Also, the weather might be bad because it is San Francisco at night.”

A second issue is that any prohibited student behavior that may occur will be harder to handle discreetly and will face steeper consequences. At prom in 2016, which was hosted at Levi’s Stadium, two Menlo students were involved in a drug-related incident. A student had taken a substance and was vomiting, which led chaperones to call the paramedics, according to Ferrell.

If the same event or another emergency occurred while on the water, the issue would be much harder to resolve. “It would be a huge deal if something happens, and then we have to dock in San Francisco, not go back and stop the event. It would be more difficult to keep a student’s privacy and minimize consequences,” Ferrell said.

Menlo intends to remind students of the importance of good behavior before prom. “We want to make sure people are aware that their behavior impacts everyone and understand the gravity of the situation. We might hold class meetings to discuss that and have everyone sign a behavior agreement,” Ferrell said.

Another challenge concerns tighter protocols as a result of being onboard a boat. In order to keep track of the number of people aboard the vessel, the organizers must physically check every person in. “We might have to keep the kids on the bus longer than expected because it takes quite a while to board,” Ferrell said.

In addition to Ferrell and the junior committee, junior parents Gina Skinner, Julie Herlihy and Min Min Tun are also involved in planning prom. “As we wait to hear the prom theme, the parent planning team is preparing to start gathering fun and theme-related decor ideas and decorations,” Skinner said. According to Tun, the parents will both purchase new decorations and reuse decorations currently held in storage.

Spread

March 31, 2022

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Students reflect on PERformative Community service By parina patel Beyond the required 10 CE credits, many Menlo students choose to lead or start organizations, nonprofits and projects. Students are involved for many reasons, but some students attribute these kinds of engagements to “performative service.”

Performative service is a name given to service that someone who feigns involvement in a greater movement in order to present a fallacy of concern for marginalized communities, with no clear goal in sight apart from virtue-signaling and ego-boosting, according to The Grass Route.

Some wonder if the motivation to participate in community service comes from its benefits for college applications. According to a U.S.News report, colleges weigh activities differently, so “colleges appreciate applicants with meaningful extracurricular achievements, not just club memberships.”

Senior Ayla Seddighnezhad has had extensive involvement with community service, including her work with the Menlo Community Action Summer Program. She has also led a team as a part of Looma Education, interned at the Truth-Telling Project, guided students as an English and chemistry TA, is a senior mentor and currently co-leads the Menlo Girls Learn International club this year.

Seddighnezhad believes that performative service exists in a competitive environment like Menlo. “Especially in an environment like Menlo that is so well-resourced and where the students are surrounded with such great opportunities, there can be a tendency to ‘serve the community’ in a disingenuous way,” Seddighnezhad said. “On one hand, even if the intention behind performative service is spiteful or competitive, most service is ultimately beneficial to the community. With that being said, though, I think we can definitely work

on shifting the mindset towards service to make it less transactional and more impactful for both parties.”

Associate Director of College Counseling Lisa Giarratano believes that some students participate in different activities for different reasons. “Certainly the hope is that students are engaging in activities that are meaningful to them or bring them joy and are intrinsically motivated. Oftentimes though, we’ll see students who might participate in activities because they think that’s what they’re ‘supposed’ to be doing, so you see both,” Giarratano said.

Another aspect of performative service is service balls, like the Debutante and Cotillion Balls.

These Southern-influenced philanthropic events occur annually and involve up to a six-month preparation period which is called a season. For example, Cotillion

Staff illustration: Tatum Herrin

Season is normally held from November to April. According to southernliving, “cotillions are more focused on teaching young people how to be respectful members of society, while debutante balls mark the official joining of society once those children age into young adults.”

Senior Lorraine Cioffi is attending the annual Debutante Ball this year. “I was invited to be part of the Debutante Ball [and] my family agreed it could be a worthwhile coming-of-age opportunity. For those who

don’t know, we participate in philanthropic activities, table-manners education and celebratory experiences,” Cioffi said.

“I do think performative service is real, but I’m hesitant to say that the Debutante Ball is that. It really seems like they’re wanting us to imprint a positive impact on our community,” Cioffi said. “I think performative service is service that you do not do out of the good of your heart, but out of demonstration for a certain cause, resume, etc. The Debutante Ball let us opt out of the service opportunity, making it available to those who actually wanted to do it.”

Service learning trips are purpose-driven experiences organized for groups of students or professionals.

According to the theperspective, volunteering by nature is helpful, but people may volunteer for the wrong reasons. It also questions whether service trips are harmful or helpful, offering reasons for both stances.

Senior Hailey Dunsby went on a three-week field studies trip in 2019 to Peru in which two of the weeks were spent doing service. In those two weeks, Dunsby tutored and played with kids in different villages in Peru.

“Once you have a certain amount of money or resources you’re sort of expected to give back in a way, and so I feel that a lot of people at [a] certain point will then just give back to say they did or [put in minimal effort]. To me, that’s performative service,” Dunsby said.

“I would categorize my trip as a little bit of performative service because we had to pay, did some touristy activities, and were all decked out in Lululemon. So it’s not pure service, I would say, though it was an influential experience for me and I hope we made a difference with those kids.”

Giarratano can see how service trips may be performative from time to time, “especially service trips having to do with habitat for humanity, things like that, or when students will come and build a house and leave.

That kind of service might come off as performative.

But then there are other students who are actually really into that, and if you’re into that, you should just do it,” Giarratano said.

Petrash Sets Goals for community engagement program

By Riley Huddleston Ethos, logos, kairos and pathos are the four “focuses” that Menlo hopes to grow in its students through Community Engagement. According to the Menlo website, the community engagement program at Menlo aims to develop students’ empathy and social awareness and strengthen their ability to take action while stepping out of their comfort zone.

Former Director of Community and Civic Engagement Chris Young implemented the current Community Engagement (CE) credit system, which requires students to receive ten credits per year involving at least 3 unique experiences. Additionally, students must submit a reflection for each activity they complete.

Director of Community and Civic Engagement Ava Petrash started working at Menlo this year and hasn’t made many changes to Young’s system, as she is still getting a feel for the program. “I felt it was important to get to know what worked and how students and faculty felt, and I didn’t feel like I could make decisions

[to change the program] without really understanding what their needs are,” Petrash said. Additionally, Petrash continued with Young’s monthly CE newsletter and created a CE Canvas page that is easy for students to access. “I mostly have made small iterations on things that already existed to make them more usable,” Petrash said.

Petrash works with students one-on-one to help them find service opportunities they are passionate about. “For students who don’t feel like they have connections to places where they can do service, [...] I’ve been sitting down and meeting with them to [talk about it],” Petrash said. “It’s about asking, ‘What do you like to do that is exciting to you? What do you feel passionate about?’” Petrash said.

Furthermore, Petrash wants to make plans for the long term to make getting credits feel more manageable as opposed to a burden, and she hopes to implement more CE opportunities on campus. During CE Week,

Petrash was impressed with the number of students eager to help when the opportunities were easily accessible. For example, as many as 90 students helped pack hygiene kits during the week. “Students are doing so much, and sometimes it’s hard to make time for CE, so I want to find ways to make it more accessible for students, [such as by having] more on-campus opportunities,” Petrash said. “[I want to find out if] there’s a way we can build it into the school experience or into classes more often,” she said.

Petrash also emphasized the difficulty of encouraging students to involve themselves without making it feel like a burden and is still in the process of finding a balance. “I don’t want to make it another academic thing that stresses kids out. There’s so much of that already in their lives, and I don’t want to associate stress with serving their community,” Petrash said. “But then, if it’s not a requirement, I wonder how many students will actually do it.”

Students discuss community engagement opportunities at the 2019 1Bay Youth Summit. Photo courtesy of Maura Smith

Students present the organizations they work with during Menlo’s CE Week Fair. Photo courtesy of Jane Ridgeway

Students make and pack blankets during CE week. Photo courtesy of Jane Ridgeway

Community Engagement at Menlo: Valuable or Vain?

Menlo Students and Parents Engage in Unique Service Opportunities

by Tessa Frantz

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The Mental Gratification of Giving and Receiving

by Tatum Herrin As we grow up, we are told a deep satisfaction lies in giving to others, a satisfaction not evoked from receiving. With this notion tucked into the subconscious, many pursue generosity in hopes of some form of internal gratification. But just how accurate is the idea that giving brings more joy than getting? We often hear that physical items will not bring us happiness. However, that is not necessarily the case. According to Sciencedaily.com, a study by “Social Psychological and Personality Science” shows material goods can provide happiness. By having people record their thoughts in the weeks following the attainment of their respective goods, and one month after, the researchers showed that material items induce repeated doses of happiness over time in the weeks after they are bought.

However, these doses of happiness are just that: doses. Peter Brown, Menlo teacher of history elective Pursuit of Happiness, believes that the happiness of buying material goods fades quickly. “There’s a happiness, an immediate kind of buzz, and then, pretty quickly, there’s a baseline level of happiness you go back to or sometimes even a dip below,” Brown said. “Pretty much what the research shows is that getting material goods, which a lot of [people] really pine for, doesn’t really make a

“We remember giving. We don’t necessarily remember that Starbucks we bought for ourselves, [...] but we would remember giving it to someone else, and that causes a reboot of happiness.” significant difference long-term” he said.

So if getting can’t provide us with real happiness, can giving? Menlo neuroscience teacher Cristina Weaver believes that the answer is unclear. “There is not much known about [the gratification in giving]. There is

some speculation that helping others may activate the reward pathway (this is the pathway that makes us feel “good”), but there isn’t very much evidence yet,” Weaver said in an email to The Coat of Arms.

Psychiatrist Eva Rito claims neuroscience demonstrates that giving is a powerful pathway for creating more personal joy and improving overall health.

According to PyschologyToday, scientists consider the altruistic nature of humans part of our “deep brain structure.” As social animals, we are wired to help one another for the survival of the group. For example, when we see a child in trouble, we act before we even think.

Urges like this are a result of evolution.

While the human brain is remarkably complex and largely a mystery, the neurochemical drivers of happiness are easily identified. Dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin make up what is known as the “Happiness Trifecta.” Even the smallest acts of giving often trigger a release of these chemicals in our brains and counteract the stress hormone cortisol.

Mirror neurons are another biological factor of giving. According to the American Psychology Association, mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that respond the same way when we perform an action as they do when we witness someone else perform the same action.

Even something as simple as a smile may trigger mirror neurons. When we offer a compliment and see the other person smile, we may trigger the same chemical reaction within our own brains.

We often find ourselves smiling, too.

Whether giving contributes to long term happiness or fulfillment is still unclear; furthermore, it’s difficult to compare the bursts of happiness in giving to those from receiving. However, Brown claimed that on a single occasion, studies show that giving causes more overall happiness than receiving. One study demonstrates this occurrence: the conductors of the experiment offer $20 dollars to commuters at a train station, who are instructed to

either spend the money immediately on themselves or spend it on someone else.

Those who spent the money on someone else reported more happiness after doing so than those who spent it on themselves.

The experiment was repeated with varying factors and still yielded the same results.

“And the results repeat regardless of income level beyond income level. It’s true with poor people and true with rich people. The pattern also seems to transcend cultures. [...] It’s always giving to others [that makes people] happier,” Brown said.

According to Brown, giving something to someone else as opposed to ourselves is more prominent in our memories, creating future spikes of happiness down the line. “We remember giving. We don’t necessarily remember that Starbucks latté we bought for ourselves, [...] but we would remember giving it to someone else, and that causes a reboot of happiness,” Brown said. “It generates a sense of connection to another person. The person appreciates it, which kind of puts the act in another realm. It could be that [we remember giving a coffee to someone else] because it’s more unique and less frequent, but it also could be that we’re creating that connection” he said.

Brown believes this same logic applies to community service. “I remember when I was in school, I was encouraged to do community engagement activities, but they were usually encouraged as ethical acts, the morally right things to do.

But what I think is less emphasized is that, in my experience, and the experience of a lot of people, it actually feels good for us. And that’s the counterintuitive piece. So yes, do it because it’s right, but also because it’s often happiness-producing,” he said.

Community engagement at Menlo requires students to merit 10 credits worth of service each year. For some, those 10 credits are the start and end of their engagement in community service. For others, community service has become not just an activity but an endeavor that has shaped their lives and ideals. Whether through an organization or an independent project, various Menlo students have found unique ways to give back to their community while having fun and pursuing their interests. Similarly, Menlo parents are finding unique ways to give back to their communities, highlighting ways to engage with service outside school.

For senior Peter Hanson,

doing community service within an organization has drastically improved his attitude in life. Starting his freshman year, Hanson has worked at the Riekes Center, an organization dedicated to helping youth in Menlo Park and surrounding areas achieve their goals by offering facilities and instruction for kids looking to get into exercise, art and other activities.

After hearing about the Riekes Center from family and friends, Hanson began as an intern in the community service department, mostly maintaining the facilities and giving tours to newcomers.

As time went on, his duties shifted to leadership roles, which include tasks like leading kids through workouts, training new members of the community and organizing community service events.

Through his time at the Riekes Center, Hanson has come to realize how much it has benefited him and his life.

Specifically, Hanson credits the sense of accountability he found through the emphasized values at the Riekes Center. According to Hanson, they’re called “participant responsibilities” and consist of “self-supervision, honest communication and sensitivity to others.”

“Those three responsibilities are what make the Riekes center such an amazing place where people can see results in what they’re doing,” Hanson said.

In the beginning, Hanson was doing physical tasks like cleaning bathrooms and wiping down exercise equipment.

However, it was those tasks that allowed

“It feels good to contribute to such a great community and make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s small.” him to love giving back to the community. “It feels good to contribute to such a great community and make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s small,” he said.

For Hanson, community service has shifted his life and brought him a true

sense of community and strong ideals. “[The Riekes Center] has instilled its values in me which have greatly benefited me in school and my personal relationships.”

However, community service doesn’t necessarily need to be through the vein of an organization. Sophomore Taylor Tam engages in community service through a two-year-long personal project about environmentalism, as well as through Knight Vision, Menlo’s community service club. She is currently creating an app to help with water conservation, which gives suggestions and goals for the user to use less water on a daily basis.

Tam contends that community service can be viewed as boring from the outside, but in reality, it can be a source of joy and a place to focus one’s passions.

“Growing up in this area, we have so much to be grateful for and so much privilege, so sometimes it’s hard to fully understand some of the struggles other people face.”

“I think what you can do that’s really fun is take some of your interests and put a spin on them to help other people,” she said. Her nterest in computer science and passion for the environment converged into her current project, which combines the two interests.

For Tam, community service has not only been an outlet for her passions, but something that’s given her perspective. “Growing up in this area, we have so much to be grateful for and so much privilege, so sometimes it’s hard to fully understand some of the struggles other people face,” she said. “I feel like it’s almost a responsibility for me to help others.”

Outside the immediate Menlo community, there is a plethora of unique service opportunities for students and parents alike. Menlo parent Devon Gold believes service has become an essential part of her life, allowing her to grow as a person and directly help children in need. Specifically, Gold serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or a CASA, for youths in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Through the CASA of San Mateo, Gold is partnered with a child currently in either system to support and represent, both in court and in an emotional sense.

To become a CASA, no specific background is required. Community volunteers will undergo about 50 hours of formal training, where they learn how to best advocate for the children they represent. After getting paired

one-on-one with a child, a CASA will get involved in all areas of the child’s case.

This includes court hearings, education, mental health, extracurricular activities and making sure that they are safe and comfortable. Gold mentions that a CASA will be a child’s “go-to person.” A CASA will advocate for a child’s best interest in a way that lawyers or therapists, who have multiple other cases going, couldn’t.

Gold was drawn to this type of service due to how impactful and genuine the role of a CASA is. “The children in our child welfare system are some of the most vulnerable kids in our community because they really are lost. They’ve been removed from their homes and put in a strange environment and you can only imagine how traumatic that is,” she said.

“To be able to partner with a child and be their advocate who has only their interests in mind felt like a really powerful way to have an impact in a direct way.”

What separates CASA from other types of service is the nature of the relationship between the advocate and the youth. “All other types of service are so important, but you don’t necessarily see the end result, whereas this type of service is totally direct. You’re forming a one-on-one relationship, and it’s so meaningful that way,” Gold said. Similar to other types of service, there are no criteria for who can join and contribute. Gold also emphasizes that there is a constant need for more volunteers. “There is really a need for this type of volunteerism. Particularly, there is a need for male and Spanish-speaking volunteers,” she said.

Being a CASA has furthered Gold’s life in tremendous ways. “For me, it’s so

“All other types of service are so important but you don’t necessarily see the end result, whereas this type of service is totally direct. You’re forming a one-on-one relationship and it’s so meaningful that way.” important at this point in my life to continue to grow and be on my own personal development journey,” she said. “By finding opportunities like this to stretch and expose [myself] to new situations and a demographic [I] may not have the chance to encounter, I’ve become a better person, parent and friend. [...] I get so much from it personally in ways that go way beyond what getting a paycheck for similar work could give me.”

Community Engagement at Menlo: Valuable or Vain?

Menlo Students and Parents Engage in Unique Service Opportunities

by Tessa Frantz

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The Mental Gratification of Giving and Receiving

by Tatum Herrin As we grow up, we are told a deep satisfaction lies in giving to others, a satisfaction not evoked from receiving. With this notion tucked into the subconscious, many pursue generosity in hopes of some form of internal gratification. But just how accurate is the idea that giving brings more joy than getting? We often hear that physical items will not bring us happiness. However, that is not necessarily the case. According to Sciencedaily.com, a study by “Social Psychological and Personality Science” shows material goods can provide happiness. By having people record their thoughts in the weeks following the attainment of their respective goods, and one month after, the researchers showed that material items induce repeated doses of happiness over time in the weeks after they are bought.

However, these doses of happiness are just that: doses. Peter Brown, Menlo teacher of history elective Pursuit of Happiness, believes that the happiness of buying material goods fades quickly. “There’s a happiness, an immediate kind of buzz, and then, pretty quickly, there’s a baseline level of happiness you go back to or sometimes even a dip below,” Brown said. “Pretty much what the research shows is that getting material goods, which a lot of [people] really pine for, doesn’t really make a

“We remember giving. We don’t necessarily remember that Starbucks we bought for ourselves, [...] but we would remember giving it to someone else, and that causes a reboot of happiness.” significant difference long-term” he said.

So if getting can’t provide us with real happiness, can giving? Menlo neuroscience teacher Cristina Weaver believes that the answer is unclear. “There is not much known about [the gratification in giving]. There is

some speculation that helping others may activate the reward pathway (this is the pathway that makes us feel “good”), but there isn’t very much evidence yet,” Weaver said in an email to The Coat of Arms.

Psychiatrist Eva Rito claims neuroscience demonstrates that giving is a powerful pathway for creating more personal joy and improving overall health.

According to PyschologyToday, scientists consider the altruistic nature of humans part of our “deep brain structure.” As social animals, we are wired to help one another for the survival of the group. For example, when we see a child in trouble, we act before we even think.

Urges like this are a result of evolution.

While the human brain is remarkably complex and largely a mystery, the neurochemical drivers of happiness are easily identified. Dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin make up what is known as the “Happiness Trifecta.” Even the smallest acts of giving often trigger a release of these chemicals in our brains and counteract the stress hormone cortisol.

Mirror neurons are another biological factor of giving. According to the American Psychology Association, mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that respond the same way when we perform an action as they do when we witness someone else perform the same action.

Even something as simple as a smile may trigger mirror neurons. When we offer a compliment and see the other person smile, we may trigger the same chemical reaction within our own brains.

We often find ourselves smiling, too.

Whether giving contributes to long term happiness or fulfillment is still unclear; furthermore, it’s difficult to compare the bursts of happiness in giving to those from receiving. However, Brown claimed that on a single occasion, studies show that giving causes more overall happiness than receiving. One study demonstrates this occurrence: the conductors of the experiment offer $20 dollars to commuters at a train station, who are instructed to

either spend the money immediately on themselves or spend it on someone else.

Those who spent the money on someone else reported more happiness after doing so than those who spent it on themselves.

The experiment was repeated with varying factors and still yielded the same results.

“And the results repeat regardless of income level beyond income level. It’s true with poor people and true with rich people. The pattern also seems to transcend cultures. [...] It’s always giving to others [that makes people] happier,” Brown said.

According to Brown, giving something to someone else as opposed to ourselves is more prominent in our memories, creating future spikes of happiness down the line. “We remember giving. We don’t necessarily remember that Starbucks latté we bought for ourselves, [...] but we would remember giving it to someone else, and that causes a reboot of happiness,” Brown said. “It generates a sense of connection to another person. The person appreciates it, which kind of puts the act in another realm. It could be that [we remember giving a coffee to someone else] because it’s more unique and less frequent, but it also could be that we’re creating that connection” he said.

Brown believes this same logic applies to community service. “I remember when I was in school, I was encouraged to do community engagement activities, but they were usually encouraged as ethical acts, the morally right things to do.

But what I think is less emphasized is that, in my experience, and the experience of a lot of people, it actually feels good for us. And that’s the counterintuitive piece. So yes, do it because it’s right, but also because it’s often happiness-producing,” he said.

Community engagement at Menlo requires students to merit 10 credits worth of service each year. For some, those 10 credits are the start and end of their engagement in community service. For others, community service has become not just an activity but an endeavor that has shaped their lives and ideals. Whether through an organization or an independent project, various Menlo students have found unique ways to give back to their community while having fun and pursuing their interests. Similarly, Menlo parents are finding unique ways to give back to their communities, highlighting ways to engage with service outside school.

For senior Peter Hanson,

doing community service within an organization has drastically improved his attitude in life. Starting his freshman year, Hanson has worked at the Riekes Center, an organization dedicated to helping youth in Menlo Park and surrounding areas achieve their goals by offering facilities and instruction for kids looking to get into exercise, art and other activities.

After hearing about the Riekes Center from family and friends, Hanson began as an intern in the community service department, mostly maintaining the facilities and giving tours to newcomers.

As time went on, his duties shifted to leadership roles, which include tasks like leading kids through workouts, training new members of the community and organizing community service events.

Through his time at the Riekes Center, Hanson has come to realize how much it has benefited him and his life.

Specifically, Hanson credits the sense of accountability he found through the emphasized values at the Riekes Center. According to Hanson, they’re called “participant responsibilities” and consist of “self-supervision, honest communication and sensitivity to others.”

“Those three responsibilities are what make the Riekes center such an amazing place where people can see results in what they’re doing,” Hanson said.

In the beginning, Hanson was doing physical tasks like cleaning bathrooms and wiping down exercise equipment.

However, it was those tasks that allowed

“It feels good to contribute to such a great community and make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s small.” him to love giving back to the community. “It feels good to contribute to such a great community and make a difference in people’s lives, even if it’s small,” he said.

For Hanson, community service has shifted his life and brought him a true

sense of community and strong ideals. “[The Riekes Center] has instilled its values in me which have greatly benefited me in school and my personal relationships.”

However, community service doesn’t necessarily need to be through the vein of an organization. Sophomore Taylor Tam engages in community service through a two-year-long personal project about environmentalism, as well as through Knight Vision, Menlo’s community service club. She is currently creating an app to help with water conservation, which gives suggestions and goals for the user to use less water on a daily basis.

Tam contends that community service can be viewed as boring from the outside, but in reality, it can be a source of joy and a place to focus one’s passions.

“Growing up in this area, we have so much to be grateful for and so much privilege, so sometimes it’s hard to fully understand some of the struggles other people face.”

“I think what you can do that’s really fun is take some of your interests and put a spin on them to help other people,” she said. Her nterest in computer science and passion for the environment converged into her current project, which combines the two interests.

For Tam, community service has not only been an outlet for her passions, but something that’s given her perspective. “Growing up in this area, we have so much to be grateful for and so much privilege, so sometimes it’s hard to fully understand some of the struggles other people face,” she said. “I feel like it’s almost a responsibility for me to help others.”

Outside the immediate Menlo community, there is a plethora of unique service opportunities for students and parents alike. Menlo parent Devon Gold believes service has become an essential part of her life, allowing her to grow as a person and directly help children in need. Specifically, Gold serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or a CASA, for youths in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Through the CASA of San Mateo, Gold is partnered with a child currently in either system to support and represent, both in court and in an emotional sense.

To become a CASA, no specific background is required. Community volunteers will undergo about 50 hours of formal training, where they learn how to best advocate for the children they represent. After getting paired

one-on-one with a child, a CASA will get involved in all areas of the child’s case.

This includes court hearings, education, mental health, extracurricular activities and making sure that they are safe and comfortable. Gold mentions that a CASA will be a child’s “go-to person.” A CASA will advocate for a child’s best interest in a way that lawyers or therapists, who have multiple other cases going, couldn’t.

Gold was drawn to this type of service due to how impactful and genuine the role of a CASA is. “The children in our child welfare system are some of the most vulnerable kids in our community because they really are lost. They’ve been removed from their homes and put in a strange environment and you can only imagine how traumatic that is,” she said.

“To be able to partner with a child and be their advocate who has only their interests in mind felt like a really powerful way to have an impact in a direct way.”

What separates CASA from other types of service is the nature of the relationship between the advocate and the youth. “All other types of service are so important, but you don’t necessarily see the end result, whereas this type of service is totally direct. You’re forming a one-on-one relationship, and it’s so meaningful that way,” Gold said. Similar to other types of service, there are no criteria for who can join and contribute. Gold also emphasizes that there is a constant need for more volunteers. “There is really a need for this type of volunteerism. Particularly, there is a need for male and Spanish-speaking volunteers,” she said.

Being a CASA has furthered Gold’s life in tremendous ways. “For me, it’s so

“All other types of service are so important but you don’t necessarily see the end result, whereas this type of service is totally direct. You’re forming a one-on-one relationship and it’s so meaningful that way.” important at this point in my life to continue to grow and be on my own personal development journey,” she said. “By finding opportunities like this to stretch and expose [myself] to new situations and a demographic [I] may not have the chance to encounter, I’ve become a better person, parent and friend. [...] I get so much from it personally in ways that go way beyond what getting a paycheck for similar work could give me.”

12

Spread Knight Vision: Doing CE For the Rest of Our Lives March 31, 2022

By Emily Han I have probably spent 600 hours on community engagement in the past four years, and I am not allowed to log a single CE credit for it.

Leading Knight Vision, the community engagement club at Menlo, does not qualify for CE credits because it contradicts the voluntary nature of student clubs — the idea of forming a close-knit group around our authentic shared interest in community engagement. For a while, I was frustrated about not getting credit for all the hours I’d spent sorting books, clothes and canned food, making flyers and shamelessly announcing club initiatives to anyone and everyone.

But I have since changed my mind.

I became co-president two years ago, right when the pandemic started.

A year later, we had tripled our club membership, started two new annual programs and raised over $13,000.

We were enormously effective in every single initiative we organized.

Yet our unprecedented fundraising is also my greatest regret in leading Knight Vision. I love using our platform as a student-run club to help other students discover current issues that really resonate and a sense of purpose that will continue beyond graduation.

Fundraising is far from the ideal way to accomplish this goal; despite being the most efficient way to support important causes, it involves mostly administrative work. For the typical fundraiser, we create a GoFundMe page, send notes to donors and share the fundraising link through Menlo’s newsletters and social media — tasks that are not very conducive to collaboration.

Though COVID-19 made it extra

Far Left: Co-Presidents Emily Han and Reena Kagan pose at an event organized

by Knight Vision.

Photo courtesy of Jane Ridgeway Upper Right: Knight Vision member and freshman Karen Xin helps assemble 30 Thanksgiving meal baskets. Staff photo: Emily Han Lower Right: Knight Vision participates in Sunday Friends’ Trunk-orTreat event. Photo courtesy of Ava Petrash

difficult, we found it entirely doable to organize interactive events when we made it a priority. My favorite project last year was our virtual walkathon to benefit the United Farm Workers. As with most initiatives, club members helped create marketing content including social media posts, illustrations and flyers that we shared digitally. What set the walkathon apart was the participation and teamwork: over 50 people in the Menlo community joined the walkathon, with many students going on runs together and sharing their progress throughout the week. Ultimately, we raised over $4,500 and brought the Menlo community closer together during the pandemic.

This year, I’m grateful that we have more opportunities to volunteer together.

One of my favorite memories is driving

with other Knight Vision members to a Halloween service event, where we decorated the car trunk and gave baked treats to kids and families with the organization Sunday Friends. The friendships we create and the lifelong passion for community engagement that we build during these activities are, in many ways, worth even more than the $6,000 we raised last May for COVID-19 relief.

The idea that Knight Vision is a club and not a nonprofit recently occurred to me. As a high school club, Knight Vision’s job is only partially about helping those in need. Even more important is our role in motivating our classmates to participate in community engagement and enjoy it so much that they keep doing it for the rest of their lives.

I get just as much fulfillment in do-

ing service as I get in building relationships with other people who also want to make a difference. Through Knight Vision, I have met many of my personal role models, from my co-president, Reena Kagan, to our club advisor, Ms. Petrash, to the freshmen who joined just this year.

I want my peers to see community engagement as I see it: not a graduation requirement, not a resume-builder, not a buzzword — but a source of joy and connection and an opportunity for personal growth. Through Knight Vision, I hope that we can reach many lives not only in the broader community but also within the Menlo student body.

Ultimately, I want to share with my peers what I have gotten through CE: a purpose and a genuine community.

Simple Ways Students can Get involved with CE

By Riley Huddleston

Knight Vision Survey

Community Engagement Canvas Page

The Knight Vision “CE and Me” survey gives students the opportunity to answer questions such as how much they would enjoy certain activities, types of volunteering they enjoy or what inspires them. In turn, members of Knight Vision respond with a personalized list of CE opportunities.

The Community Engagement Canvas page includes specifics about the CE requirements, FAQs about CE, upcoming CE opportunities and a section to publicize and discuss CE opportunities.

Community Service Opportunity Database The CE database organizes opportunities by interests, time commitments and credits to help students easily access ongoing ways to connect with the community.

Joining CLubs Around Campus Many clubs work with one or more organizations that are specific to the focus of the club. Joining clubs specific to your interests can help you find service opportunities that complement your passions. Specifically, Knight Vision is Menlo’s Community Engagement club which connects with the community through fundraisers, campaigns, events, etc. Joining Knight Vision can help students get involved directly and build long lasting connections with their peers and community as they work together over time.

Opinions

March 31, 2022

The California Driver's Test Needs Crucial Reforms

13

by ANNIE STENT

For many teenagers, turning 16 is a birthday worth celebrating. It’s the year that they can finally get their longawaited driver’s license. Although getting a driver’s license is seen as a rite of passage for many teenagers, it’s not automatically granted; getting a California driver’s license is a process.

At 15 and a half, teenagers can take their permit test and once they pass that, they can continue the process of obtaining their license. The license remains provisional until age eighteen, meaning that it can be more easily suspended, taken away or put on probation if the driver commits a violation on the road. They must also complete 50 accompanied practice hours (10 of which must be at night) and hold their permit for at least six months. After they’ve completed all of these requirements, they can head to the DMV to take a driving test.

The driving test is supervised by a DMV instructor who fills out a driving test form and marks errors as they go. A student driver can make 15 regular errors or one critical error, which would immediately end the test. A critical error is typically any action that requires intervention by the examiner or turning into or out of the incorrect lane, while a regular error is usually driving 5 miles over the speed limit or failing to check traffic with a full turn of the head.

Anyone who finishes with a final tally of errors under 15 is considered a safe driver, and anyone above is deemed too dangerous to be able to get behind a wheel by themselves.

The difference between 14 and 15 errors is obviously very slim.

Arguably, a driver who commits 14 is not much safer than one who commits 15.

That discrepancy could easily be made up by how lenient or harsh the instructor is.

Different DMVs also have different pass rates based on their courses and the standards they have set. For instance, the Redwood City DMV has a 66% pass rate, whereas San Mateo has a 53% pass rate, and the Oakland Coliseum DMV is all the way down at 33%.

The drivers test and process leading up to it is intended to weed out the good drivers from the bad and teach the rules of the road. However, it is not 100% effective and this is tragically shown in teen driving statistics. People ages 16-19 are at the highest risk of car crashes according to the United States Department of Disease Control and Prevention. Teenagers are at a huge risk on the road, implying that they may not be as prepared for the road as they should be or think they are. Car accidents are not 100% preventable: 1.35 million people pass away in accidents each year and they are not all teenage victims or teenager caused. Everything has risks,

especially on the road, but there should still be efforts made to reduce that risk.

The California driving test does not include freeway driving or parallel parking.

The driver is often required to pull to a curb and back up or move forward without hitting the curb, but that is the full extent of it. Freeway driving and parallel parking are often not avoidable in real life. Many Menlo students and teenagers in general use the freeway to get to school or practice and parallel park in downtown spaces. They should be prepared for and tested on these skills in order to prove their driving competency.

In addition, there should be limits on a license based on how many errors a person commits.

Someone who commits below five errors is a much better driver than someone who commits more than 10. Reflecting this on a driving test could help to make teen driving safer.

For example, teenagers who commit below 10 errors could still receive their licenses with no strings attached, but those who commit above 10 would have to continue proving their competency over a certain period of time. Both groups would have their license, just under different conditions.

This threshold would incentivize student drivers to be at a “higher level” of competency before they take the test so that they could avoid any conditions. On the other hand, those who were still not ready would not be hazardous because they would be monitored.

On Mar. 23, sophomores, juniors and seniors were called to an assembly regarding impaired driving. Upper School Counselor Jake Fauver presented slides about the risks of such driving, Librarian Annette Fabris shared a personal story, and Atherton Police Officer Ahumbra shared stories of his own to ingrain the dangers and consequences of impaired driving.

This message, however, should start at the drivers test and should not be simply shared in a “special” assembly. In order to keep students and other drivers safe, it needs to be regularly emphasized.

Adding more elements and implementing harsher penalties on the driving test as well as regular education will help lower teenage driving casualties, making the road safer for them and for everyone else.

14

Opinions Kanye West Has Taken His Online Beef Too Far March 31, 2022

by KAYLIE WU

In recent months, rapper Kanye West has been in the spotlight for his divorce from media personality Kim Kardashian and his resentment towards her new boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson. West isn’t new to celebrity feuds: he interrupted Taylor Swift’s 2009 Video Music Awards (VMA) acceptance speech and dissed rapper Drake on an assortment of his albums. While some could argue his stunts have helped his targets gain fame, West’s latest “beef” with Davidson is anything but positive. In fact, the rapper is being deemed controversial by fans and tabloids such as Metro for making his issues with Davidson too violent and public. Although West is entitled to use his social platform to voice his opinions, his destructive comments and beliefs are hurting his family, Kardashian and himself.

In his newest single, “Eazy,” West raps a line about beating up Davidson. Although this is a seemingly empty threat as he hasn’t caused physical harm to Davidson, he continues to promote violence to his audience. In 2003, a study conducted at Iowa State University concluded that violent lyrics can increase aggressive behavior in listeners. So, even though West’s threats to Davidson are only supposed to be intimidating, he is still setting a bad example for his younger audience.

West is a role model for many people around the world. As someone with 22 Grammy awards, 48 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 15 million Instagram followers, West should be especially cautious with his influence. He sets an example for his fans, and West’s younger followers might not understand that he doesn’t intend on following through with any violence against Davidson. There’s no doubt that West should avoid setting a precedent that violence is an acceptable solution to problems, especially relationship-related ones. Additionally, even though West is only speaking about hurting Davidson, his main audience consists of males between the ages of 16 and 24 who might interrupt his message more broadly — these young men are at a transition in their lives where they enter adulthood and search for their first long term relationships. So, fans could internalize not only that harm to Davidson is okay but also harm to anyone else that might stand in their way.

That being said, in the music industry, West doesn’t necessarily stand out for his violent lyrics, either. Some of the most successful songs of this generation are ridiculously violent, including Eminem’s “Kim” and Chief Keef’s “Faneto,” both of which discuss violent murders. So, West’s threats against Davidson may not be the smartest idea, but they still shouldn’t be capable of ruining his name in the music world when other artists are able to do the exact same without facing any hate.

However, to make matters even more extreme, on March 3, West released his music video for “Eazy,” where he pretends to kidnap and decapitate Davidson.

Even though West still isn’t physically hurting Davidson,

his visuals are extremely dark. The video led to online debates regarding whether West had crossed a line or not, but Davidson himself commented that he found the video absolutely hysterical and did not feel threatened in any way.

Regardless of “Eazy,” West’s name is still growing more controversial every day, mostly due to his random, hateful posts on Instagram about Davidson’s life. Since Feb. 13, West’s Instagram feed has consisted of rude remarks towards Davidson’s tattoos, memes that paint Davidson as a villain and even screenshots of West and Davidson’s private text messages together discussing Kardashian and her children. Once again, online beef between celebrities is normal. Cardi B and Nicki Minaj argued throughout 2017 and Paris Hilton fought with Lindsay Lohan for nearly a decade. However, Davidson is inactive on social media and has publicized very little about his relationship with West, which sharply contrasts the situation from other celebrity feuds. West

is practically fighting against nobody, and he needs to stop bashing Davidson’s name for no apparent reason except his own pride.

West is not doing himself any favors, either. He may be jealous of Davidson, but bad-mouthing him won’t end Davidson’s relationship with Kardashian.

Additionally, West’s hate towards Davidson is hypocritical, because he has publically dated other people over the past twelve months since their divorce, namely actress and model Julia Fox. At this point, West is only villainizing himself by constantly attacking someone who isn’t even bothered to respond. He has single-handedly painted himself as a bitter man, rather than someone who just misses his wife. West needs to deal with his family business in private, so that his drama won’t tarnish his reputation as a modern-day, lyrical legend.

The Culture Around School Dances Should Be More Inclusive

by ALEA MARKS

For many American high school students, prom, homecoming and semi-formal are major events during their time in high school. However, whether you have seen it in movies or experienced it in real life, there is stigma surrounding these dances. From the asks to the pre-parties and after-parties, to the brand of dress or suit you wear, it might feel like these dances are purely a popularity contest. But they don’t have to be. School dances should be a fun experience that you look back on years later and reminisce about the memories you made with your classmates.

This month, Menlo had its first semi-formal dance in almost two years. With the dance, there comes a wave of anxiety as students are forced to navigate the social dynamics surrounding the dance. There are some students who are able to take a step back from all the drama and simply have a good time. But for many others, the stress begins with the asks: who do you want to go with, who are you actually going with and when are they asking you? Once that is confirmed, there will typically be a public ask on the quad. But, that doesn’t have to be the case; private asks are always an option, just communicate to your date what you want to do. But let me ask this: if it stresses you out, why bother going with a date at all?

You can A) go as friends, B) go as more than friends or

C) don’t go with a date at all, and go with your friends.

In all cases, you will have fun. Chances are, if you had a date, you wouldn’t have even spent as much time with them as you thought you would. Besides snapping a few photos at the pre-party and potentially slow dancing to one song, whether or not you have a date shouldn’t make or break your night.

The next hurdle to jump is pre-parties. Pre-parties are a big Menlo tradition, and some students use them as a place to take pictures and show off their outfits. But, with pre-parties comes exclusivity and equity issues.

Oftentimes smaller groups will have closed invite preparties, and that can cause tensions and make people feel left out. Especially at Menlo, pre-parties are often extravagant displays of wealth, raising questions about equity. They are not affiliated with the school, so it is difficult to ensure everyone is included. To combat this issue, students and their parents should be encouraged to throw all-grade pre-parties. At bigger schools, this might be unrealistic, but for a small school like Menlo it can guarantee that everyone has a pre-party to attend. It is likely that groups will branch off at an all grade preparty, but either way, everyone can be in one place and have the same experience.

Some might say that the whole point of the dance is the pre-party and the after-party. But I don’t think that is

the case. Sure, it would be nice to look back on photos of you all dressed up with your friends. But you can take pictures at the dance too! You don’t need to have a big group, get together with your closest friends and get ready before the dance.

The culture around school dances needs to change because the toxicity surrounding the event is unnecessary and taints the experience. You only get to go to so many high school dances, so you should take advantage of them and enjoy the moment.

Sophomore Tyler Mitic and junior Michele Hratko enjoy the all-grade junior pre-party. Staff photo: Erica Fenyo

Opinions

March 31, 2022

15

The Joe Rogan Experience: Challenging Free Speech on Social Media

by KYLIE JONES

Joe Rogan began a podcast known as The Joe Rogan Experience in December 2009. According to Forbes, the podcast has over 11 million listeners, and in 2019, the podcast brought in 30 million dollars of revenue. Amid COVID-19, Rogan brought on several healthcare experts to interview about the vaccine. Many statements made on the podcast have contradicted information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

This misinformation has discouraged individuals to get vaccinated and arguably put lives at risk. Originally, no disclaimer was given on the podcast episodes, but Spotify has since changed their approach to managing COVID-19 misinformation.

Disclaimers that indicate a COVID-19 discussion are now put on all podcast episodes that discuss the virus. Other social media platforms should follow in

Spotify’s footsteps because a disclaimer still protects free speech yet also protects the audience.

On podcast #1757, Rogan brought on Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine scientist and Medical Director for The Unity Project. The Unity Project condemns COVID-19 vaccinations in children, claiming that the risk of vaccine injury is putting children in harm's way to protect adults. Malone has credited himself with the invention of the mRNA platform used in both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines; however, this is a gross exaggeration. According to the University of Pennsylvania Medicine’s website, researchers Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman co-discovered nucleoside modifications suppression of the immunogenicity of RNA, and they are the inventors of the mRNA platform.

Karikó and Weissman received several awards for their research and discovery such as the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Malone, on the other hand, has not been distinguished with any awards, which makes his self-credited title of

“creator” debatable.

On March 25, 2020, Congress passed the ​​Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The bill increased funding for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, which contributed $100 billion into reimbursing hospitals for lost revenues from COVID-19 patients. On the podcast, Malone and Rogan announced that this budget would create an incentive for hospitals to “fake” COVID-19 deaths, therefore falsely inflating COVID-19 death numbers. “Faking” deaths that means that medical professionals would credit a death to COVID-19, even if the death was a result of comorbidity.

According to the CDC’s guide for certifying deaths due to COVID-19, the immediate cause is the result of the death, regardless of any underlying conditions. While Malone’s claims can point out hospitals’ possible motives, there is no definitive proof that they have been “faking” COVID-19 deaths to receive reimbursement. The problem with Malone’s argument is that he falsely equates motive to proof of a crime. Although Malone has no data to buttress his claims, there is still a chance that this misinformation without a disclaimer will create panic and public distrust of healthcare organizations.

During the podcast, Malone confirmed he was kicked off of Twitter on Dec. 29, 2021. The reason for the ban was undisclosed. Malone had also been de-platformed from LinkedIn months before. However, Malone said he did receive an explanation for the LinkedIn banning. “I pointed out that the chairman of the board of Thomson Reuters also sits on the board of Pfizer. […] I simply wrote that this does look like a conflict of interest,” Malone said.

Thomson Reuters is a media company that provides business information services. Thomson Reuters supports the

Thomson Reuters Foundation, of which James C. Smith is the Chairman. Smith does sit on the board of Pfizer, according to the Pfizer website. Undoubtedly, this is an uneven distribution of power. Even though some claims Malone and Rogan have made on platforms such as Spotify and LinkedIn have been correct, not all the information they have presented has been accurate. The dangers of misinformation, especially COVID-19 misinformation, are substantial. Since Malone has claimed to have invented the mRNA technology he holds an “expert” position in the eyes of the public. He has used this false credibility to spread his opinions as fact. Evidently, protection from misinformation spreaders such as Malone is needed; social media companies don’t need to fully censor him, but rather inform their audiences of the possible discrepancies. Media companies and their leaders have become too powerful in recent years, as evidenced by Thomas Reuters, and allowing them the power to censor their users only increases their power.

Sophomore Arthi Abhyanker follows current news on platforms such as Spotify, CNN, Fox and other social media apps and websites. She does not take a considerable amount of precaution when it comes to fact-checking the information she finds. Abhyanker doesn’t think that platforms have the responsibility to censor information, but she does think platforms should implement disclaimers.

“I think it’s hard to draw the line between hate speech or improper information,” Abhyanker said. “They should put disclaimers because the power media outlets have to censor things could easily be exploited.” If media outlets have the power to censor information, then conflicts of interest, such as the James C. Smith conflict Malone pointed out, become much more problematic.

However, to protect the public from listening to self-proclaimed experts, there need to be disclaimers to flag opinions cited as facts.

Staff illustration: Dorinda Xiao

The Coat of Arms Editor-in-Chief................................................Sophia Artandi Chief of Innovation and Marketing........................Emily Han Print Editor........................................................Sylvie Venuto Online Editor....................................................Louisa Sonsini Sports Editor.....................................................Chase Hurwitz Assistant Sports Editor..........................................Erica Fenyo News Editor...........................................................Alex Levitt Assistant News Editor......................................Abigail Becker Spread Co-Editors...............Tessa Frantz & Riley Huddleston Assistant Spread Editor.......................................Tatum Herrin Arts & Lifestyle Editor.......................................Laura Artandi Assistant Arts & Lifestyle Editor............................Kaylie Wu Opinions Editor.............................................Penelope Stinson Assistant Opinions Editor......................................Annie Stent Video Editor.............................................................Ari Krane Social Media Director...........................................Lexi Friesel Creative Director..................................................Sophie Fang Head Copy Editor.................................................Parina Patel Copy Editor...................................................Charlotte Palmer Marketing Director..............................................Madison Liu Staff Writers............................Zoe Adler, Sonia Dholakia, Geoffrey Franc, Lizzie Freehill, Cleo Hardin, Sophia Hinshaw, Sutton Inouye, Kylie Jones, Claude KingsleyWilliam, Noah Kornfeld, Izzy Klugman, Andrea Li, Jake Lieberman, Alea Marks, Octave Moha, Rhea Nandal, Jacob Reich, Ty Richardson, Avery Romain, Agnes Shao, Sophie Stone, Karen Xin Staff Illustrators...............................................Michele Hratko, Dorinda Xiao, Grace Tang Adviser.................................................................Tripp Robbins

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16

Opinion

March 31, 2022

Girls and Boys Basketball Game Attendance Should Be More Equal

by SYLVIE VENUTO & KAREN XIN

As we left the locker room after our girls basketball team’s NorCal Division II first round win, we expected to see the group of parents and close friends who attended our game. They were still there, but to our surprise, so was a hoard of rowdy Menlo students, decked out headto-toe in gold. We were a bit taken aback, as we’d never had this many fans for a game, except for maybe senior night. It took a second for it to click, and our slight surprise was followed by disappointment: they’re here for the boys game after ours.

Ever since Jan. 31, when fans have been allowed reentry to indoor athletic events, the boys basketball team has had a much higher attendance rate among Menlo students than the girls team has, according to Assistant Director of Sports Performance and Wellness Samantha Leeper, who attended several boys and girls basketball games this year. While supporter attendance could be seen as a negligible issue, having school-wide enthusiasm around girls’ sports encourages girls to continue playing and improves performance.

Our NorCal Division II first-round game was directly followed by the boys NorCal Division III firstround game. Before the game, the Sea of Gold made an Instagram post for the boys game stating, “ALL MENLO STUDENTS‼️ HUGE STATE DIII BASKETBALL GAME TOMORROW @HOME AGAINST MANTECA‼️ [...] WE WANT TO SEE A FULL GYM! THEME = GOLDOUT.” There was no mention of the girls game until our team captain and senior class president Sharon Nejad wrote, “Maybe I’ll come after OUR GAME @6pm home gym.” Sea of Gold replied “urs is coming” and made a post for the girls’ game as well: “We got ROUND 1 of GIRL’S NORCALS!!!

Come support our super stud ballers @6pm at HOME [...] vs Alhambra!!! Theme: GOLD OUT for our championssss [...] LET’S BRING THE SPIRIT && GET LOUDDDD!!!!”

First Post, for boys game:

“ALL MENLO STUDENTS HUGE STATE DIII BASKETBALL GAME TOMORROW @HOME AGAINST MANTECA!!! [...]

8:00! WE WANT TO SEE A FULL GYM! THEME = GOLDOUT.”

Second Post, posted later, for girls game:

“We got ROUND 1 of GIRL’S NORCALS!!! Come support our super stud ballers @6pm at HOME [...] vs Alhambra!!!

Theme: GOLD OUT for our championssss [...] LET’S BRING THE SPIRIT && GET LOUDDDD!!!!”

Whether the order of the posts was intentional or not, our team was frustrated; we felt as if we were being treated as an afterthought. Instead of telling students that there was a double header, the Sea of Gold decided to promote the boys basketball game before promoting the girls basketball game, even though the girls game would take place first. The boys were the eighth seed in Division III, whereas we were the third seed in Division II. This means that the seeding committee ranked the boys team as the 47th best team in northern California, while the girls team was ranked 26th. Despite our higher ranking, we still weren’t receiving the same level of support as the boys.

Whether it was due to a lack of awareness of the game or a lack of interest, it was obvious to those of us on the team that there were significantly fewer people at our game than at the boys game 30 minutes later, a difference also noted by students who attended both games. “There were more fans at the boys game,” freshman Aidan Stull, who attended both games, said.

(Above) Junior Jordan Brooks holds off a defender. (Below) Junior Cort Halsey looks to make a play. While both games were on the same night, there was a significantly greater number of fans at the boys game. Staff photos: Lexi Friesel

Even the placement of game times encourages more students to attend boys games.

On days when both the girls and boys teams play, the West Bay Athletic League schedules the girls games to take place first, according to Director of Athletics Earl Koberlein. Central Coast Section and NorCal playoff games are not scheduled by the section or state, according to Koberlein. For both league and playoff games, the athletic department is able to shift game times. “[The athletic department] take[s] into consideration the coaches’ preference, the practice schedule of the teams not playing games, [whether] we want players waiting around all day at school for a game, getting players home at a decent time after games and other things,” Koberlein said.

Nonetheless, there are discrepancies between how the girls and boys games are scheduled for double header nights. During the 2021-22 season, there were six nights when both a boys and a girls varsity game was scheduled.

Of those six nights, there was only one night when the girls game was the later game, and that game was neither of the playoff double header nights.

JV games, if occurring, always start before the varsity game. Likewise, by putting the girls games before the boys games, there is a signal that — whether consciously or not — the boys games are the headline event, while the girls games just happen to occur on the same day, as a sort of warm-up act. The lack of enthusiasm around attending girls athletic games negatively affects our own energy and our team’s performance during the game.

Without fans attending our games, our team was missing out on the chance to capitalize on the homecourt advantage that we had earned through our regularseason wins. In tournaments, home games are given

to the higher seeded team as an advantage. During the 2019-20 season — the most recent full season with fans at all home games — the Menlo girls basketball team had a 6.1% higher effective field goal percentage, 3.9% higher three-point percentage, 4.2% higher free throw percentage and scored 6.1 more points per game at home games, according to Hudl. This improvement in statistics can be attributed to increased crowd sizes causing adrenaline in athletes, loud crowds influencing referee calls, intimidating the opposing team and encouraging “role players” to step up, according to Bleacher Report.

During the 2021-22 season, however, this advantage was dampened because there wasn’t a substantially greater number of fans at home: we only had a 2.8% increase in effective field goal percentage, 1.5% lower three-point percentage, 3.5% lower free throw percentage and scored 3.4 more points per game at home games. In essence, this season, playing a home game was basically the same as playing an away game.

That being said, many more people attended our NorCal quarterfinal game, as can be seen in game film.

However, the increase in supporters was likely the result of being bribed with free pizza and free tickets (paid for by the Menlo Athletics Department and our assistant coach, Melanie Murphy) for the first 50 students in attendance or the fact that the boys game was too far away (in Chico) for students to drive to. We fed off of the crowd’s cheers and, with three and a half minutes to play in the fourth quarter, made an 11-point comeback.

Having the support of our high school classmates helped us achieve one of our most exciting wins of the season. And based on the screaming of our classmates and the excited buzz surrounding the game at school the next day, the game was a worthwhile outing for our classmates, too.

Sports

March 31, 2022

17

COMMITTED CORNER Kami Israelski, Volleyball

by ERICA FENYO

Senior Kami Israelski committed to play Division III womens volleyball at Williams College over the summer.

Israelski started playing club volleyball when she was 12 years old and has been hooked ever since. She has played at Encore Volleyball Club and Rage Volleyball Club in the past and is now on the Vision Volleyball Club team.

“I switched to Vision because it had really great opportunities, and it’s just a very, very well-known club,” Israelski said. “I joined the team last year, and I was the only new girl, and none of them were from Menlo, so getting to know a whole different diverse group of girls was

super exciting for me.”

Williams College is part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference , a league Israelski was drawn to from the start of her recruiting journey because her brother plays football at Bowdoin College, another member school of the NESCAC. “I toured the NESCAC when I was a sophomore,” Israelski said.

“I really liked them, so that was always on my radar.”

From the beginning of her college search, Israelski viewed Williams as one of her top choices, and she settled on it as her dream school during the final months of her recruiting process. “I was also talking to Emory [University], and that

was my other top choice, but I just stayed in constant contact with [Williams],” Israelski said. “At the end of it, […]

Williams was my number one choice, and I communicated that with them, and they ended up responding in a really positive way.”

The better competition that college volleyball promises was what attracted Israelski to pursue a collegiate career.

“I think it’s really exciting that I get to play with kids who not only made a club team, but who also got chosen to play at a higher level,” she said. “The adrenaline, teamwork and spirit are all just very exciting to me.”

While Israelski is excited to move on to collegiate play, she also loves all the

memories she made on the Menlo team. “I loved dancing before games, not even the game itself, just the community we had was so fun,” she said. “I think that more than half the team was seniors, so it was definitely hard to say goodbye to them, but you just had to remember every game because it was like ‘this is the last time we are going to do this together.’”

Her teammates also view Israelski as a positive teammate and role model. “[Israelski] really cares about the sport, and I feel like she adds to a really good team culture,” teammate and senior Hallie MacDonald said. “She’s really talented and a good teammate, which you just don’t find everywhere. I think she’ll do great wherever she goes.”

Volleyball photos courtesy of Kami Israelski Waterpolo photos ourtesy of Greg Hilderbrand

Greg Hilderbrand, Waterpolo

by LOUISA SONSINI

Senior Greg Hilderbrand committed to play Division I water polo at the University of California, Santa Barbara in October 2021.

Hilderbrand has been a swimmer since he was six years old, participating in the Alpine Hills swim team and various swim summer camps, but it wasn't until the age of 10 that he discovered a passion for water polo.

His neighbors, the Untrecht family, were heavily involved with water polo at the time, inspiring him to pursue the sport. So, Hilderbrand initially joined water polo alongside Joe Untrecht, the younger brother of Sam Untrecht ('20). “I

was close friends with [Untrecht], so I just decided to join. Because of my swimming background, it was an easy transition,” Hilderbrand said. His father's cousins also have a water polo history, so Hilderbrand was previously familiar with it. In high school, Hilderbrand had the opportunity to play alongside Sam Untrecht for the Menlo varsity boys water polo team.

In eighth grade, Hilderbrand had already decided to work toward playing water polo in college. "I really [loved] the sport, and I knew I had a good shot at playing in college. I knew some guys that were going to play in college, so that influenced me too," he said.

Hilderbrand had a very positive experience with the Menlo water polo program, and he enjoyed the balanced team environment. “[Menlo has] a very calm and fun environment. Everyone likes each other and gets along well, but when the practice starts, [it’s] more serious, [...] and we have to be really focused,” he said. “But then afterward, everyone is friendly again.”

In addition to playing water polo for Menlo, Hilderbrand competes for the Stanford Water Polo Club, a year-round program he’s been a member of since he was 10 years old.

In terms of college, Hilderbrand

always knew he wanted to stay in California, so the UCs were at the top of his list. He ultimately decided to attend and play water polo for UCSB because of its academics, location and school culture.

“I created a good relationship with the coach, and I also just love the school,” he said. Hilderbrand visited the school last fall and has established relationships with about a third of the team so far.

Hilderbrand looks forward to his years at UCSB and has already started setting goals, some of which include securing playing time as a freshman and participating in a collegiate water polo national championship.

18

Sports

March 31, 2022

HIITing The

ym: The Rise of Rumble Boxing

by ALEA MARKS

Rumble Boxing is a 45-minute workout class that combines boxing and strength training that has taken the U.S. by storm. Since 2017, when the first studio opened in New York City, Rumble Boxing has expanded to 11 locations in five cities across the U.S., including Palo Alto, with more opening soon. The goal of the classes is to build endurance, muscle and coordination.

Each class is split into boxing drills and strengthening floor exercises that participants rotate between. People start every class by strapping on their gloves and performing boxing combinations on the Rumble water-filled teardrop punching bags before heading over to their individual strength station for bodyweight or dumbbell circuits. Rumble boxing is a form of high-intensity interval training, which quickly raises the heart rate through short bursts of activity. HIIT is supposed to build endurance, and when combined

with weight, it builds muscle too.

Just one of many HIIT exercise companies like Barry’s Bootcamp or SoulCycle, Rumble is becoming increasingly popular among teenagers and young

adults, including Menlo students. Designed for all levels, Rumble takes after a group fitness model designed for individuals. This makes Rumble feel less intimidating than other fitness programs, making it easy to start with no prior experience.

Menlo junior Eden Micaelian first went to a Rumble boxing class in New

York before the pandemic and recently started taking classes more regularly in Palo Alto. Before Rumble, Micaelian went to SoulCycle, but now she far prefers Rumble. She likes that the instructors at Rumble are encouraging and will never push her past her limits.

Sophie Leupold, another Menlo junior, was inspired by Micaelian to go to a

Rumble class. Leupold also takes workout classes at

Barry’s Bootcamp, which she finds to be more challenging than Rumble because the workouts are stricter with higher expectations. “At Rumble, you can make it your own pace and make it as hard as you want it to be,” Leupold said. She also likes the individual feel of Rumble, even though it is in a group setting. “The dark [lighting] provides anonymity, so you don’t have to worry about what you look like working out, and you can just do it for yourself,” Leupold said.

Lara Craciun is a senior at Carlmont High School and recently started working at Rumble. She works at the front desk and checks people in for their workouts. “My favorite thing about working there is that everyone is so positive and friendly. It’s a very uplifting place to be in with great energy,” Craciun said. Her advice to a first timer would be to not be intimidated and to show up and try it out.

Staff illustration: Sutton Inouye

Student-Athletes and Coaches Reflect on the Role of Team Captains

by IZZY KLUGMAN

Menlo has a number of strong sports teams, from tennis to water polo to volleyball. A number of factors, including strong team captains, contribute to their success.

Team captains possess a certain set of qualities which set them apart from their teammates, according to varsity boys and girls tennis coach Bill Shine. “Some of the qualities I look for in a good team captain is how well they are respected by the team. When they talk, do kids listen to them? Are they natural leaders, either through example or words? It’s not necessarily the most popular kid; it’s the kid that backs up what he says and who people just gravitate toward a little more,”

by example, leading with the voice, just getting your team riled up and excited about the games. The main thing is that you don’t have to be a leader by voice, which is a lot of what people think is just a captain. You can lead by just leading by example,” Espinosa said.

Varsity lacrosse captain Laynie Sheehan agrees with the level of leadership required for a captain. “It requires more leadership. You’re an example for most of the team. Making sure that you’re putting 100% of your effort into everything [is important] because people are always watching whatever the captain is doing,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan’s teammate, junior Madison

Girls tennis captain and senior Tricia Zhang hits a forehand in a match in the annual Tyler Nii tournament. Tennis Coach Bill Shine said that her composure and patience on the court set an example for everyone else on the team and was crucial to the team’s postseason success during NorCals. Photo courtesy of Leon Yao

Shine said.

Varsity soccer captain Carolina Espinosa sees being a team captain as having strong leadership qualities. “I think that being a good team captain is just leading in every way possible, [including] leading

Vitro, believes her captains have influenced her greatly during her time on the team. “I think that my team captains have definitely given me players to look up to, from the time I was a freshman to even now. And I think that our team would be

much more disorganized if we didn't have those leadership roles,” Vitro said.

Team captains are also responsible for the unity of the team, according to varsity baseball and varsity football captain Jack Giesler. “Bringing everyone together, whether it’s in team meetings or having a light tone practice, is important so that it's not between just you and your friends, but it includes everyone,” Giesler said.

Girls tennis player Charlotte Yao, who will captain the varsity girls tennis team next year, agrees with Giesler’s view of team captains. “If I were to describe team captains in one way, I would say they’re kind of like the keystone or glue of the team. They’re always there to keep us connected and lift our spirits, which is especially important during big matches,” Yao said.

Captains can have added pressure, according to Sheehan. “A lot of decisions are put on you, and you have to make the right calls even though some people might be disappointed by it or there's a difference in opinions,” Sheehan said.

Varsity girls tennis captain Tricia Zhang believes the most crucial part of being a team captain is being an active listener. “The most important part of being a team captain is listening to what your teammates have to say and making sure you include everyone,” Zhang said. “You have different responsibilities, and your actions will reflect upon the whole team.

I think when you’re captain, your teammates are looking up to you.”

Team captains are seen as representatives of the team, according to varsity boys water polo coach Jack Bowen. “It’s someone whom the players feel can represent them to the coach, to the waterpolo community, to the community at large.

And sometimes it's a ‘rah, rah, let's go

Menlo!’ kind of leader. And sometimes it's more of a quiet leader, leading by example, who's the first one to training and the last one to leave,” Bowen said.

Varsity boys lacrosse coach Blake Kim sees captains as a method of communication between coaches and players.

“Our captains need to be comfortable speaking to everybody on the roster and being a voice for the team to all the coaches. We view captains as junior assistant coaches. These are the guys that we can communicate one-on-one with and can then be the messengers to pass that information down to the rest of the team,” Kim said.

Even with all of the expectations, being a team captain can be incredibly rewarding, according to varsity volleyball captain Hanna Hoffman. “I love that everyone kind of looks to me, and I get to be a really big voice for the team. My coach always told me I was like a coach on the court, which I think is really cool because I love leading and I love bringing people together. So just being able to do that and having younger girls kind of look to you for that leadership position is a really nice feeling,” Hoffman said.

Varsity boys golf captain Marcus Ying finds joy in his position as well.

“The most rewarding thing is helping people get better. I play golf. So when I'm trying to help someone with a swing or with a shot and they understand how to do it, and then they actually execute that shot, it's really cool to see how excited they get,” Ying said.

According to varsity volleyball coach Tony Holland, being a captain means being selfless and recognizing that the team is top priority. “Everything that you do puts the team above anything that, individually, you want to accomplish.”

Sports

March 31, 2022

19

Two Ryans Join the Menlo Lacrosse Coaching Staff

by CHARLOTTE PALMER

This season, two new lacrosse coaches joined Menlo Athletics. New JV boys lacrosse head coach Ryan Liebel has previously coached at Providence College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Jacksonville University.

New varsity girls lacrosse head coach Ryan Sage has coached at the Firehawks Lacrosse Club and Notre Dame de Namur University.

Liebel began coaching after undergoing a double knee surgery due to chronic tendinitis in his knee while playing lacrosse at UMass Amherst. “We were playing on astroturf in the wintertime. It’s like concrete, and it just takes a pounding,” Liebel said. After a year of recovery, he told his coach that he could no longer play. “So he allowed me to be on the other side of the line every day in practice,” Liebel said.

He soon discovered his love for coaching. “I just thought it was fascinating in terms of how you can manipulate certain scenarios and situations, and you really do have a lot of control,” Liebel said. “On the other side, there’s only so much that you can control because you're providing all this information to the guys, but you can’t control how they decipher that information and what they’re doing when they react in split second decisions.”

Liebel finds gratification when he sees his players’ happiness with their accomplishments. “Success isn’t going to happen overnight, but when it finally starts to click and you see the joy and the happiness on their faces and the enjoyment that they have with their teammates, that gives me goosebumps and I get really excited for that kind of stuff.” “[Liebel] does a really good job of bringing great energy to practice and coaching the fundamentals in a way that is easily understood to kids who are new to the game,” senior and JV and varsity boys lacrosse assistant coach Aidan Housenbold said. Sophomore Nate Bowers, who is on the JV boys lacrosse team, agrees. “Liebel brings a lot of energy and he’s really helping our team master fundamentals,” he said. Sophomore and JV boys lacrosse player Nick Low ap-

New varsity girls lacrosse head coach Ryan Sage plays for the Scottish National Team in the World Lacrosse Championship quarterfinals against the Iroquois Nation. Held in Denver in 2014, this was Sage’s first world championship. Photo courtesy of Ryan Sage

preciates Liebel’s expertise. “He has a lot of experience, and that’s going to help the program a lot,” he said.

Outside of coaching, Liebel enjoys spending time with his two French mastiffs and his girlfriend, who coaches the Stanford womens lacrosse team.

Sage has two dogs as well: two Australian shepherds. He also has a cat.

Sage, who plays lacrosse for the Scottish National Team, started coaching to help out his coach, who was running the Firehawks Youth Lacrosse Club. “I loved it and realized that in [the Bay Area] there was the potential to make it into a career and [I've] never looked back,” Sage said.

“I felt like I was being pulled to [the Bay Area].”

Sage found that his experience tutoring his friends academically translated to

coaching in a valuable way. “I didn’t realize how valuable tutoring would be translated into coaching,” Sage said. “I would find creative ways to explain a concept or topic that maybe the person I was tutoring wasn't understanding the way that their professor or teacher was teaching it.”

Menlo is the first girls lacrosse team Sage has coached, and he really enjoys the team environment that the players have created. “They’re so respectful. They say thank you after practice all the time,” Sage said. “I really enjoy being around them.” His wife is currently pregnant with twin girls. “That is also a huge reason why I've been loving coaching girls so much,” Sage said.

“Sage motivates us to do our best and has productive practices, but also

makes sure to keep a light environment where everyone feels comfortable and excited to participate,” junior and varsity girls lacrosse player Madison Vitro said.

Her teammates agree. “Sage makes us enjoy coming to practice [and] to have fun while working hard,” senior Claire Raney said.

“He’s able to keep a good balance between having fun and being serious, which fosters a strong sense of unity among our teammates while still helping us improve,” senior Michelle Li said.

“The environment he has created is helping all of us get better individually and as a team.”

In his free time, Sage plays acoustic guitar and piano, and also enjoys rock climbing and snowboarding.

Menlo Boys Golf Retreat in Santa Cruz Is a Hole in One

by ERICA FENYO

A group of Menlo golfers watch as freshman Benjamin Park tees off. The retreat took the Knights to the Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz and The Preserve Golf Club. Photo courtesy of Marcus Ying

The Menlo boys golf team attended a retreat with a fun mix of golf and bonding on March 19 and 20.

The Knights took on the Pasatiempo Golf Club’s course in Santa Cruz on the first day. Then, they traveled down to The Preserve Golf Club to tee off on the

second day of their retreat. This retreat was the first of its kind for the golf team, but they intend to make it a tradition in coming years.

In between courses, the Menlo boys stayed in condos at the Seascape Resort, a four-star resort in Aptos, and the whole

trip was funded by one player’s parent as a gift to the team so that all the players could attend free of charge.

“I think we want to do a trip down to Carmel or Pebble Beach [every year],” co-captain Marcus Ying said. “Just to play some cool courses and bond with other guys on the team and introduce them to golf.”

As a golf novice, freshman Tyler Rattner is just getting to know the Menlo team. “I feel like it’s a really fun team atmosphere. It’s not as competitive as other sports, so everyone is very welcoming,” he said.

The retreat was a great opportunity for the team to bond with ample time to hang out and get dinner together, but it was not all fun and games, according to Ying. “I think everyone got humbled by the courses, and it was a really tough experience but really fun at the same time […] because we played two of the top courses in America,” Ying said. “I think

everyone got a lot more familiar with people they haven’t played with before.”

As co-captain, Ying tried to mix up the pairings so the team members could play with other Menlo golfers that they did not know as well.

Rattner enjoyed the chance to connect with his teammates and ask for their advice about golfing and Menlo in general, especially during a team game of poker at their hotel. “Most of us went out, and we played poker at the hotel until like [midnight], which was a fun team bonding experience,” he said. “[Poker] just kind of got our minds off of a full day of golf, which was a lot beforehand.”

The golf team got off to a rocky start to the season with two early losses against Crystal Springs and Sacred Heart.

They have a few more matches, including a rematch against Sacred Heart, before the West Bay Athletic League and CCS matches begin in early May.

20

Sports

March 31, 2022

From the Bull's Back to the Bullpen: Reynoso hangs on to a bull while riding in San Jose in 1981. Sitting in the front row were Gary Leffew, 1970 world champion, and Ted Nuce, 1985 world champion. Photo courtesy of Tink Reynoso

Menlo Baseball Coach Tink Reynoso's Career in Professional Bull Riding

by NOAH KORNFELD

“The adrenaline rush is nothing you can even compare it to,” co-head Menlo varsity baseball coach Tink Reynoso said about bull riding. While not many coaches have played professionally in a sport different from the one they coach, Reynoso was an amateur bull rider for two years before embarking on a seven-year professional career throughout the 1980s.

Reynoso grew up around bull riding and was always involved with horses. He worked on a cattle ranch on weekends and watched his father ride bulls and participate in rodeos for 20 years. However, Reynoso did not start riding until he was 23, two years before the prime of most careers.

When Reynoso first started riding, his father sent him to a bull riding school because of how dangerous the sport is.

“It’s not that easy because you’re taking your life in your hands. Even [while] practicing, the bulls aren’t as bad, but they could step on your head or cripple you for life,” Reynoso said. The school takes you through a progression where you start with sheep and then move on to the real bulls.

After school, he embarked on a career that took him all around the Sierra Circuit in California and even up into Oregon. While Reynoso did not get paid, a man from Texas Oil Wells sponsored him, paying for his room and entry fees.

While bull riding may differ completely from the sports at Menlo, the training is not all that different. Reynoso’s training consisted of squats, deadlifts and other weight training that targeted legs because riders hold onto the bull with

their legs. Surprisingly, one of the key training exercises his coaches had him do was play basketball. The agility and quick reactions translated well when Reynoso was holding on as the bull darted around the arena. Twice a week, you could find bull riders playing pickup basketball at Woodside Priory, according to Reynoso.

One interesting difference between bull riding and other sports is that while waiting in the bucking chute (the gated area where the rider and bull wait), riders are told not to watch the rider before them so as to not witness any gruesome injuries. Reynoso recalled one time at the Sacramento State Fair where a rider was bucked off and the bull turned around and hit the rider straight in the back, inverting the rider’s back. While that is scary enough for a viewer, Reynoso watched it

happen and had to calm his nerves before riding just minutes later.

Eventually, minor injuries and familial duties pushed Reynoso out of the sport. Nearly every time he got onto the bull, he would pull a groin, and injury recovery became harder as he got older.

While Reynoso has had no lasting injuries or effects on his health, he has built up quite the resume of temporary injuries: torn cartilage in both knees, separated sternum, a broken rib, a broken finger, a sprained neck, a front tooth that was knocked out, countless concussions and even lost his eyesight for 30 seconds after being hit in the face by a bull. However, even after all his injuries, Reynoso’s only regret is that he didn’t start riding when he was “five years old.”

William Floyd Raises the Bar as Menlo Track and Fields' Only Pole Vaulter

by LEXI FRIESEL

Junior William Floyd is part of Menlo’s track and field team — but not as a sprinter, long distance runner or hurdler as one may expect. Instead, Floyd is a competitive pole vaulter.

Floyd decided to take up pole vaulting when he was in eighth grade. “I saw the sport on television for the first time, and it looked really cool,” Floyd said. “I did some Googling and found a club in Redwood City

where I could try it out.”

Floyd started off by pole vaulting for Peninsula Vault Club, a pole vaulting organization that runs out of Sequoia High School and is one of the few pole vaulting organizations located in the San Francisco Bay Area. “Through middle school and freshman year, I was practicing casually once a week for an hour and a half,” Floyd said.

Because track was the only high school sport actively running during the early stages of COVID-19, Floyd began to get competitively involved in the sport. “I got serious about getting better,” Floyd said, “I had to travel to different clubs in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Petaluma to get more vault time.”

Currently, Floyd competes for the

Menlo track and field team but practices with Sequoia’s track and field team during the week due to the lack of vaulting equipment, such as poles and pads, on Cartan Field. In 2021, Floyd set the school record, won league and placed third in CCS in his individual event. He is planning on pole vaulting at several track and field meets for the Knights this spring.