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Community reactions to the Russia-Ukraine conflict
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Community members decide whether to remain masked
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Ryan Rodack ‘22
789 days stood between March 12, 2020, and February 28, 2022, a period of time in which school was held virtually, classes were taught in trailers with students spaced six feet apart, sanitation wipes were used to clean desks, and lunch was eaten from the comfort of advisory locations.
After a chaotic two years, Haverford is almost back to normal and masks are optional.
For some students, the mask-optional announcement required little to no consideration as to whether or not they would remove their masks in school.
“Personally, I believe that it is much better that we have an option to wear a mask rather than it being mandated,” Sixth Former Samir Pernell said. “Because COVID has been going on for such a long time, I would say the fear of COVID has been drifting away from the community. It feels like we have more freedom and control over what we can do with our own bodies and what happens to us. But, because we have more
Are you currently opting to wear a mask in class?
85.3%
No
14.7%
Yes
Google Forms poll of 105 respondents, Between March 13-14, 2022 Students gather in the dining hall maskless control, we are more susceptible to the consequences.”
Sixth Former Sam Tryon has also chosen to attend school maskless.
“I’m triple vaxxed, so I’m not too afraid of catching COVID and, if I do, it hopefully won’t be that bad,” Tryon said. “Wearing a mask for so long has been really annoying and uncomfortable. I just wanted to return to how school was before the pandemic, and so far it’s been great.”
While a high percentage of the student body has chosen to abandon their masks, others are not ready just yet.
“Right now, I am choosing to keep my mask on because I don’t feel super comfortable taking it off yet,” said Third Former Milan Varma. “I have some people at risk at home and people who visit often, like my grandparents, so I don’t want to take that risk just yet. And, I’m kind of used to it, so I don’t mind [wearing a mask]... But, I always take it off outside now, and I’m thinking next week I’m probably not going to wear it anymore.”
DANIEL HOU ‘22
Other students pick and choose the situations as to when they remain masked. “I don’t wear a mask all the time at school, but I just have one in my pocket to use,” Sixth Former Daniel Hou said. “Especially if I’m in a close space, I prefer to have it on so that I don’t get infected and other
RYAN RODACK ’22
people don’t get infected.”
“I don’t wear a mask all the time. If I am doing exercise or something like that I usually take it off. But it doesn’t really get in the way most of the time. It’s nice to protect people,” Sixth Former Bobby Parillo said. “As far as I can tell, wearing a mask helps: not only protecting others and yourself from viruses and bacteria, but it also helps you not touch your face… I’m also immunocompromised, so I want to stay safe.”
The mask-optional policy has also brought on some difficult decisions for faculty and staff.
Math Department Chair Mr. Justin Gaudreau situationally elects when to mask up.
“To me, it was a family decision. I have a daughter who is underage and unable to get vaccinated. Depending on what space I’m in, I’ll respect the other person’s viewpoint and what they want to do,” Mr. Gaudreau said.
Ukraine-Russian conflict fires community interest in global politics
Casey Williams ‘24
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” led to a million refugees fleeing Ukraine in just seven days. Ukrainian citizens have evacuated their homes, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called upon men between the ages of 18 and 60 years old to fight for their country.
The event, which history classes will discuss decades down the line, has buzzed around the school. But how much does the Haverford community actually know about the invasion? The majority of students agree that the conflict is unprovoked and unnecessary, but as to why Russia invaded, opinions in the community are mixed.
“It seems like the invasion is a result of Russia attempting to be dominant in Europe again after being dormant for so long,” Fourth Former Luke Fesnak said.
Fourth Former Noah Trexler said, “I think that with Putin being an ex-KGB agent he wants to see the old glory the USSR once had.”
The invasion has understandably led to conversations in history classrooms, but as for classes other than that, the subject remains undiscussed.
“In my classes, I have talked about [the conflict] almost zero,” Trexler said. “All my talking has either been with my friends outside of class.” Some students kept up with the conflict, even before the initial invasion on February 24th, and have been knowledgeable since then.
MR. JEREMY HART
Fourth Form Model UN club member Ethan Lee has paid much attention to the subject.
“I knew something was going to happen… I have been paying attention to it ever since that [a Model UN conference discussing the issue],” Lee said.
History teacher Mr. Jeremy Hart said, “Last quarter, my [Contemporary International Relations] class actually used UkraineRussia as a case study in examining how to analyze conflicts from the international, state, and individual levels. We missed the actual start of the conflict by a few months, but I have really enjoyed seeing those CIR students in the hallways to analyze the dayto-day of the invasion.”
Haverford students have a wide variety of sources of information, which can lead to different perspectives.
“Other than my Model UN conferences and meetings, my main source of information is usually The New York Times,” Lee said.
Mr. Hart is confident in the sensitivity and awareness of his students.
“Call me overconfident, but I have faith that my CIR and MWH guys have a grasp on what’s going on. I have been impressed by the amount of information many have heard outside of class and their abilities to connect to larger concepts from class,” Mr. Hart said.
Prom committee works to revive key event
Colin Stewart ’22
It seems so long ago. White Christmas lights, wooden stands holding balsam and douglas firs, sappy school clothes, sappier hands, and, most importantly, a group of Fifth and Sixth Form Fords ready to sell you the best tree of the lot—the Haverford Christmas Tree Sale fundraiser was only the first step in the months-long process of planning a prom.
Since then, the prom committee, composed of five Sixth Form students—Max Rosenberger, Stephen Walker, Bram Schork, Charles Witmer, and Pranav Dixit—has been hard at work.
Here’s what they have put together:
The prom is set to take place on May 7, 2022, at the Adventure Aquarium ballroom in Camden, New Jersey. Fifth and Sixth Formers, along with their dates, will meet at the quad and board a fleet of buses to the aquarium. The prerequisite to boarding the buses: every student participates in the timehonored tradition of introducing their dates to the Head of School. At the dance, promgoers will choose from a menu with vegetarian, kosher, and gluten-free options. At the end of the prom, each Sixth Former will receive a senior gift.
In discussing their vision for this year’s big dance, prom committee members have shared setbacks, discovered many small details, and found themselves disagreeing.
A unique setback for the prom committee arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic: whilst past committees had their FifthForm prom experience to base plans on, the pandemic prevented Fifth and Sixth Form proms from taking place. Although there was a prom last year, it was planned by Sixth Form parents solely for that class; thus none of the current committee members have attended a Haverford prom. The committee believes this offers some creative potential.
“We are not basing this year’s prom off of any other. We want to create a prom specifically for the Classes of 2022 and 2023,” Schork said.
Dixit echoed Schork’s sentiment. “We want to take it in a different direction,” Dixit said.
While the committee had no say in certain decisions, like holding the prom at Adventure Aquarium—the school still holds the deposit for the Class of 2020’s didnot-happen prom—it has still a significant amount of autonomy. Sra. Lambour and Mrs. Lewis, the faculty advisors to the committee, offer insight into and help with the financial aspects of planning, but little more.
So, for better or for worse, the committee’s decision to take the prom in a “different direction” will have weighty implications.
In planning this year’s prom, the committee has also discovered the sheer number of details that go into planning such an event.
“There’s a lot to think about, more than you might expect,” said Schork, “We think about everything from the color of the tablecloths to the food on the menu to the songs the DJ will play.”
Decisions balancing the ambiance and the cost of the event have been at the center of the committee’s discussions.
Want purple tablecloths because it fits the mood? Well, due to purple dye’s relative rarity, they will cost more.
Want steak on the menu? First, you’d have to decide the grade of beef, but, no matter the grade, it will be more expensive, meaning less food overall. What doneness will it be cooked to? Will students get to request a certain doneness? These are all questions that the committee might consider.
Another consideration is the music. The prom will have a DJ in attendance, but deciding what songs to play has been a difficult task.
“We decided to crowd-source the music this year. Of the requested songs, we’ll take thirty of them, give them to the DJ, and then he will put together a playlist with some of his own choices,” Schork said.
While there are some “no-brainers” like “Pump It Up” by Danzel, which, of the twelve request forms submitted, has appeared eight times, Schork admits that pleasing everyone will be a hard task. To make the committee’s job easier, Schork requests that more students submit music requests,
so long as they are non-explicit and not offensive. The committee has also found itself in quite contentious discussions, the most notable being the prom’s theme. While four members want a “pirate” themed prom—an apt theme for its location, some say—Schork called his dissent “a hill [he] is willing to die on.”
While the consequence of this disagreement may be no theme at all, Dixit said, “If you decide to wear an eye-patch to the prom, no one is going to stop you.”
BRAM SCHORK ’22
COMMUNICATIONS
Matt Pante ’23 and Thomas Barr ’25 help out in the tree sale funding prom last December While four members want a “pirate” themed prom—an apt theme for its location, some say— Schork called his dissent “a hill [he] is willing to die on.”
Underclassmen challenge new schedule
Kevin Li ’25
The school has made drastic changes over the past few years to help combat COVID-19 in the community. One significant change was implementation of the quarter system. Students again face change as the school prepares for a new schedule of continuous classes next year. Students have mixed feelings about these changes. Third Former James Dean said, “I do not like it, as I feel that the quarter system gives me less time for homework and more homework all around.”
The amount of work students get varies, depending on their classes and ultimately themselves. However, balancing six continuous classes throughout a whole year is certainly intimidating for people, especially underclassmen, who have not experienced such a schedule in the upper school before.
“I prefer the old schedule over the new one, as it will be more work and more stress,” Third Former Patrick White said.
The current schedule allows students to only focus on three classes per quarter, which ensures adequate time to finish their work. Going back to a continuous schedule may lead to more homework and seemingly less time for the increased work.
Fourth Former Brady Miles also brought up another popular opinion. He said, “I am worried about higher stress levels with the new schedules which could affect my work.”
Many believe that the increased amount of classes will lead to more homework and ultimately lead to more stress on the student. Over the last two years, students have been accustomed to having more time for their work and other activities. But with the new schedule and possibly more work, the amount of free time a student gets especially after extracurriculars is in question.
Mr. Fifer has only recently confirmed the new schedule, but a common opinion that the administration can expect from younger students is that they prefer the quarter system rather than the new one.
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ANTHONY CARTER ’23
A sculpture at Louis Armstrong Park of Black musicians playing brass instruments
“What we learned, especially when we took a tour of the city with a guide, was a lot of how New Orleans uses African American culture heavily but doesn’t appreciate the people that created it. The lack of appreciation of Black people—and [even stemming] from [the lack of any recognition for] the enslaved people in the past—[Black people] impacted the city like no other,” McCune said.
Some recurring symbols around the city troubled everyone on the trip. For one, New Orleans’ logo, the fleur de lis—found everywhere in the French Quarter district on street signs, restaurants, and even fence posts—once branded captured fugitive enslaved people when France ruled the city. And this practice was not just sparingly used, but rather codified in the inhumane lines of the French code for the enslaved, the Code Noir. Statues also heroize President Andrew Jackson, who supported and profited off of enslavement.
JAHMON SILVER ’26
Silver said, “They still had things like the signs of ‘slave exchange’ up—just without the ‘slave,’ and just left ‘change’ there. It’s triggering to see these symbols. It makes you feel that even though you’re free, you’re not really free. It makes you feel like they want you to feel lesser. In times like Mardi Gras or all the celebrations that go on—without us, those types of things wouldn’t be as lively as they are.”
And as the trip occurred during Mardi Gras season, students witnessed a cornerstone of the city’s vibrant spirit. But even in the festivals, segregation was evident.
“There were two different Mardi Gras that we went to. The first one, you saw all the Black people: they had all the Black girls dancing, they had all Black people on the parade [floats]. On the next day, [the second parade] was just all white people: you saw the kings and princesses, or whatever. Even the crowd was all white,” Fourth Former Musa Jabateh said.
In fact, as Third Former Semaj Lee explained, entirely separate festival traditions exist.
“My dad was telling me about Black Mardi Gras, which is during fall. It’s called the Bayou Classic, where Grambling State and Southern University—two HBCUs— have a football game. But there are parades, similar to Mardi Gras, where there are allBlack festivals,” Lee said.
From the demographics alone, despite the city’s celebrated diversity, remnants of historic and current discrimination flow through New Orleans’ canals and rivers.
MUSA JABATEH
“That segregation really never changed, because there are certain areas of the city that are all white people, and certain areas of the city that are all Black,” Jabateh said.
One of the most transformative moments on the trip was a visit to the Whitney Plantation—a plantation once owned by German emigrant Ambroise Heidel, producing indigo, then sugar, and now a museum focused on the lives of enslaved people that sustained crop production.
“I told my dad we were arriving at the plantation, and he sent me pictures of our family plantation, just so I could make connections. It was almost the same: a tall white house—two stories tall—an overseer’s house,” Lee said. “[Despite the movies, TV shows, and textbooks,] that’s the first time I heard about an overseer. You would typically see that master beating the slaves, but it was really the overseer’s job. You saw the kitchen, the cabins, and everything.”
And more, with the similarity of the Whitney Plantation to that of his ancestors—only a few generations past—Lee sensed their agony.
ing me and all the Black kids I had around me being there and dealing with that on a day-to-day basis. I couldn’t imagine. I had a conversation with my father afterward and asked him, ‘What would we do?’ My dad… he couldn’t give me any answer other than suicide,” Lee said.
The museum exposed the sexual abuse of both Black women and men that perpetuated the institution of enslavement. Especially after the U.S. ended trans-Atlantic trade in the enslaved in 1808, inhumane forced breeding—as though Black people were livestock—maintained the population of an enslaved labor force. This particular piece of the narrative struck McCune terribly.
“Anytime, in terms of slavery, I don’t really like talking about the sexual assault because I love all the Black women around me, especially my family, and I couldn’t imagine this happening to them,” McCune said. “It hurts my heart.”
Despite knowing some facts about forced reproduction, the level to which it occurred and the horrors associated with the system still shocked McCune.
LOVE MCCUNE ’23
“When I walked in, I was trying to avoid those parts; but then I read something about how they treated Black women and men—how some of them even died from [violent sexual assault]. Like they would be oversexualized to the point of exhaustion,” McCune said. “It’s crazy, I didn’t even know that that was possible.”
Like Lee, McCune could almost see himself, his Black friends, and the Black women in his life in this system of sexual abuse—and such a thought chilled him. “[On] my mom’s side of the family, all the women are light-skinned. And it just hits so hard because they used to call the lightskinned [women] ‘fancies,’ and [white men] treated them like objects, to the point of [rape],” McCune said.
“That could’ve been my aunt, that could’ve been my sister, my cousin, my aunt, my mom, whoever. That could’ve been all of us [African American people],” he continued. “That’s where these conversations get so rough because there’s so much empathy to what they went through that it feels like it happened to you.”
At another point on the plantation’s selfguided tour stood a memorial to the German Coast Uprising of 1811—the largest enslaved people’s revolt in the United States, which occurred in present-day New Orleans. Of the enslaved people who died in the uprising, those captured were decapitated; their heads were then placed on pikes along the Mississippi River to terrorize others.
The memorial recaptured the scene with rows of the heads of young Black men on poles: some held their mouths ajar—like they were gasping for a final breath of air— others tilted their heads toward the sky with their eyes shut—jarringly at peace.
Silver recalled the vivid image’s impact.
“At first, I didn’t even believe the memorial, like I understood the idea and the background behind it, but just the sight of it made me uncomfortable. You had to sit there and look at it for a second just to know how painful it really was,” Silver said.
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MR. BEN GULLE
Students visited GrowDat, a youth farm initiative run on the land of an old plantation by Black women, redefining farming for Black youth
He thought of the suffering of these men’s families and communities.
JAHMON SILVER ’22
“I remember I was at a party: I wasn’t doing anything, but they had kicked me out for some reason. And I’m waiting for my Uber, and then I end up getting pulled over and arrested for loitering. And I was like, ‘Come on, you’re arresting me for what? I didn’t even do nothing.’ And [the police officer] was real hype, he tried to pull the gun out on me. It’s like, ‘What are you doing?’ We are still affected by the aftermath of [enslavement] today.”
At Haverford, the conversation about racial discrimination is not new. Community members discussed discrimination against Black students in March 2018 in the Index article “Upper School hopes to heal racial rifts,” and tension emerged once again in February 2019, examined in the article “A house divided: racial tensions fester.”
And in the September 2020 article “Students join local Black Lives Matter marches,” students recounted their experience protesting as part of a larger movement that grew after the police killing of multiple Black Americans. For some members of the current generation of Black students to pass through Wilson Hall, New Orleans connected today’s descrimination to that of the past.
“[Segregation] resonated with me because it showed [what happens] even though [people] might find you entertaining or they might enjoy what you do. I think that applies to our community. Our Black student body does a lot here, and sometimes that recognition isn’t what it should be,” McCune said.
And even when Black students receive recognition, Silver explained, it is limited.
“You couldn’t even imagine how the sons and wives of the men who rebelled would see [the decapitated heads]—or the brothers, uncles—just to walk past the river and see their dad, husband, or brother’s head on the pike with blood dripping and their eyes and everything. Even now, it just gives me chills. How could someone be so evil?”
For Jabateh, his reaction to touring the plantation was different, yet still deeply personal and linked to a larger issue of racial discrimination.
“I didn’t really feel the deep connection, just because I knew that none of my people were on a plantation,” Jabateh said. “I do feel a bit of hatred because we are still affected by the aftermath of it—like systematic racism.”
And, along this line, students identified the same frustration and hurt that the trip to New Orleans as a whole invigorated upon returning home. Jabateh described a glimpse of the discrimination he experiences. “Like even if you’re a Black kid that does a lot in this school— like you could be a part of student council, you could be a part of this and that—you’re still looked at as an athlete.”
JAHMON SILVER ’22
“Here, I feel like as an athlete and a student, we don’t get that recognition. Like even if you’re a Black kid that does a lot in this school—like you could be a part of student council, you could be a part of this and that—you’re still looked at as an athlete. You’re not given that full student-athlete look. And I think that’s really what needs to change,” Silver said.
Jabateh elaborated that this discrimination goes beyond stereotypes, into biased treatment.
“Us Black kids, I feel like, we’re not treated fairly at this school. Obviously, we get the same education and stuff, but it’s the little things. I feel like some white kids are able to slide in certain things when a Black kid can’t,” Jabateh said.
The three other Black students echoed this sentiment.
“It happens every day. That happened to me in middle school, and you can’t even say anything because you don’t have any authority, and [at that time] there was no Black representation in the middle school in the teachers—who didn’t even understand what I was saying, so they handled it how they saw fit,” McCune said.
Lee recounted a similar incident this year in which a student made light of enslavement. The resolution, Lee thought, was not productive; the administration was in-
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volved, though not as much as he wished.
Lee said, “I brought the case to the administration and … they couldn’t put any consequences on the student because the other people that were there didn’t recall the incident, but all the people that were there were his friends.”
But even at a meeting to resolve the issue, Lee perceived that the goal was to guide the student toward an apology—a forced apology.
“I just received a lackluster apology. [I felt that] he didn’t really feel the need to apologize, or didn’t feel the courage to,” Lee said.
And the conversation became more frustrating for Lee as it shifted to building a mutual understanding.
JAHMON SILVER ’22
SEMAJ LEE ’25
“The focus of that conversation was to look at both sides. And I’m thinking, ‘If I’m the victim of the situation, why do I have to look at both sides? Why do I have to look at his view of why he said that or why it may have been hard for him to apologize?’” Lee said.
The community’s reaction to this incident upset Lee. “So I feel like, no matter what happens to us, we are not treated equally,” Lee said.
The trip to New Orleans, besides emphasizing the connection of U.S. enslavement to present-day experiences, inspired students with the resistance the city’s Black population has shown. “As a whole, New Orleans’ history is very empowering because you can take it two different ways. You can take it as tragedy and loss. But you can also see how resilient our people are, and how that still carries on today,” Lee said. “That mindset is how we carry ourselves and the goals that we have, despite that the odds are against us.”
“How we all persevere through all of that to beat the odds. How [my ancestors] perserved through all that torture and punishment,” Lee said. “My dad and I—I’d rather kill myself than sit there for entire years in my life.”
Silver further described how New Orleans and the plantation did, on one hand, show him the progress that has been made.
SEMAJ LEE ’25
“It really showed me how we are way freer than they were. Because that’s really what they worked for. If they saw us right now, they wouldn’t believe their eyes—how free we are now. And it just made me really grateful, it showed me that sometimes you need a reminder for how much you really have,” Silver said.
Thus, for him, the trip offered him some optimism.
“You can get caught up in the daily life thinking that you need this and that, but stuff like [enslavement] really show you [how] much you have now, and what your ancestors did to put you in this position, you wouldn’t have to go through what they went through,” Silver said. “That was the most unsettling thing for me, but I feel like I needed that to cherish what I have now.”
But optimism does not solve a systematic issue like racism—it is more a mindset with which to store in the back of their minds as they work for equality. The reality that they see, especially considering every thing that their ancestors have already done, is, well, sad.
The original remaining letters of a former exchange market of enslaved peoples
SEMAJ LEE ’25
MUSA JABATEH ’24
“They fought so hard and did so much—and yeah, we’re in a better situation, but it’s still not enough. Like we’ve still got to continue to fight the battles, and we’ve still got to continue to be the new voices so that the next generation can suffer less,” Jabateh said.
And with the knowledge that they’ve gained about the past from New Orleans, these students look to create this change.
SEMAJ LEE ’25
“To see those connections to what my family had to go through, just connecting all the dots—it was really empowering… When I came back, I thought, ‘I’m not taking any disrespect anymore,’ because my people in my family have gone through way too much for me to just let that slide,” Lee said. “They had to fight for their freedom, and I’m just going to let that [disrespect] slide now?”
SEMAJ LEE ’25
“I’m going to use the knowledge I’ve gained from New Orleans and what my father has told me over the years to rebrand the culture at this school and hold people accountable. I’ve got to face their hatred with knowledge,” Lee said. “Knowledge is power.”
features
Two teams compete in the Math Modeling Challenge
Jingyuan Chen ’23
On Friday, February 25, two Haverford teams consisting of five Fifth Formers and five Sixth Formers participated in the MathWorks Modeling Challenge.
Arranged by math teachers Mr. Jeremy Fus and Mr. Nathan Bridge, the two teams spent fourteen hours in secluded rooms producing a paper in response to three questions under this year’s challenge theme: virtual jobs.
Last year, Haverford’s teams also partook in the competition but unfortunately did not qualify for the semifinals.
Mr. Fus believes this year’s teams may achieve more promising results.
“Aside from math club meetings, many Sixth Formers signed up for advanced modeling electives this year, so I felt that they’ve had much more relevant preparations this time,” Mr. Fus said.
Team 1, composed of Sixth Form mathematicians Julius Huang, Jeffrey Yang, Adamya Aggarwal, Elijah Lee, and Daniel Hou, eye this year’s semifinal.
“The challenge is composed of three questions. Since the third question is built on the basis of the first two questions, we chose not to split the work,” Sixth Former Julius Huang said. “Within the context of each question, we assigned tasks to team members. Daniel, Adamya, and I worked on the major theories and frameworks; Elijah did an excellent job with the coding; Jeffrey beautifully compiled and wrote the paper.”
A 2020 semifinalist for the renowned S.T. Yau High School Science Award, Huang took the math department’s modeling course and independently studied statistics and coding for this challenge. He predicts that the team has a fair chance at qualifying for the semifinals.
“In terms of theories and frameworks, I consider our work comparable to that of the champion’s. Unfortunately, due to time allocation issues and disagreements in our approach, our data sets were not as comprehensive as they could have been,” Huang said. “While these issues may have weakened our models, the overall quality of our work should still get us to the semifinals.”
The results of the challenge are expected to be announced in late March. Sponsored by the company MathWorks, semifinalists will receive a prize of $1,000-1,500, while finalists and champions of the challenge will receive up to $20,000.
Team 2, with Fifth Formers Colin Kelly, Ethan Chan, Nathan Mirin, Megh Tank, and Jingyuan Chen, also performed well for their first attempt.
“Before the challenge, I talked with students that participated last year, and they told me a good bit about the challenge,” Fifth Former Colin Kelly said. “At first, I was a bit intimidated. So in clubs periods, we began practicing with previous challenge topics, and that’s where I built confidence.”
Although Team 2 didn’t have a particular plan before the competition, members collaborated and supported each other, achieving a satisfactory result for their first attempt at the competition.
“We didn’t know what the problem would be leading up to the competition, so we decided that whoever took a lead in a problem would end up being the primary leader for that problem,” Kelly said. “I’d say it worked out very nicely. Because we got all the problems done.”
Kelly applauded the team’s work and reflected on ways to improve next year.
“I think we did an incredible job for our first try and handled those fourteen hours really well. We managed the workload properly,” Kelly said. “Given more time, we would have made our arguments clearer and focused on the writing aspect to demonstrate why our method works.”
Fifth Former Ethan Chan also lauded the team’s effort.
“In the beginning, I worked with Megh to obtain statistics of particular cities in the problem. Towards the end of the fourteen hours, we just congregated and worked on all the parts together.” Chan said. “Given the time constraints, I think we did pretty well, and I had fun.”
Despite the intensity of the challenge, Kelly and Chan both enjoyed the process.
“We went and got ice cream at Hope’s Cookies after the challenge. We talked about how it went,” Kelly said. “All agreed that it was a very fun experience
The challenge will continue next year. Huang encourages all interested incoming
upperclassmen to give it a try next year.
“In terms of prerequisites, the MathWorks Modeling Challenge isn’t exclusively demanding. Unlike the International Mathematical Olympiad, efforts can outweigh talents in this sort of competition,” Huang said. “If you enjoy maths and you want to apply it to real world problems, just go for it.”
MR. JEREMY FUS
Haverford teams compete at the Modeling Challenge, February 25, 2022
JULIUS HUANG ’22 “The MathWorks Modeling Challenge isn’t exclusively demanding... If you enjoy math and you want to apply it to real world problems, just go for it.”
JULIUS HUANG ’22
Students reflect on the two-year anniversary of COVID
Connor Simpkins ’25
“I n accordance with the guidance issued this afternoon by Governor Wolf due to the increased risk of community transmission of coronavirus, The Haverford School will be closed Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17 as the faculty prepares to implement ‘Virtual Haverford’ on Wednesday, March 18 and Thursday, March 19. We will then go on spring break and hope to resume classes as usual on Monday, March 30. All extracurricular activities are canceled March 13-30.”
These hopeful words began a letter to the Haverford community two years ago this month. At that time, understanding COVID-19’s impact was still developing, and it is easy to forget that the move to virtual school was intended to be brief—a few weeks—and then back to life as usual. As all now know all too well, the two-week quarantine morphed into almost two years of modified school life.
Haverford, like other schools around the country, remained virtual for the remainder of the 2020 school year. At first, virtual school felt like a novel break. “The first week was amazing, I was productive and got so much done, but by the second week I was bored out of my mind,” Fifth Former Ronan Wood said.
Sixth Former Fisher Bond said, “The first weeks of virtual school were great, but then everything became a blur, the same thing, day after day after day.”
In 2020-2021, the upper school came back to in-person learning but with restrictive routines. The upper-school administration implemented a quarter-system schedule to help reduce class size and maintain social distance, teachers set desks six feet apart, community members conducted daily symptom screening through an online app, all wore mandatory masks, and frequent handwashing was encouraged. The dining hall closed and students ate boxed or bringfrom-home lunches in advisory. Sports and extracurricular activities were severely curtailed, many canceled altogether. While it was good to be in school, it was not a normal school year.
This year has brought a more hybrid experience. For the first half of the year, many COVID-19 related restrictions remained in place: the quarter schedule, masks, and social distancing. But glimmers of hope appeared, especially because sports and extracurricular activities returned. School felt more normal, but COVID’s impact persisted.
“For the first half of this year, we watched assemblies over Zoom, and we were still not allowed to eat in the cafeteria,” Third Former Alex Krey noted.
This month, two years after first moving to virtual learning, students feel a sense of relief as COVID-19 case numbers remain low and restrictions further scale back. Now, students are not required to wear masks, Third Formers have been welcomed into assemblies in Centennial Hall and are allowed to eat in the cafeteria. Spectators can return to sporting events, and dances and school trips are planned.
Campus has a lighter feel, almost as if we are breathing a collective sigh of relief.
There is no question that Haverford is a place of resource and privilege. Everyone here has a COVID story, and many felt the pandemic’s impact. But unlike many schools, Haverford was fortunate to be in-person for most of the last two years: learning continued, teachers were accessible, and even when not totally “normal” the community found ways to engage in clubs, sports, and friendships. “I’m looking forward to a return to normalcy,” Bond said, “but living through a pandemic since my sophomore year taught me that, while you can’t know what will be thrown at you in life, you can always work hard to make the best of any situation.”
Students in line at the Dining Hall
PIERCE LAVERAN ’22
academics
Students review self-reflective comments in advisory, March 14, 2022 Students shift to writing their own, self-reflective comments
MR. THOMAS STAMBAGUH
Ethan Lee ’24
With the third quarter winding down, the upper school administration has experimented with a new style of feedback to families. “We thought that this would bring a more authentic voice to comments,” Head of Upper School Mr. Mark Fifer said. “We tried to give students some more ownership over reflecting on their learning.”
Still, some students do not feel this way. “I don’t think that the comments made me come to a conclusion that I had already not arrived at,” Fourth Former Luke Fesnak said. “I think my parents and I value the teachers’ opinions a little bit more than mine. I understand self-reflection is important, but a teacher has something to say that I don’t.” Other students have different opinions. “Overall I think it is a good idea, and I think that it can work,” Sixth Former Bowen Deng said. “It gives me an opportunity to see my strengths and weaknesses in class, and it is an opportunity to be honest with myself.” A worry that students have had are the biases that might be reflected in a self reflective comment. “[A teacher] is able to tell me how I am actually doing in class, rather than my biased outlook,” Fesnak said.
Deng voiced the same concerns. He said, “One main problem is that I can’t offer any comments on my engagement to the teacher and what the teacher wants to tell me. I cannot write a comment to the level that a teacher would, and what I am writing does not feel like it is detailed enough.”
A similar issue was the effort put into the comments. “In the beginning I was putting more effort into the comments, but after writing comments for a few classes, my effort diminished,” Fesnak said. “I had more pressing assignments that were actually worth points. If a comment with poor punctuation gets to my parents, I don’t really care about that as much as losing points on an actual assignment.”
English teacher Dr. Micah Del Rosario did not share the same worry after seeing the comments his class produced.
“I am not going to say that every single one of my sophomores produced a comment that was really thorough, honest, and robust,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “However, I would say that over 90% of students did create a comment that was about as long as the paragraphs I wrote last quarter, which is pretty substantial.”
Teachers are still involved as an essential part of this drafting process.
“Every now and then I had to leave a note about adding a sentence here and there about a different skill, which was not alarming to me,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “In the revisions, people did add those things. I don’t feel that, looking at this process, people just phoned it in or lied.”
Mr. Fifer echoes this idea. “What we had teachers do is guide students through this reflection process. It wasn’t an openended reflection, but a scaffolded one, in the sense that the comment was grounded in the student’s development of course goals and skill in the class.”
Some community members voiced another concern: class time away from learning.
“We took a portion out of class time to write these comments instead of going over materials that will be on a test,” Fesnak said. “I think that taking away review and time to learn material is more harmful than the comments helpful.”
Dr. Del Rosario said, “I am not sure how other teachers are doing these comments, but generally speaking, I don’t think that these comments really need to take up that much class time if the teacher structures this in a way that is efficient.”
Dr. Del Rosario gave his students the concrete learning objectives of the class and took about 20 minutes a period for a few days to have students reflect on how they were improving with these objectives.
“I am perhaps slightly biased as an English teacher, where writing is part of what we do in class, so there is logic behind having class time to write these comments. It feeds into what [students] should be learning in my class anyway: writing complete and coherent sentences and grammar,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “I also just think that it is nice to have an activity to break up the monotony of class every day.”
Another benefit of these student-written comments are for teachers. “Comments are a lot of work for teachers,” Dr. Del Rosario stated. “On top of all the lesson planning and stuff, we need to write 30 comments each quarter, which is a lot. Comment season has a really heavy workload.”
The self-reflective comments have eased teacher workloads while still providing a way for the school and students to communicate with parents about progress in different classes.
An additional hope for self-reflective comments was to provide an opportunity for a more honest dialogue between students and teachers during conferences.
“Another reason we went to this model is that we thought it would provide an authentic entry point for dialogue in parentteacher conferences,” Mr. Fifer said. “If a student wrote and owned the comment, it would lead to more investment in that conversation.”
Finally, a more important idea of selfreflective comments is that students can see how their self view has developed.
“When we think holistically about a student’s experience, having the opportunity to look back on a comment that you wrote as a freshman as a senior might be a powerful way for a student to see the arc of their development,” Mr. Fifer reasoned.
It is important to keep in mind that this was an experiment.
“We felt that this was a good time to do this and experiment, given that students are only taking three concurrent classes,” Mr. Fifer explained. “Like anything we do, we are going to take some time to reflect and find any tweaks that we need to make to make it a more valuable exercise.”
Was the self-reflective comment process effective for you?
84%
No
16%
DR. DEL ROSARIO
neighborhood
The efforts of Philadelphia’s Ukrainian Community
Chase Shatzman ’24
Ukranian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 830 North Franklin Street, Philadelphia
DAVIDT8 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The world is well aware of the RussianUkrainian War by now, and while our community has been highly educated on the conflict,many have not learned how our society can help.
Many students have asked themselves, why should I help the victims of a war that is happening thousands of miles away from me?
Russian President, Vladimir Putin is notorious for not only wanting to make a statement to the world of Russia’s power but to make that statement loud and clear. Although this war may not directly affect many students right now, in a couple of months— or even a couple of weeks—Russian soldiers could deploy their nuclear weapons in countries across the globe, causing a third world war.
Ukrainian communities in Philadelphia, such as the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Church in Northeast Philadelphia, have rallied together to show their support for Ukraine and to demand more action on America’s end to help end the war. Their peaceful protests at historic monuments have lasted hours a day. Local Ukrainian churches also extended their hours for community worship to pray for their family and friends who still are living in the warzone of Ukraine. Students do not have to know anyone involved in the war to want to help, because regardless of who they are, they are still people, and since prayer is free, there is no loss in praying for Ukraine.
Church communities have stated that the best way to help this cause is to directly donate to organizations like the United Ukrainian American relief community. This specific community accepts donations of basic everyday necessities such as baby wipes, dry food, and batteries. Although many in our school community use objects such as these without any consideration, citizens of Ukraine have to constantly think to themselves if their dry food will last until spring. This community also accepts cash donations, which they directly use money to buy military and medical resources for the civilians of Ukraine. Even if the donation seems like an insignificant amount, it could make up the small portion of someone’s life being saved.
Our school has contributed to this cause in numerous events, including a plaid dressdown day where students gave five dollars or more to be donated to Ukraine, as well as accepting donations at school events such as the upper school spring musical. The school has also educated the students and faculty on the history and present conflict of the war in the classroom setting. Students in a recent lunch conversation shared an open-ended discussion of the future of the war and how it could affect them.
Math teacher Mr. Stephen Patrylak who has family in the Ukraine says “I’ve had open-ended discussions in the classroom, but I deliberately avoided sharing my views on the conflict in order for the students to form their own opinions.”
While these actions are helping the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, some wonder if there is more than our school can do. Efforts to help Ukraine during times of crisis have been by our local community, but we must continue to fight for Ukrainians not only for them but for the protection of ourselves.
MR. STEPHEN PATRYLAK
“Knowing the history of the RussianUkraine conflict is so valuable, since some sources are a Russian-supplied version of history.” Mr Patrylak said.
It is not acceptable for the school to bring this war to our attention just because it gives off the appearance that the school cares about this issue since it is “on trend,” but rather, it is more important that our school is doing this for the right reasons.
