November 2022 Index

The stars are aligning for Haver ford to have its most success ful EA Day in years: football is undefeated, water polo and soccer are Inter-Ac champs, cross country took fourth at PAISAA, and golf are PAISAA Champs. For many of these teams, EA Day will be the culmination of their season, bringing a conclusion to months of hard work, with the community eagerly waiting to support them from the sidelines.

“[EA Day] is definitely one of the high points of the year. I like to call it a rallying point of the school,” Athletics Director Mr. Michael Murphy said. “We have the start of the school year and things kind of settle in a little, now we have this point that culminates the fall season for most of our teams.”

EA Day 2022

Dean of Students Mr. Luqman Kolade echoed this sentiment.

“It’s a good rally point for the commu nity,” Mr. Kolade said. “It’s nice to be fully back to normal and be able to do a lot of the stuff that we have not been able to do for the past few years.”

Some of these activities include teacher, student, and family fans returning to watch and cheer on the day’s events, maskless and without most COVID protocols. This re turn to normalcy raises expectations for fans.

“We are there to support our team, cheer on our guys,” Mr. Murphy said. “There should be no interaction between us and another team, whether that be to their whole team or a singular guy.”

To emphasize this positive form of

cheering, the athletic directors of the com peting schools are hosting a meeting with student leaders to talk about some of these issues.

“It’s not going to just be athletes. There will be guys from Signet [Society] and other student leader organizations,” Mr. Murphy explained. “We can disseminate this idea that [EA Day] is a great, intense rivalry, but let’s keep it in perspective.”

Head of School Mr. Tyler Casertano is looking forward to this year’s competi tion and building community support and strength.

“Last year’s EA Day was one of last year’s highlights for me,” Mr. Casertano said. “In my opinion, this is about us and not them. If we focus on ourselves and the aspects of our

community that makes us so strong, any thing else will take care of itself.”

This will be Mr. Casertano’s second EA Day as head, and he hopes that the commu nity will continue to be as positive as it was last year.

“As we come together for the largest crowds of the year, we need to remember the lessons that [former Student Body President Mitav Nayak] and the class of 2022 helped teach us,” Mr. Casertano said. “Support is what allowed us to beat EA.”

Mr. Casertano also emphasized this year’s virtue: integrity.

con’t. on p. 21

ethan lee ’24

Louis Atkinson ’23

Jay Rogers ’25, Finn Kelly ’25, James MacColl ’26

DR. MIKE NANCE

DEB PUTTER PHOTOGRAPHY

Isaiah Shuchman ’23

Safiyy Harris ’22 (left) and Andrew Kirwin ’22 (right)

Ben Bodle ’23 putts in last year’s EA Day

Jingyuan

editorial

He that outlives this day

November 12, 2022. The weather will be mostly cloudy and cool, with a brief shower.

The Index is a student-run publication of the Haverford School that does more than bring news: it provides the diverse perspectives of the Haverford student body. It is an outlet for student writers to take stands on issues they deem important. It chronicles the daily struggles and accomplishments of the Haverford community. The Index also provides a forum for discussion of pertinent issues, such as student culture, academic policy, and Haverford’s place in world affairs. The Index presents new ideas and aspires to influence constructive change.

All opinions and viewpoints expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of The Index or the school. The Index is designed and produced digitally. Photographs may be retouched. Submissions and letters to the editors regarding any and all articles are welcomed at index@haverford.org

The Index, a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, is composed using the applications of Google Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud. Its surveys are conducted via Google Forms and are advertised on email to current Haverford students. Graphic designs are created by Index staff via Canva. Southern Dutchess News prints 200-400 copies of each issue, and its editorial staff distributes them in the Upper School on the day of release. The Index serves the needs of a total school population of 1152 community members, consisting of 952 students and 200 faculty and staff members.

Contact The Index: 450 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041 index@haverford.org

The sweater will stay there for a few hours— but no more than a few hours—before it is rightly returned to the cabinet outside Mr. Casertano’s office.

At night, it will be forty degrees Fahr enheit, with RealFeal temperature estimated at thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, the freez ing point of water. There may be rain. There may be a thunderstorm. That night, men without a good sweater will freeze.

While men of Haverford blaze in gold and maroon, men of EA will freeze.

For years, EA Day and the EA Week exemplify Haverford’s fine athleticism and spirit of camaraderie. New Third Formers will feel their first true bond with the com munity. Sixth Formers will cheer with mighty ardor at the front bench of the games.

We will temper and forge a true broth erhood.

From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered— We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother.

Shakespeare, Henry V, 4.3.58-62

Letter from the student body president

Every year, the Fords rally for one of the biggest events the school has throughout the year. The EA/Haver ford day is upon us and the troops have been rallied.

The week is always filled with love and brings the community closer together. As we have themed dress down days for most of the week and many fun activities planned, it is still important to stay on top of your work.

The biggest favor you can do for your self is to take initiative and complete all of your school work so that you have a free weekend.

A word of advice I have for you all is to cherish this week. This is the first EA Day in some time without any COVID restrictions or masks; take a second to reflect on why this week might be special to you.

A lot of us know the quote, sometimes it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.

While the goal is to keep the sweater home, reflect on the little moments that make this week so special.

Connect yourself in a different way to the community.

Our brotherhood will be our strength this weekend; when our rivals and enemies come upon and try to defeat us, they shall stumble and fall. Having this said, there is a right way and a wrong way to cheer.

We will defeat EA in every aspect of this weekend. We will accomplish this by outclass ing them.

While they will be busy cheering against us, we will be cheering only for our teams that take on the fields and the pool.

We will not play down to anyone, instead, we will make others play up to us.

It is important to remember that the only way we win is to stay united even through ad versity. Be competitive and be feared. Live the H and GO FORDS.

The sweater will temporarily leave the cabinet on the first floor of Wilson Hall and travel with the Fords to Episcopal’s campus.

Luka Sekulic ’23

2022-23 Editorial Board (from left, Editors-in-Chief Joey Kauffman ‘23, Jingyuan Chen ‘23, Connor Pinsk ‘23)

We will temper and forge a true brother hood.

COURTESY OF MR. THOMAS STAMBAUGH

School completes accreditation process

Every ten years, Haverford, like all independent schools, engages in the accreditation process to con tinue operations. Head of Information Ser vices Ms. Lisa Snyder and Assistant Head of School Mr. Mark Thorburn led Haverford’s preparations for the accreditation procedure, which culminated in a three-day visit from a team of educators from the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS).

While the PAIS team’s visit only lasts three days, Ms. Snyder and Mr. Thorburn began preparing for the accreditation a year in advance by engaging in a self-study pro cess.

“We examine our practices, our process es, our facilities, personnel, financial health, and more. It is a full-scale review, designed to help us make sure that we are doing what we say we are doing. Are we educating boys for life?” Ms. Snyder said.

While the full self-study was taxing for Ms. Snyder and Mr. Thorburn, Head of School Mr. Tyler Casertano said that the pro cess was aided by the work already done by the school’s 2019 Strategic Planning Com mittee, which outlined the school’s goals for the years 2020-2025.

“A lot of the things that bubbled up in the self-study were things that had also come to life in the strategic planning process,” Mr. Casertano said. “A fair amount of it was con sistent, focusing on our identity as a boys’ school and what that means in terms of our philosophy, our pedagogy and program, the culture here at Haverford, and how that rein forces the virtues that we use to drive every thing we do here,” Mr. Casertano said.

Further, the opportunity to engage in self-study was an educational experience for the administration.

“[The self-study] was hugely education

al for me as somebody who still is very much learning [Haverford],” Mr. Casertano said.

While preparing for and hosting a large group from around the state is certainly chal lenging, Mr. Casertano thinks that the PAIS team’s week-long visit went well.

just into the self-study but into the event planning to make sure that the experience was as engaging, organized, and efficient as possible for the team,” he said.

From October 24-27, the PAIS team was on campus to observe the school’s reg ular functions and meet with a variety of people.

“They [met] with all of the School’s ma jor stakeholders: Mr. Casertano, administra tors, teachers, students, parents, and board members. They learn as much as they can about our program and all of the ways we support it,” Ms. Snyder said.

The PAIS team connected with both students and parents in a panel setting and asked questions about the school’s commu nity life, academic program, and areas for potential improvement to complete their as sessment of the school as a whole.

nary results of their examination to Haver ford administrators.

While none of that information is final ized, Mr. Casertano noted that the accredi tation team presented the school with eight commendations and eight recommenda tions.

“The commendations began with the quality of the faculty, the quality of the pro gram, and the quality of the students here,” Mr. Casertano said.

“They right away saw a group of stu dents that are deeply committed to The Haverford School, who believe in the virtues and recognize the importance of the virtues, who see themselves as something larger in this community and who really do buy in. And they quickly recognized the talent and commitment of our teachers.”

“With huge thanks to Ms. Snyder and Mr. Thorburn, it was a smooth process. They put a tremendous amount of work not

At the end of their three days on cam pus, the PAIS team presented the prelimi

Students dealing with schedule change’s increased workload

Nicholas Lu ’25

Following the adjustment to this year’s schedule, the amount of homework has drastically changed. Last year’s schedule consisted of four quar ters, with the same four classes meeting every day with a rotation in the following quarter. With the new year came a new schedule con sisting of all classes meeting over the course of a seven-day rotation. More classes usually mean more work, and each student has been forced to adapt.

“The workload of my classes feels a lot more stacked up with one another,” Sixth Former Matthew Kang said.

Sixth Former George Vollmer felt the same way.

“This year had a lot more work, with about one more hour of homework than usual,” Vollmer said.

With each class occurring three to four times a week, students, or at least current Sixth Formers, have observed an increase in work. For the underclassmen with fewer rigorous classes, however, classes seem to have a smaller workload.

“The workload isn’t that hard so far,” said Fourth Former Andrew Borden, “Besides chemistry, it’s pretty easy.”

Nevertheless, the rotation of classes var ies in the amount of homework intensity.

“Classes go through cycles, where there is a lull period without many assignments, then suddenly an overwhelming amount of work is given, in preparation for tests and or projects,” Kang said.

Borden seemed to agree.

“This year I have more homework spread out over the course of the week, but last year I had more homework due the next day,” Borden said.

With the cycles of classes, students may find themselves hard-pressed to complete all of their assignments and have had to develop different strategies in an attempt to minimize the amount of work they need to do.

“During my free or ASB, I meet with my teachers to catch up or get help,” Vollmer said.

Compared to the previous years, Kang concludes that the workload is manageable.

“I feel as though the workload is about the same compared to other years. Howev er, that could be a result of taking different types of classes.”

Vollmer also agreed. “Last year was less

work overall but went through faster. This year was more work, but went through slightly slower.”

Thus, while the new schedule may cause classes to meet more often, thus increasing workload, steps should be taken to combat this issue. Using our existing time more ef ficiently, reaching out to teachers for help, and utilizing Haverford’s resources will lead to a successful year.

“I’ve dealt with my workload by getting ahead in my assignments earlier, so I can have a somewhat equal amount of home work each night,” Kang said.

Others, like Vollmer, try a different ap proach.

Ian Rosenzweig ’25

PAIS evaluators read brief course plans and the strategic plan, among other materials, interviews, and observa tions

“I’ve dealt with my workload by getting ahead in my assign ments earlier. ”

MATTHEW KANG ’23

PIERCE LAVERAN

“Last year was less work overall but went through faster. ”

GEORGE VOLLMER ’23

“They learn as much as they can about our program and all of the ways we support it.”

MR. CASERTANO

Sixth Formers balance college applications and workload

Ethan Chan ’23

At the apex of a four-year-long journey, the Sixth Form is now in the most strenuous period of their high school career: the college application season. From studying assignments, taking standardized tests, creating college lists, and writing supplemental essays, the collective effort of many students amounts to a sea of confetti waiting to explode on the Common Application website.

While most of the work is seemingly compacted in the space of several months, the application process for many starts well before then.

“It has been an interesting process so far. Visiting [colleges] over the summer has been fun; and I was able to get a feel for the cam pus and what could be,” Sixth Former Neil Sawhney said. “It definitely helped when I visited schools to narrow down my list.”

A whirlwind of extra-curricular activities, work, some fun, and college visits, the sum mer before a graduation year is critical for rising Sixth Formers to gauge the environ ment of where they want to be for the next four years.

“I really loved the atmosphere of Boston and the energy it brought. There is a nice balance between college life and things to do in the city,” Sixth Former Dylan Kao said.

Similarly, this time off serves as an important step for the college counseling of fice to begin organizing the process on their side.

“We set internal deadlines for students to send essays and we tried to frontload other stuff in late spring and early summer last school year,” Senior Associate Director of College Counseling Ms. Heather Stinson said.

Come fall, students are well versed in the application process and ready to take on juggling the acts of balancing classes, college application work, and more. Still, the inher ent nature of college applications remains the same, and students take on even more pressure.

“Applications have been stressful, as I have already applied to fourteen [early action]

schools, and many of them have multiple supplemental essays,” Sixth Former Dylan Kao said. “Even though I started writing my essays mid-September, I still didn’t get most of them done until the end of October; I wrote a total of around 20 unique essays.”

The early-action option in the college application process allows students to apply to schools they like earlier in the admissions cycle and subsequently get an earlier decision back. For those set on a dream school, the early decision option is a substantial com mitment financially and in terms of prepara tion.

“I know that I wanted to go into some thing that combined engineering and biol ogy [or] medicine so applying as a biomedi cal engineering major to [Johns Hopkins University] in the early decision round was a fit for me,” Sixth Former Megh Tank said. “My early decision application is especially important to me and crafting an essay that shows that you are 100% committed is chal lenging to say the least.”

“Late nights have been spent revising my essays while finding time to study for tests, do homework, and prepare for projects. For colleges that ask for more than one essay, it has been stressful to find the best way to present your thoughts and feelings regarding the school,” Tank said.

Exacerbating the already induced stress, school work has not slowed down.

“Balance is give-and-take. On nights that you have lots of homework, you simply don’t have the energy to write essays. On weekends and the rare occasion that you don’t have a lot of homework, you work strictly on col lege essays,” Kao said. “One of the key points of stress for me was trying to balance both getting the highest quarter grade I could while simultaneously writing a plethora of essays.”

helpful in getting to know you better,” Ms. Stinson said. “We get to see who’s on sports teams, doing art, in the play, and more, which is wonderful.”

For students, the new schedule has been instrumental in finding an equilibrium.

“This year has personally been less stress ful than last year, as the gaps in between class days give you time to do work and focus on other classes, which for me have reduced the effects of burnout,” Kao said.

For the first time in three years since 2019, college representatives have been able to be on campus, giving students the opportunity to learn more about each respective college.

“It’s been great to have college representa tives back on campus which has energized us [college counselors] and given you guys the opportunity to meet with some of our col leagues face to face,” Ms. Stinson said, “we’ve had over 50 to 60 visitors on campus this year so far which has been really nice.”

Throughout this process, Sixth Formers have learned about themselves and their fu ture aspirations in higher education and be yond.

Despite the imbalance, Sixth Formers continue to find ways of managing their workload across multiple facets.

KAO ’23

This past week, the early action and deci sion deadline, on November 1, was a hectic period in preparation for submitting applica tions.

“I remember spending many nights of the week before staying up until 3-4 a.m. work ing on college essays after finishing home work. I worked on my final essays from Oc tober 31st at around 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. on November 1 to finish drafts, and sent them to my college counselor to get feedback be fore submitting them,” Kao said.

Tank echoed a similar sentiment.

“Two days before the deadline I sat down and completed all my applications that would be due on November 1. This was be fore I had a meeting with my college coun selor, so I was able to get last-minute feed back on my essays before I submitted them,” Sawhney said.

In the midst of the constant writing, revision, and work, the new schedule and slowdown of COVID-19 have helped miti gate the stress of the application process and strengthen connections with peers.

“That [the new schedule] has enabled us to build that rapport with you all as students to an even greater degree, which is even more

“Although [University of WisconsinMadison] was toward the bottom of my list initially, it was very interesting to write. I first began with a story on two of my in terests, and connected them to an activity at Wisconsin-Madison,” Kao said. “I then talk ed about my intended major and my future goals and then listed classes and professors that I believed would contribute to my suc cess within my major and future goals. Writ ing Wisconsin-Madison’s essay and learning more about their school made me realize how much I liked their institution and how well I would fit in.”

With the early deadline in the past, Sixth Formers look to carry their momentum and lessons learned into the final stretch.

“My next step is to complete regulardecision applications and the essays associ ated with them. I know that [early-decision] come out in the middle of December,” Tank said. “So

I will probably do a lot of essays over Thanksgiving break.”

Sixth Former on the Common Application website in the college couseling office INDEX STAFF

“I remember spending many nights of the week before staying up until 3-4 a.m. working on col lege essays after finishing homework.”

DYLAN

“That [the new schedule] has enabled us to build that rapport with you all as students to an even greater degree.”

MS. HEATHER STINSON

Students celebrate Diwali

Diwali is a time when Hindu, Jains, and Sikh families come together and celebrate the night known as the festival of lights, and good over evil. Families will spend time celebrat ing with their families and friends with unique cultural aspects passed down from generation to generation.

To Sixth Former and co-president of the Pan-Asian Alliance Arnav Sardesai, Diwali is one of the most important times of the year, in which he builds a stronger connection to his family and culture.

“It is a time when you can be true to your roots,” Sardesai said. “It’s not really that often that I get to feel connected to my Indi an heritage–it brings me closer to my family but [as well as] the past generations.”

The food, fireworks, and socialization all contribute to the celebration of the fes tival of light, but certain families celebrate it in different ways.

“[My family] usually has a pooja and we throw a Diwali party, inviting our family and friends [with] food and fireworks. We clean the house, put up a bunch of diyas, and decorate the house,” Sardesai stated.

To Fourth Former Milan Varma, the holiday represents trying to look at life with a positive outlook.

“Diwali, to me, means the celebra tion of light over darkness, which is usually the cliché meaning parents tell their kids,” Varma said. “This can be interpreted in many ways, such as a lesson to always see with a clear inner view and to not let dark ness or bad emotions cloud your thoughts.”

But the holiday that is so important to Indian culture has hardly been recognized in our Haverford community.

“I find it sometimes hard when kids don’t know what Diwali is or [students] have a lot of homework or a project due on the night of Diwali,” Varma said.

Varma also shared his disappointment in the lack of the community’s recognition of the holiday.

“Diwali is a holiday which is celebrated by over a billion people around the world, but it still feels a bit odd to celebrate it when so few people in the vicinity do the same,”

Varma said.

To combat this problem, Sardesai and Varma, along with several other members of the Pan-Asian Alliance, spent time put ting together a table at the front of Wilson Hall’s entrance with a trifold on information about Diwali, food usually eaten as a part of the festival, and a television screen showing some of the common practices on the day of the festival.

“Everyone walks past the upper school

office many times throughout the day,” Sardesai explained. “I felt that it would be an easy way to give everyone an opportunity to learn about something that is really impor

tant to me and a lot of kids at Haverford.”

Part of the mission that Arnav was on was also to try and help shed light on some of the Asian cultural aspects that are com monly overlooked and invigorate students who might not feel comfortable sharing their culture.

“Part of fighting Asian hate is promot ing Asian excellence,” Sardesai said. “Our [Hindu] culture is an important part of that.”

Sixth Formers Joey Kauffman, Arnav Sardesai, Ethan Chan, and Neil Sawhney celebrate in the Sardesai home, October 22

COURTESY OF ARNAV SARDESAI ’23

“Parts of fighting Asian hate is promot ing Asian excellence.”

ARNAV SARDESAI ’23

features

Controversy swirls around fan section nickname

Kauffman ’23

There is a phrase. A phrase that one may hear in the halls, the classrooms, the meeting spaces of the upper school. A phrase that students say openly to one another. A phrase that titles a group that a majority of upper school students are members of.

But one would be hard pressed to find any student leader or faculty member pro nouncing this phrase in public.

This phrase is “The Gentlemen’s Club.”

This is the name of a student group and its corresponding group chat dedicated to bringing students to sports games and other school events. It was founded in 2009 as a way to encourage students to support one another at sports games. It has gone through iterations over the years, but its current form centers around a group chat on the social media app Groupme. The chat has 294 members as of November 5, 2022, making it possibly the largest student “club.”

know, all-guys school, we’re gentlemen. I understand, yeah, it’s named after a strip club, but I don’t think the intent was there to name it after a strip club. But I don’t know all the facts,” the Fieldhouse Fanatic said.

Sixth Former and student body presi dent Luka Sekulic stressed the innocuous ness of the name in its current form.

the name would give to middle and lower schoolers.

“I’d say the Gentlemen’s Club is just a group of guys that comes together. I’d say it’s an example of the whole school, but the group of guys that specifically comes togeth er for sports games and supports their broth ers,” the anonymous Sixth Former known as the Fieldhouse Fanatic, a leader of the club, said.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “gentlemen’s club” as “a nightclub for men that features scantily clad women dancers or stripteasers.”

“Let’s be honest. Anything that basically evokes the idea of a strip club is not going to feel great,” History Department Chair Ms. Hannah Turlish said. “I would like to think that would make a lot of men on the faculty also not feel great. But I do think, yes, that it is something that is cringy in terms of some thing that the boys have created and labeled and seem very invested in.”

The leaders of the club define the name in other terms.

“Other people could say different; they could know more than I could. But I think the intent wasn’t there. I think it’s just, you

“There has obviously been a lot of con troversy around the ‘Gent’s Club’ over the years, with the name kind of being looked as misogynistic and controversial. But the name has kind of taken a new form at Haverford, and other senior leaders will also agree that ‘Gent’s Club’ has a different meaning in the sense that it’s what we are. We are gentlemen, and it is a club of gentlemen. That’s what it means at Haverford.”

History teacher Mr. Kevin Tryon, who taught in the upper school for nine years before the conception of the club, cautions against the Fieldhouse Fanatic’s and Seku lic’s interpretation that the name of the club means little more than a club for Haverford gentlemen.

“In particular, 2008, 9, 10, I [had] an 8 or 9 year old who’s in school here and he’s asking about sports. He’s interested in sports, and he’s asking, ‘Dad, why do they call it the Gentlemen’s Club?’ And I thought, ‘that’s not something I wanted to explain to a Haverford lower schooler or middle school er,’” Mr. Tryon said.

hate the name. So also I wouldn’t feel com fortable putting it in print for that reason. We do make sure that we put student section photos in because I think that is very impor tant and a very big part of our school, but the name really throws me off sometimes.”

This predicament—where the largest student organization is not registered by the school and is not supervised by faculty—has caused the club to grow insular among the students, to develop its own customs and tra ditions. One such tradition is the aforemen tioned “Fieldhouse Fanatic.” No one really knows exactly what the Fanatic is. He holds no formal title in student leadership yet has enormous cultural power among students, a megaphone straight to the screens of 300 up per schoolers.

As a result of the club’s name, which is innocent enough that students can defend it, yet draws enough misogynistic connotations to offend many members of the community, the club is shunned by the school.

“I just think it’s the sly double entendre, right?” Mr. Tryon said. “That’s what it is. It’s teenagers having fun and kind of maybe poking authority in the eye…I think every body understands what’s intended. I don’t think anybody is as naive as [to think that the club’s name refers only to] living up to our dress code and our honor code and our principles of a Haverford graduate, by any means.”

No matter the intent of the club’s founders, its name causes intense discomfort to members of the community.

“[The name of the club] was definitely one of those things that, when I first came to Haverford, I was like ‘ugh’ just because of the connotations that it has,” math teacher Ms. Barbara LaPenta said.

Mr. Tryon disliked the impression that

“‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ is not a sanc tioned upper school student organization. They’re not registered as a club in the upper school,” Head of Upper School Mr. Mark Fifer said. “There’s no formal affiliation or connection [between the upper school and the ‘Gentlemen’s Club’]. We’re aware that it exists and that students use that name to de scribe the group of students who try to gath er students for athletic contests, but it’s not a registered organization in the upper school with a faculty advisor or any of that.” Mr. Fifer added that “it is a name that has been generated by students.”

School publications don’t print the phrase. For about the last ten years, this newspaper has a policy to replace any use of the name with “student fan section.” Ac knowledgements of the “Gentlemen’s Club” used to appear in the yearbook — a 2013 Haligoluk’s basketball section referring to the club as the “team’s true sixth man” — the yearbook no longer prints those words.

“On our clubs page we don’t put ‘Gen tlemen’s Club’ in there because it’s not a club through the school. It’s not Model UN; it’s not speech and debate; it’s not on the same tier as those,” Ms. LaPenta, who is the faculty advisor to The Haligoluk, said. She added, “I

“The [Fieldhouse Fanatic] is supposed to be a senior anonymous student who is supposed to spread the support in a funny sense. And it’s just supposed to be something light, meaning that they’re not a person that forces you to come. They’re a person that tells you, ‘Come out. Support your broth ers,’” Sekulic said. “It’s like a mascot of the ‘Gent’s Club’ essentially.”

The Fanatic sends messages in the group chat, reminding people about sports games and informing students on the “theme” of the student section. Each Fanatic chooses next year’s Fanatic, which can be a tough process.

Joey

MR. THOMAS STAMBAUGH

The student fan section cheers during football game against SCH on October 15, 2022

PIERCE LAVERAN ’24

The student fan section looks over the Fords during a 34-6 win over Lansdale Catholic, September 11, 2021

“The Gentlemen’s Club’ is not a sanc tioned upper school student organiza tion.”

MR. MARK FIFER

“Anything that basi cally evokes the idea of a strip club is not going to feel great.”

MS. HANNAH TURLISH

“I think everybody understands what’s intended.”

MR. KEVIN TRYON

“I didn’t necessarily do anything [to be come the Fieldhouse Fanatic]. I think what you’ve got to do is just be yourself [to be come the Fieldhouse Fanatic], be there for your boys, you know. The Fieldhouse, it’s al ways passed to the next upcoming senior. So you know, I have a hard decision to make,” the Fieldhouse Fanatic said.

The leaders of the club attribute the Fanatic’s anonymity to “tradition.”

“You know, I honestly, I thought that question [why the Fieldhouse Fanatic is anonymous] myself when I came to Haver ford,” the Fieldhouse Fanatic said. “I think, cause it’s really not, it’s only in the group chat. You go to the game, everybody figures out who it is, you’re starting the chants. But I honestly have no clue. I just think it’s always been that way, it’s been a tradition. I think it’s just going to stay that way. But everyone always ends up finding out who it is when the school year starts.”

This anonymity in the group chat al lows the Fanatic to speak to the student body without the normal supervision that Sixth Formers have when addressing the school, either in student announcements at assem blies or through email. The Fanatic often uses profanity in his texts. He also ridicules the idea of the student who doesn’t “show

out” to sports games.

In a November 4 text to the nearly 300 students, he said, “If you’re not [at the foot ball game] I know the type of person you are.” The exclusionary nature of this text is obvious, especially as students may even have religious obligations during game times, as Orthodox Jews do not work or travel on Fri day nights and Saturday before dark.

The Fanatic also makes use of the term “beaters” when telling students to wear white tank tops to a game.

“I hope I never have to educate boys about why the term “wife beater” is intensely problematic in about 25 different ways,” Ms. Turlish said.

Yet when talking in-person, the Fanatic is reflective of his aggressiveness in the group chat.

“You know, I probably do come off very aggressive, just some of the stuff I say, some of the stuff I say in the group chat, which I understand,” the Fieldhouse Fanatic said. “Sometimes I’m just trying to be like the kids in the past, how they were texting in it, but then sometimes I’m super genuine, and I kind of give some of the facts of like what’s been going on, like how there’s only been eight teams in 125 years that have been undefeated in football.”

After talking with the Fanatic, it be comes clear that he does care about his com munity.

“I’m still working on getting a couple guys that are like freshmen, sophomores that aren’t as well-connected with the school and

the community, trying to get their numbers to get in the group chat, just cause I want them to feel a sense of brotherhood, and the relationship with the kids in the school, so like, find more friends, find people that they can come do stuff with outside of school, and then inside of school for games. Stuff like that,” the Fanatic said.

The reason that the school didn’t try to change the name of the group and incorpo rate it as an official club goes back to Mr. Matt Green, former Head of Upper School. In 2009, Mr. Tryon brought up concerns over the name of the club to Mr. Green.

“I can remember hearing the name, and I talked to Matt Green after a Wednesdaymorning faculty meeting, and I just voiced my sense that the name was not appropri ate… and he kind of said, matter of factly—I think this is all he could say—is, ‘It’s a fact. It’s already out there. It’s got its name,’” Mr. Tryon said.

The administration currently ignores the Gentlemen’s Club because of its name, tacitly allowing an anonymous Sixth Former to have a virtual audience of 300 with no su

pervision. Rather than address the problem, ask the group to change the name, and as sign it a faculty advisor, the upper school did nothing. Since this stance of doing nothing, shunning the group, hasn’t curtailed the pro liferation of the phrase “Gentlemen’s Club,” on campus, students are left asking what good the upper’s school’s policy of ignoring the club has done.

The club itself has caused a lot of good. Mr. Tryon remembers going to his first bas ketball game as a faculty member in 2000 against Upper Darby.

“It was an away game and on a Fri day, so I went to it. And I was like one of four people from Haverford there. I was so shocked. And also that there [was] such dis mal support for the team, so what we have now is far, far better.”

Current athletes really do appreciate the current support of the club.

“After the game, seeing [the student sec tion] on the field is awesome. They make the wins feel so much better and the hard work even more rewarding. Even glancing up to the stands during the game is electric. It definitely fires me up to see the support of brotherhood in full effect,” fullback and linebacker Michael Dean wrote in an email.

Student leaders frequently use the club to communicate important details to stu dents.

“I’ve used ‘Gent’s Club’ primarily to gain support, not for myself but for other sporting groups or in general. You know, we’ve talked about robotics…kids have been able to reach out in the ‘Gent’s Club’ for the musical in the past, they’ve been able to reach out for concerts, they’ve been able to reach out for pretty much anything that’s necessary, any school events, any club events. So it’s really an opportunity for everybody to support each other and share each other’s ex periences,” Sekulic said.

Ms. Turlish may have summarized it best:

“Just like any group of teenagers using social media, it can become a Wild West that I think is problematic,” she said.

Just like the actual Wild West, law and order can be established. The phrase, which hurts many, will die out from the school lexi con if the name changed and became an of ficial club, with an official Sixth Form leader and a faculty advisor.

“I think if it were always just this group of guys screaming at the top of their lungs, I would have no problem. If we could just get another name for it,” Ms. Turlish said.

MR. JIM ROESE

DR. MIKE NANCE

“After the game, seeing [the student section] on the field is awesome. They make the wins feel so much better and the hard work even more rewarding.”

MICHAEL DEAN ’23

“If we could just get another name for it.”

MS. HANNAH TURLISH

Student fan section cheers on water polo, November 2019

The student fan section at the EA football game, November

What’s Haverford like, to a Dane?

Our community, from both a physical and cultural stand point, is different from most other academic environments. This is espe cially relevant to the Danish exchange stu dents who traveled almost four thousand miles to spend a week at Haverford and Baldwin. They arrived late on a Sunday night, staying in the homes of student hosts.

From the Ordrup Gymnasium school in Charlottenlund, Denmark, the students making up the school’s elite choir-and-band group, “Be Sharp,” made their first impres sion on the community on Thursday, Octo ber 27, singing at the upper school assembly.

The band consisted of a group of boys on guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, and the choir consisted of a group of about fif teen boys and girls. As they gathered on stage, introduced their songs, and began their performance, there was something no ticeably different about the group’s energy: the Danes just seemed happier.

As their performance continued, the choir’s energetic and cheerful gesticulation, their humor while introducing new songs, and a generally more upbeat atmosphere that they brought, captivated the audience it was a culture shock.

What is behind this happiness? Is there something different about Danish life that leads to greater happiness? Do Danes even recognize the differences between life here and at Ordrup Gymnasium?

From a statistical perspective, the an swer to whether Danes are happier is clear. World Happiness Report’s “World Happi ness Ranking” lists Denmark as the second happiest nation in the world while the Unit ed States sits in seventeenth.

But, from the Danish perspective, there aren’t too many differences. Their cheerful attitudes seemed like a universal concept. So what did they notice? The uniforms stand out as a key difference between the two cul tures. Ordrup Gymnasium’s students aren’t

required to wear a uniform, sharply contrast ing our formal dress code of a coat and tie. But this doesn’t mean that the students show up to school wearing informal and inappro priate clothing. According to Be Sharps key board player Nichlas Bech, despite the lack of a dress code, most students choose to dress up formally, even on a day-to-day basis.

“A lot of the guys do really dress up nicely. Almost every [day]. We just kind of choose to on our own,” Bech said.

On their visit to campus, Danish stu dents wore khakis, sweaters, collared shirts, and in general, semi-formal clothing. The uniform differences here weren’t surprising to them—the Danes expected most people independently to choose to wear formal clothing. Instead, the differences that Bech noticed between Haverford and Ordrup Gymnasium were rather unexpected.

“It’s just a combination of everything,” Bech said. “[To get a] driver’s license you have to be sixteen here, the legal drinking age is twenty-one, the sports culture is bigger… it’s a lot of things.”

One of the largest things that stuck out to Bech? Bike lanes. In Denmark, streets have lanes dedicated to bikes and the vast majority of students bike to school.

“I haven’t seen any bike lanes since I got here. I’ve seen one bicycle, but only one,” Bech said. Biking’s popularity in Denmark is largely due to the fact they have to be at least 18 years old to get a driver’s license, making students elect to ride a bicycle even after they get their licenses.

“The biggest percentage of people use bikes to get to school, so there are bike lanes and racks everywhere,” Bech said.

From a geographical standpoint, this is expected. Ordrup Gymnasium, along with much of Denmark in general, is less spread out, making biking convenient. Bech, in particular, is from Gentofte, a town north of Copenhagen, and when they visited Philadelphia, one of the largest cities in the

NICHLAS BECH

“Copenhagen is definitely smaller than Philadelphia. The buildings here are very tall, especially compared to Denmark.”

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has a different architectural style than Phila delphia. Instead of gray skyscrapers, Copen hagen’s buildings are painted yellow, red, and blue. The largest building in Philadel phia, Comcast Technology Center, is almost 1,150 feet tall, while the tallest building in Copenhagen, Copenhill, stands at less than 330 feet.

leave high school,” Bech said. “We’re told that English is the way to go. Everyone in Denmark speaks English to a level where they can have a conversation.”

Contrasting Haverford’s all-boys envi ronment and surrounding ‘sister’ schools, Denmark hardly has any single-sex schools, and the students instead look past the gender norms.

Another key difference between Haver ford and Ordrup Gymnasium is that almost everyone at Ordrup Gymnasium is bilingual.

“English is a really big part of our school. We learn English from third grade until we

“We have close relationships without flirting or dating, we can even hug or cuddle without it being awkward or flirtatious,” Bech said.

Another large difference separating Danish and American life is the legalization of alcohol. In Denmark, there is no mini mum age requirement for consuming alco hol, and the minimum age for the purchase of alcohol is sixteen.

Again, even though they have access to it, they don’t abuse their privilege and drink responsibly.

“People control their drinking,” Bech said. “When you start drinking at a very early age, you learn your limits, and how much you can drink. People can control themselves.”

So what makes Danish students seem so much happier than those at Haverford? It appears to be a collection of two things: their close, familial connection with each other and their ability to take control of them selves and the privileges given to them.

United States, the structure was completely different.

Ordrup Gymnasium performs for upper school at Centennial Hall on October 27, 2022

MR. THOMAS STAMBAUGH

“Copenhagen is de finetely smaller than Philadelphia. The buildings here are very tall, especially compared to Den mark.”

“English is re ally a big part of our school...Everyone in Denmark speaks English to a level where they can have a conversation.”

NICHLAS BECH

“When you start drinking at a very early age, you learn your limits, and how much you can drink.”

NICHLAS BECH

Global Studies programs make full return

For the past decade, Haverford’s global studies program has allowed students to immerse themselves in foreign environments. From Ecuador to Ice land, the opportunities presented by these programs allow students to strengthen their understanding of different cultures. Hav ing the opportunity to go farther than the classroom and temporarily live in unfamiliar places is a huge privilege with many positive effects on our community. Whether it be es tablishing genuine relationships or indulging in cultural traditions, interacting with other parts of the world is beneficial.

Director of Global Studies Mr. Andrew Poolman believes strongly in the importance of education through these international study programs.

“These programs provide an opportuni ty for students to try something new, to get out of their comfort zone, to expand the aca demic limits and borders we have here and to immerse themselves in a new country, a new culture, a new language,” Mr. Poolman said.

MR. ANDREW POOLMAN

In addition to becoming educated on certain cultures, establishing relationships is also key.

“Making personal connections with peer students, or anyone that has a different perspective than we do, is a large aspect of these programs,” Mr. Poolman said.

The school offers five study or exchange programs every year, and they all have differ ent focuses.

“We run language-based programs like the travel study to Italy or the Ecuador ex change program,” Mr. Poolman said. “Other programs, especially those based around the Notables, are more of an exchange of ideas and getting to know students from another country,” Mr. Poolman said.

Mr. Poolman offers a global perspectives class that is based on the ideas of these pro grams and allows students to take a step back and view the world through various lenses. “The course is rooted in content in the class and expanding our viewpoint and ability to take in different perspectives,” Mr. Poolman said.

These study and exchange programs have been thriving over the past several years, and students have positive feedback about their experiences.

Fifth Former Anthony Carter, who traveled to New Orleans last spring, gained a lot from his experience. “I liked getting to see a different culture than ours here, and I learned a lot of new historical facts I didn’t know before,” Carter said.

Members of the Notables welcomed

Danish students from the Ordrup Gymna sium Chorus Group to our community re cently, a huge success.

“It was a really interesting experience not only singing with the Danish students, but also getting to know them,” Fifth For mer Chase Shatzman said. “I feel like I have a better appreciation for their country as well as their music and cannot wait until the No tables go to see them again in Denmark.”

Many students have signed up and are eager to participate in study programs this spring.

In April, a handful of students will host Ecuadorian visitors and in return visit Guay aquil, Ecuador in August.

One of these students, Fifth Former Samuel Jiru, said, “I’m really looking for ward to the opportunity to meet new people and put what I’ve been learning in Spanish to the test.”

Mr. Poolman is looking forward to a great year for the global studies programs coming off of COVID-19 restraints.

“During pre-Covid times about 40% of the graduating class had at some point taken

part in one of the programs,” Mr. Poolman said. “We had about 80 students who ap plied to our programs this year, which is a good number.”

Mr. Poolman also encourages everyone

a posi tive snowball effect and encourages other stu dents to apply in the future.”

MR. ANDREW POOLMAN

to try one out during their time here.

“I think a lot of our students are hesi tant at first to apply,” Mr. Poolman said. “But once they apply, go through the pro gram, come back, and let certain aspects of what they learned resonate with them, it often creates a positive snowball effect and encourages other students to want to apply in the future.”

Ms. LaPenta commences research on healthy masculinity

Ryan Hu ’26

No stranger to the cross-country team, Ms. Barbara LaPenta re turns as not just a teacher and coach, but also as a researcher. Currently teaching Precalculus and having taught Al gebra II, Calculus, and Statistics, while also advising the yearbook club, Ms. LaPenta has made an impact over the past four years. Now, she looks to extend her reach into re search.

The International Boys’ School Coali tion (IBSC) aims to better the education and well-being of boys around the world. Each year, they run a research project with meticulously selected topics for educators, to further their understanding of boys in the best way possible. The topic for this year’s research is “Promoting Healthy Masculinity Beyond the Classroom.”

statistics,” Ms. LaPenta said. “I want to be able to shake away some of those stereotypes to make a more round and wholesome per son.”

Ms. LaPenta’s motivation for undertak ing this project came from statistics that she saw about school-age boy mental health and masculinity.

“I don’t want my students to become

Her research centers on the cross-coun try team.

“I think we have just a solid culture, I think it’s a really great starting point,” Ms. LaPenta said. She believes the work could branch off into groups such as other sporting teams, advisories, or other affinity groups.

“I think we have a very good culturally big group, but I think that a lot of our boys are similar in mentality,” Ms. LaPenta said. “While the cross-country team is a good start, when it branches off to other places, there will be more conversations to be had with a more diverse range of students.”

Ms. LaPenta has a baseline survey that the cross-country team took at the beginning of the season and will take again at the end of the season.

“Essentially, we’re going to do scenariobased learning and students will have discus

sions on how they feel or how they would react to it,” she said. She looks to have dis cussions so that the team is also aware of sce narios that occur in everyday life.

Ms. LaPenta researched to find a ques tionnaire that was short, succinct, and fit. She decided on using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS).

“I thought that the research would be a little bit more straightforward, especially as a

math teacher,” said Ms. LaPenta. “However, it’s actually very difficult to sort through all of it, compare it with prior research, and make sure deadlines are met.”

The project will last for the entire year.

“The actual research part of it is only dur ing the fall sports season,” Ms. LaPenta said. “What I will be doing is analyzing my results and writing about them for the remainder of the year.”

Global Studies students overlook the shores of Casablanca

Ms. Barbara LaPenta

PIERCE LAVERAN ’24

ABUOBIADA ELAMIN ’20

“Making personal connections with peer students, or anyone that has a different per spective than we do, is a large aspect of these programs.”

“It often creates

“I don’t want my stu dents to become statis tics.”

MS. BARBARA LAPENTA

“I think we have just a solid culture, I think it’s a really great start ing point.”

MS. BARBARA LAPENTA

academics

Hill workouts after dark: the life of a student athlete

Haverford’s athletes have a distinguished reputation: their impressive work ethic, strong mental discipline, and, of course, success radiate across all athletic areas. Their accom plishments, however, are earned not only during games but also in the classroom.

In addition to a busy athletic schedule, student-athletes must balance their school work, extracurricular activities, and social lives. Sixth Former Chace Knox, a wide receiver and cornerback for the football team, runner for the track team, and Honor Council member, has noticed difficulties transitioning from after-school practices to school work.

“Now, dealing with everything is kind of part of who I am,” Knox said. “Being a senior, having college applications, and all the school work—there’s a lot of time man agement I do to prepare for each day and get to where I am this year.”

Naturally, student-athletes must adapt to their countless academic, athletic, and personal obligations. For Sixth Former Colin Kelly, a captain of the cross-country team, runner for the track team, and pole vaulter, having limited time to spend on aca demics caused him to develop valuable work skills.

“I really had to learn how to get homework done in the most efficient way possible,” Kelly said. “I’m in the fall play, so I’m not getting home until 9 p.m. every day. I have a very short window between when I get home and when I want to go to sleep, so the only way for me to get homework done is to cram it into that space.”

Furthermore, Kelly has noticed an in crease in productivity since he began having more work to complete.

the golf team faces in regard to class time.

“The golf team has had a lot of early dismissals because of all the places we travel,” Nesbitt said. “We have to beat the sunlight. We can’t play in the dark obviously, so we tee off earlier.”

CHACE KNOX ‘23

“When you get home after prac tice, the first thing you think about is the fact that you’re tired,” Knox said. “You can’t take a break, though. You’re still going to have homework to get done or a test to study for, so you’ll have to go from one thing to another pretty quickly.”

As an Honor Council member, Knox enters Wilson Hall around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays. After meetings, he attends his classes and goes to football practice until 6:00 p.m. Once home, he completes any other unfinished work. With a complicated and difficult schedule, Knox has embraced his heavy workload.

“[Having a lot of work] puts me in a mindset of productivity,” Kelly said. “I know I have to be at a certain level of effi ciency or else it’s not going to get done.”

However, academics and other ex tracurricular obligations can also interfere with training schedules. During the summer, Kelly adapted to a busy day schedule by run ning in the dark.

“I have done hill workouts at 9:30 p.m. in the pitch black of my neighborhood just because I didn’t have any other time to do it,” Kelly said.

Alongside difficult workloads, student-athletes also have to manage missed school days. Sixth Former Rory Nesbitt, a captain of the golf team and a competitive lacrosse player, acknowledges the challenges

Unfortunately, early dismissals re sult in a considerable amount of missed class time, leaving the students with the responsi bility of making up work.

“A ton of the golfers have had to find ways to talk to their teachers, commu nicate with them, and make up their work,” Nesbitt said. “I think the teachers have been pretty understanding of that, but it’s defi nitely an added responsibility.”

As a way to manage missed class time and academic work, Nesbitt focuses on planning out his days ahead of time.

“Writing out my schedules and my days really helps me,” Nesbitt said. “It’s just knowing my spacing of scheduling—really prioritizing my school and college applica tions and getting that done before the dead lines.”

Mock trial heads into competition season

Ajay Chakraborty ’26

On Tuesday and Thursday late af ternoons, most students are re covering from their sports prac tices.

In Room 200, court is in session until 7 p.m.

Students act as either lawyers or wit nesses and the proceedings resemble that of an actual courtroom.

“We split up into two teams at the be ginning of the year,” Fifth Form student leader Ben Hoyt said. “The veterans of the team are out on Team 1 because they have more experience and have more of a feel for the club. Team 2 consists of the others. Every team has roles of lawyers and witnesses.”

Mock Trial doesn’t require any experi ence to join. Teacher leaders Mr. Benjamin White and Mr. Jamison Maley and the ex perienced students train the inexperienced students as to how the club works.

“Before the case is released, we review things like court etiquette, the sequence of a trial, rules of evidence, how to write an opening statement, and how to tell a story,” Mr. White said.

Competitions soon await the Mock Trial team. The group has done very well in the past, especially in the 2021-2022 school year. In December, they will compete in scrimmages against schools like Episcopal Academy and Penn Charter. Scrimmages give teams the chance to practice against other teams before the actual competition.

In January, the team travels to the Ben Franklin Invitational Mock Trial Competi

tion at the University of Pennsylvania. This is not exactly a competition, as it is primarily used for feedback from the judges.

In February, the team goes to district championships for Montgomery County, where they compete to go to the state com petition. If the team qualifies, they will com pete against the best future lawyers in the state.

The team is confident in their abilities this year. In fact, they emphasize confidence for everything in Mock Trial.

While such challenging schedules are mentally draining and time-consuming, the outcomes can be fulfilling. Ultimately, Nes bitt is grateful for his time spent both as an athlete and a student.

RORY NESBITT

‘23

“I’ve been having some late nights, but it’s all been worth it,” Nesbitt said. “I think the extra stress and extra work has defi nitely been rewarding, and this has been one of the best years of my life. I wouldn’t trade in golf for anything else—I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“Last year, Team 2, which consisted of all new kids, was able to get all the way to the semifinals. Team 1 won districts,” Hoyt said. “Since we did so well last year as all new kids, I think winning districts should be pretty easy for us.”

“One has to be confident and good at public speaking,” Fourth Form student lead er Connor Haney said.

Haney added that learning public speaking skills is an essential element of Mock Trial.

“I think the best thing is becoming con fident and comfortable with public speak ing, “ Haney said. “You get to experience what it’s like to be a real lawyer.”

“One has to be con fident and good at public speaking.”

CONNOR HANEY ’25

VIA @FORDSXC ON TWITTER

“Since we did so well last year as all new kids, I think winning districts should be pretty easy for us.”

BEN HOYT ’24

“You get to experi ence what it’s like to be a real lawyer.”

CONNOR HANEY ’25

“You can’t take a break, though. You’re still going to have homework to get done or a test to study for.”

“I wouldn’t trade in golf for anything–I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Fords 2022-2023 cross-country team

VEX Robotics teams prepare for upcoming signature event

It’s hard to imagine the robotics workshop without the squeaks and clangs of screwdrivers and gears, the high-pitched revving of motors, the con stant chatter, and the slams of robots against plastic and metal. New recruits come an nually to discover and learn through trial and error how to build, program, drive, strategize, and, above all, work together as a team.

“Right now, we’re kinda in the starting phase, maybe 50% of the way through our robots,” Sixth Former Zachary Shah said. “Everyone’s got a drive train right now, and it’s just about building the rest of it.”

Building a strong, fast, light, and space-efficient base for the robot is crucial to success down the line, especially for younger teams without the experience required for many rebuilds when the robot grows more complicated. For teams with inexperienced students, much of the process right now is rebuilding the drive trains they had finished two weeks prior to maximize functionality and overall quality.

“You’ve gotta take ten steps backward be fore you can take ten steps backward be fore you can take ten steps backward until you can start again.”

MILAN VARMA ’25

“As [Robotics Coach] Mr. Leech would say,” Fourth Former Milan Varma said, “You’ve gotta take ten steps backward before you can take ten steps backward before you can take ten steps backward until you can start again.”

While robotics and engineering may seem meticulous, requiring precision and a deep breadth of knowledge, the learning curve is vastly different. Much of the process is just trial and error, especially for younger teams without the hands-on experience to know what constitutes a good build.

curve.

ZACH SHAH ’23

“It’s a huge learning curve,” Shah said. “There’s nothing really else like it that you can do at school. It takes a lot of time and everyone kinda sucks at it starting out. It requires new technical skills, new program ming skills…the works, pretty much.”

However, even with little to no experi ence, students can still build quality robots by modeling their designs after online videos and older students’ designs. The major dif ference between older and younger teams is the creative liberty that older students are al lowed to take because of their efficiency and experience.

In addition to perfecting their craft, ex perienced students serve as guides and role models for less experienced students.

“That’s probably our biggest impact. It’s keeping the program alive and ongoing.”

ZACH SHAH ’23

“That’s probably our biggest impact,” Shah said. “It’s keeping the program alive and ongoing.”

Sixth Former Arnav Sardasai added, “We want to create a lasting legacy.”

Despite the experience gap, not all new students are underclassmen, and not all ex perienced students are seniors. Some students start their experience in the middle school VEX robotics division, VEX IQ.

While the materials for VEX IQ are all plastic, as opposed to the upper school division’s aluminum and steel, “The pro cess is pretty similar in routine,” Shah said. “You look at the game, come up with your own ideas, try them out. Even if you see a good robot online, there’s always a lot of just thinking that goes into actually figuring out how to build it.”

“The

ZACH SHAH ’23

Many students find themselves thrust into this learning curve, and for better or for worse, they get sucked into the work ing process. Much of the building process is

trial by fire, often with students working late into the nights leading up to tournaments. Disaster—anything from a dysfunctional buggy controller to vital pieces of the robot not working—can strike at any moment, so students must know how to adapt.

“You just have to deal with it.”

DAVID STEWART ’24

The overall goal of these preparations is to be ready for competition. Tournament matches themselves are structured in two teams in an alliance versus another alliance. Every grouping, regardless of skill level, is completely random. It’s not uncommon for five of your eight matches to give you team mates who forgot their batteries at home and opponents who haven’t left their robots’ side day in and day out. If a team gets a match with a much more experienced team, they learn to not impede their partner’s ability to use their assets to the fullest. “You just have to deal with it,” said Fifth Former David Stewart.

From the weeks and long nights be fore the competition to the end of that last match, the entire process is completely fran tic and chaotic. It’s impossible to imagine a team that doesn’t have anything go wrong at some point. With so much chaos, stress, and pressure, what keeps these students going?

“[The best part is] just winning, to be honest. It’s such a long season from the end of August to the end of spring, so you’re doing a lot and thinking about your robot for so many days. ”

ZACH SHAH ’23

“[The best part is] just winning, to be honest. It’s such a long season, from the end of August to the end of Spring, so you’re do ing a lot and thinking about your robot for so many days,” Shah said.

After all, with only seven competitions a year, doing well in those is both a goal to strive for and the ultimate reward.

“There’s a lot of good things [about Ro botics], but if I had to choose one, it would have to be the mood at the competitions” Stewart said. “You need to be able to work on the spot, you need to improvise… doing better than what you expected is just like adrenaline, and it’s so exciting for me.”

“There’s a lot of good things [about Robot ics], but if I had to choose one, it would have to be the mood at the competitions.”

DAVID STEWART ’24

Robotics teaches teamwork, dedication to perfection, harnessing passion in support of your team, and recovering quickly from devastating losses.

But, above all, every student in the pro gram agrees that it is incredibly fun. While the workload is high the payoff is well worth the cost.

While building, attending tournaments, and researching and expressing their creative ideas, robotics students meet dozens upon dozens of people they would never have talk ed to otherwise.

Through all the adversity students face, they press ahead without fear of failure, guided by experienced students and their coaches: chemistry teacher Mr. Will Leech, physics and calculus teacher Mr. Adam My ers, and science and finance teacher Ms. Al exandra Surdel.

As the signature event on the first week end of December at Worcester Polytechnic Institute approaches, students will prepare their solid foundations and continue build ing.

Many teams hope to finish their drive train and prototype their launching mecha nism required for this year’s “game” in which discs are launched into goals to score points.

Teams hope to use this signature event and upcoming local events to qualify for the state championship and the following world championship.

The team, the Cavalry 169, is working to maintain the legacy of the robotics pro gram, and they are enjoying every step along the way.

Arnav Sardesai ‘23 tinkering with robotic parts

“It’s a huge learning

There’s noth ing really else like it that you can do at school.”

process is pretty similar in routine. You look at the game, come up with your own ideas, try them out.”

Robotics room filled with tools and supplies

Lower Merion and Narberth’s Pollinator Pathway Program

While making their way to cam pus each morning, students may notice distinctive, round white and purple signs popping up in neigh bors’ yards. These signs indicate that the property is a part of the Lower Merion and Narberth Pollinator Pathway program, a col laboration between the Lower Merion Con servancy, the Narberth Area Garden Club, the Friends of West Mill Creek Park, the Penn Valley Civic Association, and local resi dents, designed to bolster pollinator-friendly habitats in the community.

Pollinators are insects, bats, bees, but terflies, and birds that help to move pollen from the stamen to the stigma on flowering plants. This movement of pollen is essential for plants to fertilize and reproduce. Accord ing to farmers.gov, “More than 80 percent of the world’s flowering plants need a pollinator to reproduce…and most of our food comes from flowering plants. One out of every three bites of our food, including fruits, veg etables, chocolate, coffee, nuts, and spices, is created with the help of pollinators.”

The economic impact of pollinators cannot be underestimated. The USDA re ports that there are over 100 U.S.-grown crops that rely on pollinators. Furthermore, the work of pollinators adds $18 billion of revenue to crop production annually. Ac cording to the USDA, “In 2019, U.S. honey bee colonies produced 157 million pounds of honey valued at $309 million.”

Pollinators have been hit hard by cli mate change, the urbanization and subur banization of our environment, invasive species, and pesticides. According to the non-profit organization, Bee Informed, “Over the entire year (1 April 2021 - 1 April 2022) beekeepers in the United States lost an estimated 39% of their managed honey bee colonies.”

The Pollinator Pathway Program is working to combat these challenges and

provide safe habitats where pollinators can thrive.

The idea is simple: create a network of “pathways” or cor ridors that are made of pollinator-friendly gardens to “defrage ment” our fragment ed ecosystem.

The rise of Conshohocken

Conshohocken is a populated and bustling borough outside of Philadelphia. The town has much to offer, from fun festivals and activities to many working opportunities and jobs. How did this area become so vibrant and impor tant?

Mr. Atul Varma is the CFO of the pri vate market investment management firm Hamilton Lane, based out of Conshohock en.

Hamilton Lane used to be centered in Bala Cynwyd, where according to Mr. Varma, “[Hamilton Lane] had about 50,000 square feet of the space, and [the company was] just growing really fast.”

Due to this increase in employees, largely resulting from the return of employ ees after the Coronavirus, the firm moved to Conshohocken.

“Our preference was to stay in Bala Cynwyd, but there was no space for our workforce, so we needed a bigger location,” Mr. Varma said. “They weren’t building of fice buildings there. We really didn’t want to move, but in Conshohocken we got the opportunity to move into an office building which was built for us where we are the an chor tenant. We can expand for 10+ years in this space.”

Conshohocken is all the rage for com

panies and expanding businesses due to this very reason. The space and location are just perfect, especially for the younger genera tion. Conshohocken is a hotspot for busi nesses, firms, and housing—due to its loca tion.

“Another factor may be the Schuylkill river, which is a natural barrier to come to the city,” Mr. Varma said. “The bridges across it have become more popular with young people because they are entry points into the city. Young people who are working in Philly can’t afford the rents in the city, so they move out to towns like Conshohocken and Manayunk, and Conshohocken offers the combination of a short commute to the city and a cheaper rent because it is not di rectly in the city.”

Conshohocken acts as a gateway into the city for young interning workers who might appreciate its suburban feel.

In addition to the business standpoint, there is also a demand for housing causing Conshohocken’s residential boom.

“My dad’s family is actually from Con shohocken originally, he grew up there, but I grew up in Gilbertsville,” Spanish teacher Ms. Brooke Kenna, a long-time resident of the borough, said.

After Ms. Kenna pursued her interest in working in the baseball industry, she had to

The idea is simple: create a network of “pathways” or corridors that are made up of pollinator-friendly gardens to “defrag ment” our fragmented ecosystem. The goal is to have these pollinator-friendly gardens planted within the range of pollinators; for most native bees that is about 750 meters. Residents commit to using native plants, re moving invasive species, not using pesticides, and leaving dead leaves and brushes to allow pollinators a place for overwintering.

Throughout Lower Merion and Nar berth, on properties all around the commu nity, residents have planted pollinator path way habitats to support pollinators. These gardens are one of the reasons why the flow

ering trees and plants in the outdoor spaces around campus are flourishing. The program is an excellent example of how lucky Haver ford is to exist within the greater Lower Mer ion Township community.

According to the ancient Chinese prov erb, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. While a single step may not seem like much, the Pollinator Pathway program is proving that many small steps can, in fact, make a difference.

So as you walk to school in the morn ings and spot a Pollinator Pathway sign, try not to step on plants. They serve a vital pur pose.

figure out where to live when she came back home.

“When I was looking to move back, I didn’t want to move into the city, but I want ed the city access and city spirit, while still having that hometown feel… and I ended up in Conshohocken!” Ms. Kenna said.

“When I moved, I purposely moved to wards the train station thinking that I would be in the city more often, and then I real ized… everything I needed was really right around Conshohocken,” Ms. Kenna said.

Another principal reason Conshohock en is experiencing this rise in popularity is one many can attest to— the food scene.

“The restaurant scene is actually really amazing. If you want to grab a burger or enjoy a fancy meal, you can sort of get the best of both worlds,” Ms. Kenna said. “[It’s] super walkable, which is nice, and it’s beauti ful! The people are really nice, there’s a nice storefront area where I can do a lot of my shopping without having to get in my car.”

A European honey bee extracts nectar from a flower

Buildings on the Conshohocken Waterfront

JOHN SEVERNS VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Mr. Raeder opens latest exhibition

Have you ever wanted to be hyp notized? What if the outcome was that you would suddenly learn how to create beautiful works of ceram ics on the pottery wheel? It sounds oddly enticing, and it’s possible through upper school ceramics teacher Mr. Jacob Raeder’s recent collaboration with filmmaker HsinYu Chen.

In tandem with filmmaking, Mr. Raeder and his partner Laila have recently collabo rated on a ceramic exhibit in North Philly. Mr. Raeder and Laila go under the artistic

alias “Better Lovers,” and they have no limit on their work’s creative design. As Better Lovers, they draw upon each other’s skillset in a way that intrigues the viewer through a unique artistic portrayal. Mr. Raeder re called a quote from his professor: “People who learn to use the pottery wheel become infected by it, in a sense that it is a way of thinking about the world that becomes hard to escape.”

I was fortunate enough to see their dis play firsthand and I came back with many questions.

One piece appeared as a dice table with tons of warped and disfigured dice. When I asked Mr. Raeder about the dice piece, he described the dice table as vibrating so that the dice move in the movie shot.

“The show was about making sculptures that housed the film,” Mr. Raeder said.

The series of hypnosis films are about working a pottery wheel, learning through viewing and absorbing the ability, just like Neo learning Kung Fu in The Matrix movies. Mr. Raeder described the films as “Executed earnestly, and by watching these films, you

would then know how to throw on the pot tery wheel.”

Mr. Raeder also provided insight into his admiration for pedagogy, a method of teach ing theory and concept.

Having collaborated with Hsin-Yu Chen for three years, Better Lovers adjusted a sculptural implication in the film that shows in some of the work in the gallery.

Urschrei is the title of the ceramics ex hibit, a German word that translates to “Pri mal Scream.”

Iconic Dolobran goes up for sale

Dolobran, an iconic mansion in Haverford designed by Frank Furness in 1881, was listed for sale in September at a price of $3,250,000. Just off Grays Lane, about a mile from campus, sits Dolobran.

According to the Zillow.com listing, the 16,914 square foot home sits on 1.96 acres and boasts seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The home was built as a sum mer home for shipping magnate Clement Griscom and originally sat upon 146 acres.

Though not the origi nal intention, it turned out to be immaculate.

The name “Dolobran” pays tribute to the Welsh village where Griscom’s family once lived.

A notable connection exists between Dolobran and the RMS Titanic. Clement Griscom co-founded International Mer cantile Marine Co. with a group of other shipping giants to monopolize the indus

try. With backing from J.P. Morgan, they were able to construct a number of ships to attain their goal. In 1911, they began con struction on the largest ship ever built, the RMS Titanic. It launched roughly a year later, and the rest is history.

Most of the estate’s land was sold off in the mid-20th century, and, as noted earli er, it is currently a little less than two acres. Trinkets, furniture, and decorative instal lations from the mansion have not fared much better, also having been auctioned off.

In 1888, Frank Furness was commis

sioned by the Clement family to expand their home, and the additions include a three-story east wing featuring a study and covered porch; the servants’ wing and kitchen were also enlarged during this ren ovation.

Six years later, in 1894, Furness was tasked with a second, much larger expan sion and turned the residence into a man sion. This time, a major excavation turned a basement library into a balcony with Clement’s art gallery in view.

Though not the original intention, it turned out to be an immaculate, and, cru

cially, fireproof place to store the family’s many paintings. It is described as being “il luminated by two long strips of skylights, flanking the terrace above, and large win dows at the room’s east end where the hill drops away.”

It is also possible that homes for Clem ent’s children were built during this, as a January 1901 discussed three residences on the property.

A century later, the home was a “Vas sar showhouse in the early 1990’s,” and underwent a large renovation from 20122014, according to the Zillow.com listing.

SEAN ALLEN ‘25

Mr. Raeder’s exhibit, in collaboration with Hsin-Yu Chen

Dolobran estate in the morning light, November 7, 2022

CASEY WILLIAMS ’24

Reilly Hope ’25

campus opinions

Homework: proposing a change to an outdated practice

After the first two months of school and getting into the flow with all of my classes, my afterschool routine has become like clockwork. Every day, I go home with a general under standing of how much time I have to spend on homework that night, and how much time I can spend on my individual inter ests.

Personally, with a relatively difficult course load, I spend around three to four hours on the average-night’s homework, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Accounting for time spent studying for assessments and working on projects, my workload can be as high as seven to nine hours in a single night.

Despite my gripes with the amount of time it takes me to finish my work, I don’t think there’s anything flawed in the general concept of homework. It’s undeniable that most people do not immediately grasp every thing they do in class, and thus, need some sort of alternate exposure to the material to further retain the information. The current system of homework achieves this goal, giv ing students the ability to do many practice questions and read material many times be fore being assessed on it.

However, this system lacks efficiency.

After all this time of students prospering and figuring out a way to manage all of their sports, extracurriculars, and homework, why is there now a need for a change in the sys tem? It may seem unnecessary to say, but at the end of the day, we are at a school that has a goal of not only preparing us for col lege, but also setting us up to be successful in the college admissions process. Haverford proudly advertises this, saying on its website that over the past five years, 95% of gradu ates were admitted into one of their top three college choices. Despite this fact, the current homework system contradicts the school’s focus on student’s admission to their topcollege choices.

Though I’m far from an expert, it has been made clear to me by recent graduates that test scores and grades have started to matter less and less in the admissions pro cess. These metrics are now replaced with a gravitation towards innovation, creativity, and uniqueness, which are not fostered in environments where students have to con stantly focus on completing schoolwork. Innovation and creativity are found in free time, when people are able to pursue the things they enjoy doing. If the school is committed to keeping up its 95% statistic, it should consider coming up with ways to give students more free time.

There is an argument to be made that giving students more free time wouldn’t di rectly result in them pursuing innovation, but rather just further add to their screen time. While this is a valid point, there is a

point of over-saturation of mindless TikTok scrolling and YouTube perusing where a stu dent may find themselves with a long period of complete boredom. At that point of “I don’t want to look at my phone anymore” or “Maybe I should go touch grass,” ideas will form and students will finally want and have time to pursue them.

swer keys to the homework is an invitation for students to just copy off of it, but the responsibility for that falls on the students to bear, not the teachers to predict.

Other than the amount of time it takes to finish, there are two major shortcomings in how classes handle homework.

The first is the concept of classes revol ing around what students did for homework the night before. We have all had classes like this, where the majority, if not all, of class time is spent reviewing things that were in the homework. The repetition often feels redundant and makes me wonder what the point of doing the homework the night be fore was if we were just going to cover the exact same material the next day in class. For classes like history and English, this repeti tion can easily be avoided by simply not as signing homework such as readings when the next class day will solely focus on reviewing topics and concepts from those same read ings. As for reviewing homework in classes like math and science, providing answer keys for homeworks would allow students to view the process of solving a problem themselves before spending valuable class time on it the next day. Some may say that providing an

The next big problem is homework’s transactional nature. Personally, I do my homework not because I’m super excited about the article assigned or the problem-set due, but because if I don’t do my homework, my grade will go down. I often find myself tuning out of the task at hand and an hour later, realizing that it is finished without me taking away much from it. Though a lot of the blame for this falls on me for tuning out in the first place, I sometimes cannot help it just because homework often is super bor ing. It’s usually just busywork that doesn’t require much creativity or thinking.

What if that changed?

to pursue their individual interests. This kind of system, where students are assigned very short assignments meant to test their application of skills will see far greater ben efits for both educators and students.

It falls on the hands of our educators whether or not they are able to invest the time to create such assignments because they need to be proprietary to Haverford’s curricula. Teachers would have to formulate problems and assignments that best test the skills they want their students to walk away with, and they have to do so in a short num ber of problems or an assignment that takes no more than thirty minutes to complete. If teachers are able to invest the time to do this, the results could be tremendous.

If homework assignments were a set of small problems or tasks that really required full attention and application for just thirty minutes, then kids would walk away from that half an hour with a deeper understand ing of what they just did, and still have time

Arsh Aggarwal

Jingyuan Chen ’23 works on homework for one of his classes INDEX STAFF

...it has been made clear to me by recent graduates that test scores and grades have started to mat ter less and less in the admissions process.

The next big prob lem is homework’s transactional nature.

It falls on the hands of our educators whether or not they are able to invest the time to creat such assignments becuase they need to be proprietary to Haverford’s curricula.

In our first week back to school in Sep tember, I got out of class late at 12:15 and stopped by Severinghaus and found Andrew Case by the couches.

“You going to lunch?”

He nodded.

We got to the dining hall before 12:20. Loud chatters, chairs scratching the floor, and the mass and heat of several hundred students greeted us. While waiting for burri tos in line, we glanced at the tables, all filled, and the pathways between these tables, which had also been filled with extra chairs.

“Is it just me or are there a lot more people here than usual?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Case affirmed. “Probably be cause we have a large freshmen class.”

Sitting inside was not an option. Car rying food in both hands and wedging be tween the gaps of the crowd, we escaped suf focation from the cafeteria’s side door, letting in some chilly, clean air from outside. The tables outside had also been fully occupied.

We, among a group of other Sixth Formers, eventually took seats at the quad’s wide stone walls..

“It’s ridiculous,” a student to the right of me muttered, half-sitting, half-squatting on the short platform. “I’ll never sit here again.”

Despite students’ efforts to find alter nate seating in Wilson Hall, Centennial Hall, or near the Café, as of November, ALunch in the dining hall continues to be crowded.

Back in September, while I was having my burritos on that stone wall, I came up with a proposal: a Sixth Form lounge for

We need a senior lounge

lunch and leisure. Since Haverford can no longer find spare places on its main campus, we should advocate for the lounge’s establish ment on a part of the South Roberts Road campus—43 acres of developing property.

Okay. The idea is more feasible than it sounds.

Let’s first address a common accusation against senior lounges: promoting elitism.

Like other existing senior privileges on campus (parking, leaving campus during the school day), a senior lounge functions as a reward for a class that had earned the fac ulty’s trust and an incentive for underclass men to look up to the good examples of the upperclassmen, as they envision their own future privileges.

Thus the accusation of “elitism” doesn’t stand when all classes eventually get to enjoy

the “elite” privileges.

A senior lounge also alleviates Sixth Formers’ high-stress levels induced by the double pressures of school work and col lege application. Senior lounges have been a constructive space for work and recreation (and lunch) in many public and private high schools around the nation.

The lounge would serve as a relief for Sixth Formers to maintain their work-life balance in the midst of much chaos, anxiety, and sleep deprivation.

A potential senior lounge could take many forms, depending on the financial, logistical feasibility and the preference of students.

At some schools, the senior lounge is just a private dining room with extra chairs and tables.

The school should pay for Quizlet Plus

is where the magnificence of Quizlet Plus comes into the light.

At other schools, it is decorated with pleather couches, foosball, and pool tables. If pragmatism allows, many Sixth Formers would prefer a fancy room in the grand man sion of 452 South Roberts Road.

As I was thinking about all these great senior lounge proposals, eating my burrito, a group of kindergarteners passed by us. There’s this one kid at the back; he sneered at our roll of disgraced seniors sitting on the stone edgings.

“Bruh,” Case said. “Did that kinder gartner just tease us?”

Okay. I thought. The senior lounge can wait. Tomorrow, I have to get to the dining hall before 12:15.

Finn Kelly ’25

Without a doubt, Quizlet is a staple of studying. Whether it be for learning vocabulary for an unfamiliar language, or memorizing defi nitions of words from a Wordly Wise 3000 book, Quizlet is arguably the most modern and advanced tool that a student can utilize to learn and review new academic material.

Quizlet Plus has all the benefits fo stan dard Quizlet, but of fers more high-qual ity features designed to keep students engaged.

One problem with the standard Quizlet tool is that it is repetitive. Looking through the same set of flashcards over and over again inevitably becomes dull, largely taking away the positives that come from the tool. This

Quizlet Plus has all the benefits of stan dard Quizlet, but offers more high-quality features designed to keep students engaged, allowing them to learn better and faster. With features like custom images, audio and diagrams, an interface to track progress, sug gested studying methods to maximize mas tery of a set, and dynamic feedback, Quizlet Plus takes away the dullness of rote memori zation that is found with the use of standard Quizlet. In order for high school students to learn efficiently and effectively, this kind of

dullness is unacceptable, and the difference between Quizlet Plus and the standard ver sion is too great not to capitalize on.

The studying ability of Haverford’s stu dents is held back without access to Quizlet Plus. If Haverford paid for a subscription to Quizlet Plus, the success of students would undoubtedly increase.

With the power of group-rate purchas ing, they could provide students with a ro bust, modern study aid at a nominal cost.

Jingyuan Chen ’23

Sixth formers hang out in the library

PIERCE LAVERAN ‘24

The studying abil ity of Haverford’s students is held back without access to Quizlet Plus.

off-campus opinions

Beyond words: a deeper dive into the Oz vs. Fetterman debate

he seemed vulnerable while speaking, Oz took the opportunity to pour it on him with quick and incisive sentences, looking like his lead was growing with each word he spoke and each word Fetterman spoke as well. To put it simply, Oz had no sympathy… he was there for one reason only: to demolish his competition and try to convince Pennsylva nia voters to vote for him.

Tommy Saul ’25

While watching a Phillies, Ea gles, or Sixers game, nearly every time there is a pause in the action one of the rampant partisan Oz or Fetterman commercials plays as you wish the game would return sooner than anticipated.

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s demo cratic senate candidate took the stage on Tuesday, October 25th alongside Pennsyl vania’s republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fetterman, a six-foot eight man from West Reading, Pennsylvania, had persevered through a near-death experience only five months prior to the debate. In May of 2022, he suffered an atrial fibrillation and stroke, negatively affecting his ability to speak (among other things).

While this fact may dissuade Pennsyl vanians from voting for him, it is important to understand Fetterman did not allow his difficulty communicating with his voice to deter him from courageously stepping up on stage to otherwise get his message across while debating against Dr. Oz., on the other hand, is a television personality with his own series. He speaks to the public clearly and expresses himself well almost on a regular basis. Oz indeed tore Fetterman apart with his sheer verbal skill, but the results are not as one-sided as the candidates’ responses to the questions posed may suggest.

Throughout the debate, it looked as though Fetterman was simply lost. The af termath of the stroke obviously took a toll on his ability to interpret and subsequently re spond to questions, and it is an actuality that it made many, including myself, wonder at first glance why he agreed to debate against

Grayson Morgan ’26

The recent death of the Queen of England has taken the world by surprise, devastating people around the world. International news broad casts were interrupted with announcements of her death, and constant news blasts were live streamed on social media detailing up dated information about her death as it was released. If a serving Prime Minister died and England had to invoke rarely seen method ologies of succession, the frenzy would be understandable.

The Queen’s death, however, does not alter the daily life of citizens in England, as the Queen did not actually do a whole lot for England.

We must first think about what the Queen (or any monarch filling her role) actually did. The Queen was responsible for appointing Prime Ministers and other min isters, but she does not actually rule, create laws, or serve in any judicial role. As she has acknowledged, “I do not give you laws or ad minister justice. But I can do something else. I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.”

The Queen serves more as a representa tive of England, a role into which she was born, but she was not an actual lawmaker or politician. She is not responsible for the pro gression of England’s economy and society,

someone, let alone Dr. Oz, when he was, and is today, clearly still recovering from his trau matic event. Fetterman stuttered through each of his responses, and in some instances, he appeared to not even be physically able to answer the question at all. After it was touched on that Fetterman had contradict ing and confusing beliefs, the moderator asked him, “Do you or do you not support fracking?” which he consequently an swered, “I do support fracking, and I don’t… I don’t– I support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking.” This was just one example of the unfortunate difficulty Fet terman had answering simple questions. All things set aside, however, Fetterman was in a lose-lose situation: If he had declined debat ing against Dr. Oz on October 25th and instead chose to hide his incapacities, Penn sylvania voters may have wondered why he was hiding and what exactly he had to hide.

nation, and ultimately fortitude; all qualities Americans look for in a political figure.

Although some may not agree with his opinions and policies, Dr. Oz was everything most Pennsylvanians expected him to be on the debate floor: persuasive and elaborate, and having his own TV show since 2009 definitely did not hurt. An interesting as pect of the event was Oz being awkwardly addressed as “Mr.” rather than “Dr.” in an at tempt by the moderators to even out the oc cupational playing field, but in my opinion, it was precisely the opposite effect. Mehmet Oz has an M.D. while Fetterman does not, but Oz worked hard for his medical degree and deserves not to be called anything other than a “doctor.” John Fetterman, who ac quired a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, is an accomplished man himself and does not need the addition al support. Conversely, regardless of Fetter man’s degree, it seemed as though each time

It is almost undeniable that Dr. Mehm et Oz was the better overall debater, articu lating his accurate responses to near perfec tion, nevertheless, while Mr. John Fetterman was evidently compromised in his verbal abilities and appeared confused on stage, he did make one thing abundantly clear: he is a vigorous advocate for the rights of citizens. Even so, I do not think the majority of peo ple will overlook Fetterman’s difficulty com municating when considering his fitness to be a senator: good communication is a key element to a successful senator.

Fetterman still remains a very well qual ified candidate as he demonstrated not ver bal ability, but rather valiant effort to carry on despite his challenges.

What do Pennsylvanians value? Do they vote for eloquence and mental persistence or perseverance and imposing physical pres ence? I do believe Dr. Oz will win because of his apparent intelligence and rhetoric throughout the entire duration of the de bate, but the Oz versus Fetterman debate on October 25th, 2022, was truly beyond just words.

TOMMY SAUL ’25

By accepting the offer to debate, he was forced to show the public the thorough dam age to the left hemisphere of his brain the stroke caused. But, by electing to debate, John Fetterman embodied bravery, determi

The royal frenzy

yet she is pampered by the perks of archaic tradition both in life and in death.

Moreover, the Queen’s existence was depleting England’s resources. The Royal Family’s Sovereign Grant Reserve of Buckingham Palace holds over one hundred million pounds. In other words, citizens pay portions of their hard-earned salaries to a monarch who has never had to drive a car or cook a meal.

According to Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, a group advocating for the aboli tion of the British Monarchy, “the real an nual cost of the monarchy—when you count security, lost income from property assets and costs met by local government—[is esti mated] at more than £300 million.”.

These numbers are staggering, espe cially considering nations around the world are still trying to recover from the extended impact of the pandemic and their own pre

pandemic plights. England is neither a na tion with an available surplus of resources nor a nation with a shortage of problems and like all major countries in the world, there are multiple initiatives which should take fi nancial priority.

As such, the Queen’s death should not receive any more attention in the media than the deaths of other public figures such as movie stars, athletes, and other celebrities. They too seem to receive round the clock newsfeeds chronicling the details of their death, but for shorter periods of time. While the Queen is a beloved figure whose death should be mourned—as all human lives should be—her death received more atten tion from the media than necessary. Before we blindly worship public figures, we should consider why we value and respect them so much.

Dr. Mehmet Oz and Mr. John Fettterman

ABC NEWS

“What do Pennsylva nians value? Do they vote for eloquence and mental persis tence or perseverance and imposing physi cal presence?”

Alphonso Evans ’23 releases debut album

After over a year of work, Sixth Former Alphonso Evans has fi nally released his highly antici pated debut album, Not 2 Young. In 2021 he released his debut single, “Hooked,” a smooth gospel single that showcases Evans’ vocals, which students will recognize from his Notables performances.

With his brand new album, released on October 28, “Hooked” is joined by seven other Christian songs.

ballad, but then unexpectedly turns into a dance track with a children’s choir in the background. Evans can effortlessly combine genres on multiple songs, yet still create a body of work that is cohesive and dynamic.

“The versatility of the album is what stood out to me first, with some slower tracks like ‘Fully Indebted,’ all the way to up beat songs for blasting in your car like ‘Not 2 Young,’” Fourth Former Aaron Bonaparte said.

“My goal was to make eight songs that meant something in the moment and specif ically these eight songs meant something for the world right now. A lot of people, young and old, need to realize that if they have a calling over their life, to give their life over to Christ and be able to accept that calling and be able to call it for what it is… because you should never be too scared or too inex perienced to do what you love to do or to serve Christ.”

The album’s title track, “Not 2 Young,” lyrically represents the overall meaning of the album. The track stands out because it combines gospel with elements of dance and electronic music. It opens as a piano

Throughout this entire album, Evans wears his inspirations on his sleeve.

“I love listening to R&B,” Evans said. “I love H.E.R, I love Beyoncé, I love Jas mine Sullivan, so a lot of my inspiration did come from R&B, but I also listen to gospel all the time. Gospel is my root, so Jonathan McReynolds, The Clark Sisters, Kirk Frank lin—all of those people have paved the way for me to be able to express myself in a dif ferent way.”

He also explained why he feels it is im portant that he represented these emotions in different styles and genres throughout the album. “There is no one style or one way to express what you are feeling in the moment,”

Evans said.

“Fully Indebted” is a vocal highlight. The second half sees Evan’s vocals soaring over a soft instrumental and choir.

This song is one of Evans’ favorites. “I love ‘Fully Indebted’ because it just shows my growth as a vocalist. I never knew that I could hit certain notes and expand my range. I had to get a vocal coach in the middle of this process because of the fact that some times I’m not confident in myself and my ability to take my voice to a level that I had never taken before,” Evans said.

All eight tracks were written by Evans himself. He also touches on topics beyond religion, specifically on the song, “I Can’t Breathe,” a power ballad about social justice and police brutality. He said it was one of the tracks he was most proud of.

“It shows my ability to talk about what’s going on right now with Black people and Black crime and police brutality and things that are going on around the world and just say that we have to start doing something about this and come together as a commu nity for the cause,” Evans said.

This song touched others in the student body as well. Fifth Former Anthony Carter emphasized the importance of the message Evans is sharing.

“Songs like ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ where he’s talking about police brutality and Black Lives Matter show how even though he’s a gospel artist and wants to praise God, he says things that are also relevant to the culture right now.”

writing, so at this moment, I want to figure out how to start getting to other artists so that I can write for them...I love singing to death, but I feel like being able to connect with others, being able to hear others and what they’re thinking in the moment… is what I really love to do.”

Sixth Former Julian Caesar compli mented Evans’ writing skills, especially on the track “Human.”

He said, “The lyrics he uses in ‘Human’ are really good. Evans is a great lyricist.”

The music has started a conversa tion between many students in and outside of school.

This album is personal.

“My main goal is to write for other peo ple,” Evans said. “I do want to perform, I do want to minister, but I feel like my calling is

“What I realized from my album, from my single, is that these songs touch people in ways that you’d never expect them to,” Ev ans said. “I’m just starting as an artist, but at the same time I get texts all the time say ing, ‘Your music touched me in ways that I can’t explain. I was going through things but when I listened to your songs and your mu sic, they actually touched me.’ So, you don’t know how it’s going to touch people, you don’t know who’s listening, you don’t know who’s watching.”

“[This album] really shows his vo cal growth and how he’s carving his lane in the gospel industry,” Fifth Former Anthony Carter said. “I think a lot of the songs are timeless, and I could see myself listening to them later down the line.”

Russell

COURTESY OF ALPHONSO EVANS ‘23

Alphonso Evans’ album cover

“What I realized from my album, from my single, is that these songs touch people in ways that you’d never ex pecte them to.”

ALPHONSO EVANS ’23

“My main goal is to write for other peo ple.”

ALPHONSO EVANS ’23

Alphonso Evans in the recording studio

COURTESY

“It shows my ability to talk about what’s going on right now with Black people and Black crime and police brutality and things that are going around the world.”

ALPHONSO EVANS ’23

“My goal was to make eight songs that meant something in the moment and spe cifically these eight songs meant some thing for the world right now.”

ALPHONSO EVANS ’23

Student band rocks semi-formal

Colin Toth

It’s hard to imagine that any group of people could take attention away from the Phillies’ game two of the World Series. But all eyes were on the Haverford School Rock Band as they took the stage at the semi-formal on October 29. Performers Colin Kelly ’23, Brendan Touey ’23, Matthew Jones ’24, Anthony Valen tino ’24, and William Burfiend ’24, kicked things off old school with ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.”

song required two guitars. In addition, the keyboard was not needed in this song, so keyboardist Matthew Jones had to improvise on the keyboard. Once again, the band was able to overcome this adversity.

“That’s what I love about this group, because we spend so much time together, we can learn as we go,” Kelly said.

The band still has many performances coming up. They will perform in the EA

Week talent show and many more times throughout the academic year.

“We all definitely had a lot of fun play ing,” Valentino said. “Everyone can look for ward to more performances very soon.”

The band has been working on “Sharp Dressed Man” for a long time. This song fea tured a jaw-dropping guitar solo from Val entino, who had been working hard on his solo.

The band continued their performance with the iconic “Mr. Brightside.” Unlike “Sharp Dressed Man,” the band was not as familiar with the song, as they learned it in the week leading up to the semi-formal. The band thought it would be well-known by the students—it is frequently played at school dances. The crowd sang along wordfor-word.

The crowd then demanded just one more song. The band decided on “Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream. However, because the band did not anticipate playing this song, only one guitar was available, and the

Notables host Danish visitors

’25

For a long time, the Notables and Ordrup Gymnasium Be-Sharps have led an exchange of culture, ideas, music. Although this program was sus pended during the pandemic, both Notables and Be-Sharps look forward to the annual event.

Ordrup Gymnasium is located in Co penhagen, Denmark.

In 2010, Baldwin, Ordrup, and Haver ford began a musical exchange program. Each year, schools host students for weeklong visits.

The last time the Danish students have

been at Haverford was in 2019. Now, with a new director and many additions to the No tables, students in and outside of the group had a chance to experience different customs and some amazing music.

The Be-Sharps arrived on Monday, Oc tober 24, sporting both a rock band and a choir. Each student was assigned to a No table or Baldwin B-flat to stay with for five days. Over those days, they explored the city of Philadelphia, participated in school days at Haverford and Baldwin, and performed in many concerts.

Sixth Former Harvey Pennington, one

of the few Notables to have gone to Den mark in his Third Form year, was ecstatic to learn that the program was finding its feet once more.

“When I heard we were restarting the exchange program, I was absolutely stoked,” Pennington said.

This year, more activities were planned with the visitors. Pennington vaguely re members wishing he could have talked to them more in the past. This year, he found the experience was much better.

“I think the main difference is how much more activities we got to do and how

much we interacted with the Danish stu dents.” In addition, he found that hosting not only one, but two Be-Sharps was not a burden, but one of the “best decisions of his life.”

HARVEY PENNINGTON ’26

“I learned a lot about their culture, but also how exchange students are just normal people as well that just want to have a good time.”

“This was an extremely exciting week,” New Notables Director Mr. Matt Mastro nardi said. “I’m looking forward to doing more collaborations with Ordrup Gymna sium and the B-Flats, and excited to sing in beautiful spaces and make music [when the Notables arrive in Denmark].”

Pennington hopes that when the Nota bles head to Denmark in Spring Break, they will get to experience the same amount of joy the Danes did at Haverford.

“This whole week helped me ease my nerves for some of my responsibilities.” He finds that as it gets closer and closer, he will be “looking forward to Denmark even more.”

The rock band rehearses in the amphitheater on a sunny afternoon

Elliot Lee

Danish performance at Baldwin Simpson Center

COURTESY OF COLIN KELLY

“That’s what I love about this group, because we spend so much time together, we can learn as we go.”

COLIN KELLY ’23

“I learned a lot about their culture, but also how exchange stu dents are just normal people as well that just want to have a good time.”

Taylor Swift drops new album Midnights

Taylor Swift’s tenth album Mid nights is here. Released at mid night on October 21, it gar nered 184.6 million streams on the day of its release and broke the record for the most streamed album within 24 hours on Spotify. By the end of the week, it had been streamed close to one billion times. The standard al bum consists of thirteen tracks, with the lead single, “Anti-Hero,” reaching number one on over 150 charts worldwide. Rolling Stone even called Midnights an “Instant Classic.” To any Swiftie, Midnights sounds so new and strange, yet so distinctly Taylor. The best way that I can describe it is if you take the in timacy of reputation, the upbeat pop tem pos of Lover, and the lyricism and drama of Swift’s 1989 era, you get Midnights. Written over thirteen sleepless nights, these thirteen songs tell the story of Swift reconciling her past lovers, dealing with everything the me dia has thrown at her, and connecting with Joe Alwyn, her fiancé. Midnights is a love spi ral to all her previous eras.

She is breathy in the chorus and it seems as if she’s singing through a thick fog of drowsiness, as the title of the album, Midnights, might suggest.

Track 1: Lavender Haze. The original meaning of the term “lavender haze” comes from the 1950s, representing the beginning stages of falling in love. Throughout the song, Swift’s voice is never heard unaltered. She is breathy in the chorus and it seems as if she’s singing through a thick fog of drowsiness, as the title of the album, Mid nights, might suggest. The distortion of her voice may also symbolize how the media al ways twists her into a serial dater, constantly speculating whether or not she will be “a one night or a bride.” The media brings up her history and constantly puts loads of drama on her chest, to which Swift says “get it off your chest, get it off my desk.”

Track 2: Maroon. “Maroon” invokes the feeling of “marooning” a lover after dancing with them all night in New York. Swift sings the lyric, “I lost you/the one I was dancing with In New York/no shoes.” The best part of this song is the bassline. The drumming synth beat hums through the entire song, almost like a siren. It feels like it could be a slowed-down song from 1989. The song mentions “scarlet lips,” a deeper shade of red, and a direct nod to “red lip classic” lyric on “Style” from her album 1989. Ad ditionally, the lyric “The mark they saw on my collarbone” references a photo taken by the paparazzi of Taylor Swift after a night out with Harry Styles. She also sings, “and I wake with your memory over me/that’s a real legacy to leave.” While this bridge isn’t the strongest on the album, it does make the message of the album clear:this is a collection of songs written in the dead of night about past lives and past lovers.

Swift’s genius allows her to give us a song that should be cried to, but instead, it’s turned into a dancepop song with an incredibly catchy chorus.

Track 3: Anti-Hero. In the lead single from the Midnights album, Swift admits to the media, “it’s me/Hi/I’m the problem/It’s me,” giving into the stereotype that she is in fact the crazy ex-girlfriend serial dater that the media perceives her to be. Swift’s genius allows her to give us a song that should be cried to, but instead, it’s turned into a dancepop song with an incredibly catchy chorus. The best part about this song is that it is mostly all true. All of Swift’s insecurities are poured into this song, also visibly portrayed in the accompanying music video. This song shows Swift expressing why she believes that she is always the reason that relationships don’t work. She sees each one end before they do in the lyric, “I wake up screaming from dreaming/One day I’ll watch as your leaving

and life will lose all its meaning,” and each heartbreak leaves her “Pierced through the heart but never killed.” This song is riddled with anxiety and is reminiscent sonically of the song “Perfect Places” by Lorde, which is about coping with anxiety through partying and the short-lived high of one-night stands.

These heartfelt lines are only precursors to the bridge that essen tially tells the narra tive of her life. From her young friendship bracelet-making days as a country singer, through her torment by the media to her finally realizing that all she ever really needed to succeed was herself.

Track 4: Snow On The Beach. “Snow On The Beach” is a nice song, but it’s practi cally a Christmas song. There are sleigh bells playing in the background, and the song is quite literally about witnessing snow fall on a tropical beach, a place that many people go during the cold months of winter. The song isn’t the best on the album, as it is dis appointing that Lana Del Rey doesn’t get a verse on the song at all. Instead just whispers in the background like a ghost of Christmas past.

up until the pre-chorus where Swift delivers the lines, “From sprinkler splashes to fire place ashes/I waited ages to see you there/I searched the party of better bodies/Just to learn that you never cared.” These heartfelt lines are only precursors to the bridge that essentially tells the narrative of her life. From her young friendship bracelet-making days as a country singer, through her torment by the media to her finally realizing that all she ever really needed to succeed was herself

Cover of single, “Bejeweled”

Track 5: You’re On Your Own Kid. One of the ways to determine the quality of a Tay lor Swift song is its bridge. “You’re On Your Own Kid” has hands down the best bridge on the album. The song never really picks

(and her cats).

Track 13: Mastermind. The planets and the stars aligned just for Swift and Alwyn to be together. Midnights is a love story between the two of them, with “Mastermind” being the cliche moment in every movie where the villain reveals their master plan as to how they will take over the world. In this case, however, it is how Swift would write her own happy ending. “Saw a wide smirk on your face/You knew the entire time/You knew that I’m a mastermind.” These lyrics reveal that Swift isn’t the hero of the narrative; Joe Alwyn is. Swift instead takes the role of the villain that the media would portray her as early in her career but, this time, she takes control of her story after years of being jerked around by strings that weren’t hers. She owns all of her masters now and doesn’t have to listen to the media anymore because she’s no longer dating. There is no other mastermind quite like Taylor Swift. She seamlessly tran sitioned from country to pop, something no other genre-breaking artist has managed to do so successfully.

COURTESY

Taylor Swift singing during her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The planets and the stars aligned just for Swift and Alwyn to be together.

sports

Fords Football looks to write the perfect ending

Fords Football is undefeated. Their weekly excellence has produced some of the most raucous student sections in recent memory, and, with EA Day approaching, the season’s excitement has reached its peak. After a series of im pressive victories to start the season—most notably a revenge win over LaSalle and a drubbing of Archbishop Wood—the Fords have torn through the Inter-Ac behind a dominant run game and formidable de fense. Now boasting a 9-0 record, they hope to assert themselves as the best team in the Inter-Ac.

The Fords’ dominance has come as a shock to many opponents, but accord ing to Head Coach Mr. Brian Martin, they had been aware of this team’s potential for a while.

“It was at the end of last year that we knew we had something special,” Coach Martin said. “We knew we had a good foun dation of guys that were coming back that we could build around, and we knew what type of team we were going to be.”

Much of the success has come on

the ground, with Fifth Former Matt Brosko totaling over 1000 yards behind a powerful offensive line. Whether they are looking to punch the ball in near the goal line or pick up a crucial first down to ice the game, the Fords know they can put the ball in Brosko’s hands and let the linemen up front pave the way.

“The size, the physicality; in the second half they start wearing people down,” Coach Martin said.

Sixth Former Matt Pante believes their physical strength starts with a winning frame of mind that sets the tone from the first snap.

“It’s just a mentality going into it: we have that mindset every day that we have to be the most physical unit on the team,” Pante said. “How we go is how the whole team will go.”

The defense has mirrored the phys icality of the offensive line, which has yet to give up twenty points this season. The defin ing game for the defense, and really, the en tire team, was the 6-0 win at Malvern Prep.

“We were really confident going

into the game, but I think after our perfor mance in that game we kind of proved to ourselves what we were capable of, and now we have a new standard to live up to,” Sixth Former Louie Atkinson said.

In the win, Atkinson made one of the plays of the year with a huge fourthdown tackle to get the ball back late. The win handed Malvern their first loss of the season and gave the Fords a realistic chance at making history. If they manage to topple EA, they will be just the ninth undefeated football team in the school’s history. Though it may be on their minds, the team has not been talking about perfection—just the next game.

“It’s definitely a special group we have, but we’ve been trying to take it weekby-week,” Pante said.

Through all the hype, Fords foot ball has managed to stay focused on the task at hand, a credit to the Sixth Form leader ship. Atkinson’s message to the younger play ers has emphasized embracing the moment.

“Don’t take anything for granted, because time flies, and you need to want

to be there,” Atkinson said. “You don’t just want to be on the team to be on the team. You want to be on the team to play and have an impact.”

Strong leadership will be a key fac tor in Saturday’s matchup, as the players will be under extreme pressure. Their bitter rivals have had an impressive season themselves, also holding an undefeated record.

“EA, for one, is explosive on of fense,” Coach Martin said. “They have a lot of weapons, and they’re high-scoring. So we’re going to have to do our best to control and contain that, and on the offensive side we’re going to let our guys do what they’ve always been doing, which is controlling the clock and wearing them down.”

EA recently defeated Malvern Prep 14-11, and their offensive stars have consis tently presented challenges to the Inter-Ac’s defenses.

“As most people know, their of fense is very explosive,” Pante said. “But we have one of the best defenses in the state, so it should be a really good battle. Offensively we’re just going to try to wear them down to get the win.”

While Pante hopes to keep EA’s of fense off the field, Atkinson will have his eyes on two players.

“They have two good threats: T.J. Cadden and T.J. Lamb,” Atkinson said. “Cadden’s a fast kid, kind of their all-purpose guy, and T.J. [Lamb] is good down the field. If everyone does their job and stays true, we should be good to go.”

With intriguing individual match ups across the board, this rivalry showdown has the makings of a classic. The game will be a battle for the Inter-Ac and potentially the sweater, as well as the final time the se niors will suit up as a Ford.

“I’m going to have all the emo tions. This is a special place, and the football program here is incomparable,” Pante said. “It’s just such a great group of guys, and I take so much pride in wearing the Haverford uniform.”

Haverford defense lines up in an August 26 scrimmage against St. Mark’s.

DR. MIKE NANCE

Adiyan Nayak ’24

The Haverford School football team for the 2022 season

“At the opening speech of the year, I said that character is who you are when peo ple aren’t watching, but it is also who you are when people are watching,”

Day is a moment when a lot of people are watching, and we need to remember this is a visible moment and it’s important for us to be at our best for our teams and to represent the very best of this place.”

MR. TYLER CASERTANO

Mr. Casertano said. “EA Day is a mo ment when a lot of people are watching, and we need to remember this is a visible mo

ment and it’s important for us to be at our best for our teams and to represent the very best of this place.”

The excitement of students is palpable in the halls.

“I have always looked forward to EA Day and this year being an upperclassmen, I am looking forward to getting a [win],” Fifth Former Render Ford said. “I think that people are getting excited.”

Fifth Form soccer player Jackson Ra leigh shares similar feelings.

“I am playing a sport, so it is a different perspective than what I am used to,” Raleigh said. “I love to support the other events [but this time] it’s going to be more based on win ning our individual game. As a kid, I really enjoyed watching the players out there, and having the opportunity to be one of those players is a really cool experience.”

For Third Formers, this will be their first upper-school EA Day experience.

“I am excited. It’s a great way to connect

with peers older than me,” Third Former Grayson Morgan said. “I think that it’s going to be a good one this year.”

“I really hope that our community, I mean this in a larger sense, including parents, faculty, and students, realize that this is a great event.”

MR. MICHAEL MURPHY

With all the excitement, the student body needs to remember to reflect the school’s temperament and character in a positive light.

“I really hope that our community, I mean this in a larger sense, including par

Golf channels support to beat EA

AjAy Chakraborty ’26

The golf team will tee off against EA at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square on November 11 at noon. The team knows that golf will be one of the closest competitions out of all of the sports. They also know that they are more than capable of winning.

“Our guys have steadily improved throughout the season and understand that it will take their absolute best performance to win,” varsity coach Mr. Andrew Franz said.

Every member of the team has put a great deal of effort into this season, and the team is ready to win their matches and get the school one step closer to keeping that sweater hanging with the head’s portraits on Wilson Hall’s first floor.

Performing well in such a precise sport with a large crowd standing over you is dif ficult, especially when it’s the biggest crowd of the season.

“No matter who you are, the nerves on EA Day are unlike any other round you will play,” Sixth Former Team Captain Henry Gowen said.

The team is aware that this is their biggest moment of the year, but they refuse to let anxiety get in their way.

the key. The theme of support runs through every player’s veins and will be what sepa rates them from EA.

EA Day will be an intense competition this year, and winning golf is the key to the Fords’ victory. Through staying composed

ents, faculty, and students, realize that this is a great event,” Mr. Murphy said. “I hope that any feedback we get is about how great, how supportive, or how loud our community is, and not anything negative.”

Students need to keep in mind the pub lic nature of the event. The effects on our community as a whole are just as important.

“What I care most about is commu nity and community’s impact on culture, and how community and culture can bring the best out in you all,” Mr. Casertano said. “What I saw last year was the community coming together to enhance a culture of sup port to depths that allowed us to win. I can’t wait to watch it again.”

As you make your way to EA’s campus on Saturday to keep the sweater, keep Mr. Murphy’s favorite phrase in mind: be loud, be proud, and “Go Fords.”

“I tell them to accept their nerves, be cause accepting your nerves is the key to becoming less nervous,” Gowen said.

The captains and coaches know that it will take everyone playing their absolute best in order to win against EA. They feel a per sonal responsibility to make sure every member is calm and ready to play.

The team also knows that support will be

and supporting each other as brothers, the team is confident in their ability to succeed.

“We’re going to have to grind it out and support each other,” Sixth Form captain Ben Bodle said.

Mr. Tyler Casertano and EA Head of school Dr. T.J. Locke after Haverford’s EA Day victory in 2021

“No matter who you are, the nerves on EA Day are unlike any other round you will play.”

HENRY GOWEN ’23

“EA

Golf team in action last year

DR. MIKE NANCE

MR. JIM ROESE

Water polo looks to dominate at EA

Casey williams ’24

The Fords water polo team has enjoyed a strong season to this point. Undefeated in the InterAc, 7-2 against all other teams, and named the 2022 Inter-Academic Champions for the fifth year in a row, the team has been consistent and successful.

But they’re not finished yet: the team has EA Day to look forward to, and the team is hungry for victory.

“I’d definitely say that this year has been a success,” Sixth Form captain Luka Sekulic said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve stayed true to ourselves.”

Fifth Form fellow captain Luke Putter has an aggressive perspective for the team’s expectations.

“At this point, winning the Inter-

Ac is an expectation; we’ve won the Inter-Ac for the last five years, and pretty handily.”

This doesn’t mean that the team has not been preparing and growing.

“I feel like the water polo team is special in the way that we are all, every single one of us, really good friends,” Putter said. “We spend a lot of time together in the pool and even out of the pool, so that builds a lot of chemistry.”

From their few losses, the team has identified their weaknesses and improved. One of these disappointing moments was the team’s tough loss to North Penn at this year’s Beast of the East tournament.

“They were much faster and prob ably more fit at the time,” Putter said, “But I’d say throughout the season, our fitness has

improved a lot.”

The coaches play a vital role in keeping the team together and keeping the players in check. Head Coach Kevin Van Such maintains a role as an important leader for the team.

team, trying his hardest to motivate us from day-to-day to build routine into us and do everything in his power to push us to our best ability.”

The team isn’t focused on their success ful season or the past in general; instead, they’re looking forward to EA Day. No mat ter the team that they’re playing, the Fords look to focus on only what they can control.

“Our mentality is not who, but how,” Putter said. “We don’t focus a lot on what our opponent is going to do. We just put much more focus into how we are going to beat them.”

The team understands the importance of the game and its unique environment.

“We know what to expect,” Sekulic added. “Everyone that is on varsity this year was on varsity last year. We know what is at stake at EA Day. We’re going to do every thing in our power to crush EA.”

The team has thought a lot about EA Day being the last game of their season, and for the Sixth Formers, their last water polo game as a Ford for the rest of their lives.

“[EA Day] is our final chance to show what we’re made of,” Putter said. “We know that EA Day, always being our most attended game, [and it’s] going to define the way that our classmates see our season. That pressure drives us to put our best foot forward.”

Student fans will play an important role in cheering on their classmates. Having their friends cheer them on will give the Fords motivation to pull through with a victory against Episcopal this year.

“The sensation that you feel coming up from the water and being met with the roar of your school cheering you on is insane.”

LUKE PUTTER ’24

LUKA

“He’s the coach that gives one hundred percent to you at all times,” Sekulic said. “He does his best to inspire you and to inspire the

“The sensation that you feel coming up from the water and being met with the roar of your school cheering you on is insane,” Putter said. “The more people we can fit into their pool and overwhelm their home crowd, [that] will ignite a fire.”

Fall crew reflects on their growth and accomplishments

talan maury ’26

The etymology of the word “crew” comes from the latin word crescere, which means to grow. As one embarks upon one’s crew journey, growing is a necessity. Whether you grow by learning a new technique, establishing chemistry with your boat, or pushing your self to work harder every practice, growing is a necessary part of the sport.

With the season nearing an end, the team has enjoyed many successes on the wa ter.

Fourth Former Noah Kanefsky believes that they gave their all and that there is room for improvement.

“Age played a significant factor, since we were going up against some boats with seniors. Although, we pulled our hardest and competed to the best of our ability,” Kanef sky said. “It was a great experience, and as some of our guys grow older, we’re going to grow as a team and compete at a higher in tensity and level.”

A week later, the frosh-novice rowers fought defiantly in the first regatta of their careers at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.

“I was bewildered,” Third Former Hen ry Biddison said. “It was a completely new experience for me because I’ve never been to a huge event like this before, and I was pretty much in a daze the whole time.”

His boat ended up finishing fifth in the frosh-novice quad heat. For more experi enced rowers, the event was just another race to conquer.

NOAH KANEFSKY

On October 23, select boats traveled to Boston to take on the Head of the Charles Regatta. The eight boat, led by the varsity rowers, finished in the middle of the rank ings.

“It’s about coming to practice each day, fixing your mistakes, and being conscious about what you’re doing on the water,” Fifth Former Ryan Gibson said.

The team just competed in the Hidden River Regatta to close out their fall season. Head Rowing Coach Mr. Jonathan Stefanik believes that the team can end the season on

a high note and use this experience to reflect on their achievements as rowers.

“The last race is a great opportunity for beginners to get a feel for what racing is like in the fall and to have the opportunity to go

out there and represent Haverford,” Mr. Ste fanik said.

At Hidden River, Fords’ rowers won three events, the first quad, first four, and the second four.

Luka Sekulic ’23 in a game against Mount Saint Joseph Academy, September 3, 2022

DEB PUTTER PHOTOGRAPHY

The Varsity Quad poses after winning the Hidden River Regatta

COURTESY OF THE HAVERFORD CREW

“It was a great experi ence, and as some of our guys grow older we’re going to grow as a team and com pete at a higher in stensity and level.”

“He’s the coach that gives one hundred percent to you.”

SEKULIC ’23

Cross country team united, running as brothers

The cross-country team nears EA Day competing on an upward trend. Varsity most recently placed fourth at the Pennsylvania Indepen dent Schools Athletic Association Champi onship (PAISAA), with much of the team setting new personal records for the season. With an underclassmen-dominant roster, they have continuously set the bar higher at each race, delivering each time. Now, ap proaching the season’s culmination at Epis copal’s campus, the team is uniting for the event.

The season has been one of goal-setting, largely from Sixth Former co-captains Colin Kelly and Joey Kauffman.

Assistant Coach Ms. Barbara LaPenta said, “Joey and Colin are undeniably amaz ing. They always come with a smile [and] a ready-to-work attitude. They take ownership of their team and they set a very high stan dard for our under class men.”

And the team has risen to the occasion.

“We’ve had high expectations,” Kelly said. “We pretty much exceeded all of them.”

At the PAISAA race, competitors cel ebrated many individual successes.

“Nearly everybody PR’d all time, and that’s especially important because the course we raced is the Belmont Plateau, which is a very hilly and slow course,” Kelly said. “Usu ally people run about a minute or forty-five seconds slower. [Since] everybody ran their best times on that course, they would have ran another minute below that PR on an other course. That was really exciting.”

Coach LaPenta echoes the importance of the team competing against itself, rather

than others.

“I know that winning is important, but I think beating yourself and succeeding at your goals is just as [important],” Coach LaPenta said. “We have had so many PR’s

this season, as well as runners really leaning into and seeing the success of running con sistently all year and summer.”

PAISAA was a prime example. While not winning, the team realized one of its long-time goals: to beat Malvern.

“We took down Malvern, which has been our goal all season. First, we lost to them, and then we won, and then we lost to them twice, and then in the Inter-Ac championship, we lost to them. But then at this race, States, we beat them, so that was kind of our goal for the season, and we ac complished it, and that was the best feeling,” Kelly said.

This victory and others would not have been possible without standout performanc es from underclass runners. Fourth Former Will Suter, suffering an injury at PAISAA, weathered through the pain to bring the team its victory over Malvern. Alex Dardar ian, also a Fourth Former, has been leading the Fords’ times at each race. Times have been bettering by all, including Michael Crutchlow, Mason Wiegand, Finn Kelly, James MacColl, and Jack Ford.

And while forging its continual im provement, the team has not lost sight of fos tering community. Team banquets and other activities have complemented the team with a strong bond, which leads to their spirit for EA Day.

“We just want to keep the train going, because we’ve had an amazing time so far,” Kelly said. “We’ve had such a fun season, and we just want to keep the momentum, keep the enthusiasm. [We want to] keep it going because this team, when the sophomores are seniors and the freshmen are juniors, will be an insane team.”

The Fords are aware of EA’s strength, and competitors have been prac ticing—and running—hard. Their practices reflect not only a commitment to physical endurance but also mental strength.

And the entire team has risen to the oc casion.

“For a team, this is the tightest knit,

NATHAN MIRIN ’23

and overall if we’re talking team personalitywise, this is probably the best,” Mirin said. “[They’ve given] the most buy-in we’ve got ten from a team in cross country in the four years I’ve been here. Everyone’s working real ly hard, there’s no one just in the back slack ing off. Everyone’s giving it their all, and whether we win or lose, we do it with pride.”

So how can you show up for the crosscountry team this EA Day? Be there.

“Cross country is a pretty weird sport because you can only see the beginning and the end pretty much, which on EA’s course is at the same spot just down from the water polo stadium. I love having a crowd there at the beginning, just insanely loud at the side lines and at the end,” Kelly said. “Even hav ing guys around campus is great. If you need to pass an EA guy at mile 1.2 or whatever random interval, and there’s a Haverford guy there, you’re going to do it!”

And showing up for each other, just as students can do for the cross country team, is exactly what the team plans to do on com petition day.

Mirin said, “You run hard, try

best, and run for

brother.”

Sixth Former Nate Mirin said, “At this point, it’s more about mentality training. All of us are the best possible physically pre pared, so everyone is just running for mental training for EA Day.”

your

your

Christopher

Jack Ford ‘26, Finn Kelly 25, Nolan McCloskey ‘24, Ryan Hu ‘26 (left to right) scored prizes at PAISAA, October 29 A

MS. BARBARA LAPENTA

MS. BARBARA LAPENTA

“We took down Mal vern, which has been our goal all season.”

COLIN KELLY ’23

“You run hard, try your best, and run for your brother..”

Fords footy vanquishes Inter-Ac foes, looks to EA

This season, Fords soccer has soared to new heights, winning the InterAcademic championship under a new head coach Mr. Keith Cappo. The team has defeated Pennington Prep, which was #6 in the country, 3-1. In EA and Haverford’s last matchup, the Fords won 2-0 thanks to the help of Sixth Form captain Joe Pariano, who scored both of the goals.

“I had high expectations since I knew some of the players from club soccer and had a chance to work with them over the sum mer,” Coach Cappo said. “Seeing how much work a lot of the players put in during the off-season, I was confident that we could have some success, and while it took some time, I think we hit our stride as the league play started and led to a successful season.”

The varsity soccer team holds a record of 12-5-1 and is looking forward to playing in the state tournament in the next couple of weeks.

“I am excited to have the chance to compete against some of the best teams in the area, in a tournament format. Since we do not have a tournament for our league, it is a good experience for the boys, and it is simi lar to what they may see in the postseason in college,” Coach Cappo said.

The team has come far, winning the In ter-Academic championship with a 3-1 win against Germantown Academy on Tuesday, November 1.

“I am extremely proud of the guys and their performance in the Inter-Ac. Winning this league is no easy task, and for us to come out on top in the end, is a wonderful accom plishment,” Coach Cappo said.

Coach Cappo is confident about the fu ture of the program.

“I want to continue to build the culture of the team, both on and off the field, and have us be in contention for the Inter-Ac ademic and state title consistently,” Coach Cappo said.

Sixth Form captain Alexander Nekou mond stays humble even as he leads one of the best teams in the state.

“It’s a great feeling as a senior to be hav ing the success we are having,” Nekoumond said. “I don’t want to take charge and re

sponsibility for how our team has done these past couple of months because we’ve all been working hard to be in the position we are in today. I’m honored to be the captain of such a good group of guys. This team feels like a family, and I think the closer we are the bet ter we’re able to play with each other.”

Nekoumand acknowledges the team’s success but seeks to keep the momentum go ing forward.

“I think as a senior it’s been a super fun year. Being on the older side of the team I’m able to lead some of these younger guys in a positive way. I want them to be able to lead the same way when they are in the position I’m in,” Nekoumand said. “Winning the Inter-Ac was a goal we all had as a team and it was an amazing feeling. But now we are back to work for EA Day and also the state

tournament. I don’t want us to be satisfied with one of the goals we have achieved. We have so much more to work for and we’re ready for what’s next.”

The student section has helped the team persist against Inter-Academic foes.

“I’d say I’m happy with the number of kids coming lately. I understand it’s hard with the number of other sports going on at the same time, so we are very limited in the number of students who can come. But ev eryone who comes is always rowdy and sup portive which is what we need,” Nekoumand said.

The Fords look forward to the state tournament and are hopeful of winning and being champions.

“Playing for the team now, it been good how is it with the players just leaving it all on

the field and always being great with team mates, the captains are real leaders on the team and are always making sure that the underclassmen are in check, very support ive, fun to play with, playing with the team in mind,” Fourth Form soccer player Luke Pressler said. “Even though my time is limit ed, it’s nice to be on the team and experience success and be a contributor.”

Nekoumand tries to find success in this season and leave his name in the school’s soc cer history as league champions.

“It’s been four years since Ford’s Footy won the Inter-Ac. So I’m very happy to be part of this team and able to bring that back to Haverford,” Nekoumand said. “This has definitely been one of the more successful years we’ve had at Haverford for soccer, and we’re not done yet.”

Safiyy Harris ‘23 in a 1-0 win over Penn Charter, October 7, 2022

Quinn Sullivan ’25

Joe Pariano ’23 overpowers a Penn Charter player on October 25, 2022