September 2020 Index

the index The student voice since 1888

The Haverford School · Haverford, PA 19041 · September 2020 · Volume 88, No. 1 · thsindex.org

Students join local Black Lives Matter marches MATTHEW SCHWARTZ ’21

Black Lives Matter March through Ardmore on June 7, 2020 Bowen Deng ’22

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ith the outcry against social injustice growing louder and louder, recent graduates from Penn Charter took matters into their own hands to organize a Youth For Black Lives protest through Center City.

Among the students that marched on August 2, 2020 were three current Diversity Alliance leaders: Sixth Former Kethan Srinivasan, Sixth Former Ryan Ngo, Fifth Former Quinn Luong, and Fords alum Jackson Overton-Clark ’19.

For Ngo, this was the time to take a stand.

“I saw this as an opportunity to represent the school and stand up for what’s right,” Ngo said. “I was tired of watching my black peers be silenced by systemic inequality, systemic disadvantages, and racism.”

Describing the experience as “very powerful,” Ngo said, “Marching down the Ben Franklin Parkway with my Haverford brothers and other students from the Inter-Ac was unifying.”

Luong had a similar message.

“I knew I had to show up on behalf of Haverford students and stand up for what is right. I’m extremely glad I participated; the energy and unity through the messages of the march were incredible. The experience of standing in solidarity with so many other students was more than words can describe,” Luong said. con’t on p. 4

The decisions and planning behind reopening Jeffrey Yang ’22

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t the closure of campus due to COVID-19 in March of the last academic year, no one knew when the school doors would reopen to welcome boys back into the halls. However, one mission persisted through school administrators’ minds: to reopen as soon as possible, with safety concerns softened.

“We’ve wanted to reopen and we were hopeful that we could reopen in the spring.

It didn’t turn out to be the case. And so we’ve been working hard for many months now to prepare for the day when we could reopen and now that day is just a week away. So we’re very excited.” Ninth Head of School Dr. John Nagl said.

In school learning, p. 10

AGUSTIN ALIAGA ‘21

Singing groups, p. 16

MR. MARK HIGHTOWER

National conventions, p. 14

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“We’re very excited” HEAD OF SCHOOL DR. JOHN NAGL Dr. Nagl’s excitement, though, comes as bittersweet: his recently announced resignation means he will be stepping down from his position at the conclusion of this school year. Nevertheless, this fall, Dr. Nagl’s focus is on the school’s reopening and efforts to ensure that it remains open. con’t on p. 3

New teacher introductions, p. 7-9

MS. YI LEE

the index · editorial

Page 2

the index 2020–2021 Staff Agustin Aliaga ’21 Editor-in-Chief Matthew Schwartz ’21 Editor-in-Chief Tyler Zimmer ’21 Editor-in-Chief Mitav Nayak ’222 Managing Editor Ryan Rodack ’22 Managing Editor

editorial Opinions must depend on facts

T

he Index holds a responsibility to tell the truth and to represent student opinions.

The Index strives to strike a balance between education and reporting, between healthy debate and lively discussion. In a time as controversial as this one, where

even a discussion on sports can become a political debate, The Index will hold itself to an even higher standard—to fairly and accurately represent the community, while also informing it.

We hope that you read this year’s first issue with an open mind, ready to absorb what

Jeffery Yang ’22 Managing Editor Quinn Luong ’22 News Editor Joey Kauffman ’22 Features Editor Jingyuan Chen ’22 Academics Editor Connor Pinsk ’23 Neighborhood Editor Austin Zhuang ’22 Campus Opinions / Design Editor Michael Tallarida ’21 Off-Campus Opinions Editor Kethan Srinivasan ’21 Arts Editor Ms. Emily Harnett Faculty Advisor Mr. Thomas Stambaugh Faculty Advisor

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.

2020-21 Editorial Board (clockwise from upper left, Editors-in-Chief Agustin Aliaga ‘21, Matthew Schwartz ‘21, Tyler Zimmer ‘21 and Managing Editors Jeffrey Yang ‘22, Ryan Rodack ‘22, and Mitav Nayak ‘22)

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.

your mind.

The year in front of us is clearly an unknown, unique to the 2020-2021 school year. The future is filled with contingency plans, confusing rules, changing policy.

With all that, though, it’s important to focus on this year’s virtue, teamwork. I chose teamwork for many reasons: to spread unity amongst the school community, to change our individual mindsets to the collective.

But teamwork requires more than just an understanding of the team—it requires a keen understanding of oneself.

I started my summer like many of you: playing golf and thinking about how bad this new year would be.

Around a month ago, I started reading a transformational book. David Goggins’ Can’t Hurt Me combines elements of the author’s life with an instruction manual for one’s own growth.

Former Navy Seal David Goggins’ experience can shape your own. He begins in Buffalo, living with an abusive father, but he and his mother eventually flee to Indiana. Goggins attends middle and high school there, teaches himself how to read, and encounters plenty of obstacles on the way. He trains and enters the Air Force, only to fail out due to medical concerns.

Goggins lands himself an exterminator job and reaches 300 pounds before enlisting and graduating as a Navy Seal.

The book is an amazing read for the story itself, but the most intriguing elements are the challenges that Goggins poses to the reader. Seven challenges, to be exact, each one reflecting a method Goggins himself enlisted en route to being dubbed the

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 Twitter: @Haverford_Index Volume 88, No. 1 - September 11, 2020

September 2020

is reported but also to consume critically, knowing that interpretations of events may vary. Diversity of thought is healthy.

We hope not to serve as the last word on issues in our community but the first, establishing a platform for debate starting with fact and valid opinions. Bias and variety of opinions are inevitable in this time of controversy. But academic discussion depends on differences of opinion based on undeniable truths.

Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or simply do not care for politics, we urge you to engage with The Index. Whether you read student opinions about the presidential race, the vital work of the Diversity Alliance, or the school’s plans to balance in-person education with safety of the student body, know that Index writers commit to report what we know. When expressing opinions, we commit to making them both logically sound and recognizably opinionated rather than disguising bias behind a factual tone.

So take advantage of this historic time in the history of this country and of our school. Engage with controversy not for an argument but for a discussion. Open your mind to other perspectives and communicate yours respectfully and intelligently. As you progress through your time at Haverford and throughout your life, carry these values closely.

Always attempt to learn from others.

Letter from the student body president Cyril Leahy ’21

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entlemen, I hope your summer went well, that your families are safe, and that you were able to recharge

“world’s greatest athlete.”

All of Goggins’ philosophies follow one basic premise: the 40% rule. Most people go about all aspects of life operating at 40% of their ability.

Thinking about his ideas made me realize the genius behind them.

To say that most people are operating at below half of their potential may seem offensive; maybe it is. Maybe you feel like you work as hard as you can at everything you put your mind to, just like I did before I read this book.

But the reason most people cannot unlock their potential, Goggins argues, is a common flaw: a lack of self-honesty.

A house cannot be built on a broken foundation. Following the premise, a person’s successes cannot be built on a foundation filled with flaws.

People avoid the hard truths they know about themselves, choosing the easier reality their mind has created to distract themselves from what’s in front of them.

You can achieve your goals if you face your true reality.

As I understood Goggins’ theory, I began to realize that in this school, far too many people avoid their truths. They avoid discomfort and go about growth in a backward way.

At our school, it is common practice for an individual with a different opinion from the norm to say silent when facing peers because they fear the challenge of being confronted.

So, a challenge to each Upper School student this year: don’t cut yourself any slack and be better than 40%, whether it’s a

COURTESY OF CYRIL LEAHY ’21

political debate in your advisory, a workout with a partner, or practice with the band.

Don’t make yourself look stupid and don’t do those around you the disservice of witnessing your 40%. If you can’t lift as much as your friend, don’t be an idiot; work out hard with what you can, and push past your limits.

If you have a different belief in policy than your friend, stick out your chest and discuss your opinion in a respectful way. If you want to break out of your comfort zone and try a new activity, don’t let the feelings of convenience and ease cloud your judgment.

Be daring.

I don’t care if you are a Republican or Democrat, a Third or Sixth Former, a workout warrior or a bookworm. Look yourself in the mirror and realize you can do so much more, that you can achieve your goals if you face your true reality.

Come to school with a passion to learn, because Haverford isn’t something you earned; it’s something that was given to you by people who sacrificed for your attendance.

Don’t take your time for granted, and don’t graduate without leaving your mark. Best of luck.

I will be right along for the ride.

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the index · news

September 2020

news A closer look into the reopening strategy, cont.

Pt. 1: The Research and Plan In thinking about the reopening of campus, the question was never whether school would reopen but rather when.

“Certainly we knew that we were going to reopen school in person someday; the question was if we could do so before there was a general vaccine, and before the population was inoculated and we all had immunity,” Dr. Nagl said.

The school established a reponening task force, including members of the Athletic and Training Departments; the Health, Personnel, and Business Offices; the Grounds and Maintenance Crew; and Administrative staff. The task force met regularly to discuss breaking knowledge on the coronavirus, the experiences of other countries and schools, as well as recommendations on preventing and mitigating disease spread from Montgomery County Health, the CHOP Policy Lab, and The Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We gathered as much information as we possibly could to try to understand what leads to transmission and what we could do to mitigate those concerns and enable us to reopen in person,” Dr. Nagl continued.

“That group met regularly, reviewed all of the information that we gathered and wrote the reopening guide on the reopening website. We’re very proud of those products and we’ve received a lot of praise, including from the Montgomery County Office, on our reopening plan.”

The focus of the task force’s attention has been placed on mitigating the risk of contracting the disease and preventing its transmission if a member of the community was affected.

It’s about mitigating: you can’t eliminate risk, you can only mitigate risk. You do all be prudent things, so that hopefully it won’t happen,” said Chief Financial Officer and member of the reopening task force Mr. David Gold.

From the research that the group conducted, aerosol transmission has been addressed as the most likely form of disease spreading.

Dr. Nagl said, “We know that masks, if you’re around somebody else, are the right thing to do. We believe that if you are six feet apart from other people and wearing a mask that the risk of transmission is vanishingly

AGUSTIN ALIAGA ‘21

Students sit distanced and masked at Third Form Orientation on September 8, 2020 low. We know that there are things you can to the upper school, where each student var- to have Blackjack Chicken. It’s going to be in do to increase airflow and put more efficient ies in their courses. Instead, the spper school a wrap.” Dr. Nagl continued, “But not being filters tighter in your HVAC systems that schedule has been condensed to three long able to have lunch in person—it’s one of evreduce the chances of transmission. And so periods daily, and specific procedures, such erybody’s favorite parts of the day, the energy we’ve tried to implement all of those things as wiping down desks after each usage and in the lunchroom—is going to be sad.” into our reopening plans.” one-way travel, will mainly reduce the risk The dining staff have, to keep as much of Specifically, the school has upgraded of transimssion. In addition, class sizes have the dining experience as possible, created a filters in the Heating Ventilation and Air been reduced—a change made possible by system where boxed lunches will be packed Conditioning (HVAC) systems and plans to the school’s extended contract on Virtue Vil- in the morning and then sent to the 45 adchange the filters out once a month, as op- lage. visories in the upper school, 19 homerooms posed to twice a year previously.

Acknowledging the privilege Haverford in the middle school, and then seven pods in Mr. Gold continued, “Also within those has to reopen campus, Dr. Nagl said, “We’re the lower school. systems, we’re going to operate them with very, very fortunate to have those resources “So it’s almost like a door dash system,” a higher balance of fresh air because that’s [Virtue Village] to use. We simply didn’t Mr. Gold said. what they tell you to do to overcome those have enough space otherwise,” Dr. Nagl said.

While some of COVID’s impacts on the things.”

“So there are schools across the country that daily operations of the school have a concrete Other measures being taken address the are putting tents up, which is okay in Sep- solution, the replacements for other aspects, more tangible forms of transmission. Con- tember, but not so great in December. The such as special events with large gatherings, tact will be limited in hallways and staircases great thing about Virtue Village is that each are more ambiguous. For example, the posby signs directing travel in a single direction, room has its own individual HVAC system sibility of a physical version of the opening and hand sanitizer will be accessible all over so [the disease] doesn’t transmit around the day tradition under the Walk of Virtues for campus. Furthermore, excess furniture has whole building.” this year’s Sixth Form and Kindergarteners is been removed, desks have been spaced out, A challenge arose with using Virtue Vil- in question. Nevertheless, Dr. Nagl remains and lounging and community areas have lage for upper schoolers, though: the new hopeful such events will occur in person, been restricted. These physical changes are middle school was not completed until two even if it means postponing them until they in conjunction with changes in the schedule, weeks before reopening, meaning that the are deemed safe. differing for each division. timeframe for middle school teachers to “And so what I told the parents is we “In theory, you’re going to move as little move out of the space and for upper school will do those things as soon as it’s safe to as possible,” Mr. Gold said. teachers to move in was short. do them. If we get fortunate and Dr. Fouci What “as little as possible” means varies Describing the process as “falling domi- comes through with a vaccine by the end of by age. For example, Lower School students noes,” Dr. Nagl said, “We’re working hard the year and we’ll all be able to have it inwill stay in their classroom with the same right now. We’re not as far along as we usu- side us by March and we’ve developed shared students each day, and the teachers will move ally would be in terms of preparing to have immunity, maybe, the day we get back from around. The minimization of movement you guys back, partly that’s because we’ve got spring break, the Sixth Formers will walk the among students will hopefully only require a whole lot more square footage to take care Kindergarteners through the Walk of Virone controlled portion of the Lower School of than we used to.” tues. So we’re hoping to hold on to as many to quarantine if a breakout were to occur.

On a lighter note, other steps taken by the experiences as we possibly can. And we’ll do “There’s seven pods.” Mr. Gold continued, dining staff made it possible for those who them virtually if we have to and in person “The idea is that you can just close down that signed up for the meal plan, to continue to when we can safely,” Dr. Nagl said. class or you close down that grade, instead of enjoy having Blackjack Chicken, despite the the entire division.” inability to gather in the dining hall. cont. on page 18 However, such a rotation is inapplicable “The good news is that we are still going

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the index · news

Students debate safety of school reopening

September 2020

Austin Zhuang ’22

A

s summer comes to a close, students prepare to begin school in unconventional fashion. The opening ceremony is a thing of the past.

Lunch will be delivered to students. Masks are required. And most importantly, since the coronavirus remains a severe hazard, many across the nation and the region wonder if returning to an in-person learning environment is the best call.

Some students are wary of going back to school, as they find the potential risks serious causes for concern.

“If a small percentage don’t listen [to the rules], it will affect so many students and ruin the precautions put in place,” Fifth Former Ethan Saddler commented.

Others also feel that the dangers of inperson learning outweigh the benefits.

“As someone with immuno-compromisd family members, I do not feel safe going back into the school environment, mostly because I think it’s difficult to enforce proper distancing and health regulations in an environment as closed off as the high school,” Fifth Former Patrick Corcoran said.

Those worried that students will fail to comply with the school’s mandates and regulations might have good reason. Images and videos of large parties with no one wearing masks are serious causes for concern, and in a pandemic, nothing is certain.

But the school hopes its reopening plan creates an environment that severely limits potential viral spread.

Class size is severely limited to keep social distancing, and the school asks students to

JEFFREY YANG ’22

Chief Financial Officer David Gold discusses reopening on zoom call stay silent when they are without a mask, and individuals, classes, and even entire grades may be sent home to quarantine if necessary.

These changes have convinced many to trust the school and go back to a somewhat traditional learning environment, even if some uncertainty remains.

“I wouldn’t call school safe at the mo-

ment, but since the risk can be mitigated or at least reduced, I think a lot of people are willing to take that risk,” Fifth Former Elijah Lee remarked.

The school has laid down a cohesive plan that could keep the student body healthy.

The community now needs to follow regulations and mandates so that Haverford can

continue teaching in person.

Fourth Former Matthew Kang believes in the plan.

“Safety is not something that can be ensured,” Kang said, “but with the guidelines the school has put out, as long as students follow them, we should be safe.”

Students join local youth for Black Lives Matter marches, cont. from front page “There hasn’t been much student involvement when it comes to independent schools around the Main Line, so I definitely felt the need to step up and give voice to the situation in hand,” Srinivasan said. “The march was pleasant and peaceful. It was organized in a way that it would be an orderly opposition towards the standard sentiment of police brutality on the outside and lack of proper accountability regarding black equity on the inside, and the Penn Charter students did this admirably.”

While this march was an act of allyship, more importantly, it was also an opportunity for learning and reflection.

“As a leader, the march shifted my perspective on how I can tackle the challenge

of bridging the gap between people of color and the administration,” Ngo said. “There’s still much that needs to be done. Our school community needs to be reshaped. We have a lot of work to do, but I know this group of upper schoolers is strong and capable.”

Luong also emphasized that change needs to come within the Haverford community.

“Marching is great for allyship, but I believe we have to change the systems in place within our community, including administration, students, and culture,” Luong said.

Srinivasan has already taken action on his own.

“I’m part of a movement called With the Vote that encourages Gen-Z and college students to talk about social, political, and

Philly Youth for Black Lives march through Philadelphia on August 2, 2020

economic issues, and most importantly, getting registered to vote.”

Srinivasan further emphasized the importance of voting.

“We have a lot of work to do, but I know this group of upper schoolers is strong and capable.”

RYAN NGO ’21

“Ultimately, all these issues stem from people that are elected to power,” Srinivasan said. “It is imperative that people know how to vote if they can and that they find a way to get to the polls as safely as possible.”

The leaders also had some words of encouragement for those who are looking to make a difference.

“Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there,” Ngo said. “You can always find someone to talk to or someone you can glean from in any sort of circumstances,” Srinivasan added.

Luong said, “The Diversity Alliance is fighting for you. It is a space where you can share your thoughts and experience. I highly encourage you to reach out.”

QUINN LUONG ’22

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the index · news

Students commit to Black Lives Matter movement

September 2020

Quinn Luong ’22

“N

o Justice, No Peace.”

In response to the protests of the devastating shootings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Jacob Blake, and the hundreds of other Black victims of police brutality, students in the Haverford community are not only sorrowful, but frustrated.

“We demand that there needs to be fundamental change within our system that kills innocent Black people,” Sixth Former Ryan Ngo said.

Students say voices of the Black community have long gone unheard, peaceful protests were criticized, and even kneeling was denounced.

“Declaring that Black Lives Matter, feeling outraged after hearing Floyd’s gasps for breath, and wanting justice and equality are

not matters of political stance—these are issues of humanity,” Ngo said.

The news and right-wing media have conveyed a message of chaos and violence that does not align with the central message of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“I want all of the student body... to start to dive deeper into these uncomfortable conversations.”

KETHAN SRINIVASAN ’21 “Controversy has made the movement into a taboo subject,” Sixth Former Nachikethan Srinivasan said. “Black Lives Matter is

not driven by an ideology of superiority and a sudden awakening, rather it fights for the fundamental right of Black Americans in the U.S. that suffer from systemic prejudice under American jurisprudence.”

Protests reflect Americans’ frustration across the nation.

“For the students at Haverford who give a wanton disregard for diversity, stop being ignorant. Even if you haven’t experienced prejudice doesn’t mean you can’t empathize for those who are affected,” Fourth Former Roch Pararye said.

After students and alumni of color came out with their own stories of injustices and bigotry that they experienced at Haverford, the administration held a forum in August to allow the student body to congregate and speak about the Black Lives Matter movement, their emotions, and what they want to see change.

“I want all of the student body, regardless of your stance, to start to dive deeper into these uncomfortable conversations and start listening before you start talking,” Srinivasan said, “These are protests for you to listen to, not for you to argue.”

Many students expressed frustration, sympathy, and empathy through those conversations.

“It is imperative that this isn’t some issue that can be swept off. It is our duty to hold each other accountable,” one student said, “Education is crucial in highlighting the issues with using a derogatory slur. There is a serious weight being held within a slur as their meanings change in the context of who uses them.”

MATTHEW SCHWARTZ’21

Fists raised during a moment of silence at a local Ardmore BLM march

The administration and faculty likewise apologized for their complicity and lack of accountability.

Although Dr. Nagl shared goals for combating institutional racism within Haverford, the Diversity Alliance has been advocating for these goals ever since its creation over a decade ago.

Many community members feel that the school has not done enough, that racism runs rampant.

“As we are young and ambitious, history will serve as a reminder that we—you and I—are agents of change because we refuse to live through the same problems that older generations did,” Ngo said.

Members of our community advocated, educated, and mobilized others to become allies to the Black community by joining the Diversity Alliance and demanding change from our friends, our faculty, and our administration.

Especially during times of such polarizing and political division, students have also expressed the need to implement their demands and enact real change through the ballot box.

“Vote! Especially during times like now, it is definitely going to be extremely important for people to vote,” Pararye said, “There are only a handful of seniors turning eighteen, but we must be represented for youth turnout so please register to vote!”

As students are spreading awareness through social media, attending marches, or speaking to family members about these sensitive topics, they have all stressed we must take away one thing from this: Black Lives Matter.

Action Independent group monitors schools’ commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion

Kethan Srinivasan ’21

I

n light of recent events resulting in mass social unrest across much of the United States, students across the Main Line have taken to social media in a similar spirit.

Numerous accounts have sprung up and published anonymous stories, containing varying degrees of prejudicial behavior.

Within just a few months, the account “Black Main Line Speaks” had gained nearly 25,000 followers.

The posts go into brief, explicit detail, chronicling encounters with students, faculty, and college counselors.

The following statement was released by Head of School Dr. John Nagl, remarking on the “unsettling” experiences raised online.

“The dialogues in which the school has engaged, the programming we have created, the professional development we have completed—they are only a start,” Dr. Nagl said.

“Addressing our nation’s systemic inequality requires examining our own history: creating an America that provides justice and liberty for all requires listening to experiences of racism that have taken place on our campus and in our homes.”

One group seeks to hold that statement to account and more. Members of various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion unions across various Main Line’s independent schools congregated this August for an inaugural meeting in an effort to brainstorm plans that hold administrators accountable on their promises.

The group, called Action Independent, was founded by seniors Finn Seifert and Morgan Ellison-Jones, Co-Heads of the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council.

“Action Independent is a collective of students from PWIs [predominantly white institutions] looking to tackle the biases and

The Action Independent team joins for a zoom meeting prejudices in our schools,” Seifert explained.

“In our first meeting, we talked about a few things, including a class that one student was taking that wasn’t approaching the subject of poverty productively, how to ensure inclusion work is reaching all students.”

Haverford’s own Diversity Alliance is a constituent member of the newborn coalition.

Sixth Former Ryan Ngo, who serves as cochair, hopes to utilize the group meetings to highlight flawed community aspects within the classroom, especially pertaining to the upper school curriculum.

Ngo believes the curriculum must be

inspected and revamped in a manner that ensures students “are educated on minority culture and achievements, rather than solely the dark history of oppression, which victimizes/delegitimizes these groups.”

This extends to the post-admissions period for incoming students, as well.

“Additionally, we are seeking to establish year-round student mentorship groups for incoming students to support them in adjusting to the school curriculum and culture,” Ngo said.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director Mr. Brendon Jobs believes in the cause for Action Independent, saying that there is

KETHAN SRINIVASAN ’21

much potential for the group to guide the course of communal unity.

Mr. Jobs said, “As schools determine how to heal community divisions and broaden the curricular frames and teaching models students experience, creating spaces where students can share their lived experiences and inform the work feels vitally important.”

Seifert agreed with this prospectus on the coalition.

“We believe it is more important now than ever before to create a safe and connected community in light of the very apparent racial reckoning the U.S is going through,” Seifert said.

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features

the index · features

September 2020

Diversity Alliance strives to improve school culture

JOEY KAUFFMAN ’23

Diversity Alliance - Features editor Joey Kauffman ’23 (center top) interviews Diversity Alliance members (clockwise from top left) Quinn Luong ’22, Kethan Srinivasan ’21, Haroon Naz ’22, and Bowen Deng ’22 Joey Kauffman ’23

Haverford, like almost everything, is imperfect. Yet one student-led group believes the school can always strive to be better than it currently is.

This group—the Diversity Alliance—is not only prolific on social media, sharing its message through polished infographics that aim to educate and persuade, but it also has a strong presence at Haverford. The Diversity Alliance wants to transform the fabric of the school, proving that sometimes, true leadership can come from the bottom up.

“I am in awe of [the Diversity Alliance],” advisor Mr. Brendan Jobs said. “I remember when I came in in 2016, the Diversity Alliance was kind of like a club. There wasn’t a leadership focus and clear goals.”

Mr. Jobs continued, “Over the course of

dents. It was blatantly racist and disgusting,” Fifth Former and Diversity Alliance CoChair Quinn Luong said. “I witnessed two discriminatory incidents [freshman year], and I feel like [the students] didn’t receive the necessary repercussions that they should have faced. It could have been handled much better.”

To the Diversity Alliance, this mismanagement of racial incidents goes back to the code of conduct that governs our school— the Honor Code.

“The Honor Code doesn’t include anything on racism or discriminatory events, even though that’s what the majority of honor cases are about,” Luong said.

The problem is not only in the Honor Code itself, but it is also in the group that

first black students that have been in this institution.”

To make Haverford a more just place, the Diversity Alliance believes we should adjust the school’s curriculum to include more history on minorities—a subject that usually gets more attention in Sixth Form electives.

“The electives are only semester electives, and that’s in your senior year. I think it’s really valuable that we create a curriculum that all Haverford students don’t have to choose, but will learn [minority history] in class,” Luong said.

When asked whether he thinks the history curriculum at Haverford is “whitewashed,” meaning Eurocentric, Mr. Jobs looked at the bigger picture, saying, “The curriculum that exists at Haverford, in many ways, isn’t any

those four years, they’ve gone from just being one organization to becoming one of these leadership organizations and also at the same time managing different affinity spaces that they create.”

These affinity spaces, which were all initiated and run by students, include the Pan-Asian Student Association, the GayStraight Alliance, the Jewish Student Union, and more. Each of them has incrementally pushed the school towards becoming a more inclusive environment.

Diversity Alliance members felt there was something profoundly wrong about the way marginalized groups are treated at Haverford, and, after acknowledging the school’s shortcomings, they have worked to make the school a better place. As a result, the Diversity Alliance thinks it is important to call out injustice and not hold back on criticizing the school when necessary.

“I think Haverford has handled [racial incidents] poorly in the past. During my freshman year, I went into having peers, even in the classrooms, deal with these racist inci-

interprets the Honor Code the Honor Council—a predominantly white group of students. To offset the lack of diversity, the Honor Council has two diversity liaisons who sit-in on hearings. Still, the Diversity Alliance believes that this isn’t enough. “[The liaisons] just sit in on trials, which is not the best use of them. They can’t vote.

They just sit there and watch and talk,” Luong said. “The Honor Council is predominantly white. They don’t have the background or the experiences of people of color when they judge these racial incidents.”

To understand lopsided representation, the Diversity Alliance stresses that we have to understand the school’s flawed history regarding race. “[Haverford] started integrating black students and other people of color near the late sixties, when integration of schools started to become the eventual norm,” Sixth Former and Diversity Alliance Vice-Chair Kethan Srinivasan said. “As a result of that, even black students who are in this school aren’t exactly aware of the history of some of the

more ‘whitewashed’ than a curriculum that we see across the country.”

Mr. Jobs explained that “textbook[s] are created with attention to two states— California and Texas. They have really large school populations.”

“They’re playing it to a more conservative base in Texas, or to a more liberal base in California, but both of those bases are white,” he said.

“When we think about history, we position Europe as the center, even in literature classes,” Mr. Jobs said. “I think that especially students who are oppressed or are from marginalized communities will take issue with that.”

The goal, as Mr. Jobs explained, is not “making it so that now all the curriculum only talks about black and brown people. It takes creating more of a balance, and that’s what equity is.”

The goal, in Mr. Job’s words, is “making it so the content we are teaching across all divisions offers not just windows to people who are different than you, but also mirrors

to people who are like you.”

In addition to the history curriculum, the Diversity Alliance feels that not only the choice of books that we read in our English classes but also the way the book is taught is important. For example, American Born Chinese, a graphic novel in the English I curriculum, depicts offensive Asian stereotypes with the goal of satirizing racist caricatures. “[American Born Chinese] itself is comedic and [those who miss the satire] just laugh at the imagery in the graphic novel and it normalizes Asian racism to the next level,” Luong said.

Srinivasan added on, “That’s something that the English Department needs to take a look at and use as a lesson in probing their students into thinking, ‘Why is that funny?’ and give the context on that particular thing because that’s what the intent of the author is, but it gives a sort of opposite reaction to what was intended.”

This highlights a form of racism that is extremely prevalent in the Haverford community, yet sometimes overlooked: “jokes.”

“I think jokes can really be hurtful because it’s not about the joke, it’s about the thought that actually ran through the person’s head,” Fifth Former Diversity Alliance member Haroon Naz said. “If someone were to make a

I think jokes can really be hurtful because it’s not about the joke, it’s about the thought that actually ran through the person’s head.

HAROON NAZ ’22 joke about your appearance, you’re thinking like ‘oh they made it funny, but that’s actually what they thought when they saw me.

They cover it when they make it a joke.’” cont. on p. 7 The Diversity Alliance is working towards building empathy in the Haverford community. Bowen Deng, a Fifth Former and member of the Diversity Alliance, summed it up perfectly when asked what he would

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Page 7 tell a Haverford student who is resistant to the message of the Diversity Alliance.

“I would just say put yourselves in a person of color’s shoes. And just think what daily life must be like for them. sNot even inside school, but outside school with coronavirus,” Deng said. “I’d say just the borderline if not completely hateful rhetoric that is so prevalent in the media today.”

Some members of the Haverford community may find the Diversity Alliance’s outspoken criticism of the school offensive.

I would just say put yourselves in a person of color’s shoes. And just think what daily life must be like for them.

BOWEN DENG ’22

The group would argue that it is not trying to undermine Haverford with their “safe spaces” and “affinity groups”; they are simply trying to make Haverford a better place than it currently is.

The members of the Diversity Alliance are new leaders in a long line of civil rights activists who have called out injustice and worked to improve their community—whether it be their school or their country.

James Baldwin, an icon of the civil rights movement, captured the benevolence be-

hind activists’ criticisms when he wrote in Notes of a Native Son, “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

Mr. Foust’s love for teaching sparked from a mishap in high school. Similar to Haverford, Mr. Foust’s high school—University School in Hunting Valley, Ohio—required students to complete a “senior project” prior to graduation. When his project fell through at the last moment, Mr. Foust decided to tag onto his friend’s work as a tutor at a local elementary school.

He recalled saying, “Hey, can I just jump on the horse? I’m desperate,” and his friend replied, “Yeah, that’s fine.” Mr. Foust continued, “So that was my senior project, and I actually enjoyed it a little bit. It was really fun.”

Upon graduating high school, he continued to teach as he joined the REACH program facilitated by his high school—a summer enrichment program for gifted African Americans around the Cleveland Public School System. As a member of the college faculty, comprised of college students, Mr. Foust had the opportunity to listen in on classes taught by mentor teachers in the morning and to teach his own class in the afternoon. He enjoyed his experience so much that he continued with the program for many subsequent years.

“That was really where the teaching bug started,” Mr. Foust said. “I would say my whole trajectory came to this point because of that REACH program.”

Outside of teaching in the History Department, Mr. Foust will coach the Speech and Debate team with Mr. Javier Lluch. He will also coach the Third Form Soccer team.

Mr. Foust was drawn to Haverford by the faculty’s genuine care for the students that he observed when he visited and conversed with other teachers.

“I just definitely got a vibe that there is this desire to care about the guys in a way that’s more than just, ‘Oh, he’s just a kid.’

We’re trying to create young men who are going to actually do something in the world and do something of value.”

Mr. Foust also appreciated the school’s faculty diversity, not solely in terms of race but in terms of passions and ideologies as well.

Mr. Foust said, “We’re all so different, but at the same time we have the same goal.

That’s something that I really value: if we’re on a team we want to have the same goal. We don’t want to have to deal with folks that are trying to do their own thing—that’s more detrimental than good. So I’m really excited to be working with the faculty.”

Mr. Foust said, “I have a reputation for being very difficult, but at the same time, sophomore teachers are usually happy when they know that kids had me because they know certain things. So I take a lot of pride in that.”

He has a simple teaching motto for his students, “do work.” In school, which he describes as a video game, Mr. Foust believes that the work one puts in during the early levels accumulates to help one through the final stages.

Mr. Foust joins as a game boss

MR. LAJUAN FOUST

Jeffrey Yang ’22

“V

ideo game boss” is not a metaphor that usually comes to mind when thinking about teachers, but Mr. LaJuan Foust embraces the character in his classes. This year, the history department welcomes Mr. Foust, who will teach Ancient and Modern World History.

Mr. Foust joins the community after eight years of experience at several institutions, with roles as a current event and public speaking teacher at the Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts; an adjunct profes-

sor in the Communications Department at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts; and an Ancient World History teacher at Delbarton High School in Morristown, New Jersey. His five years of teaching Ancient World History has made adjusting to Haverford less difficult.

Mr. Foust is excited to expand his knowledge in preparation for Modern World History.

“There are definitely some areas that I like to nerd out about that I haven’t had a chance to; so that will be fun,” he said.

September 2020

Contact Mr. Jobs to join Diversity Alliance

... you need the XP for when you go to the next boss because ... you’re going to need every single bit of that—and then some.”

MR. LAJUAN LAFOUST “It’s one of those games where you figure certain things out to beat that early level boss,” Mr. Foust said, “but you’re going to need those same ideas and things and tools that you picked up, and you need the XP for when you go to the next boss because, when you get to the next boss, you’re going to need every single bit of that—and then some.”

Mr. Brown returns to his roots Quinn Luong ’22

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rom being a “superlifer” of Haverford’s Class of 2015 to having an affinity for the art of storytelling, Mr. Louie Brown returns to his alma mater with a passionate backstory that he hopes will give the students in his history and English classes the best experience possible.

Mr. Brown has worked with students for most of his career, whether that be in the classroom or at summer camp.

After attending Haverford since pre-kindergarten, Mr. Brown returns to campus excited to emit the same amount of enthusiasm he received from his own teachers.

“By the time I reached the upper school, I made some strong relationships with my closest teachers at Haverford,” Mr. Brown said. “I had great role models who invigorated the zeal that I want to likewise translate to my students now.”

Mr. Brown worked as a teaching assistant at various schools. These schools ranged from schools in Boston to even Mr. Stambaugh’s English IV class. Not far into his time as a teaching assistant, he felt a connection to Haverford and knew his fate was teaching here.

“The most exciting thing for me is to

be back in a community of young students apart of a wide variety of different skill sets,” Mr. Brown said. “When I was a student at Haverford, you can tell the community is exceptionally good at recognizing each individual student’s talents.”

The most exciting thing for me is to be back in a community of young students apart of a wide variety of different skill sets ...

MR. LOUIE BROWN Mr. Brown cannot wait to begin working with students, not only in their schoolwork, but also in helping them decide their careers and futures.

“As we grow up, we transition and live different lives in what seems like parallel universes,” Mr. Brown said. “It is rewarding to

RHIANNON WALKER

Mr. Louie Brown holding kale plants he grew in New Zealand educate the you th, as they are the ones shaping the world as we know it.”

While he faces the challenge of teaching both history and English classes, he is passionate about the interconnectedness of both subjects.

“There is so much emotion and individuality in literature, whereas history complements the facts, data, and timelines to give a greater understanding of how life began,” Mr. Brown said.

While he may be six feet apart from his students, he acknowledges that in these times, we have to be empathetic towards one another.

“Especially during tough challenges right now,” Mr. Brown said, “we need to prove ourselves and to our community that we care about each other’s presence and thoughts.”

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September 2020

Dr. Del Rosario hopes to enlarge perspectives Mitav Nayak ’22

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fter spending the last seven years completing his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, Hawaiinative Dr. Micah Del Rosario will join the

upper school as an English teacher this fall.

He is excited to teach both Fourth and Fifth Formers this year and, if circumstances permit, coach JV tennis in the spring.

Dr. Del Rosario recently discovered his enjoyment teaching while working toward his doctorate.

I think we’re in a world where we need to have great men and be thinking about what it means to be men and masculinity.

DR. MICAH DEL ROSARIO

COURTESY OF DR. MICAH DEL ROSARIO

“Part of the program is teaching undergraduates at the college as a graduate student,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “I enjoyed that part of being a graduate student more than I enjoyed the academic research part, so I wanted to pursue a teaching job.”

A lifer at a private, independent, K-12 school in Hawaii, Dr. Del Rosario hails from an environment similar to Haverford’s.

“I know that a private independent school is fortunate to be able to have a tight-knit community and a set of common values, and that’s a great environment to be both a student and teacher,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “I’ve already heard from so many faculty that the students here are great, and for anyone who is a teacher that is the most important thing.

It makes our lives easier and it makes our job more fun and exciting.”

While Dr. Del Rosario is familiar with independent schools, he faces a new challenge at Haverford: teaching in an all-boys environment.

“I think we’re in a world where we need to have great men and be thinking about what it means to be men and masculinity. Teaching at an all-boys school is a great place to be able to broaden people’s horizons and be a good role model,” Dr. Del Rosario said.

Although he recently discovered his enjoyment of teaching, Dr. Del Rosario has always had a passion for English.

“Reading literature, discussing literature, and writing are great ways to teach people very important life skills,” Dr. Del Rosario said. “Partly, something like how to write, but I also mean things like the ability to think about culture and society and all parts of your life that are not necessarily objective.”

He added, “We’re dealing with stories about people and history and relationships and there are gray areas to it. It’s complicated and messy and you have to be able to think and deal with problems that don’t necessarily have an objective, correct answer, and that’s going to happen in life all the time.”

Through his class, Dr. Del Rosario hopes to support students as they consider these complex ideas.

“Every time we’re sitting down to discuss a book and listening to someone else’s interpretation of something,” Dr. Del Rosario said, “we’re thinking: ‘how does that inform or change my perspective?’ It teaches us really great skills that you need to be a human being in the world.”

Calling all aspiring writers Look out for an email to join the next meeting

Mr. Keith Belson excited to share his calling to English teaching Austin Zhuang ’22

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hiladelphia local Mr. Keith Belson joins the English department with high hopes.

Born in Long Island, New York, Mr. Belson moved to the Philadelphia suburbs at a young age. Attending Strath Haven High School in Swarthmore, he received his undergraduate degree from Saint Joseph’s University before beginning his seven-year tenure at Marple Newtown High School.

Mr. Belson has never doubted becoming a teacher.

“I knew I wanted to be a teacher from a young age. I think for me it was, what job,

This will be my eighth year teaching, and I still get excited every morning. I’m up at five o’clock every day rip-roaring to go.

MR. KEITH BELSON

what profession suits my skill set, as well as does the most good for the world? And I felt that going into teaching young people and building relationships with young people

and helping guide them and sharing some passions of mine really was a noble cause.”

He begins his first year at Haverford teaching English I. “What I’ve been hearing from most [teachers] is that classrooms at Haverford are a bit more engaged, and I think that’s something the all-boys model promotes,” Mr. Belson said. “It sends this idea that we’re here for one thing: to learn.”

He also believes that smaller class sizes will benefit his method of teaching.

“One thing that I really pride myself on is getting to know each of my students on a personal level, to really help guide and focus their education on what they need.” Mr. Belson said. “It’s something that really excites: tailoring each day, each lesson to each of my students.

While his main focus is on the students he will be teaching, he also thinks that the community will better himself as well.

“Another thing that I am really excited about is my colleagues, the other teachers that I’m starting to get to know through new teacher orientation and the opening faculty meetings,” Mr. Belson remarked. “Getting to work with such prestigious teachers, people who have been doing it for a long time, provides me an opportunity to grow as an educator.”

Outside of teaching, Mr. Belson continues to pursue his literary interests.

COURTESY OF MR. KEITH BELSON

Mr. Keith Belson (right) with friends at the 32-mile Spartan Ultra in Breckenridge Colorado, August 2018 “I love to write, and it’s something I still do when I have spare time, working on projects like short stories, novels, things like that.”

His passion for education and teaching has become an irreplaceable part of his life. “[Teaching] does not feel like work,” Mr. Belson said. “This will be my eighth year

teaching, and I still get excited every morning. I’m up at five o’clock every day rip-roaring to go and speak with young people and get them thinking about things in different ways. It’s the reason I’m teaching today.”

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September 2020

Ms. Yi Lee, innovating Chinese instruction Agustin Aliaga ’21

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his year, Chinese classes will look a little bit different: Ms. Yi Lee, or 李老师, as she will be known in the classroom, will join us all the way from Hawaii, where she was chair of the World Languages Department at Henry J. Kaiser High School in Honolulu, an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School.

Ms. Lee will continue to instruct Chinese levels I through IV. She also received her degree in Secondary Education in Hawaii from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Coming from an IB school, Ms. Lee says she has high expectations for her students.

But Chinese students should not worry if they put in the hours. “When it comes to ‘grades’—it’s more about one’s effort since I offer extra credits and opportunities to correct one’s work,” Ms. Lee said. “I was a very grade-conscious student back in the day, so I can relate.”

As far as teaching style, Ms. Lee says she has always taught with an alternative use of Powerpoint: “I always teach with PPT, but definitely not in the traditional way,” Ms.

Lee said. “It’s very interactive and fun.”

Ms. Lee has had other teaching experiences at the University of Colorado’s STARTALK program, where she taught “Chinese Language Instruction in the Digital Age.” In addition to her teaching career, Ms. Lee is also an entrepreneur.

“I started a Facebook Page called ‘Yi Lee’s Mandarin Teaching Center’ back in 2012,” said Ms. Lee. “I used that platform to share my teaching strategies and my PPT curriculum. I have over two thousand teacher followers, and hundreds of teachers all around the globe are using the materials I created to teach Chinese.”

Outside of the classroom, Ms. Lee loves watching movies, playing video games on both PS4 and Nintendo Switch, and reading manga every day. Ms. Lee hopes to take these hobbies to one of Haverford’s video games clubs.

Additionally, Ms. Lee enjoys singing and may look to help out with vocal programs.

Either way, Ms. Lee is ready to get started.

COURTESY OF MS. YI LEE

Ms. Stephanie Kantor eager to complement extraordinary art facilities Ryan Rodack ’22

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COURTESY OF MS. STEPHANIE KANTOR

ne of the many new faces joining the upper school faculty this year is art teacher Ms. Stephanie Kantor.

Ms. Kantor completed her undergraduate at Pennsylvania State University, where she received a degree in art education and ceramics. Four years later, she went on to add a Masters in Fine Arts to her resume from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Throughout her early arts career, Ms. Kantor developed her craft by participating in artist residencies.

“That is basically when you go to a program and they give you studio space in exchange for work or community programming,” Ms. Kantor said. “So I was involved in a lot of artist communities, and I would often teach classes there.”

Ms. Kantor’s passion for art and ceramics led her to explore part-time teaching jobs after she earned her masters.

“I started teaching college, so I would teach ceramics, foundations, painting, drawing, so I’ve been jumping around to different colleges doing that,” Ms. Kantor said.

Although she enjoyed her time teaching various forms of art at different colleges, Ms.

Kantor was ready for a change.

Ms. Kantor said, “I wanted to work at Haverford to have more of a full-time teaching job… I wanted something more consistent that I could make an impact on.”

While Ms. Kantor had many options when applying to become a full-time teacher, there were several reasons she chose Haverford as opposed to other local schools.

“What we have here is quite on par with a lot of college facilities,” Ms. Kantor said.

“The laser cutter, the CNC, the woodshop, the ceramics studio, and everything we have available is really exciting for me and made this a place I wanted to be a part of.”

Besides her role in the art studio, Ms. Kantor also has other interests that she hopes to share with the community.

“I am going to be an assistant coach for varsity tennis, so I’m excited to join the team for that,” Ms. Kantor said. “I’m a beginner surfer, so that is something I’m interested in… I’m into gardening, being outside, riding my bike, doing stuff like that, but I would say that art is my main interest.”

Ms. Kantor said, “I’m really excited to be a part of Haverford and hope people make amazing art work!”

Mr. Anwar Akkari excited to join math department Matthew Schwartz ’21

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resh off of his graduation from Yale University with a major in mechanical engineering, new math teacher Mr. Anwar Akkari is eager to step into his new role and hopefully learn as much from the students as they will learn from him.

Growing up in Tunisia, Mr. Akkari tested into and attended a prestigious boarding high school where he first gained experience in teaching. He tutored his fellow students in a variety of subjects including math, physics, chemistry, and language. Once at Yale, his urge to help more students learn stuck with him, as he worked as a teaching assistant for those learning Arabic. Additionally, he served as a peer tutor in math, meaning he helped fellow students in his classes learn and prepare for class. At Haverford, Mr. Akkari will teach pre-calculus and geometry.

“One of the biggest things I’m excited about is the experience of becoming a professional and teaching my own class. Based on my early meetings and orientation, I feel like the environment is very supportive and welcoming. It’s a great group of people where everybody is trying to help, everybody is reaching out and that’s something I love.

Even though I’m still a new teacher, I’ve fallen in love with the environment and the culture, and I feel like it’s going to be a great year,” Mr. Akkari said.

He is not afraid to learn and adjust to his student’s needs.

“I’m working around teachers who are more experienced in preparing material for their classrooms, so I’m learning from them and creating modules for my students,” Mr. Akkari said. “We’ll see how it works out and then based on student feedback I will be able

to work on the rest.”

Yale physics professor Dr. Adriane Steinacker serves as an inspiration for how Mr. Akkari wants to conduct himself.

“She would stay late in office hours,” Mr. Akkari said. “Time and time again she would talk to every student, connecting with her students and helping them finish their homework or prepare for a midterm.”

Teaching at an all-boys school is something that does not worry Mr. Akkari, as he says he has an understanding of what goes on, relying on his experience at the boarding school, where all the dorms were separated by boys and girls.

Having just moved to Philadelphia this summer, Mr. Akkari is still getting acquainted with his surroundings but is eager and excited to help students learn during a unique and unprecedented year.

COURTESY OF MR. ANWAR AKKARI

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September 2020

academics Extracurriculars prepare for extraordinary year “I’m a big football guy,” Fourth Former Harvey Pennington said. “I started fantasy football five years ago because I know a lot of people who like football also like fantasy.

They had fantasy football at Haverford a few years ago but then they kind of stopped. So I said ‘You know what, I’m gonna start this club.’”

Pennington started the Fantasy Football

THE INDEX

The Index staff meets virtually on August 30, 2020 Jingyuan Chen ’23

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This September, the school year begins with some unprecedented adjustments. The pandemic remains an obstacle in the school’s reopening process. With health and safety in consideration, the school has determined an appropriate academic calendar for the year. Still, curiosity continues to grow over the fate of extracurricular programs.

“We are still trying to figure out how some of the programs are going to look, so we’re in the works of trying to figure that out,” Dean of Students Mr. Luqman Kolade said.

In the meantime, major club organizations have already started their planning for the year.

“We are still trying to see what would be best for the majority of members that we have in the Haligoluk, and when it will fit their schedules,” yearbook advisor Ms. Kristin Brown said. “We will still be meeting. There still will be a yearbook. We will be missing our breakfast sandwiches, which I think are everyone’s favorite thing about yearbook meetings.”

Unfortunately, clubs will have to make some accommodations to suit the new vir-

tual environment. Speech and Debate coadvisor Mr. Javier Lluch said, “The most fun parts of debating are going to the national tournament and going to the hotels. The Thursday night practices were also really fun.

But all of that is going to look and feel very different.”

The yearbook will be making adjustments to improve its attractiveness.

Mr. Lluch suggested that this can be very difficult for recruitment. “What I want to put in the captain’s mind is recruitment,” Mr. Lluch said. “I think that’s going to be a really tough one this year.”

Ms. Brown agrees. “I don’t think we had any freshmen on the yearbook last year.

Hopefully, we will be able to capture some freshmen this year and interest them in getting a really nice look at a very historic year.

This has never happened before in Haverford

history and we’re going to be documenting this in a book that will be around in the archives,” Ms. Brown said.

In order to attract new members and maintain community activities, the yearbook will be making adjustments to improve its attractiveness.

“Our new thing is going to be that every student who purchases a yearbook, along with all the seniors, get two free pages to customize themselves so they can put photographs of their year in the yearbook,” Ms. Brown said.

The speech and debate team has some new plans as well.

“A couple of the coaches have a really good idea of setting up scrimmages between the schools. So we would all have a place where we would post our availability and what teams we had,” Mr. Lluch explained.

“If those local tournaments don’t happen due to the pandemic, I think we’re gonna take matters into our own hands and try to make it happen.”

Aside from clubs that the school is familiar with, students also started new clubs to build connections and combat exhaustion and boredom.

“This has never happened before in Haverford history and we’re going to be documenting this in a book that will be around in the archives” MS. KRISTIN BROWN League at the end of this summer and has begun recruiting.

“We got twelve people so far, which is perfect for a league. We got a few ninth graders. And we got all age ranges from new guys to seniors, which was cool,” Pennington said.

“Everyone is kind of into it.”

While many decisions and changes are happening in progress, the school certainly encourages community-building under the primary condition of ensuring a safe school campus.

“The biggest part is getting everyone together in a space, whether that be virtual or physical. We can’t do the physical spacing, so we got to figure out how we can do a virtual one,” Mr. Kolade said. “The school wants to try and provide as many opportunities for you guys to engage with each other as possible. We want to do that. It’s just a matter of how we can do that. We’re figuring that out.”

Opinions vary on school in session Connor Pinsk ’23

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ith a pandemic attacking the globe, Haverford is adjusting its curricula and reorganizing the way things are done. No coats and ties to reduce the spread; temperature-checks every morning; answering questions about our health on a daily basis. All students who have decided to return this fall will have to comply.

All of this poses the question: what will happen to the students who decide to stay home? There really is no answer yet, because we are not nearly far enough in the year to see if there is a drastic difference in the learning environment. The concern is that students who stay home will fall behind because the education style is so different.

Not only is virtual learning different from in-person learning, but it is also different from the online learning that Haverford went through in the spring.

As we dive headfirst into the first quarter, about 35 upper school students will stay home. These students will attend online classes, which will consist of a live stream of the in-person lessons. The teachers will have to take both online and in-person students into account and make sure everyone is

learning at the same speed.

“I am fortunate enough that my parents can drive me and that I don’t have to use public transportation so that I can get to school easily,” Fourth Former Joey Kauffman said.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, there is still public transport, but it is limited as a part of Pennsylvania’s response to COVID-19. Even though transit is still up and running, buses and trains are enclosed spaces that house many people, so even with masks, some people may not feel comfortable or safe using these modes of transportation to get to school.

Kauffman went on to say that the decision to go back to school was “pretty much up to my parents.”

Even though this was a decision that Kauffman agreed with, some students might not agree with their parents, which may lead to a bad learning experience.

Kauffman said, “A lot of the things that made online school harder were the technical difficulties.”

In some class periods, time was wasted due to poor connection or audio malfunctions. These problems may be just as preva-

lent this fall.

“I think that it will be easier for people to fall behind if they are doing virtual school, but it is possible for everyone doing virtual

A socially distanced classroom

school to stay up to the level of in-school students,” said Kauffman. con’t on p. 11

MR. THOMAS STAMBAUGH

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September 2020

Modified schedule to affect classroom atmosphere Ryan Rodack ’22

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hroughout the summer, Interim Upper School Head Mr. Mark Fifer and his colleagues were presented with several potential schedules for the 2020-2021 school year, all of which followed CDC health guidelines. Eventually, they decided to go with the quarter-block schedule—three blocks per quarter and four quarters throughout the school year. Students will partake in the same three courses for just over two months, before moving on to three different courses. Classes run from 8:45-10:15, 10:30-12:00, and 1:15-2:45, with shorter classes on Wednesdays.

“You have this really intense experience for two months where you see three classes every day,” Mr. Fifer said.

“We wanted to maintain the essence of our core programming,” Mr. Fifer said. “Some of the models that we were looking at would not allow us to do that, meaning that we would have to get rid of certain classes, or maybe even certain levels of classes in order to meet the health and safety needs of our community.”

“Nobody wants to sit in a chair for ninety minutes listening to a teacher talk. One thing [the faculty] will focus on is how to take that ninety minutes and break it up into more manageable chunks.”

MR. CHRIS DIBELLO

“We feel like [the quarter block schedule] opens up some new opportunities for teaching and learning. Having longer class periods leads to the possibility of a deeper dive into content and skill-building,” Mr. Fifer said.

“Having the greater frequency of the meeting also leads to some new opportunities in regard to the content.”

Although the plan is for classes to be held in person for the foreseeable future, the schedule is also beneficial to virtual learning

The new schedule features three rotating long blocks during an intensive eight-week quarter

if need be at some point.

Mr. Fifer said, “Having three classes at a time in a virtual world is much easier to navigate than having five or six classes and having to go in between those different subjects.”

One of the schedule’s challenges will be maintaining student engagement and a positive classroom atmosphere as a result of the social distancing guidelines, the repetitive class meetings, and long classes.

“We talked to the teachers about how we need to have different modes of learning; a mix of teacher-centered modes, meaning direct instruction, and student-centered modes, which would be collaborative tasks and individual work,” Mr. Fifer said. “Over the summer, teachers engaged with professional development and student-centered instruction; iDesign to really think about how we can maximize student engagement and learning, and what tactics we need to employ in order to accomplish that.”

Chemistry teacher Mr. Chris DiBello plans to address the challenges students will face in terms of staying focused and engaged.

Mr. DiBello said, “Nobody wants to sit

in a chair for ninety minutes listening to a teacher talk. One thing [the faculty] will focus on is how to take that ninety minutes and break it up into more manageable chunks.”

“We are not expecting anyone to sit there for ninety minutes,” said algebra and economics teacher Dr. Mark Gottlieb. “We are going to blend in activities throughout each class and use a much more hands-on, investigative textbook. So, much more of the work will be done by students as opposed to lectures.”

Although the classes may be long and become repetitive, the schedule may take the stress off of students in some ways.

Mr. DiBello said, “The benefit, which is probably being over-looked a little bit, is that [the students] only have three classes. So instead of, ‘Mr. DiBello, I had math, English, history, Spanish homework, and so much other stuff to do, now it’s just [for example] chemistry, history, and English.’”

Another benefit of the long class periods, especially for a class like chemistry, is that classes will still be able to conduct hands-on labs while maintaining social distance and

COURTESY OF MR. MARK FIFER

following health guidelines.

“Obviously, we cannot have one group of kids use the same instruments as another group,” Mr. DiBello said. “We will either have to set up multiple different stations, or we can take a more simple approach and bring two kids into the lab who will be socially distanced while the other students work from our module based system in the classroom. Then, the teacher will clean all instruments and glassware in between, before the next two students come into the lab.”

Teachers will have to adjust their teaching styles and methods throughout each quarter as they learn more about how the modified schedule affects students. And teachers are ready to get things going.

Mr. DiBello said, “It’s exciting because there is going to be so much continuity!”

Opinions vary on chool in session, cont. from p. 10 On the other hand, Fourth Former Love McCune is not going back to school this fall saying, “I have asthma and I don’t really have the greatest past with it. When I get sick it really affects me and my daily life a lot.”

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, one in thirteen people in the US have asthma, upwards of 25 million Americans. It is well known that asthma is associated with shortness of breath, something COVID-19 complicates. These conditions absolutely make COVID-19 worse for people with asthma.

“I think that people who are doing online [school] aren’t doing it to slack off, but to actually learn.”

LOVE MCCUNE ’23 McCune’s decision is understandable and practical. “I think that learning in school is easier because I like to communicate with my teachers and I think that I do better in

A screen shot of an English IV- Page & Stage Canvas Conference on April 1, 2020 real life, being able to talk and handle the work that I have to deal with,” McCune said.

It is incredible that students are able to continue school even though they are not physically there, but communicating with people through Google Meet makes things

much more difficult than in-person learning.

McCune, like Kauffman, voiced his concerns with the local transit.

“I do think that the cases will rise and we might get sent back home, only because of the commute some people have to make to

MR. THOMAS STAMBAUGH

get to school. Some people take the train to school so they are around people and those people are around other people,” Mccune said. “I think that people who are doing online [school] aren’t doing it to slack off, but to actually learn.”

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the index · neighborhood

September 2020

neighborhood Some students hesitant to attend re-opened theaters Connor Pinsk ‘23

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veryone loves movies. Just last year the biggest film of all time, Avengers: Endgame, broke the box office record high, bringing in almost 2.8 billion dollars. Box offices, until very recently, were bringing in record lows of 0 dollars. This is obviously due to the fact that until very recently, no theaters were operational.

To remedy this, certain networks set to release films when the theaters were closed decided to change their strategies and released their movies virtually. A great example of this is Trolls World Tour. This film was the second iteration of the first movie entitled Trolls and people were astonished that the virtual release turned out to be a good decision.

The only way that this was possible was the excessive advertising. Trailers, posters, and other propaganda for this film were everywhere. Because of all this, the movie brought in a whopping 100 million dollars.

All this leads to the big question. Do studios really need movie theaters?

The movies keep theaters in business, and if networks are withholding their films so that they can make all the earnings, the theaters will shut down. Despite this, many people don’t go to theaters just to see a movie. They go to buy overpriced water and popcorn. They go as an excuse to see their friends, but will people be going back in today’s current climate? COVID-19 is still prevalent and may deter people from theaters.

Screening of Tenet on September 4th, 2020 at Regal Dickson City & IMAX

“During COVID I won’t go, I don’t want to wear a mask while I watch a movie.”

LUCIO ACCHIONE ’23

Fourth Former Lucio Acchione does not intend to see a movie while COVID-19 is around, but it is not because he is worried about being infected. “During COVID I won’t go, I don’t want to wear a mask while I watch a movie.” Accione’s main concern is about his experience at the theater, and his concern is totally valid. Many people will not want to have to wear a mask while they sit without moving for two hours. Who would? Masks are not particularly comfortable. We wear them to be safe and limit the

spread of the virus, but why go to a movie and wear a mask when you can just stay home and breathe freely as much as you desire. “Under normal circumstances, I like going to the movies. They have comfy seats and big screens.”

Accione brings up the other side of the argument. Theaters offer an escape from home and let you get berated with extreme noise while you look at a huge screen. In other words, most people can’t get the same experience at home.

Fourth Former Aidan Briddell, in a normal situation, one without a pandemic, would go to the theater, saying, “I like seeing movies in 3D.” Unfortunately for the theaters around Aidan, he went on to say, “No I would not go back now, because I do not trust the staff to clean properly.” Briddell is more worried about the spread of the virus, and people not

properly cleaning. We have no way of knowing if theaters like IMAX are wiping down every seat exactly the same meticulous and thorough way. It is possible that employees are just giving the seats a quick once over and moving on.

“Yes, once there is a safe widespread vaccination I will go back to theaters” AIDAN BRIDDELL ’23

Briddell also stated that he has a home theater; he is one of the lucky ones. Home theaters around Haverford and the Main Line are not particularly uncommon, but only a

MATTHEW SCHWARTZ ’21

collection of students at Haverford have one and those who do are obviously privileged.

They maintain the comfy seats and the large screens that are so well known at theaters.

Bridell said, “Yes, once there is a safe widespread vaccination I will go back to theaters,” a statement that many would agree with.

In today’s day and age movie theaters are scary, and even before the pandemic, they were a germaphobe’s worst nightmare.

It is possible that many students are avoiding movie theaters during the pandemic, if you are one of the people that decide to go, make sure that you wear a mask and take hand sanitizer.

the index · campus opinions

Page 13

September 2020

campus opinions Students must and will follow precautions Tyler Zimmer ’21

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e haven’t seen most of our brothers since March. We’ve missed our crisp handshakes, victory hugs, and warm embraces. Although vaccines have reached phase three, there seems to be no tangible end in sight.

Everywhere we go, people complain about the uncontrollable situation at hand. Why can’t we eat inside? Aren’t they exaggerating the severity? Who needs these strict rules? At Haverford, it’s different.

Our student body is much more willing to take the adaptations in stride, excited for the first taste of in-person learning since early spring. Rather than complaining about the extensive list of sacrifices, losing sports, dining-hall lunch, and the seven-period schedule, we remain thankful for the school’s opening strategy and don’t want to risk losing it.

We respect the severity of the virus and see mask-wearing as a rule for everybody, not

just the student body.

“I feel like most people will realize this isn’t just some dress code thing but something needed to prevent COVID-19 spreading,” Fifth Former Bowen Deng said.

Students have a mutual understanding of

“Students who fail to meet this requirement will be sent home.”

MR. MARK FIFER

the stakes, respecting Interim Upper School Head Mr. Fifer’s email that laid out maskwearing guidelines: “Students who fail to meet this requirement will be sent home,”

Mr. Fifer wrote, and we hear him loud and clear.

Sixth Former Ryan Ngo strongly agrees that everybody will take this new rule seriously.

“If the students are inside the buildings, I think they will follow the rules,” Ngo said.

“Similar to any dress code policy, the faculty will enforce it pretty hard. Even more than normal rules like tucked-in shirts, students know better about this one.”

Adding another layer of assurance that students will follow the rules, the faculty will play a crucial role in enforcing compliance.

“Normally, I get frustrated when a teacher tells me I’m out of dress,” Sixth Former Joey White said. “With COVID-19’s seriousness, as long as the teachers enforce it, I’m going to do exactly as they say.”

The teachers should have no problem with students being stubborn about this rule, and Sixth Former George Laveran explained why.

Diversity Alliance formulates clear demands COURTESY OF QUINN LUONG ’’22

Quinn Luong ’22

I

t has been a tumultuous couple of months for the Diversity Alliance, as we have been working with the administration and fellow student organizations to enact change within our school curricula, honor system, faculty, and community.

Here are our ten demands: 1. Plan more forums to talk about experiences, ideas, and goals We need all members of the community to dive into the discomfort and reflect on interpersonal racism through hearing stories and community perspectives. Through forums and reflections, we can bridge the gap between the racial divide of hatred, bigotry, and racism.

We can bridge the gap between the racial divide of hatred, bigotry, and racism.

2. Require faculty to attend SEED sessions or diversity training Faculty need to take part in diversity training to guarantee that they will commit to making their classrooms a safe and equitable space. One that will help in elevating student voice, closing the opportunity gap, and providing equal access to opportunities.

3. Reshape history and English curricula Our history and English courses need to stop catering to white students and a whitewashed curriculum. We are only taught about marginalized history when it is about the oppression we face. Our courses need to educate us on Africans before slavery, Middle Easterners before war, Asians in America, LGBTQ+ experiences, not on the perpetuating “single stories” that have been ingrained in our brains for generations.

4. Establish new guidelines in the Honor Code Our administration needs to implement and enforce a zero-tolerance policy for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, and any form of discrimination in the Honor Code. We demand that there is strict disciplinary action against students and faculty who partake in discriminatory behavior as well as support to victims of discriminatory incidents.

5. Grant full power to the Diversity Liaison The responsibilities and presence of a Diversity Liaison are more than necessary now.

Few BIPOC are represented on the Honor Council, which is detrimental and fails to seek justice for victims of discriminatory incidents. Diversity Liaisons and Diversity Alliance leaders should absolutely witness hearings and hold the same jurisdiction of power as other Honor Council members.

6. Collect data on discriminatory incidents on campus The Haverford School needs to provide

“We will definitely follow precautions because people are simply scared to get the virus,” Laveran said.

Collectively, we appreciate all the work put into creating a safe learning environment and understand the cost of not following the simple guidelines laid out.

Sixth Former Chris Sims said, “Hopefully we realize how lucky we are to be in this situation at all. Let’s work together to make sure it isn’t taken away.”

legally-admissible aggregate data, detailed reports of Honor Council hearings, and previous disciplinary decisions on discriminatory or prejudiced behaviors or the use of derogatory slurs.

7. Implement requirements in ethnic, gender, and sexuality studies Juniors and seniors should be required to take at least one U.S. History and one Eng-

represented in positions of leadership in addition to being members of the academic community. We demand that each department chair commits to hiring more faculty of color.

9. Allocate More Funding for Diversity Alliance The Haverford School should provide the Diversity Alliance the same amount of funding as any other club or organization. We demand that more students should be able to attend SDLC and other conferences. We need funding to ensure we can organize our diversity conferences and attendance.

10. Establish an Oversight Committee We demand that the leadership of Diversity Alliance is recognized to be just as important as other student organizations. We need to ensure that the Diversity Alliance oversees

Black Lives Matter march in Philly lish course that focuses on the histories and writings of marginalized people. We demand that each department chair commits to restructuring their curricula to make space for more diverse voices, histories, and narratives.

8. Hire and retain more faculty of color More faculty of color should be hired in all departments. If we want to reflect the diversity of our student body, The Haverford School must also ensure faculty of color are

COURTESY OF DIVERSITY ALLIANCE

assemblies, speakers, and Honor Council hearings and collaborates with other student organizations. We demand that the administration and faculty must be willing to work with the Diversity Alliance to change curricula and dismantle institutional racism.

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the index · off-campus opinions

September 2020

off-campus opinions National conventions define party startegies ahead of November election

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Vice President Joe Biden moments before his speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday August 20, 2020.

Agustin Aliaga ‘21

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s the election creeps closer, candidates Vice President Joe Biden and incumbent Donald Trump hasten their campaigns and ramp up internal support and fundraising. Both candidates’ parties mounted large efforts to make their national conventions a campaign-cycle turning point. While different, each convention had clearly set goals, and both sides mobilized near everything they had to accomplish them.

While different, each convention had clearly set goals, and both sides mobilized near everything they had to accomplish them.

First was the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The convention’s speakers aimed to express that Joe Biden would restore a sense of normalcy that Donald Trump has taken from American politics. Several speeches from primary candidates, friends, and even former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter extolled Biden’s character and record, but the most effective and captivating moment came with President Barack Obama’s address from Old City’s Museum of the American Revolution, where he analyzed the state of American democracy under the Trump administration and how Biden could restore it to its height.

The party also showed that it was the party of cooperation and progress rather than the one of division and regress that it says Donald Trump has formed. Featured Republican speakers included former Secretary of State under George W. Bush Colin Powell and former Republican Ohio governor, congressman, and presidential candidate John Kasich. “I’m a lifelong Republican,” Kasich said, “but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country.”

The convention finished on its fourth day with one of Vice President Biden’s most convincing speeches to date. He detailed not only the policy plans for his administration but also how they would directly affect Americans for the better. The speech presented a perfect end to the convention, as it addressed the issues Democrats are looking to prioritize and also demonstrated a strong and electable Biden.

The DNC was widely considered a success, with perhaps its only low point coming with Vice Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris’s speech on the penultimate night of the convention. The speech was not widely regarded as successful. Nonetheless, the party was effective in capitalizing both on its platform as the party of compassion and humanity as well as its support from what historically has been the opposition.

The Republican National Convention (RNC) took a completely different path in attempting to raise votes for the November election. As it was in 2016, the party’s strategy was to excite the base rather than to encourage bipartisan support for its candidate.

In this aspect, it was generally effective. The party emphasized key issues for its voters such as protection of Second Amendment rights, abortion laws, and, most importantly, the preservation of conservative values.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell concentrated his speech on voting for Republicans up and down the ballot in order to preserve a majority in the Senate and regain control over the House of Representatives. It seemed that McConnell was chasing a “worst-case scenario,” where at least if there was a Biden presidency, a Republican Congress could halt its power to pass leftleaning legislation, much like the situation the Obama administration faced in its final years.

Perhaps the only aspect of the convention that was not directly aimed to the right was the party’s attempt to empathize with minority constituencies. The party attempted to utilize stories of police officers who had been killed by protestors in order to differentiate between their stance on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and an unwilling-

ness to work for minorities. These stories appeared in conjunction with black speakers such as former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson and Senator Tim Scott, who defended the party’s commitment to equality.

The attempt created an ideological clash within the convention, as the controversial couple who pointed guns at peaceful BLM protestors were given a chance to speak.

These divisive speakers did not age well.

Only days after the speech was delivered, seventeen-year old Kyle Rittenhouse did the same as the couple featured, but only this time shooting and killing two protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Additionally, the party attempted to convince the American public that the Republican Party was one with the middle class.

They defended the president’s tax cuts in this light and preached that a potential Biden administration would roll back the cuts only to fund unnecessary government programs that

The only question that remains is whether or not the Republican party made the right decision in doubling down on its strategy from 2016. would not help middle-class Americans.

The convention closed on its final night in an unprecedented way on the front lawn of the White House. The facade of the brightly lit White House was plastered with two enormous electronic boards that read “Trump Pence 2020.” The event, rather than being organized around the president’s speech, seemed to be a political statement more than anything. Many of the attendees were without masks despite the fact that none were tested prior to entry. The Republican convention was a likely success in securing returning right-wing voters. Still, it sparked

numerous external controversies. On top of the many listed above, a large number of its speakers had the last name Trump, indicators of an abandonment of moderate Republican voters by the party, perhaps even more so than in 2016.

The conventions took two very different approaches to raising votes. The DNC was widely regarded as a success and a civil attempt at politics. Meanwhile, the RNC only sparked more controversy, yet may have been just as successful, if not more so, in retaining the voters it targeted than the DNC was.

The only question that remains is whether or not the Republican party made the right decision in doubling down on its strategy

A moderate, non-divisive candidate like Joe Biden can easily collect center leaning votes. Only time will tell if the Republican party has strayed too far from the center. from 2016. Trump and the party, by continuing to distance itself from the middle and by appealing to its conservative base, may be taking its political strategy too far, especially when a moderate, non-divisive candidate like Joe Biden can easily collect center-leaning Republican votes. Only time will tell if the Republican party has strayed

If you have strong opinions on school or society, join The Index

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Spectators await President Trump’s speech on the White House lawn on the final night of the convention on August 27, 2020

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the index · off-campus opinions

September 2020

THE WHITE HOUSE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

President Donald J. Trump, joined by members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, at a March 13 news conference

Trump adminstration consistently blunders coronavirus response Bowen Deng ‘22

I

n late January, the first case of COVID-19 emerged in the United States.

When questioned about the danger of a pandemic, President Trump was optimistic: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

As cases continued to increase, Trump remained optimistic, stating on February 27, 2020, “One day the virus will just disappear.”

Nine months later, 40,000 new cases are recorded each day, while over 180,000 Americans have died. It is likely that America will not be “just fine” for a while.

There is much to criticize about the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.

While it might be unfair to cite this response as the sole factor, it certainly played a major role in why the virus was and is so severe.

At a campaign rally on February 28, 2020, Trump stated that the Democrats were politicizing the virus and called their criticism a “hoax” while downplaying the virus, comparing it to the flu. This set the administration’s tone regarding the virus: one of carelessness and borderline disregard.

Trump’s remarks on facemasks during an April 3 press briefing perfectly demonstrate this: “The CDC is advising the use of nonmedical face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure… so it’s voluntary, they suggest it for a period of time.

This is voluntary, I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.”

This was one of Trump’s biggest errors.

It is scientifically proven that face masks reduce the spread of COVID-19. The President could have easily stressed the importance of face masks as a simple, effective way for American citizens to prevent COVID-19 spread and set an example. Instead, he emphasized its voluntary nature and stated that he would not be wearing one, setting the precedent for questioning science and antimask rhetoric among his supporters. In fact, a late-March Business Insider poll showed that Republicans trusted President Trump more than the CDC for information regarding the virus.

It does not help that Trump and his ad-

It does not help that Trump and his adminstration continued to contradict and undermine proffesionals ministration continued to contradict and undermine professionals such as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. While Trump maintained that the virus will “one day disappear,” Dr. Fauci warned the American public that COVID-19 will continue into the fall and winter. Additionally, Trump claimed that Dr. Fauci was against his travel restriction on China, when in reality, Dr. Fauci supported it. Peter Navarro, Director

of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, used flawed studies regarding hydrochloroquine’s effectiveness on the virus in an attempt to discredit Dr. Fauci’s statement that hydroxychloroquine was not an optimal method.

The administration’s antagonism of Dr. Fauci is baffling and worrying. While an NBC News poll in early August showed that over half of American adults still trust Dr. Fauci and the CDC, the Trump administration’s attacks convey that it is reasonable to question a certified professional. The same poll also showed that 70% of Republican adults trust Trump for coronavirus information, compared to 32% that trust Fauci and 38% that trust the CDC. Trump justified his response using an interview with Axios’s Johnathan Swan. In regards to his handling of the pandemic, Trump said that “under the circumstances, I think it [the virus] is under control.” Swan asked “How? A thousand Americans are dying a day!” to which Trump responded “They are dying, it’s true, it is what it is, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control as much as we can control it.”

Regardless of how much Trump believes his administration has done to combat the virus, the fact that American citizens are dying shouldn’t be brushed off with a simple “it is what it is.” Intentional or not, Trump diminishes the severity of the virus and the value of human life.

Additionally, he emphasized that “big countries don’t test like we do,” arguing that the U.S. numbers are exaggerated. Ultimately, more testing should not be the sole rea-

son as to why the United States has the most COVID-19 cases in the world.

On the topic of COVID-19 deaths, Trump used the United States’ case fatality ratio, the number of people who die after contracting the virus, as evidence for an effective response. According to NPR, the case fatality ratio for the United States is roughly 3%, which is one of the lowest in the world.

While this does have some merit, it is an unreliable measure of success. Furthermore, Trump was quick to brush aside the deaths per capita, a statistic where the United States ranks significantly worse. This is a clear case of the President selectively picking statistics in an attempt to defend his response.

It is no secret that Trump comes under intense scrutiny from the media due to his

Intentional or not, Trump diminishes the severity of the virus and the value of human life. lackluster COVID-19 response. He contradicted experts and attempted to minimize and deflect from the results of his actions.

Come election day, Americans must decide the next four years of this country, and voters must determine if his mishandling of COVID-19 will influence their vote.

the index · arts

Page 16

September 2020

arts Singing groups consider innovative rehearsal methods Mitav Nayak ’22

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very winter and spring, students, faculty, family, and friends gather in Centennial Hall to listen to and support a collection of the school’s finest musicians. The two major singing groups, the Notables and Glee Club, anchor those events.

Last year, these groups—like countless others—had their spring preparations cut short.

While Mr. Mark Hightower digitally combined various Notables voices into an impressive song for the graduation video, both groups were unable to perform in front of the school in the spring. This year, they will utilize creative techniques to meet the school’s new policies.

“What we are currently planning,” Mr. Hightower said, “is to have [four boys] come in and separate into four corners of a large room and spread out as far away as they possibly can with masks on.”

“[The new method] requires more musical independence, confidence, and talent” MR. MARK HIGHTOWER

While these quartets are going to be very different from the Notables’ rehearsals last year, Mr. Hightower is optimistic.

“It actually works really well because we typically rehearse in sectionals that are basically quartets, with four guys singing the same part,” Mr. Hightower said. “Then, we put everyone together and we rehearse as a full group. [The new method] requires more musical independence, confidence, and tal-

MR. MARK HIGHTOWER

Ben Fosnocht ’21 records his portion of the opening assembly on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 ent to be the only person singing your part in a mixed quartet, but I see it potentially working assuming we stay in school and everything goes well.”

Fifth Former and Notables member Damian Ferraro had similar views.

“It’s basically going to be [two tenors], one bass, and one baritone in the mixed quartet.

Then, if we wanted to record something, we could have each quartet sing and combine those audios together,” Ferraro said.

Additional innovative solutions have arisen from the difficulties associated with wearing traditional masks to sing.

Ferraro said, “[Mr. Hightower] recommended this singing mask which is like a regular mask, but it’s got a bit more space.

We’ve also considered going outside to rehearse and sing.”

Sixth Form Notables member Decker Patterson said, “With the standard masks, you get it right in front of your face so you don’t get that much air-flow. With the singing masks, you get a lot of air-flow, but the difference is that it is hot.”

Mr. Hightower plans to experiment with his various rehearsal methods for the Notables and adjust as needed.

For the Glee Club, which has approximately 76 students enrolled this year, he is working on another plan.

“I’m considering offering virtual alternative programming and doing a sort of deep dive into an interesting piece of music,” Mr. Hightower said. “We were thinking about the musical Hamilton . . . we could offer a music class where we could study themes, rhythm, and harmony of Hamilton.”

The large numbers of students in Glee Club will likely result in a mostly virtual program this year.

However, because the Notables have considerably fewer students, they hope they will be able to establish as much normalcy as possible under current circumstances and stay together as a group.

“The cool thing about the Notables is that people come from all different facets of the school,” Ferraro said. “But we all have this common goal of making music and entertaining people through our musical talents, and I think that’s something that is special about a group like that.”

Patterson said, “We’re already so close-knit and devoted to the Notables, so I think that is what will get us through and keep the Notables alive this year.”

Netflix’s unusual I’m Thinking of Ending Things Joey Kauffman ’23

“A

screenplay is an exploration. It’s about the thing you don’t know.

To step into the abyss.” - Charlie

Kaufman I’m Thinking of Ending Things, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and re-

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

leased on Netflix on September 4, is many things, but it is one thing especially—a step into the abyss.

The movie is ostensibly about a young woman who visits her boyfriend’s parents in rural Oklahoma during the dead of winter, yet, throughout the film, I wasn’t sure what was happening. There are strange noises, sudden shifts and contradictions in the lives of the characters, and a disregard for chronology or even the very idea of time itself within the movie. We see things that don’t make sense, and there’s no catch, no “it was all a dream!” It doesn’t make sense, yet on a certain level, it doesn’t have to.

The film is shot beautifully, and it feels as though meticulous effort went into each shot, line of dialogue, and plot point. However, the movie is startling; it doesn’t follow any formula or convention found in most films. There is no inciting incident, no climax, and no resolution. There are simply people—people who struggle, people who grow—but at their core, just people, not pawns in a story arc.

The actors in the movie are, in short, terrific. I almost didn’t notice the actors’ performances at all. Why? Because they

didn’t feel like performances; they felt like life. This is much easier said than done. I’m sure many movies strive for authentic-feeling characters, yet few actors ever feel that way on screen. Toni Collette and David Thewlis, who play the parents in the film, portray strange characters themselves, yet they never feel overly dramatic or forced. Also, Guy Boyd, who plays the janitor, has a smaller role in the movie, yet he delivers a surprisingly emotional performance that strangely ties the film together.

“Say who you are.

Really say it in your life and in your work.”

CHARLIE KAUFMAN

The quote at the beginning of this review is from the BAFTA Screenwriters’ Lecture Charlie Kaufman gave in 2011. In that lec-

ture, Kaufman talked about why he makes movies. “Say who you are. Really say it in your life and in your work,” Kaufman said.

“Give that to the world rather than selling something to the world.” For better or worse, Kaufman says who he is in his work.

His movies can be confusing, self-centered, and neurotic, but that’s because he is all of those things, as indeed all of us are.

In I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which Kaufman adapted from a novel of the same name by Ian Reid, Kaufman creates a story that is mercilessly tiring but is, in the end, a truly heartwarming and hopeful movie. He uses the cinematic landscape of a film—the camera movement, the music, the lighting— to evoke all that makes us human, creating a truly moving experience for the viewer that reminds us why movies are such a great platform to tell stories.

To those who are reluctant to watch a film described as tiring, I say give it a chance.

Don’t judge it because it’s confusing. I’m Thinking of Ending Things, when all is said and done, is a beautiful work, and beauty doesn’t need to make sense to be true.

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the index · arts

September 2020

Student start-up: Tyler’s Custom Tables Michael Tallarida ’21

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hile quarantine and online school offered challenges for many students nationwide, it also provided the opportunity to explore new things. Sixth Former Tyler Zimmer took advantage of this unique time, starting another business of his own, Tyler’s Custom Tables. Zimmer’s new hobby finds him designing foldable tables to his customers’

Detail of a table for a fire fighter

specifications.

“After seeing quite bland, simple party tables go viral on social media platforms like TikTok, I knew I could do better,” Zimmer said. “After getting 600,000 views on my 76ers table and realizing people would pay for them, I started brainstorming a business strategy.”

This 76ers table, one of his original de-

COURTESY OF TYLER ZIMMER ’21

signs, proved to be the turning point for his small business. Once his TikTok went viral, Zimmer started receiving requests from clients nationwide. However, he took a different route in his business path.

“Unlike a normal business that attempts to scale up, I actually went a different direction. After shipping tables to Seattle, Dallas, and El Paso, I realized shipping tables across the country cost me a good chunk of profit.

Therefore, I decided to scale down, only taking business locally,” Zimmer said.

Despite the joy he finds in the business, it was not easy for Zimmer to get things going with his busy schedule.

“It’s very time consuming, and the most work I could do in a week was two tables,” Zimmer said. “This limited how many customers I could take on at a given time. Rather than seeing it as work, I enjoyed making the tables because it’s just art to me.”

Art has been an integral part of Zimmer’s high school journey thus far. He credits much of his artistic ability to the teachers he encountered during his upper school years.

“Mr. Fox had a huge influence on the startup. He told me during quarantine to stay busy with art even if it didn’t follow his usual curriculum. He wanted me to stay active during a time where it’s really easy to get lazy, so I focused myself on combining my

COURTESY OF TYLER ZIMMER ’21

A satisfied customer

design skill and business mindset.

Moving forward, Zimmer looks to continue his table business while also maintaining a healthy balance of everyday life.

Zimmer said, “I’m excited to see where this takes me. Right now I’m just enjoying it as a hobby, but who knows what it will end up being one day.”

Theater department adapts ahead of altered year Austin Zhuang ’22

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s students return to school masked and socially distanced, the theater program looks at a year starkly different from previous semesters.

Primarily, the fall play, a popular event among the community, will no longer happen.

“Earlier in the pandemic, I was hoping at least to rehearse a full production and film it or stream it live,” Performing Arts Chair Mr. Hengst said. “Then at least an audience at home would have a full play. But now I can’t even bring in a cast to practice.”

Forced to change plans, Mr. Hengst is still hopeful a fall “production” is possible.

III* class.

“I’m hopeful we can make something from Theater III*. It starts in March, in the spring, and it’s in the fourth quarter, so I just hope that we get a chance to return to normal by then.”

Regardless, classes like Theater II are left to take a more technology-focused approach compared to previous years.

“We can’t do normal class activities, so I have found two software programs for scenic design and lighting design, and we’re going to do a lot of virtual collaborative work,” Mr. Hengst said.

The limitations, however, may also benefit future curriculum and improve the class.

“Because the pandemic hit in March, a lot of companies developed and created a lot of really useful tools and programs that I will use, not only for this year, which will be especially tough, but forever as they are so helpful,” Mr. Hengst claimed.

The department continues to look on the bright side of things, and Mr. Hengst hopes to maintain high involvement levels from students.

“I’m trying to come up with a way to

get the numbers we’ve had in recent years. I think we had some 40 students last year in The Three Musketeers, and so I’m trying to give as many boys as possible opportunities to be involved.”

Even if interest dwindles, Mr. Hengst is confident the performing arts at Haverford will find ways to create productions and works that the community can enjoy.

“Actors and artists are the most flexible people I know,” Mr. Hengst said, “and I am confident everyone involved will come up with programs that we can be proud of and the school can enjoy.”

“What I love to do is tell stories with audiences in the seats” MR. DARREN HENGST

“What I’m looking to do now is find scripts or have the students write some things that are monologue-driven. We would then rehearse the scenes virtually, and I could bring one person in at a time, record each part, edit them together, and publish it.”

The modifications are better than nothing at all, but it cannot match a live, in-person performance.

“What I love to do is tell stories with audiences in the seats,” Mr. Hengst stated.

“There’s an energy in the building as the story progresses. Unfortunately, that is something we just can’t do this year.”

Regardless, the theater program is hopeful for some normalcy.

“The spring production is not canceled.

I’m not planning on stopping that until we get closer and it is certain that a musical is not possible,” Mr. Hengst said.

Another performance that could potentially remain this year is that of the Theater

Mr Hengst’s socially distant classroom on Centennial Hall’s stage

MR. DARREN HENGST

Page 18

the index · arts

September 2020

Netflix’s Project Power is not worth your time Connor Pinsk ’23

I

f I were to describe Project Power in one word, it would be “eh.”

This movie has been topping Netflix’s movie charts for quite some time.

It centers around a pill that gives you five minutes of superpowers. The film follows a young student dealing with the drug, a cop who is tracking it down, and an ex-military man looking for his daughter. The plot is not realistic, but that is not what annoyed me about this film.

The everyday interactions had nothing to do with the pill and were incredibly fake and unrealistic. In one scene, the student’s teacher is yelling at her in class, showing everyone her grades, and telling her she will never be anything.

Something that many screenwriters seem to enjoy doing, for whatever reason, is creating a teacher who does not believe in the main character. And in Project Power, especially, it seemed to be fraudulent. The screenwriter also seemed to enjoy focusing on the fact that this young girl raps, something that adds little to the storyline and just

makes you want to turn off the film.

The movie also takes the idea of the Men in Black characters and tries to tie them in, it just doesn’t work. The plot (aside from my early statements) is pretty good. Let me rephrase: it has potential, and might have worked out in a better film. The fight scenes were done well and many of the anticipation moments were strong. There were other

The characters as a whole are not bad, but the character development is abysmal. good things about this movie, but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it.

The film doesn’t grab you and make you want to keep watching. The characters as a whole are not bad, but the character development is abysmal.

If you look up Project Power’s run time, it will tell you that it is one hour and fifty-four minutes. If it had been longer and the writers took their time with some scenes, I can see this movie being better. If you compare a movie like this to The Irishman, which was another Netflix original that stood at the top of their charts for a long time, then it is an awful film. The Irishman took its time with its scenes. There were real conversations, real character arcs. The Irishman doesn’t fly by, but you don’t want it to. Project Power does fly by, and I was glad.

So, why it is so popular? It’s in the top ten, so it can’t be bad, right? Wrong. Netflix forces its original TV shows, movies, and documentaries down viewers’ throats. They make them the only things that you see when you open the app. This does not mean that they are all bad, which they obviously are not (see The Irishman), but the company should get better at picking and choosing what they want to put out. Honestly, out of ten, I would probably give it a three and tell you to watch something else.

VIA VIAWIKIMEDIA WIKIMEDIACOMMONS COMMONS

Project Power poster

A closer look into the reopening strategy, cont. from p. 3 Pt. 2: The Cost All these precautions to create the safest environment possible come with their inevitable costs. Student and staff safety as the school’s top priority and the CDC, CHOP, and governor guidelines, however, leave no room for anything less.

“We can’t cut corners when it comes to health and safety. You always have to be within the guidelines of what the CDC is saying, and what CHOP guidelines are for children, and what the governor is saying.

We always stay within those rules; we don’t do less for sure.” Mr. Gold continued, “If we are providing an educational service, and it costs money and we’re committing to that service, we have to spend the money on what it takes to pull off that service.”

“It’s an unusual year.

In the end, there is a business underneath, and you have to run the business smartly.”

MR. GOLD

In a typical year, the budget is balanced with tuition and fundraising, as the school is non-profit. The cancellation of trips and activities and lack of transportation costs this year help to offset the financial impact presented by the new precautions, but the school will still be operating at a loss.

Mr. Gold said, “It’s an unusual year. In the end, there is a business underneath, and you have to run the business smartly, and it’s got a balance itself. If we had to do this year after year after year like this, I don’t think we could do it because of all these extra costs.”

The spending funnels down into three main categories: people, technology, and facilities.

In terms of people, the school has hired more teachers because students are in smaller class sizes. Additionally, the cleaning staff and custodial staff has increased to ensure the campus is disinfected at a frequent rate.

“So normally, like in the past years, you go to school and at night they clean the buildings and then you come back in and the buildings are clean and we usually have

a one-day porter that goes around and you know cleans some of the bathrooms. But now we added two additional people for the day to clean high traffic areas,” Mr. Gold said.

The school has also invested in new machines for the custodial staff that have the ability to disinfect rooms faster and more thoroughly than a human would.

We invested in these clorox ionizers, I think they are like Foggers,” Mr. Gold said.

“They come in and they can do a room in five minutes. And then, the room is sanitized.”

Similarly, new technology has been implemented around the classroom. In order to provide flexibility, cameras have been added to record all classrooms and the school’s licenses for online education tools—from Zoom, to Canvas, to Big Blue Button, and even Google Meet and Google Classroom— have been upgraded to enterprise versions that provide more capability, but cost significantly more.

The goal with all of these investments is to provide both students and faculty continued education, regardless of the situation.

“In theory we can be flexible.” Mr. Gold continued, “If students are out sick they can watch the class live for that two weeks if they’re quarantining. Or, if a teacher has to stay home, they can teach from home to that class or, if they have to split a class up, [they can continue teaching] because you have the cameras. We’ve always had the ability to go out to the internet, but they couldn’t see into the classroom. So that’s what those cameras allow: it gives us flexibility, and that’s a big investment.”

Another program that the school has purchased is the Magnus phone app. The symptom-based self-check in each morning will hopefully mitigate the risk of transmission by students who possibly show infection of the coronavirus.

Mr. Gold said, “Every day you have to check that in and if you haven’t done that you’re not going to be allowed into school.

So hopefully everyone’s going to get that into their routine, and it’s really a self check to make sure you’re not showing symptoms of it.”

The final aspect of the spending centered around facilities—upgrading the HVAC system; stocking hand sanitizer, face masks, and disinfectant wipes; plexiglass dividers and signage; et cetera.

Pt. 3: The Risk and The Payoff The financial implications and even, as some would argue, the risk of reopening campus pale in comparison to the value of an education in person. Safety is inarguably the top priority, but the school’s mission of educating and preparing boys for life remains at the institution’s core.

“Even with the money, we do have a balanced budget. We don’t do a budget where you know, we’re creating this super fund. It’s all about providing the service to meet the mission. We think it’s [the cost of reopening campus is] worth it.” In regards to safety, Mr. Gold continued, “If after putting all these things in place and we thought it was too risky, I don’t think we would do it. But, we think we can do it and we believe it’s safe.”

With an in-person education, the administration and multiple faculty report to believe, relationships are able to be built more effectively than virtually. The ability to establish new connections in person has rallied excitement among the faculty for reopening campus.

“They [the faculty] all think learning happens better and relationships build better in person. As wonderful as Zoom is, it isn’t the same.” Dr. Nagl continued, “We will work hard to keep you guys safe and keep you apart from each other, which is hard for humans because we like to be close to each other—we’re social animals. The anticipation and the excitement I think far overweighs the concern for almost everybody.”

Furthermore, Dr. Nagl cited the potential detrimental effect on mental health and learning capabilities when in a virtual setting. All these factors made the decision to reopen campus, at least for the start of the year, more necessary for Dr. Nagl.

As he said, “So it was really important to us, particularly as we start the school year as we welcome you boys on the campus, as we welcome new faculty on to campus, that we start in person and go in person as long as we can to establish the norms of the new school year and to build relationships that are going to be essential if some or, God forbid, all of us have to go into virtual Haverford again at some point this year.”

Dr. Nagl also emphasized that the inperson experience is critical for the younger boys in especially.

“The younger you are, I think the less effective virtual education is. Again, so some

of our other schools who don’t necessarily have all the room and all the resources are just having the littlest learners back,” he said.

Still, even if confirmed cases were reported in the school, plans are set in place and the precautions taken make it so that only a controlled portion of students and or faculty would be required to learn virtually for a period of time.

These protocols were inspired by the research conducted on schools in other countries that have already reopened.

“We’ve been watching closely what’s happened in Germany,” Dr. Nagl said. “Germany has had half a section go out because of a suspected COVID case and those six or seven kids learned remotely and all the rest of the kids stayed in class.

They had whole sections for a whole classroom go out for two weeks, get cleared, and then come back in. So those are the sort of things that we expect as challenges going forward.”

All things considered, the school’s ability to remain open rests on the choices of the students and their families.

Dr. Nagl said, “The choices families are making with our boys over Labor Day weekend, in particular, but literally every day, are

“The choices families are making with our boys ... everyday are going to determine how long we are able to stay open.”

DR. JOHN NAGL

going to determine how long we are able to stay open. The faculty are taking social distancing and mask-wearing and all those sorts of things pretty seriously. [Hopefully,] we can stay open as deep into the fall and winter as possible and, with any luck at all, all the way through until a vaccine is created.”

Page 19

sports

the index · sports

September 2020

Inter-Ac sports plan earns mixed reactions Tyler Zimmer ‘21

GRAPHIC BY TYLER ZIMMER

VI Former and three sport athlete Drew Loughnane playing each of his fall, winter, and spring sports

R

eading the Inter-Ac committee’s decision saddened not only Haverford’s athletes, but the entire community, as sporting events serve as a foothold for unity and joy amongst all students. Sports are postponed until at least the new year. Yes, this means no EA Day. While the Inter-Ac committee makes the final decisions regarding athletic play, student opinions hold weight as well.

In a petition to reinstate fall and winter sports, thousands of students and parents want student-athletes to compete. Unfortunately for those who stand by the slogan, “fall sports must be played,” the decision to suspend play is concrete.

Saving self-pity and moving forward, a second decision remains. The committee proposed a new athletic schedule beginning in the new year, stating, “Should conditions permit, the league intends to hold three 7 week seasons for our student-athletes.”

This is not a final decision, meaning student opinions can influence how late-winter and spring sports look.

Many students think the proposed plan has major flaws across the board, and this conservative approach that attempts to please all actually takes away the first possibility for athletic normalcy. Having three,

seven-week seasons does not allow enough time for competition, creates problems with facilities, and is unfair to spring sport athletes. Seven weeks is not enough time, they say. The first month of each season consists of preparation and training, leaving a mere three weeks for events. This crammed schedule would not allow time for non-league competition, a vital component of a wellrounded season.

Having three, seven-week seasons creates a conflict in facility sharing and does not account for abnormal weather conditions.

For example, sports teams have a preseason of formal practices or workouts. How could the baseball team get ready to compete if the soccer team occupies the same field? How could any fall, outdoor sport play in belowfreezing conditions?

Some students think there is a moral reason to leave the spring season as is.

Sixth Form baseball player Jonny Flieder said, “While I want everyone to play, fall and winter athletes played last year and spring athletes didn’t. Taking even more time away from us doesn’t seem like a fair solution. If we have spring sports as usual, it’s fair because each season will be skipped one time.”

Despite the logistical dilemma, plenty of student-athletes are in favor of the three

shortened seasons.

“Athletes will be able to go all out for seven weeks as opposed to pacing themselves for a long season,” Sixth Form two-sport athlete Quintin Campbell said.

Fellow Sixth Form two-sport athlete Michael Bozzi agrees.

“It will also be more intense,” Bozzi said, “because we’ll be more energetic going sport to sport in a quick span of time.”

“I would rather have a small glimpse of all three sports I play rather than one long one where I miss out on playing with my fall and winter teammates,” Sixth Former Drew Loughnane said.

It seems as though multi-sport athletes favor multiple mini-seasons, and they have valid reasoning behind their decision. Sixth Formers especially seek closure to each of

their sports, even if they have to make sacrifices regarding the number of games and field or gym availability.

“I want to play football one last time in my life.”

COLBY KIM ‘21 Despite the handful of reasons why short seasons pose challenges, Sixth Former Colby Kim realized that they paled in comparison to his love for every sport he plays.

Kim said, “I want to play football one last time in my life.”

Phased reopening plan for athletics this fall

ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

the index · sports

Page 20

September 2020

Fords believe in Eagles, live or on TV Jake LaRocca ‘22

D

espite most professional sports facing obstacles to finish their seasons, the NFL plans to start its regular season the second week of September, the same time as in years past. The NFL season brings a certain energy within Haverford’s walls.

The Philadelphia Eagles open their regular season against Washington on September 13, beginning the journey that most students hope will end with a Lombardi Trophy.

During the fall, many students revolve their lives around the Eagles. In fact, some will even do homework at certain times to avoid conflict with game time.

Fifth Former Jack Masse has a strict schedule.

“I always grind out my homework for the weekend on Fridays and Saturdays so I

am able to watch the Eagles smack around the rest of the NFL on Sunday,” Masse said.

“I keep that up the entire fall.”

Despite the disappointing Wild Card loss in last year’s playoffs, students remain optimistic in the team’s chances this year.

Due to beneficial roster changes, Fifth Former Jake Adler is a firm believer.

“I love the team’s chances this year,” Adler said. “The new additions at the wide receiver really help the squad. The receiver corp prevented the team from making it deep into the playoffs.”

Despite the lack of fans in Lincoln Financial Field this year, students remain excited for the season to start. In fact, some prefer tuning into games through other platforms.

“Honestly, I love just watching the games on TV with my friends. I don’t have

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Eagles’ mascot Swoop at the Art Museum steps, Super Bowl

The Eagles in a 51-23 win over the Broncos on November 5, 2017

MATTHEW SCHWARTZ ‘21

to worry about the weather, transportation, or price of tickets. I do love going to games once in a while, but nothing beats sitting on the couch with my friends,” Adler said.

A hobby for some, a career for others, fantasy football will also return. Students spend countless hours preparing a starting lineup for the week. Students talk about strategy all day in the hallways, community spaces, and classrooms. Despite the inability to congregate this year, students do not plan to stop competing.

“Pandemic or not, I will still be spending numerous hours a week checking and editing my lineup,” Masse said. “It’s really something I love doing with my friends every year. It’s an interest we all share.”

Madden 21 divides fans Michael Tallarida ‘21

A

s each summer turns to fall, Electronic Arts, better known as EA, adds to their longstanding Madden franchise. Madden NFL 21, their newest iteration, has received poor reviews from its players so far. Is this feedback warranted?

Renowned video game review website IGN gave Madden NFL 21 one of its lowest scores to date, a mere six out of ten. IGN’s David Jagneux said, “Despite the introduction of the surprisingly fun and unique The Yard mode, the list of persistent issues, neglected features, and new annoyances is growing quite long.”

Many agree that the only thing holding the game afloat this year is the new game mode called “The Yard.” Rooting from a backyard football game, “The Yard” is a six-on-six competition that allows players to improvise and explore different aspects of the sport, throwing away traditional rules.

EA updated other game modes as well, but they are rather insignificant. A fan favorite, Madden Ultimate Team, which allows players to build their own team, feels quite similar to what players experienced in Madden NFL 20.

Students also have mixed thoughts about the game. Sixth Former Drew Loughnane,

Dan Curran’s Eagles Podcast is uploaded onto SoundCloud

VI Former Drew Loughnane playing the new Madden ‘21

“I feel the gameplay somehow got worse this year.”

TYLER ZIMMER ‘21

a veteran Madden Ultimate Team (MUT) player, stated, “I feel the gameplay this year has been enhanced greatly despite a few bugs. But, I wish EA made a few more additions to MUT, as we usually see the same players and missions year in and year out.”

Loughnane, like many other critics, believes that EA is successful in delivering a

realistic gameplay experience.

Sixth former Tyler Zimmer disagrees.

“I feel the gameplay somehow got worse this year,” Zimmer said. “The unrealistic animations have returned from years past, along with new in-game glitches I have never seen before.”

On top of these poor reviews, EA has

SOUNDCLOUD

COURTESY OF DREW LOUGHNANE ‘21

seen a significant drop in sales for Madden NFL 21. Usually the top-selling game during its launch month, the script seems quite different this year, as sales continue to lag.