Homecoming 2019

Record The Horace Mann

OCTOBER 11TH, 2019 || VOLUME 117, ISSUE 5

HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG

OPINIONS

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Editor-in-Chief Julia Robbins Managing Editor Mayanka Dhingra Issues Editor Jude Herwitz Features Nelson Gaillard Gabby Kepnes Kiara Royer News Amelia Feiner Madison Li Sam Keimweiss Simon Yang Opinions Victor Dimitrov Abigail Salzhauer

THE RECORD OPINIONS OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

Why I strike: my reflections on the climate march

Natalie Sweet If you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention.

Considering the current carbon emission levels, what is left of our CO2 budget will have completely disappeared within less than eight and a half years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In 2017 alone, 18 million people were displaced because of the climate crisis. By 2050, this number is expected to grow to upwards of 150 million, bringing a stronger meaning to the term “climate refugees.” And 97.2 percent of scientific papers written on climate change support the claim that global warming is human-caused.

We are running out of time. So why doesn’t it seem like it?

The answer is simple: privilege. The majority of us aren’t from communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We don’t face the effects of the crisis firsthand. We can look away from devastating wildfires, from deadly floods and droughts. And to give us some credit, the media rarely shows us this; rather, we see white children holding a sign in front of a camera.

I am just as guilty of this complacency. How do we stop it?

A&E Nishtha Sharma Eliza Poster Eddie Jin Middle Division Ben Wang Isabella Zhang

Art Directors Annabelle Chan Gabrielle Fischberg Katya Arutyunyan Photography Griffin Smith Ahaan Palla Jake Shapiro Faculty Adviser David Berenson

Staff Writers Izzy Abbott, Adrian Arnaboldi, Abby Beckler, Bradley Bennett, Sam Chiang, Sogona Cisse, Jack Crovitz, Adam Frommer, Andie Goldmacher, Julia Goldberg, Andie Goldmacher, Alison Isko, Avi Kapadia, Marina Kazarian, John Mauro, Yesh Nikam, Henry Owens, Oliver Steinman, Emily Shi, Samuel Singer, Natalie Sweet, Sasha Snyder, Vivien Sweet, Joshua Underberg, Talia Winiarsky, Chloe Choi, Emma Colacino, Yin Fei, Lucas Glickman, Claire Goldberg, Liliana Greyf, Lauren Ho, Walker McCarthy, Maya Nornberg, Morgan Smith, Patrick Steinbaug, Katya Tolunsky, Nathan Zelizer Staff Photographers Harrison Haft, Julia Isko, Daniel Lee, Ava Merker, Kelly Troop, Halley Robbins, Sophie Gordon, Amanda Wein, Maxwell Shopkorn, Emma Colacino, AJ Walker, Lucas Glickman, Lauren Ho Staff Artists Wilder Harwood, Rachel Zhu

past couple of years, she had lost four of her family members in Bangladesh due to air pollution and floods.

How can I stand by while my friend’s families are dying? This is not just an ecological issue; this is a human rights issue.

So when people ask me why I strike, there are too many reasons to name.

lurks in the distance.

Maybe the stress of junior year is already getting to people. I’ve already experienced a week where I went to sleep at 2 a.m. on multiple nights because of assessments. I understand the overwhelming anxiety underlying tests and papers. Will this next test be okay? Will this one bad physics quiz stop me from getting an A for the semester? Am I doing enough extracurriculars? Will I even get into college? It’s perfectly acceptable to fear the unknown. That’s natural, of course; as humans, we like being in control.

Despite these feelings of concern and anxiety, I think that there’s one thing to always keep in mind. No matter what, you should not release your pent up emotions on someone else. It’s neither fair nor productive. An uncalled for outburst is a loss for both sides. I have much experience being on the receiving end of outbursts and rants. I personally don’t mind listening about your terrible day, but for others, talking about stress only contributes to the school’s stress culture.

I think that Horace Mann’s core values fully encompass the idea I’m trying to advocate for –“A Secure and Healthful Environment” and “Mutual Respect” in particular. Throughout my highschool experience, I’ve come to realize how someone’s words can plunge you into despair.. Thus, I present one of the quotes I live my life based on:“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” I personally don’t care if people remember what precise thing I said; I just want them to remember that I made them feel appreciated and I made them happy. For me, there is no greater feeling than making someone smile. I’ll try anything in order to make you happy; I’ll crack every joke and pull out every stop to make your stomach burst at its seams.

There is more to highschool than the academics.

What even is the point of it? To learn how to find the area of a circumcircle? To write a blog in a foreign language? Well, yes, but I think there’s more. School isn’t just teaching us to be scholars; it’s also teaching us to be good people. The world as it is seems to desperately need more empathetic humans. In 20 to 30 years, our generation will be leading the world. When I read the news, I hope to see people enacting change for the better, not furthering the world’s deterioration. Even seeing selfless acts in school, like the climate change activists who routinely protest in efforts to save our planet or the people who always take time out of their day to say hello to me in the hallway, raises my spirits. As a nation, I feel like we are becoming more selfish and concerned only about ourselves. Compassion for others is a necessity.

While I don’t believe for a moment that I am without flaws, I still try my best to remain as kind and thoughtful as can be, and it’s my hope that the school community will do the same. Think before you speak and act, and truly do your best to make your peers smile and form genuine connections.

Katya Arutyunyan/Art Director

I strike because my children may not have a future. I strike because countless people are dying because of this crisis. I strike for those who cannot strike, those who are trapped in communities plagued by disaster, and those who cannot afford to miss a day of work.

I can say these reasons over and over and over and I am still asked, “How does striking make a difference?

What has changed?” Though many, many deals have been met through our strikes, I’ll leave you with my personal favorite victory.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had called the school strike movement their “greatest threat.” When the fossil fuel industry calls you their biggest threat, you know you’re making a difference. Join us to make a change. Our lives depend on it.

Kill it with kindness: looking beyond just academics

Lions’ Den Darius McCullough Mark Fernandez Ranya Sareen Andrew Cassino

Design Editors Euwan Kim Reena Ye Chris Ha

Here’s my two-step plan: educate, and listen. Educating, on the one hand, is quite hard. These discussions about climate justice have been going on for a long time,and as a school, we have acknowledged them— just not in our curriculum. In a 1994-1995 issue of the Record, Andrew Pearlstein published an opinion piece about a variety of environmental issues, including environmental racism. Environmental racism is, put quite simply by Pearlstein, “[The reason why] an incinerator would be built in the Brooklyn Navy Yard before it is built in Riverdale.” But since we do not have comprehensive climate justice education at our school or at the majority of schools around the country, I’ll briefly explain some concepts below.

We can not tackle this problem with individual actions. While they do make a difference— and I strongly suggest to everyone who can change their diet, recycle more, and reduce their carbon footprint to do so— the fact is, these actions not accessible to everyone. And it’s not enough. According to the Carbon Majors Report, 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report. We need systematic changes, and we need to protest and lobby until we get it.

It is also common to become apathetic because the world’s problems seem unfixable. But apathy is dangerous as well, since there are ways we can stop the crisis.

The New York Times Bestseller Drawdown, edited

by Paul Hawken, contains 100 substantive solutions to reverse the climate crisis and is written by the leading scientists and policymakers on climate change all over the globe. Support, lobby, and vote for candidates who support policy that reflects the solutions written in drawdown.

The crisis also seems more real when you listen to the stories of those who are directly impacted by it. At the United Nations Youth Climate Summit on September 21st, I met a fellow climate activist around my age who lives in Pittsburgh. As we shared stories about how we got involved in climate activism, she told me about in the

John Mauro I will always place kindness above humility, integrity, and intellect. To me, it doesn’t matter if you’re the smartest friend, the strongest, or even the most humble.

I find that the thing most telling of your character stems from kindness: how you respect and treat others.

I don’t claim that at our school kindness is in short supply. While nearly all of the people I interact with are warm enough to say hello and ask about my day, I fear that we are beginning to lose our sense of community as the ever-present rat race for grades and achievement kicks off yet again I have seen this take an increasing effect in clubs.

Rather than encouraging one another, people are quarreling over leadership roles. It’s two months into the school year, and I already hear snide remarks being exchanged within clubs. People who initially joined clubs to meet people with common interests are now preemptively usurping each other for a president position that club leaders have not even begun to think about. In my opinion, moral standards should always be more important than whatever outside challenge or goal

Katya Arutyunyan/Art Director

Editorial: Putting our all into spirit this year

If you were asked to describe Horace Mann in a nutshell, ‘spirited’ may not be one of the first words that comes to mind. But each year, Homecoming presents us with a special opportunity. No homework due the next day, no big test to study for and, this year, a three day weekend. On most days, we don’t have the luxury of much free time. Between juggling our course load and extracurricular activities, we often feel more obligated to fulfill our academic demands than to show up and support friends.

And, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most of us love what we do, and we put a lot of effort into whatever that may be. But we also have immense respect and appreciation for the various things that those around us are doing. Let’s demonstrate that tomorrow.

And to be clear, school spirit isn’t confined to sports. In so many ways, there is incredible spirit at our school for our clubs and publications and other extracurriculars. We’re probably never going to be the stereotypically spirited school that has hundreds of people showing up to sports games. But maybe we can be that school for a day for no other reason than it could be a lot of fun.

The only thing standing between you and your quintessential high school dream is your showing up tomorrow in maroon gear, ready to roar.

Reena Ye/ Design Edtior

HORACE MANN NEWS OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

North Korean refugees share life experiences

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Courtesy of Chloe Kim(12)

Bradley Bennett & Natalie Sweet Staff Writers Members of the Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) international team came with three North Korean refugees to the school to educate students about the hardships North Korean citizens endure and the hazards of attempting to escape, using harrowing and emotional personal stories.

According to their website, LiNK’s mission statement is to “rescue refugees without cost or condition, and ensure their safety and dignity on their journey to freedom.” The organization is a non-for-profit and is funded by donations, advertising that it costs only $3000 to salvage the life of a North Korean person.

During the presentation, three former North Korean citizens discussed their experiences living in and escaping from North Korea.

“It was a really unique opportunity for me because most people will never get to hear the life story of a North Korean refugee,” Ari Salsberg (11) said. “It was difficult to listen to because this is the sad reality for so many people in North Korea.”

To Helena Kopans-Johnson (12), the only times she heard about North Korea was in newspaper headlines and from her Cold War history class, she said. “I had a common understanding about dictatorship and censorship, which I think people normally associate with North Korea,” she said. “But this was the first time I heard about the struggles the people within the country faced, and their stories brought out the human rights aspect that we don’t hear about.”

During the presentation, three former residents of North Korea told their deeply personal stories. One such speaker, Joy, moved many students to tears during her twenty-minute monologue. She spoke only Korean, but the translation on the screen next to her was enough to spark

an intense emotional response. After escaping North Korea, Joy was trapped in northern China by a broker and was sold into marriage, and she was eventually forced to carry a child that she later had to abandon when she fled China. She was eighteen years old.

“It was inspiring to hear someone go through those hardships and be able to share them with us,” Annabelle Xing (11) said. “We are very lucky to be able to hear these stories.”

Chris Ha (12), who speaks and understands Korean, noticed that when the refugees were taking questions from the audience, their answers weren’t directly translated from Korean to English, so some of the personality of the people from what they were saying was lost, he said.

However, the presentation altered his perspective of North Korea overall, he said. “When I think of North Korea, I usually think of impoverished nation where everyone is starving,” he said. “[But] hearing the refugees’ answer questions cleared some of these vague blanket statements I was told growing up.”

A second speaker, Jeongyol, managed to escape North Korea while attending an International Mathematical Olympiad in Hong Kong during his final year of high school. While he does not regret defecting from the country, leaving his parents behind was incredibly hard, and he hasn’t seen them since, he said.

“The refugees were college-aged kids that were only a few years older than us, which made the presentation more relatable,” Salsberg said. “I realized that these are just normal people like us, and it really changed my perspective about North Korea.”

One student who was able to talk to the refugees personally was Tae Kyu Lee (10), who was approached by Robin Ingram, Head of the Student Ambassador program, and was asked to lead the North Korean fellows around the school

in the morning because he was fluent in Korean, he said. He was also able to attend the lunch discussion following the presentation, where the refugees discussed day to day life in North Korea in more depth, he said. “A lot more information is spread from China into North Korea than I expected,” he said. “I learned that citizens [of North Korea] could watch news from China, but they mostly heard about disasters and bad events in the world, because North Korean leaders filter out other news to make the point that their own country is safe and better.”

Chloe Kim (12) organized the event, because she became invested in the humans rights issue of North Korean refugees after visiting Korea for the first time, she said. “I didn’t interact a lot with my Asian heritage until then,” she said. “But after visiting Korea, I became more interested, especially because I talked to my relatives about how my grandfather escaped North Korea when he was nine years old.”

Kim approached Dean of Students Michael Dalo with the idea of bringing LiNK to the school for a full Upper Division assembly, Dalo said.

However, with the crowded schedule for fall assemblies, the administration decided to use the recital hall for the LiNK presentation, he said.

“I’m really happy that we were able to make the program happen, and there’s a possibility that we would want to have LinNK back to school at some point,” Dalo said.

After visiting, Kim watched a Ted Talk by Joseph Kim, a North Korean refugee who became a student in the United States, and later met him at an event where they discussed the difficulties of being a student with no financial support at all aside from a scholarship, she said. “He told me that some days, he could only afford to eat one packet of instant noodles per day, because he did not have a support system in America,” she said.

“He provided me with the sense of direction I

needed for my activism through his stories.”

Kim went on to create the Bao Sei Foundation, a nonprofit to raise funds for students from North Korea, and through her networking she was able to talk to LiNK’s CEO Hannah Song about a LiNK presentation at the school.

So far, LiNK has successfully aided 1000 North Korean escapees, and provided each person not only with help coordinating their escape, but also with resettlement assistance. This aspect of the program includes education, living expenses, and career opportunities in the refugee’s new home.

There are many benefits for sharing the stories of North Korean refugees with students, LiNK development coordinator Sarah Kim said. “I believe that people who are in high school and college are in the best position to hear about these stories and how they can get involved, because they aren’t busy with a full-time job yet, so they can consider if this issue is something they want to pursue,” she said.

Overall, the event changed the perspectives of North Korea that students typically held throughout the school.

“The event gave me a new view of North Korea because it was about the culture and the people who live there, instead of the same narrative that we hear on the news,” Salsberg said.

“It was emotionally intense and so many people were touched by the stories,” Xing said. “It was really humbling for me because it made me aware of these issues that had seemed intangible, and it emphasizes how lucky we are.”

“I think Upper Division students were aware of the situation in North Korea through their history classes and the news, but it was never in their realities,” Dalo said. “To be able to talk to people around the same age made the situation much more real.”

AP Environmental Science class goes to Meadowland Environmental Center Bradley Bennett Staff Writer

Last Friday, the AP Environmental Science class took a field trip to the Meadowlands Environmental Center in New Jersey to participate in a field study of salt marsh ecosystems. The center is located on a salt water estuary of the Hackensack River.

The class chose this site because it “has a sordid history of human destruction -- draining the marsh, filling it in as a landfill, the Superfund sites upstream-- and is a great example of an ecosystem that is rebounding,” Science Teacher Camilla Nivison said.

The field trip allowed the class to learn field techniques and experience science in action, she said. It also allowed the students to research the impact of an urban environment on the salt marsh ecosystem.

The trip lasted all day on Friday, where the students participated in active field studies and lab experiments, Eliza Bender (12) said.

The students first met an instructor in a classroom at the center who taught them about the history of the site, the biological features of the environment, and the characteristics of the ecosystems of New Jersey, Bender said.

Following the brief lecture, students went outdoors to perform geological experiments. The students examined the swamplands of the area, taking samples of the water to measure salinity and pH, Bender said. They also caught organisms such as fish and crabs, and measured and recorded various data about the organ-

Katya Arutyunyan/Art Director

isms.

Although the class did not manage to catch any rare creatures, the activity allowed students to “learn both about the water chemistry and the ecological community of the ecosystem,” Nivison said.

Through their field experiments, the students were able to map out the food web of the New Jersey ecosystem based on the student’s findings and observations, Bender said.

Although the students had to release all the organisms they found back into their environment, they were able to use pre-treated lab samples provided by the center to complete their map of the food web, Nivison said.

These activities allowed the students to make meaningful connections between their class and the actual ecosystems that they studying.

“The activities we did at the center allowed us to interact with the organisms and made it feel like we were testing skills we’d learned in a real life situation,” Bender said.

For Mika Asfaw (12), creating the food web “made the class topics more concrete because we saw how interconnected the food chain is in different ecosystems,” he said.

Earlier in the year, the class had conducted similar experiments at Van Cortlandt Park, but this trip was unique because it “allowed [them] to interact with the environment on a much larger scale,” Bender said.

“I really enjoyed engaging and taking part in the hands-on experiments because they kept me very focused,” Masa Shiiki (12) said.

To end the day, the class toured the flagship building of the center, which includes a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified sustainable building design, Nivison said. LEED certified designs signify that the building displays numerous sustainable green features.

For example, the center is built on an old landfill, making use of space that would otherwise not be used for anything, Nivison said.

Additionally, the building conserves energy by using recyclable materials, and has large angled windows to allow for natural light, she said.

“I felt it was worth taking the trip because it helped us to understand the environmental problems that our society faces,” Asfaw said.

Overall, the trip inspired the students in the class to think differently about environmental sciences.

“Now I understand better that I have to look at multiple factors when I am doing analysis,” Shiiki said.

For Bender, the trip was successful because it “allowed us to see how our class lessons actually play out, not as a hypothetical idea but as a practical use of our skills,” she said.

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THE RECORD NEWS OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

Katya Arutyunyan/Art Editor

Alumna lead Columbia University’s Butler Banner Project Lauren Ho Staff Writer Sometimes, victory can seem as simple as a banner. So it was for Radhika Metha ‘18 and Gustie Owens ‘18, when a banner carrying the names of eight female author rose on Columbia University’s Butler Library last Wednesday. It meant the culmination of a decades-long struggle at Columbia, as the eight names etched in stone on the building are all of ancient, male, Classical philosophers.

This feat, however, was not unprecedented. In 1989, Laura Hotchkiss Brown attempted to hang a banner over the names of male authors at Butler to protest the lack of female inclusion in the curriculum, but University security quickly removed it. In 1994, another banner showed the names of 10 female authors in celebration of Women’s History Month, but the banner was only up for a day.

Mehta and Owens continued the protest against a lack of female inclusion through the new 140-foot banner, this time in collaboration with the Columbia University Libraries. The female authors and visionaries featured from across time periods and continents are Maya Angelou, Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Diana Chang, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, A. Revathi, Ntozake Shange, and Leslie Marmon Silko.

“As a woman of color, I kind of felt like there was something missing in the curriculum,” Mehta said. “In Western Masterpieces of Literature and Humanities, a class that all freshmen take, all the books that we read are from Western literature, and most of them are written by white men.

I felt that a lot of the themes and texts that we read weren’t relatable to me.”

Columbia student Joanne Wang ‘18 said that Columbia’s core curriculum may be the cause of students’ frustration with the skewed academic pursuits of students. “ I appreciate any opportunity for our university to present and celebrate the many other diverse identities that the student body is comprised of,” Wang said.

The Butler Banner Project, which Mehta and Owens led, surveyed Columbia and Barnard students to gather an initial list of authors, then researched them all further, according to the Project’s website. The ultimate selection emphasized influential women from communities marginalized in the West.

“In initial meetings with the library, it became

Courtesy of Allison Moore

BUILDING BLOCKS Owens ‘18 and Metha ‘18 pose with the banner covered facade.

clear that this project should go beyond just a banner,” Mehta said. “Instead of just critiquing the exclusivity of the Butler Library facade, we wanted this project to spark discussion around the themes and identities that are sidelined by the Core Curriculum and the idea of a Western canon through a lecture series, book club, and other engaging events.

Such events include lectures by several female professors at Columbia University and Barnard College, a screening of the Toni Morrison documentary The Pieces I Am (a documentary about Toni Morrison), an open mic night, a Radical Black Women of Harlem walking tour, an open mic night, and a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon with the CEO of Wikipedia.

Additionally, on the third floor of the Butler Library, there are eight exhibition cases dedicated to each of the authors. There will also be archived materials from the projects in 1989 and 1994, along with correspondence from Mr. Butler about the selection process for the inscription.

“There are a lot of Horace Mann alumni at Columbia, and they’ve been so supportive during the process of making this idea come to fruition,”

Owens said. Besides going to the event themselves, she said, they also brought their friends “I think that the Butler Banner Project’s mission is an amazing idea–while we may mention the lack of representation when it comes to works by female (especially women of color) authors in our curriculum, we often don’t take action to address the issue and take steps towards remedying it,” said Eunice Bae ‘19, a Columbia student.

Head of Upper Division Dr. Jessica Levenstein and her younger daughter passed by the banner while walking on the Columbia campus recently.

“I was struck by the elegance of the banner, and I felt that it was an incredible piece of activism, especially because it facilitates a conversation regarding what we decide to teach, and how it represents the students learning the content,” Levenstein said.

In past iterations of The Butler Banner Project, students faced disciplinary measures and even arrests, and their banners only hung for two days, which is why the project wanted to partner with the Libraries, the Butler Banner Project website said. The partnership with the Libraries allowed the project to ensure the long-lasting impact and

also shows the progress that has been made both at Columbia and in our contemporary society, the Butler Banner Project said.

Working with the administration is something that both Mehta and Owens have experience with--at the school, Owens found out that by reaching out to the administration, tangible change could be made, and Mehta frequently interacted with the administration as the president of a couple clubs.

Additionally, both Mehta and Owens felt that it was so easy to work with someone that they already knew so well. Both of them took a class focused on the author Toni Morrison that was taught by Deborah Stanford, and developed new ways of viewing the world through different perspectives, which started their passion for gender, race, and diversity issues, Owens said.

“I am really proud of both Radhika and Gustie for their involvement in this project, and I’m not surprised that two of the school’s graduates were part of something that so effectively brought a question into Columbia’s consciousness,” Levenstein said.

Chin takes on Comic Con, one costume at a time

Yesh Nikam Staff Writer

Courtesy of Dylan Chin

CORONATED FOR COSPLAY Chin poses in his costume.

Months of hard work, close attention to detail, and a passion for his craft are all elements Dylan Chin (12) incorporated in his award winning costume at the 2019 New York Comic Con. Chin describes Comic Con as a place for all things pop-culture.

“There’s obviously comics because that’s what it’s based on but that really occupies a very small portion of it. It’s a huge melting pot of pop-culture, and at the heart of it is the cosplay aspect,” he said.

According to Chin, cosplay is the art of dressing up just for fun, rather than for a special occasion, such as Halloween. “It’s for competition, to honor your favorite character, or just to play a different character for a day.” As an actor, the ability to stay “in character” for a whole day is an appealing aspect of cosplay.

Chin has attended Comic Con in costumes every year since fourth grade. All his costumes are hand-made from scratch. Initially they were extremely basic, but that changed as he began to attend more conventions. By the time he was in tenth grade, he was studying all the necessary tools and using cosplay materials in his costumes.

This year, Chin wanted to take his cosplay to a new level. “I wanted to do something bigger than anything I had ever done before,” he said. He decided to go as Skull Kid, the villian from Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask, one of his favorite video games.

While designing an accurate Skull Kid costume was daunting, Chin was certainly up for the challenge.

He started in late July and worked on it constantly, paying close attention to the smallest of details. He sewed the shorts and tunic, crafted the hat from wire, and made the mask, gloves, and moon, an important aspect of Skull Kid that is often overlooked, he said.

As the costume began to come together, Chin stumbled upon some unexpected challenges. “When I finished sewing the tunic and shorts, I realized that they were not the right color,” he said.

The character is a woodland creature. I needed to give [the costume] a weathered appearance,” he said.

Chin tackled this problem in an unconventional yet creative manner. He boiled a pot of tea bags and placed the clothes in the tea for an hour. After that, he put the soggy clothes on baking sheets and baked them for twenty minutes. “Not only did this seal in the tea color but it also gave it [the costume] some crispy burnt edges,” he said.

However, the aspect of the costume that Chin is proudest of is

the apparatus he created to ensure that the moon appeared stationary over his head, he said.

Chin created a back-pack like object on his back using PVC pipes and backpack straps, and used a belt to strap it to his body.

He then cut two holes into the moon he constructed and placed two other clear PVC pipes through them. This device fit right into the backpack system and through two holes in the top of his shirt, creating an illusion that the moon was floating.

By October, Chin’s costume was ready for Comic Con, and it was a major hit. He attended both Saturday and Sunday in his costume, and both days over two-thousand people wanted to take a photo with him, he said.

Chin also entered a cosplay competition at the convention, placing second Katya Arutyunyan/Art Editor among thirty contestants. “I was pretty impressed, there were some pretty good cosplays there,” he said.

Chin believes that the reason he won was due to his inclusion of the moon in his costume, which is normally excluded in Skull Kid costumes due to logistical challenges. “The moon is an integral part of the character but it is really hard to conceptualize a massive floating sphere as a part of a costume,” he said.

Despite his success at Comic Con, this is just the beginning for Chin who still believes he can improve his cosplay. “I’ve still got a really long way to go,” he said.

He is starting to develop his own brand and can be commissioned for props or other costume related items. He even has business cards with his social media information so people can reach out to him.

“I see a world where I can do this for a living,” he said.

HORACE MANN ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

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132 Years of Lions’ Pride

Girls’ Tennis 1998

Football 1902

Juniors show school spirit 1998

Courtesy of the Horace Mann Archives

Dance Dance Revolution! Spirit squad Brings Home the pep Talia Winiarsky

Staff Writer

You’ve seen the iconic high school homecoming in movies such as High School Musical and Bring it On; in popular culture, a school’s homecoming typically involves a football game, peppy cheerleaders engaging spectators, and the community coming together to celebrate the school.

This Saturday’s Homecoming will be similar to the quintessential high school homecoming, except instead of the cheerleaders chanting on the sidelines, the school’s Spirit Squad will perform a dance for all spectators and players to enjoy.

Spirit Squad is an alternative to the traditional acrobatic-based cheerleading, Co-Captain Morgan Smith (10) said. Instead of acrobatics, the team performs a hip-hop based routine, which makes it easier for students who have no prior experience to join.

“Traditional cheerleading squads remain throughout the game and respond and react to every play of the game. Spirit Squad really is a performance group that performs at half time,” Theatre, Dance, and Film Studies Department Chair and Spirit Squad adviser Alison Kolinski said.

The school used to have cheerleading and gymnastics team, science teacher Dr. Susan Delanty ’79 said. While Delanty said that the cheerleading team’s ending could be attributed to its inherent sexist nature, since it was composed of girls cheering on only boys’ teams, the team ended because of students’ lack of interest in a cheerleading team. For similar reasons, the school no longer has a gymnastics team. “We can do anything that our kids are interested in, so if kids were interested in having a cheerleading team, I imagine that they could.”

If students wanted to form a cheerleading team or a club, the school would be open to discussing what the options could be, Dr. Jessica Levenstein, Head of Upper Division, said.

Co-Captain Julia Grant (10) said that students would prefer a Spirit Squad to a cheerleading team. “It’s nice that we can perform our dance for everyone without throwing people in the air and tumbling.”

However, Isabela Binnmyr (11), a member of Spirit Squad, said that she would want to join a cheerleading team if it were available to her, and she knows of other students as well that are disappointed that the

school does not have a team. “I don’t think we’re allowed to make a cheerleading squad because it’s supposedly misogynistic,” Binnmyr said.

Since the 1940s, men were pulled away from cheerleading and teams became mostly female, according to a 2018 article from The Atlantic, titled “How Cheerleading Went from Raucous and Male to Restrictive and Female”. “Spectators started emphasizing cheerleaders’ physical attractiveness more than their athleticism,” the article said.

Cheerleading in recent years, however, has become increasingly focused on developing routines for competition rather than cheering other teams on, the article said, which is why Binnmyr feels that cheerleading should be allowed, she said.

Similar to a cheerleading team, the Squad’s purpose is to cheer teams on with a dance routine, Smith said. “It’s really about getting people excited to support their athletes. During halftimes at actual homecoming, if we are losing, we can get people hyped up and excited.”

Grant and Smith choreographed this year’s routine, which the Squad will perform at the Lower Division and Upper Division pep-rallies on Friday and at halftime during the Varsity Football game against Dalton on Saturday.

Grant and Smith met in the beginning of the school year to pick the music and choreograph the routine. A week later, they introduced the choreography to the Dance Performance class, taught by Kolinski.

All members of the class are a part of the team, but others can join the team as well.

The class is helpful because it provides a common time to practice, but if a performer has a scheduling conflict, it is the responsibility of the choreographers to teach that dancer on their own time, which is difficult, former Spirit Squad member Nisha Sahgal ‘19 said.

The squad will be dancing to “Hot Girl Summer,” by Megan Thee Stallion, “On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez, and “Level Up,” by Ciara. “[The songs] are really energetic and they’ll get everyone excited to see us,” Grant said.

The choreography of the routines is a large part of the appeal of the Squad, former member Allison DeRose ‘19 said. During her junior and senior years, DeRose noticed that more people were joining the team to learn a new style of dance because the choreography was much approachable for dancers with limited experience in hip-hop, she said.

The Spirit Squad is dedicated to including all students, regardless of skill level, DeRose said. “Especially my senior year, I saw more people joining it for the sake of being on it instead of being on HMDC [Horace Mann Dance Company] already and wanted to dance more.”

The Squad offers the opportunity for experienced dancers to build their repertoire, Song said. For example, Song does ballet outside of school often, and Spirit Squad helped her improve at ballet. Hip-hop teaches dancers how to work with the ground more, instead of trying to leap off the ground like a ballet dancer, she said.

Although the class has many benefits, because Spirit Squad is relatively new, a challenge for its leaders has been to gain exposure to the student body, DeRose said. The club was formed in 2006 or 2007, Kolinski said.

“In my freshman year, before I started, I didn’t know that [Spirit Squad] was a thing because I don’t remember them performing at homecoming,” DeRose said.

Smith and Grant plan increasing exposure of the club by introducing Middle Division students to the Squad, Smith said. “Julia and I want to go to the middle school and say that you don’t have to know how to dance to join, and overall it’s just a really fun thing to do.”

In addition, the leaders encourage male-identifying students to join, as the club is currently composed of only female-identifying members, Smith said. The Squad has only had three male-identifying members in its history, and the most recent male-identifying participants graduated in 2012, Kolinski said.

“The choreography is usually more female-centered because it’s choreographed by females,” DeRose said. “More female dancers feel comfortable doing the dances because they’re much more feminine.”

Part of the reason that only girls join Spirit Squad is because it’s a part of the Dance Performance class, Sahgal said. The students that usually sign up for the course are interested in learning ballet and jazz, which the course focuses on for most of the year. “A lot of people get deterred by that sometimes, especially guys.”

In order to diversify the gender makeup, Sahgal suggests that the Squad meet after school instead of during the Dance Performance class, she said.

If the Squad had a more even gender balance, their dances would include more partner work, Smith said.

The team is looking past Homecoming as they hope to perform more often. The captains plan on choreographing routines for halftimes of basketball games, Grant said.

Song said that she hopes the members of the community will come out to support the Squad’s hard work that they put into their routine.

“It’s about going out there and enjoying yourself.”

6

THE RECORD PHOTO OCTOBER 11, 2019

Scenes from our First Month

by Ahaan Palla, Griffin Smith, and Jake Shapiro

Hail the Photo Editors

Jumping through hoops

Hoopin’ around

Seniors enjoy ice cream!

Pulling in all directions

Clubs’ fair fun

Never too late to sign up!

7

HORACE MANN LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

When we roar the loudest: the lions’ fiercest rivalries Josh Underberg & Julia Goldberg Staff Writers

h mit nS

riffi of G esy ur t Co

Jack Golub ‘15 can recall the court literally shaking from the cheers of the school’s fans during Buzzell 2014, a game against the school’s toughest rival, Riverdale, he said. “We entered halftime down two, struggled to get any momentum, and then ripped off a game ending in 20-2,” he said. “We ran them out of the gym. I’ve never been prouder to represent HM,” he said.

The school’s rivalry with Riverdale is nothing new. “From the 1980s onwards, Riverdale has been seen as the ‘big bad,’” Archivist Hillary Matlin said.

However, each individual sport has maintained its own rivalries, she said. For football and wrestling it was Riverdale, for soccer it was Hackley, and for girls’ basketball, Fieldston, Matlin said.

Registrar Chris Garrison ‘04 said he’s noticed that rivalries fluctuate throughout the years.

“If we lose to a certain team in the playoffs the previous year, it’s a different vibe the next year,” he said. “The nature of high school sports is that sometimes a rivalry that’s really competitive one year just isn’t again the next year.”

Over the course of his time at the school, however, he has noticed that Riverdale and Trinity have remained competitive rivals, he said.

“Schools change, merge, open, and close with a lot of irregularity, so our rivalries are more flexible,” Matlin said. “I think because Ivy League schools have these historic rivalries, it’s almost ingrained in the culture of prep schools. In order for rivalries to last, the schools must be near equal in terms of skill, Matlin said.

“We used to race against New York Military School in the 1940s, but they’d kick our butt in track every year,” she said. “They were never considered a rival.

Any time we won, it’d be a big deal, but the win would be considered a fluke,” she said.

The rivalry against Riverdale remains ever-present in football, because the team is fueled to go the extra mile to defeat the opponent, Jonas Jacobson (11) said. “Everyone becomes faster, stronger and more aggressive.”

Matches against Riverdale, as well as Trinity and Hackley, generate a new energy for the tennis team, in which everyone feels more passionate, Isha Agarwal (12) said. “We feel the adrenaline pumping and strive to go above and beyond to show those teams what HM is made of.”

Agarwal links the school’s rivalry with Riverdale to the school’s proximity as well as their attitude on the courts, she said. “People often compare the hill schools to each other, and it’s natural to defend Horace Mann in the face of those conversations,” she said.

When playing against Fieldston and Riverdale, fans of the away team are more willing to travel to neighboring schools, allowing for everybody to get involved, Coach Neil Berniker said.

Field hockey’s fiercest rivals are Fieldston and Riverdale, Abigail Morse (11) said.

“I think because of their proximity, a bunch of sports teams have rivalries with them,” she said.

These rivalries are strengthened for the field hockey team because of how close their games always are, she said.

“Every time we play, we win or lose by a small margin,” Morse said.

At Homecoming, the field hockey team will face off against Fieldston.

They’ve played them once this year, but they weren’t ready for the challenge, she said. “We’re more prepared now, and we really want to beat them.”

Playing on Alumni Field will certainly provide an advantage because the team will take the energy from the environment

Courtesy of Jasmine Ortiz

SWING FOR THE FENCES Avi Kapadia (11) crushes a pitch against Fieldston. into the game to help them win, she said.

The school’s rivalry with Trinity, however, is the most iconic in terms of both athletics and academics, Agarwal said. “I feel like we’ve been directly competing with Trinity for years and feel a lot of school pride in games against them,” she said.

One year ago, Trinity even dedicated a day of their spirit week to dressing like a Horace Mann student, which resulted in many students wearing trash bags with HM labels pinned to them. “Obviously Horace Mann students found out, and we were incredibly offended,” Agarwal said.

Harmony Li (10) believes the swim team’s rivalry with Trinity is the greatest because Trinity is one of the only teams that has been able to outscore the school’s team in recent years, she said.

Trinity is also the water polo team’s fiercest rival, Ari Salsberg (11) said. The most competitive game Salsberg can recall was a match against Trinity during Homecoming 2017, he said. “We were down a couple of goals and managed to force overtime, thanks to a full pool shot from our goalie,” he said. “In overtime, one of our players hit a no-look, flip-behind the back shot to win it with three seconds left.”

Trinity has had a water polo team for longer than any other team in New York, so the team

has been playing them for the longest time, he said.

Rivalries have never failed to push students in the past. Rivalries have and will continue to push sports teams to work harder in the future, Morse said.

Courtesy of Jasmine Ortiz

GO HARD IN THE PAINT Ella Anthony (12) and Kate Golub ‘19 scrap for a rebound against Riverdale at Buzzel 2019.

One last ride: class of ‘20 athletes suiting up for the final time in their senior years Yotam Hahn Staff Writer After the Varsity Boys Basketball team’s starting point guard fouled out in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the team began to worry about its chances to win, Sangmin Lee (12) said. The team was playing against undefeated rival Riverdale.

Kyle Gaillard ‘19 missed the game winner at the end of the first overtime, Lee said. “He ran into a wall upset and frustrated.”

In the end, the Lions pulled it together and took down the number one ranked team in the Ivy League in double overtime, Lee said. “It was an emotional win that stuck with the team and helped us keep momentum for the end of the season. It was undoubtedly one of my proudest moments as a Lion.”

As the reality of competing as a Lion for the last time sinks in for the athletes belonging to the class of 2020, the seniors reflect on how the school’s sports teams have shaped their high school experience.

Coming into a new school, co-Captain

Courtesy of Barry Mason

SHOOT Claire Griffin (12) scores against Brearley.

Daniel Lee (12) was unsure of what to expect, on all of the courts, he said. but being on the soccer team allowed him to Through leading stretches the seniors on make plenty of friends before the school year the cross country team get the entire team to even began, he said. bond and become a close group of girls, Girls Aside from meeting new people, many seCross Country Captain Caroline Scherr (12) nior athletes have experienced other benefits said. of being on a team, such as relieving stress, Sports teams allowed younger athletes to passionate coaching, and high levels of commature into the senior captains that they are petition. “For me soccer is an activity that today, which teaches lessons that can be helps me forget about work, and playing applied off the field, Khakee said. “I became always makes me happy,” co-Captain of the the starting shortstop in 10th grade so I Boys Varsity Soccer team, Chris Ha (12) was immediately being held accountsaid. able by the upperclassmen, and Coach In working closely with their athletes Russo helped me take over that role over the years, many coaches have left by telling me to lead in any way that I a lasting impact on players through knew how,” he said. their passion, energy, and relatability.

“Russo has continued to push me “One thing that surprised me is how to be the best player and leader that I passionate Russo is, he is always the can be and that has carried over to most fired up guy on the field and my life off the baseball field.” it’s definitely made playing a lot Continuing their respective more fun,” Varsity Baseball sports after high school is Captain Suraj Khakee (12) important to these athGabby Fischberg/Art Director said. letes, whether it’s playing For individual sports, at the collegiate level, the team aspect adds so much value that one playing at the club level, or playing purely for might not get from playing on your own, Boys fun. “I definitely am looking forward to playVarsity Tennis Captain Sidh Chawla (12) said. ing club soccer or intramurals,” Ha said.

“Being on a tennis team brings out a much “I hope to play division three baseball in more competitive emotion, because you are college, so I’m excited to see where I go,” Khaplaying not only for yourself but also for your kee said. Playing baseball both in school and teammates,” he said. out of school has had a huge impact on my “[The] biggest thing for me when I joined highschool experience and it was nice to see the tennis team was how much of a family asthat some of that work pays off.” pect it brought to an individual sport,” Chawla “I will be playing soccer in college, but I’ll said. Tennis becomes a team sport, because miss being a lion and representing the school you are rooting for all of your teammates even everyday,” Girls Varsity Soccer Captain Kiara when you’re not playing, and you constantly Royer (12) said. have to be involved and cheering for everyone The environment of the meets, the park,

Courtesy of Barry Mason

TAG UP Co-Captain Suraj Khakee (12) dashes around the bases against Fieldston.

and all of the people on the team is what will be missed most by Scherr, she said.

Too much hard work and dedication has been put into Chawla’s tennis career for him to give up on it after high school, he said.

He plans to continue his tennis career either playing on his college varsity team or the club team.

For some senior athletes, ending the final season as a Lion is emotional and comes with personal aspirations. “I’ve always wanted to end my career with a walk-off hit. I feel like that’s an awesome way to go out,” Khakee said.

“I will be playing soccer in college, but I’ll miss being a Lion and representing the school everyday,” Royer said. “I hope to play division three baseball in college so im excited to see where I go,” Khakee said. “Playing baseball both in school and out of school has had a huge impact on my highschool experience and it was nice to see that some of that work pays off,” Khakee said.

8

THE RECORD FEATURES OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

Julia Goldberg Staff Writer From the forests of Dorr to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Nadine Block ‘89 has always been inspired by the wonders of nature.

“I grew up in a fairly urban environment, so having the chance to experience an environment like Dorr helped me appreciate the outdoors both professionally and personally,” Block said.

“Hiking through the woods, building campfires, and just spending time outdoors – that definitely shaped me.”

Through high school and college graduation, Block’s interest in the forest has never faded. She has been involved with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) for a decade, and currently is the Senior Vice President for Government and Network Relations.

“Long term, [SFI is] trying to make sure that our forests are healthy and well-managed,” she said. “We want our forests to be able to produce products such as paper and timber for homes, but also public benefits like clean water, clean air, and wildlife habitats.”

To achieve these goals, the SFI sets standards for proper forest management which companies can use as a reference to ensure they’re taking care of forests, Block said. Block’s organization, then, promotes the sustainability of forests to the marketplace as well as government agencies.

“The companies might be ones helping land owners understand how to manage their forests well, or they might be companies training loggers who are out in forests harvesting trees,” she said.

“Obviously, there is a role for protected forests, but because we work with organizations that are harvesting timber, we want to make sure that that’s done responsibly.”

Block loves the chance to share practical tools, whether it’s research projects or standards for good forest management, with others, she said.

“I love being able to give companies ways to make sure forests are well-managed into the future.”

Block said that she truly discovered her passion for forestr y management in college. “I was a biology major at Williams College, and we had a 2,000 acre research forest, and for some of my classes, I did research there, which I really enjoyed,” she said.

“We didn’t have any forest management classes, but I did study forest ecology and wildlife biology. I eventually went on to also get my Masters degree in forestry, but I’d say that my passion really started at Williams.”

Block also really enjoyed her math and science classes at Horace Mann, especially biology, chemistry and calculus, she said. Block wasn’t sure that

she’d have many applications for the math classes she was taking at the school at the time, but they proved quite useful in later science courses, she said.

Block loves her current job because it provides her with the opportunity to work with people who share the same goals as her and her company, she said. “There are a lot of people who have a very direct impact on the management of forests,” she said. “Some people might manage one small forest and s o m e might work for a company that manages millions of acres, but we all share an excitement and a love for the forest.”

The greatest challenge of her job is helping people understand that forestry management and environmental benefits are not mutually exclusive, she said. “A lot of people think ‘Oh, if we print this paper, that’s hurting a tree,’ but that’s really not the case,” Block said. “There are a lot of forests in the U.S. that are well managed, and they produce products like paper and clean water

NADINE BLOCK Class of 1989 PHIL PUTTER Class of 1999 John Mauro Staff Writer While others might be focusing on life on the ground, Phil Putter ‘99 spends his days with his eyes in the sky.

Putter switched jobs three weeks ago and began working at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which overlooks all aspects of civil aviation in the nation.

At the FAA, Putter works as a policy analyst, bringing different offices together to come up with the agency’s policies and regulations ranging from issues affecting passengers to aircraft regulation, he said.

Prior, Putter had worked at the Congressional Affairs Office at NASA for the last five years as a liaison with Congress, keeping it up to date on NASA affairs. “I would often be called in to answer questions on what NASA’s working on and to plan meetings for NASA officials,” Putter said.

Putter’s fascination for aircraft began when he was a little kid, he said. “I was always amazed that these giant pieces of metal could get up and fly and take you to incredible places all across the world.”

During the 2000 Presidential Election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, while Putter was an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania,

he became interested in politics and government, as the whole nation was gripped with the Florida recount, he said.

“I wanted to study political science in college, and I wanted to work in Congress,” Putter said.

“After graduating, I worked for some members of the House of Representatives in their personal offices as a

All art by Kiara

Hill, he would always be on call with a demanding and unpredictable schedule, but now he enjoys his standard nine to five work week with the FAA, he said.

For Putter, the most enjoyable part of his work is that he can spend time working on a subject matter that he’s so personally interested in, he said.

Royer/Features Ed

itor

senior legislative staffer helping to write bills and prepare for Congressional hearings.”

When Putter worked for NASA on Capitol

“This is the first time that I’ve been working on something that I would actually spend my free time reading about,” Putter said. “It doesn’t even feel like work sometimes.”

Although Putter didn’t bring much academic

as well as wildlife habitats. Helping people understand that it’s not a tradeoff – that you can use paper and wood and protect the environment – that’s been a real challenge.”

However, the rewards of the job outweigh the challenges, and the most gratifying aspect of the job has been working in coalitions, Block said.

“I’ve been a part of a few different efforts where we’ve brought together people from many different organizations to try to get a bill passed or some type of positive action achieved,” she said.

Recently, Block worked on a forest carbon offset program, in which she and members of other organizations tried to kickstart projects that would offset carbon emissions.

“We tried to come up with a way that could be positive for the environment and practical for the marketplace,” Block said. “The idea was to bring together people from a lot of different perspectives, and I think the ideas we came up with were environmentally and economically beneficial. I was one of those people leading that effort, and so the results felt really valuable to me.”

Recently, Block has started a new chapter of her life. She has moved from Washington D.C. to Portland, Oregon, and has spent much of her free time hiking, camping, and exploring the outdoors with her family.

“I plan to stay in my field here, and I think there are many opportunities to meet new people and to try to make a difference in terms of sustainability here in the pacific Northwest,” she said.

RETURNING HOME HOMECOMI REUN knowledge from the school into his career, he remembers he enjoyed playing on the tennis team, he said.

“I remember that the tennis team was extremely competitive,” Putter said. “I thought I was pretty good, but I didn’t make it past JV. One year I got the opportunity to play for the school at the Mayor’s Cup, and in the third round of the cup, I played at the site of the US Open. My time on the tennis team was definitely a highlight of my HM experience.”

“Regularity is good; it’s good to be working at something you’re interested in, but also to have that free time after that lets you live your life and follow your other pursuits,” he said.

Putter also formed strong bonds with his teachers, he said.

“One of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Enright, made my time at the school really enjoyable,” he said. “She taught Foundations, this eclectic class of English, literature, and human evolution. I felt a real connection with her. She made me feel welcomed and pushed me to learn.”

Instead of attending reunions, Putter prefers to stay in touch directly with the people he wants to stay in touch with, he said. “Although I don’t really enjoy the reunion itself, before the 10 year reunion I had dinner with some of my friends and that was much more important to me,” he said.

HORACE MANN FEATURES OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

John Mauro Staff Writer Covering everything from presidents to the 2004 Olympics, Lauren Cohn ‘84 has reported about it all.

Cohn is a radio host and afternoon News Anchor at WLS-AM 890 in Chicago. She also works as a contributor, news anchor, and occasional host for the 5-7 John Howell Show, which covers the major news topics of the day, she said.

As a journalist, Cohn reports on day to day news. She looks at the stories of the moment, in terms of both Chicago metropolitan area and national news, and builds it into a newscast, Cohn said.

Cohn was offered an unpaid internship at WABCTV in New York during her junior year at New York University. “My mother, the PR Director for Macy’s, was concerned that I wasn’t picking a direction for my career,” she said. Because Cohn loved both photography and reading, her mother thought she should try and marry the two ideas together, she said.

“I walked into WABC’s newsroom, and immediately the energy of the room, all the information being disseminated so quickly, it all just stuck with me. I was like a kid in a candy store,” Cohn said. “In those days, newsrooms had a lot of people. There were typewriters, cameramen, reporters, and pictures up of sat-

G TO THeiR E TURF: ING ALUMNI NIONS Julia Goldberg Staff Writer Adam Levine ‘04 has always loved building projects from the ground up, and that’s precisely what he does as Director and CEO of Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I learned pretty early on in my life that there all sorts of good reasons for people to work for top notch brands, but I’m not interested in that,” Levine said. “I’m attracted to the idea of taking something and making it grow.”

Levine is working on building upon the foundation of the Cummer Museum, specifically, because he believes in its potential, he said. “Jacksonville is the biggest city in Florida, and it has a real opportunity to build infrastructure that is proportionate to its resources,” he said.

“There’s a mismatch between what Jacksonville could do and their current appetite to take the Cummer, which is a gem, and really polish it to make it truly national and significant.”

The foundation of the museum is there, but everything could be elevated – and Levine thinks that the population of Jacksonville desires to see that, he said.

Levine loves his line of work because it is any-

ellite interviews from all over the world. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.”

Cohn then moved on to become a desk assistant and researcher at WPIX in New York, she said. Afterwards, she covered live news in Fresno, California.

Cohn has worked in this specific field for 32 years, and an important part of knowing what stories to pick comes from experience, she said.

“You choose the stories people want to know about, pick the top three or four facts that you think are most important, without opinion,

and give it to the listener. Your job is to inform and educate the listener.”

“I’ve covered everything from the 2004 Olympics, to major hurricanes, to situations with gunfire,” Cohn said.

Unlike a standard nine to five job, Cohn is constantly on call, twenty-four

seven, from writing stories in the morning to working overnights.

“I’m currently on air, every 15 minutes, straight from two to seven pm,” Cohn said. “There’s no such thing as a lunch break in the news business.”

Although difficult, the work is worth it for Cohn.

The most rewarding part about her job is to hear people tell their stories, she said.

“The most rewarding part is the people I get to meet who trust me with the intimate parts of their lives,” Cohn said. “I tell their story. It’s my job to seek out the truth, report the facts and let the public decide.

I’m really lucky that I’m one of those people who love what

9 they do.”

Because much of her journalism career is based on writing and critical thinking, Cohn remembers her time at the school fondly because of the skills she learned and the memories she made, she said.

“Horace Mann teaches you to think and to write, two major components of what I do today, and I’ll always appreciate that,” Cohn said.

“The curriculum challenges you, and you’re surrounded by a lot of bright students, but it’s worth it; once you get into college and into the workforce, you’ll have the skills you need.”

During her time at the school, Cohn also played basketball, field hockey, and softball.

“Basketball was my high school highlight,” she said. “It was all about my relationship with my dad, who was a tremendous athlete.w3www He would come to my games, and after the games he would make me shoot one hundred free throws every time. He encouraged me to be my very best.”

Because Cohn’s family couldn’t afford the tuition, the school granted her financial aid, she said.

The school helped give Cohn the confidence to follow her dreams and do what she really wanted to do, she said. “I hope other students are able to get what I got from the school.

LAUREN COHN Class of 1984 ADAM LEVINE Class of 2004 thing but repetitive, he said. “There are a lot of people who you can speak to who will say no two days are the same for them, but it is really the case in my world, whether I’m talking to elected officials about policy matters or I’m working with a team to work on curating exhibitions,” Levine said.

Levine knew he would study art history since he took AP Art History and both surveys one and two at the school, which are n o longer offered. “I didn’t know I wanted to work in a muse-

are similar requirements for success which the school is capable of providing, he said.

“It provides you with a foundation of critical thinking, and it allows you to communicate effectively in the real world,” Levine said.

Currently, Levine is in the midst of executing a strategic three-year growth plan for the museum, he said.

“You can’t grow at a huge rate in perpetuity without exhausting people, and it’s hard to find the money to support that, so we’ll

um until college, but I knew I wanted to work in the art world the moment I showed up there, and I owe that in large part to Horace Mann,” he said.

However, much of what Levine has applied to his job from the school wasn’t learned specifically in his art history courses. “Horace Mann is topnotch education, and every alumnus will tell you that,” Levine said. No matter the discipline, there

focus on significant growth for three years and then we’ll consolidate,” Levine said. “Think of it as climbing a mountain––we’ll climb for the next three years, and then we’ll set a new base down.”

The expansion of the museum is rewarding work, Levine said. “I’m proud to manage a group of people who leave the office everyday feeling engaged and in line with the museum’s vision,”

he said. “I’m not successful unless the people who are working for me are successful. I curate, but I’m not a curator – I’m a director, so you think about things a little differently in that role.”

As Director and CEO, Levine has a great deal of responsibility to the workers of the museum.

“There’s a terrible myth in society that you have to work all of the time, and that’s not true,” he said. “I take my responsibility to make sure the team has balance very seriously.”

Levine is responsible for his workers, but also feels as though the Cummer Museum as a whole is responsible for the Jacksonville public, he said. “Museums are fundamentally civic, and in the United States of America they exist of and for their citizens,” Levine said.

According to a biannual survey conducted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the most trusted institutions in America are libraries and museums, Levine said. “Museums have a huge obligation to be places where people of different views can stand side by side and engage in conversation,” he said.

Levine is confident that the Cummer Museum, and the field as a whole, will be able to uphold this standard of excellence as it continues to grow, he said.

10

THE RECORD FEATURES OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

From the field to the dance floor Alison Isko and Katya Tolunsky Staff Writers “There’s so much going on at once, from club booths, robotics demonstrations, games for kids, rides, entertainers, marching bands, and food, food, food. Did I mention free food?” Visual Arts Department Chair Kim Do said, referring to the school’s annual homecoming day.

“Homecoming day is like a party,” science teacher Dr. Susan Delanty ‘79 said. “When I was a student, I don’t remember there being a party linked to Homecoming.”

But when current students think of “homecoming” and “party” in the same sentence, Homecoming day isn’t the party they’re referring to. They think of Hoco, a non-school affiliated party that takes place around the time of homecoming.

Hoco is a senior-run party that, similarly to a Halloween party, includes dressing up in costumes within friend groups. Many students prefer having it in the place of a formal, school-sponsored dance.

“In theory, I wish we had more formal dances at our school in general, but at the same time I can’t imagine having a homecoming dance just because it seems so unlike our school’s culture,” Dalia Pustilnik (10) said.

“I think that many people view Hoco as a rite of passage,” Jordan Ferdman (11) said. “The party, whether it’s fun or not, is something that people want to check off their high school checklist.”

Similarly, Margalit Patry-Martin (12) thinks that Hoco is a way for students to “live that stereotypical high school life.”

KristIn Yung (11) feels that some people would enjoy a more formal party, she said. “But at the same time, Hoco allows them to just have fun and do whatever they want.”

Annie Wallach (11) expressed a similar sentiment to Yung, saying that Hoco was “lit” last year. “It’s super festive,” she said. “ I feel like

how informal Hoco is allows for more freedom in terms of what time you arrive and leave, and there’s just less pressure.”

However, many students don’t fully enjoy Hoco, Ferdman said.

Although she has never attended Hoco herself, she’s seen that “costume planning, in some friend groups, begins in April or May the previous year,” she said. “Hoco is hyped up to be this big thing, and people spend months preparing, and then it seems that no one enjoys themselves an awful lot at the actual event.”

Upper Division Physical Education Department Chair Amy Mojica believes that on top of not entirely enjoying their time, students might risk their safety by drinking.

“The school attempts to educate students about social decision making during freshman Horace Mann Orientation (HMO),” Psychologist Dr. Ian Pervil said. During their HMO classes, freshmen are given a space to ask questions about how to navigate difficult situations, like the ones that may occur during Hoco, he said.

Even though some people believe Hoco might be difficult for students to navigate, it is as much a tradition at the school as formal homecoming dances are elsewhere.

“I don’t know why we don’t have [a dance].

This is my twelfth year at the school, and it’s been like this for as long as I’ve been here,” Dean of the Class of 2021 and history teacher Dr. Susan Groppi said. “I would prefer that the students do not do [Hoco]; I don’t think it’s great, but I think if we had a homecoming dance, they would have the other party anyway.”

Ruth Berry (SAA ‘20), who attends Saint Agnes Academy, an all girls school in Memphis, doesn’t have a formal homecoming dance at her school. But their brother school, Christain Brothers, has a homecoming dance, so many girls from Saint Agnes Academy are asked to the homecoming dance there. “It’s nice because we don’t have to worry about asking people but we still get to go to a homecoming dance,” she said.

Unlike Horace Mann, Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has a formal Homecoming dance, Gabby Khoriaty (PCS ‘20) said, which is nice because it gives students a break from the stress of school. “It takes place in the gym, and there’s food and music and dancing, and for the last few years, there’s been a donut wall,” she said. “I’m not a huge fan of dances but a lot of my friends love it because i t

All Art by Kiara Royer/Features Editor and Katya Arutyunyan/Art Director

gives them an opportunity for lighthearted fun.”

Although the school does not host a traditional homecoming dance, it does host a pep rally the day before Homecoming. Co-captains of the Spirit Squad Morgan Smith (10) and Julia Grant (10) have been teaching and choreographing a dance for the pep rally since September. “The pep rallies are always a fun way to get people more excited about homecoming,” Smith said.

Homecoming is a great opportunity for “all members of the community to come together, whether it be faculty, parents, family, alumni, or students,’’ Yung said.

Pustilnik attends Homecoming in order to spend time with her friends and support them at their sports games, she said. Emily Salzhauer (9) is also looking forward to watching sports games this year, she said.

“You can go from soccer, to water polo, to volleyball, to field hockey, to tennis in a short five minute walk, see friends, then cap it all off with the football game to finish the day,” said Do. “It’s a great environment for the athletes to be part of,” Associate Athletic Director RJ Harmon said. “Everyone is wearing the school colors, going from game to game, rooting on their school team and enjoying the day.”

“I think it’s really nice for the teams to have a crowd watch them, because I think a lot of them don’t, most of the time,” Groppi said.

Since sports games typically take place after school and it can be difficult for students to make time to attend the games, Homecoming gives them an opportunity to watch.

However, since Homecoming is over Columbus Day Weekend this year, some people that typically go won’t be able to attend and support the sports teams as they have in the past. Groppi usually attends Homecoming with her child, but because of the date, she and her family will be away.

Even so, Harmon is confident that the crowds at Homecoming games will be larger, as more alumni living outside of New York will be able to attend, he said.

“It’s just such a fun day for all of HM to be together,” Jolie Nelsen (11) said. “Also, our school doesn’t normally have that much spirit, so it’s a great way to show it.”

Giacamo Maroni (10) agrees that the school could do a better job on school spirit and supporting sports teams.

“Horace Mann focuses more on academics than athletics,” he said, “I think more people would come to Homecoming if we had a less formal event and instead had a casual football game at night.”

However, Groppi thinks that the school does a great job of showing their spirit during Homecoming, she said. “I think the school has been doing a really great job of building school spirit around Homecoming,” Groppi said. “There’s the pep rally, and they gave out shirts at the lower school.”

Similarly to Horace Mann, at many other schools, Homecoming day is a time for students to show their school spirit by cheering on their friends and their school.

“From what I’ve heard about homecoming at boarding schools, it’s more about school spirit and rivals there,” Patry-Martin said. “I think boarding schools tend to have more serious rivalries, so people get excited about that.”

Elsa Walston (DFHS ‘22) said that at Dobbs Ferry High School, they have multiple days of homecoming, with each sport playing on a different day. Football, being the most popular, tends to draw the largest crowd and brings the school together, Walston said.

However, at some schools, homecoming isn’t a very big deal. Sophie Blistman (GNSHS ‘21) attends Great Neck South High School in Long Island which does not care much about their homecoming, she said. “We just don’t think it’s that important of an event, but my school isn’t big on school spirit either.”

Catherine Mignone (10) doesn’t think having a larger homecoming is necessary at the school, as many people at the school already attend as athletes, spectators, or both, she said.

The school still has a larger homecoming than some New York City high schools, as there are some schools that don’t even host an event. Madison Zeltzer (BWL ‘21) attends Birch Wathen Lenox, where they don’t have a homecoming.

Like Horace Mann, they also don’t have a formal homecoming dance.

Though there isn’t a formal homecoming dance at the school, there is still a culture of celebration around homecoming, Delanty said. “It’s wonderful.”

11

HORACE MANN LIONS’ DEN OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

eSports The debate around whether eSports should be considered a “REAL” sport:

es m a g eo

y vid a l p s dent u t s f o Yesh Nikam and Natalie Sweet Staff Writers

eSports, a rising and fast-growing part of the gaming community, is redefining the traditional boundaries of sports internationally and within the school’s community.

“The premise around eSports is competitive video gaming,” co-president of the school’s eSports Club Spencer Kahn (12) said.

“It’s the things that define sports culture: the themes, the players, the narratives, and the stories, but applied to video-games.” eSports is a very competitive activity that requires a lot of concentration, eSports Events Organizer Mitchell Yu (11) said. “When you get to high levels of play, it’s really a mental game more than anything else,” he said.

Errol Spencer (‘16) has been into eSports ever since he got into video games. He predominantly played competitive Pokemon on his Gameboy Advance SP at tournament facilities set up by Nintendo.

“I found out about tournaments when I got curious about who the best players were,” he said. “It really struck me when I learned that the initial prize pool for the League of Legends world championships was 1.5m [...]and watching them compete at the highest level of play made the appeal of it much bigger to me.” Prizes are mostly monetary at the highest levels, but anyone can go to locally organized tournaments and win exclusive items or skins for their characters.

Kahn first got into eSports about three years ago and now plays Mario’s Super Smash Bros Ultimate, a fighting game with characters that are a crossover of many video games from Super Mario Bros to Sonic, competitively. Dylan Chin (12), who plays Super Smash Bros alongside Kahn, started playing eSports a long time ago with his friends and family.

Playing competitively has allowed Kahn to develop a community with other gamers. Each Tuesday during the summer, Kahn would go down to the Waypoint Cafe in New York City, where they brought in monitors and consoles for people to play eSports in a competitive setting.

According to Khan, Waypoint cafe in Lower Manhattan is one of many places where gamers can put their skills to the test. The number of these centers has grown in recent years, alongside the exponential growth of

of students think video games should NOT be considered sports eSports in general.

According to Newzoo, an international provider of eSports analytics, the global audience increased for eSports from 335 million viewers in 2017, to 443 million viewers in 2019, an increase of about thirty two percent. In 2019 alone, eSports brought in a total revenue of 1.1 billion dollars. In 2016, professional gamer Olof Kajbjer predicted that in ten years, eSports will be as big as the NHL. The popularity of eSports makes it accessible on a variety of platforms, including massive stadiums. Kahn attended the Overwatch World Finals last year at the Barclays Center and both Spencer and Chin regularly watch eSports online.

This growth is also evident in the school’s thriving eSports community. According to Kahn, the biggest eSports presence on campus is Super Smash Bros because of the competitive aspect due to the people in the student lounge that play it every day.

This rise of eSports has caught the attention of many, including Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly, who is not surprised by its growth.

“The reality of this medium as a platform for healthy competition, and at some colleges and universities learning, is hard to ignore.”

Kelly said.

To grow the club beyond the school, Yu is trying to make monthly tournaments possible for the team, either at the school or Bronx Science.

“The club is already such a fun community, and it would be great to have an even more organized way to compete together,” Ryan Rosenthal (11) said.

Despite its growth, eSports is still not widely recognized as a sport, to the dismay of many gaming enthusiasts.

Chin considers eSports a sport, especially since the definition of eSport is in constant fluctuation, he said. Even though eSports doesn’t require the traditional qualities associated with sports, it requires its own unique set of skills, he said.

“Although eSports don’t require as much physical exertion, it requires a lot of hand eye coordination and mental skill,” he said.

Khan considers eSports to be largely a mental game, similar to chess.

He also believes that it is a “real sport” since it requires the same level of dedication that other athletes devote; at times, professional gamers are practicing for 16-18 hours a day. “It becomes more of a lifestyle than a hobby,” Kahn said.

While Khan would love eSports to be considered a real sport, he does not think that it is a realistic possibility because there are a lot of limitations to simply playing the game.

“The big part of normal sports, like soccer, is that it is so easy to set up. eSports require a lot more setup and a lot more money. Because of that barrier to entry its harder to reach that level of ‘sports’,” he said.

However, Spencer has more hope than Khan. He predicts that due to the massive amount of money pouring into eSports, it will eventually be seen as an official sport. “Where the money goes the fans go,” he said.

Jack Eagan (12) also feels that eSports will ultimately be considered a sport in the future. “The amount of money that are in

of stu d

ents t hink e a VAR Sports sh SITY s o port uld be

these industries is absurd so as long as there is competition and an audience it should be considered a sport,” he said.

Unlike Spencer and Kahn, Charlotte Cebula (12) believes that eSports is not a real sport as it lacks physical activity. “Screens don’t require athleticism like physical sports,” she said. “You are just moving your finger around a controller.”

Bryanna Guerrero (12) agrees with Cebula and does not think that eSports should become a varsity sport at the school. “eSports do not require as much effort and athletic ability as regular athletic sports do. It is a hobby, pastime, and activity,” she said.

Similarly, Rosy Arora (11) does not consider eSports a sport since it lacks an exercise element to it. However, she does think there is a possibility that it becomes recognized as an official sport, especially in the wake of the Fornite World Cup in late July at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “They’re already being paid to play in a sports arenas,” she said.

However, Eagan who considers eSports to be a professional sport, does not think it should be a varsity sport. “I don’t think eSports should be qualified as something that teenagers participate and be called a sport,” he said.

If the logistics are worked out, Henry Bloom (11) sees a growing community of eSports at the school, not just across the world.

However, there are challenges in setting it up as a varsity sport in a school environment because a varsity team would be expected to enter competitions with other schools, and that may not be possible in the short-term, he said.

There are many potential benefits for the eSports club if the school recognized eSports as a varsity sport, Lowell Finster (11) said. “The community would gain more solid foundation,” he said.

“Some of the issues [we faced] from earlier last year included miscommunication, which could be helped by a coach.”

Additionally, a coach would be fairly knowledgeable about many aspects of gaming, which could really help improve skills of the team, Finster said. “An experienced coach could help us better our reaction times and learn how to communicate during two on two and three on three multiplayer games,” he said.

Students have yet to ask Head of Athletics Department Robert Annunziata about eSports becoming a varsity sport, Annunziata said. Currently, the club has not thought about registering as a varsity sport at the school because they have not attended any tournaments yet, Yu said. However, once they do compete outside of the school, the club leaders will definitely consider it, Yu said.

Even though students have varying opinions about eSports, the future for eSports looks bright at the school.

There is already an eSports club and there is even a possibility of a Varsity eSports team in the future.

“All it takes is a consortium of schools with students and administrators interested in making it happens and we’re off to the races,” Kelly said.

TOP

eSports games

Super Smash Bros NBA 2k Fifa All art by Katya Arutyunyan/Art Director

Lions’ Den Record Sports

12

OCTOBER 11TH, 2019

Homefield Advantage

Courtesy of Google Images

Pros and cons of playing at Homecoming

Emily Shi Staff Writer Year after year, crowds of students, teachers, faculty, and alumni venture to the school on a Saturday morning to support fall athletes.

For the Lions, who are tasked with embodying the spirit of the school throughout the day, the event brings both adrenaline and intense pressure to succeed on the home field.

The homecoming game is the most important one of the year for the Varsity Football team, especially since the team has been undefeated on homecoming since Captain Nick Potash (12) began high school, he said. “It’s our super bowl.”

In preparation for a rigorous game, the football players try to focus and eat well in the week leading up to homecoming, Jonas Jacobson (11) said.

For most sports, homecoming yields the greatest number of spectators compared to the rest of the season games. Jacobson said that the large audience puts a spotlight on every single player on Alumni Field. “Just thinking about it makes me happy...it’s like the world is surrounding you,” he said.

The football team channels the energy of the audience into the game by playing more aggressively, Jacobson said, which has helped maintain a winning record for the team historically at homecoming.

Though the large audience can make the players nervous at times, once the game begins, Potash said, “you just settle down and it becomes a normal football game.”

Even for teams who veer more off campus, spirits remain high.

People all over the tri-state area attend Boys’ Cross Country races in Van Cortlandt Park, especially since the homecoming race is one of the largest of the season. Max Migdon (11) said.

Since the Girls’ Cross Country team regularly runs at Van Cortlandt Park, the location of homecoming provides a leg up for the Lions who can strategize and run on a familiar terrain, Catherine Mignone (10) said.

“Cross country is always about mindset, and on homecoming we’re always in a really good mindset to do well and succeed so we always want to push ourselves to go harder,” Mignone said.

However, last year, the Girls’ Cross Country team ran at 10 A.M., which made the amount of spectators a lot smaller than normal. Sareena Parikh (10) is anticipating a bigger audience this year due to race being at 3:45 P.M, she said.

Similarly, the Girls’ Varsity Tennis team did not attract many viewers besides parents last year due to the far location in Van Cortlandt Park, but will be playing at the newly renovated home courts this year, which could cause better gameplay and more spectators, Sofia Allinson (11) said.

Despite playing off of the main field, Field Hockey typically gets many spectators when playing on Four Acres, Abigail Morse (11) said. “The bleachers are totally full, and there’s always people standing along the rocks at the top. It’s crazy.”

The field hockey players use this positive energy during their game by hyping each other up during huddles, and high-fiving and providing encouragement throughout the game, Morse said. At the same time, Field Hockey Captain Reina McNutt (12) also sees a potential downside of the large audiences. “If the game is not going the way that we want it to, it can be more difficult having to mentally cope with that and keep the energy up during the homecoming game.”

The Boys’ and Girls’ soccer teams alternate playing on Alumni Field and Four Acres. Although Chris Ha (12) prefers to be at the center of the event on Alumni Field, he is still excited to play this year at Four Acres due to the supportive audience, he said.

Ha said that the crowds make the team play harder, while also adding extra pressure. “It’s like a two sided coin,” he said.

Courtesty of HM Flickr

HUDDLE UP Boys soccer shares a Homecoming moment.

Captain of the Girls Volleyball Team Zoë Swift also felt similarly, but she said in her freshman year, winning the extra intense game caused a special moment for the team. “After we won, we all came onto the court and tackled each other and made a huge dogpile. It was a lot of love and intensity.”

Vivien Sweet (11), a member of the Girls Varsity Soccer team,

SLAM! Serena Williams competes at the US Open.

Pros as role models Marina Kazarian Staff Writer

Katya Arutyunyan/Arts Director

remembers a similar ex- perience from her sophomore year, she said.

“The team had only scored eight goals the entire season, but the captain at the time, Lucy Rittmaster [’19], scored a corner kick. It was a really crazy goal because no one was expecting it, so the whole bench stormed the field.”

Since Water Polo plays at an indoor pool, it’s more difficult for spectators to just drop by and notice the game happening, as they often do with other sports,Walker McCarthy (10) said. The games still garner a large audience.

Water Polo’s audience is expected to increase due to the new renovations of the pool, McCarthy said. “Instead of being in a cramped four lane pool we’re now in an eight lane pool which makes the atmosphere more exciting and attracts more people. It also allows us to play the sport the way that it is meant to be, with more space.”

After games end, spectators tend to approach team members to discuss results.

“When it’s over, everyone comes up to you and you feel like a celebrity almost,” Jacobson said. “Those are the moments that you’ll never forget.”

In past games, Jacobson remembers the audience rushing up to congratulate and praise the team after successful games, he said.

“They spend their entire afternoon watching me do something I dedicate countless hours to.”

However, these conversations can also have the opposite effect.

Parikh said that once the runners return back to the school, the experience can be “nerve wracking” because many spectators will ask questions about race results.

Even apart from the actual day of homecoming itself, traditions and celebrations on individual teams and at the school make the entire week leading up to homecoming exciting.

One common tradition for many sports teams is to create posters to cheer on members of the team. The Field Hockey team hosts an annual picnic brunch before the game, where they create signs for every senior, McNutt said. At the actual game, the fans and JV members hold the signs while watching the game.

The tennis team holds a similar tradition with a team breakfast each year, Allinson said. Typically, a table is decked out with various breakfast foods including bagels and fruit.

The volleyball team also arrives at school hours before the game to host breakfast, Swift said. “Coming to school that early when everyone wears sweatpants and looks fresh out of bed to eat breakfast and spend time together is a really special experience…We make our posters, laugh, and listen to music for the whole morning.”

Though not a yearly tradition, last year, a marching band visited the school and came to the pool during Water Polo’s half time. “That had never happened at a swimming based event in my lifetime, and I’ve been swimming for a while,” McCarthy said.

“Homecoming at HM is one of the few days where sports are a big part of everyday life since HM isn’t a super sports-oriented school,” McCarthy said. “The administration, teachers, and upperclassmen foster a super fun environment that allows everybody to come together on a Saturday the way people don’t typically at HM.”

Whether it is through a screen or in-person, watching professional athletes and sports teams both inspires student athletes and teaches them how to improve their game.

Catherine Mignone (10), a member of the Girls’ Cross Country, Swimming, and Rugby teams, said that knowing Katie Ledecky, an Olympic swimmer with five medals, and attending her Olympic swim races inspired her to go further in her swimming career and work harder.

“We’re family friends with Katie Ledecky and her family because my mom is from the same town as her in North Dakota, so they knew each other for a very long time,” she said. “She taught me that one of the hardest aspects of swimming as a whole is mental strength, and also helped me make my freestyle stroke more efficient.”

Girls’ Volleyball Captain Zoë Swift (11) said she frequently watches division one volleyball teams to improve her own game. The Stanford team, one of the highest ranking college teams, has one player, Kathryn Plummer, whose six foot and eight inch height both makes her an exemplary volleyball player and astounds Swift, she said.

“If you’re just looking at your position and their footwork, for example, or their transitions, it’s really helpful to see how you can improve your game based off of that,” Swift said.

JJ Ryu (12) said that her success on the Girls’ Varsity Tennis team cannot be accredited to just one professional athlete. Ryu grew up watching a range of professional tennis players, from Kim Clijsters to Serena Williams to Roger Federer, she said.

Ryu became a fan of the sport as a result of her affinity for playing tennis and finds it interesting to watch how certain players respond to different situations and opponents on the court and overcome obstacles such as being injured, she said.

Mignone also said she learned several rugby skills from observing the Eagles team - the women’s rugby team for the United States. She watched them in Ireland during an international rugby tournament, she said. “They taught me even more about how to love rugby and how to dedicate myself to it.”

Eagles player Cheta Emba, who plays prop, a defensive position, and wing, an offensive position, has been her primary inspiration, Mignone said. Emba’s ability to move the ball and play in different positions have especially inspired Mignone because she is a fly half, a position that also requires a lot of movement in different places on the field, she said.

For Lowell Finster (11) and Jonathan Mong (11)–two members of the Varsity Water Polo team–their role models are not as well known.

“For water polo, in terms of any professional athlete, there aren’t too many high profile ones, at least outside of the water polo circles because it’s just not one of the big sports,” Mong said.

Mong said that though he does learn from watching the techniques of a few other water polo players, he does not feel like he is missing out as a result of the lack of notorious players. “I’m not really great with speed and such, so I just go my own way,” he said.

One of Finster’s role models has been a teammate on the school team: Lorenzo Hess ‘19. “He has very good awareness and game sense, so he could predict things before they would happen or as they were unfolding,” he said.

Another role model for Finster was five-time water polo Olympian Tony Azevedo, who taught a water polo clinic at the school. “His shooting form was really advanced and his release was very fast and accurate,” Finster said.

Outside of school, Mong has attended three-time water polo Olympian, Wolf Wigo’s summer camp in Santa Barbara and Princeton University. “I think that the majority of what I know about game strategy and game theory is due to him,” he said.

While watching professional athletes win points against their opponents is a great learning opportunity, observing what they do wrong can also help aspiring athletes.

Mignone noticed the detrimental impacts of certain players who try to control the ball and dictate what the team does apart from what the coach says in a rugby match, she said. “Rugby is truly a team sport in its essence because it’s all about how you get the ball down the field together.”

In a tennis match, Ryu said that one of the most destructive things that players do is get frustrated. “I try to avoid anger on the court, because I know that it’s only going to counteract what I’m trying to do on the court.” Ryu said.

Similar to Ryu, Mong tries to avoid playing too forcefully or unfairly, which he has seen other school teams do. “Last Friday, somebody from Trinity kicked me out of nowhere and that’s an automatic foul, and they just kind of do that stuff on the regular,” he said.

On the other hand, Swift said players who are at a higher level and being watched by people all over the world are less likely to act out and play unfairly, as they are serving as an example for others.

Mignone said that observing these players can be a really helpful source of information for other players. “Even if you don’t really enjoy it, I think it’s important to look at higher levels just so you know what different plays are used,” she said.