Issue 6

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Record The Horace Mann

OCTOBER 18TH, 2019 || VOLUME 117, ISSUE 6

RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG

HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903

Daisy Khan takes on Islamophobia in assembly Max Shopkorn/Staff Photographer

WISE WORDS Daisy Khan combats Islamophobia through education. Henry Owens Staff Writer Daisy Khan, a prominent Muslim activist, spoke about islamophobia and Islamic identity in America at a UD assembly this Tuesday. As Executive Director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), Khan educates many about the religion of Islam and advocates for interfaith collaboration. Khan came to the school in part because of her personal connection with Daanyal Agboatwalla (11) and his family. Agboatwalla introduced Khan before her speech, talking about his own relationship with Islam and when he saw Khan speak for the first time. Es-

pecially given the negative stereotypes of both Islam and women, Agboatwalla felt it was important to have a strong Muslim woman come to speak to the school, he said. Khan began the assembly by discussing her background as an immigrant and a Muslim. As the only Muslim in her predominantly Jewish high school, Khan was asked to give a presentation about Islam, she said. She initially felt overwhelmed and didn’t think she could speak on behalf of the entire religion. But by using a book about Islam written by her grandfather, she was able to stand before the class and present. At 16 years old, Khan realized that she had become an ambassador to her faith, which ended up being her life’s work.

Yana Gitelman (11) appreciated Khan discussing how her Muslim identity evolved with changing public perception. “I felt like I can relate to that a lot,” Gitelman said. “In a somewhat different way, but a lot of what she said resonated with me.” Khan dived into 10 specific misconceptions about Islam, and how each example of misinformation has negatively influenced US policy. These misconceptions include equating Islam with terror, believing that Muslims want to take over the United States, and thinking that Islamic values are at odds with American values. For each of the misconceptions, Khan mentioned specific pieces of unjust legislation, such as anti-Muslim immigration laws, that had

been passed as a result. “There were a lot of very telling statistics,” Leyli Granmayeh (11) said. “After talking about how much misinformation there is, I think it was good she went through some of the ideals of the religion.” “Everything she was saying was very clear there was no vagueness in her information,” Nya Marshall (11) said. “She was very articulate, she opened it up in a way that would had a few laughs because it’s a pretty heavy topic.” Towards the end of the assembly, Khan talked about Islamic ideals by briefly recounting key points in the history of Islam, as well as going through the Five Pillars of Islam, which includes the important values of justice and charity. “She emphasized that, within the text, a lot of the goals of Islam relates to peace,” Diana Shaari (12) said. “Whereas given the representation of Islam in the media, that’s not necessarily where most people’s minds go to when they think of Islam.” “I hope that students are now more familiar with Islam, and that they understand what the religion truly is rather than how it is represented in the media,” Roey Nornberg (12) said. Although the presentation was for the most part well received, some students felt that certain parts could have been done better. “I thought she said a lot of very important things,” Granmayeh said. “I just think her slides were sometimes difficult to follow. She was going fairly quickly.” Agboatwalla said it would have been ideal if there had been more time to go into specific text from the Quran that

disproved some of the misconceptions. Nornberg and Shaari are leaders of Interfaith, a partnership between the school and Al Noor, the largest Islamic High School in New York, located in Brooklyn. Interfaith works to create opportunities for dialogue between people from different backgrounds, Shaari said. On Friday, they are screening “A Jihad for Love,” a documentary about the experiences of gay Muslims. Interfaith, along with the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, is hosting a discussion after the movie. A major goal of both the movie and the assembly is to help facilitate dialogue. “A common misconception about Islam is that all Islamic countries and communities prohibit homosexuality,” Nornberg said. “The movie contrasts that and shows that it is possible to be gay and a practicing Muslim.” “I thought the movie did a really nice job and can spark a lot of important dialogue,” Shaari said. “I’m really glad that we were able to have an assembly on it and we should also further that discussion throughout our history curriculum and through discussions,” Mikayla Benson (11) said. “I think [Khan] coming out and speaking about those things very bluntly is good, because these things are uncomfortable, obviously,” said Agboatwalla. “But when you talk, and you speak to people of different faiths, I think that makes it much easier to understand, because the problem that we’re having today is a matter of misunderstanding.”

Refresh: school website undergoes complete remodeling Sam Chiang Staff Writer

The school’s redesigned website is now accessible and ready to share information about the wide range of activities offered by the school. The school’s website receives constant traffic and is the virtual representation of the school, Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly said. “In September, we had over 4,200 visitors to the old website, and our web-based admissions process has run exceptionally well over the past two years through this version of the website.” At the top of the home page, photos show students of all ages both in and out of the classroom enjoying the multitude of activities offered by the school. The new page also prominently features a descriptive video of the school and a welcome letter by Kelly. “Having a streamlined platform, one that’s easier to navigate, allows its users to spend more time exploring the depth and breadth of our program and new pages without the previous complications and formatting issues associated with our old web page,” Kelly said. The school worked with the online design company and hosting service Finalsite to compose the updated website due to their great customer service and designers, Operations and Technical Supporter Sheryl Baker said. Finalsite created the school’s previous website around eight years ago, and the school reached out for a redesign because it recognized that the website looked old, and the website was not mobile-friendly, Baker said. “When they updated their back-end software to be able to draw on mobile devices, we decided we would look into a redesign.” “The website is dynamic, so if you shrink the screen, the text will shrink down and columns will realign to be viewable on a mobile device or desktop,” Technology Integrator Cassandra Parets said. The new website also allows the school to publish pop-up windows with announcements. On Wednesday, Baker and Parets used this feature to remind website viewers that the

school would be closing at 4:30P.M. The new service also provides a fancier e-blast tool that will allow the school to embed logos and even videos and photos, Parets said. The first step to creating a new website was sitting down with a design team from Finalsite, Parets said. “We gave the logos and colors which

stead of directly changing the underlying HTML or CSS, Parets said. The tools are similar to what is offered by website building services Wix, Weebly, and Wordpress, except Finalsite offers a wider range of more precise tools. The Katz Library has used their updated website to promptly display the basics, such as the

FACELIFT School updates website. we wanted to use to a Finalsite design team that was at the school for a few days,” she said. “They [talked] to the department heads to get an idea of what everybody wanted from their pages.” After previewing three or four different designs based on what they had suggested to Finalsite, the school decided on an elegant and streamlined design, Baker said. To ensure that they could continue to update their pages on their own, Parets also trained representatives from the Katz Library, Athletic Department, Admissions, Alumni, and Parents Association to use the back-end system. Finalsite also offers a proprietary service named Composer. This tool allows trained department heads to directly edit their respective pages using text tools and picture import tools in-

catalog, databases, and periodicals, but the Recommended Reading and Cool Stuff tabs also take up a greater role. On the Katz Library landing page, students can now view curated reading selections and receive access to the school’s audio books. Library Technology Coordinator Melissa Kazan said she has been making great use of these tools as the entire layout of the library’s webpage has changed significantly. “Recommended Reads are now featured more prominently on the landing page,” she said. “The databases have also been reorganized to make it easier for students to find the resources they need.” The library landing page also features the newly created UD History Writing and Style Guide, Kazan said. “As the library acquires more and more digital resources, the library’s website plays an expand-

ing role since it is the access point to those new resources,” Kazan said. The “Databases” tab and “eReference” tab have now been merged so users don’t need to toggle back and forth, she said. The new website should be much more efficient and user-friendly for students doing research, Kazan said. Although there have been many changes, the library still wants students to be comfortable using the website Middle and Upper Division Library Chair Caroline Bartels said. As one of the main sections on both the old website and updated version, a button to the admissions page is one of four central blocks at the bottom of the home page. “We’ve updated the Leader profiles, so I hope prospective families read about them,” Associate Director of Middle and Upper Division Admissions Robin Ingram said. The school’s athletics page also received an upgrade and is now cleaner and significantly easier to use. “It’s really easy to navigate now,” Armaan Kakodkar (11) said. “If I wanted to navigate to the soccer team’s page on the old website, I would have to take four maybe five steps. Now, it’s a simple two-step process.” Seasonal sports teams are now featured on the school’s athletics landing page, which shows pictures taken over the years. The new format of the athletic page also features a schedule of all upcoming matches and more prominently displays tabs such as Sports Medicine. The page is more noticeable, Upper Division Physical Education Chair Amy Mojica said. “I would hope that people recognize the multifaceted comprehensive approach that needs to be taken to be prepared for safe athletic participation,” she said. The page features various tabs ranging from Strength and Conditioning, which has a PDF version of the FIFA 11+ Warm up, to Concussion Management Information. Overall, the new aesthetic of the website has satisfied many students. “I remember the previous website as old and cluttered,” Oliver Lewis (10) said. “I think the new and improved version is a step in the right direction for our school.”


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