The Horace Mann Record
DECEMBER 1ST, 2017 || VOLUME 115, ISSUE 10
HORACE MANN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1903
Dr. Renée Richards ‘51 receives alumni award
Freya Lindvall/Photo Editor
Courtesy of Ethan Klaris
RECORD.HORACEMANN.ORG
School recognizes doctor, athlete, and activist Surya Gowda Staff Writer
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED (Left) Ethan Klaris ‘15 sets up campaign wall in Iowa; (Right) Vinson Cunningham ‘02 speaks about his unconventional career path.
Alumni share unique post-graduation experiences at assembly
Caroline Goldenberg Staff Writer
This past Tuesday, alumni Karen Pittelman ’93, Vinson Cunningham ’02, Molly Lister Weismann ’06, Renato Rengifo ‘07, Helen Feldman ’10, Ken Zhang ’12, Gabriel Grand ’13, and Ethan Klaris ’15 returned to the school to speak about their unique experiences after graduation at the “Road Less Traveled” assembly. The alumni each shared five minutes-worth of their experiences after graduation. Director of Student Activities Caroline Bartels wanted students to hear “a variety of stories” from alumni who had taken more unique “routes to who they are,” Bartels said. In the school’s bubble, students feel their “path is very linear, but most people will tell you that they couldn’t have planned for all the different changes in their lives,” Executive Director of College Counseling Canh Oxelson said. Many of the alumni took gap years and spent their time either traveling or working. “I struggled with the idea that there was one definition of success [in the school’s community], and I wasn’t sure I fit it,” Lister Weissman, who traveled during her gap year and now works for the gap year program, Global Citizen Year, said.
“I didn’t think about [a gap year] until the last two months of my time at HM, but as soon as I started thinking about it, I realized it made a lot of sense for me,” Grand, who traveled to Asia, Costa Rica, and New Zealand before attending college, said. Feldman, who traveled with a service focus, had noticed the pressure students at the school put on themselves and felt “that I did not need to be [putting] that kind of pressure on myself in order to be a good person, and in order to be successful in my life,” she said. Klaris worked on the Hillary Clinton campaign and spent time in Iowa and Colorado. For Zhang, as a student of less privilege around wealthy students at the school, a company start-up seemed “out-of-reach,” he said. Yet Zhang ended up taking a gap semester interning with a company in Shanghai, and afterwards, helping the team that started Think Board, helping to design white board stickers, he said. Other alums did not take gap years, but spent their time in other unconventional ways. Cunningham, who dropped out of Middlebury College in his junior year when he had a child, worked on the campaign for Barack Obama and is now a staff writer for The New Yorker. After dropping out of the University of Rochester, Rengifo found a passion for the new cake shop, Lady M
Confections, and went on to become Marketing Coordinator for the business. Pittleman, co-founder of the Trans Justice Funding Project, a communityled fund supporting grassroots groups, has donated millions of dollars in the years since graduation out of her commitment to the redistribution of wealth. She’s also a singer-songwriter in the queer country band, Karen & the Sorrows. Hearing from someone who had taken a less conventional path would have “meant a lot” to her when she was a student, she said. Students had a variety of responses to the assembly’s message. “Now I feel [a gap year] is more of an idea I would consider,” Stephen Angelakos (12) said. Despite the assembly’s message that one should take a gap year, a gap year is not something all can afford to have the experience of taking, Mahdid Uddin (12) said. “I felt inspired by Pittelman because…[of] the personal nature of her story…I felt a sense of community that these people had all come from HM just the way I had, even though we had deeply different lives,” Emma Jones (12) said. “Learn from whatever situation you are placed in…Whatever path you take, don’t compare yourself to anyone,” Rengifo said
On Thursday night, Dr. Renée Richards ’51 was awarded the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Achievement at the annual Alumni dinner at The Palace Hotel. Dr. Richards, known as Richard Raskind during her time at the school, is “being recognized for her outstanding achievements in all three areas of her multi-pronged career: ophthalmology, tennis, and human rights,” Director of Alumni Relations Kristin Lax said. Dr. Richards studied at Yale University, became a renowned eye surgeon, rose through the ranks of the Navy, and became a champion tennis player with a famous left hand serve, Head of the Alumni Council Samantha Brand said. Dr. Richards took the United States Tennis Association to court in order to earn the right to play professional women’s tennis, winning the landmark case which remains an important precedent for transgender rights, Brand said. Dr. Richards’ time at the school was probably the most important formative years of her educational life, she said.
She chose to go the school by herself at the age of 12. Her parents had never even heard of the school before, she said. “I learned there how to behave as a good citizen, combining my own personal agenda for education and learning how to connect to my fellow students and teachers,” Dr. Richards said. The decision of the recipient of the award is made by a committee of alumni who serve on the Alumni Council, the governing body of the Alumni Association, who accept nominations from fall through spring then deliberate, vote, and confer the award each year, Lax said. The Award for Distinguished Achievement was first awarded to William Fletcher Russell ‘09 in 1939, she said. “Past honorees represent a complete range of professional pursuits -- authors, judges, doctors, entertainers, scientists, poets, politicians, composers, and inventors, among many others,” Lax said. Some previous recipients of the award are William Carlos Williams ’03, Justine Wise Polier ‘20, the first female Justice of New York, and Gil Shaham ‘89, a Grammy Award-winning violinist. “My reaction to finding out that I am being given this award was humility. The realization that I will be on a list of so many truly accomplished graduates- in so many diverse careers. Being given this award makes me very proud- that the work I have done in three disparate areas of endeavoris recognized as meaningful,” Dr. Richards wrote in an email. During her speech at the event, Dr. Richards spoke about all of the factors in her life which made her who she is today. She discussed all three of her careers along with the struggles that followed them.
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Courtesy of Zimbio.com
Class created for students on B math track
Jeren Wei Staff Writer
Ariella Greenberg/Art Director
inside
Starting next year, the Math Department plans to introduce a new course called “Geometry and Problem Solving” for incoming 9th graders who were in B math in the Middle Division. Previously, these students had needed to take 8th grade Algebra 1 in 9th grade. The class serves to address concerns regarding
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equity for these students who are a year behind in math, math teacher Jessica Emory said. The idea was proposed by Math Department Chair Charles Worrall, and it aims to address foundational weaknesses, give students an intriguing math experience, and help students develop crucial skills such as numerical literacy and study habits, Emory said. Emory, along with math teachers Nicholas Perry and Richard Somma worked on a summer grant for the proposal of “Geometry and Problem Solving,” and helped determine what textbooks would be used in the class, the topics of the syllabus, and the types of problems that may be discussed in class, Perry said. “The course will be a great introduction to a more mature way of mathematical thinking and will prepare students for Algebra 2,” Worrall said. For the upcoming years, all 9th grade students will be taking Geometry in the high school instead of Algebra 1, Worrall said. Worrall believes that the course will address many of the frustrations students and parents have had with needing to take a summer math
Read about the sleep habits of HM students.
course, as well as the stigma that comes along with being a year behind in math, he said. “The math department has become aware that 9th graders who come into Algebra 1 feel separated from their peers since most students are taking Geometry,” Emory said Several students agreed with this sentiment and feel that it creates a sense of disconnection with their peers. “There is definitely a connotation of being in B math that you are not as smart as other people, which is false,” Maya Freeman (11) said. “Being a year behind in math really stressed me out a lot.” Some students believe that being a year behind in math has affected their ability to productively participate in science classes. “It got difficult because I felt like I couldn’t do some of the math in science classes. I still feel behind now, so I don’t think I’m going to take physics because the math aspect of science is something I can’t wrap my head around,” Abigail Salzhauer (10) said. Although students a year behind are not required to take a summer course for math,
many students feel as if they must take Summer Geometry to catch up with their peers, which may place a financial burden on some families and make students give up a summer, Emory said. “While finical aid does help, I think [summer geometry] is something that I should not have to pay for because I shouldn’t have to pay for a course to stay on the same track as the other students,” Jaden Richards (9), an Algebra 1 student, said. Summer school may require some students to give up a summer that could have been spent in summer programs or camps, Matt said. Furthermore, many students felt that taking Algebra 1 in 9th grade was repetitive, as the students had already taken Algebra 1 in 8th grade. “I felt like I was learning things I had already knew,” Sasha Matt (11) said. Although the system was “flawed before,” the changes in the curriculum and addition of this new class will make for a positive change for incoming freshman, Matt said.
Discussing accommodations Alum makes millions laugh
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Ruthie Yankwitt (12) explains her experience managing ADD.
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The Record sits down with alum and Seinfeld, Veep, and SNL writer David Mandel ‘88.
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