Issue 14

The Record

Volume 119 Issue 14

Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903

Ambika Acharya ‘12 makes Forbes “30 under 30” list

Erica Jiang and Lucy Peck Staff Writers

AMBIKA ACHARYA ‘12 After graduating from Stanford, Acharya worked at Apple as a Machine Learning Engineer, building predictive and personalized features for iOS. During this time, Acharya experienced how collaborative the tech industry

“I learned to recognize her enthusiasm and effort as something that was much more than just hard work. It was a deep interest in the world of ideas.”

- Charles Worrall

was moving,” Acharya said. Initially, Acharya and her team were not planning on selling their company so soon, but they were impressed by the Brex team and the impact Weav could have as part of the Brex ecosystem, she said. “We thought selling would be best for our team and for the future of the product.”

Building Weav during COVID was challenging at times, Acharya said.

“It was definitely a rollercoaster.” It was also demotivating at times for her and her team, she said. Acharya and her co-founders had to push and motivate one another to keep striving towards their goal, she said. The work was all completed remotely as one co-founder was in Israel, one was in New York City, and Acharya was in San Francisco, she said.

Looking towards the future, Acharya hopes to see how data can make businesses more equitable, she said. Right now, business loans are disproportionately given to certain communities over others, and she hopes to combat this issue at Brex through using the infrastructure built at Weav, she said.

Acharya’s experience from leading clubs and teams at the school helped prepare her for the business world, Acharya said. Acharya was the cofounder and director of the school’s annual Science and Technology Fair (SciTech), according to her LinkedIn. She was also a features editor for The Record and started the Spectrum publication, the school’s award-winning science magazine,

said. “It was one of my favorite classes because it really challenged me and tested my skill set, and I looked up to Mr. Worrall.”

Acharya was a naturally talented student, and had a remarkably high level of dedication, curiosity, and eagerness to go the extra mile to learn more and more, Worrall said.

“She always had an extra amount of sincere curiosity about the math we learned beyond just thinking about what was on the next test.”

In addition to Worrall, Acharya is grateful to English teacher Dr. Adam Casdin, who was her advisor.

She talked to him when she first started the company to toss ideas around, she said.

Acharya was active, engaged and curious about anything she came across, Casdin said. “I loved when she would stop by to talk about her latest thinking.” When Acharya was working for Apple, they had a series of discussions about the power of Artificial Intelligence and native language processing together, he said. These discussions led to several experiments in Casdin’s classes, he said. One student created his own AI program to analyze and compare syntaxes in the work of various romantic poets, Casdin said.

“I learned to recognize her enthusiasm and effort as something that was much more than just hard work. It was a deep interest in the world of ideas,” Worrall said.

School shifts to rapid antigen testing due to backlog in labs Max Chasin Staff Writer During the week of January 7, approximately 150 students throughout the school tested positive in the school’s round of Vault COVID PCR tests, including people testing at home or from medical providers, Head of School Tom Kelly wrote in an email to parents on January 9. This week, however, the school saw a dramatic decline in Middle Division (MD) cases, Kelly wrote in an email to the community last night. Only five additional students tested positive this week, he wrote.

While some students received the results of their tests within two days, others, like Spencer Rosenberg (12), had to wait over four days for their results, he said. “I took the test on Wednesday, and didn’t end up getting the results back until Sunday.”

The results were delayed due to an overload in the labs following the increasingly high demand for testing, Nurse DeAnna Cooper said. This slow speed is not ideal, she said. “Because of the delayed results, people may be positive without knowing they’re positive, and they are not isolated during that time period.”

Hanah Cohen (11) took her test

on Wednesday, January 5, but did not receive her results until Saturday, January 8, she said. “At first, I was not anxious about my test coming back positive, as I had taken a negative PCR test on Monday, but as time went on, and I didn’t receive my results, I became less reassured,” she said. Cohen was negative when she received her results, she said.

Although he ultimately tested negative, Rosenberg was anxious to learn the results of his test during his waiting period, he said. “Two days after we took our vault test, my sister tested positive — at that point I wanted to see my test very badly to make sure that I was negative.”

Students and faculty will no longer have to wait days to receive their test results; this week, the school made the shift to Rapid Antigen Testing in place of the Vault PCR tests, Kelly wrote in an email. The test is a nasal swab, after which students must wait 10-15 minutes to be notified of their results. rt Director

Courtesy of Ambika Acharya

“

and Science Olympiad, she said. “It was cool to get to see them rise from the ground up.”

In her senior year at the school, Acharya was voted First to Make a Million and Shiny Happy People amongst other superlatives in the Senior Poll.

“In high school, Ambika was friends with everyone,” Olivia El-Sadr Davis ‘12, one of her close friends from the school, said. Acharya was on various sports teams, in the school plays, volunteering, and always looking for new ways to engage with the school and community at large, ElSadr Davis said. “I don’t think there’s a single person who interacted with Ambika who was not struck by her dedication to whatever she was doing, from basketball to computer science to the Record.”

It was always clear to El-Sadr Davis that Acharya would be successful in whatever she put her mind to, she said. “Ambika is so kind, humble, and hardworking, no one deserves this recognition as much as she does,” El-Sadr Davis said.

One of Acharya’s favorite classes was Math Seminar taught by UD Math teacher Charles Worrall, she

January 14th, 2022

Viv ian Coraci/A

After selling her financial technology (fintech) infrastructure company, Weav, to Brex in August, Ambika Acharya ‘12 made the Forbes Magazine’s 2022 “30 under 30” list for finance.

Weav is a fintech infrastructure company that Acharya co-founded with Nadav Lidor and Avikam Agur in 2020, Acharya said. It is an Application Programming Interface (API), a software intermediary that allows two applicants to talk to each other. It is designed to allow small businesses to share their data with people who are giving them access to loans. For example, businesses can share their revenue data with their bank or lender to get access to better loan terms, Acharya said. The customers of the business are banks and small businesses.

Created in 2010, the Forbes 30 under 30 is an annual set of lists of North America’s most influential entrepreneurs, activists, scientists and entertainers under the age of 30. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty different industries, according to Forbes Magazine.

When Acharya found out that she was named to the list for finance, she was honored to be beside so many inspiring people, she said. Acharya’s co-founders and investors nominated her, she said.

Nominations to the list can be made by anyone, and then reporters, editors and expert judges select the final 30 listees in their assigned category. They consider a variety of factors, including funding, revenue, social impact, inventiveness, and potential, according to Forbes Magazine.

Before co-founding Weav, Acharya attended Stanford University, where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in computer science and conducted research in machine learning, computational biology, and computer vision, according to her LinkedIn profile. At Stanford, Acharya was involved with the Haas Center for Public Service and Girls Teaching Girls to Code.

is, she said. On every project, she worked with people from a variety of disciplines, Acharya said. “Through my experience [at Apple] I learned about all the people it takes to ship a new software product to customers.”

She enjoyed working at Apple and gained valuable technical skills and mentors, she said.

Acharya met Lidor in college and he introduced her to Agur later on.

They were always excited about building something, so the three of them began brainstorming ideas together, Acharya said. Then, they applied for and were accepted to Y Combinator, a startup accelerator, where they started building the company. Y Combinator helped them settle on the idea of Weav after talking to many fintech companies who faced problems which could be solved with a product like Weav, Acharya said.

In August of 2021, only a year and a half after she and her cofounders created Weav, they sold it to another fintech company, Brex.

Brex offers business credit cards and cash management accounts to technology companies, according to TechCrunch. “It’s hard to predict… and we timed the launch of our product well for the way the market

record.horacemann.org

Students host drive following Bronx apartment fire Naomi Yaeger and Sean Lee Staff Writers To collect aid for the people affected by Sunday’s Bronx apartment fire, Kate Beckler (10) and Etta Singer (10) initiated a month-long, school-wide relief drive on Monday.

The drive is collecting a variety of goods ranging from packaged food to hygiene products to unused clothing, Singer wrote in an email sent to the Upper Division (UD) on Monday. “We’re really just trying to do our part for the community,” they said.

Sunday’s fire occurred due to a space heater malfunction at the Twin Peaks Northwest building in Fordham Heights. 17 people died, including eight children, and 66 were injured, Beckler said. “There was a door left open, and a lot of smoke rose up 15 floors — that ended up being the bigger killer,” she said. “At least one person per floor died in the building.”

Many victims have been displaced from their homes or lost family members, Singer said.

The drive has been fairly successful so far, with community members donating toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, clothing, and sanitary products like conditioner and shampoo. “A lot of the people in the fire lost all of their belongings so any new clothes, sheets and toiletries are really important to help out,” she said. “It’s a more of an all-in-need situation, especially with the added pressure of the pandemic.”

Beckler learned about the fire by reading the news. “I read the news every day, and on Sunday there was a big article in the New York Times about it,” she said. “I thought, this is Horace Mann’s community, we should really be helping out.”

Singer learned about the tragedy from their father. “My dad was

reading the news at the dinner table, and he read out ‘Fire in the Bronx, Big fire, 17 killed.’ It was like a scene out of a TV show,” they said. “Then Katie posed the idea, and I was like ‘of course we should do this.’”

Within 24 hours, Dean of Students Michael Dalo helped turn the idea of the drive into a reality, Beckler said.

Dalo helped Beckler and Singer work out the logistics for a week-long, UD-wide drive, and then got Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly and Director of the Center for Community Values and Action Dr. Kimberly JoyceBernard to join the cause, Beckler said.

With Joyce-Bernard’s help, Beckler and Singer were able to extend the drive into a school-wide event. The drive will now run for a whole month and is open to all four divisions of the school, as well as teachers and parents, Singer said. Students will also be able to write short letters to the people who lost their homes and possessions in the fire, they said. These changes will allow the drive to have a larger impact on the community and more of the school’s student body to get involved in this important cause, Singer said.

Students can also write a “Note of Light,” a personalized postcard or drawing, to be distributed with the care package, Joyce-Bernard said.

At the end of the drive, the public safety staff will bring the donated materials over to the Bronx Fire Relief Fund, Beckler said. “We really want to give a big shout out to [public safety],” she said.

The whole Bronx community has been pitching in to help with this tragedy, Singer said. “I live in Riverdale, so we’ve been getting all these emails and texts from different places around the neighborhood that are running their own drive or Go-Fund-Mes,” they said.

“The community is really coming together.”

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THE RECORD OPINIONS AND LIONS’ DEN JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Religious studies: The key to the human condition

Alex Rosenblatt In the beginning of the Religion in History course I took in my junior year, my teacher read to us about the Void, a vast sea of darkness out of which anything could emerge. This passage from the Rig Veda, one of the most important Hindu texts, was one of Hinduism’s many creation stories.

I was suddenly overwhelmed and consumed by the infinite potential of what the universe could have been and how it could be. Why is up not down, left not right, in not out, black not white? Why does gravity pull us towards the Earth, challenging us to escape it, when we could be clinging to ground, or striding upside down on walkways built into the sky?

The study of religion is the study of philosophy unbounded by the physical. Often, people claim that science is born out of an innate human desire to understand the nature and the workings of the world we find ourselves in. I would say that religion

is born out of the same need, simply using a different approach. Contrary to popular belief, science and religion need not be pitted against each other; they serve different purposes.

Science tells us the nature of our physical world, investigated based on experimentation and evidence.

But what if the mind was allowed to fly beyond the Earth, beyond the stars, beyond matter, beyond human existence, even beyond the need for physical proof to contemplate other answers? Such answers present meaning on a philosophical level — not just explanations on a factual one — and can be found in the realm of religion.

The study of religion is the study of these answers, and more so the study of the people who created them.

We can study a group’s religious choices to gain information about their thought process. Religious texts are like the diaries of societies.

From them we can glean a collective group’s hopes, fears, goals, morals, and other illuminating information.

They give us clues as to how a society believed the world should operate, how they organized themselves, and how they wanted to be viewed. These clues are sometimes explicitly stated (as rules or laws, for instance), other times they must be inferred (through demonstrative fables or dialogues).

Understanding this information is crucial to understanding the group’s actions and decisions.

This is why the study of religion is a necessary part of the study of history — for example, it can provide the justification behind genocide, slavery, and conquest. While religion

is not always the primary motivation this year shows that a “congress” for such atrocities (when compared of dissenting colonial ministers to economic greed or racism), it has formally threatened to declare been used to provide moral reasoning independence from the Church of for such acts by dehumanizing the England nearly a decade before the enemy, promising divine rewards, or Declaration was drafted. It was only threatening divine punishment for in specialized courses like Religion inaction. Certain cultures have even in History and through independent historically believed that political research that I discovered a whole rulers are granted their power by new component of history, a massive metaphysical forces. variable in the equation of war, Conversely, religion has also been peace, conquest, and revolution used to justify subversion of power. A about which I, for the most part, had flood or an earthquake could signal a been kept in the dark. revocation of the divine right to rule; Religion continues to be the driving thus the people might overthrow force for a variety of political and their ruler, even if such a feat cultural movements even to this day. seemed politically and economically The Trump presidency, the QAnon impossible. The study of religion conspiracy, vaccine leads psychologists to examine why exemptions, and we follow religious orders, what other current brings us hope, and why some events include traditions have lasted thousands of years while others have faded.

Because of the deep impact religious religion has on history, I a s p e c t s . was surprised at how little For example, a number it has been mentioned of Catholics in the in my experiences US have sought of the HM history religious exemption curriculum.

When from vaccination we were discussing requirements the conquistadors against COVID-19. in freshman year Students should Atlantic World History, Dylan Leftt/Staff Artist be aware that Pope the proselytizing goals of the Francis, the highest worldly invaders were hardly mentioned. authority in Catholicism, has In sophomore year United States expressed approval of the vaccine, History, the religious aspects of the and that despite this, some Catholics Revolution were mostly glossed over continue to seek exemption. Just as as though they were hardly a factor removing religion from our study — to the contrary, my independent of history blinds us to significant research for US Legal History factors, ignoring religious variables

in our discussion of current events forfeits the understanding of important nuances (such as religious motivations behind an act of terrorism or religious connotations referenced in a government offical’s speech).

While solutions to this problem would vary from course to course and topic to topic, I suggest that teachers take into greater consideration the religious aspects of the subject matters they teach. When a major component of the motivations, justifications, ideologies, and implications behind the history we learn is not included, a gaping hole resides in our knowledge.

One needs not be personally religious (I am not) to appreciate the impact that religion has on history and culture. I am interested in the study of religion because it is one of the most expansive angles with which to study humanity, from its history, to its art, to its very way of thinking. To me, studying religion is one of the most intimate ways to examine human interaction, human history, human thought, and the human condition as a whole.

What do we create when we cast off the shackles of physical matter?

Religion’s pervasiveness in culture, its ability to penetrate the deepest levels of the human mind, and its everlasting effect on history make it worth incorporating into both our curriculum and the various ways we consider the world.

Lions’ Den: Castillo (9) and Chasin (11) compete at USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program Spencer Kolker Contributing Writer Noah Castillo (9) and Max Chasin (11) competed at the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program (ODP) Eastern Regional Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina last weekend. Castillo and Chasin played for the chance to make the USA National Olympic Development team and join the USA Junior Olympic water polo teams for their age groups, 15 and 17, respectively. Chasin was selected to the Northeast Zone (NEZ) team that will compete at ODP Nationals.

Castillo and Chasin first participated in five-hour NEZ regional tryouts on alternating Sundays for three weeks in November at Pennsylvania. Each zone holds a tryout where the coaches and scouts select two teams of 14 players out of hundreds of players in each region.

Then, at ODP Regionals, 14 players from each zone were chosen to represent their zone at the ODP National Championships in California. “[At ODP Regionals], I played against the Southeast zone, the Great Lakes zone, and the Midwest zone, who also [each] run two teams,” Chasin said. “From there, [scouts and coaches] pick kids they notice are talented enough to compete in this national team selection camp, which will eventually

lead to the junior national team.”

Reaching this level in water polo is difficult and requires a lot of time, work, and dedication, Varsity Water Polo coach Michale Duffy said. Castillo and Chasin are both dedicated to the sport — they play for the school team and year round on their club team, CT Premier Water Polo, he said.

“Both work very hard while they are here, and they get along well with their teammates and coaches,” Duffy said. “Because they work really hard and take it very seriously, I think it helps the rest of the team as well.”

Castillo and Chasin are both experienced water polo players. Castillo started when he was seven, after growing bored of swimming, he thought water polo would be a fun opportunity, he said. He began to take the sport more seriously at eleven when he realized he had a passion for it. A year later, he competed at the USA Water Polo ODP Regionals for the U12 team where he represented the Great Lakes region.

Similarly, Chasin started playing at 10 because his parents wanted him to play a unique sport and he thoroughly enjoyed it, he said. When Chasin was 12, he played with CT Premier at the Junior Olympics in the U12 competition and reached the ODP Nationals at the age of 14.

Chasin has played for CT Premier throughout his entire career, while Castillo

Volume 119 Editorial Board Editor in Chief Hanna Hornfeld

Managing Editor Liliana Greyf

Features Mia Calzolaio Emma Colacino

News Claire Goldberg Katya Tolunsky

Opinions Devin Allard-Neptune Yin Fei

A&E Purvi Jonnalagadda Arushi Talwar

Middle Division Jade Ciriello

Lions’ Den Lauren Ho

Art Directors Vivian Coraci Lauren Kim Riva Vig

Design Editors Avani Khorana Myra Malik Arin Rosen

Photography

Online Editor Lucas Glickman

Head of Design AJ Walker

Sean Lee Sam Siegel Daniel Schlumberger Ailill Walsh

Faculty Adviser David Berenson

used to play for Brooklyn Hustle and switched to CT Premier in the summer of 2020. Castillo joined so that he could gain more practice and experience, he said.

Castillo plays as the center, or hole set, on his teams. “The center is two meters in front of the goal, and the rest of the offense is in a semicircle around it,” Castillo said.

Chasin plays as the two meter defender.

He blocks the center from shooting, he said.

Chasin cano play all positions, but the two meter defender is his best and his favorite one because of his skill set and experience in playing it.

Having previously competed in California at ODP Nationals, Chasin finds it to be a very different way of playing, he said. “It was super

weird because when you play in California it’s a huge adjustment given that all the pools are outside,” he said. “It’s a completely different atmosphere and a different game when you play out there.”

In addition to playing at the ODP Regionals this past weekend, both also played in California in December at the KAP7 Holiday tournament. At KAP7, Chasin won gold in the U16 age group with CT Premier.

Chasin and Castillo’s drive and skill make them role models for their teammates on the school’s team, even though Castillo has only been on the team for this season. “Noah’s young, but everybody looks up to Noah and Max because of their experience,” Duffy said.

Courtesy of Max Chasin

SPLISH SPLASH Chasin competes to qualify for team.

Staff

Staff Writers Alex Lautin, Alexandra Yao, Allison Markman, Audrey Carbonell, Audrey Moussazadeh, Ayesha Sen, Cecilia Coughlin, Celine Kiriscioglu, Divya Ponda, Emily Salzhauer, Emily Sun, Hannah Katzke, Jillian Lee, Jiya Chatterjee, Max Chasin, Rachael Baez, Sean Lee, Vidhatrie Keetha, Zack Kurtz, Ariella Frommer, Athena Rem, Ben Rafal, Ella Shaham, Erica Jiang, Etta Singer, Heidi Li, Kate Beckler, Lucy Peck, Maeve Goldman, Naomi Yaeger, Neeva Patel, Nia Huff, Rani Ogden, Samantha Matays, Sophie Rukin Staff Photographers Aanya Gupta, Allyson Wright, Amelia Hirsch, Anna Miller, Aryan Palla, Ben Rafal, Catherine Mong, David Aaron, Dylan Greenberg, Harper Rosenberg, Jiwan Kim, Lynn Egan, Madlyn Yoon, Matthew Jacobson, Nicole Au, Oliver Konopko, Trisha Tran Staff Artists Aashna Hari, Addy Steinberg, Aimee Yang, Amira Dossani, Christian Conner, Dani Brooks, Dylan Leftt, Elena Zhu, Felix Brener, Isabelle Kim, Ishaan Iyengar, Karla Moreira, Kayden Hansong, Kristy Xie, Lauren B. Kim, Sam Gordon, Samantha Strasser, Samuel Stern, Serena Bai, Sophia Liu, Sophie Li

Editorial Policy

About Founded in 1903, The Record is Horace Mann School’s award-winning weekly student newspaper. We publish approximately 30 times during the academic year, offering news, features, opinions, arts, Middle Division and sports coverage relevant to the school community. The Record serves as a public forum to provide the community with information, entertainment, and an outlet for various viewpoints. As a student publication, the contents of The Record are the views and work of the students and do not necessarily represent those of the faculty or administration of the Horace Mann School. Horace Mann School is not responsible for the accuracy and contents of The Record and is not liable for any claims based on the contents or views expressed therein.

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Contact For all tips, comments, queries, story suggestions, complaints and corrections, please contact us by email at record@horacemann.org.

3

THE RECORD NEWS JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Archives highlight Valentine Davies ‘23 and Ira Levin ‘46 Zack Kurtz Staff Writer A new exhibit celebrating the work and legacies of Valentine Davies ‘23 and Ira Levin ‘46 opened in the archives room this Wednesday. The exhibit details the careers of

material the school has kept over the years and placed in the archives, she said. She enjoyed learning about Davies and Levin and hopes that the archives will do exhibits on more alumni in the future, Trentalancia said.

One of Bartels’ goals for the archives is to make students aware of alumni that are doing

PAGES FROM HISTORY Levin and Davies’ work on display. both men as well as their accomplishments in their respective fields.

Davies was a film and television screenwriter, producer, and director. He won an Academy Award for Best Story for the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” and was the President of the Screenwriters Guild and the Academy of Motion Pictures. Levin was a novelist, playwright, and songwriter most famous for his novel “Rosemary’s Baby,” a thriller which was adapted into an Oscarwinning film.

Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels realized that Davies was an alum in 2000, when the school started building the new library space and the shelves in Olshan Lobby which house the alumni book collection, she said. “Davies wrote ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ one of my favorite, favorite Christmas movies, and I was just like ‘Wow! I can’t believe this,’” Bartels said.

“Then, as I’m floating around through the rest of the collection, I came across Ira Levin and he had written ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Stepford Wives’ and ‘The Boys From Brazil,’ all these iconic books and movies from my own childhood, and I just was like ‘more people need to know about this.’”

Chloe Trentalancia (11), who visited the exhibit, was very interested to see how much

interesting things with their lives, she said.

“It’s really important for current Horace Mann students to be reading about things that alums are doing,” she said. “There was nothing in the Record in 1947 that Valentine Davies had done ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and won an Academy Award for it in 1948, so one of the things I want to bring to light over the next couple of years is people who have done this kind of stuff that we should know about.”

James Zaidman (10) finds it fascinating that the school has such distinguished alumni that people in the community have never heard of, despite knowing their work, he said. “I didn’t know who Valentine Davies even was, and now I know he’s the author of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ so that’s really cool for me how he went to HM,” Zaidman said. “It’s really interesting to see how these people who went to HM such a long time ago have had such a big impact in the world of the arts.”

Despite the fact that Levin and Davies are both famous writers and alumni of the school, students and adults alike at the school don’t know enough about them, Bartels said. “We know about the Robert Caro’s and the Jack Kerouac’s and the William Carlos Wiliams’s that went here, but not them.” Bartels believes that students know more about these figures because William Carlos Williams and Jack

Kerouac are part of the literary canon and document in the physical archives that is not Robert Caro is a major American historian currently available online, she said. Once the with a prize at the school named after him, documents have been scanned, she will be she said. But current students are not part of able to search by keyword rather than having the generation that is familiar with “Miracle to flip through physical boxes of archival on 34th Street” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” Bartels material, Bartels said. said.

Bartels believes it is important for the In addition to the alumni’s careers, the community to know that the school is saving exhibit also features material from their time all of the current publications, yearbooks, and at the school. This material was taken from other materials, she said. “Years from now, the archives and includes old class photos, someone going through that will be like, ‘Oh, Record articles, and Mannikin excerpts from Valentine Davies wrote a story in this paper, when they were students. or in this journal,’ ‘Ira Levin wrote a story The material is organized on poster and in this journal,’ and you get to see that early bulletin boards in the archives room and writing, and you get to see how that translated features the different plays and movies that into the people they were going to become.” they wrote over the course of their careers.

The exhibit will run until March and There are also a lot of images featuring the different films they Nikki Pande/Staff Photographer wrote demonstrating how their work impacted the world during the time when it was published.

Farhan Rafat (11) and Zaidman, who work in the library, helped Bartels to compile and organize the materials that she found. “Earlier this year, I approached Bartels about working in the library because I know other people who have worked in the library and it interested me,” Zaidman said. He currently works part-time for the library during his free periods and for this exhibit, he helped make sure that all of the information that Bartels found could fit into the limited space of the archives room, he said.

Bartels initially thought it would be quick to find everything about Davies’ and Levin’s writing in the Historical Newspapers Collection of the school’s databases. However, she became sidetracked by all of the information she found, she IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING Highlights from the show. said. “I got into a very dark hole of looking at everything, and that took me Bartels plans to leave the doors to the archives way too long,” Bartels said. She found a lot of room open for students to explore the exhibit material on Davies’ work for screen writers whenever they have a chance. Bartels hopes to during the era of the House Un-American continue featuring distinguished alumni that Activities Committee — once she started she feels the community should be aware of, looking at articles, she couldn’t stop, she said. she said.

Currently, Bartels is working with two people from a media company to scan every

Author Jacqueline Friedland discusses novel, “He Gets That From Me,” at HMPA book club meeting Ayesha Sen and Nia Huff Staff Writers

that are diverse in content and representation, Austin said. “We read some classics, authors from different countries and cultures, men This Wednesday, author Jacqueline and women. A lot of consideration goes into Friedland visited the Horace Mann Parents the books selected for our parents to engage Association (HMPA) book club to discuss in.” As a result, the books often address larger her novel “He Gets That From Me.” Each societal matters including race or sexuality, month, HMPA book club co-chairs Kiara HMPA president Sally Zhang P’26 said.

January’s read, “He Gets That From Me,” Jones Austin P’30 and Lisa Gordon P’30 P’22 follows the journey of a gay male couple P’25 select a book to discuss with the group.

Austin and Gordon aim to choose books as they experience the joy of parenting in spite of the difficulties they face in a heteronormative society, Austin said.

Courtesy of Katz Library Ten years after their child is born, a genealogy project reveals an anomaly that threatens to implode the lives of everyone involved.

Austin appreciated the representation of non-traditional families in literature because the conversation did not exist 20 years ago, she said. In fact, surrogacy — the method through which the main couple has their child — did not become fully legal in the state of New York until 2021.

Gordon especially appreciated the unpleasant nature of some characters.

“I did enjoy the unexpected actio At the meeting, Friedland shared her experiences of becoming a published writer and discussed the book, which is her fourth novel, Gordon said.

Elisabeth Benjamin thought the discussion was thoughtful and lively and enjoyed the conversation about Friedland’s career switch, she said.

Austin found it inspiring to hear from a woman who tried out different HE GETS THAT FROM ME January’s book club pick.

things before finding her place, she said.

“It was a moving conversation, especially at this time of year when [our children] are considering colleges,” she said. “For her to say the decision you make right now is not inherently the path you will stay on was really powerful.”

families are not always the closest families,” Gordon said.

Friedland also talked about her publishing process, which includes “sensitivity reads,” Benjamin said. For this book, she sent her manuscript to a gay colleague to ensure that she accurately captured the relationship of a

“The power of literature is so obvious, as an author will have a kernel of an idea and spit out an extraordinary tale from that little tiny idea.”

- Elisabeth Benjamin Gordon said the end of the book was particularly impactful. Although the protagonist is 10 years old in most of the book, Friedland chose to end the story when he was a young adult for his decisions and voice to resonate with an adult audience.

“This led to a discussion about how authors sometimes utilize alternate endings or a change of events, mostly after a character has naturally progressed or changed along with the natural writing of the story,” Gordon said.

Benjamin said that Friedland’s visit was a testament to writers’ creativity. “The power of literature is so obvious as an author will have a kernel of an idea and spit out an extraordinary tale from that little tiny idea,” she said.

Gordon said that the book and Friedland’s talk promoted inclusivity. “The discussion brought to light conversations regarding adoption and reinforced the idea that blood

gay couple that was central to the plot.

The group’s inclusivity adds to the depth of the discussions, Benjamin said. “The conversations are usually really good because the people who participate are all extremely talented folks, and what strikes me most is how incredibly diverse the group is,” she said.

“I enjoy all the different perspectives that people bring to the pieces we are reading.”

For Austin, the book club has always been a welcoming and open space where she could go to and meet parents who shared a similar passion for literature, she said. One of the unique aspects of the book club is that it is available to parents across the four divisions.

Although Austin was a parent in the Nursery Division (ND) when she began to attend, the space allowed her to meet new parents and integrate into the wider community, she said.

“The book club is a friend-raising entity, the best thing we get out of the experience is our connection to one another.”

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THE RECORD FEATURES JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Class(y) rooms: Teachers get creative with decor Neeva Patel and Sophie Rukin Staff Writers On the back wall of English teacher Dr. Adam Casdin’s classroom. 153T, hangs an art piece that drives his students crazy: a painting of an off-center black circle on a white background by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, he said.

Casdin hangs up posters and pieces of art around his own classroom because they help illustrate critical approaches which can be translated to the literature his class is reading, he said. “These days we are all much better at reading visual cues rather than words, so if you can practice that facility in one medium and then shift it to poetry, that is pretty amazing,” Casdin said.

“The Malevich piece drives my

decorations, but the collective English Department copier room also contains posters with a lot of history behind them. On the left wall of the rooms hangs a reading curriculum list from April 1960, containing books needed for courses like “The Inner Resources of Man” and “Treatises and Books for Background.” On the wall across the book list hangs a series of signed dinner menus dating back to 2002.

“We have been having English department dinners since I can remember, and the tradition is to pass the menu around and get everyone to sign it as a record of who was there,” Casdin said.

However, due to Covid, the department has not been able to go to restaurants, so the continuity of the tradition has been disrupted, English teacher Rebecca Bahr

Sean Lee/Photo Director

CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE Jones and his signature map. students crazy due to the off-center placement of the circle, but I enjoy its representation of aesthetics and the relationship of objects,” Casdin said. “When I tell my students to read the image during class, something so simple as a square and a circle could end up having a number of different meanings,” he said. Casdin is interested in nonrepresentational art, art that doesn’t have a specific depiction, so he likes to put up textile work around the class.

Despite the fact that the pieces around the room are abstract, Casdin is sure students will relate to them in their own unique ways, he said.

Kayla Choi (10), a student of Casdin’s, has found herself interpreting some of the studentdrawn pieces around the room, she said. The piece that speaks to Choi the most is a drawing of a girl’s face with hands that pull at the girl’s facial features to alter them. “This painting

seemed like a comment on beauty standards, and how teenage girls constantly feel like they must change their appearance due to societal pressure,” she said. Choi finds that interpretational pieces are the most interesting to look at during class, she said.

Not only do English classrooms such as Casdin’s contain unique

said. “Still, the menus are a lovely reminder of teachers from the past whom I was friends with.”

Bahr, whose classroom is 149T, also loves to decorate her class with brightly colored posters and maps, she said. In the middle of the classroom, Bahr hung a map of the world because she wants her students to remember that they are not at the center of the world, she said. Bahr also uses the map to talk about her backstory and often discusses places she used to live like Thailand and the Central African Republic, she said.

Along with the map, Bahr put up a poster of her brother’s documentary called “Hearts of Darkness,” which details the making of the movie Apocalypse Now, she said.

Although Bahr does have these few maps and posters hung around the room, the majority of her decorations consist of students’ creative projects from the past. “These could include poetry, artwork, music that they have composed, and little sculptures,” she said. Bahr enjoys putting these pieces up since they are helpful to gain inspiration, especially when the time comes for current students to make creative projects, she said.

Similar to Bahr, history teacher Dr. Emily Straus hangs up maps around her classroom to use during classes, she said. Straus inherited her classroom, 247T, last year. The History Department determines who has their own classroom by seniority, Straus said. “If it’s your classroom, you get to teach all your classes in there and you also get to decorate it.”

Although Straus’ classroom is not as decorated as she would like, she does have some interesting posters hung up, she said. One of her posters was designed by a former student she taught in Los Angeles. “This poster was a project he created for a class while in high school,” she said.

Another poster is from a conference Straus and a colleague hosted while she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Rice University, she said.The conference centered around the history of race in Houston, Texas, the location of Rice University. “As a thank you to

[my colleague] I framed one of the posters for him, and I framed one of them for me,” Straus said.

Straus enjoys hanging up decorations because they remind her of her past projects and endeavors.

“The decorations represent different parts of my life as a historian,” she said. Straus’ life as a researcher and teacher are all represented in her classroom.

Unlike the history department, language teachers do not get their own personal room, World Languages Department Chair Pilar Valencia said. However, they do make an effort to divide rooms based on the language being taught.

The goal is for kids to be in a room with items related to the language they are learning about, she said.

Valencia, who teaches in room 327T, decorates the space with items that may be meaningful to students or are related to the topics the class is learning about, she said.

One particular poster that stands out to Valencia is that of a famous Latin American writer named Julio Cortazar. “It’s old, so it’s kind of fading, but it has stuck to my heart, because the kids who took a class with me, the highest level class, signed on it,” she said. The poster reminds her of the students who completed the whole Spanish program and reminds current students that they can get to that point one day, she said.

Along with the poster, Valencia has put in a series of artifacts from different Spanish-speaking countries. “There is a little Español in tiles that I found in Granada, and it’s beautiful because they are from Spain,” she said. She also has masks from Guatemala, along with some posters, maps, and diagrams, she said.

“Whenever I find an image that I find interesting I try to find a poster or something and have it printed,” Valencia said. Posters are helpful as they help students to better understand what they are being taught, she said. “Since we don’t have field trips now, I will sometimes have my students “take a field trip” to the closet to find images that might help them better understand her points,” she said.

Math teacher Chris Jones also hopes students can use decorations to comprehend certain concepts and alter their way of thinking, he said.

An upside down map of the world hangs at the front of his classroom.

However, the map might not be upside down, Jones said. “Who’s to say what the right rotation is? The Europeans who made it, just looked at it and decided North was up.”

Stephanie Lee (10) finds that the map serves as a reminder of the way Jones tells his students to approach a problem, she said. “The map emphasizes how you should try to solve math problems in a variety of different ways, and not to stick to one method of evaluation,” she said.

Jones’ open mindset and approach is very different from what Lee has experienced in past math classes, she said.

Although she has found new appreciation for the map, Lee’s favorite decoration in the classroom is Jones’ wall of frisbees from when he coached the school’s frisbee team for 25 years. Lee enjoys how Jones uses the frisbees to demonstrate specific math concepts, and he allows the class to practice their frisbee throws from time to time, she said. “It’s cool to see how Mr. Jones uses classroom decorations to combine two of his passions, ultimate frisbee and math.”

Throughout his room Jones also has a collection of Newton themed posters, a five dimensional cube replica, students’ own drawing interpretations of him, and soda

bottles with his name on them. Jones puts these specific decorations up because some of them were gifted to him by past students, and he enjoys the memories these objects bring to the classroom, he said.

However, Jones also decorates his classroom because he wants it to seem mathematical, and he also wants it to seem like a lived in space that contains the history of the school. The frisbees in Jones’ collection date all the way back to 1993 and act as a record for the games his team won during their time, he said.

Similarly, history teacher Barry Bienstock hangs up decorations that contain a historic background and give students an insight into some aspects of his life, he said.

Bienstock first chose his room of 246T in 2001 when he was the department head and was helping to design the second floor of Tillinghast. At the time, his office was right next to his classroom, making it an easy selection, he said.

Over his many years at the school, Bienstock has put up a series of decorations including books, posters, and maps. More recently, after starting the Robert Caro Prize for Literary Excellence in the Writing of History, Bienstock began to put up posters of Caro, including a poster of his cover story in the New York Times. Bienstock’s classroom is also dedicated to Caro and is called The Robert Caro Classical Theory History Classroom.

In the room, Bienstock hangs up posters from his field of interest — Native American history — and pictures with interesting people he has had the chance to meet. “I’ve added [a poster] where I had an opportunity to spend time with Lin Manuel Miranda after seeing Hamilton and also [a poster with] the film director Francis Ford Coppola after I asked him to speak at an assembly,” he said.

Through his decorations, Bienstock’s main hope is to share his own interests with his students and possibly spark their interest, he said.

English teacher Harry Bauld also uses his decorations as a way for students to explore deeper into their interests, specifically the world of poetry. Although Bauld’s classroom is 155T, most of his decorations lie in the Baruth Room, a classroom he used to teach in during the 1980s and in 2007. Bauld’s actual classroom is relatively empty, but

because it has a Shakespearean overtone,” he said.

The collection is a great resource for when he teaches the senior Poetry Writing elective during the second semester, he said. “Sometimes I bring my classes in here and tell everybody to pick a book, and we have a reading session,” Bauld said. Each week during the senior elective, Bauld makes his students research the works of a specific poet, and he sends them to the Baruth book collection for extra research, he said.

Casdin also keeps a book collection in his classroom. “Those books are from my grad school days, including literary criticism and some novels I enjoy,” he said.

Bauld also designed the bookplates that are posted on the inside cover of every book in the collection, which are labels used for identification purposes.

Bauld’s bookplates contain a quote by Sigmund Freud that reads, “Words and magic were in the beginning one and the same.”

Oftentimes, Bauld means to come to the Baruth Room to alphabetize the poetry, but because of the small space on the shelves, he ends up putting the books in size order. “I

Sam Siegel/Photo Director

PICTURES GALORE Berenson’s image-filled history classroom. it does include one wall of studentcreated drawings and collages.

However, on the right side of the Baruth room lies Bauld’s book collection: a shelf filled with books of different sizes and colors. Almost all of the books in his collection are poetry, but there are also some other books about famous authors such as A.J. Liebling, Bauld said.

Bauld began the book collection because he had tons of books that he could not fit into his own space anymore, he said. “I find that poetry books fit well with the Baruth Room

actually like the random placement of the books more than I would have expected,” he said.

Matthew Pruzan (9) has found a new appreciation for the decorations his teachers put up around his classroom because he thinks it gives him an insight into his teachers interests, he said. “The decorations bring a lively energy to the space that I feel would not be there if we didn’t have them around.

Art by Felix Brener, Dani Brooks, Karla Moreira/Staff Artists

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THE RECORD FEATURES JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Library Legends: Kazan, Duran, and Aponte Audrey Carbonell and Isabella Ciriello Staff and Contributing Writer

“Some of my favorite moments are when I work one-on-one with a student and I can see that light bulb go off when they understand either the most efficient way to search in our databases or when I teach something they haven’t thought of,” Library Technology Coordinator Melissa Kazan said.

“Students are really grateful and thankful for my help, so that’s really gratifying for me.”

Before joining the school in 2013, Kazan worked as a library assistant at a public middle school in Westchester for eight years, she said. “In the course of that, I decided I wanted to become a librarian.”

During those years, Kazan was exposed to the inner workings of the library, she said. “I think people have a misconception of what school librarians do and think it’s all about books and recommending books and reading books,” she said. “But there’s really so much more to it, so it was an eye-opener for me to see the behind-thescenes and all the different hats that librarians wear.”

While working as a library assistant, Kazan earned her master’s in Library and Information Science in 2012, she said. One year later, she joined the school’s library staff. As Library Technology Coordinator, she manages administrative work and fixes issues with the school’s databases, she said. “Out of our 50 database subscriptions, there’s always one or two that are having problems, and my job is to determine if the problem is due to our end or the database’s.”

When the school’s website was down last week, students did not have direct access to the databases

through the library’s website, Kazan said. As a temporary fix, Kazan emailed the student body a list of direct resource links that would allow them to access the school’s databases, she said.

Kazan tracks the usage numbers for each database, she said. “Every spring I look at how many times students are logging onto the databases, and I keep track of those numbers to see which databases require us renewing or which databases we need to cut loose,” she said. “I can actually see what time students log in, which is kind of scary when I see usage at two in the morning on a Monday morning.”

Kazan oversaw a shift in the authenticating process for the database, streamlining the process to create better functionality, she said. “When users are at home, all of those unique IP addresses are funneled through one third party IP address, which is then authenticated by the databases,” she said. “This has probably been the most useful for me, but it’s not something that our users, which include students and faculty, would notice. It’s something that we notice from behind the scenes.”

Kazan also teaches research classes where she helps students learn to effectively use the databases when researching reference sources and primary sources, she said. In preparation for the classes, Kazan works with teachers, so she can cater her research lessons to their specific style, she said.

“After I’ve spoken to the teacher to figure out what it is they want as the takeaway from my lesson, I then work to craft my own demonstration,” she said. “Each teacher is different — some teachers want me to teach everything in one class while others want me to break the lessons apart into separate classes.”

History Teacher Dr. Emily Straus often works

Emily Wang/Staff Photographer

DURAN AT HER DESK Assisting, archiving, and accessorizing.

Head of Library Circulation Stiffany Aponte first worked in one of the research libraries of the New York Public Library in Manhattan as a high schooler, and it sparked her interest in being a librarian. But Aponte didn’t realize she wanted to become a professional librarian until after finishing her Bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on marketing from Berkeley College in December of 2006, she said.

She then earned her masters from Queens College in Master of Library and Information Science in December of 2010. “I decided, since I’ve been working for more than ten years in the library system and I enjoy the type of work, being surrounded by books, and knowing where to find the information. And I also love to read, so it made perfect sense,” she said.

Even though her passion was working as a librarian, Aponte’s studies in marketing helped her improve her work as a children’s librarian, she said. “I was able to use my marketing education to help me promote programs and resources that the library offered, which helped drive the public into the library,” she said. Aponte used Microsoft publisher to create informational handouts that would be distributed throughout the library, and would advertise daily and monthly programs through the library’s website.

Even though she loved working at a public library, being in a school setting is better suited for her. She enjoys working at the school because it allows her to be available for her kids, she said.

As a parent of two young children, having the availability to leave earlier in the day and having summers off was important to her, she said. “A public library doesn’t have that flexibility. You have to be there at open and closing, which can go until

Sean Lee/Photo Director

HARD AT WORK Kazan chats with a student from her seat at the circulation desk. with Kazan to plan lessons for her classes, Straus said. “She’s amazing — she never gets territorial or anything,” she said. “She’s always open to trying something new.”

“I love Ms. Kazan, she’s absolutely the best,” Sam Siegel (11) said. “If I have issues finding sources for history or I am questioning a source, I always go to her,” he said. “She’s really excellent with longterm research papers and getting the nitty-gritty sources.”

Outside of school, Kazan wants to read more in her free time. “My problem is, unfortunately, I’m a slow reader, which is ironic for being a librarian,’’ she said. “I also sometimes save my reading for right before I go to sleep, and that’s about five pages before I’m out.”

Kazan’s favorite genre is historical fiction, she said. “It transports you to a different time and it’s

“Being a librarian pleases me because I can help teachers and students with resources, materials, or in the facilities,” Library Assistant Sandra Duran said. “This [position] makes me feel connected to the community because that’s what I’m here for — to help and fulfill the needs of the community.”

Duran joined the school three years ago for her first experience as a librarian, she said. “I’ve always been interested in books and helping out students and teachers with any type of work,” she said.

Duran works with Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels on many school initiatives, such as the archive exhibitions. “[Students] have a place to go downstairs and see anything they might be interested in.”

Every morning, Duran sets up the library.

“I grab the newspaper of the day and any mail for our office,” she said. “I come up and get our desktops up and running so that we can check out any materials that [students] need to start the day.”

Right before break, Duran prepares the snack with Bartels, she said. “I also coordinate

7 o’clock,” she said.

Aponte has been at the school for seven years.

Shortly after coming to the school, she realized how scattered the CDs and audiobooks were around the library, and created the media room.

Aponte enjoys organizing and designing spaces, so this was the perfect project for her, she said. Before moving all the materials into the room she had to ensure that everything would fit, so Aponte had to go through all the audiobooks and weed out what should be kept. Then, the shelves had to be adjusted, new labels were printed for the shelves as well as the spines of the CDs so that they could be easily found. There are approximately 4,500 CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks in the media room today.

“I looked around and saw where items would be placed. It would make sense that they would be all together,” she said.

Aponte’s favorite part about working at the school is interacting with students and doing what she can to make their lives easier -- whether ordering books, helping a student find the right reference source, or simply checking in and asking how their weekend was, she said. “I really enjoy talking to the kids and then seeing them when they graduate and seeing where they’re going to college,” she said.

After breaking her laptop, Yasmeen Masoud (10) went to Aponte to ask if she could borrow one for a few weeks. “She gave me all the details of what I needed to do and explained how it works when you borrow a laptop. She was really helpful,” Masoud (10) said.

In the morning, one of the first things Aponte does is circulation, which involves checking in and out any library materials. She then orders any books that students or faculty may want, ensures

a really useful way to learn about a different time period or historical event,” she said. “If I read a story that surrounds particular events, it sticks with me more than just reading straightforward text.”

Another one of Kazan’s hobbies is riding her Peloton, she said. Although Kazan used to go to exercise classes pre-pandemic, she now works out at home on her Peloton, she said. “It’s been a gamechanger,” she said. “It’s so much easier to work out whenever you want to.”

Kazan also loves to spend time with her children, who are 21 and 23, she said. “They were both in college at the beginning of the pandemic and their years got cut short, so they came home and we had a lot of great family time together — I guess it would be a silver lining of the pandemic.”

and plan with the Happiness Club any special snacks for the month.”

Throughout the day, Duran works around the library at several stations, she said. “We are a busy place — we place constant book orders for students and faculty, so I receive all new book orders, I process and label them, and I also check in any supplies or materials that we use in the library.” Other tasks that Duran does on a typical day includes distributing magazines and newspapers around the library, restocking snacks and hot chocolate, and shelving books, she said.

Additionally, Duran helps put together the bulletin boards on the second floor of Tillinghast that feature departments, clubs, and helpful student information, she said. “We’ve done boards on ‘The Sixth Extinction,’ which was the book for Book Day a few years back, and we had a board on Trump’s impeachment along with Horace Mann Review and Horace Mann Record articles that talked about Nixon’s impeachment,” she said.

Currently, Duran is finishing her Accounting Degree at Southern New Hampshire University she said. Due to her heavy coursework, she spends much of her free time completing online classes and homework for her program, she said. She spends the rest of her time with her ten-year-old daughter, and they enjoy watching movies together.

that all the device chargers are accounted for, and emails any student whose chargers are overdue.

She also shelves books, reserves study rooms for students, and makes sure students are properly wearing their masks.

Aponte’s job varies throughout the school year.

At the beginning of the year, she has to confirm the library has all the books that teachers require, and if a book is added to a class at the last minute, she has to ensure that it is in the library. Because the library now offers textbooks to students to take home for the year, Aponte also has to track down everyone who needs to return their books at the end of the school year. “I have to make sure that everyone returns [their books], look up everyone’s names, and send kids emails asking them to return it,” she said.

At the end of the year, in June, Aponte already orders books for the following year. “That’s when I place all of my book orders, meaning that I go through each of the course lists that teachers want students to buy [for their class],” she said. Then, in August, when the librarians receive the rosters from the teachers, they have to order any new books that have been added at the last minute.

In addition to reading, Aponte loves completing crosswords puzzles, word searches, and other games. She especially likes crosswords because she does not need a continuous stretch of time to complete them; she can put it away to make dinner for her kids and pick it up later to finish, she said.

Aponte is happy working at the school, and wants to focus on spending time with her children while they’re young, she said.

Sean Lee/Photo Director

HELPING HAND Aponte scours the databases.

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THE RECORD ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Siegel (11) writes and directs drama with faculty and students in Filmmaking class Allison Markman and Nikita Pande Staff Writers “When I look back on filming this film of mine, I really do see it as the hard work and dedication of so many people,” Sam Siegel (11) said. Siegel is directing a film that involves other members in Film teacher Jordan Rathus’s Filmmaking 3: Creating the Short Film class. The film takes a look at the life of a high schooler going through a regular day but highly dramatizes it, he said.

Siegel intends for the film to be more serious from those normally created in filmmaking classes, Rathus said. “A lot of filmmaking students have a tendency to make something funny, but he wanted to try something different,” she said. “He wanted to try more of a drama.”

In addition to his passion for filmmaking, Siegel’s directing skills are an asset, Rathus said. “[He does] a great job of demonstrating the professionalism that he hopes to attain throughout his filmmaking career and was really great at explaining context to his actors.”

Producer Lawson Wright (11), who is part of the Acting for the Camera class that is working on Siegel’s film, is delighted to be part of the project. “I was excited to work on Sam’s film because I can tell how passionate he is about his work,” he said.

As director, Siegel is in charge of editing all the footage, but he expects that Rathus will also take a look before the final product is created, he said. His hope is to complete the editing process by March.

Siegel’s entire crew was instrumental in the creation of the film, Siegel said.

Wright ensured everything ran smoothly by coordinating schedules and locations, and he also helped Siegel achieve his artistic vision for the film, Siegel said.

Logan Dracos (12) is the Director of Photography, operating the camera and designing the shot list, Siegel said. “He basically helped figure out what it was going to look like, how we’re going to shoot it, and what campus we’re going to use,” Siegel said.

Another member of the crew is Morgan Frances-Cohen (12). Frances-Cohen is responsible for guaranteeing that all the audio was captured when filming, especially the dialogue, as well as making sure the background music stays consistent, Siegel said.

In addition, teachers played a vital role in the project both behind and in front of the camera in order to create many of the scenes.

Rathus, for example, acts in the film, allows Siegel to check out cameras, and serves as a Isabelle Kim/Staff Artist

Elena Zhu/Staff Artist

mentor throughout the process. In addition, other teachers act in the periphery of the

film and were crucial to

making the film run smoothly, Siegel said.

Siegel reached out to Upper Division Library Department Chair Caroline Bartels, asking if she would act in the film as a librarian who intervened in a student fight, Bartels said. “He created the script but I said that’s not what I would actually say, and he let me sort of adlib.”

It took all of G period to film one scene because multiple takes were required, Bartels said. “We had to kind of keep doing [the scene] because they wanted different angles.”

Siegel explained how after filming, with all the takes acquired, he was going to edit and choose the best shots, Bartels said.

The film will most likely be finished in the spring, Rathus said. “We have one more film project that [Siegel]’s working on right now,” she said. “And when he’s finished with it, he’s going to go back to the edit.”

Siegel’s inspiration for the film stemmed from a brainstorming activity that he did in his filmmaking class when a member of the class came up with an idea to showcase the day in the life of a high school student, but with twists along the way, he said.

After coming up with the idea in filmmaking class, Siegel wrote the script from September to October, he said. At first, he put certain visuals for the camera in the script but had to move those visuals to a different document later to separate the script from ideas and camera movements, Siegel said.

During the writing process, Rathus kept an open dialogue with Siegel and helped him

develop the film’s characters. “We talked a lot about the function of the different characters and how they were playing a role in the main character’s life,” she said. After the script was drafted, Rathus and Wright edited the script further. In October, Siegel gave the final version of the script to student actors in the Acting for the Camera class, he said.

The pandemic has posed a few problems during filming. Masks require students to enunciate and convey things through their eyes, Bartels said. A significant obstacle of creating the film thus far has been Elena Zhu/Staff coordinating Artist e v e r y o n e ’s schedules with all of the days that were off from school, Wright said.

“Throughout shooting, we lost at least three days due to surprise days off and people being out of school,” he said. “However, we were able to work through those challenges and I’m quite proud of what we were able to accomplish.”

WINTER MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS Gone Girl

A Christmas Carol

Neeva Patel Staff Writer Ever since the first snowfall of the season last Friday, it is finally starting to feel like winter.

On frosty days like these, most people like to binge-watch comforting movies that fit the vibe of the season. I, however, enjoy watching eerie psychological thrillers. One of my favorite movies to watch this time of year is “Gone Girl,” starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, and Neil Patrick Harris.

“Gone Girl” follows the life of a man named Nick Dunne, played by Ben Affleck, in suburban Missouri after his wife Amy mysteriously disappears on their fifth anniversary.

Nick should be worried when he comes home to broken glass and bloodstains, but as his wife’s case gains publicity and Nick seems calmer than ever, the public begins to question his innocence.

Sunshine Quninones Contributing Writer Detectives uncover Amy’s diary to reveal that her marriage with Nick wasn’t all that perfect, and viewers question

evidence from Nick and Amy’s past, so viewers can start to pick sides for which character they trust more. The

Vivian Coraci/Art Director

whether Nick is really the nice guy he seems to be.

I love how this movie is split into two parts. The first follows detectives as they uncover

second part is more action-packed and as the puzzle pieces come together and more characters are introduced, Amy’s disappearance becomes all the

more fascinating.

Halfway through the movie, all that you see in the first half is challenged, which I have never experienced in a film before.

The acting in this movie adds to the gripping plot.

Rosamund Pike does an astounding job portraying all the different facets of Amy Dunne’s character. Although Nick and Amy initially seem rather mundane, as the film progresses they become extremely intriguing.

Their unique senses of humor and personalities create many laughable moments on screen.

Overall, I enjoy how this movie has both fascinating characters and a captivating plot.

As a psychological thriller, “Gone Girl” messes with your mind, making it the perfect film to watch on a dark and cold winter day.

One of my favorite movies to watch during winter is the animated “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey, based on the 1843 novel by Charles Dickens.

I first saw it in theaters when I was five years old, and while my mom thought it was a kidfriendly Disney version of the classic Dickens story, I was absolutely petrified during some of the scenes and started crying at one point.

Although the movie initially scared me, I asked to watch it the next Christmas, and the next, and the next. I have

probably watched it over ten times, but I never seem to get tired of it. While I didn’t quite understand why I wanted to watch it again after the first time, years later, I now recognize why the movie has remained a personal favorite for so long.

The character design mixes animation and reality to create eerie visuals that match the plot and story arc of Scrooge and his ghosts. Each ghost’s visual design embodies Scrooge’s feelings at that point in his life and brings the viewer into

the adventure. The movie delivers a story of growth in a funny, sometimes scary, but nonetheless inspiring way.

There is a sense of Christmas hope that if Scrooge can become compassionate and cheery, you can be anything too.

“A Christmas Carol” has a classic holiday feel and keeps viewers entertained with the wondrous journey Scrooge goes on. I love watching this movie with my family every year and it will forever have a special place in my heart.

At points funny, at points gutting, “Good Will Hunting” is a compelling story that touches on powerful themes of social classism, talent and genius, and dealing with your past in order to live your life fully and for yourself. It is also a historic Hollywood success story — a box office hit that grossed huge profits, but actually began as a final assignment in a playwriting class back when Matt Damon was just another college student. It won two Oscars and launched multiple careers, including those of

young Damon and Ben Affleck, who co-wrote the screenplay.

Their performances, along with those of Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgård and Robin Williams, who won an Oscar for his part, are absolutely outstanding — you cannot help but connect to the characters.

It even has a great soundtrack to complement the movie. If you’re looking for a thoughtful and extremely well-made movie that will tug at your heart strings, “Good Will Hunting” is the one.

Good Will Hunting Alex Bates Faculty Contributor

“Good Will Hunting” is a favorite of mine and one that I usually rewatch every couple of years. The main character, Will, is a young man in roughand-tumble South Boston.

He works as a janitor at MIT, and, unbenounced to almost everyone, also happens to be a mathematical genius. When Will gets arrested, an MIT professor recognizes his genius and intervenes. As the movie progresses, Will’s new-found relationship with a therapist further changes the course of his life.

THE RECORD MIDDLE DIVISION JANUARY 14TH, 2022

Eighth grade Dorr returns to Bronx Emily Salzhauer and Aryan Palla Staff and Contributing Writers

an on-campus eighth grade Dorr experience, DePreter said. This newest version lasts three school days from A through H period, rather than the traditional eight days overnight, he said.

Although students may be disappointed to miss the traditional eighth grade Dorr experience of climbing the Cooperative Adventure Tower (CAT), hiking, and spending time in the lodge, they will still get a meaningful, and most importantly, safe, experience on the Bronx campus until they can go back in the spring, DePreter said.

While appreciative that she can still experience eighth grade Dorr in some form, Emily Park (8), who is scheduled to be oncampus for Dorr, feels that she will be missing out on the Dorr experience — such as climbing the CAT and staying overnight, she said. “I’m

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kind of sad that we’re not able to go to the Dorr campus because I feel like going there would be more fun, memorable, and enjoyable for me.”

Lily Sussman (8) is also disappointed about “We can’t expect it to be a substitute for the the shift, she said. “I am a little bummed about best experience. We just have to make it the doing Dorr on campus because I was looking best it can be, and that’s what Dorr is all about,” forward to getting to climbing, hiking, and Director of Dorr Nick DePreter said. Due to being immersed in nature.”

COVID restrictions, the eighth grade Dorr At Dorr, students are usually surrounded by program has been moved to the Bronx campus people they may not be so close with, without for the month of January. their phones, for five days, DePreter said.

Eighth grade Dorr is the only Dorr program “[Through the Dorr programs,] we can see in the Middle Division (MD) that was scheduled ourselves in new ways, learn about ourselves to take place during the winter months of the and about each other in a totally alternative school year, in the midst of the spike in COVID educational venue,” he said. At Dorr, students cases at the school and in the community, Head learn that they’re capable of activities they’d of the MD Javaid Khan wrote. never tried before. When students return to Because of last year’s COVID restrictions, the campus, they have had new experiences and Dorr faculty had already planned options for made new friends.

DePreter knows that even though they have to shorten the curriculum, they can still teach students the problem-solving skills, adaptability, and creativity they usually learn at the Dorr campus, he said. “It’s a little compressed, but obviously if you take away the CAT and the day hike, you have three days,” he said. “Without evening time in the cabin and campfire at night, of course, it’s going to be a little bit different, but we’re still accomplishing the goals that we need to.”

In the Bronx program, students still get the chance to do team-bonding activities, which include an adapted version of mini-golf,using a bucket suspended by ropes to move water, group problem solving, and hiking through Van Cortlandt Park, DePreter said.

Like the traditional Dorr program, DePreter hopes that students will be able to take the problem-solving skills they learned at Dorr into other parts of their life, he said. During problemsolving activities, students are forced to work together, bounce ideas off Courtesy of TJ Vanek each other, and be vocal about their NATURE LAB TAKES THE CITY Dorr Group 8-6 participates in activities on Bronx campus. different views and concerns about an

issue.

Sussman said this experience will feel different than the one her friends who went to the Connecticut campus had. “Most of my friends [who went to the Connecticut campus] had very positive experiences, so I’m sad to miss out on that,” she said. “Not only are we not doing the full time, but we are also not in the wilderness the whole time or sleeping outside.

We are also limited to a few activities because they require the campus.”

Although Malina Patel (8) would have preferred to go to the Dorr campus and get the full Dorr experience, she is glad not missing a full week of school due to the shortened program, she said. “I feel like I’m missing out on the true experience of Dorr because we won’t be able to do activities like climbing the CAT or stay overnight in the cabins.”

Anice Orvananos (8), who is participating in this week’s on-campus Dorr group, appreciates the Dorr staff ’s effort to make this experience as meaningful as possible, while also recognizing that it is not the same as they were expecting, she said. “The group is making the most of it and hopefully sometime this year we can go to the Dorr campus in Connecticut to fulfill the experiences we cannot at the Horace Mann campus.”

As soon as it is safe, the Dorr program will return to the Connecticut campus, Khan said.

“Our incredible team at Dorr is ready to pivot at any point,” he said. “If numbers say we are ready, we will return to Dorr; if they say the opposite, we will continue with a Bronx program.”

While DePreter does think that the Bronx campus’ version of 8th grade Dorr is still meaningful for the students, he knows that it isn’t the same experience, he said.

Assuming that COVID restrictions ease up, DePreter is hopeful that the later groups will be able to travel to Dorr, he said. He hopes to bring all of the students in the eighth grade up to Dorr at some point in the school year, he said. “We’re hoping to bring them up after spring break to at least do an overnight to get out on the trail and do some time on the CAT,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll get the full experience by the end.”

Ella Shaham Contributing Writer

our arguments.”

Cheng has experience with prior tournaments both in-person and online because he started debating at the school two years ago and four years ago outside of school, he said. The online format is different from in-person tournaments because you have to deal with internet issues and speak with different emphasis, he said.

“Tournaments online have done a good job at preserving the competitive spirit of debate,” Cheng said.

Ji began debate at the beginning of this year.

“I haven’t been to any in-person tournaments, so I don’t know if [being online] makes a big impact,” he said. “I don’t see a big problem with it and it went pretty smoothly.”

The online format created issues for Tarlowe, she said. She found it difficult to jump between different Zooms for each section of the tournament, she said. “In our third round, the judge didn’t show up because they had the wrong link. They had to get a new judge so the round ended up starting a whole hour late.”

“Zoom is always tricky. On the tournament day and the days leading up to it, I try to help deal with logistics and make sure students are on top of their schedules,” Iwai-Louie said.

Overall, the tournament was a positive experience for the second place team. “In the end, we won all three rounds and got some pretty decent speaker points and lots of precise and informative feedback,” Cheng said.

MD Public Forum Debate team attends New York City Urban League tournament Members of the Middle Division (MD) debate team participated in the virtual 2022 New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL) Middle School High School (MSHS) 4 tournament last Saturday about whether the United States Federal Government should raise the minimum wage to $15 for all workers.

“This tournament was a good experience and it went pretty well,” Kevin Cheng (8) said.

Cheng won second place with his partner Michael Ji (8).

“I was really nervous at first,” Emily Tarlowe (8) said. “My heart was beating so fast. After the first round, I was so much more calm and I thought it was actually pretty fun. It was a really good first tournament for me,” she said. Tarlowe won 15th place with her partner Ava Nikitiadis (8).

Before the tournament, teams spent significant time preparing, Cheng said. “I did most of my preparation over the winter break,” he said. “Mainly what I worked on with my partner was getting our case ideas down on paper and really fleshing them out. We also developed possible counterarguments.”

The teams’ preparation ultimately helped them to succeed, Ji said. “We found a common piece of evidence that the other side would likely use, so we found another piece of evidence that disproved their point,” he said. “They had a really strong point, but using what we had prepared, we proved them wrong and won that round.”

Teams spent the week leading up to the tournament preparing and fine-tuning their arguments in school and with the help of Upper Division (UD) debate members, Cheng said. “Going into this tournament, I was a little nervous, but the high schoolers did a great job

at critiquing and helping me go through my arguments,” he said. “They showed me where pieces of my arguments could be used in a different way or made more clear.”

Nikitiadis was appreciative of the help from the UD members. “On Thursday after school, we met privately with two high schoolers to go over our case and practice,” Nikitiadis said.

“It was especially helpful because I hadn’t done a tournament in a while, so it was nice to get more comfortable before we were in the actual tournament.”

Tarlowe also thought the meetings with the UD members were useful, she said. “I was really nervous at that point and [meeting with the UD members] definitely calmed me down.

It was a good opportunity to make sure I really understood what we were going to do in the tournament,” Tarlowe said.

Megumi Iwai-Louie (11) is one of the MD Debate Directors. Before tournaments, she helps facilitate one-on-one time between MD partnerships and MD associates to help the teams prepare, she said. “It’s important that they get individualized time to ask specific questions and carefully go over their cases,” Iwai-Louie said. “Being able to see the MD associates assume mentorship positions to work together with the MD debaters and develop relationships is super heartwarming. I couldn’t be happier with how things have been going.”

These one-on-one meetings only began about a month ago, MD associate Joann Yu (10) said. “We teach [the MD debaters] the fundamentals of debate as well as topic-specific information depending on what the topic is in their upcoming tournament,” she said. “They have tournaments once a month, and the topic doesn’t always change. We also research and write cases for them to use.”

“Even though the high schoolers wrote the cases for us, we did a lot of our own research,

too,” Tarlowe said “I learned so much about the topic of raising the minimum wage that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

Ji and Chung constructed their own case entirely, Ji said. “We built the whole case together, but it was mainly me asking questions because Kevin has much more experience. He guided me through building a case and it paid off in the end,” he said.

Nikitiadis assumed a similar role with Tarlowe. “It was her first time, so I was able to help her through the process and guide her through what she didn’t know,” she said.

Although Cheng and Ji ended up winning all three of their rounds, it was not without challenges. In their first round, Cheng’s team miscalculated a statistic that they used for one of their arguments. “The opponent pointed it out and we had to drop the whole argument. By then it was way too late in the round to bring up another argument, so it was a bit stressful,” he said.

Tarlowe and Nikitiadis also had moments of uncertainty during the tournament. “There was one time during crossfire that was very stressful when our opponent asked us a question that was very complicated, so it was hard to respond.

I don’t think the judge was particularly satisfied with our answer,” Nikitiadis said.

“As the day went on, we got a better understanding of how we debate together and we were more comfortable with

Sophia Liu/Staff Artist

Lions’ Den Record Sports

JANUARY 14TH, 2022

School cancels pre-season trips in response to Omicron Jorge Orvananos and Harper Rosenberg Staff and Contributing Writers

The Upper Division (UD) Athletics Department announced before winter break that spring athletic teams will not travel for regularly scheduled pre-season trips over spring break, Director of Athletics Robert Annunziata said. Annunziata made the decision to cancel trips with the help of Head of School Dr. Tom Kelly, Coach Ray Barile, who has helped coordinate trips for many years, and spring athletics coordinator Coach Keri Panarelli, Annunziata said.

“Given the reality of the surge and our need to begin program planning for spring sports in March, it made sense to cancel the spring athletic trips,” Kelly wrote. “As with everything this year, we’ve gone into our various program initiatives with the hope of them happening, only to roll back certain initiatives when a health and safety concern presented.”

Before deciding to cancel spring trips, the Ivy Preparatory League (IPL) Heads of School and Athletic Directors met to decide whether or not to host spring trips, Kelly wrote.

“In the end, each school made the decision independent of the League,” Kelly wrote. Had the school allowed

Aryan Palla/Staff Photographer

MASKED UP Lions adapt to new COVID restrictions in wrestling practice.

pre-season trips to Florida and California, they would only compete against other fully vaccinated schools, he wrote.

“The trip was coordinated so that we were only going to be playing teams that followed the same COVID protocols that we do,” Boys Varsity Lacrosse coach Joe Del Visco said.

The team planned to continue to respect all school COVID protocols while in Florida, he said.

However, while planning the trip, it was uncertain whether or not schools outside of the IPL would have fully vaccinated athletes, Annunziata said.

Therefore, Kelly and Annunziata made the decision to only compete with other IPL schools whom they knew would be fully vaccinated while in Florida, he said.

After the school decided to only compete with fully vaccinated schools, other IPL schools who had planned spring trips began to withdraw, leading Kelly to reconsider his decision, he wrote. “Two of the NYC schools we were counting on scrimmaging [against in Florida] made the decision not to go,” he wrote. “When you factor into our decision to compete only with schools that are fully vaccinated, losing two schools that met that criteria was problematic.”

The list of possible schools became too small to justify making the trip, Annunziata said. The value of

going to Florida would have been to play schools outside of the IPL in preparation for the season, or at least to play against schools within the IPL safely, but since those schools also began to cancel their travel plans, making the trip no longer made sense, he said.

Varsity Golf team member Sofia Filardo (10) was not surprised that spring trips were canceled, she said.

Filardo and her friends were very upset as they had been looking forward to this trip since last year, but they understand that the nature of the Omicron variant calls for these restrictions, she said. She thinks that trips will come back by the time she graduates and is grateful to go to a school that offers these experiences, she said.

For seniors, the cancellations of spring athletic trips was upsetting, softball player Eliza Becker (12) said. Due to cancellations caused

by COVID, Becker was only able to go on the softball trip freshman year, but she understands that safety comes first, she said. The trip is great for team bonding and improves each player’s skills, but she understands the school’s decision, she said.

Boys Varsity Lacrosse player Spencer Rosenberg (12) understands that the school has to keep its students safe, he said. Instead of the spring trip, the Boys Varsity Lacrosse team will have a four-day preseason

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practice during the second week of break, he said. “​​Now, we’re going to be here for pre-season, and I’m disappointed that we’re not going to Florida, but I think it was the right decision given the circumstances,” Del Visco said.

Since the team will not travel to Florida, preseason practices will take place on campus, Del Visco said. He plans to host practices in the morning, followed by scrimmages, since that is all the team can do right now due to the recent surge in COVID cases, he said.

“We will, however, do our best to have a robust and fun-filled scrimmage week for our athletes on campus this March,” Kelly wrote.

Kelly feels comfortable continuing interscholastic competition since IPL meets are controlled and structured events and all participants in those games are agreeing to similar pandemic protocols as the school, he wrote.

“However, if athletics becomes a source of contagion, we’ll need to suspend that, too,” Kelly wrote.

Additionally, this year, the Athletics Department has been live-streaming athletic meets via the Horace Mann Athletics website in order to keep athletic competitions safe while permitting spectators, Annunziata said.

Indoor track in the running for NYSAIS Championships Sean Lee and Clara Stevanovic Staff and Contributing Writers

After winter break and many missed days of practice, several members of the Boys and Girls Indoor Track teams finished strong at the fourth Ivy Developmental Meet on Monday, Boys Indoor Track coach Jonathan Eshoo said. Boys Indoor Track team captain Logan Dracos (12) finished eighth out of 63 runners in the 300-meter dash, breaking his personal record, Dracos said. On the Girls Indoor Track team, Allyson Wright (11) ran a time of 8.3 seconds in the 55-meter dash, qualifying her to run in the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Championships, Girls Indoor Track coach RJ Harmon said.

In developmental meets, the school invites and hosts all independent schools to compete in all events at the Armory, where schools can enter as many athletes as they want, Harmon said.

These meets allow runners to gain experience competing against other schools in preparation for championships at the end of the season, he said. In more competitive meets such as the Ivy Preparatory League Championships, each school can only send their three best competitors to compete in each event, Harmon said.

During these developmental meets, competitors who meet qualification times will also move onto the NYSAIS Championships, which include all New York independent schools that have athletes with qualifying times, Harmon said.

The meet was a good opportunity for the team to bond, Girls Indoor Track member Kaitlyn Kuo (9) said. “A highlight of the meet was being able to develop relationships with my track teammates and competing against schools,” she said. “Since it is such a big event you often see a lot of friends from other schools, which is also really nice.”

Although the team only had three practices before Monday’s meet, they prepared by conditioning and training at the Van Cortlandt

Park track, focusing on various cardiovascular and strength exercises that would help them run longer distances, Eshoo said.

The team also ran on the indoor track, exercised in the fitness center, and ran warm-up laps together before they split into short-distance and long-distance workouts to focus on eventspecific skills, Fazal said. “As a short-distance runner, we were instructed on improving our starting positions so we could have faster times,” she said.

On the other hand, long-distance runners focused on form and endurance, practicing breathing techniques and muscle relaxation to prepare for their event, Harmon said.

In general, the team focuses on selfimprovement rather than competition or the scores of other schools, Harmon said. “We go out and compete, but our primary focus is running against our own time — we want to try and get our personal best each time,” he said. “Every runner has a base standard, and we want to continually improve after every meet.”

Before meets, team members have to choose the events they want to participate in, Butera said. “The day before each meet, we have a team meeting where Coach Eshoo makes sure he has everyone signed up for the correct events,” he said. “Generally, people stick to their events, and we have designated short-distance runners and long-distance runners, along with throwers for the shot put.”

However, before this meet, the team took the opportunity to help runners explore different events, Eshoo said. “The students generally are drawn to the distances they prefer, and we encourage them to try different events until they settle into what they enjoy and what best fits their skill set.”

Runners often have an idea of what events they have a preference for, Dracos said. “Personally I prefer short distance, but different people are inclined to different events,” he said. Short-distance events include the 55-meter and 300-meter dash,

while longer distance races include the 600 meter, 1000 meter, 1500 meter, and 3200 meter runs, Butera said.

Most runners have a preference for the 300-meter race because it is a perfect balance between long-distance and sprinting, but many have shown newfound interest in throwing, Butera said. “JP Eliopoulos (12) is our veteran thrower and helps Coach Torres in teaching new throwers.”

In light of the Omicron variant, new COVID protocols have made it difficult for runners, Butera said. “Everyone is required to wear masks at meets, which is especially difficult during highintensity races,” he said. Team members were also required to take a rapid test the day of the meet and spectators were not allowed at the track, Kuo said.

For Boys Indoor Track team member Andrew Ziman (9), the new protocols were hard to adapt to, he said. “It was tough to give 100% on the track while wearing a mask because it made it difficult

to breathe.”

However, the team has done the best they can to adhere to COVID protocols, Eshoo said.

Despite stricter mask-wearing requirements, Girls Indoor Track team member Rizaa Fazal (10) has enjoyed going to meets with the team. “We are all cautious of getting COVID, but the team has come together and cheered each other on,” she said. “All the players stood out and have improved a lot since the start of the season.”

Regardless of COVID protocols, Ziman is excited to be back on the track. “Given the current COVID concerns, we were really happy to be able to compete,” he said. Butera is happy with the performances of the team thus far.

The team is looking forward to training for the Ivy League Championship on February 17th, Dracos said. “We don’t have a meet next week, so the whole team is looking to work hard in practice and get in really good shape for the next meet,” he said. “We’re hoping we can medal like we did two years ago.”

Courtesy of Rizaa Fazal

RUNNING IN CIRCLES Boys and Girls Indoor Track teams compete at the Armory.

LIONS’ BOX: Results from This Week’s games 1/10 - Boys Varsity Squash vs. Dalton -- WIN 6-1

1/10 - Girls Varsity Basketball vs. Trevor Day -- WIN 48-41