March 2015

ISSUE 6

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Boston, MA Permit No. 56469

16

8

20

Nail Art

Representation

Nordic Ski Team

SA G A M O R E thesagonline.com

the

BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL

MARCH 2015

A look into

Teaching

Part Time

ROSA STERN PAIT & SOFIA TONG

Opinions Editor & News Editor

In August 2011, English teacher Amy Morrissey gave birth to her second son, Gabriel. She took maternity leave during the first semester of the 2011-2012 year.

While her contract would have allowed her to extend her leave for up to two years for the purpose of childrearing, Morrissey wanted to return to teaching instead of having no income for two years. Her full time position was available the following September, but she wanted to teach part time to balance her job with the needs of her young children.

So she applied to the town to teach 0.75-time for the 20122013 school year.

Morrissey was denied a part time position but successfully appealed the decision. The next year, she applied for a second year of part time, was denied and then submitted a successful appeal once again.

Morrissey applied and was denied part time status a third time. However, unlike in previous years, her appeal was unsuccessful. Morrissey was told she had to teach full time for the 2014-2015 school year.

Morrissey and another English teacher, Jennifer Breen Rose-Wood, are the only academic teachers whose requests to teach part time have been denied out of a total of 10 who have requested to switch from full time to part time over the past five years, according to information provided by curriculum coordinators and teachers.

Data collection on this issue was difficult. Neither Superintendent Bill Lupini nor Headmaster Deborah Holman had data available on the number of part time teachers in recent years, the number of part

FOUNDED IN 1893

English teacher Amy Morrissey picks up her son Gabriel from preschool.

Morrissey is one of two teachers who were denied part time status this year.

Interviews with nine teachers as well as former and present school and town administrators found that the process of deciding part time status is often confusing, non-linear and opaque. Photo by Sofia Tong.

time requests in recent years or the approval rate for those requests.

However, former headmaster Robert Weintraub, who left the high school in 2011, said he did not remember any teachers’ part time requests being denied during his 22-year tenure at the school.

Human Resources Director Angela Allen, who many teachers said had a major role in the process of granting or denying part time requests, would not comment and referred all questions to Lupini. And of the 16 teachers contacted for interviews, seven declined to comment.

However, multiple conversations with teachers as well as former and present school and town administrators revealed that the process of deciding part time status is often confusing, nonlinear and opaque.

Mixed signals In order to become part time, a teacher first sends a formal request to Town Hall. The process ends when the human resources department notifies the teacher as to whether their request has been granted or denied. However, what happens in between is not completely clear.

According to Holman, the human resources department makes the final decision about whether to approve part time requests or not. Four curriculum coordinators agreed that, although the town asks them whether they approve of a request, it is up to the town to make the final decision.

But Lupini said he tries to give the headmaster and curriculum coordinators relative autonomy over the decisions.

Lupini said he gives the headmaster a structure in terms of budget and staffing for the upcoming year. From there, the headmaster and curriculum coordinators try to find ways to accommodate teachers’ re-

quests while remaining within that structure.

“What we’ve tried to do over the last three or four years is say, ‘We’ll give you a framework to operate in, but the decisions are yours’ to the headmaster and department heads,” Lupini said. “‘As long as you stay within that framework, you tell us what you want to do.’”

According to English Curriculum Coordinator Mary Burchenal, the feasibility of having a part time position is a back-and-forth process between

the superintendent, headmaster, curriculum coordinators and the human resources department. She said they weigh factors such as sectioning and budget, although sometimes those factors are not confirmed until after part time positions are decided.

Holman also said that the possibility of granting part time requests relies heavily on scheduling, which is discussed in conversations with the curriculum coordinators. She said she is committed to granting requests

fairly for all departments.

“If I support part time, I need to be able to do that equitably, across the board for all departments, for all teachers,” Holman said.

Holman said there are usually few available positions for part time teachers.

“In rare circumstances, under some pretty extraordinary circumstances, we may consider a teacher who needed to go part time,” Holman said.

PART TIME continued on page 7

SA G A M O R E

2

MARCH NEWS

H O W W E S P E N D O U R D AY the

This data was collected from a survey of 100 random students through homerooms on March 3 and a survey of 34 random teachers online on Feb. 4-5.

2:002:30 am 1:302:00 am

99 9:3010:00 pm

5

10:3011:00 pm

10:0010:30 pm

27

12

93

11:0011:30 pm

40

49

% of students asleep from 9:30 pm-2:30 am

STUDENTS 9:00-9:30 pm

18

8:30-9:00 pm

0

3

7:00-7:30 pm

3 % of teachers using an electronic device for leisure from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

STUDENT SCHEDULE

Sleeping

12:0012:30 am

66

73

14

Time Spent in Class/Teaching Additional Job/Volunteering

97

10 7:00-7:30 pm

6 % of students using an electronic device for leisure from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

12:0012:30 am

100 1:001:30 am

100

% of teachers asleep from 9:30 pm-2:30 am

74 11:0011:30 pm

41 10:3011:00 pm

24

6

9:3010:00 pm

10:0010:30 pm

100 2:002:30 am

Hobbies/Leisure

Socializing in Person

Transportation

Electronics Usage AM 12-12:30

12:30-1

12:30-1

1-1:30

1-1:30

1:30-2

1:30-2

2-2:30

2-2:30

2:30-3

2:30-3

3-3:30

3-3:30

3:30-4

3:30-4

4-4:30

4-4:30

4:30-5

4:30-5

5-5:30

5-5:30

5:30-6

5:30-6

6-6:30

6-6:30

6:30-7

6:30-7

7-7:30

7-7:30

7:30-8

7:30-8

8-8:30

8-8:30

8:30-9

8:30-9

9-9:30

9-9:30

9:30-10

9:30-10

10-10:30

10-10:30

10:30-11

10:30-11

11-11:30

11-11:30

11:30-12

11:30-12

12-12:30

12-12:30

12:30-1

12:30-1

1-1:30

1-1:30

1:30-2

1:30-2

2-2:30

2-2:30

2:30-3

2:30-3

3-3:30

3-3:30

3:30-4

3:30-4

4-4:30

4-4:30

4:30-5

4:30-5

5-5:30

5-5:30

5:30-6

5:30-6

6-6:30

6-6:30

6:30-7

6:30-7

7-7:30

7-7:30

7:30-8

7:30-8

8-8:30

8-8:30

8:30-9

8:30-9

9-9:30

9-9:30

9:30-10

9:30-10

10-10:30

10-10:30

10:30-11

10:30-11

11-11:30

11-11:30 11:30-12

VISUALS BY CONOR AMRIEN, DANIEL HAYES, JEREMY MARGOLIS AND KENDALL MCGOWAN

85 11:3012:00 pm

1:302:00 am

Grading Papers/Homework

11:30-12

TEACHERS

94 12:301:00 am

AM

14 7:30-8:00 pm

Data collected by Kendall McGowan

12-12:30

PM

8:30-9:00 pm 8:00-8:30 pm

Average amount of time students spend on homework

s r u o h

Watching Television/Movies

17

s r u o h

12:301:00 am

4 .

3

8:00-8:30 pm 7:30-8:00 pm

89

Average amount of time teachers spend on grading or class preparations

6

0 .

3

1:001:30 am

11:3012:00 pm

9:00-9:30 pm

PM

Exercising/Sports Eating/Preparing Food

Household Duties Personal Care

TEACHER SCHEDULE

Some teachers and students omitted answers for certain half-hour intervals.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH NEWS

3

the

Computer lending strengthens homework access KENDALL MCGOWAN

News Editor Senior Karina DaRosa said that, until this year, she shared a single computer that occasionally did not work with all six members of her family.

“All the way through senior year, it was really hard to have everything typed and printed in time for class,” DaRosa said.

“I would have to come in really, really early to find a room that was open to print something because the library wasn’t always open. So it was really hard to get all my work done.”

Steps to Success, an organization that works to “enhance educational outcomes for students from low-income families in order to defeat the cycle of poverty,” according to its website, has recently begun a new program in which it lends Chromebooks to students who previously had limited access to technology at home.

The students began receiving the devices a few weeks ago and will be able to keep them for the remainder of the school year provided they follow a set of rules.

The program determined which of its approximately 117 students needed the computers through a survey it conducted

at the beginning of the school year, according to Dan Arroyo, an adviser for Steps to Success who led the effort to provide students with computers. The survey was only completed by about 90 of the students, but the results revealed that at least 60 of those who took it did not have computers to complete homework at home.

“Everyone claims that they need a computer sometimes, whether they have one or not, but that survey really helped them refine the demand that they needed to supply,” DaRosa, who received a computer, said.

Arroyo said that, while many of the students who received computers had similar devices in their households already, they were often insufficient, especially in larger households.

“You’re thinking about a family that doesn’t have a device or a computer in the house,” Arroyo said. “Perhaps they have one, but nowadays you’re talking about families with four, five, six people in the house. So to have one computer, when there’s homework or other things to do, it’s a battle of who gets to use it. Entering just one more device, you’re increasing access to technology, and you’re leveling the playing field.”

DaRosa said having her

PHOTO BY KENDALL MCGOWAN

Sophomore Rogelio Rojas, senior Karina DaRosa and freshman Louis Roman were among the Steps to Success students who received computers. Students cannot always complete their homework because of few computers in large households.

own computer has made her life much easier.

“Starting freshman year, all of my teachers required us to type everything and print it out and then hand it in,” DaRosa said. “I would just handwrite it but then my teachers would take points off for it. It was really hard. But getting a computer changed that. It’s so much easier. I can go home. I don’t have to stay at the school until 8 typing out work and printing it here. I can save everything to Google Docs on that computer at home, at my leisure, and then

come to school and print it out on one of the computers here.”

Students also have increased self-confidence because of the new computers, Nadia Chamblin-Foster, executive director of Steps to Success, said.

“They see many other students having their own devices, so it’s like, ‘Oh, I fit in!’ Chamblin-Foster said. “It’s definitely empowering for students.”

Steps to Success bought the 50 Chromebooks after they received a $16,000 grant from an anonymous donor this year, Arroyo said.

The rules students are expected to follow in order to keep the computers include keeping the computer safe, attending two workshops per year and completing 75 percent of their homework each semester.

Arroyo said the Steps to Success staff hopes to see the program expand into elementary schools and reach high school students who were not included in the initial survey or who did not get receive a computer this year.

Kendall McGowan can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

4A COFFEE

419 HARVARD STREET BROOKLINE, MA

617-738-4444 Well-sourced, fresh roasted, and carefully prepared coffee.

SA G A M O R E

4

MARCH NEWS

the

Deciding to take APs: Are they worth the cost? more effort on those courses, according to Assistant Headmaster Hal Mason.

“It lends itself to what I think is a reJULIANA KAPLAN ally poor ranking of what is important,” he said.

Editor-in-Chief According to Mason, AP exams and courses can sometimes seem more like a box to check off for a college application By the time she graduates, senior rather than an experience.

Lucy Friedman-Bell will have spent Shiffman said that students at the about $900 on Advanced Placement exhigh school may participate in courses ams, with about $100 spent on a course and not take the AP exams associated that was not the right fit for her. Her with them, or take exams in subjects twin sister will have spent $800. such as economics or English, neither of AP exams cost $91 without any addwhich are offered as AP courses at the ed expenses; at the high school they cost high school. He said students who may $100 each, a price rise of $2 from last be capable or willing to handle the workyear. According to Associate Dean Alexload of a course like APUSH may pass ia Thomas, one of the AP coordinators up that option in order to pursue differalong with guidance counselor Alexanent passions, and that tests and courses dra Young, the extra $9 mainly goes tocan be part of the high school “pressure ward paying for proctors and purchasing cooker.” supplies. The College Board requires a “Is AP a piece of that [the pressure]?” proctor for every 34 students, and any Shiffman said. “Absolutely. Of course it’s student receiving special accommodaa piece of that. Is Brookline tions requires an additional High School a piece of that? proctor. The school may also Of course it is. If you got rid need to purchase supplies for Looking back on it I’m glad that I took the tests of the AP test, would it go exams such as Music Theory, away? Of course not.” according to Thomas. that I did because I will save so much money in the Friedman-Bell, who took Thomas said the College future, but it was a lot of money at the time.

AP Chemistry her junior Board offers fee waivers to year, said she regretted doing students on free and reduced so. She said that she went in lunch, bringing the cost down lucy friedman-bell, senior looking to take an AP science to $53. She said the school course, and found that it was further reduces that to $20 not a good fit. per test, using the extra $9 “I think that so many people kind as well as state funding to subsidize the means that the student is any less capalower fees. ble or qualified. We’re very sensitive to of jump in without thinking about it and Friedman-Bell said when she first the fact that not everybody offers APs then realize it’s a ton of work,” Friedbegan taking the tests her sophomore and that not everybody can afford to man-Bell said. “If you don’t enjoy it then it is really, really miserable.” and junior years, she thought the tests take the test.”

Wiser said that AP courses can beseemed pricey. However, as she began Brooks Swift also said that she is come simply content-driven, and like her college application process, she be- “appalled” by how much the tests cost. gan to see the costs’ benefits.

“And that’s saying nothing about the students trying to balance passions and the drive to take APs, schools must work “I actually do save a lot of money cost of applying to college,” she said. when it comes to college,” Friedman-Bell Social Studies Curriculum Coordi- to balance those pressures as well.

“If you try to teach solely to a test said. “I think looking back on it, I’m glad nator Gary Shiffman said AP exams and that I took the tests that I did because the courses that often accompany them ,there’s definitely some detriments to I will save so much money in the future. at the high school, particularly AP Unit- it where you feel that time pressure to But it was a lot of money at the time.” ed States History, are often viewed as an cover all the material as opposed to having the kids learn it as well as you would Science Curriculum Coordinator asset on a transcript.

Ed Wiser said the money paid for an “The reason you have a transcript is want them to, but I think we have a very AP exam can be worthwhile in the long so a college can look at it and say wheth- good balance between those teaching to run, especially considering the current er you can come there or not, and people the test pressures and making the course tuition of universities and colleges and generally believe that it’s nice to have interesting,” Wiser said. “We clearly have the inability to get refunds for dropped that label there because that represents interesting courses, lots of kids want to courses. Many colleges allow students rigor and therefore you’re a good pros- take them, but I think many students do feel the pressure to take AP courses with passing AP scores, a 3 or higher on a pect for college,” Shiffman said. scale of 1-5, to either receive credit, skip The labels associated with AP cours- because they’re told to by the outside core courses or move to a higher-level es can sometimes inflate their impor- world.” course. tance, or influence students to reprior- Juliana Kaplan can be contacted at bhs.saga“The refund policies are very, very itize their workload in order to focus more@gmail.com.

“

different than just returning some paper towels to Target,” Wiser said. “It doesn’t work out that way, so I think that it’s definitely worth it.”

However, Wiser acknowledged that not all colleges will accept AP credit.

Meg Brooks Swift, director of the Harvard College Research Program and the Student Employment Office in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, said that when the admissions office reads applicants’ transcripts, they look to see if they have taken advantage of the AP opportunities available at their schools.

“I think it’s a way of showing mastery of the class and that you’ve made it through the year,” Brooks Swift said.

“I think the test shows that you’ve sort of accomplished all that, a good score on the test. But we also appreciate that sometimes a poor score on the test may be more of a reflection of how the class is taught. I wouldn’t say that a lower score

”

The Cost to Register Per AP Exam: $85

2010

$89 2014

$91 2015

VISUALS BY CONOR AMRIEN

Taking AP tests can be very expensive, costing $91 without any added expenses. While students may spend a lot in the short run, it can result in money saved, as students cannot get refunded for college courses they drop, and taking AP courses in high school may make it possible to omit a class from their schedule when they get to college. Even with this benefit, students feel pressured to take AP courses.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH NEWS

the

A Day in the Life:

Written by Edmund Geschickter & Rachel Gubar

8:20 a.m. Baking teacher Judy Saler begins her Cooking of Italy and China class by having students wheel out sugar and flour bins into the center of the room. She motions for them to crowd around a table, and talks about the ingredients of they will use to bake ricotta cookies.

She describes the differences

8:20 a.m. Family and Consumer Science teacher Judy Saler begins her Cooking of Italy and China class by having students wheel out sugar and flour bins into the center of the room. She motions for them to crowd around a table, and talks about the ingredients they will use to bake ricotta cookies. She describes the differences between saturated and unsaturated fats. She then sends the students to their stations. Students burst into chatter as they get the necessary ingredients and set their ovens to 400 F. As the students begin mixing ingredients for their cookies, Saler travels around the room from station to station, checking on students and giving them suggestions such as using scoopers to keep their cookies a uniform size. Once the students are done, they set their product in the oven and clean their cooking materials while they wait. Once the cookies are out of the oven, students are free to leave.

9:20 a.m. After all of her students leave, Saler cleans up her classroom until 10 a.m.

10 a.m. Saler heads down to the cafeteria for cafeteria duty. Before she leaves, she gets freshly boiled eggs from her office to share with people at the cafeteria. When she arrives, she offers teachers and students eggs and chats with them about everything from classes to their families to summer plans. After she has said her hellos, she sits down at a cafeteria table and reads the Brookline TAB.

VISUALS BY CONOR AMRIEN, KATE FINNERTY, EDMUND GESCHICKTER AND RACHEL GUBAR

Judy Saler

By Edmund Geschickter & Rachel Gubar

11:05 a.m. Saler teaches her Vegetarian Cuisine class how to make Tempeh Stir Fry and has the class walk her through the trending topics of the day, including an online controversy stemming from an image of a dress seen by some as blue and black but by others as white and gold.

Saler states which colors she sees the dress as, resulting in an uproar from half the class. After the debacle is settled, she brings attention back to the demo station and shows the finer techniques of preparing the stir fry, such as how to cook the tempeh, an Indonesian food made by deep-frying fermented soybeans.

12:30 p.m. Saler greets her International Baking class as they enter and announces that they will be making Snickerdoodle cookies that day.

After a short demo period, she sets the class free to make the cookies at their own group stations. Saler moves from group to group, stepping in occasionally to demonstrate or offer tips.

1:25 p.m. Saler also makes Snickerdoodle cookies with her other International Baking class, her last class of the day. She dismisses the class at 2:15 after showing them how to fold a piece of paper to make a box in order to take their cookies with them to enjoy outside of the class.

Each student gets about 10 cookies. Saler makes sure all of the cooking stations are spotless before letting her students leave for the day.

Edmund Geschickter and Rachel Gubar can be contacted at bhs.sagamore .com

5

SA G A M O R E

6

MARCH NEWS

the

“Sneakerheads” build businesses through reselling shoes

PHOTO BY SARAH GLADSTONE

JAKE BRODSKY

Staff Writer It is 5 a.m. on a Saturday.

Outside of Nike Town, a sneaker store, tents are sprawled out across the sidewalk, tired teens slouch barely awake in cheap lawn chairs and fast food wrappers litter the ground. While not everyone would find this an appealing Saturday morning, for those known as “sneakerheads,” this situation has its benefits.

The term “sneakerhead” has many meanings. It can refer to those with a simple love for sneakers, or to those who avidly resell shoes, making thousands of dollars with each outing.

Senior Amir Grice, who has been interested in shoes for several years, said he has watched the word evolve to become more about making money than anything else.

“I think the word sneakerhead has definitely changed,” Grice said. “When I first started I called myself a sneakerhead because I knew everything about shoes. But a real sneakerhead is someone who has a real emotional attachment to the shoes. Many of these new sneakerheads are mainly in this for reselling; they’re really not sneakerheads in the end. For that reason I personally don’t call myself a sneakerhead; I just say I’m a guy who likes shoes.”

According to Grice, branding is a large part of the appeal of certain sneakers. He said that people who look up to icons such as basketball player Michael Jordan often buy his shoes so they can “Be Like Mike.”

Sophomore Matthew Haig,

a fervid reseller of sneakers, said before, though he has never that people often follow trends stayed overnight. started by celebrities such as He said that one of the ways rapper and media icon Kanye to resell shoes for the highest West. amount is putting them online According to Haig, people the day they’re released. who buy shoes just to copy a “I would go to Nike Town celebrity or replicate a current at maybe 7:30 or 8, I would buy style are called “hype beasts.” the shoes and then go inside “It’s often used as a joke, somewhere and take a picture but a ‘hype beast’ is someone of them,” Smith said. “Then I’d who only buys shoes because put them right up on Facebook they’re popular, which means a for the highest you can sell lot of the time following what- them for.” ever Kanye is wearing,” Haig Haig said that he runs a said. “If Kanye’s wearing a shoe large operation and pays peoand someone buys ple to camp for him so he can them right increase the number of shoes away, they he gets, which results in a don’t acgreater yield. While Haig tually like does not often make conthe shoe, nections through conventhey just tions, he said that being like it a loyal customer to cerbecause tain stores can result Kanye is in discounts or shoes wearing being saved for him, it.” which he then sells H a i g PHOTO BY SARAH GLADSTONE again. says that he “Business netsells many works through convenshoes through Facetions aren’t very important book and eBay and that there because people they don’t have are worldwide groups on Face- as much impact in the actual book where one can sell their community; they’re more just shoes through PayPal. buying sneakers to wear, so it’s Aside from online reselling, good for finding customers,” there are large sneaker conven- Haig said. “But there are other tions that occur regularly in ways to find people who work Boston. at the stores which can actually “In the Boston area there’s help you. Sometimes it’s luck; definitely a large amount of sometimes you spend a lot of sneakerheads,” freshman Felix money at a store and they apSmith said. “There’s sneaker proach you.” conventions; they all get togethAccording to Haig, the er, and buy and sell and trade. time commitment can be hard, That’s a really good place to though it is manageable. He meet other people.” spends much time on the phone According to Smith, he has with customers overseas at camped out outside of a store night due to the difference in

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY MATTHEW POWELL

Sophomore Matthew Haig stands in front of his home with boxes of shoes he had just purchased from stores to resell to customers using online sources.

time zones. Grice has also allocated more time than he would have liked to sneakers, losing sleep and even missing school on one occasion to get a new pair of shoes.

“When I was younger I used to have to commute as far as Holbrook to do a trade. I didn’t even know where that was until talking to a kid and realizing it was an hour or two away. I know

one kid who skipped his SATs for the Yeezy 2 release,” Grice said. “If a release was happening on a Saturday for example, I also know kids wouldn’t come to school Thursday or Friday just for the opportunity to get them. You pick and choose how much time you want to spend; it can be really time consuming.

Jake Brodsky can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

However, there were a few instances where remarks or speeches were not met with wholly positive feedback.

Rothstein suggested during the E-Block assembly, “Racial Reconciliation Work; Staff & Students who are white allies and aware of white privilege,” that having only unleveled classes would help fix the unbalanced racial divide in classes; his remark was met with resistance.

“I think the majority of this community would reject getting rid of leveled classes and getting rid of tracking,” Rothstein said. “From what I know to be true and what I’ve seen in past and present, I think the majority of people in this community are much more concerned with their own personal issues as opposed to really taking a risk at their own expense in order to make a change for the greater good.”

Other participants came up with a strategy to use criticism in the best way possible.

“I guess there was a little critical reception from some

peers,” Gregoire said. “We had a board outside the auditorium where people could post comments about people’s speeches and we did get some negative comments, so what we decided to do was that every sticky note that was negative or offensive, we would take down and replace it with a purple sticky note. Just a plain purple one, so that way we could scan through the entire thing and see what we needed to improve upon.”

Many classes devoted their entire subsequent class period following the day to discussion surrounding race. However, there are still strides to be made in opening discussion.

“I think people were very sincere and very candid with each other,” Goodman said. “I think that’s part of the start, because it is not the most comfortable issue to talk about, but when you're so open and honest with people it has a lasting impact, so I think dialogue is very important.”

Eoin Walsh can be contacted at bhs. sagamore@gmail.com.

Day of discussion regarding race proves constructive but incomplete EOIN WALSH

Website Manager In order to address a lack of conversation about issues of race at the high school, a group of faculty members and students led by Associate Dean Alexia Thomas organized a schoolwide day of discussion about race, which was held on Tuesday, March 3.

According to senior Allie Gregoire, who spoke during a “Tell Your Story” assembly and presented during the D-block “Beyond Black & White” assembly, there was generally positive feedback from the student body during and following the day of discussion.

“I think we got our message across,” Gregoire said. “Obviously we need to do more than just a day of this, but it really was a nice step for BHS to take as a whole.”

Senior Taylor James, who spoke during the G-block “Racial Profiling: Telling It Like It Is” assembly, agreed that the day

was a good start for the school’s discussion of race.

“I think it was a good step in the right direction and as a whole school it was something that we needed to do,” James said.

English teacher Nicholas Rothstein agreed that the day went well and was an effective beginning to a larger dialogue.

“Overall, I thought the day was very successful in its intent,” Rothstein said. “I thought that the intent of this day was to open the door to discussion and what will hopefully be an annual, bi-annual thing that we do revolving around race.”

Senior Eli Goodman, who spoke at a “Tell Your Story” assembly, thought the day was a success overall, but noted the potential for growth and future improvements.

“I think for the first time that we were holding something like this, that it went pretty well,” Goodman said. “Obviously there are some things that we could go back and critique or change, and things we

could add, and things we could take out, but for the most part I think it went well and the feedback was overall positive.”

Several speakers enjoyed the opportunity they had and felt good about what they had to say.

“The experience for me personally was great, I like doing it, it was a little bit off the cuff for me, and I misunderstood a little bit of what was going to be happening E-Block,” Rothstein said. “But I got to say what I would have said anyways.”

James said she wished there were more opportunities for students to engage in conversations with each other or explore their own identities, but the assemblies brought awareness to what students are grappling with in the high school.

“I think it was important for students to hear what their peers had to say and see what kind of things their peers go through,” James said. “I think that the teachers who were a part of it did good job of bringing everyone together.”

SA G A M O R E

MARCH NEWS

7

the

Part Time: A Complex Issue PART TIME continued from page 1

one applied in order to balance their jobs with caring for children.

Math teacher Danielle Rabina, who teaches 0.6 time, said there are benefits of being part time both for her and for her students.

“Being part time has allowed me to continue to devote a large amount of time to the students I teach, as there are fewer of them in total,” Rabina said. “It allows me to feel balanced and capable as a working parent.”

Winkler said that once she transitioned to teaching part

important to her that the high school be a positive environment for staff.

“I want the high school workplace to be a humane and supportive place for employees, and in particular a family-friendly place that is able to support teachers who have young families,” Holman said.

Lupini concurred and emphasized the need to evaluate both teachers’ and administrators’ constraints.

“We want to have good teachers,” Lupini said. “We try to work with them with what’s going on in their lives, what’s

beyond what is contractually mandated.

“Somebody has to make a decision,” Lupini said. “They can’t grant them all.”

Burchenal said that although having stressed and overworked teachers hurts students, overspending in the district hurts them as well.

Shiffman said that some school districts never allow full time teachers to become part time because they cannot afford the possible benefits. Shiffman also said that having too many part time teachers can make the school more difficult to run.

building even if they are not teaching a class.

“Most of them put in a full day and they are present on campus and available to kids, and they are very dedicated professionals,” Holman said.

The outcome of the application process is different in different departments. In the social studies department, Jenny Longmire was able to resign 0.4 of her full time position and become a 0.6 time teacher starting Stretched thin this school year.

Winkler chose to apply for The only academic depart time because she was unpartment in which a teacher happy with her quality of life who applied for part time stabalancing a full time job with tus has been denied in recent raising three children, who were years is the English department. nine, 11 and 13 years old at the According to Burchenal, this time. She said she had been could be because full time Enstressed when her children were glish teachers teach four classes, born but reached her limit in while teachers in 2013. other departments “When you’re teach four classfunctioning at 100 es of their subject percent and anything plus an extra, for goes wrong—your kid example Tutorial. gets sick, you get a flat This makes English tire—and you’re so teachers more exscheduled, it’s just repensive to hire. ally hard to get through The English the day,” Winkler said. department also has Winkler said she is the most part time grateful for her ability teachers overall, to become part time with 10 part time despite missing the teachers making up deadline.

33 percent of the “I don’t know what department. The I would’ve done,” she average percentage said of the possibility of of part time teachhaving been denied. ers for the five acaRose-Wood redemic departments quested to teach part is 15 percent. time last winter, when In the Math deher daughter was 9 partment, Debbie months old and her son Winkler said she was 2 1/2 years old. She applied for a part took maternity leave time leave of abduring the first semester sence for the 2013last year and then taught 2014 school year half time during the secand was initially reond semester. jected because she Rose-Wood said had applied after that even teaching two the deadline. But classes gave her a 35-hour over the summer, a work week, including position opened up her out-of-school work when another part such as lesson planning time teacher reand grading. tired, and Winkler “I was at max capacwas able to teach ity, in terms of teaching GRAPHIC BY SOFIA TONG part time for the Data collected from curriculum coordinators and teachers. A dark gray box denotes part time status and a light gray box denotes part time leave just two classes with 2013-2014 year and of absence. A vertical black bar denotes arrival to or departure from the high school; all other teachers continue working as full time teachers two young children at was able to resign before and/or after being part time. An x denotes a denied part time request. Decimals represent the fraction of full time each teacher teaches. home,” Rose-Wood said.

0.4 of her position “There’s just not enough the following year. time, she was able to devote going on in their families, but “People come and go, they hours in the day.”

But Morrissey’s application more time to improving the we also have to balance that in have weird schedules, they’re This year, Rose-Wood was process went differently. Mor- quality of the classes she taught. terms of what’s best for the stu- not here all the time, it’s hard denied part time status but had rissey said that when the town “I had all this time to be dents and what’s best in terms for them to meet with each oth- an assistant teach two of her denied her requests, their re- creative,” Winkler said. of running a school and in terms er,” Shiffman said. “And the fact classes during the first semester. sponse was brusque and brief.

School within a School En- of running a department.” is, part time teachers are part Second semester, she has a full “The reply was a two-sen- glish teacher Abby Erdmann time because they have lots of course load. tence letter letting me know has taught part time since 1975, A strain on the community other things going on in their “I’m really scared,” Rosethat I had been denied and that when her first child was born.

One drawback to allowing lives.”

Wood said. “My kids have been I was expected to come back to She said that since then, she has teachers to switch from full Holman said that 10 years getting sick. I’ve been getting work full time,” Morrissey said. been able to find time for her- time to part time is the poten- ago, when she was the vice prin- sick. I can’t take care of my She said the response did self as well as her children, while tial expense for the town. cipal of Newton North High family.” not explain why her request was also putting extra effort into her According to the Public School, the school had difficulty Morrissey said there is a denied. job. On a Sunday night in Janu- Schools of Brookline website, working with a large number of need for sensitivity from both “The experience was in- ary, for example, she had dinner staff who teach 0.5 time or part time teachers. sides in dealing with the quescredibly impersonal, in terms with one of her classes so they above are eligible to receive the “We felt that the depart- tion of part time teachers. of interacting with Town Hall,” could read their papers for their same benefits from the town as ments were fracturing a little “These are deeply personMorrissey said. “To be issued a parents. full time teachers. If there are bit,” Holman said. al and complicated issues,” she two-sentence reply with no op“I don’t think I’d have the more part time teachers in a The administration sub- said. portunity and no invitation for energy to do that if I were full school, more teachers must be sequently cut down on the Holman said her goal is to follow-up was frustrating.” time,” she said. hired to cover all classes. And number of part time teachers. minimize confusion and conLupini said that if MorAdministrators were under- if more teachers are hired, the She said that the departments flict between teachers and adrissey was sent a form email, it standing of the need for some town may have to cover benefits became more cohesive and ministrators. She said she hopes would have been a mistake and teachers to become part time. for more people, depending on communicative. She also said to discuss the issue some time apologized if she felt disrespect- Social Studies Curriculum Co- whether or not teachers use the she feels it is important that in the future. ed. ordinator Gary Shiffman said benefits offered to them. teachers are able to meet with “I want to be able to have He said faculty members that granting part time requests “I think as our enrollment students. a healthy conversation between should contact him if they had helps the school keep high qual- has grown, those issues have be“In the end, you want a ma- teachers, the curriculum coordiissues with the process. ity, happy teachers. come more difficult for us as a jority of full time people in the nator and the HR office about “People who would like system,” Lupini said. “The num- school, and in any department when that is appropriate,” she Sunday dinner and no cut to be full time, I’d like them ber of dollars we’ve been given in general, because you want said. corners to be full time,” Shiffman said. in order to meet the growing to maximize adult contact time Rosa Stern Pait and Sofia Tong Of the 10 teachers who “Teachers who’d like to be part enrollment need hasn’t kept with kids,” Holman said. can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@ have gone from full time to part time, I’d like them to be part up.”

However, Holman also said gmail.com time since the 2010-2011 school time.”

Lupini said he thinks the that most part time teachers do Jeremy Margolis and Eoin Walsh year, all were women, and all but Holman said that it was town is generous in giving leaves spend much of the day in the contributed reporting.

O P I NI O NS PHOTO BY SASHA SAIAS

Conforming to others’ body standards and expectations can create dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Wearing clothes you love and dressing for yourself can boost self-image, self-confidence and self-love.

Societal expectations hinder body positivity JULIA MARUSYK

Contributing Writer I started wearing makeup in 8th grade because I thought it would make me more popular.

I traded out my glasses that I had been wearing for contacts, got a haircut different from anything I had before and got a new wardrobe full of tank tops, short shorts and skinny jeans.

I had never known the feeling of popularity, so I hoped that a change in my outward appearance would prompt a change in the way others treated me. All of the popular girls dressed similarly, so I figured it would be easy to be like them.

On the first day of 8th

grade, I walked in confident, looking different than I ever had before. To my surprise, I received no acknowledgement.

Later on, whenever I tried something new, hoping that it would completely change my social life, I disappointed myself.

The same chain of events happened freshman year as I tried to assimilate with my peers by changing my looks. I wasn’t extremely happy with my attempts to become like them, but I figured that didn’t matter too much.

However, like the many times before, it did not quite turn out the way I had hoped.

I’ve been self-conscious since

I was six years old, when I was told by a mean-hearted girl that I was fat. Years after that, I grappled with worries about how I looked; weight, chest size, how I dressed, everything.

I compared myself to others, which always ended up disappointing me. Other students were not that interested in me, but what bothered me the most was that I wasn’t happy with myself. Thankfully, one of my closest friends helped me through the self-doubt which had plagued me for years, and after some time I became more comfortable with myself and less bothered about how others would view me.

Once I came to the real-

ization that I had to be happy with myself before I could try to please others, my self-image rose higher than it had been in a while. I started dressing the way I liked, trying to stand out from the crowd rather than be a part of it. Once I satisfied myself, I felt infinitely better. I no longer was an 8th grader trying to fit in but never quite succeeding; I was happy.

Body image is a problem that affects most high schoolers, and although many believe it’s a struggle that solely girls experience, I have seen guys worrying about their physical appearance as well. We all want to feel like we fit in. However, as I learned, looks rarely contribute to our

place in society.

There are ideals pressed onto us by the media, saying that you have to be thin and that each part of your body must be perfectly shaped. Ads about plastic surgery are marketed at teens, telling them that to love themselves, they should fix themselves to be more attractive.

Thankfully, there has been a much greater urge to love your own body rather than to try to live up to the standard ideal of beauty. Hopefully society continues on this path because the most important thing is to be happy with yourself.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

Ideals of masculinity force males to hide emotions SAM POLLAK

Contributing Writer Human beings survive to be seen. We survive to connect with other living things. And in order for this connection, we need to open ourselves.

This is what Research Professor Brené Brown, who studies vulnerability and courage, emphasizes in her TED Talk on the power of vulnerability. She states that through having these connections and being vulnerable, the feeling of joy and love blossoms.

In our society, young boys are put on a path that teaches them how to be successful.

However, this path also forces constructs upon them, constructs including the necessity to assert their masculinity. Part of being masculine is hiding what they really feel.

Young boys are told that if they show pain or weakness, they are not going to thrive as a man. At a young age, males are taught to numb their vulnera-

bility. But according to Brown’s TED talk, one cannot pick and choose single emotions to numb. She says that if you choose to numb one feeling, you automatically numb others. By numbing this vulnerability, you also numb joy, passion and love.

Everywhere I look in this school, I see guys holding their chins up every second of the day and speaking in the same monotonous deep voice without cracking.

I cannot help noticing that in this school environment they cannot be this okay.

Mental illness affects so many adolescents going through high school and college that there is no way that all these guys I pass in the halls are okay.

And they probably are not. Because they are taught to numb the vulnerability that is vital to feel joy and passion.

The less you talk about what you are feeling, the more you feel it.

With all the stress and expectation of excellence that

goes on in our lives, we need to let other people know how we feel. This is not easy. Allowing yourself to be weak in front of others is not easy, especially as a male.

We are told we need to be strong and assert our strength everywhere we go. As high schoolers far along the path of masculinity, it is hard to take a detour. But it is necessary to take a detour. A detour that takes you to a more authentic self. A detour that allows you to give up who people tell you to be and makes you the person you really are. This path is allowing yourself to be truly seen.

To be vulnerable.

As a man, allow yourself to be weak, even if it is one second or one minute of the day. This is how you are supposed to be.

Talk to a friend, a parent or a teacher about what you are really feeling. Because the truth is, you are not as okay as you would like to believe you are.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY KAITLYND COLLINS

Men often feel the pressure to hide their feelings to prove their masculinity.

According to research, this can lead to the numbing of positive emotions.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH OPINIONS

9

the

RACE

IZZY MEYERS

Arts Editor

As an Asian female who has experienced both ignorance and outright prejudice regarding my race, I am often impressed by everything Brookline has done to try to improve race relations both locally and nationally.

Most importantly, I feel lucky that we know there is still a lot of work to do.

With the recent murders of young people of color in Ferguson, Staten Island and countless other places, the staggering injustice that people of color face in America is finally becoming obvious to the masses.

I want everyone to realize the stark differences between treatment of Whites and people of color. I want this inequality to be the top stories of news broadcasts and the front pages of magazines. I just do not want it made only Black and White.

Oftentimes race is something typically looked at under binary terms; either you benefit from the system or you don’t.

You are always the oppressor or the oppressed, and there is no middle ground.

An article used to demonstrate the advantages that come with being white, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” by Peggy McIntosh, left me more confused once I had finished reading it than before.

Being Asian, I tick off approximately half of the points

Not just black and white in her article. When shopping, I am never assumed to be shoplifting. But I have yet to see people of my skin color well represented in Hollywood. I am frequently made the poster child for my race, yet I have little reason to think the police will target me based on my skin color. “Flesh colored” BandAids only match my skin in the wintertime.

Needless to say, there is no “guide” included to find out which race you are based on how many privileges you check off. I am left somewhere in the grey area between white and black, with no tangible way of resolving to which side I ultimately fall, if any. When people talk about students of color, I frequently wonder if they are actively including me in their wording, or if they do not really mean to be talking about my race at all.

I think about Native American, Latino, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islanders and other races that also reside in this grey area, and whether they also wonder if the prejudices they face daily are enough to validate their oppression. I personally struggle with this daily.

Has an anti-Asian joke stung so hard it brought tears to my eyes in the middle of gym class? Yes. Do I regularly see people of my race murdered for the color of their skin? No. Are the seemingly in-between races destined to hover in the ambiguous territory between oppres-

PHOTO BY CONOR AMRIEN

Contributing Writer

“That person who spoke first is wrong and racist.”

“That was not the way to please a crowd.”

“That girl is racist towards White people.”

These are some of the criticisms I received from White people about my speech at the

Top: Junior Izzy Meyers and her parents in China. Bottom: Senior Gavin Hui speaks at the Race Day assembly on Asian-Americans. Race issues are often in terms of black and white; many want better representation for other minorities.

Active racists walk quickly forward, passive racists stand idly by and anti-racists walk against the conveyor belt.

The vast majority of White students at the high school are passively racist. The system of racism carries us forward, and we become racist merely by existing in an unfair world. By standing still on the moving walkway, we benefit inadvertently from racism. We breathe the racist “smog” and we develop racial prejudices, but we rarely think or talk about racism, so we cannot see how we are contributing to it.

If you are White, you are born onto this moving walkway.

You are born with prejudice, and you are born with systemic power. This is the definition of racism.

If you are still convinced you have no racial prejudice, I encourage you to take Harvard’s online Implicit Bias Test. If you do not believe that your skin color grants you systemic power, consider this: a recent study showed that although White students constitute 59.8 percent of the high school, we account for only 30.3 percent of out-ofschool suspensions. We are not inherently better behaved than any other race, so what accounts for this discrepancy?

People’s perceptions of us become our realities. Everyone has prejudices, but what we do

not realize is how deeply these prejudices shape who others become.

As a White person from a well-educated, high income family, I am expected to achieve academically. Teachers started tracking me into advanced groups starting in 3rd grade.

Now, in my senior year, I see only White and Asian students in my Advanced Placement Calculus class.

My skin color does not make me smarter than anyone else, but it has placed me here. I have an unfair advantage: White privilege.

So why is there not a single Black, Latino, or indigenous student in my math class? A 3rd grade teacher probably tracked her into a lower group. If people do not expect her to succeed in advanced courses, it is harder for her to believe she can.

Implicit biases are real.

White people are not smarter or better behaved than any other race, but because people expect us to be, we are more likely to be tracked into advanced courses and less likely to be disciplined than people of color.

So whose fault is it? Is it our teachers’? Our peers’? Our families’? It has been hard to confront the concept of racism: I was born into a system that gives me unearned power because of my white skin color, and I have no choice about it.

TOP PHOTO PROVIDED BY IZZY MEYERS, BOTTOM PHOTO BY CONOR AMRIEN

RE: White Privilege

Senior Mattie O’kelley-Bansberg speaks at the Race Day assembly ‘Tell Your Story’. She explained that it is white people’s duty to be actively against racism.

MATTIE O’KELLEY BANGSBERG

sor and oppressed? I hope not; we need a third category.

When we say “students of color” we cannot look at the world as a checkerboard. Race is more than two boxes to jump between. When we really mean “African-American students” or “Black students” could we actually just say that? It is heartbreaking to think your race is being included in a category only to find out the speaker did not intend to address your concerns.

It is extremely important to discuss race relations between White and Black people. I cannot stress this enough. We need to spend time, and much more of it, focusing on the pressing issues between these two races in particular. But saying there are more racial problems than just ones between Black and White people should in no way diminish the importance of the relationship between those two ethnic groups.

I think we as a society need to be aware of this grey area.

We need to acknowledge that many minorities are confined to this space and not often talked about, and that their oppression should never be tolerated.

Look away from this page for a moment. The world around us is more than just ink on paper; its inhabitants are more than just two contrasting colors. Let’s acknowledge them all.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

‘Tell Your Story’ assembly on Race Day. I get it; nobody wants to be called racist. I hope this article will clarify my message.

If you are White, you benefit from systemic racism, but that does not mean you are a bad person.

There is a difference between active, passive and anti-racism. Beverly Daniel Tatum differentiates the three with a moving walkway metaphor.

The only way I can wrap my head around this is to remind myself that it is no single person’s fault. The world molds us.

We did not invent racism, but ending it is our responsibility.

I am not an expert on White privilege. I am racist and I have prejudices too. But if anything I have said or written rings true to you, I challenge you to do something about it: -Ask a librarian for a book recommendation about White privilege.

-Participate in Racial Reconciliation, a program designed to bring together youth of Color and White youth to discuss, expose and address structural racism at its roots.

-Come to Race Committee: Thursdays, 2nd lunch, in room 406.

-Take Identity, Race and Literature Honor as a School Within a School English class next year.

-Come to monthly Race Reels movie nights.

-Read Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.”

-After reading, bring up White privilege and racism to your White friends and family.

We are born onto the “moving walkway,” but we each have the power to decide whether to walk forward, passively stand by or walk against the conveyor belt of racism.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

SA G A M O R E

10

the

MARCH OPINIONS

EDITORIAL

S A G A M O R E Semi should be enjoyable, not difficult FOUNDED IN 1893 KATE FINNERTY Co-Editor-in-Chief JulIANA KAPLAN Co-Editor-in-Chief JEREMY MARGOLIS Managing Editor, News ALUA NOYAN Managing Editor, Opinions MAYA MARGOLIS Managing Editor, Arts SETH COVEN Managing Editor, Sports EOIN WALSH Website Manager ASHLEY LEE Copy Manager Lily BÖhlke Business Manager SARAH GLADSTONE News Editor, Writing KENDALL MCGOWAN News Editor, Writing SOFIA TONG News Editor, Writing CONOR AMRIEN News Editor, Layout DANIEL HAYES Graphics Editor SASHA SAIAS Opinions Editor, Writing ROSA STERN PAIT Opinions Editor, Writing IZZY MEYERS Arts Editor, Writing SARAH CARDWELL-SMITH Arts Editor, Writing MAIRIN QUILLEN Arts Editor, Layout HANNAH LOWENSTEIN Arts Editor, Multimedia NOA dalzell Sports Editor, Writing EDMUND GESCHICKTER Sports Editor, Writing

SAM KLEIN VANESSA CHIN Marcella Anderson Lindsay Wise

Sports Editor, Layout Sports Editor, Multimedia Faculty Adviser Faculty Adviser

Every year, March rolls around and it all starts again.

Junior Semi-formal and Senior Prom proposals, the ubiquitous Facebook group, forms mailed home, stern discussions with parents about alcohol. School dances are supposed to be fun, frivolous events to mark the years spent in high school, but the Junior Semi and Senior Prom often do the opposite, creating anxiety and division instead of uniting the school.

Students should not feel pressured to conform to a “norm” when it comes to school dances; they should do whatever they want, and the events will be what they each make of them.

The most obvious source of anxiety is dates. Last year, the current senior class had a pandemic of date-related nerves.

People scrambled, asking people they did not even know.

Even this year, many people felt as if they could not go without dates.

This is blatantly false. Many

The Sagamore is an independent, school-affiliated publication, produced monthly by the students of Brookline High School. It is an open forum for the BHS community.

Opinions expressed in this publication, unless otherwise noted, are not necessarily those of staff, faculty or school administrators. Individual articles reflect the opnions of their respective writers and not of the newspaper as a whole. Letters to the Editor are encouraged as a means of reader participation. All letters should be emailed to bhs.sagamore@gmail.com. They are subject to editing for clarity and length.

thesagonline.com bhs.sagamore@gmail.com Subscriptions ($20 per year for addresses in the United States) and changes of address should be sent to: The Sagamore Brookline High School 115 Greenough Street, 02445

house. Dances are fun, but they are not the be-all-end-all of high school, and you are not missing out on some unforgettable experience by not going.

There is a wide range of feelings among students about dances. Some people do not care at all and wear old outfits and take few pictures while others buy costly new outfits and pose for endless formal photos.

Think about how you approach dances and be sure that what you are doing is what you really want to be doing.

If you have not been to a dance yet, do not worry. Go if you want to. Go with whom you want to. Dress in a way that makes you feel special.

It is just a fun high school dance, nothing more. If you have a good time, you will have fond memories. If you do not have a good time, you will be able to laugh about it later. If you do not go, you will not even remember it.

The choice that you make is the right choice.

CORRECTION Below a correction from the February issue of the Sagamore. We sincerely apologize for any confusion that this error may have caused, and we invite all students and faculty to communicate with us about any other mistakes.

- The Sagamore Staff 1. In the article “Spain trip aims to immerse students in culture,” we failed to mention Spanish teacher Maria Fuertes, one of the trip leaders and chaperones.

Staff Writers YOEL ABULAF | HALEY BAYNE CHRIS BELL | EREZ BEN-AKIVA | LILY BERMEL JAKE BRODSKY | REEHAM CHOUDHURY | MATT DEANGELO CLEO FALVEY | SOFIA GEORGAKLIS | LOUIE GOLDSMITH RACHEL GUBAR | SARA HOGENBOOM | TONY JI SANGMIN ERIC LEE | DREW MCCARTHY GRACE MEYER | MAYA MORRIS | PHOEBE MURRAY maya piken | VALENTINA ROJAS-POSADA JACOB SPIEGEL | BERTINA XUE LEON YANG

students go with groups of friends, taking wonderful group pictures and dancing together.

Many people do not formally go with anyone and just meet others when they get there, having a blast hanging out with whomever they want.

Do not let the heteronormative mass-market romance define you. Go with a friend or potential partner of the same gender and do not listen to anyone who says you cannot. Romantic love is not better than platonic love. Go alone if that is what you prefer. It is still a fun social experience no matter what you do.

A more difficult to tackle issue is that the Junior Semi and Senior Prom can be prohibitively expensive. This year, the Junior Semi cost a whopping $98, which made some people feel like it was not worth the money. With that in mind, it is okay to not go; if your family is not comfortable with spending that much money, go see a movie or just hang out at someone’s

SAG

the

YOEL ABULAF

Staff Writer

With the end of a year comes many things we look back on. This year when I look back, I see all of this year’s amazing movies. On February 22, 2015 the whole world took a seat on the couch and watched the 87th Academy Awards.

“This year especially has actually been a good year for the academy,” senior Josh Mitnick said. “They sort of broke a new ground in the kind of films that were nominated and won.”

This year there was a wide variety of strong movies, which meant mixed emotions about the films nominated. Some argued that “Fury” should have been on the best picture list while others vouched for “Interstellar.”

“It is a very political thing and it is a small group of people who make those decisions. So I don’t know if I can say they were fair or not,” Film and Fiction teacher and librarian Lynne Cohen said. “There are so many factors that are involved.”

With these mixed emotions were many people who were happy with the results.

I personally was a huge fan of “Whiplash” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and thought

S P ot l ig ht

that Eddie Redmayne deserved the best actor award with his performances in “The Theory of Everything.”

“I just felt that if Eddie Redmayne did a good job then he was definitely going to get it,” Cohen said. “Because those kinds of movies are challenging and the role is an iconic person.”

Many argued about “Birdman” as well. With its unique and very original story, it was a strong contestant and it did end up winning best picture, best director, best cinematographer and best original screenplay.

“I did think that “Birdman” was an excellent film. I thought it was a very intelligent film,” Cohen said. “I thought it was very innovative in terms of its cinematography. Very beautiful.”

With the end of the Academy Awards and the beginning of a new era for movies, people have already started turning their eyes to the future. There are many strong contestants on the way. Famous directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Alejandro González Iñárritu and David O. Russell are planning big hits for the upcoming year.

Some of Mitnick’s upcoming favorites are Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” and a Steven Spielberg movie with

Tom Hanks called “St. James Place.”

Three times Oscar winner and director of “Birdman” Iñárritu is planning another explosion with his upcoming movie with Leonardo Dicaprio called “The Revenant,” set in the 1820s, in which DiCaprio’s character sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead.

In 2013 Jennifer Lawrence won best actress for her performance in “The Silver Linings Playbook.” The five time Oscar nominated director of “The Silver Linings Playbook,” David O. Russell, is bringing Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence back together for “Joy” in which a struggling Long Island single mother, played by Lawrence, becomes one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs.

According to Mitnick, this new era for the movies and the different styles they adapt are a breath of fresh air. The fact that so many independent movies are becoming nominated and that there are so many different and unusual stories makes us want to see them more.

Let us all hope it will be another great and a competitive year for movies.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH OPINIONS

11

the

Patriarchy discourages women from science PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN STEM FIELDS

=1%

GRAPHIC BY YOEL ABULAF AND TONY JI

CONOR AMRIEN

News Editor

“Bro.” Synonymous with “dude,” “bruh,” “buddy,” and even “pal.” Derived from the word “brother” as a term of endearment or friendship.

These are all terms that are overtly masculine. Very recently, in my Advanced Placement Physics class, my teacher decided to lead a discussion about women in the science, technical, engineering and math (STEM) related fields.

Out of the 25 students in the class, only four identify as female. The teacher is also male.

I went into the double block conversation feeling that it was about time we had this discussion, and I had high hopes.

Despite good intentions, I was disappointed to see that the conversation was mostly dominated by male voices, as had been normal in class. The girls in the class still did not speak up, even in a conversation directly related to their problems.

As I do not wish to speak for the experience of girls during this conversation, I will use their words instead.

Senior Clara Marton, one of the four girls participating in the discussion, said, “I think it is really important to note that we heard seven male voices before a girl spoke up. I think this statistic speaks for not only how our class runs, but also how discussions among men and women, in my experience, often begin with a male speaking.”

Many of the boys in our class explained this as a result of a lack of initiative on girls’ part.

This infuriates me. In my experience with many math and science classes at the high school, the girls are usually quieter than the boys, while being more outspoken in subjects pertaining to the humanities.

To call this a “lack of initiative” is fundamentally flawed.

Women do not lack the ability to speak their beliefs freely any more than men do. I think the real question is why women, at least in my experience, are more comfortable speaking in an English course than a science course?

The night before the class conversation, students were given an article to read about the female experience in the STEM fields. Included in this article were statistics on the number of female professors in administrative roles related to the STEM fields at Yale University. The number of female professors in tenured positions paled in comparison to the number of men in tenured positions.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “What is the problem here?” Or perhaps, “Maybe men are just more geared towards science than women. Women are drawn to other fields for some reason. No big deal.”

It is a big deal when many of the girls in my class have attested to being pressured to not take physics, not by our teacher, but by peers and educators in the past. The women in posi-

tions of leadership mentioned in the Yale study claimed to have had similar experiences.

They were not given the same encouragement as their male peers in high school and college and thus began to doubt their own passions. When women do not receive the same encouragement as men to enter into the STEM fields, that is a problem.

So how do we solve the problem of girls being pushed away from STEM fields? You first have to acknowledge the group that has dominated the power structure in our nation since its foundation. This group is men. A patriarchy does, in fact, still exist.

It is in the same way that I have often been pressured away from a field in the humanities.

My senior Craft of Writing class has only four boys. This is also an effect of the gender roles produced by the patriarchy.

A few weeks after this discussion, my physics teacher asked the girls to step outside a few minutes before the end of class. He addressed the boys in the room and made a simple enough statement.

“We need to reduce the bro-ish atmosphere in this room,” he said.

I was a little angry that the responses were accompanied by the sounds of typical side conversation, uncontrollable giggling and the sort of buddy-buddy dynamic my teacher has created with the male students and acknowledged as a prob-

lem. Finally, one boy asked how we were to solve that problem; how to make the atmosphere less bro-ish.

My teacher did not have the answer. I don’t even know if I have a complete answer, but I know one thing for sure: it is evident from the way the boys in the class were behaving that they were not taking the announcement seriously. It is privilege, in a male-dominated class, that lets male students get away with ignoring this problem.

Part of the problem boils down to the privilege that all men, including myself, possess.

If we as a culture want women to feel comfortable and encouraged in the STEM fields, then boys need to start noticing and checking their privilege.

What this looks like is not always clear, but it starts with talking about it. After all of us boys were called out, no one discussed it; it was as if it never happened.

Women need to be included in the conversation. Ask girls to call you out when you are wrong if they are comfortable doing so. Read about all of the famous female scientists you probably haven’t heard of.

Remember International Women’s Day? It’s not just an day to read one article about famous women and be done. It is a celebration of women, not an excuse to act like a feminist for one day and forget the next.

Aim to be one everyday.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

d e t a i l s

EMMANUEL D’AGOSTINO

Columnist

PHOTO BY SHAMS MOHAJERANI

Students work together on homework in a Tutorial class. Tutorial can help students stay organized and study for classes.

Tutorial structures academic support PATRICK WEBLER

Contributing Writer

I have been in Tutorial since my freshman year and it has been very helpful for me.

I use Tutorial as a block to do some of my homework from the night before or to study for tests and quizzes that I have that day.

Everyday, I plan out when I’m going to do my homework and how much time I should spend on each subject. There have been times where I have forgotten to do an assignment.

For example, a few weeks ago I had a two-day project due the next block, and I had to do some edits on it. I was lucky

that I had Tutorial before that block, so I had the chance to get it done.

It is nice to have an organized class where I can sit down without any distractions and get my work done. During the school year, especially in the spring, managing time can get very difficult due to sports and other commitments, which is why I love having Tutorial in my schedule.

It’s also nice to have two teachers in the room, because I can get help on the subjects that they specialize in. During my three years that I have been in Tutorial, I had the chance to work with many teachers in dif-

ferent subjects.

In freshman year I had Mr. Cawthorne, who helped me with history, and Ms. Hitchcock, who helped me with math. In Sophomore year I had Ms. Longmire and Mr. Mallory, who taught history and math, respectively.

This year, I have Ms. Grubb and Dr. Weiffenbach, who teach history and biology respectively. Having a block where I can brush up on the information that we went over in class is very helpful. Taking Tutorial has been great and I am glad I chose to take it.

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

As we leave the snowiest winter in Boston history and enter into a beautiful New England spring, seniors are finding that their time at the high school is drawing to its end. College decisions are being made, prom and graduation are starting to feel tangible and senioritis is in full swing.

Yet one crucial requirement stands in the way of receiving a diploma on June 7: the senior paper. Passing this 8-10 page paper (or, in some classes, a project of comparable workload), based on 500 pages of reading is mandated by the school. Although its timing may at first seem inopportune, this assignment is ultimately beneficial for the senior class, and it is appropriate to write it during the 2nd semester.

For many seniors, the paper’s timing means it has little effect on college acceptance, and, as a result, students are often less stressed.

“I like teaching students when the pressure is off, and I tell them, now is the time you can learn for learning’s sake,” English Curriculum Coordinator Mary Burchenal said.

However, students feel pressure to pass the paper to graduate. Nevertheless, Burchenal is absolutely correct in thinking that students can focus more on learning after the college process.

“It is designed to be a cul-

mination of four years of reading, writing and thinking in the discipline of English,” Burchenal said.

This culmination might seem to be poorly timed, given the decreased pressure on student success. However, writing the paper at the same time as college applications, during the 1st semester, would be far worse.

According to Burchenal, the English department considered placing this assignment during junior year, but with standardized testing, college tours and more, the paper would be even more out of place.

“I like the senior paper falling where it does, despite the fact that any place you put it is a terrible time to put it,” Burchenal said.

Burchenal said that some students who have struggled with English class find the senior paper very rewarding. Her rationale can, and should, be applied to the senior class at large.

“They get pushed to a place where they really have to come through,” Burchenal said. “They cannot slack off, they cannot hide, they have to produce this thing, and it will drive them crazy. And sometimes their teachers are sticklers, and they have to redo it, and eventually they come up with products, that they’re like ‘Woah, I didn’t even know I could do that.’ Sometimes, those are the students that have the greatest success stories.”

Want to write for Opinions? Contact us at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

t

Best Place

The Sagamore decided to fin high school for a few things st to do during the day: sleep, e Harlem Shake. The Sagamore ward, the staff tes

Survey Results The staircase on the 3rd floor that goes into Schluntz Gym The Sagamore Results The 1st floor girls bathroom Methodology The Sagamore timed how long it took to leave the building from each location.

n

s e

e c a l P t

Data collected by Maya Morris, Maya Piken, Eric Lee and Sara Hogenboom

e

B

21.3 seconds

Cle a

Brooklin Mythb

ing ld

e t h p e a c B s ui E o

Survey Results Atrium The Sagamore Results Atrium Methodology A few Sagamore staff members did the Harlem Shake in each location and chose their favorite.

The Sagamore Results A desk in Ms. Holman’s office Methodology A staff member swabbed a surface in each location and swiped them on a special gel in petri dishes with help from biology teacher Catherine Wolf.

After four days staff compared the number of bacteria colonies. The dishes with the least colonies were considered the cleanest.

For more mythbusters and v

e

to

Sle ep

ne High busters

Best Plac

PHOTOS BY SARA HOGENBOOM, SASHA SAIAS, MAYA PIKEN, LEON YANG, RACHEL GUBAR AND MAYA MORRIS LAYOUT BY ALUA NOYAN

nd out the best places at the tudents and staff might need escape the building or do the e surveyed 109 students. Aftersted each place.

t

H he

t s e

e t c o a l do P

Warmest

Survey Results MO4B The Sagamore Results MO4B Methodology A staff member placed a thermometer on a table in several rooms.

video visit thesagonline.com!

P

ce la

arlem Sh a k e

Survey Results Between the stacks in the library The Sagamore Results The SWS lounge Methodology A staff member tried to fall asleep in each location and chose the coziest place.

79.1F

SA G A M O R E

14

ADVERTISEMENT

the

Are you a leader*? *leader - an individual who leads a group; someone who is motivated, driven, creative, passionate, confident, dedicated, ambitious, conscientious, intelligent, adaptable, entrepreneurial, helpful and hardworking.

the brookline teen center

TEEN BOARD OF DIRECTORS

APPLY ONLINE TODAY www.brooklineteencenter.org

AR T S

Prior misconduct limits dance options CONOR AMRIEN & MAIRIN QUILLEN

News Editor & Arts Editor Homecoming.

Winter Formal. Sadie Hawkins. Junior Prom. Many high schools around the country hold several dances throughout the year, but the only dances a student can attend at Brookline are Junior Semi-formal and Senior Prom.

Dean of Students Scott Butchart said that while dances are great for student bonding, a lot of preparation goes into planning them.

“We, of course, are delighted to offer the Junior Semi and the Senior Prom, which are classic, iconic experiences for kids,” Butchart said. “It’s important to us that everybody have a fun and safe time, so we offer what we see as the appropriate degree of safe transport by bus and supervision.”

According to Dean of Students Anthony Meyer, the ad-

ministration is not opposed to offering more dances, but in the past there have been issues regarding student behavior.

“I love the school dances,” Meyer said. “In general, they seem incredibly positive.

I think there used to be more problems with some students drinking, but I think since we’ve moved to providing transportation, I think it has evened the playing field and has made our event safer and, in some ways, more fun.”

Butchart said that dances are difficult to organize and require a lot of preparation.

Preparation includes getting the venue set up, finding the right DJ, managing expenses and finding enough chaperones.

“The last few dances other than the Junior Semi and the Senior Prom didn’t go well in terms of student behavior,” Butchart said. “It became clear afterwards that between student behavior and adult reaction to that behavior that we’d be hard pressed to find enough

PHOTO BY ARIA WONG

Freshmen Victoria Ter-Ovanesyan, Angie Li, Lizzy Budden, Claire Slattery and Isabel Howell hang out at the Freshman Formal on Feb. 27. School faculty said the lack of school-sponsored dances is due to poor student behavior in past years.

chaperones to create a safe environment. So we have not gone down that route for a few years.”

Junior Samantha Higgins said having so few dances creates pressure for each one to be perfect.

“Having only two dances makes it really stressful,” Higgins said. “I think there are standards that you need a date, you need the perfect dress, all

that. If there were more social things you could bond with more people.”

According to Headmaster Deborah Holman, before her arrival at BHS in 2012, the Newton schools did not have very many dances either.

“They’ve thinned out over the last decade. Unfortunately they got out of hand because students came under the influ-

ence too many times,” Holman said. “So then it became what we thought to be dangerous.

From my understanding I believe the same sort of decision and judgement happened here, that there was concern about safety.”

Junior Annika McGraw, who attends Newton South

DANCES continued on page 18

Bakers get a slice of success LOUIE GOLDSMITH

Staff Writer

PHOTO BY CONOR AMRIEN

Senior Merlin Katz holds up his computer with his 3-D model of the high school.

Katz has designed digital models of buildings with lasers since middle school.

Senior makes 3-D model of the high school building REEHAM CHOUDHURY

Staff Writer Imagine the high school, including the main building with all four floors, the Schluntz Gym, the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium and the cafeteria all shrunk down to fit the size of a computer screen.

Senior Merlin Katz has begun to create a scaled model of the school on his computer, with each and every detail represented.

“My main program is called

Google Sketchup, and I make 3-D models of things that I see,” Katz said. “Generally buildings or rooms.”

Katz said his father first showed him this program and sparked his interest. After that, Katz taught himself the rest.

In the 7th and 8th grades, Katz was homeschooled, so he found that he had a significant amount of spare time.

“I spent eight hours a day making my kitchen,” he said.

“My first big model was one of

KATZ continued on page 16

The start of Thanksgiving and Easter vacation is just the beginning of work for seniors Sophia Vos and Sophia Ramsey. During these holidays, they temporarily put aside being students, and instead focus their attention on their pie business, Once Upon a Pie. Once Upon a Pie sells pies to customers throughout the Boston area, with order sizes varying from single pies for individuals to season-long deals with companies.

During the fall of their freshman year, Vos and Ramsey, who have been friends since they were four, made their first pie together.

“Three weeks before Thanksgiving freshman year,

we made a pumpkin pie and were like, ‘maybe we could sell these,’” Ramsey said. “But it was sort of a joke that we would be good enough. I don’t know what really happened in between except a lot of work. But three weeks later we had sold 40 pies to the people we knew.”

Since then the number of orders for pies has steadily increased.

“We started and it was this simple 40 pie thing, and then I think Easter we sold like 60.

The next Thanksgiving 80, the next one 115, now 170, so it sort of grows very rapidly,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey and Vos attribute part of their success to partnerships with other local small businesses. They said these partnerships expose their pies to new audiences who would ordinarily not have the opportuni-

ty to buy their pies.

“We have partnerships with supermarkets across the Boston area; specifically we have one with America’s Food Basket,” Vos said. “We also have a partnership with New Paris Bakery.”

Roula Pattas, the owner of New Paris Bakery, has been working with Once Upon a Pie since 2013. She said that she admires what Vos and Ramsey are doing.

“I think they’re very entrepreneurial, and I like to encourage that. They’ve worked very hard and they have a talent in this,” Pattas said. “Also, they’ve made wonderful pies for me.”

Both Vos and Ramsey believe that their success is the result of years of hard work.

“I love doing pies, and it’s a great part of my life,” Vos said.

PIE continued on page 18

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY SOPHIA RAMSEY

Senior Sophia Ramsey packages the pies that she and senior Sophia Vos bake for their business, Once Upon a Pie. She said that baking pies for the holidays takes time away from schoolwork and other responsibilies, but is worth it in the end.

SA G A M O R E

16

A R T IOFSTHET the

MONTH

Shirley Wu PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY SHIRLEY WU

Sophomore Shirley Wu has played the Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, since the 3rd grade.

LILY BERMEL

Staff Writer Sophomore Shirley Wu must tape fake nails onto her hands in order to practice her instrument, a Guzheng or Chinese Zither.

The Guzheng is more than 2,000 years old. The 6 foot wide instrument is hollow, with 21 strings, and can be played with either one or two hands.

“First of all, it’s a very old instrument,” Wu said. “There are also very traditional songs that have been passed down generation after generation that are played with this instrument.”

Wu started playing the Guzheng in 3rd grade, a time when she was very interested in her Chinese background.

“My mom was like, ‘pick an instrument to play!’ I was like, ‘ok, let’s pick a traditional Chinese one,’” Wu said. “So I just picked that one.”

Wu said playing the Guzheng has made her appreciate Chinese culture more because the instrument is very closely connected to Chinese history.

“If you play the Guzheng, you can play the music and understand the culture of different places,” Wu’s private lesson teacher, Shin-Yi Yang, said.

Wu’s mother, Lihui Xu, said in an email that Wu is very good at presenting the meaning of Chinese culture on the Guzheng.

“That is very outstanding for a youth who was born and raised in US,” Xu said.

According to Xu, Wu always works hard in her studies of the Guzheng, whether she plays alone or with others.

“She becomes an excellent team player when she plays with the group, and competitive when she plays solo,” Xu said.

According to Yang, Wu’s energy, enthusiasm and patience are all important qualities for playing the instrument.

Wu said she tries to practice the Guzheng for an hour each day when her forearms are not too sore from ensemble practice. She plays for the Boston Guzheng Ensemble, the only Guzheng ensemble in New England.

Yang founded the ensemble in 2002.

She has been playing the Guzheng for almost 30 years.

“We found the Boston Guzheng Ensemble because we hoped a lot of people would know this beautiful instrument.

I hope Shirley can keep playing this instrument,” Yang said.

Wu said she can imagine herself playing the Guzheng throughout the rest of high school and hopes to continue to play in college.

“I’ll probably take a break,” Wu said.

“But if I come back, I will probably keep taking lessons with my teacher.”

Lily Bermel can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY SHIRLEY WU

The Guzheng originated over 2,000 years ago. Many traditional songs are played on this instrument.

MARCH ARTS

Katz fuses art with math to construct digital models KATZ continued on page 15

my house.”

He has also made models of the auditorium and his new house.

Katz said he decided to make a model of the high school because he figured it would be an interesting and fun challenge.

“I really like doing architecture and buildings. I’ve mostly done interiors,” Katz said. “I would be imagining when I walked around the high school, ‘That’s a cool shape. I wonder how I can model that.’”

Katz said he calculates the distances between objects using a laser device to measure both long distances and extremely small ones.

He often uses a 3-D printer to print his simpler designs.

“It’s called a Form Lab that has this resin, this goop, and hardens it with a laser,” Katz said. “It actually lifts up slowly, and prints what you want.”

However, Katz said he most likely will never print out his scaled model of the school.

“This model is really big,” Katz said.

“You need there to be no openings, no weird shapes and no intersecting planes.

It just needs to be a solid shape. It’s very

difficult because it’s very big and hard to find all the little problems with it. ” Zoe Bentley ‘14, a friend of Katz, said she thinks he is a genius. She said Katz is multi-talented, as he combines his passions for both art and math to create his scaled models.

“He’s one of those double-threat people, who’s super good at math and also really artistic,” Bentley said.

Eric Latimer, Katz’s 3-D animation and comics teacher, also said Katz was talented. He said Katz’s personality contributes to his artwork.

“He has a very good sense of humor that lends itself to comics and animation,” Latimer said. “He also did a nice, beautiful, charcoal self-portrait which he rendered pretty well.”

According to Latimer, Katz’s work ethic pays off in his final products.

“He’s someone who does a lot of work in the visual arts, and is someone who spends a lot of time and effort,” Latimer said. “It shows.”

Katz said that while he may or may not continue 3-D modeling in the future, he enjoys it for now.

“It’s really just a hobby right now,” Katz said. “I do this mostly for fun.”

Reeham Choudhury can be contacted at bhs. sagamore@gmail.com.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH ARTS

the

Nail HALEY BAYNE

Staff Writer

17

art

Students polish up on intricate skills T e n fingers? Check. Nail polishes? Check.

Design plan? Check. That is all that is needed to do nail art.

While supplies like a nail clipper and file, different sized brushes, dotting tools, glitter and studs are helpful to do nail designs, they aren’t a necessity, according to sophomore Ione Harding-Manson.

“You can do nail artwork with anything,” Harding-Manson said. “People do DIY’s with tools like pencils or bobby pins, but since I’ve been doing nail art for a while, I’ve accumulated lots of things.

So, I have tiny brushes, dotting tools, but I still like toothpicks as a standby for tiny details.”

According to Harding-Manson, sophomores Sophie Strassmann and Vritti Kharbanda and junior Isabelle Dost, the internet is one of the greatest sources for design inspiration.

Dost’s favorite website to find designs is Pinterest, and according to Strassmann, there are a lot of other blogging sites that have innovative designs. Many also base their designs off of their personal experiences, however.

“I went to Swan Lake for Boston Ballet one time, so I did swan nails,” Kharbanda said. “If I’m doing something special, I’ll come up with an idea for it.”

Sometimes potential design ideas can come from unexpected things, according to Harding-Manson.

“In the middle of our physics final, I got the inspiration to do multiple choice nail art,” Harding-Manson said. “I was like, ‘that is so cool. I have such a great idea.”’

Dost, who is an avid ice skater, said she first starting doing designs at the age of six.

After going to her first skating competition and getting her nails done at a salon, she wanted to do her own.

Kharbanda learned to paint her own nails from a template in a book.

“My mom was always doing my nails when I was little,” Kharbanda said. “For my tenth birthday, I got a nail polish book, and it showed you how to do designs and stuff.

I took off on my own with the designs.”

Dost said that she loves doing her own nails but there are some challenges, like the time it takes to do a design, especially with the non-dominant hand. Sometimes Dost will still get her nails done at a nail salon for this reason.

Although some designs can take as little as 20 minutes, designs can also take up to two hours, depending on the difficulty, Harding-Manson said.

Harding-Manson does new designs every weekend, but Strassmann now only does her own nails for special occasions because of schoolwork and other commitments.

But the time commitment pays off, according to Harding-Manson, who said that nail artwork is a great conversation starter in the high school.

“I feel like it’s really enriched some of my friendships,” Harding-Manson said. “Now we always have something to talk about. There are people who I probably wouldn’t have talked to as much if it wasn’t for the nails.”

According to Strassmann, planning designs out ahead of time is key.

“Start on paper first,” Strassmann said. “Use a lot of light and make sure you know what you’re doing before you start. You need a lot of focus.”

Haley Bayne can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

LEFT NAILS BY VRITTI KHARBANDA. RIGHT NAILS BY IONE HARDING-MANSON.

1) paint nails white

2) paint 4 downward diagonal lines from edge of nail to about midpoint

3) paint one vertical line of any color down the middle of your nail

4) paint 4 upward diagonal lines on vertical line you just painted. The white lines should go in the opposite diaganol as the black lines.

5) paint 4 more downward diagonal lines to the edge of your name, and you’re done!

NAIL TUTORIAL BY VRITTI KHARBANDA.

SA G A M O R E

18

MARCH ARTS

the

ASHLEY LEE & CLEO FALVEY

Copy Manager & Staff Writer Allston’s relatively new Korean restaurant is a tasty destinatio​n for a quick immersion experience​. From the side dishes to a section of floor seating and intentionally bland soup, Seoul Soulongtang brings the routine of authentic Korean dining to customers on Commonwealth Avenue.

The restaurant is named after the classic dish seolleongtang, a white ox bone broth with brisket, marrow and thin noodles. Diners season the soup according to their tastes using salt and scallions. The restaurant’s logo, a red bowl inscribed with the words “Beef Soup for the Soul,” showcases the play on words from which the altered spelling for the restaurant’s name, “Soulongtang,” originated.

We started off our lunch with warm barley tea. The chartreuse-colored tea tasted woody, with a slightly bittersweet aftertaste, and complemented the

spicy meals that were to come.

We received water upon request, and a few people ordered soft drinks to go with their meals.

About 10 minutes after we placed our orders, small, complimentary side dishes were brought out: deep-fried broccoli drizzled with a sweet sauce, two types of spicy kimchi, Asian pickles and strips of oden. The sides were neatly arranged and presented on small white plates.

We each received small metal bowls of white rice.

The main courses came about 30 minutes after ordering.

Japchae ($10.95), a traditional Korean noodle dish with mushrooms, mixed vegetables and crumbled beef in soy sauce, is listed under appetizers, but is large enough to be a main course. Thin starch noodles, the main element of the dish, were perfectly cooked, and the vegetables tasted fresh. The dish was well-seasoned, salty yet slightly sweet.

Seoul Soulongtang’s only vegetarian dish is the Bibimbap ($11.95). Customers can order two versions of the classic Bibimbap: plain or with a heated

stone bowl (+$1.00). Both consist of the same ingredients: beef or tofu, cucumber, carrot, lettuce, long thin mushrooms, sprouts and cabbage. A mildly salty sauce is also included for dipping or pouring. These ingredients come raw and cold in the plain Bibimbap, but in the other version of Bibimbap, called the Dolsot Bibimbap, the vegetables and tofu are heated in a hot stone bowl.

Along with regular dishes, Seoul Soulongtang offers combinations of soups and various

kinds of meat. The Soulongtang + L.A. Galbi combination ($21.95) presented the seolleongtang with flavorful grilled beef short ribs in soy sauce. After adding scallions and a couple of teaspoons of salt, the warm seolleongtang revealed a soothing flavor.

The Kalbi Tang + Gochujang Daeji Bulgogi combination ($17.95) also came with a slightly bland beef broth. The short ribs in the soup were a little overcooked, but the accompanying spicy pork sides were satisfying.

RESTAURANT OF THE MONTH PHOTO BY CONOR AMRIEN

The side dishes, including deep-fried broccoli, two kimchis and strips of oden, were a pleasant start to the meal. The quality of the food outweighed the service.

The only major downer during our visit to Seoul Soulongtang was the service. Although not all people in our party were present at the beginning, we had to wait quite a while before placing our orders.

The waiter and waitress also seemed a little confused. For example, when bringing out our orders, the waitress asked for whom “the combination” was for when there were multiple people who had ordered combination dishes. Though it was only a small inconvenience, we also had to ask twice for small dishes for sharing food.

In general, Seoul Soulongtang was a positive dining experience with hearty but not heavy food and a truly Korean atmosphere. This restaurant makes a 23-hour flight unnecessary to get a taste of Korean culture.

Ashley Lee and Cleo Falvey can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail. com.

1245 Commonwealth Ave Boston MA 0134 (617) 505-6771 Mon-Sun: 11:30a.m.-10:30p.m.

Student pie business melds with community PIE continued on page 15 “At the same time it is always a test of sacrifice and resilience.

You have to be resilient to wake up early in the morning, to calculate your numbers, then go to school.”

During April and December, Vos and Ramsey begin to buy ingredients immediately after school. Then they take the bus home and the baking begins.

“At 9 p.m. you start baking until the morning, go to school the next day, study for your tests, and take your tests after school,” Vos said. “Then you’ve got to deliver these pies, then you’ve got to make sure everyone got their right order, and now you’ve got to clean everything up. It’s definitely always a test of sacrifice and resilience.

But Sophia and I, I think, are both committed to it enough, committed to each other enough.”

According to Vos and Ramsey, they enjoy baking pies, but they have to give up other commitments to keep Once Upon a Pie going.

“It’s not something where you don’t make sacrifices,” Ramsey said. “The days before Thanksgiving, it’s like ‘here go my grades,’ but you bring them back up after. Time does get tight when we bake food for 29

hours. You still have to go to school the next day.”

Once Upon a Pie aims to be a socially conscious company.

A part of this is a partnership with the Brookline Food Pantry, where customers can buy a pie to be donated.

“Our clientele is a really socially conscious clientele. Sometimes people see something that’s an issue in their community, and they don’t know what to do about it,” Vos said. “And we have been able to step in and do something about it that allows other people to contribute. We have been able to build a bridge that allows people who want to buy the products to make good investments in their community.”

According to Vos, neither she nor Ramsey wants to spend the rest of their lives doing this kind of baking. However, they both believe Once Upon a Pie has been an amazing experience.

“I think that that’s been powerful for us to see how willing people are to support you and to support other people,” Vos said. “But also it’s been powerful for us to see that something is a little bit meant to be, and that’s part of why it’s worked out. We’ve worked very hard and other people have been supportive.”

Louie Goldsmith can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

PHOTO BY ARIA WONG

Students gather at the Freshman Formal at the Teen Center. Although the school does not host any dances besides Junior Semi and Senior Prom, students on the Teen Center’s Teen Board of Directors organized another dance just for freshman.

Teen Center hosts new Freshman Formal DANCES continued from page 15

High School, said the school hosts only three dances in total.

“I think it’d be nice if we were organized enough to have more dances, but I also think that each grade only has one event because people talk about them more and get so much more excited to go,” McGraw said. “It also helps with fundraising because the more we fundraise, the cheaper tickets are to those events, and since everyone wants to go, everyone pays attention to bake sales and apparel. It helps the quality, too, since we have so much time to focus on that one event, they’re usually very well planned.”

On February 27, the Brookline Teen Center sponsored and hosted a “Freshman Formal” for freshman students of the high school, one of the few other school dances to take place in recent times.

According to executive di-

rector of the Teen Center Matt Cooney, the idea for the “Freshman Formal” came from freshmen on the Teen Center’s Teen Board of Directors. The dance was the first event completely orchestrated by teens with a budget provided by the Teen Center, Cooney said.

“They were talking about new ideas and they said, ‘Hey, you have the RAFT dances in middle school, and then when you’re in high school there’s nothing until Junior Semi, and then there’s Prom.’ And so they thought it would be great to have some sort of event that would bring teens together, particularly since freshman year is the first year where kids are mixed from different elementary schools,” Cooney said. “They thought it would be a good idea, and it would be really popular.

The whole board agreed, and they started planning it. It took probably almost two months.”

Cooney said the Teen

Center can plan events on the same level as the high school, and hopes to continue hosting events in the future.

“We have more flexibility and we can do things in a shorter time frame. I think the high school is an amazing place, but I think there are things that the high school can’t provide that we can make happen here,” Cooney said. “There’s not a lot of people to ask, it’s me and my assistant Jen. And then we have a Teen Board of Directors who a lot of the ideas are vetted for, to make sure everything is in line with our mission.”

In terms of adding school dances, Holman said despite her concerns, she is open to dialogue.

“My answer to that would be that I’m always willing to continue the conversation,” she said.

Conor Amrien and Mairin Quillen can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@ gmail.com.

SA G A M O R E

MARCH ARTS

19

the

ROSA STERN PAIT

Opinions Editor

DOODLING

Doodling during class aids learning Kaitlynd Collins, senior Whenever I have a piece of paper I’ll doodle, or if I get desperate - once when I was camping I used a piece of charcoal from the campfire and doodled on a rock.

Nicky Rhodes, senior It’s a very good way to focus my mind, get all the distractions out via hand and pen on paper.

When junior Logan Roche was in middle school, her father made her bring sketchbooks in to school so she would not get in trouble for drawing on her worksheets.

“The sketchbooks made things worse for the teachers,” Roche said. “They thought I was not listening at all.”

Like others at the high school, Roche has been doodling since she started school. Some artists said they find that doodling helps them focus in class while improving their skills. However, the practice has occasionally irked teachers, prompting one to cross out a drawing on a test, junior Priscilla Chung said.

“Sometimes if I take out my book and start drawing, it kind of shows the teacher that I’m not really paying attention,” senior Nicky Rhodes said.

Science teacher Dan Costa said he understands that drawing can help students pay attention in class.

“I generally evaluate how well the student performs in the long run before I decide whether I need to make any corrective action,” Costa said.

But overall, Rhodes, Roche and Chung said that teachers are lenient and that the benefits of being able to practice drawing outweigh the costs of possibly being reprimanded by teachers.

“Once in a while, doodle a little hand, and then you draw another hand, then another hand and then slowly without realizing it you get better,” senior Kaitlynd Collins said.

Rosa Stern Pait can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@ gmail.com.

Upcoming

Logan Roche, junior I’m a very visual person, so when we’re in a lecture or there’s nothing to really look at, I revert to doing something creative and doing something visual.

Priscilla Chung, junior Unlike drawing, where you have to be really careful about what you do, doodling is like, you can draw whatever.

School of Health Sciences

www.bryant.edu/mspas

MASTER OF SCIENCE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES accepting applications in April 2015

� Strong teams and a supportive learning environment, experienced educators, small group learning opportunities for students, and a low student-faculty ratio. � A newly-constructed state-of-the-art facility on Bryant’s Smithfield campus, including new classrooms, a high-fidelity simulation laboratory, and a physical exam laboratory, with training in the anatomy lab and access to the medical library at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. � A distinctive focus on the business of health care, with an introduction to the management principles of medical practice — from quality management to organizational governance — in the program’s second year. � Rich and rigorous clinical experiences, with 12 specialty rotations — more than any other regional program. � Students will be teamed with preeminent doctors affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Care New England, Southcoast Health System, and the Lifespan health system as well as distinguished independent clinical providers throughout southern New England Future programs will include Health Care Management and Health Care Policy

Visit www.bryant.edu/WearTheWhiteCoat to learn more.

The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Provisional status to the Bryant University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Bryant University.

Accreditation-Provisional is an accreditation status granted when the plans and resource allocation, if fully implemented as planned, of a proposed program that has not yet enrolled students appear to demonstrate the program’s ability to meet the ARC-PA Standards or when a program holding Accreditation-Provisional status appears to demonstrate continued progress in complying with the Standards as it prepares for the graduation of the first class (cohort) of students. Accreditation-Provisional does not ensure any subsequent accreditation status. It is limited to no more than five years from matriculation of the first class.

1150 Douglas Pike, SmithfieldRI 02917-1285 | (401) 232-6556 | www.bryant.edu/mspas |

SP O R T S

Staff reflect on playing days at the

high school MAYA MARGOLIS

Managing Editor

line team and do what they love,” Fried said.

Doing what they love requires a lot more than just a ski track during the winter.

According to Cole, cross-country skiing requires the entire body and is a rigorous cardiovascular sport. Skiers must stay in shape the whole year.

“I really like training year round because I like doing different kinds of cross training, with different things such as running and swimming. It’s really nice seeing how much better you do in the winter after putting a lot of time in during the other seasons,” Cole said.

Fried elaborated on the different kinds of cross training that directly affect his fitness and ensure the team’s success.

METCO Coordinator Keith Lezama ’02 played varsity basketball at the high school.

During a game against BC High School, he fouled out when the team was down by nine with a minute and a half to go.

“My best friend came up to me and was like, ‘Don’t worry, we got this. We’re gonna come back,’” Lezama said. “And we came back and won by one point against BC High.”

Lezama said playing basketball at the high school was bigger than the sport itself, and playing gave him life skills and shaped him as a young man.

Similarly, Associate Dean Melanee Alexander ‘89, who played volleyball and basketball and ran track at the high school, said sports were a huge part of her high school life, both socially and developmentally.

According to Alexander, playing sports at the high school taught her discipline and about pushing herself physically. She continued to play volleyball at Duke University and eventually became a captain of the team.

“Especially for girls, I think it’s an outlet that leads us to a better understanding, to understand who we are as females,” Alexander said.

During Lezama’s senior year, the basketball team was ranked number one in the state.

They lost by three points in the state championship game.

“We had a great team. A great group of players, a great senior group that to this day we still hang out together,” Lezama said. “We were a really deep team.”

Many of his teammates were part of his wedding, and he is also the godfather of a teammate’s eldest daughter.

Alexander said she met most of her high school friends, who are still close to her, through sports at high school.

“That was my group,” she said. “I’m not sure if teams are that close now.”

English teacher Nicholas Rothstein ’86 played soccer, lacrosse and winter track at the high school. Unlike the other teachers, he said he does not have much connection to the teams.

Rothstein said he likes the wide variety of teams to choose from at the high school, but sees a problem with part of the sports culture.

SKIING continued on page 22

TEACHERS continued on page 22

PHOTO BY HOLLOWAY MCCANDLESS

On Sep. 27, the boys varsity soccer team tied Newton North 1-1 at the Kicks For Cancer Invitational. Kicks For Cancer organizes soccer rivalry games each fall.

Newton North rivalry roars on NOA DALZELL

Sports Editor Since 1894, the Brookline and Newton North football teams have squared up every Thanksgiving Day in a cherished annual game. Soon after, the rivalry expanded to include all sports, from girls soccer to boys track.

While in total, Newton North football leads Brookline by only two Thanksgiving wins, the athletic successes of the two teams have recently been lopsided. Brookline lost to Newton North 41 to 13 this year and 49 to 8 last year.

“Newton North definitely has had an edge on us in the last few years,” senior Tyler Patterson, a member of the football, basketball and baseball team, said. “They have been holding up their end of the bargain in terms of keeping the rivalry fresh and alive, and a lot of it is that Brookline, depending on the sport, falls a little flat.”

Despite this, the Brookline-Newton North rivalry re-

mains one of the oldest and most heated rivalries in Massachusetts high school history, and the annual football game continues to be a special day.

According to Patterson, every year before the Thanksgiving Day game, the captains from both schools meet to represent the team in a traditional banquet.

“It is really cool and a really great tradition,” Patterson said.

“It’s a big deal for the town, it’s a big deal for the rivalry, it’s fun to be able to go to the banquet every year where the football captains end up meeting and celebrating the tradition of the game itself, and it celebrates the rivalry.”

Athletes from both Brookline and Newton North agree that the game-time atmosphere, be it football, basketball or volleyball, is what makes the rivalry so exciting. Senior Curtis Beatrice, a football captain for Newton North, said that the exhilarating home crowd plays a huge role in determining the outcomes of games.

“There’s a lot of cheering going on, seeing who can be louder; it’s just a crazy atmo-

sphere,” Beatrice said. “The edge truly depends on who is home and who is away, especially in basketball. When they come here to play us, we have the bigger edge, and when we go there, they do.”

Senior Nica Kovalcik, the captain of the high school’s girls varsity volleyball team, had her team eliminated from the playoffs by Newton North two years in a row. Kovalcik also said that when it comes down to it, pre-

paring thoroughly to play North is important mostly because they are a high-caliber team, not because there is a lot of hype surrounding the game.

“We prepared for them well because we knew that they are a good team and they have athletic players,” Kovalcik said. “We game-planned a lot before we played them because we knew players individually and we

RIVALRY continued on page 24

PHOTO BY JULIANA KAPLAN

While the Warriors and Tigers have now competed on Thanksgiving Day for 120 years, the rivalry has spread beyond the bounds of an annual football game.

Nordic ski team thrives despite setbacks VALENTINA ROJAS

Staff Writer Three of Brookline’s very own skiers have landed in the Boston Globe due to their recent successes in the MIAA Nordic ski championships. Junior Jordan Fried, who finished 4th, sophomore Gabby Vandendries, who finished 2nd, and sophomore Isabel Cole, who finished 8th, were all mentioned in the Boston Globe’s coverage of the championships.

“It felt exciting to be mentioned in the newspaper,” Fried said. “I felt like we were being a little more noticed than we usually are because we’re a small team and a small sport. But it is definitely exciting to be recognized.”

However, despite the team’s success, there are concerns about their training venue’s future. Fried said he is thankful that the Weston Ski Track allowed them to train at their course, but is also worried because of some problems the ski track has experienced lately.

According to Fried, Weston Ski Track is primarily a golf course during the warmer months and has been struggling to maintain its position as a ski course in the winter.

The track has been trying to find government officials to keep it running so that the teams in the Bay State Conference and others can continue to ski, train and do as well as they have.

“At the moment, Brookline will have a team because we have parents that work hard to make sure their kids stay on a Brook-

SA G A M O R E

MARCH SPORTS

21

WINTER PLAYOFFS the

VANESSA CHIN & TONY JI

Sports Editor & Staff Writer Go to thesagonline.com for the rest of the playoff recaps and spring previews!

BOYS SWIM AND DIVE

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KAREN KENNEDY

BOYS BASKETBALL The boys varsity basketball team went head first into the postseason after a strong performance during the regular season.

Senior Jack Moyer said he attributes the team’s success to hard work and strong bonds between the players.

“For the seniors, we’ve all been playing together since 8th grade, so we have great team chemistry and there’s no one player that always dominates,” Moyer said. “One game, Ronan could have the most points and one game I could, one game Tyler. So we are a really balanced team. That was great for our success.”

Moyer, senior Tyler Patterson, and senior Jack Levine will be graduating this year. Nonetheless, Moyer said he believes the team will be able to recover from their nine senior losses.

“I think it will be hard but I don’t doubt that they will be

able to produce what we did this year,” Moyer said. “Ronan [Schwarz] is a great player, leading scorer for our team this year, so coming back is going to be really big for them and hopefully the kids on JV will be able to step up on the varsity level.”

For Moyer, the most memorable game was their home playoff game against Marshfield.

Despite being down big after a devastating 17-2 run, the team managed to regroup after head coach Luke Day’s timeout. The team found fresh strength and ended up winning after a 30-3 run against its opponents.

Moyer said that the team improved tremendously throughout the season and that he has high hopes for next year.

“Next year, I hope they play as hard as they can and just be as good as they can,” he said.

“Hopefully they will be successful, and if not, they did their best and they can’t be disappointed.”

Follow this QR code for spring previews.

The rest of the playoff recaps can be found at www.thesagonline. com.

What do NBA commissioner Adam Silver, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and I, the sports managing editor of The Sagamore, have in common?

Well, aside from overseeing incredibly powerful and successful institutions, we all agree that it is time for the United States to reevaluate its policy, follow the global model and legalize sports betting.

According to the American Gaming Association, $138.9 billion was wagered illegally in 2013 on professional and college sporting events. In comparison, $1.05 billion was wagered legally.

Much of this illegal sports betting is driven into the slippery slopes of the black markets. As it stands, the hundreds of billions of dollars that are being annually illegally wagered on sports are fattening the pockets of organized criminals.

As Adam Silver said in a recent editorial in The New York Times, it is time to bring sports betting “out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.” Not only does sports betting promote fandom and fuel viewership, but, if made legal, sports betting could provide millions of dollars in taxes to federal, state and local governments.

Sports betting in America is inevitable despite its illegality.

Right now, it is just a question of whether we want people to be making these bets in unregulated, unstable markets or under the control of the government.

Because trade deadlines have passed in most leagues, I leave you with my add/drop list instead of the typical buy low/sell high list.

The boys swim and dive team finished 8th in the 2015 Division I State Final held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, improving from their 10th place finish at the 2014 Division I state final.

The team started strong in the postseason, breaking four school records: senior Nate Katz in the 200 freestyle; Katz, seniors Franklin Yeo, Kia Shahbazi and junior David Knopov in the 200 freestyle relay; Yeo, Katz and juniors Mete Buyukozturk and Michael Levin in the 400 freestyle relay; and senior Ollie Costolloe in diving.

Knopov said he attributes the team’s success to the overall depth and talent of individual swimmers.

“We’re really balanced out,” Knopov said. “We have really good swimmers, but we also have a lot of swimmers who can contribute in other ways.

If someone gets injured, there’s always someone else to put in.”

The diving team of three had two divers compete in States: Costolloe, who placed 3rd and junior Nick Shlosman, who placed 6th.

According to Shlosman, the diving team focused on refining dives throughout the season.

“Diving is tuning fine details, taking what you know and practicing it constantly until you get it perfect,” he said.

“Consistency is really key.”

As the postseason approached, Shlosman said there was more strategy involved.

“The way the season works is you learn new and harder dives,” Shlosman said. “Once you get to Sectionals and States, you formulate a list of your most

consistent and highest scoring dives. We strategized which dives we did best and fine-tuned them over the whole season.”

This season brought several new school records. In particular, Katz broke a school record, dating back to 1986, in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.44.

“All the records we broke, it wasn’t like we just broke them in one meet,” Knopov said. “We’ve had these goals for years. All of that work these three months, just for one moment, really paid off.”

SAM RUSSELL, Senior

GIRLS TRACK The girls indoor track team sent five competitors to AllStates, comprised of the two relay teams and two individuals who competed in long jump and the 300 meter sprint. Senior Anya Gorodenstev finished 9th in the long jump and senior Spikey Freeman finished 8th in the 300m.

Despite the bitter weather and numerous snow days, the track team persevered, according to relay member freshman Mary Corcoran.

“When it was below freezing, we would still have to run

outside sometimes,” Corcoran said. “It would be horrible going out there, but it was fun when you were with other people.”

Corcoran said that during the snow days, track team members had to train on their own.

“With the snow days, it was hard to pull everyone together,” she said. “It was hard because that was at the height of the season and everyone was trying to qualify for All-States. We couldn’t really practice too much but we overcame that. People worked out individually and we ended up doing pretty well.”

Add: Ish Smith (PG, Nikola Mirotic PHI) - I am not too (PF/SF, CHI) - Once sure if Ish Smith is on an unheard of Spanthis list because of his ish-Montenegrin forfantasy value or be- ward, Mirotic is now cause he has the best contending for Rookie name in the league. of the Year. Perhaps Smith did not get much what makes him so burn with the Thunder, special is that he combut since being traded bines all of the best to the 76ers, he is av- skillsets from his feleraging 24 minutes per low European ballers. game, 11 points and 6 He has the shooting assists. Although he is stroke of Danilo Gallicurrently in a reserve nari, the rebounding role, his minutes have capability of Pau Gasbeen steadily increas- ol, the scoring prowess ing and he may soon of Dirk Nowitzki and a take Isaiah Canaan’s beard game on par with spot in the starting Celtics legend Gigi lineup.

Datome.

PHOTO BY SAM KLEIN

Although the track team will be losing key seniors next year, Corcoran said she maintains a positive outlook on the track team’s season next winter.

“There are a lot of strong freshmen, sophomores and juniors this year,” Corcoran said.

“It will be hard because we have a lot of strong seniors, but I think as we train, it will be okay.

There were so many personal records this season, and people cut minutes off of their times.”

Vanessa Chin and Tony Ji can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

Drop: Trevor Ariza (SF, Dirk NowitzHOU) - Ariza is a good ki (PF, DAL) - The source of threes and thought of dropping steals, but other than the 11-time All Star is that, he will not be of unfathomable. But, for much use. To make a minute, try to fathmatters worse, he has om it. Dirk is 36 years been one of the most old. He has been in the inconsistent players in league for 16 years. The the league, putting up Mavericks are making 20 points one night a strong push for the and 4 points the next. title this year and are in While Dwight How- a comfortable position ard’s return may draw in terms of making the attention away from playoffs. Coach Rick the perimeter, it might Carlisle is already restalso rob Ariza of re- ing Dirk whenever he bounds, points and can, and as a result, he playing time. He is not is averaging 13 points consistent enough for and 4 rebounds per your roster. game this month.

SCOTT C. GLADSTONE

attorney at law

brookline zoning and per mitting construction conflicts mediation services business litigation (617) 730 4525 sg@sgladstonelaw.com w w w . s g l a d s t o n e l a w . c o m

SA G A M O R E

22

MARCH SPORTS

the

Athlete alumni on staff reminisce about teams’ impact on development TEACHERS continued from page 20

“I think that our sports culture, not just in Brookline but nationally speaking, is that, it’s less about team and more about individually achieving,” Rothstein said. “You can see it when kids are refusing to play on teams and go to clubs. It’s really what ends up being the best opportunity for them. No one is really dying to represent Brookline.”

Associate Dean of Students Lisa Redding ‘89, who swam for four years for the high school, said playing sports gave her a lot of school spirit.

She said that at first she did not want to go to high school in Brookline because all of her friends were going to schools in Cambridge.

“I came to Brookline High not knowing anybody, and girls swimming is a fall sport,” Redding said. “It was great because I just had this instant group that was made of such a diverse group of people. Even though that didn’t end up being my main set of friends, they were always my friends.”

In her senior year, the team won the league championships.

At one championship meet, Redding remembers symbolically throwing green water into the other school’s pool, as Brookline’s pool was known for having water that looked green.

Redding said she still has her Brookline swimming sweatshirt, though it is a little ragged.

“It was great to be part of something else,” Redding said.

“It really gave me Brookline spirit.”

The same “Brookline spirit” Redding found through playing sports was a memorable part of Lezama’s basketball career at the high school.

According to Lezama, the basketball team received a lot of fan support. He remembers playing games where students would be standing at the corner of the court because there was no room in the stands.

“I always remember all the teachers coming to our game.

I used to always look up in the stands and see Ms. Hayden sitting next to my mom during games,” Lezama said. “The games were always packed. If you came late, you couldn’t find a seat.”

Maya Margolis can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

Q

PLAYER PROFILE PHOEBE MURRAY

Staff Writer

HOW HAS PLAYING YOUR SPORT BENEFITED YOU IN OTHER AREAS?

ALEX CHIN junior, tennis

It improves my health, it makes me happy playIt’s a really good leadership opportunity. Due ing with friends, so I guess my mood, and it’s a great to the fact that we aren’t the best team in the way to meet new people. league, it’s definitely more of an experience learnto work with players and work as a team, knowWhat is your favorite part about play- ing ing that we are not going to just easily win a game unlike other teams. ing tennis?

It’s great exercise, it’s fun and it’s a nice way to What is your favorite thing about playpass the time with some friends. It’s a great sport ing lacrosse? because you don’t get too many injuries, so that’s I personally like shooting. I have a lot of fun also a plus. with shooting. When I was younger, I played with a stick, so you can definitely whip the ball more.

How has playing tennis affected your boys’ Also when we do score and when we do have a lot of energy on the field and we feel like we have a mindset? good chance at a certain game, you can really feel Being an athlete in general helps with your drive the energy between players on the field. and motivation. If you’re down a match, you have to strive to come back. If you’re in school and you’re How did you start playing?

When I was younger I couldn’t play with a having a tough time, you have the same kind of moleague because I had ballet, so I just played with tivation to push you forward. my brothers a lot. So when I actually started, I had What do you think is a common mis- to switch to a girls’ stick, which was kind of hard, but I ended up picking it up pretty quickly. conception about your sport?

That it’s not very physical or that you don’t have to be too fit to play tennis. Tennis is a pretty tiring sport.

When you hit rough patches, what motivates you to keep trying?

PHOTO FROM 1989 YEARBOOK

Associate Dean Melanee Alexander (front row, second from right) was a captain of the 1989 Brookline High School girls varsity volleyball team, pictured above.

NORA BAYER junior, lacrosse

I just try to shake it off, and I try to think of something else besides the tennis. If I think too much about it I get too caught up and too frustrated. So, I just try to cheer myself up.

When you hit slumps, what motivates you to keep going?

Really just the fact that we’re all on the field together and that if we’re all upset about something that happened in the game we all are in it together: Talking with other players and working through it and knowing that in the next game we can fix it, because anything that goes wrong it’s always like, ‘Just get over it and fix it the next game, and it won’t happen again.’

Nordic skiers equate success to year round training SKIING continued from page 20 “Like most sports you are trying to stay fit and healthy and trying to keep a good mentality for the race season,” Fried said.

“We include things like core, we always run, to maintain agility and other parts that we need for the competitive season. And since skiing is a full body thing, we work on upper body and lower body.”

According Cole, races can be anywhere from 1.5 to 15 kilometers long, and require not only the physical agility that they constantly train for, but also mental toughness.

“You have to focus really hard on the outcome that you want, skiing steady, pushing yourself to keep a steady hard pace, to keep pushing yourself in your mind and to never give up and to keep going fast,” Cole said.

During these long races, Fried said that is important to think about not just technique, but also strategy.

“Of course I’m thinking about technique because that’s important for skiing, but I am also thinking about what will be my next move? How will I pass this person in front of me? Can I stay on this person in front of me? How am I feeling? Am I going to die? Do I feel like I’m dying? Do I need to ease down the pace?” Fried said.

Cole had further advice for long races.

“You have to think about your breathing and technique and making sure you don’t get tired and that you exert the right amount of force,” Cole said. “But sometimes you want to think about where you’ll end up in the race and how fast you want to go and if you want to keep up with a certain racer, or if you want to stay ahead of a group.”

Vandendries takes on a mentality that is a little different, since she also runs for the high school.

“For a race I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to go hard.’ The dif-

PHOTO PROVIDED BY JORDAN FRIED

Junior Jordan Fried races at the Weston ski track. Fried and teammate sophomore Gabby Vandendries finished in 4th and 2nd place respectively at All-States.

ference between skiing and running is that in running you don’t get any breaks, but in skiing, downhills are breaks, so you get to go really hard,” Vandendries

said.

When they are not going hard up and down slopes on skis, they are training on a device that simulates skiing, but

can be used for warm months.

Fried said when the cross-country ski team is not practicing on the slopes, they use roller skis, which are extended roller blades with two wheels and are very similar to skiing on snow.

But, even though some of the training can be done without snow on the ground, Fried said that it is still critical for them to have a place to train during the winter. The Weston Ski Track has a Facebook page titled “Friends of Leo J. Martin Golf course,” which is the organization that is trying to maintain the golf course as a ski track during the winter. By liking the page, people can support the track’s cause.

“We are happy with what we have, and I feel like, although small, we are a strong community,” Fried said. “We have been trying to get more people to join. We’ve been trying to not necessarily grow as Brookline but grow as Massachusetts.”

Valentina Rojas can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.

ADVERTISEMENT

SA G A M O R E the

23

SA G A M O R E

24

MARCH SPORTS

the

Comparison of win percentages of boys and girls varsity teams

Win Percentage

The Sagamore reviewed the records of the varsity sports teams at the high school in the past five years in an attempt to determine if there is a disparity between the success of boys and girls sports teams. As presented, on average, boys varsity sports teams have won at a higher percentage than girls varsity sports teams. There is not yet a clear explanation for why this has happened in the past five years, and we would urge people to resist rushing to conclusions about this data. There are many factors in play that may affect this data, and the raw information to present any of these possible factors as a concrete contributor does not exist.

GRAPH BY LILY BÖHLKE AND SAM KLEIN. DATA FROM THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT.

Girls Boys

Girls fall sports: 45.1% Boys fall sports: 60.6%

Varsity Team

Girls winter sports: 18.7% Boys winter sports: 43.6%

Girls spring sports: 32.2% Girls sports: 32.0% Boys spring sports: 47.5% Boys sports: 50.6%

Win percentages for specific teams are a total from the past five seasons, determined by number of wins relative to total number of games played. Multi-sport averages are averages of the win percentages of all teams in that category. The girls sports and boys sports categories are averages of all seasons of girls and all boys sports win percentages.

Warriors take pride in history of rivalry RIVALRY continued from page 20 knew what their tendencies were.”

Kovalcik also refuted the misconception that wearing black, as most girls sports teams do on the day of a game against the Tigers, means there is hatred among the two teams.

Senior Arinze Obiora, a member of the boys varsity basketball team, agreed that what separates playing North from other teams is the zealous fan attendance.

“The atmosphere in terms of the fans reminds me of a professional basketball game,” Obiora said. “When you’re on the court playing, you feel like every move you make is being watched, and if you make the slightest mistake, you will be ridiculed nonstop.”

Unlike Kovalcik, Obiora says that there is a very different vibe in practice prior to games against North, largely because of the exciting history between the two schools.

“Usually, what happens is that the coaches remind us about the previous games that we have had with Newton,” Obiora said. “That gets us pumped up and makes us practice harder and push each other to prepare for anything that Newton could possibly throw at us.”

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY JAIME SERRATO MARKS

Senior Nica Kovalcik sets up for a spike against Newton North on Sep. 19 in Schluntz gym. The Brookline and Newton North girls volleyball teams have met in the playoffs three of the past four years.

According to senior Tommy Mobley, the captain of Newton North’s boys varsity basketball team and defending Bay State Conference MVP, playing Brookline is unparalleled to playing any other team. Mobley said that Brookline’s boys

basketball team has beaten them more than any other team in the Bay State Conference during his tenure at Newton North.

“We play Brookline two times every year,” Mobley said. “No matter how

good or bad a Newton North or Brookline team is that year, it is always a close game.”

Kate Cordner, who played soccer, basketball, and softball for Brookline from 2005 to 2009, said that what made the rivalry so special was that the teams were so equal. According to Cordner, during that four year span, Newton’s and Brookline’s basketball teams were practically mirror images.

“I hated them,” Cordner said. “We had very similar star players. We had a really good center, and they had a really good center. We had a really good point guard, and they had a really good point guard. So, my senior year especially, we got really hyped up playing against them.”

Cordner said that in her years at the high school, the rivalry was especially intense because of the two schools’ demographics as well as athletic prowess.

“What makes it such a great rivalry is that it’s so even in our school dynamic, school environment, school makeup, that it’s almost like playing ourselves,” Cordner said. “And over the years, the fact that it’s this historic rivalry makes it just all the more exciting to play each other.”

Noa Dalzell can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.