Issue VI

Standard

the

April 2016 | Volume XLI, Issue VI

News: 2-3 Opinions: 4-7 Features: 8-13 Culture: 14-16 Sports: 17-20

Belgium attacks alter school trips The suicide bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium on March 22 resulted in the cancellation of athletic trips to Brussels, as well as the Music Tour being re-routed to Bonn, Germany.

Page 3

EDITORIAL

Student space With limited community space in the High School, the Editorial Board calls for a specified location where students of all grades can gather and socialize.

PULLING THE STRINGS

Page 4

Sexting culture Exploring the purpose of nude pictures and the potential benefits and consequences that come along with sending them.

Pages 10-11

Power of art

An exploration into parental involvement in student’s academic and social lives, and the discord regarding career paths Yarra Elmasry | Editor-in-Chief

Zack Longboy | Deputy Editor-in-Chief

A look at students who use art to express emotion, and as an outlet to comment on social issues.

Pages 14-15

Story on pages 12-13 PHOTO BY YARRA ELMASRY

The American School in London | One Waverley Place | London NW8 0NP U.K. | standard.asl.org

•••

Page 2

News

THE STANDARD | April 2016

New restaurants News briefs

Community offers financial aid Gabe Perez (’16) was admitted to Yale University without an offer of financial aid. To raise college tuition, he started a GoFundMe page.

Tyler Skow | Deputy Editor-in-Chief

W

hen Gabe Perez (’16) opened I wanted to try and work with the finanhis acceptance letter from Yale cial aid office, and I really hoped that they University on March 31, the mo- would change their decision to reflect my ment was bitter-sweet. Soon after receiv- actual needs so the very next day, after I ing his acceptance, Perez went to check got my decision [on March 31], I contacted the status of his financial aid portal, only the financial aid office,” Perez said. to discover an award letter for zero demPerez and his family have a fairly speonstrated need. cial financial situation. Perez’s father’s As his mother rushed into his room to employer pays for the families’ housing, celebrate, the stark reality of the financial education and other living costs. The aid award letter suppressed some of the money his father’s job subsidizes for their joy of the moment. family consequently “I checked the [adappears on their tax missions] portal and returns. “On paper it I was kind of happy, looks like [my dad] just relieved that I got makes a very large in, but at the same amount of money, time I did not feel like whereas his base salI could celebrate just ary is much, much Gabe Perez (’16) because at that time lower and well within Yale was not a possithe range of financial bility,” Perez said. need that they advertize on their website,” As of today, Perez has raised just over he said. $30,000 on a GoFundMe Campaign in After a conversation with the Financial order to compensate for the unavailable Aid Director at Yale, Perez and his father financial aid. Looking back at March 31, explained the difficulty of his financial however, Perez can hardly believe the situ- situation. At the request of Yale, Perez ation he has reached at this point. submitted various bank documents in The initial idea of a GoFundMe Cam- order to support an appeal of his original paign came as a joke from Perez’s father; financial aid package. a joke only because Perez believed the As Perez’s window to accept his Yale ofchances of his aid situation changing were fer started to retreat, he began to call the fairly high. “I just did not accept the fact Financial Aid office to check the status that they determined that I had zero dem- of his appeal and to verify that the docuonstrated need, so I wanted to try more, ments he had gathered had been added

“I was too proud before to even ask for help and that’s always been a problem of mine”

W

At Yale

hile the money Perez raised will only cover his freshmen year at Yale, he feels that once he’s at Yale, the opportunity to find the aid he needs will be easier.

Perez comes from a long history of family members serving in the Navy, thus joining the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC), offers a solution. NROTC “offers full scholarship for people under the condition that they serve after graduating,” Perez said.

At the moment, Perez’s main focus is to “speak with an officer there now just to see if a full scholarship will be a possibility for me at Yale.”

Alternatively, if Perez’s parents move back the United States at the end of this year, he may qualify for financial aid, and the family’s income would return to normal.

With this great ordeal coming to at least a temporary end for Perez, he can’t help but feel disappointed in Yale’s financial aid process. Perez has come to realize through his situation that Universities are not always able to meet “100 percent of financial need in the sense that if you go on the internet you find a lot of cases, for Yale in particular, of them not meeting financial needs,” he said.

Perez, pictured above with his grandmother, plans to attend Yale University in the fall after raising over $30,000 through a GoFundMe page.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GABE PEREZ to his file. To Perez’s dismay, the office seemed to be working against his best efforts. “I would send an email saying ‘could you please confirm you have put this in my file’ and they would say ‘yes’ they have, but it turns out that was not the case.

They had either not got all my files or just not put them in [my file],” Perez said. “So that was a bit frustrating which means they had not even looked at my application after so much time.”

On April 17 the financial aid office informed Perez that the final decision regarding his appeal would be sent to him some time during that week. The next day, Perez, for the second time, read a financial aid package that detailed zero demonstrated need.

Confused, given his clear need of aid, Perez called the financial aid office one last time. Perez spoke to an employee who conceivably knew nothing about his situation, or the details of his file. “This lady told me [my appeal] went through committee and they considered everything and despite my special circumstance they have determined my need is to be zero,” Perez said. “I was a bit frustrated because I know that that lady had not looked at any of my stuff, she had not even asked what my application number was or anything, she was just giving me a rehearsed response.”

With the Yale decision deadline just

two weeks away, and Perez leaving for an all expenses paid admitted students weekend in Shanghai the next day, Perez turned to GoFundMe to raise the money needed to attend Yale next fall. Perez and his family determined $30,000 would be the bare minimum he would need to attend Yale without taking on outstanding student debt.

As the first donations started to come in, minutes after the campaign’s creation, Perez could not help but feel slightly guilty. “I was too proud before to even ask for help and that’s always been a problem of mine, but to see someone give money, it almost felt like, I did not know how to react just because I don’t know if there’s ever a way I can be grateful enough or at least show that gratitude enough to them to justify their donation,” Perez said.

After advertising his campaign through Facebook, the donations from students, faculty and other members of the community flooded in. Within just three hours, Perez made just shy of $3,000.

Within four days, Perez made the $30,000 he needed to attend Yale in the fall. “I never really expected to come anywhere near my goal in 10 days, much less meet my goal in three or four, so the amount of support that I have gotten is crazy and overwhelming, and I honestly have no idea how to thank people enough,” Perez said.

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Belgium attacks alter school trips WILLIAM BRUMMETTE STAFF WRITER On April 6, the ASL community was informed that the High School athletic trips to Brussels from April 22-23 would be canceled, as well as the Middle School Language trip to Paris from April 13-16.

In addition, the High School Music Tour was re-routed through Lille to avoid Brussels. The trips were altered mainly due to the terrorist bombings that happened in Brussels on March 22.

This is the second time during this school year that trips have been canceled due to a security risk. The Model United Nations (MUN) trip to Paris in November 2015 was canceled after a series of coordinated attacks in the city left 130 people dead, only a few weeks prior to the trip.

This year’s Music Tour travelled to Bonn, Germany. The original plan had been to take a train to Brussels and then drive to Bonn. Instead, students took the Eurostar to Lille and then a bus directly to Bonn.

Orchestra member Callum Hafner -Schnee (’17) thinks that the original trip “would have been fairly quick, but instead we had to get off at Lille and then

the bus ride was probably two or three hours longer than it could have been,” he said. Overall, Hafner-Schnee believes the trip should have followed the original route. “I think it’s our job as citizens of a free country to, in defiance, continue

“

Safety has to be the top priority, and therefore it’s hard to argue with the people who have the most information.

We have to follow [the U.S. Embassy’s] recommendations.

John Farmer, Athletics Director traveling the same ways we have travelled before regardless of the risks,” he said.

While the Music Tour was re-routed through Lille, the Athletic trips to Brussels from April 22-23 were canceled.

“The embassy recommended that people not take trips to Brussels unless they

were necessary,” Athletics Director John Farmer said. “Therefore the decision was made that both Music Tour going through Brussels and athletics going to Brussels did not fit the category of necessary.”

Although cancelling the trips to Brussels might have been frustrating for some, Farmer believes they made the right choice. “Safety has to be the top priority, and therefore it’s hard to argue with the people who have the most information,” he said. “We have to follow [the U.S. Embassy’s] recommendations.”

The final decision to cancel any trip, such as an athletic or language trip, is made by Head of School Coreen Hester.

“The school always goes with the assumption that the trips are a go unless we are told otherwise,” Farmer said.

Jack Navin-Weinstein (’17) who, along with the rest of the varsity tennis team, was scheduled to go to Brussels, was disappointed that the trip was canceled. “I am a little bit disappointed, but I think they are working on re-organizing it so that St. John’s comes to us,” he said.

Adam Romeih (’18) believes the trip cancellations were the right decision.

“I prioritize my safety first,” he said. “I don’t take any risks.”

New restaurants open on High Street CAMERON CAMPILI STAFF WRITER The St. John’s Wood High Street is set to undergo slight alterations with the introduction of two new restaurants. The Chicken Shop opened its doors to ASL students on March 18 while the Ivy Cafe is set to open on June 22.

The Ivy Cafe is set to fill the space most recently occupied by Megan’s Cafe and Bar. The Ivy is a collection of restaurants and cafes that were founded in London. The Ivy Cafe will serve their Parisian style food, including cocktails and cream tea, from 8 a.m. – 11 p.m.

According to its website, Martin Brudnizki Design Studio has designed the restaurant’s interior in an attempt to make the Ivy Cafe look similar to others such as the Ivy in Wimbledon Village and Marylebone. The restaurant will also feature a bar to accompany the cafe and these features will incorporate an antique powder bar, marble floor, leather banquettes, vintage leather bar stools and pendant lighting – altogether creating a casual barista-like environment for customers, according to the Ivy’s website.

The Ivy Cafe will also try to establish this casual appearance by holding back several tables for walk-ins, meaning cus-

tomers will not always be able to make reservations.

With restaurants located in Barcelona, Chicago and London, the Chicken Shop offers their customers rotisserie chicken, either quarter, half or whole, and a specific set of sides. The restaurant also provides students with affordable prices. The restaurant itself is located just off the St. John’s Wood High Street on Allisten and opening hours are from 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

The restaurant has been receiving rave reviews from students. Jordan Koski (’18), a regular at the Chicken Shop believes that the prices of the restaurant are consequential of the foods quality. “Although the prices are steeper to the slightest extent, it has better value and quantity for price than any restaurant in the area.”

Similarly, Caleb Crawford (’19) believes “the prices are reasonable for what you get in return.” With its authentic “chicken-only style,” the Chicken Shop brings a new dynamic to the St. John’s Wood High Street.

Regarding the limited amount of food on the menu, Koski believes that this doesn’t take away from the restaurant, but instead adds to the genuine aspects of the Chicken Shop. “Although it limits the options of a sophisticated meal, the simple menu is an advantage because it can be mass cooked and thus the wait time cuts in half.”

Page 3

News

News Briefs

Middle East Night This year’s Middle East night will be held on May 17 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The night will feature pieces by students on the theme of identity, and Lebanese writer Hanan al-Shaykh will be speaking. Tickets for the night will be sold at Top Orange prior to the event.

Bangers and Bash To celebrate the conclusion of the 20152016 school year, the annual Bangers and Bash event will be held on May 20 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The event will be held at Canon’s Park and will include performances by students.

Transition workshop On May 5, families are invited to attend a transition workshop from 12:00p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The workshop is for all families who are experiencing change this summer, such as moving countries or changing grade levels. Content of the workshop will include coping strategies to handle these changes.

RSVP to Sharon Armon at sharon_armon@asl.org

Haiku data lapse • Opens June 22 • 120 St. John’s Wood High Street • A varied menu featuring items such as truffle arancini, hamburgers and grilled chicken salad.

• 128 Allisten Road • A restaurant specializing in rotisserie chicken and sides, such as corn on the cob, butter lettuce and avocado salad.

On April 12, an email was sent to parents and students regarding a data lapse that was discovered on the online Haiku portal involving information relating to students in Specific Learning Differences (SLD). A list of students in the High School with testing and diagnoses, as well as a second list of students who receive accommodations, were accidentally uploaded to Haiku. While the documents were not easy to find or identify, they were available to students. Haiku records indicate very limited access to the files during the lapse. Upon discovery, the files were deleted and permissions of access changed.

Earth Day celebrated On April 22, students celebrated the anniversary of the modern environmental movement “Earth Day,” started in 1970. In the week leading up to the day students were urged to go meatless, walk instead of taking the bus or car, and an Earth Day tree was decorated with student pledges.

•••

Page 4

Opinions

THE STANDARD | April 2016

WorkX Letters to the Editor

A CALL FOR

STUDENT SPACE CARTOON BY STELLA JORGENSEN ASL breeds an academically rigorous, competitive and often high-strung environment.

It’s no secret that a new student-oriented space is needed in the High School.

There’s very little time to relax and unwind in the school building, and even if the time is found, there is limited space to do so.

There are areas in the school that students currently congregate in. However, many are not adequately providing students with a convenient space to de-stress and socialize.

The theater foyer tables, or “black chairs,” often have many Middle School students, parents, as well as staff and faculty members occupying them. This area

is also in a centralized part of the school, meaning it becomes busy and overcrowded quickly.

Although we greatly appreciate the introduction of the relaxation room to provide students with a silent haven from the stress of school, it is obviously not a social space. This space serves a different, yet equally important, purpose.

The pods provide excellent spaces for students to collaborate on group projects or devote time to school work. However, they are small, can become easily crowded and allow little respite from academics and stress.

Bottom O, while definitely offering students a space to escape, is largely reserved for, and solely

used by, the senior class. Therefore, as of right now, there is no place devoted to students that welcomes all grades to come together and relax.

The library provides students with space for individual and group work through the silent area; however, it leaves no room for casual encounters. The expectation when in the library is that you are working, so if the tone of a conversation increases, students are told to quiet down.

As a result, students often converge in the hallways, blocking the flow of traffic between class periods.

A prime opportunity for the introduction of a new student space has arisen with the recent

construction of the art building.

Just outside the new facility is a courtyard on the bottom floor. It’s currently a construction site, and we feel that this is an ideal space for a small, possibly student-run, café to open. The café would be an alternative to the expensive Gail’s, Starbucks and the other chains that line the St. John’s Wood High Street.

Tables and chairs could be brought in, and it would provide another additional space to display artwork. This indoor-outdoor space would be a place for students to unwind and enjoy the fresh air.

Inherently, this solution also solves another problem. Currently, there are few places on campus that provide High School students

Standard

with space on campus to be outside.

This space to gather would mean that peers could get together – increasing the sense of community.

Over time, the café could be run by some of the older students, with potential to promote community involvement and work experience. This model is used at many universities in the U.S., and becomes its own kind of working club – where fellow workers can meet and hang out.

A student café in the art building courtyard would not only create an ideal space for students, but it would promote community and potentially lower the student’s High Street meals.

the YARRA ELMASRY Editor-in-Chief

Micah Skariah, Quinn Whitman

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

through letters to the editor, guest columns, online comments,

ZACK LONGBOY Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Content

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS

Send submissions to the journalism lab, room Y-201, or to

and story ideas. Contact the appropriate section editor(s) for

NADIA SAWIRIS Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Online

Olivia Abrams, Alessandro Baravalle, Stephanie Brendsel, Ariel

the_standard@asl.org. These must adhere to the same set of

submissions.

TYLER SKOW Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Issues

Calver, Alexandra Gers, Jordan Koski, Drew Learner

ethical guidelines that all staff content is held to, and will only

ONLINE VIEWING

CHARLOTTE YOUNG Lead News Editor

CARTOONISTS

be published at the discretion of the editorial board and the

The Standard can be viewed online at standard.asl.org. The

LORENZO MAGLIONE News Editor

Annie Thompson, Stella Jorgensen

adviser. The Standard retains the right to edit letters for length

Standard can also be viewed in PDF format on the High

MARTHA COLLINS Opinions Editor

SHANNON MILLER Adviser

and AP/Standard style. All letters must be signed in order to

School page of the ASL website, www.asl.org.

be considered for publication.

Printed by Mortons Print Limited, 01507 523456

MISSION STATEMENT

EDITORIALS

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheStandardASL

MICHAELA TOWFIGHI Culture Editor

The Standard staff and adviser are dedicated to creating a

Articles published without a byline and presented in the same

Follow us on Twitter: @TheStandardASL

SEBASTIAN MAYR Sports Editor

collaborative, open forum that cultivates productive dialogue

location issue-to-issue represent the majority opinion of the

SOURNA DANESHVAR, JR. Sports Editor

within the School community by publishing exemplary student

editorial board. They are unsigned.

ANKIT MEHRA Online Editor

news media according to the strictest standards of journalistic

COMMENTARIES

STAFF WRITERS

integrity.

Articles with a byline and a photo of the author in the Opinions

Cameron Campili, Max Roth, Daniel Zimmermann, Olivia

CONTENT The Standard covers news related, but not limited,

section of the newspaper are opinions articles. They represent

Abrams, Lucy Adams, Maya Ariburnu, Sophie Ashley,

to the School community. Issues-driven coverage that aims

the view of the writer only, and not necessarily the staff of the

Stephanie Brendsel, William Brummette, Anna Costello,

to explore ideas, themes, concepts, trends and recent devel-

newspaper or any other individual or group in the community.

Martha Duff, Alexandra Gers, Christina Leonard, Phaedra

opments beyond the campus that are relevant to members of

ENGAGEMENT WITH READERSHIP

Letrou-Papamarkakis, Ananya Prakash, Anastasia Ruimy,

the community are also included.

The Standard encourages all readers to submit their thoughts

MAYA JOTWANI Lead Features Editor RENATA WILSON Features Editor

Follow us on Instagram: @TheStandardASL

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 5

•••

Opinions

Where’s the work in WorkX?

TYLER SKOW

tyler_skow@asl.org

“

The system is so rigid and closely monitored, it has the potential to provoke the bare minimum effort from students, packaging us to all look the same.

Work Experience (WorkX) is one of the many programs that makes this school excellent.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude to the WorkX team.

The parents involved in this organization have created such an accessible and comprehensive pool of work opportunities.

While I am glad the school is so supportive of students’ endeavors to find real world applications for their studies, I can’t help but be slightly concerned with how WorkX has evolved over the past three years.

This year in particular, WorkX has embraced the philosophy of finding work experiences for every student who applies. While I admire the intention behind this mission, I question if it may be resulting in the overinvolvement from volunteers in the application process, to the degree that this experience is becoming less representative of a real work opportunity.

Three years ago, I distinctly remember how my older brother, Peter Skow (’14), maneuvered his way through the application process. I recall a great deal of anxi-

ety as he applied, contacted and interviewed with the organizations. The process Peter experienced now seems relatively unfamiliar to the one I completed just a few weeks ago. Unlike Peter, I found nearly all communication between the various companies and students mediated

by WorkX. Between applying and conducting my interviews, I had zero correspondence with any of the companies I was applying to.

I understand there is a concern that applicants may be unresponsive to the companies they are applying to. However, allowing students to have insight and control over their application process by managing communication is an essential learning opportunity.

Any breadth of choice Peter had in determining how to present himself throughout the application process has also evaporated. Today, the system is so rigid and closely monitored, that it has the potential to provoke the bare minimum effort from students, packaging us to all look the same. Students were encouraged to download a tem-

Progress Report SLITHER

BEANBAGS

PRETZELS

JUNIORS

plate CV and cover letters, which required little more than for students to replace the alias name with their own. The companies we are applying to cannot make an informed decision with such a conformed pool of applicants.

Furthermore, I was frustrated when I heard the application deadline had been extended.

The announcements in grade level meetings, frequent email reminders, posters and notifications on the school website made the date explicitly clear. In addition to reinforcing bad habits, the deadline extension oversaturated the application pool with students less passionate than those who had already applied.

In making WorkX quite literally too accessible to students, the process is rewarding those who put in the least effort.

The extension occurred because, as of the deadline, not all of the positions had been applied for. I acknowledge this decision stems from the mission to provide all students with a work experience, but I believe there is a balance between filling all of the positions and letting those who

PHOTO 1 FROM YOUTUBE.COM; PHOTOS 2, 4 AND 5 BY MARTHA COLLINS; PHOTO 3 BY YARRA ELMASRY/ARIEL CALVER/MARTHA COLLINS; PHOTO 6 BY SOURNA DANESHVAR JR.

1

2

3

4

5 1.

6 4.

The Editorial Board of The Standard gives 2. the school its AP season report. 3.

are truly passionate for their field of interest excel to the top.

I was additionally disappointed by this year’s decision making process. As I have heard stories of students being rejected from certain internships on the grounds of already having too much experience in that field, it seems there are glaring inconsistencies with some students receiving internships over others. I acknowledge that this is not the fault of the WorkX team, as the decisions were made independently by each company.

Yet, I believe the grounds of rejecting and accepting applications need to be standardized and made explicitly clear to all students.

The current issues within WorkX can be addressed by removing some of the structure.

Upon completing applications, communication with the companies should be turned over to the students. Let us manage our interviews and acceptances and rejections, and provide students with autonomy to reflect an experience as close to the real world as possible.

Slither: (5) Slither is the perfect tool to either keep me from taking notes in class, or make me realize it’s 2 a.m. and I have a test in six hours. Ankit Mehra Admin taking our beanbags: (1) Health and safety concerns. Allegedly. First our music and then our beanbags? Make Bottom O great again. Zack Longboy Juniors: (5) We have a rapper, a singer and a magician.

Talk about personality. Tyler Skow

South Asia Night: (5) So spicy. Maya Jotwani

5.

Soft pretzels: (4) Stellar addition to the cafeteria repertoire. Close to a 5, but without salt on top, they’re not quite there yet. Martha Collins

6.

Cooking: (2) Not nearly as easy as it looks on MasterChef – I’m guessing they don’t burn their pasta.

Sourna Daneshvar Jr. Post Scriptum: End of an era.

•••

Page 6

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Opinions

Implementing a sugar tax

RENATA WILSON

renata_wilson@asl.org

“

Predictions from the U.K. sugar tax are that around 100,000 cases of heart disease could be prevented, as well as 8,000 strokes and 26,000 deaths, according to a NHS study.

SEBASTIAN MAYR

sebastian_mayr@asl.org

“

Universities need to be honest and forthcoming about their histories, no matter how dark or violent they are.

They should serve as perennial reminders of the failings and shortcomings of man throughout history.

The U.K. is finally set to enforce a sugar tax in 2018.

The tax will specifically targets soft drinks, and could potentially cause an 80 percent price increase on certain drinks, such as CocaCola.

When I first found out about the soda tax, I was slightly taken aback. I questioned if the government should have the ability to influence what we eat and drink.

I was very unsure until I saw the shocking numbers regarding the potential impact of the sugar tax.

A National Health Service (NHS) study predicts that the U.K. sugar tax could prevent around 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes and 26,000 deaths per year. In this instance, it appears the government is taking the lead on protecting their people from premature death.

The implementation of a sugar tax in the U.K. has long been

championed by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has been on a crusade in regards to cutting childhood obesity. He has created several multi-step plans, which he has presented to the U.K. government, including the proposal of the sugar tax and clearer labelling on food packaging. Oliver has even had a sugar tax of sorts implemented in all of his restaurants – charging his diners an additional percentage for carbonated, sugary beverages.

However, the real reason why the U.K. finally decided to end the debate and implement a sugar tax is the alarming reality of the rising obesity rates in British children.

At the start of primary school, 1 in 10 children in the U.K. is obese, and by middle school that number raises to 1 in 5. Nutritionists have found that for many children, their primary source of sugar is soda.

By attempting to limit the

amount of sugar children put into their bodies, the government could effectively reduce childhood obesity.

The new sugar tax is also expected to save the NHS £520 million a year, as it is predicted that less operations will be conducted, less medication administered and less cases of preventable diseases with arise. The NHS will use the saved money to fight obesity by increasing the funding for sports programs in primary schools.

The U.K. would not be the first country to implement a sugar tax of this kind. The first soda tax in the U.S. was in Berkeley, California, and a highly effective sugar tax has been implemented all around Mexico. The sugar tax in Mexico has cut purchases of sugary drinks by 12 percent.

The sugar tax in Berkeley is structured after the “sin tax,” a state-sponsored tax that is imposed on the sale of purchases viewed as detrimental to society,

such as cigarettes, alcohol and gambling tickets. The premise of sin taxes is that if the items are more expensive, individuals will be discouraged from partaking in such activities, without the limitation of freedom that would come with outlawing such products completely. Sin taxes have been proven to work effectively as deterrents and sugar taxes can follow along the same idea.

If governments already impose sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, which are widely known to be detrimental to your health, same kind of tax should be imposed on sugary drinks. It is no secret that sugary drinks are extremely harmful to your health, so by not taxing sugary drinks, the government is showing a level of inconsistency.

With the sugar tax set for 2018, the U.K. government is clearly holding itself responsible for the health of citizens through targeted taxation.

Let’s not rewrite history Cecil Rhodes. Jefferson Davis.

Woodrow Wilson. Thomas Jefferson. John C. Calhoun.

The list goes on and continues to grow as more institutions, from Princeton to Oxford, scramble to banish controversial historical symbols from their grounds and remove any remnants of racism and violence tied to their pasts.

This rebirth of student activism has taken elite universities by storm and is driven by the fundamentally erroneous notion that removing such contentious figures will actually promote greater equality for students on campus purportedly offended by them.

Universities need to be open and forthcoming about their histories, no matter how dark or violent they are. Transparency about these controversial figures remains a priority, and rather than banning bigoted figures from school grounds, they should serve as perennial reminders of the failings and shortcomings of mankind throughout history.

While their removal “en-

sures” the welfare of students who feel marginalized and offended by degrading symbols, it teaches us only to ignore the uncomfortable and remove anything we perceive as demeaning.

How can we possibly expect to improve from our past mistakes if we cannot openly confront and discuss them?

Just last November, student activists at Princeton, led by the Black Justice League, demanded the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs be renamed, due to the former U.S. president’s racist views and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan.

While I ardently advocate for the facilitation of proper discourse over Wilson’s legacy, I deplore the ignorant actions of the students who marched into the university president’s office and refused to leave until he agreed to address the issue. A university setting, more than any other, should be a place for civil and productive discussion, not blatant antics.

We need to, more than anything, understand the context under which these statues and

symbols were erected in the first place. Wilson completely reshaped Princeton’s academics and introduced the university’s much-vaunted Preceptorial System, a defining pillar of the school’s academic excellence, is an open forum wherein small groups of students debate topics.

Oxford University recently decided to preserve Cecil Rhodes’ statue at Oriel College. While his views to date would be deemed racist, Rhodes statue was not kept for celebratory reasons. His contributions to the university as a whole – through extensive endowment and the establishment of the Rhodes Scholarship (one of the world’s most prestigious scholarships) – should not be forgotten entirely. Though the sources of his money stem from deep-rooted racism and abrasive colonialism, Rhodes used his fortune to launch the first ever international postgraduate scholarship program.

Where do we draw the line?

I’m fully aware Thomas Jefferson’s contributions to American society as a Founding Father and

author of the Declaration of Independence far outweigh those of Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun. But, does removing the monuments dedicated to the latter two set an inevitable precedent for the removal of the former’s in some years time?

These symbols, contrary to popular notion, have deeper, more complex meanings that cannot simply be airbrushed from history.

Student and faculty diversity is an entirely different sphere that should not infringe upon the decision to keep or remove banners and monuments.

Creating a more holistic and well-rounded campus climate through curricula, more heavily focused on cultural competency or the creation of cultural centers, is important in achieving the transparency needed to debate and discuss controversial historical figures.

Rather than live in denial of our crude and brutish past, we must confront and embrace these statues and monuments as living embodiments of the injustices achievable by man.

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 7

Opinions Letters to the Editor

Misrepresentation of race

“

The exclusion of other minority groups from the conversation about race is arguably just as detrimental as the original offense.

“

I hope the ASL community takes the core values to heart when producing, reading and distributing material that could potentially portray those less fortunate than us in a negative light and reinforce stereotypes we should strive to dismantle.

To the Editor, After reading the March issue of The Standard, I have concerns about the “Demographic Disconnect” article. The authors refer to “people of color” that have won or been nominated for Academy Awards. As I looked over the list, I realized that perhaps there is not a clear definition of what it means to be a person of color. Based on what the article provided, it became clear that “people of color” was only referring to African Americans. This skews the data significantly.

For the past three years in a row, Mexican directors Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant, Bird-

man) and Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) have won for best direction, and the year prior, the award went to Ang Lee (Life of Pi), a Taiwanese-American. Many more latino actors and actresses have been nominated and won. Although I agree that the Academy Awards have a long way to go towards racial equality, the article does not acknowledge that there is more to the definition of “people of color.”

Many media outlets made this same error in the coverage leading up to the Academy Awards.

But the exclusion of other minority groups from the conversation about race is arguably just as detrimental as the original offense.

It marginalizes those groups that also face the struggle to be accepted as equals in the U.S. We must acknowledge that the issues of race in the U.S., and the entire Western world, are complex and multifaceted. In order to work towards a solution, we must widen our understanding of race as a social construct.

Racial tension is a serious issue, but as the former teacher of the Race, Culture and Human Rights course, I think it is essential that we remember that it is not just a black and white discussion.

Natalie Jaworski Social Studies Teacher

Editor’s Note: We wrongly defined people of color as solely being African Americans, misrepresenting entire ethnic groups and skewing the severity of the situation in the film industry. We acknowledge that the issue of racial discrimination in the arts industry extends far beyond just African Americans. Additionally, we neglected to report on the accomplishments of several people of color in the film industry. We regret and apologize for these mistakes and aim to be more accurate when reporting and writing on race, culture and ethnicity in the future.

To the Editor, In the March of The Standard, I was very interested to read about Social Studies Teacher Jason Cancella’s experience working in a low-income, inner city school, however, I was somewhat troubled by the portrayal of the students.

This could have been an editorial decision with his quotes taken out of context, or some other oversight. Yet, as a reader, I was shocked that the article was so full of alarming stereotypes about minority, low-income students. From the way in which the students were described with words like “crazy,” “loud” and “aggressive,” to the way their capacity to learn was called into question – his conversations with them in class were “superficial” since they “didn’t have the background knowledge to fill in the gaps,” – I had a very negative reaction to the descriptions and wished some positive anecdotes had been included.

I don’t question that Cancella encountered difficult students with a variety of social problems often associated with poverty, and by extension, people of color. However, there is a vast amount of educational literature that explains this behavior in its

proper context – that it is, largely the result of institutionalised racism and policies that directly disenfranchise minorities who live in poor communities and receive a lower quality of education. I was upset that this context was not discussed and that this was not seen as an opportunity to educate the ASL community about the root causes and effects of living in a low-income, urban environment. It would have been a great opportunity to acknowledge that the U.S. continues to be an unequal place for many.

Instead, we read an anecdotal story about one man’s experience. His ex-students are described using the same stereotypes we see in mainstream media all too often, where people of color are portrayed as more violent, more out of control and more in need of punitive punishments than others.

There is a “mouthy” student who needed to be physically tackled because Cancella had to “do what he had to do” to “take control.” The fact that this reminds me of the recent controversy in which a black American high school student was filmed being body slammed from her desk by a school resource officer only makes this all the more out-

rageous. Who could imagine an ASL student being handled this way by an authority figure?

We also read that Cancella changed the way he taught when coming to ASL because ASL kids are much more capable of learning and understanding complex issues.

We are also told that though he felt guilty for leaving his previous position, at ASL he was finally working with kids “with means” who could go on to “help other people” and be “leaders” and “powerbrokers.” These sentiments create a clear delineation between kids from low-income backgrounds and ASL kids (from mostly high income households). We should accept that the latter will make much more of a difference in the world than the former and that with the former, “there wasn’t a whole lot other than personal experience that they... bring to the table.” What saddens me is that this is a common view that many in our society have and that I am loathe to see stated in an ASL publication.

Let us please remember that there are ASL staff members and parents just like the kids at George Washington Educational Campus who have indeed gone on to become leaders and power-

brokers in their communities.

Going forward, I hope very much that the ASL community takes the core values – particularly respect, kindness, integrity and the courage to act – to heart when producing, reading and distributing material that could potentially portray those less fortunate than us in a negative light and reinforce stereotypes we should strive to dismantle.

As a community, it is nothing less than our duty to approach all people with understanding, inclusiveness, positivity and love.

Danielle Phillips ASL Parent

Perpetuating stereotypes

Editor’s Note: As journalists, we should have included all sides of the story. Many of the quotes could be interpreted as negative regarding the inner-city students and that was not the impression we intended to garner from the reader. We are aware of the negative stereotypes that you mention. More context was necessary to round out the quotes and show the reader that these students are just as capable as any ASL student, but have different experiences. It was a failure of the Editorial Board for not recognizing the necessity of this context.

Y

ou look good today, wanna show me what you look like under your clothes?” Beth* (’19) read the Snapchat message displayed on her screen. She had been brushing his jokes off for a while, but now he was becoming more persistent. “He started pressuring me saying, ‘I need to be rewarded for talking to you and complimenting you’,” she said.

When Beth refused to send photos of herself, she remembers

Relationships

S

amantha* (’18) has been dating her boyfriend for a long time, and feels comfortable sending him nude photos. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with that,” Samantha said. “You know if you send them something they aren’t going to show anyone.”

Jackson* (’18) agrees with Samantha and thinks sending nude photos is appropriate when kept within a relationship. “It’s just something private to do, I don’t really see the harm in that,” he said.

He only sees the problem when the photos are shared. On the contrary, Paige* (’17), who has a serious boyfriend, be-

lieves that sending nude photos is a risk to the dynamics of a relationship. “The pictures never go away. When your relationship with that person changes, or if it ends badly, then the person still has those pictures,” she said.

While Paige and her boyfriend were apart, Paige’s boyfriend asked her to send nude pictures, saying he ‘needed’ them. Paige chose not to because she believes that respecting each other’s boundaries is essential for a healthy relationship, and once the idea of impressing one another comes into play, the relationship becomes unbalanced.

that he told her, “‘It’s not worth talking to you if you’re not going to send anything’.”

Beth had always said no when the boy asked her for photos, but the comments weighed heavily on her mind, making her feel that if she wasn’t willing to do these things that made her uncomfortable “then guys wouldn’t be interested in [her].”

Social media has made it easy to take a photo and press send, which makes the asking for and sending of nude photos much more common. But once it’s sent, the photo is out of the sender’s control forever.

Ju ‘ on pleas

The culture of s pictures, their socia consequ

Olivia Abram Stephanie Brends Alexandra Ge

Empowerment

N

ust ne, se?’

sending nude al implications and uences

ms sel ers

Staff Writers

umerous people believe nude photos are taken because of someone’s insecurity or need for appraisal.

However, Alison* (’16) thinks sending nudes is actually an act of confidence. “I think it takes a certain amount of selfconfidence to be able to look at yourself and be like ‘Yeah, I look good. I want to show this to someone’,” she said.

She believes sending naked photos is not wrong if the person is proud of how their body looks and wants to show some-

one. The process of taking a nude does not always have to be to make someone else happy.

“I feel like you could definitely just take them for your own fun,” Alison said.

Alison takes nude photos and sends them to her longterm boyfriend once or twice a month. When she likes a photo, she also shows it to her friends.

“I am happy with the way that I look and am confident in my own body,” she said. “It’s nice to be proud of yourself and appreciate it.”

Consequences

W

hen sending nude photos, many believe they would be kept private. However, there is always the possibility that the photos could circulate. Many attribute a negative connation to nude photos. However, Alison believes that sending nude photos is something you shouldn’t be ashamed of. “There is a lot of stigma around when pictures get leaked,” she said. Often times the victim is blamed and the consequence is reputational damage.

Even so, High School Counselor Stephanie Oliver believes that many do not understand some of the true internal consequences. “When [students] send it, they say, ‘Ooh, I just sent this picture.’ I don’t think [people] understand that [someone] is going to masturbate to that picture,” Oliver said.

Furthermore, not only are there reputational and career

consequences, but there are legal consequences. Although it is not illegal for someone to simply possess indecent images, it is illegal for anyone to knowingly send the photos around.

According to the Protection of Children Act (PCA) of 1978, it is illegal to “possess, distribute, show and make indecent images of children.” While the age of consent in the U.K. is 16, the definitive age of a child is 18, making it illegal to take or send nude photos of someone under the age of 18. Although minors have reduced sentences and are dealt with by youth courts, it is still possible for anyone under the age of 18, as well as adults, to go to jail after purposefully distributing indecent images of a minor.

*Editor’s Note: Names that are followed by an asterisk are aliases used to protect the sources’ anonymity

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 9

Features College guidance

The next

step

Four college freshmen discuss their first year experiences and compare them to their time at ASL Christina Leonard | Staff Writer

A

lthough spread far across the United States, ASL graduates experience strikingly similar themes and parts of collegiate life. Most apparent was that all the college freshmen found their new freedom to be their biggest challenge.

Megan Stracener (’15), who currently attends Texas Christian University, said the hardest part for her was time management. “All that extra time and finding out what time classes work best for me [was the hardest],” she said. “You are your own boss, so you just have to make sure you make time to get your school work done when it’s so easy to put it off,” she said.

Cameron McClure (’15), who currently attends Wake Forest University, thinks time management is a serious difficulty faced in college. “You no longer have your nagging parents telling you to do your work,” he said. “You get an unbelievable amount of time on your hands and it is easy to watch Netflix or hang with your friends. But if you can stay on top of it and keep a smart schedule on your work, you still will have time to hang out but now you have your work done.”

The challenge of freedom was especially stressful as the students were figuring out the academic reality of their new schools. “[The] homework load is surprisingly similar to that of ASL, which is something I think ASL prepared me well for. Exams, however, are much harder and require hours of studying, weeks in advance. A’s are rare for most college students,” Michaela Etre (’15), a

Boston College student, said.

Next to academics, a big change new college students face is dorm life. “I am living with two roommates that I was put with randomly based upon a survey we filled out in the summer. We are in a forced triple so it’s quite tight, but I’m lucky that I get along so well with both of my roommates, so it hasn’t been a problem,” Etre said.

“It’s strange sharing a communal bathroom with more than 30 girls on my floor, but it’s a surprisingly good way to make friends.”

Another way to meet new people and have fun, apart from sharing rooms, is by participating in extracurricular activitiesat the start of the school year.

Etre is a member of her school’s dance ensemble and volunteers with a group that helps at a soup kitchen. “I’ve made some of my closest friends through both of these clubs,” she said.

Graduating from a high school in London, rather than in the U.S., raises a unique adjustment challenge for ASL alumni who head to university in the States: Whether they will fit in as a typical American teen.

Etre thought that going to an American university wouldn’t be any different, however, she was surprised with a few distinctive differences.“There’s weird American slang that I guess didn’t make it over to London, and there’s certain things I would say that people here thought was different. The [clothing] style is also very different here; less edgy and more preppy,” Etre said.

Isabelle Preddy (’15), who

attends the University of Chicago, feels that the ASL social life is pretty similar to what she’s experiencing now.

“I doubt anyone will feel like they can’t fit in because they come from ASL. I mean ASL is an American school, with an American education, you just happen to have lived in a cooler city,” she said.

Even though the alums are embracing college life, they still maintain strong connections with their former classmates. “[I’m] still really close with my friends from ASL, we all visit and see each other sometimes, but it’s primarily texting because we’re all so spread out,” Stracener said.

All the students believe that being patient, resilient and hardworking are beneficial qualities to come into college with.

“You [have] got to be tough, you have to be hard on yourself and make yourself do the work even if you don’t want to,” Stracener said.

McClure believes academics should be the priority, however “[College is] really awesome, you make amazing friends, do amazing activities and seriously have the time of your life.”

Etre agrees and tells all future students to be patient. “The transition to college is hard, and there will 100 percent be moments when you’ll feel unhappy and doubt your decision. Friends will change and grades will waver, but honestly you just have to wait it out,” she said. “Things eventually fall into place and you are going to find where you fit in at whatever school you decide to attend.”

Students listen to Social Studies Teacher Terry Gladis in World Civilizations I. PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA GERS

Four former ASL students juxtapose their high school and college study habits, citing having to get used to more free time and responsibility.

PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA

“You [have] got to be tough, you have to be hard on yourself and make yourself do the work even if you don’t want to” Megan Stracener (’15)

•••

Page 12

Features

THE STANDARD | April 2016

PULLING

THE STRINGS

For children across the world, parental involvement in their academic, social and personal lives can become overbearing.

This is the story of just a few of those students.

Yarra Elmasry | Editor-in-Chief

J

unior year is the first time most students get to make major life decisions, most notably, those surrounding the college process. Yet, for Jasmine* (’17), these decisions were presided over by a higher power: Her parents. “I was never part of the initial college list-making,” Jasmine said, referring to the creation of a list of colleges she will visit and eventually apply to.

At a high-achieving, college-preparatory institution like ASL, with a successful community of parents, there can often be parents who toe the line of over-engagement into their children’s academic, social and personal lives.

When it comes to parental involvement, Jasmine’s experience is one of College Counsellor John Reilly’s greatest fears. This early level of oversight, he believes, often leads to unhealthy consequences. “When a parent puts an ultimatum on ‘this college or bust,’ it gets to be a bit unhealthy,” Reilly said.

Reilly has seen this over-involvement occur across all stages of the college process. He

Zack Longboy | Deputy Editor-in-Chief

believes that when parents start referring to aspects of the college process in the first person – ‘we, our, us’ – that is when the situation becomes most precarious. “I’ve seen parents who have taken a very heavy hand with editing of essays to the point where some students have not felt comfortable with their essays still sounding like them,” Reilly said.

“And that’s when you need to have the conversation with the students that they should take ownership, and if that means speaking with the parents about the level of editing, then we do.”

Beyond the college process, Jasmine feels this level of influence and pressure in her everyday performance at school. “Sometimes I lie about my grades to my parents when they ask me because I want to avoid the possible [repercussions] they give me for not getting the greatest grade on a project, test or quiz,” she said.

Jasmine is not alone. Although the pressure manifests itself in different ways, Damien’s* (’16) parents also have high expectations

for him. “Even though they’re not very involved in what I do, they have opinions and a lot of times their opinion matters more than mine,” Damien said.

The strength his parents’ opinions have on his life is something that frustrates Damien. “In general it’s annoying that they’re so uninvolved yet have such strong opinions about it because I feel like as a result they’re not very understanding of my situation,” he said.

Even when classes become harder and Damien has less time, the high expectations remain. “There’s still that expectation to do everything and to do everything well and not take into account rest or sleep in general,” Damien said.

Categorizing his mom as a “tiger mom” – raising children using strict rules, tough love and discipline as popularised by the book “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” – is easy for Damien to do. “She’s a tiger mom just because she has very high expectations and very unrealistic ideas about meeting those

expectations,” Damien said. “There’s a lot of minor things that are an inherent part of my day that she doesn’t consider and so whenever I tell her ‘oh I’m just taking a break’... she doesn’t understand why I need that and kind of just expects me to work, work, work, work, work.”

In addition to having a strong voice in Damien’s life, his parents also ensure that he honors his commitments, most specifically through his extracurriculars. “On the matter of having an opinion on what I do with my day, that’s kind of annoying because they’re trying to live through me in a sense, at least [with] my dad,” Damien said. “He doesn’t see the value in [writing], but that’s something I enjoy and I’ve been doing all year. But he sees the value of [sports], so automatically that takes priority over everything.”

Furthermore, this parental pressure can manifest itself beyond the classroom and sports fields. Jasmine feels like her parents can be over-engaged in her social life. On weekends, she says her parents constantly

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

want to know her whereabouts, who she is with and even other, more personal information about Jasmine and her friends. “They always ask me about the gossip... and they often times know things about school and my group of friends before I do, or they confront me about an issue before I ever bring it up,” Jasmine said. “So they’re involved in my social life in a way that I wouldn’t expect them to be.”

Although Jasmine’s parents put a lot of pressure on her to do well academically, she recognizes that they do so because they love her. “It’s all out of love and wanting me to do the best that I can,” Jasmine said. “They were both very successful in school and in college, so I think there’s definitely that expectation for me to do just as well, if not better, with my added privileges that they might not have had.”

At the end of the day, however, both Jasmine and Damien appreciate some aspects of the high expectations that their parents

hold them to.

“I appreciate hav- ing high expectations and standards for myself,” Damien said. “What I don’t appreciate is having that outside pressure from my parents because it is just not needed. Like I just wish there was a bit more trust in that sense from them to know that they’ve raised me a certain way so there’s that trust that because of those values ,that I will do what I need to do.”

aspiration discord While pressure to do well academically has been less a part of Ghalia Bseisu’s (’18) life, she has had to deal with parental pressure in a different form.

On her mother’s side of the family, Bseisu has a multi-generational legacy – her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all grew up immersed in the life of modelling and beauty pageants. “And I know with a lot

Page 13

of kids here the pressure from their parents is ‘you really need to work hard at school’ – and I get that pressure too from my dad – but my mom’s side of the pressure is ‘you have to go into modelling, you should be like my side of the family’,” she said.

As Bseisu has grown older, her mother has come to realize that modelling is not something that her daughter has interest in. For much of her youth, however, Bseisu’s mother was adamant that Bseisu follow the same path and, even further, took many steps to ensure it.

The first of these steps began when, in middle school, Bseisu developed acne. “In eighth grade it’s often normal to have a bit of acne, but for [my mother] it was a nightmare... so she took me to multiple dermatologists,” Bseisu said.

The next step involved pushing Bseisu into youth programs for modelling, something she did not enjoy in the least. It reached a point where her mother’s decisions began to have a detrimental personal impact. “I did not meet any of the requirements, and it actually really lowered my self-esteem to the point where I felt like I was not good enough and that I was not as good as my mom, and I would never be the way my mom wanted me to be,” Bseisu said.

The modelling industry clearly took its toll on Bseisu’s self-esteem. “I would come to school and I couldn’t talk to people because I felt like they were always somewhat judging me, because people in the industry, they judge you very harshly just depending on the way you look, or your weight, or certain features,” she said.

Through all of this, Bseisu’s mother acted as the over-enthusiastic and somewhat controlling architect of Bseisu’s schedule. “She would text me all the time, ‘when are you going to do this shoot’ or ‘I’ve booked you for this, or I’ve booked you for that’,” Bseisu said. “And again there was still that pressure where she wants me to look ‘good,’ constantly telling me ‘you need to do this, or see a doctor about this... you have to do a shoot, and then we have to check your weight’.”

Yet, similar to Jasmine, Bseisu believes these decisions, however misguided, came from a place of love. “Of course my mom wants my best efforts to come forward, and with my mom, she just thought my best efforts were to take on her path and to do what she wanted me to do,” Bseisu said.

Reality Check Jasmine sees ASL as a naturally competitive place, something both students and parents notice. In this dynamic, parents are “sort of like your teammates,” Jasmine said.

Features

“I mean they’re getting involved in the fight to win I guess, winning in a sense, [is] getting to the best college that you can with the high competition because everyone here is very intelligent and has great potential.”

Although he can only speak to the academic side of the parent pressure problem, for College Counsellor Ivan Hauck the level of parental involvement within the High School is partly due to the structure of the community. “ASL benefits from an active, engaged parent body – they provide great support for students, each other, and the larger ASL community,” Hauck said. “A consequence, at times, of having such close relationships is that personal student matters can become public quite quickly. Whether it is regarding academics, social life, college choices, or otherwise, it seems difficult to maintain a sense of privacy, which can potentially be problematic.”

While their parents’ intentions are clearly generated from a place of love and pride, Bseisu, Jasmine and Damien believe that their respective parental involvement was flawed in practice. But is strict parental oversight ever necessary in a student’s academic, social or personal development?

Bseisu would argue the opposite. “I honestly think that it is a negative thing because at the end of the day, it is true that we are the offspring of our parents, but it does not necessarily mean that we have the same goals or ambitions [as them],” she said. “I think sometimes [parents] just want to be proud of their child in the sense that their child reflects [them].

With my mom, it just wasn’t the case and I think that caused me to face a lot of social pressure and pressure from my mom, which I did not honestly enjoy.”

In Bseisu’s experience, a member of the community since Grade 2, there are many students at ASL that struggle with parental aspirations to become something that they simply are not. “It’s definitely a recurring theme. If say, their father is into science, they are really pushed to try and get into sciences even if they don’t like it,” she said. “They just try and have the same ambitions, but at the end of the day, everyone’s different and everyone was born with a different personality and different ambitions.”

*Editor’s note: Names followed by asterisks are aliases used to protect sources’ anonymity.

CARTOON BY ANNIE THOMPSON

Sometimes I lie about my grades to my parents when they ask me because I want to avoid the possible [repercussions] they give me for not getting the greatest grade on a project, test or quiz - Jasmine* (’17)

•••

Page 14

Culture

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Purpose of art Review: Das Institut

Coloring outside the lines

Three students discuss their passions for art, and how they are able to use their work for expression and exploration

Yarra Elmasry | Editor-in-Chief

W

PHOTO BY YARRA ELMASRY

hen creating her pieces, AP Studio Art student Eden Schulkes (’16) uses painting as a medium to better understand social issues.

“Any art that I do that has meaning to it is usually about something negative in the world,” she said.

“Something that I can only understand through art.”

Unmeditated and often stirring great controversy, the street art produced by Banksy is recognizable all over the world. For years, Banksy has been stenciling and spray painting his art onto walls, buildings and other structures, producing renowned images such as “Parking” or “Flying Balloons Girl.” Banksy uses his art as a platform to discuss political and social

FLICKR.COM/MOMPL

Michaela Towfighi | Culture Editor

issues, ranging from Israel–Gaza tensions to the current refugee crisis.

Similarly, Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei has used his art to comment on the authoritarian Chinese regime. After a 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan, China in 2010, Weiwei took to Twitter to raise awareness for the lost lives. Weiwei collected over 3,400 voice recordings from users and compiled a video which recited the names of the 5,205 perished, 12,140 times.

Most recently, Weiwei hung more than 14,000 life vests, which were collected from the shores of Greece, around the Konzerthaus columns in Berlin to attract attention to the ongoing struggle refugees are facing to reach Europe.

The Editor–in–Chief of Vandalog, an online street art blog, Michael Rushmore (’09) sees the accessibility and openness street art has, which has made it a platform for discussion for many contentious topics.

While it is impossible to generalize the intention of street artists, given the rebellious nature of the art form, there is an aspect of “reclaiming private space for the public” that regularly exists. “It can be a 15-year-old with a spray paint can,” Rushmore said. “You see people launching onto things and saying, ‘oh, this is in the news, this is interesting... it is something I feel strongly about or having an interesting idea [about], I am going to do something about it’.”

Annie Thompson (’18) finds the message comes through in her pieces, once they are complete. Thompson works with many facets of art, as she is in 3D Studio Art, Drawing and Painting II and enjoys playing the guitar, piano and singing. Through all of her work, Thompson is able to express herself through various media. “Art encompasses a lot of different things... Especially if you are doing mixed media art, it is a way to combine everything

“Any art that I do that has meaning to it is usually about something negative in the world... Something that I can only understand through art” Eden Schulkes (’16)

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 15

Culture “Street art in its truest sense is just a person going out and putting up work, probably without permission, or maybe in a place where there is permission but not moderation” Michael Rushmore (’07) into one big expression of ideas,” she said.

For her concentration, a collection of coherent pieces with a targeted idea, Schulkes has decided to focus on depression.

Although Schulkes has never faced depression herself, she has watched a few people in her life struggle with it.

Schulkes focuses on how people with depression present themselves in public. “All the faces in my paintings are expressionless, but the hands themselves, they show the pain that they actually feel, so they show their true emotions,” Schulkes said. “They’re usually contorted in different ways and pulling at skin as if they’re trying to hurt themselves.”

Contrasting Schulkes’ targeted work, Marius Skaerved (’16) finds emotion and a message after he completes a piece.

“Of course when I am painting something there will be emotions that I feel throughout, but I have never sat down with the purpose of drawing a feeling or drawing an emotion,” Skaerved said. “I think an emotion that the viewer feels when he or she sees one of my pieces, if I make one, is a positive side effect.”

Skaerved focuses his pieces on the Renaissance time period, a time where art portrayed the beauty of individualism. “Since I was little I’ve looked at a lot of Leonardo Da Vinci’s works and always try to copy the human figure and a lot of those disfigured faces that he likes to draw,” Skaerved said. “I think a lot of it has been lost in the contemporary world, in the sense that we

don’t look to that perfection as being idealized as in the Renaissance.”

Because art can create a lasting impression, Schulkes believes it can be an effective way to facilitate a discussion on societal issues. “If there’s a really striking image that shows some sort of issue or some sort of pain or suffering, then that’s something that people will remember,” Schulkes said. “I think that’s what’s really important about it, because there are issues in the world that people should remember and should be aware of.”

FLICKR.COM/MONSTA’SINK

“If you are doing mixed media, it is a way to combine everything into one big expression of ideas” Annie Thompson (’18)

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tyler Skow contributed to reporting.

PHOTO BY YARRA ELMASRY

Top left: Annie Thompson (’18) uses oil bar and string to create a world map.

Bottom left: Using 14,000 life jackets, artist Ai WeiWei wrapped the columns of Berlin’s Konzerthaus to address the current refugee crisis in Europe.

Top right: In response to the local community’s request to turn a parking lot into a playground, Bansky created “Parking” in Los Angeles.

Bottom right: In her concentration, Eden Schulkes (’16) targeted her pieces to focus on depression, representing this through hands pulling at skin.

•••

Page 16

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Culture

Das Institut: Embellished art Quinn Whitman | Staff Writer

O

ver the three years that the Serpentine Gallery has been open, I have never found myself inside the gallery’s walls.

While I was browsing through my Instagram feed, my eye was caught by the colorful and spiritual designs that are embellished with atypical geometric shapes, that have an individuality of each piece. However, the Das Institut manages to create a united collection of artwork from various people despite their differences.

The exhibition runs until May 15 and showcases contemporary artwork by German artists Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder, among others. Several different forms of contemporary art are demonstrated by utilizing mediums such as glass, light, ink and paint to create a well-balanced exhibition.

As a viewer, I was astonished

A selection of pieces from Das Institut, which is exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery until May 15. The exhibition consists of art made out of glass, light and space.

PHOTOS BY QUINN WHITMAN

by the abundance of color and mediums used, demonstrating that contemporary art does not just have to be paint on canvas.

Instead, the use of light, glass and space have been seen as an equally important part of this exhibition.

My favorite piece was “Flame Creatures” by Sergei Tcherepnin (pictured below). With the use of glass and neon light, Tcherepnin created large portraits of monster-like creatures, through reflections off the wall that lit up in the darker space. I was fascinated by the flashing lights that cast different views of the monsters “interacting” beside each other on the walls.

Another notable piece was “Unstable Talismanic Rendering”

by Brätsch. This had a large paper scattered with many colors, with an imbalance pattern of shapes

and hues of blue, red and yellow.

At the center of the image is a faint talismanic face that is well disguised among the many colors of the paintings (pictured above).

When I saw the image and the vibrant patterns, I realized that, regardless of the age of the observer, all contemporary art can be viewed differently.

The important thing we should see in contemporary art today is noticing that creativity of the human mind can manifest itself in a range of ways.

However, there were some pieces that did not stand out as much as others. One piece I did not like as much was the “Solar Body Prints” by Röder. The subdued hues of colored gels over several differently sized canvases beside each other were slightly underwhelming in comparison

to the brightly colored artwork in the rest of the exhibit. Each canvas featured a different expression of human motion, with merely a silhouette of the human body in a different “freeze-frame” posture. The darker colors used here set this piece apart from the neon lights and brighter colors used in other pieces.

However, art is art, and this is a representation of Röder’s take on contemporary art, and I respect what she did as a representation of her ideas.

This exhibition has changed my understanding of art as something that catches the eye of the observer. For me, it is important to encourage selfexpression through art. Artists’ pieces should be demonstrated to the public as their handprints and footprints on their culture.

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 17

Sports

Part of the team Every athletic team has multiple team parents to support and assist the team, often in unseen ways Anna Costello | Staff Writer

P

assion drove Kelly Welch’s work as a team parent for the varsity girls basketball team. Welch likes putting in extra work, even when not noticed by others. “That’s just the way I choose to run when I’m in that role,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be as much work as they see me do.”

First-time team parent Terry Martin wants to make the experience the best it can be for the players in any way possible.

“Maybe that’s getting bubble gum or sunflower seeds,” Martin said. “Part of the fun of being on a team is the camaraderie.”

Martin loves baseball and is looking forward to his time as a team parent of JV boys baseball.

“I think it would be more of a chore if it was a sport that you had no interest in,” Martin said.

When teams travel abroad, the team parents work with the athletics department to arrange the trip.

Welch enjoys putting in the work necessary to plan the trips. “I’m happy to put in the work because I love going to the tournaments when the parents are all together, that makes me happy,” Welch said. “I love being more involved with the kids on the team.”

For Welch, there are benefits from being a team mom rather than just being a mom of an athlete. “If I wasn’t a team mom, I feel like I wouldn’t have that sort of closeness with the girls,” she said.

Every sports season, team parents do behind-the-scenes work for athletic teams. This spring season there are 14 team parents among the 14 different teams. They are part of a volunteer committee that the Booster Club organizes. At Meet the Coaches Night parents can volunteer to become a team parent for the sport their child participates in.

Each season the experience

of team parents varies. JV softball team parent Sharon Farrell appreciates this difference. “It’s great to have two team parents, one with a little bit more experience with the team and one that’s a little bit newer so you kind of pass it down,” Farrell said.

The jobs of team parents are not just to supply food for after games, or coordinate travel, they are in charge of general communication throughout the team. “You are the go to person between the coach, the athletic office, the team and the parents,” Farrell said.

While some parents dedicate a large amount of time to being team parents, Ray Brunsberg, a team dad for crew, believes it isn’t as much as parents might perceive it to be. “Parents shouldn’t be intimidated,” Brunsberg said. “It’s not that complicated of a job.”

The amount of effort put in is what comes out. “It’s not a whole lot of effort but I kind of want to put in an extra 10 percent to make it interesting, to make it worthwhile,” Brunsberg said.

For each team and team parent the work and role varies.

“Parents can make it the way they want it to be,” Welch said.

While Welch realizes that she could do the bare minimum for the job – certainly less than she currently undertakes as a team mom – the desire to do all she can for the coaches, other parents and athletes inspires her to go above the call of duty. For example, on January 20, the varsity boys and girls basketball teams hosted a game against Lakenheath, a military base around two-and-a-half hours away from Central London. Welch made dinner for all the teams and witnessing the reaction from all the players validated her dedication. “Moments like that stick out, and that’s why I love what I do.”

“You are the go to person between the coach, the athletic office, the team and the parents” Sharon Farrell, team parent “I think it would be more a chore [being a team parent] if it was a sport that you had no interest in” Terry Martin, team parent “If I wasn’t a team mom, I feel like I wouldn’t have that sort of closeness with the girls” Kelly Welch, team parent “It’s not a whole lot of effort, but I kind of want to put in an extra 10 percent to make it interesting” Ray Brunsberg, team parent

•••

Page 18

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Sports

The mental game

Nils Skattum (’17) has returned from a semester at an athletic academy in South Carolina to further his tennis-playing career at ASL Tyler Skow | Deputy Editor-in-Chief

A

weak, single-handed backhand.

Nils Skattum (’17) hit the irregular ball hoping it would reveal this vulnerability. Skattum’s knowledge of this soft spot allowed him to keep his Cobham opponent at bay. Unbeknownst to his adversary, Skattum had been carefully controlling the score of the game; that is until he decided he was ready to win the match.

“A nervous second server” proved to be the second fatal observation Skattum made. As his rival prepared to serve, Skattum approached the service line, only to jump back a moment before the ball was hit. His abrupt movement shocked the already anxious player, causing the serve to go wide. This peculiar master plan of Skattum’s resulted in seven double faults that broke his opponent, culminating in a comfortable 9-5 victory for his first game back at ASL since 2014.

Tennis has been a part of Skattum’s life since a young age, as family members inspired his interest in the sport.

While Skattum does not attribute his ferocity toward tennis to any individual, he acknowledges that the success of both his brother and cousin at the collegiate level have inspired his desire to acquire skills of a similar caliber. “My cousin played at [University of North Carolina] and was number 14 in the world, so he was really good, and definitely inspired me to play, along with how accessible and encouraging my parents were,” he said.

It was only in Skattum’s sophomore year that he realized his skills extended beyond the recreational level. “I used to play club [soccer] and hardly any tennis, but then I realized I was a much better tennis player than I was a [soccer] player,” he said.

Skattum cites sophomore year as a pivotal point in his tennis career. During the summer of 2014, Skattum discovered

his potential at Hilton Head Academy in South Carolina, an elite tennis training institution. After a successful summer Skattum faced choosing between friends, family, the school he had attended since K1 and continuing to perfect his skill at Hilton Head Academy. “I decided to go because I wanted to experience something different and get away from ASL. I wanted to see how far I could get with my tennis in the time I was there and I really just wanted to go after it and make it a priority in my life,” he said.

Training at Hilton Head Academy proved far more demanding than the summer experience Skattum was akin to. To allot as much of the day to training as possible, school started at 7 a.m., and continued to 12:45 p.m., with only one short break.

The training regime started with a one hour personal lesson with two coaches, followed by two hours of regular practice and then resistance exercises in the gym or practicing yoga. “During the year it could be anywhere from 3 to 4 hours of tennis and 4 to 5 hours of exercise total on a weekday,” he said.

Whilst at Hilton Academy, Skattum accomplished his greatest tennis feats. Defeating an athlete ranked amongst the top 125 junior tennis players in the U.S. remains his proudest victory.

Skattum was also named one of the top 100 “improving athletes” in the Prince

Sports rankings in light of some of his performances at Hilton Academy.

When his semester in South Carolina ended, Skattum again had to choose between tennis and returning home. However, a desire to graduate amongst peers and pressure to perform aca-

demically narrowly brought him back to ASL. Despite the abrupt nature of his experience, Skattum still feels he took away a great deal from his semester abroad. “Firstly, I learned how you have to be confident on the court and know what you are doing. That shows your opponent that you are confident and your ability, which, in turn, lowers their confidence,” he said.

Skattum’s confidence has developed into a complex psychological game he plays with his opponents. “Physically, I am not the tallest or the strongest, so I rely on going on the court and having a game plan, and also adapting and not just having one game that will work for me,” Skattum said.

Skattum wins games by familiarizing himself with his opponents. “I make their weakness feel like more than just a weakness, I make them scared to hit the ball,” he said.

Having spent a semester advancing his tennis skills, there was undoubtedly a sizable expectation to perform upon his return to ASL. While the structured training of the academy was removed from Skattum’s life, he continued to push his fitness to new bounds during the off-season this year. “I have been working with a private coach in London three to four times a week and also a fitness specialist once a week. During the [off-season] this takes up about [seven] hours a week,” he said.

This year, while Skattum’s dedication to tennis remains intense, his return to ASL has caused a dramatic increase in academic pressure, shifting his focus – at least for now – away from tennis. “In school I am definitely thinking about academics. I don’t really have time to think about anything else,” he said.

Regardless, Skattum’s ambitions for the season remain bold. “I would like to to do well and win ISSTs as a team, and individually, I would say either winning singles or doubles,” he said.

Skattum does not plan on letting ASL’s academic demands smother his hope to play at a similar level as both his brother and cousin did. “ I am still trying to figure out how I am going to approach college.

I think I am going to take a gap year to train and just increase my options to play.”

PHOTO BY YARRA ELMASRY

“I wanted to see how far I could get with my tennis in the time I was there and I really just wanted to go after it and make it a priority in my life”

•••

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Page 19

Sports

Lasting legacy

STEPHANIE BRENDSEL STAFF WRITER

S

wimming for the school team since Grade 7 gave Emmanuelle Gers (’16) more opportunities to learn how to handle the pressure that competitions can induce. In her first ISSTs that year, Gers had to swim eight events in one day: four events in the prelimi-

sport, her six years as a swimmer showed Gers the importance of a group effort. “Coming to ASL swimming taught me to become more of a collaborator and focus on the efforts of the team and to really understand team unity more,” Gers said.

The team unity is what Gers will miss most. Unlike most teams the swim team ranges from Grade 7

(’16) will miss the varsity rugby team chemistry the most. Burston joined the team in Grade 8 originally just to play a sport after being cut from the soccer team. Although he was not playing soccer anymore, he still considered soccer his favorite sport.

Through the past five years, rugby has become more important to him because of the team bond, and

Burston, who chooses to wear his sweatshirt regularly, recognizes that despite the sweatshirts signifying the end of the season, they remind the seniors of how close the team was. “The fact that we have all the seniors’ names on the back is saying what we actually think.

It was a great thing for everyone to have because rugby was so important to all of us,” he said.

team. “I really like how the seniors are presented with the scrapbook at the end of the season because it shows that the team has truly valued our leadership, both on and off the court. It shows that we made an impact on the program and I know that is really important for seniors,” she said.

Likewise, Gers continued the swim team traditions by leading

Coming to ASL swimming taught me to become more of a collaborator... and to really understand team unity more EMMANUELLE GERS (’16) ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TEAM COHESION naries and the same four events in the finals, with only an hour break in between. Normally, these eight events are spaced out over a two day period, but Gers had to swim them all in one day.

Since that ISSTs, Gers has had the opportunity to attend five different swimming ISSTs. She has dealt with hardships, ranging from poor swims to disqualifications. At the 2016 swimming ISSTs, despite having the stomach flu, Gers still competed in her final 200m freestyle relay event, which she and her team won.

Though mostly an individual

MARTHA DUFF STAFF WRITER

F

oil, saber and épée. Each word describes one of the three weapons used in modern day fencing. In Grade 9, fencing’s popularity among both boys and girls is high. The aspiring fencers all attend programs after school, have competed in British Youth Championships and international tournaments.

Lucas Achkar (’19), a seven-year Saber fencer, was slightly skeptical when he was first introduced to the sport. “I was pushed towards the sport in school and [by my] father who suggested I join a club, but [now] I’ve grown to enjoy the sport because of its unusualness and obscurity,” Achkar said.

Fencing provides a high intensity workout, caused partly by the nonstop, rapid footwork and thrusting. These exercises build strength, speed and coordination,

through Grade 12 with all members training and competing together.

Gers remembers her days as one of the youngest on the team, looking up to the high school swimmers, but soon enough she was leading as captain, encouraging the younger swimmers. With this dynamic of having both younger and older swimmers, there is a crossgenerational team bond. “What I loved the most about it was that I got to have memories and friendships with people who have been older than me and people who have been younger than me,” Gers said.

Similarly to Gers, Joe Burston

he is reluctant to leave it behind.

“It’s sad because the past four years, it has become a big part of my life,” Burston said.

Contrary to other sports, the rugby team plays during two seasons.

Burston believes the team bond became significantly stronger in Grade 10 when most of the 15 seniors joined. These 15 seniors recently finished their last ISSTs together.

As a way to remember their fond memories with the rugby team, seniors received a sweatshirt emblazoned with the quote, “Once a pirate, always a pirate.”

For the girls varsity basketball team, the coaches have a similar tradition to commemorate the seniors for their time dedicated to the team. Varsity Girls Basketball Head Coach Jessica Mazzenga creates a scrapbook for each senior, compiled of pages with favorite memories of each senior made by younger players.

Courtney Welch (’16), a senior who has been on varsity basketball since freshman year, believes that the tradition allows the seniors to look back at their memories with the team and highlights how integral the seniors were in leading the

the same cheer that she chanted in Grade 7. These traditions allow seniors to continue the team’s legacy .

Playing a last game with a team is ridden with emotions, especially for athletes who have been dedicated to the program for so long.

Though a final game concludes one’s athletic career for both the school and for most their lifetime, seniors take this opportunity to reflect on how meaningful their experience playing for ASL has been. “It’s reminded me of how important it is to cherish these last few moments that I’ve had,” Gers said.

Fencing Freshmen

increasing the development of self and body awareness.

Apart from developing these physical traits, the sport also enhances the athlete’s psychologi-

“

The best trait I gained from fencing is confidence.

Especially in international competition, I learned when things aren’t going well to just keep my head high, and carry on.

Lucas Achkar (’19) Saber fencer cal abilities. Having the courage to win and the guts to persevere when the challenges are enormous

proves an important quality for fencers of all ages and skills. “The best trait I gained from fencing is confidence. Especially in international competitions, I learned when things aren’t going well to just keep my head high, and carry on,” Achkar said.

Saber fencer India Joseph (’19) recalls her introduction to fencing in a similar way to Achkar. Both of Joseph’s siblings competed as fencers and Joseph decided she would apply her love of sports just as her siblings did. “[When I started fencing] I was told that when you become a high level [fencer], it is good for getting into college, and so I thought [great],” Joseph said.

According to College Fencing and Scholarship Opportunities, female high school fencers possess an almost 40 percent chance of competing at the college level.

This provides Joseph with an ambitious plan for her future.

While fencing is a physical game, it is as much a mental and tactical pursuit. Every move made by an opponent should spur a reaction. The key to scoring a hit is being acutely focused on your opponent and predicting what they might do next. “It is not about being the strongest, it is about being very skilled. It is about reflexes, being fast and using tactics [against your opponents],” Joseph said.

Her biggest challenge is keeping centred. “It is easy to lose focus and if you [do], it can blow the whole thing,” Joseph said.

Though the individual obstacles remain intense for any fencer, fighting through the mental and physical adversity reaped immense rewards for both Joseph and Achkar. Joseph’s most remarkable achievement was winning gold at the female British Youth Championships in 2015. Achkar enjoyed similar feats, wining gold for the male division in 2014.

ABOVE: Saber fencer Lucas Achkar (’19). BELOW: Saber fencer India Joseph (’19).

PHOTOS BY SOURNA DANESHVAR, JR.

•••

Page 20

Sports

THE STANDARD | April 2016

Nils Skattum Team parents Mariam Sousou (’18) clears the hurdle during her varsity girls 100m hurdles event. On April 16, Track & Field participated in a meet at ACS Cobham. The meet was used as an opportunity for athletes to record times early in the season. The next meet for Track & Field is on April 30, and will also be held at Cobham.

PHOTO BY KATE COLLINS