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Washington International School
June 2020
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ZOOM AND DOOM!
In a second semester that nobody saw coming, WIS students learn to live virtually stuck at home pages 6-7 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAUL PINK
A life at WIS for Tom O’Mara Newly elected ISU ‘Mr. O’ to retire after 42 years at Tregaron By SAUL PINK, 2021 One day in 1978, 26-year-old Tom O’Mara spotted an advertisement in The Washington Post for a teaching job at the Washington International School. It seemed like a good gig, he thought, with summers off to pursue what he really loved: mountain climbing and outdoor expeditions. So, O’Mara walked to the Tregaron campus from his home in Georgetown to interview for the position. “I never saw myself being an educator,” O’Mara said. “I looked at it as almost a temporary thing.” O’Mara got the job. And this
month — after 42 years at WIS as a math teacher, Athletic Director, and Boys Varsity Basketball Coach — he is retiring. Known around WIS as “Mr. O,” O’Mara was first hired as a science teacher, teaching in labs stuffed in the basement of the mansion. He gradually began picking up math classes; he always enjoyed math in high school and college. In the 198081 school year, an IB math teacher left in the middle of the year, and O’Mara took on the class. He’s been teaching IB math ever since. Beyond the classroom, O’Mara has left a deep mark on WIS athletics. In the late 1980s, he took over the Boys Varsity Basketball program. In 1994, WIS was searching for a new Athletic Director. As the school year approached and WIS lacked a candidate, O’Mara offered to step in for a year. He served as Athletic Director for the next 26 years. O’Mara’s passion for ath-
inside look Senior Map Next steps for the Class of 2020
seniors page 12
letics came naturally. He played several sports in high school, ultimately playing baseball at a high level. After graduating from the University of Maryland, O’Mara served in the Peace Corps in the Southern African nation of Lesotho. At the school where he worked, he was the “sportsmaster,” coaching teams and building tennis and basketball courts. In the 1990s, the O’Mara-led Red Devil boys basketball team, then playing in two leagues simultaneously, dominated, one year winning the championship in both leagues. But despite the squad’s success, WIS basketball faced one great challenge: not having a gym. “We did everything to keep the program going. We practiced outdoors all the time,” O’Mara said. “We would climb into a van and drive to Takoma Park and we would play in a church on a linoleum floor with bent rims.”
See O’MARA, page 2
Humans of WIS
A diverse collection of student profiles features page 10
cabinet prepares for next year By JONAS TOMKIN, 2021 As the school year comes to a close, the newly elected ISU cabinet is full of ideas and thrilled for their next term as the leaders of the student body.
Co-Presidents
The new co-presidents are Riley Contee and Patrick Anders, two rising seniors who have been friends and classmates for over a decade. Anders spent most of his years at WIS, and when he reached upper school, he made sure he was heavily involved in the WIS community. Whether it was captaining the Boys Varsity Basketball team, and running track, or being grade representative and treasurer for ISU, Anders has always been committed to helping his school. Contee, a WIS lifer, is also a member of the Girls Varsity Basketball and Soccer teams
Fall Sports COVID-19
leaves an uncertain future for fall athletes sports page 9
The History of Tregaron
A beloved art teacher who left a lasting mark on WIS
A timeline of the place WIS students are missing
tribute page 5
features page 10
See ISU, page 2
IB Art Students create virtual exhibition after cancellation of annual art show
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A tribute to Mara Wilson
and has held the role of grade representative and ISU secretary during her years in the upper school. She said that her desire to be part of ISU started because she wanted to be “part of the WIS community outside of sports and being in ISU allowed [her] to do that.” Joining ISU was especially exciting for Contee because she moved beyond just participating, she was making the things she loved about the school even better. Contee and Anders are excited about this next year. They have many plans and ideas they want to implement into WIS. “We want to make sure that WIS students are informed about all major decisions and don’t feel left out,” Anders said, outlining his and Contee’s main goal as ISU presidents.
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wisnews JUNE 2020
Tom O’Mara: Coaching, calculus, and commitment O’MARA, from page 1 O’Mara describes the era as the “wild days” of WIS basketball. If it was snowing, the team would shovel the outdoor basketball court at lunch and practice in the bitter cold. “Sometimes we are out here practicing and look more like a polar expedition than like a basketball team,” Daniel Deng ‘93, a key player on O’Mara’s teams, told the Washington Post in a 1993 article about O’Mara’s practices. While not having a gym may seem like a limitation, O’Mara believes it helped the team grow. “We bonded because we were ‘have nots.’ We didn’t have the same thing other schools had and we knew we were the underdogs,” O’Mara said. O’Mara continued to coach until 2010. One shining moment came in 2009 when the Red Devils upset Jewish Day School (JDS) in the PVAC championship in front of a packed house at Trinity University. The team won in double overtime, just a few weeks after losing to JDS by 40 points in a regular-season matchup. Patrick Altekruse was a soccer coach at WIS in the mid-1990s, before returning in 2010 as the athletic trainer. He remembers O’Mara’s organization and efficiency while leading a busy life at WIS. “In those early days, he headed the math department, he taught five classes, he was AD and basketball coach,” Altekruse said. “It was amazing, he would just have these hour-and-a-half practices and covered as much stuff as some coaches could do in two or three hours.” In his two-and-a-half years with the Peace Corps, O’Mara taught various subjects, along with coaching. He says he sees teaching and coaching as a singular entity. “I know it sounds kind of corny, but I’d look at my classes as being almost like a basketball team. At the end of the year, you have an exam, especially a se-
nior class where you prep them for the IB exam. I looked at that as prepping the team for a big game,” O’Mara said. “If you never got the chance to have Mr. O as a teacher, I feel pretty bad for you, honestly, because he’s, if not the best, one of the best teachers at WIS, ever,” said current senior Dante Rohlck. Rohlck describes O’Mara’s fastpaced, demanding teaching style, notably similar to his basketball practices, where he walks into the room and the students must immediately get to work. “The amount of practice and intensive work he makes us do, it ingrains it into your mind,” Rohlck said. Otillia Rossert ‘17, a student in O’Mara’s Higher Level Math class, agreed. “He paid attention to everyone in the class, whether one person was confused or many, he would make sure that every student was confident in solving the problem before moving on.” Along with his intensity, O’Mara is known for his omnipresence. No matter the time of day, students could always find him in his glass-enclosed office in the Hall of Peace, filled with old photos and boxes of uniforms. Rohlck notes that the office often reeks of sardines, which O’Mara eats to fuel his long hours at Tregaron. In his 42 years, O’Mara has seen the school’s athletics program transform. Now WIS has a home gym, a soccer field, and a DCSAA soccer state championship.
COURTESY OF TOM O’MARA
O’Mara talks to the 1993-94 WIS Boys Varsity Basketball team.
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COURTESY OF TOM O’MARA
TOP: Tom O’Mara (right) in Lesotho in the 1970s. He says his two-and-halfyears with the Peace Corps shaped his teaching career. BOTTOM: O’Mara in a WIS classroom teaching the Chi Squared Test.
“That’s what made my tenure here so interesting, I was able to not only grow as an educator, but also grow along with the school,” O’Mara said. But although the school changed, O’Mara describes the students as a constant. “The student body at WIS is just a serious group of kids who have goals,” O’Mara said. “You didn’t have to tinker with attitudes and deal with disciplinary actions and all that. You get right down to business, and I’ve always appreciated that.” O’Mara remains undecided about his
retirement plans. He renewed his lease on his Connecticut Avenue apartment for another year. He plans to stay in the D.C. area to be close to his 94-year-old mother who lives in New Jersey. While O’Mara initially saw working at WIS as temporary, after 42 years, he is certain he found his calling. “It never felt like work. That’s about as honest of a statement that I can make: working at WIS has never felt like work,” O’Mara said. “And oh my God, how many people wish they could have that? I feel very lucky in that respect.”
Contee, Anders to lead new student government ISU, from page 1 Anders stated that they hope to eliminate the issue of students being left in the dark during large decisions, such as the creation of the Design Lab in 2018. The pair said that they are extremely excited about being presidents and there is nothing they are nervous about. They said that their experience from sitting through countless ISU meetings means that they know the ins and outs of ISU. They are confident that they will not waste time settling into the position. Jakobi Haskell, the preceding ISU president believes that ISU experience is not important in most cabinet positions, but it is vital for the presidency. “Presidents can understand both how the school works as a whole and the bureaucratic nature of school decisions, so they have an expectation of what they can and cannot change about the school,” Haskell said. Haskell also talked about the challenge and responsibility of being president, especially during a student’s senior year, but how he is not worried about Anders and Contee. “I trust that Riley and Patrick will stay committed to their role because of their strong commitments to their own activities,” Haskell said.
Spirit Coordinators
Matteo Caloia and Rauf Hurcan were the two rising juniors elected as spirit coordinators. They have been friends and classmates for a number of years and both have played on the Boys Varsity Soccer team, but they wanted to do something new for the WIS community. “I thought that we could bring something new to the table and make our school a better place,” Hurcan said.
Treasurer
Junior Pierre Forneris came to WIS in sixth-grade. Already a competitive tennis player, he decided to commit most of his time outside of class to the sport. Besides playing for the WIS tennis team every spring, Forneris did not actively participate in school activities Forneris saw ISU as a platform to become more involved in the community. “I wanted to contribute to the progress of making WIS better by the day,” Forneris said, explaining his main reason for running as Treasurer. While the treasurer position only manages the financial responsibilities of ISU, Forneris trusts the cabinet to make big decisions and knows he will still have input in discussions at meetings. “I am surrounded by a great cabinet and am excited to work alongside them,” Forneris said.
VIDEO SCREENSHOT
Patrick Anders and Riley Contee deliver their campaign speech in their bid for ISU co-presidency in early May. The pair won the election and are preparing for the beginning of their presidency
Secretary
Vanessa Schor is a rising senior and is eager for her next year as secretary. Her interest in ISU started last year when she was elected grade representative. “After getting involved in ISU in the first place as grade [representative], I wanted more responsibility and ability to [make] change,” Schor said. Her role as secretary mostly entails communicating ISU’s progress and initiatives with the students. Schor is especially thrilled about that part of the position.
“Secretary allows you to change the way ISU connects with the student body,” she said. The whole cabinet is excited about returning to school in August, whether it’s in-person or virtually. They are thinking about how they can help make a difference, no matter the situation. “We are ready to hit the ground running,” Anders said. “We already have ideas for the end of this year and beginning of next.”
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Junior math class models COVID-19 By DEAN ATASSI, 2021
11th grade IB Math Applications and Interpretations students completed a modeling project on the coronavirus this spring. They attempted to create models that depict the progression of infections or deaths attributable to the virus, as well as socio-economic factors to predict the severity of the virus in the future. “The purpose of assigning the project was for students to apply their knowledge of various functions and modeling skills in a real-world situation, using a data set that was changing every day,” Gary Piligian, the HL Applications teacher, said. Shay Houseknecht’s group used a power law model, which illustrates change between two variables, to track the virus’ progression. The group focused on the short term consequences of the virus, which they believed was best illustrated through a power model. Yared Zegeye, one of the group members, stated that they focused on short-term consequences because of the quick-spreading nature of the virus. “Through casual news intake, we were all aware of coronavirus’s acutely contagious nature. It seemed only natural that this would be modeled by a power model since each individual infected would warrant a greater breadth of infection,” Zegeye said. Houseknecht’s group modeled the relationship between the number of crude deaths, which is the number of deaths as a result of the virus, in a geographical area for a particular time peri-
JUNE 2020
od. “We wanted to look at the crude number of deaths because it’s such a clear data point to predict; deaths are either over or under what you predicted,” Houseknecht said. The top image is a graph of the natural log (ln) of the number of deaths on the natural log of the number of days since January 22. As a result of their calculations, Houseknecht’s group predicted that provided that the virus would be contained in densely populated countries, the death toll by the end of June would amount to roughly 68,590. Although the prediction is fairly low, the project was completed in early April using limited data. Zegeye wishes the group had weighed the impact of the United States cases more heavily in their analysis. “When we finished the project, none of us projected the virus’s intensity in the US. Had we known, we would’ve considered the severity of the third most populous country joining China in the ranks of most infected countries,” Zegeye said. Lucas Newman’s group concentrated on cases outside of mainland China because “China was very effective at controlling the number of cases while the rest of the world saw an increasing number.” Newman’s group took a different approach by implementing a logistic model because they found that all pandemics in recent history grow exponentially at first, but eventually reach a maximum, much like the shape of a logistic function.
Power law model of crude deaths
Logistic model of deaths outside mainland China
The bottom graph depicts the number of confirmed coronavirus cases (outside mainland China) on the number of days since January 22. Using this model, the group predicted 2.172 million cases by April 12th. At 1.7 million, the group’s prediction was slightly above the true number of infected cases on the said date. Newman’s group said that if they had more time on the project, they would have looked at other sorts of data,
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COURTESY OF SHAY HOUSEKNECHT AND LUCAS NEWMAN
wisnews
like the number of coronavirus-related deaths. The group also said that they believe their model would have been more accurate if they were able to update their data daily, as opposed to creating a “onetime” model. “The most important thing to include would be constant updates,” Newman said. “As new data is realized each day the model will change so it is important to always incorporate the most recent data possible.”
After 30 years at WIS, James Martin says goodbye By DIEGO MALDONADO, 2021 James Martin has been a cornerstone of the WIS community for the last 32 years. After decades of teaching IB economics and coaching the Boys Varsity Soccer team, Martin has finally decided to call it a career and retire. Since joining the school in 1988, Martin guided countless students through IB economics, paving the way for many WIS alumni to study economics in university with ease. However, Martin’s impact within economics extends further than the WIS community. By teaching over a dozen IB workshops all over the western hemisphere, helping write the IB syllabus, and serving as an IB examiner, Martin has not just cemented himself in the realm of IB economics at WIS, but globally as well. Martin’s passion for economics stemmed from his interest in auto mechanics. Martin claims, “Taking a class in economics really reminded me of auto mechanics, as I was very interested in the idea of logical chain reactions, and I could visualize the concepts clearly in economics.’’ From then on, Martin devoted his life to teaching economics at the IB level. The rest is history. Although it truly is the end of an era, Martin has cherished all of his time at WIS, and will always remember the respectful, amiable culture held around campus. “The number one thing over the years has been the kind, incredibly polite students that value education and academic ideas, even saying ‘thank you’ when they walk out of your classroom, that’s what makes teaching the greatest job,” Martin said. Martin isn’t just any ordinary economics teacher. It’s his charismatic and humorous personality both in class and with his soccer team that makes him a favorite around the community. “He really manages to create mean-
COURTESY OF JAMES MARTIN
James Martin (right) stands alongside assistant coaches after Boys Varsity Soccer’s historic DCSAA championship in 2016.
ingful bonds with students,” junior Tommaso Forni said. Martin’s type of teaching, especially how he explains content, causes him to form personal connections with students while also helping them understand the material, according to Forni. Martin’s role within the community extends further than teaching. He became the Boys Varsity Soccer Coach in 2010. From then on, his impact was felt on the field, as well as the classroom. Since Martin became the full-time coach, the team has been crowned as Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) regular-season champions for seven of 10 years. In 2016, Martin coached the squad to sweep the PVAC regular season and tournament and win the D.C. State Athletic Association (DCSAA) championship in overtime against Bell Multicultural. This marked WIS’s first DCSAA championship in any sport. In a tournament filled with power-
houses such as St. Albans and Gonzaga, Martin led the underdogs to a season the team would never forget. A pivotal piece of the team’s unexpected run was senior captain Nico Ubide. In Ubide’s legendary senior season, he finished with the most goals in the region and won the DC Gatorade Player of the Year. Ubide scored the winning goal in the tournament finals. He credits the individual and team accolades to the chemistry and play style crafted by Martin. “Being on the team for all four years of high school, [Mr. Martin] guided me all throughout the way and put all of us into the position to succeed, keeping us confident but always reminding us to live in the moment,” Ubide said. “Without him, I don’t think I would’ve had the same drive to score the goal, to put the team on my back, and to know that when the other team bites, you bite back even harder.” Forni, who also plays on the soccer
team, had many appraisals for Martin’s coaching. “He brings into it a traditional play style and coaching style that you really don’t see these days,” Forni said. Martin is known for the calming and relaxing atmosphere he brings into the room, both with his students and players. Unlike other instructors, he may not be the most intense and demanding, but his tranquil form of teaching leaves everyone less stressed about any task at hand. For instance, oftentimes he sympathizes with his students, understanding the stress they may be enduring from the IB, and devotes time to in-class meditation. Forni praised Martin’s mannerism, noting that this style was carried forward to the soccer pitch every game. “The way he coached the team before games, he didn’t like to keep the team too serious, he always likes to lighten the mood before kickoff, allowing me to go into the game more cheerful and relaxed remembering to just enjoy myself,” Forni said. Unlike many other coaches, Martin does not base the team’s game plan on what the top professional teams are doing. “I look to follow the seemingly lower-tier teams who are punching above their weight, and apply their training techniques and drills to the team,” Martin said. This past year, Martin yet again coached the team to the best record in the PVAC and another tournament championship. The team lost in the DCSAA quarter-finals to E.L Haynes, ending their hopes for a second state trophy. Although Martin may be retiring from his duties in the classroom teaching IB economics, he will still remain as the Boys Varsity Soccer coach. “It’s going to be a challenge, but we can work with our squad...and I’m pumped,” he said.
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wisnews JUNE 2020
Beta Eaton, Assistant Principal: ‘I work in schools for a reason’ By REBEKA TATHAM, 2022 Beta Eaton arrived at WIS in 2017 as the upper school Dean of Students, and she became the Assistant Principal for Grades 9-10 this past school year. Eaton is moving on from WIS this summer, and discussed her WIS experience with Dateline. International Dateline: What drew you to work at WIS? Beta Eaton: When I had my interview, and was really able to speak with the students. I got to hear how passionate and dedicated they were towards everything that they were interested in, how motivated they were in their subject areas, and how they wanted to truly further things along. I think that it was the student piece that really just drew me in, and that has been the highlight of my experience. ID: Are there any events at WIS that you look forward to every year? BE: One of my favorite events is the Grade 10 project fair because you guys put on this amazing presentation of things that you’ve worked on for the last 10 months, things that have held your interest and that you have found to be fascinating. It’s just beautiful because you get to see students in a different light than normal. Along the same vein I like going to see the musical or the play and the concerts. Those are really amazing because you can just tell all the hard work that has
been put into this amazing performance, which is really exciting. ID: Are there any achievements you are most proud of during your time at WIS? BE: Hopefully harnessing the student voice, so they feel like they have the opportunity to speak out and that your voices are taken seriously when it comes to sharing your perspectives, whether that’s in ISU or in Dateline. ID: What was your motivation to leave WIS? BE: It was a mixture of things. The most significant was family. This year I experienced a couple of deaths in my family, both of my grandmothers. And I’m very fortunate to have had so much time with them, which is lovely. But it just reminded me of the fact that I’ve been away from my family since I went to boarding school, so it’s been about 15 or 16 years. It was a very difficult decision to make, but sometimes you have to make those personal decisions that have personal consequences. I work in schools for a reason: I love the people. And that’s really hard to leave because I am going to experience a lot of personal changes and I’m leaving people who I love working with. ID: What are your plans post-WIS? BE: I’m going to move closer to home, back to Maine, at least for the summer. I’m going to be working remotely, and teaching teachers how to create online modules for distance learning. I have
taught forensics, AP environmental science, and AP psychology online. So, now I get to help teachers who have never taught online; they’re going to be in class cohorts throughout the summer and I get to work with them on developing effective online classes. It’s so relevant! I obviously didn’t know the pandemic was going to happen when I decided to leave. So this opportunity just fell into my lap. The reason I moved from teaching to administration is I still love to be able to work one-on-one with students. Being able to reach more students than just the ones in my classes is one of the reasons I made that shift three years ago. If I can help teachers create effective online content, the overall experience can be better for their students. ID: What will you miss most about WIS? BE: You guys! One of the most exciting things is to watch the seniors walk across the stage at graduation and know that at some point when they were sophomores, they were crying on my couch and they were so frustrated with a teacher or a project. But to see that they accomplished so much, and that all of that just disappears and becomes insignificant. One day they will look back and they’ll think “Look how much I was able to overcome.” Knowing the class of ‘23, the sophomores, and the juniors, it’s sad not to see you guys all come to that final point. But I’ll be back to visit! Answers edited for space and clarity.
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English teacher Tom Heilman on 37 years at WIS For three decades, Tom Heilman has been a staple of the WIS English department. Students know him for his rigorous literature classes and trademark stories (falling off his roof, encountering a UFO, and more). Heilman came to WIS as a librarian in 1983 and eventually became an English teacher. Here are a few words he had to say about his time at WIS, excerpted from a email to the WIS community: “One of my favorite poems to teach is Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken.’ It is a poem that many often misread as a declaration for being rewarded for having followed one’s own path instead of the path most often traveled. Arguably, it is instead about a person who had to make an uninformed choice between two paths and is consumed with worry that at some point in his life he will discover that he has taken the wrong road, the poem being about the road he didn’t take, not the one he did. He has no confidence in his choice, and thus, no joy in the life he is leading or will lead. I have been here for 37 years. That is more than half my life. It has been a life full of joy. WIS gave me opportunities and, more importantly, the skills to confidently make the choices that have made my life fulfilling beyond anything I could have reasonably expected.”
globalnews How COVID-19 brought the global economy to its knees By NICOLAS GREAMO, 2021 As the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen, the global economy appears to be on the brink of collapse. Stock prices, once at record highs, have crashed over the past few months. Since social distancing orders began, a record-breaking 17 million Americans had applied for unemployment benefits due to the crisis. On March 27, Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, stated that the global economy had entered a major recession on par with or worse than the Great Recession that occurred more than a decade ago. In a matter of months, the coronavirus outbreak has decimated one of the strongest economic recoveries in recent times. With the world left scrambling to deal with the disastrous ramifications of the downturn, many are wondering how it happened. The global economic crisis began in early March after negotiations between the OPEC nations, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia over proposed cuts to oil production. Falling global demand for oil, especially in China, due to the coronavirus outbreak prompted an OPEC meeting where the decision was made to reduce oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day during the second quarter of 2020. The Russian government refused to adhere to the OPEC decision. In response, Saudi Arabia began selling its oil at hugely discounted prices on March 8. According to reports from Al Jazeera, the Russian government was attempting to damage US shale producers in response to recent US sanctions imposed on Rosneft Trading, a subsidiary of the state-controlled oil company, for
supporting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Many US oil producers use shale oil extraction, typically more expensive than other methods of oil production, which is reliant on high oil prices globally to compete with other producers. On March 9, oil prices dropped more than 20 percent. Stock prices collapsed so dramatically that trading was temporarily halted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) dropped nearly 2000 points while the S&P 500 dropped nearly 8 percent. On March 12, stock prices dropped even further in response to President Trump’s announcement R of a month-long European travel ban LICK AJC1/F during an oval office address the previAn image of a coronavirus taken ous night. In the span of 4 days, US stock pric- under an electron microscope. A strain of coronavirus called SARSes had their largest drop since the stock CoV-2, is responsible for the COVID-19 market crash in 1987. pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is so devastating because it creates demand and supply shocks in the global economy. companies is Princess Cruises, which opA shock is an increase or decrease in the erated several cruise ships that suffered aggregate supply or demand of a nation’s large coronavirus outbreaks. economy. COVID-19 causes a decrease Several airlines have substantialin the supply of goods and services as ly reduced their airfares to offset heavy workers can no longer go to manufacture drops in demand. While commercial airgoods except for essential businesses. craft continue to fly despite the outbreak, At the same time, consumers are de- they have very few passengers and air manding less goods, with some sectors routes beyond the US. being more affected than others. WIS has canceled or postponed sev Many travel companies are in eral trips as a result of the coronavirus turmoil due to the pandemic. All major pandemic, including the 10th grade trip American cruise businesses have tempo- to New Orleans, the 8th-grade language rarily ceased operations. Among these trips and the trip to China. The service sector, the largest part of
the US economy, has also taken a toll as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. While certain essential businesses continue to operate, many others are closing permanently or temporarily and laying off workers. Unemployment claims have spiked to a historic high of nearly 17 million in less than a month. In response to the economic crisis, the US has implemented several policies to help protect the economy. The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates to close to zero to encourage spending, even when interest rates had been close to their lowest point in history before the viral outbreak. On March 27, President Trump signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law. The act expands unemployment benefits and gives checks of up to $1,200 for individuals and up to $2,400 for families up to a certain income threshold. The act also controversially provides about $500 billion in loans to US businesses. The coronavirus outbreak has caused significant damage to the global economy, primarily as a result of stay at home orders and consumer caution. While checks to workers and lowered interest rates help encourage compliance with health initiatives, significant economic measures to restart the economy will not be implemented for a long time. A focus on public health and safety, however, is critical to any form of economic recovery after the pandemic.
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tribute
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JUNE 2020
MARA WILSON 1980-2020 By SAUL PINK, 2021 hen WIS students and teachers walk down the hallways, they’ll often ask each other, “How are you?” The responses are usually perfunctory: “Fine,” or “Good.” Mara Wilson was different. Ask her that question, and her response was always, “I’m a work in progress. I’m working on myself!” Wilson, the beloved middle school Art and Design Technology teacher, who was known for her catchphrases, vibrant enthusiasm, and innovative approach to teaching, died on January 21. She was 39. She is survived by her parents, William and Alwilter Wilson; her brothers, Orlan and Conan Wilson; and her sister, Shana Wilson. In her six years at WIS, and throughout her entire life, Wilson left a lasting legacy on her students and colleagues for her wit and good humor, but also for her passion for everything she was involved in. Wilson’s first encounter with WIS came in 2012 when she was a graduate student at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. To fulfill her degree requirements, she needed to shadow a local art teacher. Her school reached out to longtime WIS teacher Annette Zamula, who was less than enthusiastic about the hassle of having an art student shadowing her. “I was like ‘Oh no I don’t want that so much!’ because you have to be on your game so bad,” Zamula said. “So I didn’t reply. And then Ms. Wilson is a force to be reckoned with and she contacted me and said she would like to make an appointment and that she was coming over anyway.” After they met, Zamula agreed to have Wilson work in her classroom as a student-teacher. In 2014, there was an opening in the WIS middle school and Zamula thought of Wilson. Wilson applied for the job and was hired to teach Art and Design Technology (D.T.). Middle and upper school Design Technology teacher Lance Baldwin came to WIS the same year as Wilson. They were neighbors — they both taught D.T. in adjacent rooms on the second floor of the AAA building. Baldwin highlights Wilson’s innovative teaching. Wilson introduced two or three new projects each year, which, according to Baldwin, is “a huge amount of change for a teacher and a project-based curriculum.” Baldwin remembers seeing, and even smelling, Wilson’s research into new projects for her students. This past fall, Wilson was heating wax for an upcoming project, making their end of the AAA building reek. “I’d go over there and I’d open up her windows and set up fans and she would just smile and keep on going,” Baldwin said. “I think that’s a story of her creativity and ingenuity and the drive to stay current and to engage students, and also a kind of testament to our friendship and the ease in which we got along next to each other.” Wilson’s goals as a teacher were not just to teach her students art skills, but also allow students to gain inspiration from other artwork, including her own. “Her philosophy was that she was an artist who taught. I think that’s really im-
portant because she wanted her students to see her doing art in a serious way and to take inspiration from that,” Baldwin said. Students remember her not only for her artistry but also for her compassion. Senior Zoe Abel was a new seventh-grade student the year Wilson arrived at WIS. She recalls being alone in the Student Center on her first day when Wilson came up to her and introduced herself. “[She] was showing me around and just being super nice and her class was the first class I was in for [my tour of WIS],” Abel said. “It was the first class I signed up for because she was the only teacher I knew.”
More than just an art teacher
Born on May 16, 1980, in Washington, D.C., Wilson grew up in Southeast D.C., brewing her love for the nation’s capital that she would bring to WIS. Wilson was an avid Girls Scout growing up. She went on to attend the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Wilson received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and a Master of Arts degree from the Corcoran. In 2005, Wilson traveled to South Africa with the Peace Corps as an Education Resource volunteer, helping shape her love for travel and constant desire to learn more about the world around her. “Her famous response to asking about trying something new was ‘Well, why not!’ or it would be ‘So where are we gonna do this?’ or ‘When do we leave?’” her sister Shana Wilson said at the me-
COURTESY OF JIM REESE
middle school about injustices in D.C. in more impromptu manners. For example, when there was a guest presentation about the D.C. soda tax at an assembly, Wilson made an effort to inform students about people outside of their bubble. “Ms. Wilson asked about families who depend on soda because the areas in which they live don’t have reliably clean water,” eighth-grader Laura Martinelli-Parker said. “She was very conscious of different people’s living situations and
She helped me understand that being caring and trying to help and understand others is one of the most important things in life because without that, you can’t make friends, you can’t put yourself in others’ shoes, you can’t help. GAEBRIEL TAFARA, 2021
morial service at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in late January. After returning from South Africa, Wilson worked in D.C. Public Schools and D.C. Charter Schools, before coming to WIS. Her background helped shape her teaching. Officially, Wilson’s job was to teach art and D.T. to middle schoolers. But, Wilson brought another job with her to WIS: teaching students about her hometown. “I think she felt that her part of D.C. is maligned because it has this stereotypically poor, African-American, and crime-ridden image. It’s the stereotype, and she wanted people to know that it’s so much more than its reputation,” Baldwin said. Wilson led activities in the middle school’s week-long “minimester” to help with her goal of changing students’ perspectives on the city they live in. The topics of these workshops included the history of D.C trolley cars., street art in D.C., and food deserts in parts of the city. “That was to show [students] that there are problems in this city that exist only miles from here and they’re systemic and you should care,” Baldwin said. Wilson would also help educate the
financial situations.” Wilson also helped her colleagues understand the part of the city where she grew up. Zamula recalls Wilson bringing her and former art teacher Nancy Totten to Southeast Washington to take photos during the summer. “She’d give us tours through the neighborhood and take us to the museums over there...just show us all sorts of different things, parts of the city that we would have never experienced,” Zamula said.
A presence on campus
Wilson’s vibrant personality existed in the hallways of WIS, where she was known for her catchphrases and the unique nicknames she gave her students. Her second-floor art room was a welcoming space for students. “I used to eat lunch in her classroom in seventh grade because I didn’t have anywhere else to go because I was still new to the school and I didn’t have any friends back then,” Abel said. Junior Gaebriel Tafara has fond memories of going to do homework in her classroom after school and visiting her room during the day. “[My skin] would be ashy and stuff,
and so I’d go get lotion from her, and she would always be like, ‘You’re gonna smell like a girl today, Gaebriel!’” Tafara said. Wilson was Tafara’s eighth-grade advisor, and one of his favorite memories of Wilson was when she cooked a big breakfast for her entire advisory at the end of the year. “It touched me because she did something for us and took a day out of her life to make a lot of food for us, and it showed that she really cared,” Tafara said. At January’s memorial service, people spilled out the doors and crowded the aisles to pay tribute to Wilson. Weeks later, WIS held a second service. Middle School Principal Randy Althaus announced that the middle school award for creativity would be renamed the “Mara Wilson Creativity and Independent Thinking Award.” The Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers (WISSIT) inaugurated the “Mara Elise Wilson Scholarship” which will cover the registration fee for WIS’s annual program for teachers. Wilson was a devoted participant in WISSIT and led workshops during the program. The WIS community will always remember Wilson as a passionate teacher who taught students not only art and D.T., but also lessons about the city and the world they live in. “She helped me understand that being caring and trying to help and understand others is one of the most important things in life because without that you can’t make friends, you can’t put yourself in others’ shoes, you can’t help,” Tafara said. “You can’t do all the things that people should strive to do to make this world a better place.” With her nonstop passion and admirable work ethic, Wilson left a mark on her students and colleagues. “Mara Wilson was someone who brought people together and bridged cultures,” Baldwin said. “And her other strength was a dogged determination like I’ve never seen in anybody else.”
Additional reporting by Celeste Bloom, 2020 and Charlie Lane, 2020
6
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
JUNE 2020
specialreport
Baking, biking, and beyond: Quarantine gives students time for new hobbies By SAUL PINK, 2021 For most WIS students, quarantine spring has been a season of losses. Seniors lost their graduation and prom, sophomores lost their New Orleans trip, and all students lost the comforting routine of seeing their friends and teachers every day. But, through it all, students have gained one precious commodity: time. With extracurriculars canceled and commutes to school now consisting of rolling out of bed, some students have found time for new hobbies that they couldn’t pursue before the pandemic. Many students have been learning digital skills. Junior Clara Mello takes IB Art and was frustrated by not having access to WIS’s art materials. She decided to try digital art: turning photos of her friends into drawings using an iPad. Mello notes that ironically, it involves spending more time looking at a screen, in addition to attending Zoom classes all day. “I guess it’s annoying because it’s on-
line like everything else, but at least it’s not work. And it’s something to do,” Mello said. “Even when I’m just watching a show, I can still be doing my art.” 11th-grader Mounis Cader was inspired by his Math Extended Essay, which involves using coding languages Python and Swift to predict the outcomes of events. He is doing basic coding in his free time. “I’ve been trying to make small programs. I made a multi-utility program. It can change Celsius to Fahrenheit and Fahrenheit to Celsius,” Cader said. “I also made a planner program.” Sophomore Zachary Roberts has been designing websites, specifically for a new WIS arts magazine called Devils & Dreamers. He had limited experience making websites before quarantine, but now devotes a lot of time to the pursuit. “It’s nice because it’s something to keep up with. Whenever I’m not doing schoolwork, I’m updating the site with new work or changing the formatting,”
Roberts said. that long rides bring calm after days stuck Roberts also created a website for his at home. mother’s music and used his design skills “We tire ourselves out physically so to help some ISU candidates make cam- that we’re okay with spending time inpaign posters. doors during the week,” Haskell said. “I Other students have tried to escape find it a great way to de-stress from all from the computer. Early during quaran- the work and take time to think about the tine, senior Zoe Abel started baking. She world and what I want to do in life.” ended up baking 70 meringues to share with her family. Additional reporting by Celeste Bloom, “I feel like when you’re in quarantine, 2020 it’s a good time to pick up a hobby. I was tired of being isolated so I decided to bake,” Abel said. Some students have even ventured beyond their kitchens. Before the pandemic, junior Jakobi Haskell’s bicycle didn’t even work. Now, Haskell goes on 60-mile bike rides with his father on weekends. He has cycled at the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, the C&O Canal, and COURTESY OF JAKOBI HASKELL Poolesville, Mary- Junor Jakobi Haskell on a 60-mile bike ride in Dickerson, Md. in early May. Before quarantine, Haskell’s bike didn’t work. land. Haskell said
Home Work: Photos from the new normal
As classes become virtual, WIS students’ home workspaces turn into their classrooms By DEAN ATASSI, 2021
[My desk] is close to the WiFi, and even though I have little space on the table, my books and stuff are strewn around the room, so I can usually find what I need. It’s an adjustable height standing desk, but I never use it that way. David Allen, 2021
COURTESY OF DAVID ALLEN
I like to keep everything really organized and close to me when I’m in class. That way, everything is accesible to me. Bella Valla, 2020
COURTESY OF BELLA VALLA
I can’t work properly when my workspace is messy, so I try to keep it as organized as I can. Rauf Hürcan, 2022
COURTESY OF RAUF HÜRCAN
I like having all my notebooks and books for the day out, so I don’t have to get them between classes. I also like working in front of a window because it takes away from the strain of staring at my computer all day. Rani Kumar, 2022 COURTESY OF RANI KUMAR
JUNE 2020
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
S T U C K AT H O M E Students’ families suddenly become their only friends By ROSE BOEHM, 2022 Being stuck at home under quarantine for months forces families to spend time together. At a time like this, keeping a level of interaction is super important as many WIS families find ways to strengthen their familial bond. Senior Ben Muenzer’s family plays cards regularly, and with the amount of time on their hands, have decided to tackle time consuming movie series like “The Godfather” and “James Bond.” “There’s more time to talk and hang out and kinda create happy memories,” Muenzer said.
“I pull myself out and just recharge a little bit alone,” Muenzer said. Girorgianni explains how her and her mom argue more. “It helped both of us see what we need to work on and where we clash, where we can change and be better people, just to avoid conflict” Giorgianni said. Despite conflict, teenagers and parents are deprived of their normal social interaction, and bonding with their family becomes really important to create a less isolated quarantine. Giorgianni’s family typically lives by their own schedule with her and her brother at school, her dad traveling four days of the week, and her mom working from home. Quarantine significantly changed their family life with increased interactions. “I think being in a house where someone is always talking or there’s always some sort of noise helps you feel less lonely. It kind of reinforces the idea that no one is really alone in this quarantine situation,” Giorgianni said.
COURTESY OF SOFIA GIORGIANNI
Similarly, junior Sofia Giorgianni spends a lot of time with her family. They are able to dedicate time to playing Jenga on Friday nights, walking their dog (pictured above), family bike rides on nearby trails over the weekend, and just enjoying food together. “My brother, he’s an eighth grader at WIS, he makes pasta from scratch, and he bakes a lot (pictured right). We’ve all been in the kitchen together watching him cook and enjoying good meals together,” Giorgianni said. However, families do have to adapt to being at home with each other for weeks on end. Both Giorgianni and Muenzer agree that sometimes families do have conflict, but they find ways to avoid it.
7
From Netflix parties to game nights, students find ways to stay together By REBEKA TATHAM, 2022 March 13 marked the last day WIS students and faculty joined together on Tregaron Campus, and now, over two months later, the community is still adjusting to a new form of education and lifestyle. Classrooms and social spaces have transformed into Zoom calls and Facetimes, and students are forced to find inventive ways of staying connected despite the circumstances. Along with other grades, the Class of 2021 has taken to the Netflix Party Chrome extension, where the entire grade enjoys weekly virtual movie nights. The extension allows users to watch movies and TV shows in sync, and has a chat function for communication during the virtual screenings. “I do think [the movie nights] have really helped to unite the grade because we can all talk to each other while we’re watching the movie,” junior Jakobi Haskell said. Haskell also theorized that once the juniors finally return from quarantine, their grade will be closer than ever. “I think that having everyone be alone for a long time, makes everyone appreciate how much they rely on their classmates,” Haskell said. For many, including sophomore Maya Lopez, overcoming the challenges of mandatory social distancing has solidified friendships and created new means of virtual interaction. Lopez and her
friends have been enjoying games like Psych!, Settlers of Catan, Cards Against Humanity, and Photo Roulette, all of which can be played virtually. “We’ve been doing stuff online that we never used to do in person. It’s nice to play a game and actually do something with my friends again because so much of what we used to do has been taken away by the virus,” Lopez said. For the senior class, their final semester at WIS looks drastically different to the traditional experience the class of 2020 was anticipating. Despite the challenges, the seniors have found ways to remain connected during quarantine, including the creation of an Instagram account to celebrate college commitments. “I think for the seniors, a big thing is being there to support others. As much as it sucks for us, it sucks as much for the next person,” senior Zoe Abel said. The months spent in social isolation have left many WIS students longing to be back at Tregaron, and though virtual interaction can replicate campus life to an extent, it seems most WIS students are reminiscing about their pre-COVID experiences. “A few weeks ago, we were all sitting outside the mansion in the sun thinking about prom and Eurotrip,” Abel said.“You take these things for granted. All the things we were looking forward to are very uncertain.”
What to watch at your Netflix party COURTESY OF SOFIA GIORGIANNI
Overall, quarantine gives families a unique opportunity to do the activities they wouldn’t have before and bond on a different level. “My whole family, we’re under the same situation,” Giorgianni said. “We all have to stay home, and we can’t carry on with our daily lives, and I think that makes our bond even stronger.”
Picks from the Dateline arts editors
TV Shows • • • •
Criminal Minds That ‘70s Show On My Block All American
Movies
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off • The Perks of Being a Wallflower • Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile • The King
While the world is at a standstill, birthday celebrations continue By CELESTE BLOOM, 2020 Many students born at the end of March through May have forgone the usual birthday party in exchange for a pandemic accommodating celebration. With social distancing orders in place, normal large gatherings are no longer feasible. However many WIS students have still found creative ways to wish their friends a happy birthday while staying safe. On March 29, three days before Mayor Muriel Bowser issued DC’s Stay-At-Home order, senior Anya Jacoby experienced her modified birthday. For Jacoby’s 18th birthday, her friends organized a pool party themed celebration in a parking lot. “[My friends] gave me a swimsuit and goggles to put over my clothes,” Jacoby said. In order to keep six feet apart, Jacoby explained that they all parked their cars in a circle and sat in their trunks or on the ground to talk. “It was nice because it was right after college decisions had come out and it was a time where everybody really wanted to be talking to each other,” Jacoby said.
Jacoby realizes that if she and her friends did not have a license or accessible cars, organizing her birthday would have been more difficult. Sophomore Sara Auer, who, along with her friends arranged to wish Elise Naftulin a happy 16th birthday, agrees that without a license, these celebrations are difficult to organize. Nevertheless, with the help of parents, Auer and her friends were able to drive by Naftulin’s house while holding birthday posters and give her a present they all contributed to. While other students didn’t celebrate in person, they were wished a happy birthday through social media and Zoom calls. During his 18th birthday on April 4, Senior Max Webel had a Zoom call with his friends and enjoyed a homemade birthday cake. However, due to the pandemic, Max felt as if he could not distinguish between his birthday and the many other days he spends under quarantine. “Normally my birthday would be on my mind for a week or two in advance,” Webel said. He would normally be communicating and sched-
COURTESY OF ALEJANDRA SOTO REBHAN
Sophomore Sara Auer, with the help of friends and parents, celebrate Elise Naftulin’s birthday at a distance by driving by Naftulin’s house and delivering gifts.
uling plans for his birthday which would remind him of the approaching date. However, due to quarantine, Webel said, “I didn’t think about [my birthday] until three days before, and even then, I almost forgot the day of.” Like Webel, many other WIS students felt that the pandemic put a damper on their birthday. “It’s hard for me to say that I had a fun time because I don’t really
feel like I had a birthday,” Webel said before adding that he still “had a good time hanging out with friends.” Birthdays under quarantine may be anticlimactic or unusual. However, the different ways people have adjusted their birthday celebration to the pandemic will make for a unique and, most likely, unforgettable experience.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
opinion
8
JUNE 2020 To our readers, This academic year has challenged us in unprecedented ways. We understand that with limited communication and social interactions taking place through screens it’s easy to lose our sense of community. Now more than ever, we at Dateline believe that our commitment to journalism can inform, and bring our community together. We are extremely proud of our staff for coming together over the past few weeks to create this unique edition of Dateline. We aimed to highlight the different ways in
which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected members of the WIS community in hopes of making us feel more together whilst apart. Dateline could never have amounted to what it is today without our enthusiastic staff, dedicated adviser, and eager writers. If you have been an avid reader of Dateline for years, or if this is the first time you are picking up a copy, we cherish your readership and hope for your continued support. Signing off, Celeste Bloom and Charlie Lane Managing Editors
To the students: Uncertainty is not new to us
By CELESTE BLOOM, 2020
No matter what stage of our academic careers we are in, no one expected to finish the year like this. Feelings of helplessness, confusion, and disappointment don’t fully encapsulate our emotions. I feel on the luckier side during these times. I have healthy family members. I am only mourning graduation and senior prom instead of worrying about keeping a roof over my head or putting food on the table. However, I’m still feeling the gravity of taking my ordinary life for granted. We all remember the day when we initially heard that WIS would close and transition to distance learning. Many of us naively celebrated, expecting it to be temporary. I recently biked back to Tregaron. While lying on the hill behind the mansion, I imagined for a second that it was a normal school day and I was waiting for my friends to join me for lunch. But it was too quiet, you couldn’t hear kids playing on the field or the basketball court, and the new weird bell never rang. WIS wasn’t perfect, but I had some good memories and met some amazing people throughout my time here. While I looked into empty classroom windows and I thought, it’s strange that these past four years of growth and maturation are coming to a close while I’m saying last goodbyes to teachers through a screen. It is strange to think that all your expectations of the upcoming months can suddenly be wiped
clean. COVID-19 forces us to see the startling fragility of our lives and the world around us in the same breath. It blurs the lines between microcosm and macrocosm. The global pandemic affects every individual on the planet, but the actions of every individual also affect the state of the pandemic. We are facing huge uncertainty. But I realize in both cases, as individuals and as a collective, uncertainty is not new to us. So this is my microcosm. The first half of senior year, we were swimming in uncertainty. I began first semester having no idea where I would be next year in every aspect of my life. I didn’t know what school I would be attending, where I would live, what type of people I would meet and what I would do once I got there. In addition, the senior workload stopped me from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But, we persisted. Even if that just meant making it through the day or showing up after an all-nighter. And as we persisted, the days rolled by. Soon we finished the first semester. We continued coming into ourselves, some of us were getting college decisions back, our path for the future was starting to become a little clearer. Then we were in the home stretch. I knew what to expect on the exams, the structure and the level of effort I would need to get over this final hurdle. I could finally see light at the end of the tunnel, I was ready to embrace the celebrations that I felt were the capstone of my high school experience. And then school closed. Exams were
canceled. We heard some colleges were hesitant to start in the fall. It was a “what now?” kind of moment. The slate was wiped clean and we were left with the uncertainty that we began the year with and persisted through. But, this is why I write specifically to the students. Beyond the class of 2020, beyond WIS, as a generation, we students have experienced our fair share of uncertainty. This is our macrocosm. We grew up surrounded by uncertainty. We were born into a post 9/11 world filled with metal detectors and lockdowns. We walk to school passing flags that are almost always halfmast. There is that nagging worry in the back of our minds where we worry if when we go to a concert, travel and even walk through our school doors, it will be for the last time. And when we look towards the future, we make tentative plans fearing the uncertain state of our planet in the next 30 years. I am not saying that our experiences will make this pandemic a walk in the park, but we already have a heightened awareness of the fragility of our lives, and we persist. We still go about our daily lives, learning, growing, and having meaningful experiences. We realize that courage isn’t about going out and saving the world, it’s about persevering in the face of uncertainty. And during these times, to continue our adjusted lives, persevering in the face of uncertainty, is saving the world.
The silver linings of COVID-19
By ELISE NAFTULIN, 2022
The other day, I decided to go for a stroll around my neighborhood. I figured a quick walk was harmless as long as I kept my distance from others. Walking up my near-vacant and verdant street, I had a small thought: Life sucks. I couldn’t think of a single benefit that came from the pandemic — I only thought of its consequences. A few weeks ago I’d have given anything to be out in this beautiful, bright weather because it would’ve meant time with friends, a trip to New Orleans, and a summer of freedom before the IB. Now, no matter what idyllic picture book the sky could’ve come from, it only marks a twenty-minute escape from hours of white computer light pressing into my eyeballs. These few precious moments outside… what do they matter? As a nation, we face economic collapse and soaring unemployment. Reports of domestic abuse have shot up since the introduction of social distancing guidelines — France alone has reported a 30 percent spike, according to the New York Times. The countless Americans who have disregarded these guidelines let the virus slip into their communities. The CDC reported hospitals crammed with victims, 25.5 percent of whom were under the age of 50 as of mid-April. My relatives have compared the current situation with catastrophes like the 1918 Spanish Flu and the fourteenth-century Black Death. If those two catastrophic epidemics are at all sim-
ilar to COVID-19, then life must, indeed, suck. It’s much easier, I realized, to focus on COVID-19’s overwhelming negative effects rather than the positives. After all, the crisis upturned countless lives around the world and rewrote our definition of normalcy. But along with its many drawbacks, the pandemic has its silver linings. In a world consumed by fears of an imminent climate crisis, the pandemic provides some temporary relief. A Carbon Brief study shows that COVID-19 is set to reduce worldwide carbon emissions by around two thousand metric tonnes. Emissions in China alone were cut by at least 25 percent (according to CNN) from February to March, when the country was at the peak of its outbreak. Similar drops in air pollution levels occurred in dozens of countries. Now that mandatory quarantine has proven successful, it could become a strategy for combating growing emissions if a climate disaster strikes. Not only do stay-at-home orders shutter factories that spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere; these orders, along with fear of contracting the disease, limit the number of cars on the road — traffic on motorways is 83 percent lower globally, according to the Guardian. I’ve noticed WIS students are quick to complain about the drudgery of Distance Learning. Sure, there are things more motivating than having to wake up for hours of video calls, all while confined at home or maybe even to a single room. Work can
sometimes feel arduous without a fixed routine set by someone else. That forced independence, however, is almost entirely beneficial. By scheduling our own learning every day, we’re learning great time-management habits that will prepare us for college and the workplace. For students who live further away, online classes mean a more relaxed work pace since their usual long commutes no longer take up precious work time. Forced isolation, ironically, provides the perfect opportunity for communities to come together. My family celebrated Passover via FaceTime with members of our extended family. My parents have reconnected with relatives and friends. At WIS, some upper school grades have scheduled movie nights on Zoom. Birthday parties, baby showers, and weddings continue defiantly via FaceTime calls and backyard ceremonies. Citizens of Spain, China, and Italy take to their balconies and open windows to lift their neighbors’ spirits through music, and every night at 7 p.m., New Yorkers stop to applaud their healthcare workers, and other places around the world have followed suit. Of course, the cons far outweigh the pros and we all want this to be over as soon as possible. But until then, we can push away our hopelessness by reminding ourselves of the pandemic in its entirety, not just what’s scary and overwhelming. With that mindset, this rapidly-changing world will become more bearable.
international dateline June 2020 Editorial Board Managing Editors Celeste Bloom Charlie Lane Publications Editors Saul Pink Ye’Amlak Zegeye Print Layout Saul Pink Nicolas Greamo Middle School News Adviser Ainhoa Petri-Hidalgo Marketing Managers Nico Vallada Anders Westermann Faculty Adviser Alexandra Wilding WIS News Sophie Racine Ye’Amlak Zegeye Global News Nicolas Greamo Anna Martinelli-Parker Sports Nico Vallada Anders Westermann Opinion Julia Brownell Rebeka Tatham Features Emily Muenzer Ainhoa Petri-Hidalgo Arts Abigail Bown Maia Nehme Food Rose Boehm Back Page Maya Lopez
International Dateline is a publication of the student body and therefore has a responsibility to reflect student, school, and community affairs. It will strive to inform, entertain, and inspire its readers in a broad, objective, and accurate manner. Dateline also provides an open forum for the opinions of the student body, Dateline staff, the faculty, the school administration, and people in the community. The purpose of the forum is to encourage the exchange of ideas and opinions on issues of importance and significance to the readers. Submit a letter to the editor: Go to wisdateline.org or scan the QR code on page 1. “Submit a letter to the editor will appear in the top right corner of the screen. Letters must be under 250 words and can address any issue concerning Dateline or WIS.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
sports
9
JUNE 2020
Sophomore Kamryn Lute has Olympic dreams Lute is a competitive short track speedskater with her eyes on Beijing in 2022
LU TE KA M RY N F O UR TE SY
K
amryn Lute is not your average 10th-grade student. She has been training to be a short track speed skater since she was five years old, competing in events all around the world. “When I was five, watching the Olympics, my mom asked me what sport I wanted to try and I thought speedskating was cool,” Lute said. Short track speedskating may be unfamiliar to the casual sports fan but it has been an Olympic sport since 1992 and has become very popular in South Korea, Canada, and Scandinavia. Groups of four to eight skaters race on an oval-shaped ice track and the top two fastest finishers from each heat move on to the next round. Skaters reach high speeds of nearly 30mph, often jockey for position through physical contact, and make extremely sharp turns. “I love the strategy and competition,” Lute said. “Since it is at such a high speed, you get an adrenaline rush. It is really exciting.” The sport, however, has not yet gained widespread popularity in the U.S. as the number of registered short track speedskaters was hovering at just above 1,000 in 2018. Compared with over 500,000 hockey players and 200,000 figure skaters, short track speedskating remains relatively unknown in the world of US sports. “When you tell people about [short track speedskating] they always think it is cool and unique, but in other countries, it is way bigger,” explained Lute. In Canada, for example, the sport has gained a larger presence through
specialized programs and teams, which provide skaters with opportunities that can not be found in the US. David Seal, a Canadian short track speedskater who has trained alongside Lute, represents his home province Alberta in the Alberta Amateur Speedskating Association which provides funding and training for its skaters. Seal has participated in competitions throughout the world and placed second overall at the western Canada championships in 2018. He also trains for the Elite Athlete Pathway program in Calgary, which
CO
By ANDERS WESTERMANN, 2021
attracts skaters from around the globe. Seal points to Canada’s strong speedskating culture as another main reason for the sport’s popularity in his home country. “It’s very very competitive, especially on the eastern side of the country like Quebec. We have close to ten times more skaters here in Canada than in the U.S.,” Seal said. Lute also pointed out that in South Korea, skaters can compete at the high school and university level, where they can receive scholarships. While on a much smaller scale, Northern Virginia has become a local
s p e e d skating hub due, in part, to the sport’s strong ties to Korea. The area boasts a large Korean-American population as approximately 60 percent of all Korean-Americans in Virginia live in Fairfax County. Around ten years ago, many of these families began hiring coaches from South Korea in order to form elite speedskating teams for their children. Lute practices six times a week with one of those teams: Dominion Speedskating. Her practices consist of two hours of off-ice exercise or cardio and one to two hours of on-ice skating. With no opportunities to skate in college, Lute is working towards her ultimate goal. “I want to make it to the Olympics one day. It’s what I think of whenever I train and it would honestly mean the world to me,” Lute said. In order to reach the prestigious event, she must first participate in a series of qualifying events around the world. This year, Lute skated in the Junior World Cup in Italy as a member of the US team and has participated in other events around the world.
“I have trained in Canada, Utah, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the UK and I have gone to Korea to train over the summer,” Lute said. With a busy travel and training schedule, Lute has developed strong time management, oftentimes at the cost of free time and sleep. “I take whatever small periods I have at home or sometimes in the car to do my homework. Also, I made accommodations with the school so that I only do one elective so that my other block is a free period which helps a lot,” Lute said. “I’ve gotten used to it,” said Lute when asked about the lack of sleep associated with her busy schedule. Lute currently holds the US record for the 222-meter, 333-meter, 500-meter, and 777-meter races for girls 10 and under and the 500-meter record for the 11-12 age group. With such success in the sport, Lute remains humble about her speedskating endeavors. “I try to keep it separate from my school life and I don’t really talk much about it with my friends,” said Lute. Her parents have been supportive since she first began competing in 2010, making sacrifices such as waking up at 3:30 in the morning to take her to practices. “My parents have been 100 percent supportive since the very beginning,” Lute said. While math tests and history essays stand in her way now, Lute is determined to achieve the goal she has been craving for a decade. With a strong backing and work ethic, Lute is on track to represent the US at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
When will student-athletes be back on the field?
By ANDERS WESTERMANN, 2021
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, sports across all levels are halted indefinitely throughout most of the world. As spring high school athletics have officially come to an end, the conversation now turns to whether fall sports can return. The Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC), WIS’ member league, officially suspended the spring sports season in late April and the decision regarding fall sports is planned for later this summer. “As of now, nothing has been decided. The PVAC [Athletic Directors] will meet at the end of July or first week of August and discuss the situation,” WIS Athletic Director Tom O’Mara said. According to O’Mara, the return of fall sports will ultimately depend on if schools reopen. DC’s process of reopening will work in phases with schools opening first and athletics later, he explained. “Sports are not going to be the priority as far as opening school doors go, it’s going to be academics. In order to even think about having competitive sports, the schools have to open first,” O’Mara said. Many experts believe that there will be a second wave of the virus in the fall, so schools fully reopening in the fall is becoming increasingly unlikely. With some countries seeing a decline in cases and allowing for the opening of
Amid the pandemic, athletes and administrators question whether there will be a fall season certain leagues and businesses, there is growing precedence for fall sports to make some sort of return. “If it can possibly be done, it should be done,” WIS Boys Varsity Soccer coach James Martin said. For example, the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and German Bundesliga soccer began play with numerous safety precautions such as mandatory temperature checks, bans on spitting and high fiving, and games in empty stadiums. While these leagues have not made changes to their respective rule books, Martin believes that this may also be necessary for sports to return. Soccer, in particular, could benefit from experimental rules that try to mitigate player-to-player contact, he explained. “The [player’s] head should take the same role as the arms: no contact. You would also have to find a way to make practices safer and you would probably have to wear very light, bandana type masks in games,” Martin said. However, many do not share the
same sentiments as Martin and believe that a modified season with changes to gameplay is unrealistic. “I think it’s going to be all or nothing. I think that we are either going to have a normal season and if not, we’re not going to have a season,” junior volleyball player Gabi Morichi said. Many also believe that certain mandated safety measures could inhibit gameplay to a point where athletes may consider no longer wanting to compete. “I wouldn’t want to play tennis in a mask but I also really love tennis so I would probably do it,” junior tennis player Shay Houseknecht said. According to O’Mara, tennis is one of the few sports that could continue play with no rule changes, due the already present social distancing. Therefore, it is possible that certain sports like tennis could return while other, more contact-heavy sports could be halted. The state of Ohio announced that non-contact sports can resume play on May 26 which offers a model for how other places can ease into sports. However, a decision like this could upset many fall athletes who play sports that don’t meet the no-contact criteria. “We have to be understanding of what can happen and what can’t, but I just don’t know if it’s fair to have one sport happen and another not,” Morichi said. If schools do return to in-person teaching in the fall, the District of Colum-
bia State Athletic Association (DCSAA) will take the lead in deciding whether sports can resume. While individual leagues could make their own respective decisions, the DCSAA works closely with the DC Mayor’s office and will offer guidance. “They have a lot of sway over district schools like [WIS], Field School, and Edmund Burke. All those schools are in the PVAC but are also under the umbrella of the DCSAA,” O’Mara said. If a decision is made to allow non-contact sports to resume in DC, another possibility is to switch certain contact-heavy fall sports seasons with less contact-oriented spring sports. “There are talks of flipping football with baseball and softball on the sports calendar but those are just talks. In reality, there has been nothing positive in the direction of fall sports actually taking place,” NBC Washington high school sports contributor Chad Ricardo said. In the case of sports being canceled next fall, O’Mara envisions a solution involving virtual training with the coaches of the respective teams organizing and supervising it. “It is no substitute for actual practicing and competing, but for the serious athlete who has any desire to continue playing sports beyond WIS, it could be valuable in terms of staying in playing condition and connected mentally and emotionally to the sport while this pandemic is still with us,” O’Mara said.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
features
10
JUNE 2020
Humans of WIS
A collection of profiles showcasing the diverse array of personal stories within the WIS community “It changed from a routine to more of a necessity.” Josue Ochaita, 2022 When he was younger, going to church was just a routine he’d been doing since he was born. He did it because his parents told him he had to. That changed after he joined a community: a small group of people within his parish who celebrate each tradition on their own instead of with the whole congregation. The majority of people in his community were around his age, which made the community a much more comfortable environment. That eased him into the community experience, introducing him to people his age who could relate to him. If he had any problems, he could always count on community meetings to help him. It gave him a reason for going to church. He’s realized since then how necessary religion is to his life. Before he became part of the community, there was nothing he really cared about. He would say he loved his parents and his brothers, but he couldn’t truly connect with them. He’d go on with life as if nothing was happening besides his everyday routine. Nothing affected him until he joined the community at his church. Once he listened to how religion helped other people get through their own experiences, he realized that trusting the church could help him with his own struggle. He learned to open up. That’s when he started to lose that indifference, and the events in his life started having an impact on him. Now he considers himself a devout Catholic. He goes to church twice a week and during other celebrations, like Ash Wednesday. Religion shapes how he thinks, how he acts, and the way that he sees the world both inside and outside of school. It gave him a reason to care about his life.
Profile by Elise Naftulin, 2022
COURTESY OF JOSUE OCHAITA
“It’s really painful, but it’s so worth it.” Maddy Connolly, 2020
COURTESY OF MADDY CONNOLLY
Although she’s been running all her life, in seventh-grade she, noticed how much she enjoyed competing and running longer distances. So, she joined the middle school cross country team and has not slowed down since. The team support she felt when she entered high school only boosted her love for the sport, and she used her passion to motivate her younger teammates as captain during 11th and 12th grade. Her favorite part about being captain is motivating all the runners and pushing everyone to try their hardest at practice and at races. She also loves running because it gives her an outlet to deposit all her energy before going home to do homework. Clearing her mind through running has helped her academically and benefited her mental health. However, running isn’t the only part of cross country that she likes. The team connection she’s felt with other members of the team helped create some of her favorite memories, such as the long bus rides to meets. Little moments like those help her motivate herself and everyone else. Her favorite parts about running make the painful ones slightly more bearable. She admits that all the workouts make her a stronger runner, but she still thinks running up the hill next to the banana field more than a dozen times is the worst. Even after falling during a race, getting lost, and suffering through countless hill workouts, she still loves the feeling of accomplishment once she reaches the finish line.
Profile by Camila Levey, 2022
To see the stories of many more WIS students, go straight to wisdateline.org/humansofwis
overlook the cathedral, and gardens to surround it. The resulting house is now the Mansion. He placed the brick Georgian Revival mansion at the highest point of the property, so that both the Cathedral and surrounding gardens could be seen. Platt created strong vistas to the North and South of the house to highlight the natural beauty of the land and designed the gardens to the East and West to feel like an extension of the home. The landscape designer, Ellen Biddle Shipman, continued to make additions after construction was finished. She designed plantings around the pond to the south of the mansion and incorporated a bridle path that cuts through the meadows below the mansion. Parmalee named his new home The Causeway, after the winding road that cuts through the property.
Tregaron Timeline A full history of WIS’s historic home
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By CHARLIE LANE, 2020
ong before WIS students filled the halls of the Tregaron mansion, it was the home of a more discerning clientele. Many different families and organizations have inhabited the land since it was first developed over a 100 years ago, each one shaping and changing the plot to their needs.
The Hubbards
The land that WIS sits on today was originally part of a much larger plot, first developed in the 1880s by Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Hubbard was a lawyer in DC, who used his wealth to found the Bell Telephone Company and the National Geographic Society. Hubbard was one of many DC elite who purchased land outside the city for summer retreats. In fact, Cleveland Park is named after President Grover Cleveland who built a summer home in the region. Hubbard employed Boston architec-
Inspired by Humans of New York
TREGARON CONSERVANCY
tural firm Allen and Kenway to construct a Georgian-revival style house named Twin Oaks. Gardiner died in 1897 and the land was split between his two daughters. One inherited the land which the home resided on, and the other received the remaining undeveloped land. In 1947, Twin Oaks was sold to the government of the Republic of China. The home acted as the residence of the Chinese ambassador to the US until US-Chinese relations soured. In 1986, the estate was handed to its present owners: the government of Taiwan.
The Parmalees
In 1911, the undeveloped land that Hubbard’s daughter, Mabel, inherited was sold to James Parmalee, a financier from Cleveland, Ohio. Parmalee had contributed significantly to the construction of the National Cathedral and wanted a home nearby. Parmalee hired architect Charles Adams Platt to design a home that would
The Davies Era
In 1940, following the death of the Parmalees, Joseph Davies and his wife Marjorie Merriwether Post purchased the Causeway as a personal residence. Davies (who gives his name to Davies Hall) was a lawyer and a diplomat who served as the US ambassador to the USSR. His wife, Marjorie Merriwether Post, was the heiress of the General Foods Corporation. The Davieses made several changes to the estate. The most notable was importing a traditional Russian dacha, which was placed in the East gardens. They also altered the landscape slightly to make space for a golf course, and added fountains to the gardens. Lastly, they renamed the property “Tregaron” after Davies’ father’s hometown in Wales. The estate was the backdrop for many parties during the Davies years. Post was a well-regarded socialite who held charity events and social gatherings and Joseph frequently hosted political functions in the mansion. Post divorced Davies in 1955. Their
fine art collection was split amicably, however, Davies was left with the home after he allegedly changed the deed to his name unbeknownst to his wife. In an act of revenge, Post returned to the property during the night with an army of gardeners to reclaim her prized shrubs. Davies lived alone in the Mansion until his death in 1958. Following his death, the estate remained unoccupied for over 20 years as his heirs resolved disputes over ownership of the land. During this period, the estate was neglected.
Post Post-Davies
In 1980, the Tregaron estate was split into two plots. The first plot, which included the Mansion, the Greenhouse, the Gardener’s Cottage, the Carriage House, and the Dacha was sold to WIS, who was already renting out the buildings. Israel-based investor Shaul Eisenberg purchased the remaining land. Eisenberg’s newly acquired land was the largest undeveloped plot in NW DC and the community was resistant to any development as it threatened the nature of their neighborhood. Since the purchase of the land in 1980, the DC Historic Preservation Board has heard 19 proposals for developments, all of which have been rejected. In 2006, the Tregaron Conservancy was formed and Eisenberg donated the majority of the land to the Conservancy. The Conservancy maintains stewardship of the land and keeps it open for public enjoyment. Their current projects revolve around restoring the park according to historical records and planting native species to promote biodiversity. Since WIS purchased the upper part of the property in 1980 they have relocated the Dacha, constructed the middle school, soccer field, and AAA building. Despite similar resistance to major developments from the community, there are plans to construct a new science building in the coming years.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
arts
11
JUNE 2020
IB Art students showcase their work virtually By ABIGAIL BOWN, 2023 and MAIA NEHME, 2023 At this time of the year, when students walk the halls of the AAA building, they usually see the walls lined with the work of IB Art students. With the new distance learning policy due to COVID-19, the senior IB Art class is facing a brand new challenge: transitioning the annual showcase of their two years of work online. Traditionally, the IB Art course culminates in three assessments. Students must complete a comparative paper where they contrast the works of two artists, as well as submit a process portfolio of the art they have created throughout the two-year course. The final assessment, which makes up 40 percent of the students’ IB grade, is usually an exhibition of their artwork in the AAA building. Unfortunately, this unexpected pandemic means that a physical display is no longer a possibility. “[For the exhibition], each student creates a cohesive body of work based on their chosen theme or content. The work this year varies from Paintings, Sculptures, 3D prints, Digital Photography, installations and other art media and materials,” middle and upper school Art eacher Praveen David said. David is cur-
CELESTE BLOOM/INTERNATIONAL DATELINE (SCREENSHOT)
IB Art students create virtual art exhibition of the seniors’ art after the cancellation of the annual IB art show.
rently teaching the senior IB Art class. According to David, the IB has not made any changes in grading. Rather than the physical exhibit, students need to send two gallery shots of their work, either a photo collage featuring each individual piece or a picture of the works arranged in one space. While the IB has not significantly changed their requirements, students won’t be able to present their artwork in person and the WIS community won’t be able to experience the exhibition as they usually would. Due to this, Ye’Amlak Zegeye, a member of the senior art class,
is creating a virtual alternative. Her display will include a walk-through, during which “the art students will lead the viewer through their digital exhibition,” according to David. Zegeye is using Artsteps, a software that “allows for users to create a 3D place.” She has never used this program before and has been experiencing some technical difficulties. “When submitting to IB you want to use images with the highest possible quality. These are the same images I am using for the exhibit so they take up a lot of space on my computer and take a while to upload onto the
website,” Zegeye said. While the virtual display ensures that the students and WIS community will still experience an exhibition to a degree, this transition to a virtual art exhibit impacts the art itself. “When we created our art pieces, we made them with the intent of them being experienced in person,” Zegeye said. During the course, the students are constantly thinking about how the audience will experience their art from different angles, and this difference in point of view is erased in a virtual exhibit. “There are also students who have 3D pieces and installations that a virtual experience can not do justice,” described Zegeye. Senior IB Art student Chloe Gutnikoff agrees. Unlike many seniors in IB Art, Gutnikoff has prior experience exhibiting her artwork. She attended a program at the Hirshhorn Museum where she ultimately exhibited her work for a day. Gutnikoff added that although the virtual exhibit is a creative solution, it won’t allow for the same experience as an in-person exhibit. “Viewing art in real life has such a big impact on human emotions and interactions with the artwork,” Gutnikoff said.
food
Bored? Bake! Three recipes to try while in isolation
Now that we are all stuck inside, it’s hard not to get bored. But why not learn something new? These three recipes are a great way to entertain yourself during the next few weeks. The difficulty of each recipe will be ranked out of five. By JULIA DELL’ARICCIA, 2022
HILLARY/FLICKR
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Dificulty level: 1; Time: 25 minutes; Yield: 24 muffins
Madeleines
Banana and chocolate is a pairing that never gets old. With a crispy outside and soft, gooey inside, these muffins make a delicious morning pick me up.
Dificulty level: 2; Time: 40 minutes; Yield: 16 madeleines These sweet mini lemon cakes are amazing for warm weather. Their light and fluffy texture makes these the perfect addition to a mid afternoon quaren-tea.
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1/2 cup (115g or 1 stick) unsalted butter and another 2 tbsp for the pan 2 large room temperature eggs 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar 2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup (115g) sifted allpurpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt Optional: onfectioners sugar to sprinkle on top Optional: chocolate (chips or bars)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Melt the butter and let cool. 3. Whisk sugar and eggs with stand mixer for at least 8 minutes (until it ribbons; meaning that when you lift the whisk the batter should fall slowly and form a ribbon pattern that lasts for a few seconds). 4. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract. 5. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold into egg mixture. 6. Stir 1/4 of the batter into the butter, make sure it is fully incorporated before you add the rest. 7. Stir the rest of the batter into the butter. 8. Cover and leave in refrigerator for 30 minutes. 9. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush (you can use a paper towel) on a non stick pan (I used a muffin pan)- make sure there is a good layer of butter on the pan in order to prevent the cookies from sticking. 10. Plop batter into pan . 11. Bake for 9-12 minutes (they are ready when the tops bounce back when you press them). 12. Let cool and dust with confectioner sugar 13. Optional: melt chocolate in microwave, stirring in 30 second intervals. 14. Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate until lightly coated, place on plate and let cool in the fridge.
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JULIA DELL’ARICCIA/INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
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For two more recipes, head to wisdateline.org/category/food
Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies Dificulty level: 1; Time: 25 minutes; Yield: 20 cookies These cookies are a classic and are perfect with milk. There is something unbelievably comforting about ooey-gooey chocolate surrounded by a crisp cookie, perfect for these not-so comforting times.
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3 very ripe mashed bananas 3/4 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup melted coconut oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup flour 1 cup rolled oats 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Blend (in a blender): 1 cup flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt. 3. Mix in a separate bowl: 3 very ripe mashed bananas, 3/4 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup melted coconut oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla. 4. Mix dry and wet ingredients and add dark chocolate chips. 5. Line a muffin pan. 6. Use an ice cream scoop to measure out the batter for each muffin and place the batter in muffin liners. 7. Bake for 8-10 minutes: check in on the muffins by using a toothpick to check if it is fully cooked. 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 3. Beat butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. 4. Combine dry and wet mixture. 5. Stir in chocolate chips. 6. Use a spoon to measure and roll equal sized balls and place them on a parchment paper lined cookie tray (parchment paper is the key to make sure the bottoms don’t burn!). 7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.
INTERNATIONAL DATELINE
seniors2020
12
JUNE 2020
backpage
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE By CELESTE BLOOM, 2020 and CHARLIE LANE, 2020
GRAB A PEN AND TRY TO FIND THE 8 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE TWO PHOTOS! The solution will be posted on wisdateline.org and on Dateline social media. RIGHT: Senior (and Dateline Managing Editor) Charlie Lane (left) and teacher Meredith Moore (right) prepare the Class of 2020’s set of pumpkins in October’s annual Upper School pumpkin carving contest. CELESTE BLOOM/INTERNATIONAL DATELINE