TheUltraViolet Feature: Tutoring Culture, page 8

Marlborough School 250 S. Rossmore Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90004

The

Friday, November 9, 2007 Volume 38, Issue 2

INSIDE THE UVINDEX

News... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Communi ty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Feature... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8E&A..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Spor ts...................................12Opinion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Bac kpage.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

NEWS FEATURE

BUMPER TO BUMPER: Above, parking spaces are filled along Arden early in the morning, leaving few options for student carpools that can’t fit in the Third Street lot. The frustrating situation has built tension for security guards, students, faculty, and parents. Below, a sign near the lot entrance - a gift from school Auxiliary Services Manager Clinton Oie to security guards - asks commuters to keep their cool. Photos by Colleen

Limited parking frustrates students

Last year at Marlborough Student Charitable Fund’s (MSCF) fashion show, junior Audrey’s design of a gray pencil skirt with suspenders won the uniform challenge, meaning it was supposed to be incorporated into the school uniform. However, after discussion, leaders of MSCF and the administration have decided not to incorporate the design.

This decision was reached for numerous reasons, according to a MSCF member who was part of the discussion.

One is that MSCF didn’t know the winning design would be a pencil skirt, which Dennis Uniform does not make.

Also, it takes three to four years for Dennis to design a new product, so MSCF didn’t think the effort was worth it to try to incorporate the design.

Another reason, she said, was that when a student survey was taken about whether students liked the design, most students said that it didn’t appeal to them.

Not all students felt that way.“I’m really frustrated. They basically

lied,” said Evelyne ’10, who was a fan of the design.

Hotchkiss didn’t have any problem with the design, and she said she should have given more information to MSCF about the difficulty in production with Dennis Uniform before MSCF went forward with the contest.

“I was hesitant that Dennis could make it,” Hotchkiss said.

Before the fashion show, the administration agreed that the winning design or a variation of it would be incorporated into the uniform.

“It was really cute, modern, and fashionable. I wanted a change in the uniform so at least we could vary it a little bit,” Evelyne said.

Wayne said she knew a lot of students who were eager to wear a different outfit to school. MSCF members and Wayne are all upset with the situation.

MSCF fashion show uniform design won’t be incorporatedBy BrianneUV Staff

By Cassidy and Brianne UV Staff

Athletic program wins Commissioner’s CupBy Justine UV Staff

LEADERSHIP: Twelve Marlborough students attended the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women, a program created 20 years ago. Pictured (top right) are Raven Symoné, Laila Ali, Samantha Larson, and Vanessa Williams. Photos by Julie

Girls attend Shriver’s leadership conferenceBy JulieUV Staff

Students, faculty and staff attempt to “go green” by putting paper-saving plans into action. In order to become environmentally friend-ly, school-wide efforts have been implemented to reduce paper us-age by 10 percent from last month.

Students find tutors with the help of parents and Marlborough re-sources. Whether in need of stan-dardized testing or Marlborough course help, students are increas-ingly using tutors as they reach upper school.

see UNIFORM, page 10

see PARKING, page 4

Filled with over 14,000 women, the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women, hosted by California’s First Lady Maria Shriver and held at Long Beach Convention Center, had speakers like former British prime minister Tony Blair to actress Jamie Lee Curtis to Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. On Oct. 23, women from California, including twelve Marlborough girls, learned about

issues from the environment to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

This was the first year Marlborough girls were invited to attend the conference. Director of Community Service Laurie Brown chose girls who have exhibited leadership inside and outside Marlborough. These students participated in the Minerva Leadership Program (MLP), which was part of the Women’s Conference. The MLP is a special conference for 500 young

see CONFERENCE, page 4

The varsity tennis team won its tenth straight Sunshine League title and is moving onto the CIF-SS playoffs. Coached by Gunner Fox, the players are optimistic about repeating as CIF-SS champions.

SPORTS

see COMMISSIONER’S CUP, page 13

Marlborough is officially a sports powerhouse.

The school won the Commissioner’s Cup out of 570 schools, including Corona del Mar, making Marlborough the best girl’s athletic program in the CIF Southern Section. CIF-SS is Southern California’s biggest section.

The win comes almost ten years after Marlborough’s administration committed to revamping its athletic program to bring sports at the school to the same level as academics.

During the 2006-07 school year, Marlborough won titles in tennis, cross country, basketball, and track to win the Cup.

“We just pulled together the girls that we could and we had a really strong bond and I think that’s what pulled it off,” said all-school athletic representative Amanda. “It was really unexpected.”

Marlborough was initially tied with Corona del Mar for the Cup, which is based on a point system. Schools get five points for a divisional championship, three for being runner-up, two for going to the semifinals in a tournament where teams compete head-to-head or for winning third place in a tournament where teams compete as a group, and one point for fourth place in a group tournament. If need be, tie breakers are held for teams with equal cumulative points.

In the case of a tie, the team with

It’s 7:30 a.m., and cars are backed up on Arden, many waiting two cycles of the light in order to get their chance to

turn right onto Rossmore. Each space on Arden is already filled, and numerous cars are pulling into the Third Street parking lot. Some are teachers, some are parents dropping off students – which they are only supposed to do in the front of the school –

and others are student carpools, who often will find that spaces are gone by 7:35 a.m.

It’s somewhat hectic, and you might guess that part of the problem is the presence of new construction – two construction workers are landscaping in the area and a few trucks are parked on the far side of the lot, near the field.

But Auxiliary Services Manager Clinton Oie and Yolanda Jones, the post commander of the school’s security force, said the preliminary construction work for

the new Leadership in Learning Campaign has not changed the amount of parking spaces available to carpools.

Still, many students have claimed that the parking situation has gotten worse.

2 Friday, November 9, 2007News

Volume 38, Issue 2

Chicago becomes new destination for annual spring college tourBy Cassidy and Justine UV Staff

Marlborough’s annual college tour will include a stop in Chicago this year, which will eliminate visiting Washington D.C. The University of Chicago and Northwestern University, both located in Chicago, will be added to the list of colleges the students tour this year, while some colleges including Georgetown and Princeton will not be visited.

Monica Ward DePriest, associate director of college counseling, said the change was made to “keep it fresh.”

“We want to add new schools students would find interesting,” DePriest said.

“We’re always trying to make sure our list [of colleges] is broad – so we’re not just going to schools that all look the same,” said Director of Upper School Laura Hotchkiss.

DePriest believes the trip is a chance for students to bond and make memories, in addition to being educated about the different colleges available. For example, a Chicago-styled pizza party will be held to introduce the girls to Chicago.

“Our goal is to expose students to different options,” DePriest said. “College tour can help students realize what type of school they could be interested in.”

Hotchkiss agreed.“It’s a great way to see a lot of schools

in a short period of time that represent a range of schools. This is not the trip to pick the college you want to go to – it’s more of a trip to pick characteristics and qualities for a school you would like to go to.”

DePriest, who is one of the chaperones attending college tour, is excited about the Chicago stop. Chicago area colleges have

Haviv teaches Darfur 101By BrookeUV Staff

Middle school advisories wrote hundreds of postcards to refugee

children in Darfur on Oct. 26, capping off a week of activities for Darfur Awareness Week that began with all-school speaker Naama Haviv, project manager at Jewish World Watch.

The week, organized by Amy ’09, also included panel discussions, calling government officials, and an International Food lunch, which raised over $600.

Consciousness and student action over the genocide in Darfur continues to grow. For example, the Darfur Club, founded this year by Sheri ’08, has become an active part of the Marlborough community.

“The crisis in Darfur is one of the most imminent humanitarian crises of our century, and because we have little access to the region, I think few people have an idea of what is truly happening there,” Amy said. “Students have never really learned about the extent of the issue at school, so the Darfur Club decided to change that.”

Haviv discussed facts which led to the current conflict in Darfur. She also reported about present-day events because “a lot of changes are happening as we speak,” Haviv said.

“We’re here to help people digest information, make sense of an ultimately chaotic situation, and understand more clearly how to help and take action,” Haviv added.

She also spoke about ways students can get involved to help end the genocide. Haviv promoted a new Jewish World Watch program called ACT, an Activist Certification and Training program.

become more popular destinations for Marlborough graduates, who are excited to invite perspective students, DePriest said.

Hotchkiss and DePriest expect about 65 to 75 students to participate in the tour, which costs $2,190. The price includes airfare, hotel rooms, ground transportation, college visiting fees (such as meals on campus), materials (each student is given a notebook and other supplies), gratuity, and chaperones. Faculty chaperones will travel with the girls. So far, DePriest, Dr. Thomas Millar and Alison Moser are confirmed supervisors.

The students will be staying overnight in Boston, Chicago, Middletown, and New York and will visit Boston College, Boston

NEXT STOP: Marlborough girls will visit Chicago for the first time this spring on the school’s annual college tour, where they will see University of Chicago and Northwestern Universi-ty. The colleges the girls visit outside of Chicago are still subject to change. Graphic by Julie

University, Northwestern University, Tufts University, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, Vassar College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Yale University, Babson College or Emerson College, Columbia University or New York University, and Harvard or MIT.

Some sophomores who signed up for the tour are disappointed with the colleges they’ll be visiting, saying there aren’t enough Ivy Leagues.

“There’s lots of good liberal arts schools, but the mainstream schools are the ones we should be looking at,” said a sophomore who wished to remain anonymous.

“It’s kind of annoying that you have to choose between the two [MIT and Harvard University], but its good we get to spend time at some Ivy [League schools],” said Taylor ’10.

There are many students enthusiastic about the college tour changes and the trip in general.

“I’m excited. I’m glad we’re going to Chicago,” said Casey ’10, who wants to visit Northwestern University because both her parents attended the school.

“I think I’m more excited about the east coast than the colleges themselves,” said Evelyne ’10. “It’s just a different scenery.”

Linda ’10 said that a benefit of the college tour is that it is “an opportunity to learn how to take care of myself.”

Students will not be visiting Johns Hopkins U., George Washington U., Georgetown U., Swarthmore College, Haverford College, Barnard College, Princeton U., and Trinity College (CT) this year.

DePriest plays an important role in the college tour process by consulting with Dr. Susan Lewandowski, director of college counseling, and Hotchkiss. Together they plot out different tour routes, taking into consideration cities to visit, hotels, and bus companies, among other things. DePriest keeps a notebook of trip components that is referenced in order to constantly improve the college tour.

She is looking forward to getting to know the sophomores.

“It’s good to have the opportunity to interact with sophomores before they start the college process in junior and senior year,” DePriest said. “It’s good to see a different side of the girls: relaxed.”

In a Sept. 27 article about the var-sity volleyball team, The UV incorrectly reported the number of members on last year’s team who graduated in 2007. The correct number is two.

In addition, the paper incorrectly identified one of the members of the new varsity golf team, Kathryn, and incorrectly spelled the last name of contributing writer Ileana.

Dr. Francine R. Kaufman, director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center, author of “Diabesity,” and head of the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, brought up mixed feelings among the students and teachers with her speech at an all-school meeting on diabetes on Oct. 1.

The prominent pediatric endocrinologist spoke about obesity, diabetes, health, and eating disorders, with a slideshow to supplement the speech. Many of the students greeted the cartoon Kaufman called “our Paleolithic ancestor” with “mocking laughter,” said Alessandra ’10, as Kaufman connected Marlborough students’ eating habits with his.

“Childhood obesity is an epidemic in this country and we thought that addressing it was important – and Dr. Kaufman is one of the leading experts in the field,” said English instructor Dr. Reid Cottingham. “Her name had been batted around as a possible assembly speaker for a long time.”

Kaufman presented trends of obesity

in Japan, the U.S.A. and Australia. She also talked briefly about different trends of obesity among different races.

Kaufman said today’s adolescents watch an average amount of three to five hours of television a day and suggested that they cut down “screen time” to one hour a day. Kaufman also suggested that students walk around their neighborhood, or if a student’s neighborhood is not suited for exercise, to “take a bus to a safer neighborhood and exercise there,” Kaufman said.

“She didn’t realize that people aren’t always able to catch a bus to another neighborhood,” said Athena ’11.

An important point Kaufman made was that there is “not just the increase in fast foods and junk foods, but the depletion of physical activity and P.E. classes around the nation,” said physical education instructor Tinka Brown. Brown said these two factors contribute to the growing unhealthiness of those living in the United States.

Another important point from the speech that students should remember is the “difference between the diverse types of sugar or how our body uses fuel, and the extreme importance of exercise for all of us, no matter what age [they] are,” Brown said.

Kaufman hinted that Marlborough was promoting unhealthiness with its vending machines containing soda, candy, chips, and ice cream.

“She did express the importance of diet and exercise,” Brown said. “I wished she would have explained more about the physiology of this disease so that everyone could understand it better.” She added

Diabetes speech prompts upsetBy JennyUV Staff

“Young people are perhaps the most important players in the movement to end the genocide in Darfur because their passion and enthusiasm is unparalleled,” Haviv said.

English instructor Dr. Reid Cottingham hoped to create student interest in Darfur with the assembly.

“We hope not only to offer a powerful, stimulating assembly on Darfur but also to spark student interest in the Jewish World Watch youth advocacy programs,” said Cottingham, who is in charge of organizing assemblies.

She added, “I think there’s always a need for student awareness – if not action – particularly about devastating global issues that perhaps don’t affect Marlborough’s day-to-day functioning, but certainly affect so many human beings in other parts of the world on a daily basis.”

Haviv’s speech urged some students to improve Darfur’s situation.

“The Darfur assembly was very informative and somewhat persuaded me to start getting involved in organizations like the Jewish World Watch,” said Madeline ’10.

However, Amy still thinks more can be done.

“I think the school could afford to be a little more blunt about this particular issue, and place more of an emphasis on twenty-first century education,” Amy said.

She added, “Knowing about current affairs in general is crucial; and because Marlborough is preparing us for leadership, knowing about the world we live in-and the problems that our generation will take on is a fundamental step towards progress. The first step in changing the world is to understand it.”See DIABETES, page 6

Dr. Kaufman speaks about the dangers of diabetes

CORRECTIONS

r

News 3Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Despite the Acceptable Use Policy’s ban on the use of any online social networking sites on campus for the past several years, as well as this year’s specific ban of Facebook, administrators in October said they were forced to block school access to the popular social networking site.

“It was putting a drain on our technical resources [the computer labs and access to the Internet], and they are meant firstly for academic purposes,” said Head of Technology Ida Dahan.

Many students, like Stephanie ’08, are not happy with the ban.

“If we decide to waste time reading comments and looking at pictures, we should have the right to do so,” Stephanie said. “Marlborough should be there to advise us to make the right choices with our time, but not try and filter out something that we want [and sometimes need] to escape from the pressures of a rigorously academic school.”

A copy of the school’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is sent home to students during the summer, along with other rules and regulations. However, some students, like Stephanie, do not read what they are signing. Many students scribble their signature when their parents say “sign here.” This leaves them ignorant of the rules, and unprepared to accept the consequences when the rules are broken.

School blocks students’ access to By Brooke UV Staff

Cutting paper use turns out to be double-sided argument

Across Marlborough’s campus, many teachers have begun using the Internet for assignments and syllabi as part of the school’s effort to “go green,” with students no longer getting paper handouts.

Head of School Barbara Wagner has asked employees to reduce monthly paper usage at the copy machines by ten percent. Results for September were unclear because this is the first year paper usage is being tracked on a month-by-month basis. Despite teachers’ efforts, staff made 148,461 copies from Sept. 11 to Oct. 8, a higher number this time of year potentially caused by necessary copying for the beginning of the year. This number was significantly higher than the monthly average last year of 137,000 copies, the only number available. Regardless, numerous teachers are passing out less paper, though opinions vary as to how this will affect the students and the paper count.

Catherine Atwell, who teaches AP World and Honors History Seminar, is one of the teachers who has taken significant steps to reducing paper use. These two classes typically have a lot of handouts, and she estimates that she has already saved several 500-sheet reams by putting class material online.

Alison Moser, math instructor, has put assignment sheets online for all three of her classes, and even in cases when she does need to handout paper, she does everything she can to minimize the sheets.

“Instead of copying each day’s notes separately, if one day has an odd number of sides, I copy with it the next day’s notes, and even the following day’s if necessary to make sure I don’t hand out any paper with a blank side,” Moser said.

Moser also encourages students to recycle their own used paper.

“I allow homework to be turned in

on scratch paper, even if it’s an expired posting on the wall,” Moser said.

Despite the efforts of Atwell, Moser and other teachers to put materials online, many students continue to print out assignment sheets and other material at home.

“This hasn’t changed much for me. Instead of printing out materials at school, I am still printing out materials at home,” said Arielle ’10.

One reason for that, students said, is that the material is easier to read on paper. Another is that not everyone has a computer with them at all times, and students said they prefer to be able to look at the material whenever they need to.

Dr. John Langdon, history and social sciences instructor, believes that students need to have their information for class in front of them at all times, whether that be digitized or in paper.

“Time here is leveraged into 42-minute sessions so students need to come in, ready to work,” Langdon said. “If the campus went wireless, and everyone brought in their laptops, then we could reverse this process [of paper consumption].”

Atwell said that some students have complained that reading texts on the computer is hard on their eyes. Students also said that if they don’t print out the material at home, then they won’t have the text for their class.

Moser said printing at home is the student’s decision but she hopes that students will try to be eco-friendly.

Julie ’09 said individuals can make a difference. Julie, who is in one of Moser’s classes, does her math homework on scratch paper. If she has to print something, she tries to minimize paper use.

“As a rule, I don’t print out the online assignment sheets. And if I have to print out a handout or particular file, I change the printer settings to print two pages on one sheet of paper,” Julie said. “The math

IN REACH: Though more classes offer assignments and notes online, many stu-dents want the information right in front of them in hard copy. Photo by Colleen

1 - 17%2 - 17%3 - 30%

homework part is really supported by Moser; she even takes down expired flyers from around campus for students to use.”

Even making double-sided copies isn’t always as easy as it might seem.

“I try to do everything double-sided, however, the ultimate oxymoron is that I have my students write on only one side of the paper for in-class essay tests because the ink bleeds through,” said English instructor Amita Walia-Fazio.

Not all printers at the school allow for double-siding anyway. Ida Dahan, head of the technology department, said the school is still in the process of converting to more paper-friendly printers, especially in computer labs and other high-traffic computer areas. Some printers on campus have duplexing capabilities, but those are

By Megan UV Staff

It’s just so tempting. -Rosie ’10

”“

found only in a few administrative offices. As for the copiers, some teachers say

that making double-sided copies tends to make them overheat and jam.

And even when those smaller problems are resolved, there can still be larger questions to ask. Nicholas Aieta, chairman of the history department, pointed out the complex nature of being eco-friendly.

“Of course, the other side of the argument might be to explore what’s more eco-friendly: printing material or posting it on websites that require electricity to be accessed? This electricity is gained by burning coal or what have you. It’s a long detailed problem.”

The goal for next month, Wagner said, is to reduce Marlborough’s paper count by ten percent so the paper count would be 133,615.

Still clicking “Print”

The AUP is a document that sets out the policies, rules and guidelines for the use of technology at Marlborough.

“It is part of the Student Handbook of Expectations and when a Marlborough student signs the Understanding and Honor pledge, she is agreeing to follow the rules that are in the AUP,” Dahan said.

Still, some accept responsibility.“I personally don’t read the papers

before signing, but I don’t think that gives me or anyone an excuse for breaking the rules. If I break them, even if I was too lazy to read about them, it’s my fault,” Stephanie said.

Dahan said if students do not abide by the AUP, it not only affects the school’s technical resources, but other students who need the computers to do work.

“If there are 10 seniors in a computer lab enjoying themselves on Facebook, and a seventh grader comes in to use a computer to finish a homework assignment, what do you think happens?” Dahan said.

“[The administration] feels they need to protect you from the sense of not being able to balance your time,” said school counselor Emily Vaughn.

Although All-School President Jordan understands the need for regulation, she

has mixed feelings about the ban.“I know that it’s better if I don’t go

on throughout the day, but it’s frustrating that our freedom to navigate the web is inhibited,” Jordan said.

Although Vaughn is concerned that students may divulge too much personal information online and post inappropriate pictures on Facebook, she said, “distraction is more of an issue than safety.”

Jordan agrees that Facebook is a distraction.

“Facebook is detrimental to the amount of homework I do every night. It’s such an easy, guilt-free way to get sidetracked and procrastinate on my work,” Jordan said. “I promise myself I won’t check it compulsively, but when an e-mail pops up that I have a new comment or friend request, I immediately click on it.”

Rosie ’10 said the school shouldn’t block Facebook.

“I did spend a lot of time on Facebook during frees looking at everyone’s pictures and critiquing them with my friends,” Rosie said. “It’s just so tempting. But I think it’s a personal choice, and the school shouldn’t be involved in taking away such a distraction.”

In fact, students said Facebook has some school-related benefits.

“Facebook has been really helpful to me in terms of researching colleges. I can click on different colleges, and statistics about each university come up,” Jordan said.

Dahan said in the future the school might set up some limited access to allow students to search colleges on Facebook.

Facebook can also be seen as a communication tool. Students may check their Facebook more regularly than e-mail. In the future, assignment sheets could be posted on Facebook. Also, teachers would be able to send messages more quickly.

“Over time we will have to consider the question: are we communicating with students in the most effective way?” Director of Upper School Laura Hotchkiss said.

Students should be advised that should they ignore the new rule by finding alternative websites to log onto Facebook, handbook violations will be issued as well as a reprimand from Dahan, Hotchkiss, or Director of Middle School Robert Bryan.

The AUP doesn’t just affect social networking sites, Dahan said. It also prohibits using a site like YouTube for entertainment purposes during the day.

That means that learning how to do the “Crank That” dance in the middle of the day is not allowed, but if used for educational purposes, such as a video viewed for science class, it is allowed.

Dahan said the technology department has not seen a need to block YouTube

Many classes offer materials online, a UV poll found, but students still print the info at home.

How many of your classes have a website offering materials online?

4 - 20%5 - 13%More - 3%

- out of 169 responses

How often do you use class websites with-out printing the page?

Always - 9%Sometimes - 61%Never - 30%

- out of 223 responses

4 Friday, November 9, 2007News

Volume 38, Issue 2

The Presidential BriefingBy LorraineUV Staff

College essay workshop created for seniors

As seniors send early deci-sion applications and move to-wards regular decision applica-tions, college admission advisors agree that the quality of writing has increased due to the writing workshops that were conducted in August and October.

Associate Director of College Counseling Monica DePriest and English instructor Eliot Sloan, who both taught during the work-shops, were really impressed by the improvement in the seniors’ quality of writing.

“I think it was a launching point for the entire college appli-cation process,” DePriest said.

Sloan also said that many seniors expressed thanks to her for the workshop because it was helpful in reducing stress.

Marlborough’s first-ever se-nior college essay workshop was created and held over the summer at Marlborough from Aug. 15-17, with a follow-up session on Sept. 28 to teach students what the per-sonal essay is and to get ahead on writing them. The session during September was for students who were unable to attend the sum-mer session and for students who wanted to review.

DePriest came up with the idea, which was backed by Direc-tor of Upper School Laura Hotch-kiss, Director of College Coun-seling Susan Lewandowski, and Head of School Barbara Wagner.

The workshop was created because of the “increasing com-petitive market of college admis-sions,” DePriest said. “It’s hard for students to distinguish them-selves.”

By BrianneUV Staff

The purpose of the course was to “help [Marlborough] stu-dents feel much more confident in starting the essay process and application process,” Sloan said.Sloan has published her own per-sonal essays.

The teachers who taught at the camp were Los Angeles writ-ing coach Elena DeVos, Sloan and Alexis ’97.

On the last day of the work-shop, former college admissions officers who work at Marlbor-

It’s hard for students to distinguish themselves.

-Monica DePriest, on personal essays

”

“

PARKING, continued from cover

women between the ages of 16 and 22 who have performed a significant amount of community service.

The Women’s Foundation participated in the First Lady’s Conference, and asked Brown to nominate ten young women leaders who participate actively in their community.

Because the Marlborough Student Charitable Fund (MSCF) is under the umbrella of the Women’s Foundation, Brown first asked those girls to attend. However, Brown also chose other girls who did community service for a long time. Although the Conference asked for only ten girls, Brown managed to fit in two more.

The girls who attended the conference were Lauren ’08, Amy ’09, Amanda ’09, Molly ’09, Isabel ’08, Zoe ’09, Lorraine ’08, Asha ’08, Gabby ’08, Jordan ’08, Sophia ’09, and Ali ’09.

“I was amazed to see a huge number of people, and I really liked the interview between Thomas Friedman [“New York Times” columnist] and Tony Blair,” Zoe said.

However, there were also downsides to the women’s conference.

Brown said some parts of the program needed to be reorganized. For example, Brown thought the Minerva Awards, which are awards given to women who dedicate themselves to a huge commitment, should have been the “heart and soul” of the program.

The Minerva Awards were given at the very end of the conference, when many people had already left.

“The Minerva Awards had incredibly successful women who were not famous, not rich, and don’t have bank accounts working for them. They are determined and intelligent, and they accomplished amazing things,” Brown said.

Brown thought the conference was a positive experience for the participants.

“This is a great opportunity for them to voyage into the real world,” Brown said.

CONFERENCE, continued from cover

Is Al Gore running for President? He says no.

Democrats have been urging him to run again since 2000 but the pressure has hit a new high following his Nobel Peace Prize win for his work on raising awareness about global warming.

Yet his answer hasn’t wavered. “I have no intention to run for president. I can’t imagine any circumstance to run for office again,” Gore said in a widely reported response. But that doesn’t mean everyone’s listening.

Gore has more experience in the Senate and the White House than Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and he opposed the Iraq War when he ran in 2000. And on top of that, he’s now a Hollywood celebrity with an Oscar. Many believe he could and should easily gain the support necessary to be a frontrunner in the election.

Numerous websites have popped up, begging Gore to run.

According to www.algore-08.com, a new Zogby International poll sponsored by the site, the former Vice President is favored over current Democratic frontrunners Clinton (22 percent) and Obama (25 percent). Gore has 35 percent. The site www.

Caricature by Julie

ough were available for individu-al conferences. The officers were DePriest, Associate Director of Communications Urmi Kar, Le-wandowski, and Director of Ad-missions Jeanette Woo Chitjian, who worked at Occidental Col-lege, Whittier College, Smith College and Pomona College re-spectively.

During the workshop, the students performed different ex-ercises focused on brainstorming topics for the essay.

Students wrote and edited rough drafts and tried to develop good writing technique and ex-press their voice. Students also critiqued sample essays.

Since the essay is one of the few opportunities applicants have

to distinguish themselves, “the essay is one of those chances to provide committed time to the essay and jump-start the applica-tion season,” DePriest said. “We had to provide them with enough content so it’s meaningful, but not too intense.”

Sloan said the most difficult part in writing a personal essay is being sincere while drawing in the audience.

“Being truly honest, true to yourself as a writer, and yet feel-ing the pressure to appeal to the audience – it’s a hard balance to strike,” Sloan said.

Sloan hopes the students will take away a variety of things, in-cluding discovering their writing voice and having and idea of po-tential essay topics.

Sloan said the camp “took away procrastination and fear. They were forced to start writ-ing so it makes the application process less frightening and com-petitive.”

Seniors Kathryn and Caro-line attended the summer session.

Kathryn wanted to attend the camp because she hadn’t started her essay.

“I didn’t know the format of the essay, and I needed help to make it creative and form ideas, to make it appropriate. I wanted some guidance,” Kathryn said. “It was a stress reliever. I learned more organization and to get rid of little details,” she added.

The hardest part in writing the personal essay for Barron was actually writing it.

“It was okay to pick a topic, but hard to convey who I am,” she said.

draftgore.com asks visitors to sign a petition convincing Gore, “the conscience of the Democratic party,” to run. The site’s plea reads, “The next presidential election will be the most crucial one in our history, and you are the only Democrat who can unite the country and lead us to victory.” It adds, “And this country – indeed, the entire world – cannot afford anything less.”

But on Gore’s website, there is no mention of the word “president,” only a “Live Earth Pledge” asking users to agree to actions like carpooling or using mass transit once a week.

Just before The UV’s last issue, the Rasmussen Report (a

daily tracking poll of presidential candidates) showed Fred Thompson as the leading Republican with 27 percent, while Rudy Giuliani followed him at 19 percent.

However, Thompson seems to have lost steam, as Giuliani moves to the front of the pack with 24 percent. Thompson is now behind a few points of Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

Why is Giuliani moving up? One supporter quoted in New Hampshire’s “Concord Monitor” gave one possible clue after Giuliani said the country needs to be willing to go to war with Iran.

“He’s a mean son of a bitch, and that’s exactly what we need,” said Betty Larson of Amherst.

“If I leave early enough, I can usually get a spot, but by 7:36 it’s completely chaotic,” said Harriet ’09 about the Third Street parking lot.

“There may be the same number of spaces, but there are definitely more juniors driving than last year, which makes parking terrible,” said Sheri ’08.

Jones also said she thinks that more students are driving this year. She also said security’s new badge system, under which all parents and guests must sign in before they park, has slowed down traffic entering the lot.

Upper School assistant Laura Morrison, who handles carpool applications, said she doesn’t think that significantly more carpools are competing for the spaces. She and Oie said there have been more meetings this year that include visitors, who can affect carpool spaces.

Spanish instructor Eric Reinholtz said that although lack of parking is a growing problem, it is an issue that the school recognizes, and why underground parking is part of the upcoming construction, which will increase parking by 65 spaces.

“Parking is not a crisis, but it has grown to a point of irritation,” Reinholtz said.

Because of the limited space, only students with carpools have permission to park in the Third Street lot adjacent to the field before 8:45 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. After that, the lot is open to all registered drivers if any of the 142 spots in the lot remain. Students are also allowed to park on the west side of Arden between Second and Third streets, on Rossmore, and on Muirfield. Parking is prohibited on all other streets east of campus. All student parking on and off campus requires a permit, and only seniors and juniors are allowed to drive to

school. The parking arrangements were an agreement between the neighborhood and school.

Because of the limited parking, spots are given according to carpools, but some juniors argue that the rule is unfair. Students who live in Hancock Park who carpool to school get a spot in the lot while students who live miles away aren’t able to park in the Third Street lot.

“Parking should be based on distance,” said Natasha ’09.

One more reason the lot fills up quickly, said some students, is because when security guards are busy with the morning traffic, which includes construction vehicles, some students have been able to sneak on to the lot, even when they are not part of a carpool.

Jones, however, said guards check all parked cars to make sure they are registered.

Parking off campus is also a major problem. Students often don’t parallel park close enough to each other, which wastes space, Sheri said. On Tuesdays, it is even harder to find parking because both Muirfield and Arden have street cleaning. Also, some parents temporarily take up spaces on Rossmore while they drop off their daughters.

Jones said that guards have received some attitude from students, faculty and parents because of the difficulty of finding spaces, but that it could be worse.

“Last year we had a lot of attitude. It’s better this year,” Jones said. She said this is mainly a result of the new senior class.

Still, this year Oie and Jones placed a new sign in the lot. The sign is meant to remind students they need to show respect, but is mainly for humor, Jones said. It states: “ATTITUDE IS PROHIBITED.”

Community 5Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

This summer Diana ’08 illustrated a book about reflections from parents and children on the sacrifices they needed to make during the college admissions process.

Written in Cantonese, the book title roughly translates into “Teaching the Child is Not Easy,” Diana said. Diana worked at the Hong Kong publishing company, CUP Magazine Publishing Ltd., which publishes books and a weekly and monthly magazine.

“Even though I was asked to provide a portfolio of work, I didn’t expect to do anything except help out the art director by getting him coffee, at most helping out with layouting and cropping of images for the upcoming magazine,” Diana said. “It was really surprising when he told me that I was going to illustrate an actual book.”

Seniors Aiden, Lauren, Sarah, and Jane have been named semifinalists for The National Merit Scholarship Foundation. Semifinalists are based on scores for the PSAT. Finalists will also be based on faculty recommendations, and Director of College Counseling Dr. Susan Lewandowski said she expects all four students to achieve finalist status.

In addition, 15 seniors were commended in the national merit program.

The national Hispanic scholar finalists are Luisa ’08, Ivy ’08, and Elizabeth ’08.

Rachel ’08 was a semi-finalist in the Siemens competition for her research over the last 16 months on the role of Importins and Cargo Proteins in Memory and Learning.

Sacha ’10 won the Congressional Award Bronze Medal, which was presented by Congressman Henry Waxman. The award required voluntary public service, personal development,

physical therapy, expedition and exploration, and a minimum number of service hours. To qualify Sacha volunteered at Say

and Play Speech Therapy Camp, improved her sight singing and tuning, improved her 100m breast stroke time and traveled around England only by the metro.

Alice ’11 took a first place prize at the 45th Annual Southwestern Youth Music Festival (SYMF). She won with her performance of a Bach Prelude BMV 848 and a Chopin waltz, op. 34 no.1 at the August competition.

It was Alice’s fifth time competing at SYMF, where she previously received two first place awards, two second place awards and one third place award.

Evelyne ’10 participated in Miss High Teen Korea, which was hosted by RadioKorea, in September. Evelyne decided to take part in this annual pageant when she was approached by a pageant coach in the mall.

“I learned not to judge people, and that pageants are a lot more than looking pretty. It actually requires a lot of work, physical and mental,” Evelyne said.

She won Ms. Congeniality and Ms. Korean America, and was fifth runner-up.

Washington and La Cienega boulevards lead to Culver City at the crossroads of the Los Angeles art community. Park directly on the street, by the Laundromat-cafés and coffee shops, and explore the area. This location sums up the essence of L.A.: eclectic, diverse, and thought-provoking.

Those who do not look closely while driving down La Cienega might miss the galleries. They are the hidden gems of Los Angeles’ art world. The colorful art reflects the district’s edgy ambiance. Some galleries resemble warehouses, while inconspicuous entrances make others difficult to locate. The art district is separated from the overall industrial Culver City by the span of two boulevards spotted with galleries and outdoor cafés.

Those who do not seek out art may assign rigid and traditional connotations to artwork. However, Culver City proves that “art” does not have to be a pretentious exhibit of paintings, guarded by a uniformed security officer. The Culver City art district abounds with fresh, flavorful and offbeat pieces that reject the conformity of a stuffy fifteen-dollar admission museum.

Visitors will receive a taste of the artists’ perspective by stopping in and experiencing the artwork. Each gallery is drastically different from its neighbor, so visitors are able to take in numerous kinds

artwork in one afternoon. The Cardwell Jimmerson gallery offers a collection of monochrome paintings from Ad Reinhardt to the present day. At first, the paintings seem simple, but upon close examination visitors will find the outstanding amount of precision and intricate details involved in the pieces.

The “Wilting Wonder” exhibit offered by “The Lab 101 Gallery” is an exhibition of edgy, provoking and sometimes disturbing comic-esque drawings. Another choice, The Koplin Del Rio gallery, shows Peter Zokosky’s collection of monkey paintings. His clever and witty style is portrayed especially in “Pearl,” a painting of a chimpanzee in the same pose as Vermeer’s “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Look closely at the chimp’s ear to find “the earring,” a small spot of white light.

The art of the galleries beckons the passerby to stop in. However, in a span of two hours, dozens of people briskly walked the two streets, ducking in and out of the Laundromats and liquor stores, seemingly unaware of the galleriest. It shows how local and blended the art is with the pulse of the city.

The owners of the galleries are knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming to all visitors. Not only interested in people looking to buy, the owners are happy to have younger art advocates and students visit. They are attached to the art and find joy in describing it. They are still on the job, though, so be prepared to be encouraged to buy.

The district showcases cutting-edge, unconventional work that challenges the question, “What is art?”

Exploring LA: Culver City GalleriesBy Sophie UV Staff

Accomplishments around campus

By BrianneUV Staff

HIDDEN GEMS: Postcards advertise the Fraser gallery (above) and Lab 101 Gallery’s “Wilting Wonders” exhibit. Over one dozen galleries are open to the public in Culver City near the crossroads of Washington and La Cienega boulevards.

On the first day of school, Georgia ’10 watched as other sophomores shared each other’s summer stories on the field. Unlike many other students who come to Marlborough in seventh, eighth or ninth grade, Georgia entered Marlborough this year as a tenth grader. And, on top of attending a new school, she is experiencing life in a new country.

Georgia, whose mother is a diplomat, moved this June from Toronto, Canada. Moving is nothing new to Georgia, who is originally from Australia but has lived in Tokyo, and now, Los Angeles.

Adjusting to a new school has been “pretty hard,” Georgia said. In addition to entering Marlborough in tenth grade, Georgia has had to adjust to the large workload. However, she attributes the amount of work to the fact that she is in a higher grade now.

“Going into grade ten is already a huge change,” Georgia said. However, she noticed early on that there was a strong sense of community at Marlborough.

Georgia moves from Australia, Japan and Canada to U.S.By Julia UV Staff

“The first day was really overwhelming. I didn’t know anyone,” Georgia said. “It was good after that.”

Previously, Georgia attended Havergal College, an all-girls school in Toronto. Though Havergal and Marlborough are both all-girls’ schools, Georgia said there are differences.

Her old school was more formal, Georgia said. At Marlborough, “the assemblies are free in the sense that people aren’t afraid to stand up and ask questions.”

In assemblies at Havergal, students did not have question time.

“The assemblies are crazy compared to that, which is a good thing,” Georgia said.

She also said that at Marlborough, everyone has higher expectations, and that some students at her old school were happy when they received a “B” grade.

“There is more pressure on students going to Marlborough,” Georgia said.

She also pointed out some similarities. For instance, Marlborough and her old school are around the same size.

Though she has not yet experienced

all of Marlborough’s traditions, she has heard about the banner presentation and ring ceremony.

Georgia also got a taste of the Honor Code at this year’s Honor Day.

“It really made me aware of the honor code,” Georgia said.

At her old school, students weren’t allowed to leave their bags in the hallways. Similarly to Marlborough, though, students did not need bathroom passes.

Georgia applied to a few other private high schools in Los Angeles, but ultimately decided to attend Marlborough, even though she didn’t know a lot about it.

“I just got a good feeling,” Georgia said. “When I made the choice, I was apprehensive, but now that I’ve started, I’m sure it was the right choice.”

Even though she is happy to be at Marlborough, she still loves and misses her old school.

Loane has also had to adjust to living in Los Angeles. In every other place she has lived, it took only ten minutes or less to drive to school. Now it takes her thirty minutes to drive to Marlborough from

The 53rd Annual Father-Daughter Picnic was held at UCLA’s Sunset Canyon Recreational Center on Oct. 7.

This year Seth (Maya ’12) donated prizes ranging from DVDs to a night at the Luxe Hotel for the raffle.

Vance (Vanessa ’03, Courtney ’09 and Haley ’13) was the emcee for this year’s picnic, making this his sixth year helping out.

He said the biggest difference this year was reinstating the egg toss, which was allowed this year because the picnic was held on a grassy area instead of Harvard-Westlake’s astroturf.

“The most laughter and the highest point of the day was the eggtoss,” Vance said.

“I think this is a great event, and it was a huge success,” Seth said.Another highlight of the picnic was when Nikki ’08 won the prize

for telling the best joke and decided to share the prize with a seventh grader who had the second loudest applause for her joke. Nikki, who won a $50.00 iTunes gift card and two Jay Leno tickets, decided to keep the iTunes gift card and give the tickets to the seventh grader.

- By Meg, UV Staff

53rd Father-Daughter picnic

BOARDWALK: Mark and Carlyle ’09 use teamwork and muscles to accomplish the boardwalk challenge. The board-walk is a long-standing tradition at the father-daugh-ter picnic. Photo courtesy of the Public Relations Office

6 Friday, November 9, 2007Community

Volume 38, Issue 2

You can help home-less children like these. Among other things, families have received assistance with securing perma-nent employment and stable housing, allow-ing them to gain self-sufficiency. Take part in the Homewalk 5K walk for the homeless on Nov. 17 from 8:30

a.m. - 12 p.m. at Exposition Park. For more information, visit HomeWalkLA.org.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer

EATING OUT: Jordan ’08 and her dad eat at a soup kitchen as part of a national conference on the issue of homelessness. Photo courtesy of Jordan

By JordanUV Contributor

On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007, I had the honor of being homeless. This might sound ridiculous. How does a privileged Marlborough girl like me become homeless? And why is it an honor?

I’ve worked with my family at a homeless shelter called People Assisting the Homeless, also known as P.A.T.H., since seventh grade. Recently, P.A.T.H. asked my dad and me to simulate a homeless father and daughter who’d just been evicted and began their search for food and shelter for the day. The project was part of a national conference on the issue of homelessness.

Dressed in plain clothing, with ten dollars and a backpack stuffed with homework posing as my sole possession, my dad and I began our day at 8 a.m. We were dropped off near Alhambra, so we went to the Alhambra City Hall assuming that a city hall could provide us with some guidance. With some persistence, we finally found someone we could talk to. The lady was nice, but couldn’t be of much help. She gave us an outdated list of shelters, some of which were on the opposite end of Los Angeles County, and wouldn’t even let us use the phone, instead directing us to a payphone down the block. We called the Department of Social Services at the recommendation of the list and the case worker who answered said she could help us find beds if we went to her office in El Monte (where

we’d then wait three hours). Or, we could head to Pasadena where we were guaranteed a meal, but only if we made it in time. Because there was no assurance of housing in El Monte, we decided to take the bus to Pasadena. After missing our first bus, we barely made it to the shelter in time for lunch. The shepherd’s pie and frozen peas alone were enough of an experience for me to realize how harsh and debilitating homelessness can be. We had to face the choice between food and shelter, just like thousands have to do everyday. It’s horrible that a family should ever have to make that decision. As the day progressed, the shocks continued. My dad and I, along with the other conference attendees, had no idea how difficult, confusing and daunting the aid system would be to navigate.

There are plenty of resources out there to serve the homeless. There are hundreds of shelters and food pantries just like P.A.T.H., but the problem is that people don’t know about them. What would you do if you lost your home? Where would you turn? On Nov. 17, there is a city-wide “Homewalk” to help the homeless. There are over 88,000 homeless people every night. Will you walk for one of them? Join me and the Marlborough team and do your part to end homelessness.

Homewalk: Saturday, Nov. 17, Exposition Park, information at www.HomeWalkLA.org

The day I became homeless

Seniors trapped at MILK due to bomb scareBy SophieUV Staff

Four seniors got more than they bargained for when going out to lunch at “Milk” on Beverly and Pointsettia on Oct. 8.

Due to a bomb scare across the street, Sarah, Katie , Meg and Rachel were forced to stay at the restaurant in a “lockdown” until the bomb squad said that a suspicious package hanging over the walk sign outside the Shaarei Temple was unthreatening.

“When we got there, we saw a cop car outside and a few policemen directing traffic, but didn’t think anything of it,” Sarah said.

When the seniors inquired what was going on, the policewoman seemed unconcerned, they said.

However, over the course of their lunch, more police cars

arrived at the scene. “There was a manila

envelope with graffiti at the location,” said a spokesperson

Marlborough’s Community Service Column

Hearty Turkey Lasagna2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion) 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 pound lasagna noodles 15 ounces ricotta cheese 3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled 1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.Heat the olive oil in a large (10- to 12-inch) skillet.

Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9- by 12- by 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, half the ricotta, and one third of the sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

*All recipes borrowed from Foodnetwork.com

It has been a while since I have been able to escape into the world of cooking. With the new school year came college applications and an infinite sea of homework (not to mention the added stress of having to motivate oneself at the beginning of each new school year). Finally, though, the past few weeks I’ve been able to cook up some delicious dishes. We’re finally through the musty, hazy days of the fire, and fall is beginning to blow its leaves in our direction. Here is one of my favorite fall recipes.

DIABETES, continued from page 2

She did not have the right target ...

-Erika Leon ’08, on speaker Francine Kaufman

”“

We were laughing, but in a nervous, ‘maybe-this-isn’t-just-a-scare’ kind of way.

- Sarah Krinsky ’08

”“

for the Wilshire Community Police Station.

“There were five or six police cars, two fire trucks, and the bomb squad truck. The whole area was taped off,” Katie said. “We were going to leave as soon as we finished eating, but a cop came inside and told us not to leave. He locked the front door of the restaurant.”

“The policemen said we could be in there for up to two hours, so we called the school. It was only us, two other customers, and the employees at the restaurant,” Sarah said. “We were laughing, but in a nervous, ‘maybe-this-isn’t-just-a-scare’

that Kaufman should have talked more about the long term dangers of diabetes, how progressive it is and how it is in epidemic proportion.

“U.S. statistics are quite shocking when you look at the increase in obesity, diabetes [in adults], and especially the effect on our youth today, especially in public schools,” Brown said.

Although the subject matter of the nation’s health is a prominent issue, many of the students found it difficult to take Kaufman’s delivery of her thoughts on the matter seriously.

Some students thought the suggestions Kaufman made were “unrealistic,” said Stephanie Smith ’11.

The students were also divided on what to think of Kaufman’s speech.

“I understood her point and the presentation was forceful,” said Amy ’11.

However, Carter ’10 said she “didn’t think [Kaufman] presented the information in a way that was interesting or

relatable.”Some students thought

Kaufman’s suggestions would be hard to incorporate into their lives, and that the animations were more fitting for a lower age group.

“I agree with the statistics, but she was being completely unrealistic,” said Erika ’08. “She

did not have the right target, and the slideshow with the little funny animations was something no one would take seriously.”

The teachers seemed to understand Kaufman’s speech more than the students did.

“I think her speech was very powerful, if only because it got

people thinking about their own nutritional intake, their physical activities, and the fact that these two issues – healthy food and physical exercise – are actually privileges for many children in this country and beyond,” Cottingham said. “To me, the assembly was about making smart choices in many areas of your life.”

Kaufman had a positive effect on some students.

Some students said they were impelled to work out after eating Pie N’ Burger, which was brought to the school a day after Kaufman’s speech.

“She kept on saying, ‘This is not about how you look,’ but it seemed like she did focus on body image. I chose frozen yogurt for lunch just to spite her,” Alessandra said.

Brown said Kaufman’s speech was interesting, but that “some information was vague and needed more detail for better understanding.”

Shannon ’10 thought Kaufman’s speech was a bit unrelatable, but that it “contained

Community 7Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Teacher Baby BoomCan you guess whose babies these are??? Look for answers at the bottom of the page!

Compiled by Ali, UV Staff

Marlborough mom, new librarian returns to collegeBy AmandaUV Staff

Faculty coming and goingBy Brianne UV Staff

Answers to baby photos: A- Jada Banner, B- Callum Donnelly Aieta, C- Jackson Day, D- Dallan Krewatch, E- Luke and Gracie Uribe and F- Kylen Parker

This was a busy year for six teachers because of new additions to their families!

Parents’ night of classes a successBy Jenny UV Staff

Back in July 2003, a trivial fight Stacy had with step-daughter Vanessa, who had just graduated from Marlborough, turned out to be a life-changing experience for the older Stacy. She said she learned something very significant: Vanessa was able to eloquently and articulately defend her argument, while Stacy had to give up because Vanessa had counterarguments to each of her points.

“Vanessa could defend her points beautifully, and I remember thinking, ‘she’s already on top.’ After realizing this, I definitely wanted the other two, Courtney and Haley, to have the same Marlborough experience,” Stacy said.

So Stacy sent daughters Courtney ’09 and Haley ’13 onto Marlborough as well, but she also

did something for herself. Stacy enrolled in college a few months after the fight.

She always intended to attend college, but directly after graduating from high school, she

entered the work force because her mother was sick, and Stacy both wanted and needed to support her younger siblings.

A library volunteer and Marlborough parent since 1997, Stacy is the new librarian assistant.

Marlborough parents attended their daughters’ classes, ate a bento box dinner on the athletic field, and watched a DVD showing Marlborough’s new Munger Hall when it’s finished.

The Development Office was in charge of the dinner portion of the event, which took place on Oct. 4. Development Office coordinator Amy Johnson said a “core group of employees on campus, as well as a caterer, a rental company and an audio/visual company, [worked] closely together in order to pull off this huge event.”

With 800 people in attendance, it was a difficult task to make sure the parents were pleased, said Auxiliary Services Manager Clinton Oie.

“Fortunately we received rave reviews over the food,” he said.

Another challenge of organizing the night was timing.

“We needed to have 800 people seated and served for a program and then send them back to classes. We accomplished this by having everything pre-set, including four vegetarian dinners at each of the 80 tables,” Oie said.

One major concern was the neighbors.

“For our neighbors, it would have been helpful if more parents parked at the Arclight Parking Lot reserved especially for them. It is very important that we always maintain the best of relations with our neighbors and neighborhood in general,” Oie said.

The employees “heard nothing but positive feedback from parents, students, and the Administration,” Johnson said.

Amy Johnson, Development Office Coordinator, left her position on Oct. 31 to work at DKG Consulting and will now have more time with her son. Johnson began working at Marlborough in 2000 and has helped tremendously with family and friends fund-raising for the school.

This December, Bob Chen, the office accountant who has worked here for two-and-a-half years, will be leaving to pursue a career in real estate and his passion for wrestling. Chen will be preparing to compete in next year’s Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Champion Tournament.

Elizabeth Densmore will be

replacing Johnson. She’s a graduate of USC and has a B.A. in Cinema-Film Critical Studies and a minor in Business Administration.

New Head of School office assistant Kristen Guarneros, who began as a temporary employee, joined the staff on Oct. 1. Guarneros inititally came to Los Angeles to continue a career in professional dance that she began in New York, and then decided to complete her undergraduate degree at Cal State Northridge, where she earned a B.A. in Psychology.

Nadia (Nicole ’11) now works with Laurie Brown, director of community service, in the community service office after volunteering here last year.

A B

D E

C

F

We all do homework together, and the girls think it’s funny when I have study groups over.

- Stacy

”

“

She is also a student at West Los Angeles Community College and hopes to transfer to UCLA next fall.

“At West, I’m in the minority because I’m old, but my professor likes to say that I’m ‘seasoned,’” Stacy said.

She completes homework assignments and performs well on tests, which she thinks pushes the other students to study hard. Her diligence also drives her daughters.

“I want to do well because it inspires Courtney and Haley to do well,” Stacy said. “We all do homework together, and the girls think it’s funny when I have study groups over.”

Stacy now sees Marlborough through the eyes of both a parent and employee.

“I always knew how lucky the students were, but now I know that the staff is extremely lucky too,” Stacy said.

8 Friday, November 9, 2007Feature

Volume 38, Issue 2

Tutoring culture takes hold

The Poll

NATIONAL TRENDS

By Julia and SallyUV Staff

The UltraViolet polled 362 girls in grades 7-12 about tutoring. Students were asked whether they had a tutor, for which subjects and for how many hours a week, as well as why they have tutors and ways in which their tu-tors help them.

-Poll by Julie

Around the country, pressures to get better grades and scores on the SAT or ACT to get into a good college are driving more and more parents to to pay for tutors.

- Tutoring is a $2.2 billion industry, serving 1.9 million students, according to the most recent estimates from Eduventures, a Boston-based research firm.

- From 2000 to 2005, the number of students learning from private tutors or programs like Sylvan Learning Center and Kumon has doubled, according to Eduventures.

- From 2002 to 2005, the amount of money spent on tutoring has increased by seven to ten percent each year.

Tutoring has become big business in this country. Parents spend about $2.2 billion on tutoring for 1.9 million students across the country, according to the most recent estimates from Eduventures, a Boston-based research and consulting firm. According to a recent poll by The UltraViolet, Marlborough students definitely contribute to that statistic. The poll found that 33.7 percent of sophomores, 51 percent of juniors, and 25.8 percent of seniors currently employ a tutor to help them study for academic classes or standardized tests. In total, those students said tutoring takes up about 206 hours per week. Many tutors charge $90 per hour – this translates to $18,540 spent per week on tutors Marlborough students employ.

Tutors are undoubtedly helpful to many students. But is it fair that often well-off students get this advantage? And can a tutor become a crutch?

Why Get a Tutor? Why Not?After having been at Marlborough for

almost six years, this is the first year that Rachel ’08 has had an academic tutor.

She got a tutor for AP Calculus and AP Physics “just to ensure that I have someone there that can help explain it to me in case it gets too hard,” Rachel said.

According to the poll taken by seventh to twelfth grade students, popular reasons to get a tutor were for extra confidence and help in a particular class, often suggested by a parent. Some students with tutors already have good grades; others are struggling in a class, so they seek more personal attention than a teacher can give during class.

Sarah ’09 has a tutor for AP Calculus and for the SATs.

“It’s hard to get the individual attention you need in a class even though the classes here are really small. Not everyone learns in the same way, so you need someone sometimes that’s one-on-one to break down the concepts for you and help you understand them completely. Sometimes the teacher can’t do that, even if they’re qualified and skilled,” Sarah said.

John Dewis tutors in a variety of subjects, including writing. Tutoring offers “a chance to make the most out of the education you’re already working on,” Dewis said.

Despite the apparent benefits of tutors, some have doubts.

“I worry, what’s the impact on everything else that you want to do at Marlborough? If all you can do is meet four hours a week with your bio tutor, is that really the best thing for you?” said Director of Upper School Laura Hotchkiss.

English Department Chairman Dr. Joseph Koetters also had concerns.

“Students who start [tutoring] in sixth grade become dependent. It becomes unfair to the student because they’re not getting the value of the Marlborough education,” Koetters said.

Jewels ’11, who has a tutor, agreed.“When you go to college you have to

use your own study skills,” Jewels said.

Is tutoring fair?When does having a tutor become an

unfair advantage?In terms of the honor code, most

students and teachers interviewed for this article felt that Marlborough students usually use tutors fairly. Neither the department heads nor Hotchkiss reported any major problems with tutors providing inappropriate help.

Nicholas Aieta, chairman of the history department, said during his

time at Marlborough, he has often seen struggling students get tutors. But this is not always hold true, as was the case with his experience as a tutor for a Harvard-Westlake student.

“Clearly, here’s a senior, and the parent is trying to get an edge and make sure that daughter X doesn’t end up, heaven forbid, getting a B+ in AP U.S. Government,” Aieta said.

Elizabeth ’09 said that in her science classes in ninth and tenth grade, she felt like one of the only students who did not have a tutor.

“It’s kind of hard sometimes. I’m working really hard and everyone is doing better than me, but I’m working on my own and the teacher doesn’t see the difference,” Elizabeth said.

Dewis said the question of the fairness of tutoring relates to the larger issue of academic inequality. Marlborough students already have the privilege of a private school education – many other students do not.

“It’s a question of where you choose to draw the line. [Since] you’re living in a country that seeks to provide universal public education, you’re already part of an unequal system,” Dewis said. “I don’t see anything wrong with tutoring, but I do think it’s important to be aware of the fact that these are privileges. They shouldn’t be taken on.”

SAT: Really an aptitude test?In a poll conducted by The UltraViolet,

68 percent of eleventh grade students with tutors reported that they receive outside tutoring for the SAT, which seems to pay off. Test preparation company Ivy West claims an average increase of 200 points for their students, and the front page of the website for the Elite Educational Institute boasts, “Another Perfect Score.”

But achievement comes at a price. According to its website, Elite’s regular SAT group course costs $440 per four week session. The Compass

Education Group, which is very popular among Marlborough girls, charges $120 per hour for private tutoring sessions.

Even at this steep cost, Compass co-founder Adam Ingersoll said that some students who use Compass’ services are already scoring high on the test.

“We have students who start in the high 300s and 400s, but we also have students that start in low 700s and want a few sessions that will help them approach perfect score,” Ingersoll said.

Wonna Kim, director of Elite’s Los Angeles Branch, said that Elite offers 2100 programs which are geared to academically strong students applying to the most competitive universities in the country. The time commitment in this case is very intense.

According to the College Entrance Examination Board, the SAT is designed to provide a “common and objective scale for comparison” of high-school students. But with more and more students relying on tutors, does the test measure aptitude, or financial status?

Elizabeth struggles with this issue. “My dad doesn’t want me to get a

SAT tutor because he thinks it’s elitist,” Elizabeth said. While she worries that not having a tutor might put her at a disadvantage, she sees her father’s point.

“The SAT is an aptitude test to see what you know. Getting a tutor and preparing that much for it isn’t going to show what you know,” Elizabeth added.

Elizabeth’s concerns about elitism are shared by many. Aieta calls the SAT fairness issue a “societal question.”

“Who ends up benefiting from standardized testing? Well, it’s the people who have money,” Aieta said.

Still, he recognizes the flip side.“If you can afford it and you believe

your child needs it, then who am I to say you can’t do it?” Aieta said.

EXTRA HELP: A Marlborough student works with her tutor at Peet’s Coffee on Larch-mont. Larchmont is a popular spot for tutoring because tutors are not allowed on cam-pus. Tutors have become increasingly popular at Marlborough. Photo by Brianne

7 8 9 10 11 12Grade

Perc

enta

ge o

f Stu

dent

s with

Tut

ors

20.3

3.9

26.6

33.7

51

25.8

The most common answer about why students got tutors was for confidence and back-up as a supplement to study-ing (36 out of 90 responses).

A A- B+ B B-Average GPA of Students with Tutors

- Complied by Jenny, UV Staff

11th graders most commonly had tu-tors, with 51% responding yes. Out of these students, 68% said they used a standardized testing tutor.

The most common response to the question, “What does your tutor do?” was “They help me clarify confusing concepts.” Only four out of 362 students polled said that their tutor corrected their homework.

9.61%

50.96%

25.96%

5.77%1.92%

Throughout the grades, about half of students with tutors use them for one hour or less per week. The number of students using them for three hours or more grew steadily from 10th through 12th grade.

By far, math was the subject for which most students used a tutor in all grades, with the exception of 11th grade. In 11th grade, students most often used a tutor for help with standardized tests.

Feature 9Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Has a Marlborough girl ever had to use her self-defense skills in real life?

hAVEN’T YOU WONDERED. . .

“NO!” “Back away!” “You’re old enough to be my father!”

Marlborough’s IMPACT self-defense class constitutes a rite of passage for upper-school students. A huge number of Marlborough girls have learned from instructors Lisa Gaeta and Francine Russell how to floor a 200lb+ assailant with heel palms, axe-kicks, and the famous “double whammy — but, I wondered, how many girls have used those skills against a non-padded assailant?

As far as physical fighting goes, the answer is not many. I only learned of one confirmed instance in which a girl had to

Macs vs. PCs: Which is better?

stop her assailant physically. Still, this may be a result of the success of other tactics learned in Self-Defense. I heard many stories about times when IMPACT graduates used verbal skills, boundary setting, and adrenaline training in real, intense situations.

Current sophomore Rose was approached by a man in downtown Los Angeles who tried to convince her to come with him. Rose put her hands up and told the man to go away — it was “a reflex reaction,” she said.

“I wanted to have my hands free. If he came at me, I knew exactly what I was going to do,” Rose said. She eventually escaped by threatening, “If you don’t go away in three seconds, I’m going to scream, and all of these people are going to come running.” The man fled.

Rose said that a real life situation feels remarkably similar

DELL INSPIRON 1420 MACBOOKProcessor: 1.5 GHz Intel® Core™

2 Duo processor 2.0GHz or 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor

Display: 14.1” widescreen 13.3” widescreen Hard Drive: 80GB-120GB 80GB-200GBCamera: No Camera Camera (Video and Picture)Op. System: Windows Vista Mac OSX Leopard, Vista also includedOther Bonuses: Colors, software works No viruses, included softwarePrice: $769 - $1,220 $1,099 - $1,499Service: “Service Tag” (serial

number) - tech support-Call the Apple store for help-24-hour tech support

to fights in class, even to the point where “you recognize what he’s saying,” Rose said.

Arielle ’09 used her verbal skills to deflect an attacker on Melrose. “He wouldn’t move, and he was yelling at me, and then he started to move towards me, so I put my hands up and told him to stop,” Arielle said. “I was a little scared, but not really. I knew I had the ability to fight him off if necessary.” According to Arielle, self-defense is “definitely a class worth taking. And it’s fun.”

I also contacted long-time IMPACT instructor Francine Russell for stories. She couldn’t provide names without consent, and was not able to get in touch with the students, but relayed the stories to me herself using the code name “Shelly.”

One Shelly found herself alone on a Paris street, and realized that she was being tailed by four men in a car. One of them grabbed her wrist and tried to get her to come with them, to “have a good time,” they said. Francine described the events: “She dropped her weight and heel-palmed the man. In her words, he ‘arched over backwards and hit the ground with a colossal thud.’” With the man’s companions standing by shocked, Shelly escaped to a nearby bathroom, threw up, then found her way back to the subway and her hotel.

Adrenaline training also applies to non defense-related situations. On a road trip to Las Vegas, a car containing Shelly, a friend and a toddler crashed and flipped several times. Even though Shelly suffered internal injuries, it was she who directed bystanders to get help.

Francine’s list goes on — she knew of ten different instances when girls have used various IMPACT skills in real life. My question was answered — self-defense is applicable beyond the blue mat in the gym and the helmet-clad assailant named Mugsy. It really works.

What are you wondering? E-mail uvarticles@gmail.com

“”

One of them grabbed her wrist and tried to get her to come with them, to “have a good time.”

With so many Marlborough students bringing their laptops to school or considering buying a laptop, the question “Which is better? Macs or PCs?” arises. From a technical standpoint, the two are neck-and-neck. Dell has a bigger display, but Macs hold more memory. PCs might not have a camera, but they have a longer battery life. Both have a strong processor, and both have a one year warranty.

Many people cite price as a difference between Macs and PCs. Macbooks run from $1,099 to $1,499, while the number one competing PC laptop, (the Dell Inspiron) runs from $799 to $1,180, These prices don’t include bonus features such as extra memory, applications, and protection plans.

But does the Mac’s quality make it worth the price?

“In the long run I even think [Macs] are cheaper because they last longer. They are superior in every way,” said English instructor Dr. Suzanne Shimek, who currently owns a Macbook, but has owned PCs in the past.

Macs might be right for some

depending on what they want to use their computers for.

“Macs come with a lot of neat features; the camera, good sound and microphone system built in, and a lot of software that comes with it, whereas on a Dell, you have to buy the software. Beyond Internet Explorer and a couple of other things, it doesn’t really come with anything. So it will add up. It just really depends what you want to do with your computer,” said Technology Department Head Ida Dahan.

Students also have conflicting views.

“Macs are more intuitive than a PC. [They’re] easier to use,” said Emily ’10.

Georgia ’10 thinks otherwise.“Macs are really complicated

to use and they always break down,” Georgia said.

A problem that often comes up with Macs is that although they come with great applications such as Garage Band, iMovie, and Photobooth, they can’t run (or require separate versions of) many popular PC-developed programs like Photoshop or Macromedia Flash. Many computer games such as The Sims 2 also require special Mac versions.

“Apples are limited to only what Apple Company makes for their computers, but you can add different stuff for PCs,” said Casey ’10.

PCs are not without fault either; they tend to crash more than the so-called “virus-free” Macs.

“The reality is that Macs only have a tiny percent of the market worldwide, therefore there aren’t as many people creating viruses for the Mac community, whereas if 80-90 percent of the world is using PCs, it makes more sense, if you’re a hacker, to make more viruses for PCs,” Dahan said.

Customer service is a debatable topic as well.

There are at least 12 Apple Stores in the Los Angeles area alone. For Dell, you must have a serial number for your computer ready, and there isn’t a Dell store which will service your laptop. Still, “Dell has a really good track record with service,” Dahan said.

So what will it be? Mac or PC? You now have all the facts laid out in front of you, prospective laptop buyers, so go and buy yourself a laptop!

Elite Educational Institute: www.eliteprep.com

An international company with branches in California, Canada, South Korea, and Thailand, Elite’s Los Angeles Branch attracts students from schools as near as Harvard-Westlake and as far as Wellington College in England.Mission: To “help students prepare for components of the college application process that may not be necessarily addressed by their primary academic institutions,” said Wonna Kim, director of Elite’s Los Angeles branch.Programs: Although Elite also offers courses for grades 3-10, its most popular program is the SAT Boot Camp. “There is a lot of homework, and the time commitment is substantial,” Kim said. “Boot Camp is definitely not for the faint of heart.” Elite also offers a 2100 program for high acheiving students. In this 15-week program, students learn 2000 vocabulary words. All Elite students take a full-length practice test each week.Student Review: “Elite’s 2100 program was definitely worth it,” said Meredith ’09. “It was a lot of work, but my score improved so much: 400 points!”

Princeton Review: www.princetonreview.com

For the SAT, Princeton Review offers both regular and honors classroom courses, private tutoring, online programs, and free events. The company also hosts extra help sessions on Fridays.Approach: According to Gretchen Raff, a member of Princeton Review’s high school outreach program, the company prides itself on “good teachers who make the material fun.” The company reminds its students that, though it is important to do well on the test, in the long run, it is just one test. Results: “We teach everyone, from the students who are struggling to test well to those that want an additional edge,” Raff said. The company’s students do well, and students’ scores improve an average of 235 points from their first practice test to the official SAT. Student Review: “I found that the techniques they used were really helpful,” said Arielle ’09.

IVY WEST: www.ivywest.com

With locations throughout California, Ivy West is different from other SAT prep centers in that it focuses only on individual tutoring. The company also offers classes for the ACT, SAT Subject tests, and academic disciplines. Programs: “We like to start our tutoring sessions three to four months prior to any test date,” said DJ Fuller, Ivy West’s director of operations. Lessons are generally 90 minutes long and students take three full-length SAT practice tests. Approach: At Ivy West, instructors use the Socratic method which helps students discover answers for themselves. “The only downfall in SAT prep is waiting too long to get lessons and picking the wrong test date,” Fuller said. Results: The average increase in points varies from 60-140 points per section. Student Review: “Ivy West is very casual and is not a pressure-cooker environment,” said Ali ’09. “I learned great strategies.”

Standardized test prep companies attract Marlborough students

By SallyUV Staff

By HannahUV Staff

By AmandaUV Staff

10 Friday, November 9, 2007Entertainment & the Arts

Volume 38, Issue 2

Ever since her childhood, Paige has loved the visual arts. Now a senior at Marlborough, she hopes to go onto a top art school.

Paige excels in the mediums of oil painting, drawing and pho-tography. Her many awards and honors earned during the past two years speak of her talent. She re-ceived a Scholastic Art and Writ-ing Gold Key Award and Silver Key award in 2005, and a Scho-lastic Art and Writing Honorable mention in 2007.

Of her three mediums, Paige’s favorite is oil painting, and particularly enjoys portraying the human form through paint.

“I’ve always taken a fancy to drawing people,” Paige said. “You can learn a lot about them through just one portion of their body.”

Alongside painting, Paige began working with photography during her junior year. Although she hasn’t been involved with photography for long, she still enjoys it and respects those who have been working for years with it. She enrolled in “Beginning Photography” and “Intermediate Photography” and soon became fond of abstracting the human form with photos. This year she is part of both the “Construct-ing realities” and “2D” classes at Marlborough.

Paige’s recently acquired in-terest in photography is part of her desire to expand her artistic fields.

“I’ve been painting for so long, it’s so fun,” Paige said. “I like the rhythm of it. It makes you look at things a different way, but not in a cheesy way.” She added, “I think that when you look at a painting or any type of art, it helps you notice certain details which I think are important. It doesn’t even have to be related to art.”

Paige’s teachers are enthusi-astic about her artistic abilities as

well as character. They see natu-ral talent in her work and a genu-ine personality.

“It’s important to her to look for creative, unusual solutions to art challenges that she faces,” said Kathy Rea, Paige’s visual arts teacher since middle school. “She looks at the entire world through artist’s eyes. It’s exciting to see that at such a young age.”

Paige’s photography and “Constructing Realities” teacher, Judith Tanzman, also thinks high-ly of her, both inside and outside the classroom.

“She has a unique ability to draw from different resources,” Tanzman said. “Paige has a true artist personality. She’s a very centered person and always adds a fresh perspective to discussion.”

Paige has also been taking visual arts classes at the Art Cen-ter College of Design since her freshman year.

This past summer, Paige worked for Cindy Lewis Photog-raphy.

“It helped me learn how Photoshop was really prevalent,” Paige said.

She now has a job at Blick Art Supplies in order to understand different materials in more depth. She wants to work with collage.

“I want to go outside the 2-D dimensions of photo and paint-ing,” Paige said.

To help her go beyond the world of 2-D, Paige took a sum-

E&A in Brief

Audrey’s winning design will not be added to uniform

The Beat!

What’s happening now in the world of underground music

By HannahUV Staff

Noisettes

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Senioritis II

Choral Concert

Project Runway

Continued from cover

Paige paints the human dimensionBy JustineUV Staff

ARTIST’S TOUCH: Paige ’08 works on a still life (left). Pictured right is one of her oil paint-ings shown in Senioritis II. Paige works mostly in photography, oil painting and drawing, her three favorite types of art, and hopes to attend an art school for college. Photos by Colleen

UNIFORM:Audrey ’s winning design (left) will not be in-corporated in the uniform due to pro-duction difficulties. Photo courtesy of Audrey.

Open Mic NightThe first Open Mic Night was

hosted off campus at the Cacao Coffee House from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Oct. 27.

It was a fundraiser for The Art Ranch and raised about $200. The venue maxed out with 30 girls showing up. Performances included rap, poetry, singing, and guitar jams.

“It felt like the night went well. It seemed like everyone was having fun,” said Molly, mother of Cara ’10, who organized the event.

Benefit Concert

This year’s first performance by Marlborough’s Concert Choir and Chamber Choir was held Oct. 25 during lunch. The Lunchtime Concert was an informal performance to prep the singers for the Winter Choral Concert.

The concert was open to all students and faculty, and students performed songs they had been practicing all quarter.

“I hope the people who come to see the show will enjoy the concert and recognize the progress the girls are making this semester,” said Ernie Scarbrough, music instructor.

Emily Vaughn’s daughter-in-law, who goes by “Sweet P.,” will be a contestant in Project Runway’s fourth season.

Sweet P., who has been designing for a long time, lives in Glendale and has her own line called “Nest.” She has designed for companies such as Bebe.

“She lives up to her name: she’s very sweet,” Vaughn said.

The new Project Runway starts on Nov. 14 on Bravo at 10/9 c.

The sound of Noisettes is not easily categorized – their sound fluctuates between angsty garage rock to jazzy ballads to almost gospel. Singer Shingai Shoniwa’s powerful vocals go from smooth confidence (in songs like “Hierarchy”) to strong and fearless (in songs like “I We”) to fiery and upbeat (in songs like “Scratch Your Name” and “Don’t Give Up”). Not only is her voice incredible, but she also plays bass in the band alongside guitarist Dan Smith and drummer Jamie Morrison. Listen to “Scratch Your Name” with your eyes closed just after you wake up – it’s a religious experience (not to mention a great way to wake up for the test you have first period).

If you don’t want to buy the whole CD, “What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?,” make sure to at least buy “Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit),” “Scratch Your Name,” “Don’t Give Up” and “Hierarchy.”

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, or BRMC as they’re most often known, is a band that has been out for a few years, but in their newest album, “Baby 81,” they go back to their roots and deliver gritty and dirty, yet completely pure, rock and roll.

Distorted and crunchy guitars, booming drums, and smoky cool vocals make every rock and roll lover’s dreams come true. From the drawling “Took Out a Loan” to the thunderous beats and insane catchiness of “Berlin,” to the hypnotics of “American X,” this album will captivate you from beginning to end. It’s one of those rare albums that you can play a thousand times and never get sick of.

The album’s most popular single, “Weapon of Choice,” might just make you qualify for the Air Guitar National Championships. Make sure to at least buy: “Berlin,” “Weapon of Choice,” “Lein on Your Dreams” and “American X”.

The last senioritis show to be held in the Disney Gallery, Senioritis II, opened on Oct. 18. Artists included Diana, Emily, Paige, Iszy, Sasha, Julie, Marisa, Mei, Becky, Colleen, and Dominique.

“It was a great show with a good variety of art,” said Linda Aiello, visual arts instructor.

The Assistance League of Southern California, an all-girls community service organization with twelve Marlborough members, hosted its fourth annual Whisky Concert on Oct. 12. The concert presented three bands: Chomp Mountain (a band from Oakwood School), Din Caliber and Optimus.

The benefit concert raised $3,500, which will be donated to programs at the Assistance League of Southern California such as the Senior Citizens Center, Operation School Bell and the Nine O’Clock Players.

I’ve always taken a fancy to drawing people. You can learn a lot about them through just one portion of their body.

- Paige ’08

”

“

By CassidyUV Staff

mer figure drawing class with an “exceptional teacher” who helped her understand the human form.

“He taught us gesture as well as technical skills,” Paige said.

Along with her other accom-plishments, Paige was a Guerin Prize finalist for her essay on Chuck Close, one of her two fa-vorite artists. She especially ad-mires his large-scale paintings and has been heavily influenced by him.

“I don’t paint much like him, but he still inspires me,” Paige said. Because Close’s work is “incredibly detailed, it opens up a whole other level of intensive art. With the whole gathering of understanding the human face so well, you can understand a lot about a person or body. I love bi-ology.”

Paige has been chosen out of large pools of talent on multiple occasions. For a 2007 MOCA exhibition, her painting was one of 20 picked out of 200 submis-sions. Also, she received two acceptances to the highly selec-tive InnerSpark California State Summer School for the Arts last summer. She attended last sum-mer and will attend this summer as well.

She has contributed to Marl-borough’s art shows since 2005 and has sold some of her artwork over the past two years.

Paige has high goals to major in fine arts in college, perhaps at the Rhode Island School of De-sign or the Boston Museum of Fine Arts College.

“I think that people always need to have a sense of humor about their artwork and, even though it is extremely hard some-times, try and not get too caught up in one thing,” Paige said.

“I’m personally disappointed that we weren’t able to incorporate Audrey’s design. We thought we were going to be able to put it into action and sadly, we weren’t able to,” said Jordan ’08, the vice-chair of MSCF.

Audrey, now at Campbell Hall, considered her design

“totally appropriate for school, which is what makes this situation even more confusing,” she said.

“Even though I do not attend Marlborough anymore, I am still affected. I was told that it was going to be placed in the uniform and if they weren’t actually going to do that, then they shouldn’t have made me the

winner,” Audrey said.If another fashion show

were to occur this coming year, Hotchkiss said that the prize could be repeated.

She added, though, “I would guess they want a prize that is a bit easier to guarantee and not dependent on a uniform company.”

Entertainment & the Arts 11Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Van Petten publishes bookAimee Liu talks to sophomores

Dance and Drama work together

By ColleenUV Staff

By AmandaUV Staff

Vanessa Van Petten ’03 recently published a book on parenting teens. Photo courtesy of Van Petten

By CassidyUV Staff

The seventh grade play,“The Revenge of the Space Pandas, or Binky Rudich & the Two-Speed Clock,” was performed on Thursday, Oct. 25 and Friday, Oct. 26 in the Intimate Theatre. Photo by Cassidy

SOLITAIRE: Pictured are Aimee Liu (left) and her book on anorexia (right), “Solitare” which was published in 1979. Photo courtesy of Aimee Liu

The first workshop that will incorportate both Drama Ensemble and Dance Dimensions will be held on November 28 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The workshop will be based around a guest artist, who has not been decided on yet.

“We are hoping that the two groups will learn from each other as well as from the guest artist.

We also hope they will gain new appreciation and respect for the different skills they may bring to the table,” Drama instructor Anne Scarbrough said.

“I greatly appreciate watching artists from various disciplines collaborate and believe that the more connections that can be made between artists, the healthier and more vibrant our artistic community will be,” Scarbrough said.

It didn’t look like anything was wrong with author Aimee Liu, I thought, as I sat across from her and she sipped her Black Cherry Fresco. However, she has experienced immense pain through her life. Talking with Liu in the comfort of her living room gave me a unique personal experience to learn about her life, past and present.

Aimee Liu began starving herself at the peak of adolescence. Though she thought she had recovered from the disorder after struggling with anorexia through her teenage years, she relapsed at age 47, coming to the full realization that eating disorders are not just about food, but about the emotions under which a person feels trapped.

Liu wrote America’s first memoir about anorexia in 1979, “Solitaire,” which was chosen to be the tenth grade’s summer reading book. Liu came to speak to the sophomore class on Sept. 27 during class meeting.

Liu broke the ice by making all of the sophomores write what they were hungry for, bedsides food, on an index card. She said she was surprised how many girls wrote that they were “hungry for success” and the number of girls yearning for perfection. A number of girls said they were “hungry for good grades,” which in many cases meant “Straight A’s.”

Liu said it is important for her to tour schools and talk to students, especially girls.

She said girls tend to have a fear of being powerful and are inclined to keeping their feelings inward, which shrinks their potential and can lead to the formation of eating disorders and the problems associated with them.

“As women grow up, they get signals from society, the media and family that it is bad to be female in power,” she said. “I would love to see young women be able to access their power.”

Liu wrote “Solitaire” in order

to help her parents understand what had been going on in her head through all the years she was anorexic and to “process what I had gone through.” She also hoped that if other people understood her obsession, they wouldn’t become trapped into thinking that it made them special.

Sophomores had doubts coming into the lecture after reading “Solitaire.”

“At first I wasn’t excited after reading the book, but then I got interested,” said Faith ’10. “She didn’t sugar coat any aspects of her life.”

Liu defines anorexia differently now that she has had time to reflect on the dark moments of her life.

Anorexia is an “expression of emptiness,” Liu said. “It’s a way to tell the world you are hollow, and you are terrified to feed yourself. You feel like you are not entitled to fill yourself up.”

Liu said that in order for people to release themselvse from this disorder, they have to come out of their shell and meet the world. They must fill or soothe the “emotional hole” inside and “dare to find yourself” and connect with healthy people.

She said it is helpful in the recovery process to find people who the afflicted person can talk to, “someone that can look past the body and food issue, people that can look beneath the surface and ask, ‘Why aren’t you eating?’”

Liu said people can think of eating disorders as a gun - genetics and biochemistry shape the gun, family dynamics, advertising and cultural influences load the gun, and some extreme experience of distress (such as loss, break-

up, or extreme anxiety) pulls the trigger. Anorexia is the way for someone to “cope” with the thing that “snaps.”

Liu said parents feel so much guilt when their children have eating disorders because they feel that they caused the disorder. Although they were probably one of the factors, “they need to stop blaming themselves in order to become part of the solution,” she said. Liu’s parents put a lot of pressure on her growing up, and were very judgmental, constantly pushing her towards perfection.

Carter ’10 said that Liu was a very compelling speaker.

“She made eating disorders seem less like an abstract emotional and psychotic problem,” Carter said. “She made the topic very approachable and understandable.”

Miranda ’10 said the lecture gave her a more realistic and complete picture of Liu’s life.

Some students believed Liu’s book had important themes, but they didn’t like her writing style.

Leah ’10 thought “Solitaire” would be more effective written as diary entries.

Isabelle ’10 was “surprised” by Liu’s sincerity in her lecture, and found that she was able to relate to her, even though Liu had grown up in a different era.

Liu hoped girls would leave her lecture with this overall message: “You have to figure out your own reason to do well,” Liu said. “You need to know more about yourself and what you like to do, not let other people tell you who they think you should be.”

When she was a student at Marlborough, Vanessa Van Petten ’03 was well-known for her community service projects, many of which focused on literacy. Today, as a recent graduate of Emory University, Van Petten still devotes her time to literacy, but this time her service benefits parents and teens.

In her new book, “You’re Grounded!: How to Stop Fighting and Make the Teenage Years Easier,” Van Petten addresses the problems teens and parents face in their relationships.

While at Marlborough, Van Petten noticed that some of her friends were getting into trouble with the law and with drugs.

“They wanted to upset their parents,” Van Petten said. “I decided to try to help other teens so that they wouldn’t rebel and ruin their lives too.”

She wrote “You’re Grounded!” while a senior at Marlborough and interviewed students and parents from both within and outside of the Marlborough community. Later, while in college, Van Petten interviewed her previously troubled friends and discovered what worked and didn’t work in their parental relationships.

This is not the first time her work has been published. In order to graduate cum laude from Emory University, students need to write a thesis. As a result, Van Petten spent a year in China studying Chinese underground hip hop. For her thesis, she wrote an 80-page book on China’s pop culture and club scene.

Today, Van Petten is not only a published author but also the founder and owner of Lakewood Systems, which also manages her “You’re Grounded!” book and RRules.com, an editable teen and parenting wikispace.

“RRules is a great resource, because I think it’s important for girls and teens to have a place to go where they’re not judged,” Van Petten said.

Van Petten has faced her own obstacles as a writer and business owner. Because her work does not bring her a steady income, she lives at home and invests all of her money into her business.

“I have to be willing to get up everyday and ask people for favors,” Van Petten said. “It is very humbling, and I have to convince people that I’m worth their time.”

Though her business is solely financed by her allowance and baby-sitting money, Van Petten is not deterred.

“Marlborough teaches you that you can do anything you want to do,” Van Petten said.

12 Friday, November 9, 2007Sports

Volume 38, Issue 2

But the team, which bonded more and more as the season unfolded, feels that it accomplished plenty already.

“This year’s team works harder than any other team I’ve coached. They give 110 percent each time they step into the gym. Even more importantly, they really care about each other, and play hard for one another. They demonstrate what teamwork is all about day in and day out,” Pryor said.

With continued motivation from Pryor, older players help those with less experience in learning new skills.

In games against top teams, like Marymount, which is ranked third in Division I-A, the Mustangs showed they belonged on the same court. Even though the team lost 3-0 in the Marymount match on Oct. 30, the scores of two of those games were 20-25 and 23-25.

Volleyball takes 3rd in league, pushes into playoffsBy SimoneUV Staff

First varsity golf season provides new experiences and challengesBy Justine and Colleen LoynachanUV Staff

Tennis team looks to defend CIF-SS titleBy HannahUV Staff

League Final Results

SPIKE: From left to right: Olivia ’09, Lyric ’10, and Corinna ’09 meet at the net during a recent practice. Photo courtesy of Sundial

staff

With its tenth straight Sunshine League title under its belt, the varsity tennis team began the defense of its CIF-Southern Section Division II championship yesterday afternoon.

In the first round of the CIF-SS tournament, the Mustangs squared off against Redlands East Valley at Los Angeles Tennis Club. The match began after press time.

The Mustangs are currently ranked #5 by CIF-SS in Division II, and went 6-0 in the

Sushine League, finishing the season with strong wins over Marymount by 14 sets to 4 and St. Mary’s Academy 17-1. Overall, the team’s record was 8-7 under coach Gunner Fox, with many of the losses coming against the region’s most elite teams.

Players said they started off with a shaky, unfamiliar relationship between team members but then grew into a family-like squad.

“We went to a weekend tournament held by Corona del Mar, where we had a sleepover. Then after that, it was like magic. Everyone just became such good friends. I love it,” said Jasmin ’10.

After golfing with her dad for seven years, Kathryn ’11 gets the opportunity to play with six of her peers.

Seven girls are being recognized as Marlborough’s first upper school varsity golf team.

There have been too few people in the past to create an upper school team, although there have been 7/8 grade golf teams on and off in the past. Upper School assistant Laura Morrison has been the driving force behind this new team. As coach, Morrison organizes the matches, coordinates practice schedules, and finds challenging opponents for the girls.

Nia ’08 founded the 7/8 grade golf team when she was in seventh grade and, since then, has wanted to start a varsity team. Living alongside the Wilshire Country Club has influenced her love for the sport, which she has played competitively for eight years. She played in the CIF individual qualifying tournaments representing Marlborough before the formation of the varsity golf team.

Kathryn, who is new to the class of 2011, first became interested in golf when her dad took her to a driving range.

Kathryn said that players get to feel the thrill of competition, while also developing friendships with competitors because they are usually on the course with them for five to six hours.

“You are more playing against yourself than the other people, so you can enjoy each other’s company,” Kathryn said.

Kathryn was the top scorer for the team’s first tournament on Sept. 18.

“I was really surprised,” she said. “I was just going out there for the experience.”

She said that being stared down by the other team during singles matches is challenging when “there is no one to help you” on the course, but “the teammates make

things a lot easier.” She said her teammates distract her from

the tension on the course and encourage her. “They don’t make you feel bad if you

make a mistake,” she said. “They want you to have fun.”

She added, “Everyone has been really welcoming, they have made me very comfortable joining the team.”

Lindsay ’10, another varsity golf team member, has played golf since she was six, after her family introduced her to the sport. She is the only legacy golfer in Marlborough’s recent history, following her sister, Lauren ’06.

“It is so much fun to see other people my age who are also into golf,” Lindsay said.

Laddaran placed third in the varsity team’s first tournament.

When she was in eighth grade, Lindsay was the only one who expressed interest in the 7/8 team, so she played alone. She ended up going all the way to finals by arranging her own matches with Morrison’s help.

“Golf is a stress reliever,” Lindsay said. “It is not hard to maintain the skill, but you must invest time and energy into perfecting them.”

Along with the team’s small size, almost all of the people currently on the varsity team have played together on the 7/8 team, which has created a tight bond between the players. Even though the team doesn’t get to practice together, Lindsay said it bonds during car rides to matches and at the matches themselves.

The team started off strong in its first tournament as a freelance team playing against Marymount, while trying to pioneer a Sunshine League competition. Marlborough’s team must play teams in other leagues.

“I hope we continue to play consistently well,” Morrison said. “They are a great team.”

SWING: Lindsay ’10, who placed third in the team’s first tournament against Marymoumount, takes a practice swing. She has been playing golf for nine years. Photo courtesy of Lindsay

“I think this definitely helps in our matches. Because now we’re not scared to cheer each other on or anything and we know what everyone likes and doesn’t like when they play, so its great,” she added.

Despite losing to Division II rivals Santa Barbara, Brentwood and Campbell Hall this season, the team’s hopes to defend its CIF-SS title are runnning strong.

“We lost earlier this year, but then again we were missing one of our key players and we hadn’t had much practice, but when it comes to time, they’re going down. I feel we’re ready now,” Jasmin said.

Varsity volleyball lost a tough five-game match to Serrano High School on Tuesday night in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.

The Mustangs, who finished with a 4-3 Sunshine League record, placing third and 14-8 overall, made huge strides during the season, said team members.

The team played tough in its final Sunshine league games against top ranked foes Marymount and Notre Dame Academy, and on Oct. 13 won the Marlborough Invitational Tournament (MIT) for the first time in five years.

“Winning the Marlborough tournament was huge. We had an incredible day and played very well against some really strong teams. I couldn’t have been prouder of all

11 girls,” said coach Erin Pryor. Lauren ’11 said that the team’s win

was largely due to good communication, high energy, a positive attitude and good team dynamics.

“The tournament showed us that when we focus and worked together as a team we can achieve our goals. We kept a very positive attitude throughout which was essential to our succes,” Lauren said.

To win the MIT, Marlborough had to beat strong teams like Santa Monica High, which was ranked near the top of Division III-AA of CIF-SS at the time of the tournament.

Lauren is the only freshman on a team that is made up mainly of sophomores and juniors, raising hopes for next year’s team.

“Even though we’re a young team, we have a lot to look forward to in the future,” said Devin ’10.

As a team, the Mustangs won their 10th straight Sunshine League title. Marlborough

swept the individual singles and doubles competition. Here’s how the Mustangs fared at the league finals on Nov. 2 and Nov. 5 at

Los Angeles Tennis Club:

Singles: #1 Michelle ’08

#2 Maya ’10

Doubles:Marchelle ’08 and Liz ’08Jordan ’08 and Jasmine ’10

Sports 13Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Cross Country enters CIF strong

Fencing

Gymnastics

By JulieUV Staff

Ice Skating

After breaking her wrist while snowboarding one week after winning the PCS, Katherine ’11 was unable to fence for approximately ten weeks. She had about three weeks to prepare for the summer nationals in early July in Miami, Fl.

Katherine placed third in Division II Women’s Foil event, earning her a “B” rating. It was a very large field of about 140 fencers from all over the country. There are only a handful of B-rated female foil fencers in all of western United States.

- Information courtesy of Sue Oh

Emily ’09 was chosen to represent the U.S. along with five other girls in Argentina for the Maccabi, Pan American Gymnastics Championship in December. She trains year-round with three main coaches.

Emily has been practicing gymnastics for nine years and trains Monday through Friday after school from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., though her season doesn’t start until Jan. 12.

Last year Emily went to regionals, after placing high in her main competitions, and the state meet.

Emily’s goal is to continue gymnastics in college. She said she enjoys the sport because she has gotten to bond with a group of friends outside of school.

- Colleen, UV Staff

Candace ’08 is training to skate in the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Candace has been ice skating since she was eleven years old and practices Sunday through Friday at 5:30 a.m. at the Culver City Ice Rink. She has three coaches and competes at the senior level.

Candace is going to Nationals in January, and is hoping to make her debut in the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Candace loves the exhilarating feeling she gets when she is jumping and spinning.

“I love how it feels when I step on to the ice,” Candace said.

- Colleen, UV Staff

Crew

Club Corner

Despite small enrollment, Mustangs take Cup

Running a three-mile course in 17:37, junior Ashley won the Sunshine League finals meet with the third-fastest time in Marlborough history. Sophomore Danielle placed second with a time of 17:56, and senior Julie took third with a time of 18:50, as the Mustangs swept the Oct. 30 race at Rancho Park in Cheviot Hills to win their fourth straight league title.

THE THIRD MILE: Ashley ’09 leads the pack of Mustangs in a league meet and now holds the third best time for the three mile course, 17 min. 37 sec at league finals. Photo by Julie

7/8 swim team wins first Delphic League title

Anna ’08 competed with her team from MAC, the Marina Aquatic Center, at the 43rd Head of the Charles rowing event in Cambridge, Boston on Oct. 21.

“Usually regatta junior means a high school level rower, but this regatta event was a much more prestigious event in All-American rowing. Everyone was there, from juniors to collegiate rowing masters, so it was a much bigger deal,” Anna said.

Even though this was a more prominent event, the competition was not any more intense than her usual competitions.

“The events that are the most important are in the spring,” Anna said.

This was Anna’s first sweep rowing race, where a rower uses one oar, although she usually competes in sculling events, where a rower uses two oars.

Anna competed in the junior women’s youth four division as a junior rower and, in her boat of four, placed 11 out of 51 boats, finishing less than 52 seconds after the winning boat.

- Megan, UV Staff

The world outside of Mustang athletics

Continued from cover

By ColleenUV Staff

Both teams were very confident that they could beat us, but we stepped it up.

-Coach Jimmy Grant

”“

The 7/8 swim team claimed the Junior High Delphic League championship for the first time in Marlborough’s history, after dominating the league finals on Nov. 3.

The swimmers overpowered the rest of the league, winning with over a 70-point margin to their closest competitor, Oaks Christian. The Mustangs broke five league records and six school records at the meet.

Peter Lambert, who has been coaching the 7/8 team for three years, said that this has been the strongest team, and possibly the most talented, in the school’s history.

Because of the outstanding performances of all the team members, Lambert was able mix and match different athletes in order to win all four relays.

Angella ’12, who led the team, broke three league and school records. She set individual league records in the 50 m. freestyle and 100 m. individual medley, and she drove two relays to victory.

According to Liliana ’13, this year’s team was successful due to the number of experienced club swimmers on the team, the strong bond between athletes and their dedication.

A great deal of trust between the swimmers was gained at the beginning of the season during “Challenge Day,” which enabled them to work together so they could “perform to their maximum potential,” Lambert said.

“It wasn’t much of a surprise that we won,” Liliana said. “We are a really strong team.”

“I am pretty certain that this team worked harder than any other team in our league,” Lambert said. “They were consistent and dedicated.”

But training wasn’t easy. With intense practices four days a week, Anjoum ’12 said the team’s accomplishment “took a lot of work from everyone.”

“Even though we are losing five key players by graduating them to ninth grade, we’re going to try to win league next year,” Lambert said.

The team will now look to repeat as CIF Southern Section champions. The preliminary round of the meet is tomorrow at Mt. SAC, and the finals will be held the following Saturday, Nov. 17, also at Mt. SAC. Despite the strong performance at league finals, Coach Jimmy Grant said the team has a tough job ahead.

“At the CIF, we’re looking for Ashley and Danielle to win, and we need Julie to come right behind them,” Grant said. “If

she does, then we’ll win. However, there is a lot of competition. A lot.”

Even winning the league finals wasn’t guaranteed, because other schools improved this year, and Marlborough had to fight through injuries during the season. With Danielle out part of the season with a hurt hip, and Katia ’10 out one competition because of a hurt toe, the team had to compete at less than full strength in several meets.

Marlborough only edged Ramona Convent by a point in their head-to-head match, and it placed behind Notre Dame Academy at the Mt. SAC Invitational.

“Both teams were very confident that they could beat us, but we stepped it up,” Grant said of the finals meet.

“We still have a good grip on our league,” Danielle said.

Grant said winning the CIF-SS championships will require not just strong performances from Ashley, Danielle andJulie , but also from the team’s fourth and fifth runners, Erica ’11 and Taylor ’10, who are both new to the varsity team this year. He said both have exceeded expectations this year, and they’ll need to keep it up.

“We need everything working our favor,” Grant said. “The girls need to be in shape and ready to go that week. We’re hoping that we can win.”

the most championships from its school year wins. Marlborough became the winner of the Cup with 20 points by a tie breaker, because it won one more sectional championship than Corona del Mar.

Despite Marlborough’s small size compared to the top ten competitor schools, its teams, usually one-half or one-third the size of other schools, were able to triumph.

“In terms of the number of schools, the Southern Section is bigger than many states and is by far the biggest section in Southern California, and you could argue that the Southern California competition is as strong as any state in the country,” said Athletic Director David Collicutt in a press release. “Who would have thought a school our size could win the Cup?”

Students reflect on the win and Marlborough’s athletic programs’ improvements over the past few years.

“We really were the underdogs of sports. We changed a lot, we got really good,” said senior class athletic representative Chewy Jang. “With one team that wins, it pushes [our] other teams to

be better. Before, I thought [Marlborough] people played sports for fun, I don’t think anyone took it seriously. Once we started winning, people started seeing our school as a strong athletic program and people started stepping up their game,” Jang said.

Strong athletes, like basketball point-guard Nikki Speed ’08, have contributed

to Marlborough’s athletic programs’ improvements.

“I thought it [winning the cup] was amazing for a school our size,” Speed said. “Hard work does pay off. Now people can’t only say we’re a smart school, we’re really good at sports, too, and not just in basketball.”

14 Friday, November 9, 2007Opinion

Volume 38, Issue 2

Editor-in-ChiefLorraine

Production EditorSheri

Online EditorEvan

Copy EditorAmanda

Photo EditorColleen

Cover Editors

SheriJustine

News EditorJulie

Community EditorBrianne

Feature EditorSally

E & A EditorCassidy

Opinion EditorJulia

Sports EditorColleen

Backpage EditorHannah

Graphics EditorHannah

ReportersSophie Jenny

BrookeSimone

AliMegan

CartoonistDiana

AdviserMark Krewatch

The UlTraVioleT

Member of the Quill and Scroll Society, Columbia

Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic

Press

rUnder Pressure: Marlborough’s tutoring culture gets out of hand

Online assignments do not equal less paper used

Facebook’s been blocked - but is it really worth our time?

EDITORIALS

The UlTraVioleT staff pledges to produce a quality publication which addresses issues of importance in the Marlborough community, sparks interest among its

readers, demonstrates ethical and objective news report-ing, and represents a range

of opinions.

More and more Marlborough students are getting tutored, and not because they need the help. Have we gone too far?

You’re reading these words on a printed page. A page that lies comfortably between your fingers. Perhaps you’re in a car. Or at the park. Or on the toilet. Let’s be honest: it’s nice having the privilege to read words that flow off a page in your hands. It’s tangible. The Trojan Horse virus can’t take it away, it doesn’t matter if your modem goes haywire, and the information won’t fly away when the teacher changes the screen on the SmartBoard. But that privilege wasn’t free – it did cost a tree. So does this make you a bad person?

The most concrete aspect of the school’s new “go green” focus is saving paper, and many teachers have limited the amount of paper they distribute and increased information accessible online. Our question is, how much paper are teachers actually saving? How many students are simply printing online info at home, because they feel the need to have it at their fingertips anytime, anywhere, and because they aren’t always sitting at a spotless desk with an Internet-accessible computer? Is the tree still being cut down?

Don’t get us wrong. We want to save paper, we appreciate all efforts, and any quantity saved, no matter how small, is a step towards success. We don’t want to discourage teachers from providing information online, we just want to be realistic.

For instance, if a teacher assigns a worksheet that will have to be turned in as a hard copy, there is no benefit in asking students to print it

Marlborough girls receive too much tutoring, and the administration needs to assess what it has (or hasn’t) done to minimize this “need” for tutors. A poll conducted by The UltraViolet showed that 35.83 percent of upper-school girls polled employ tutors for extra confidence, with the number growing significantly with each grade. And we believe that this percent is understated, as few of us know a Marlborough student who has not used a tutor some point during her high school career. The tutor frenzy – from 2000 to 2005, the number of students learning from private tutors or programs like Sylvan Learning Center and Kumon has doubled – has caught Marlborough girls, whose drive to succeed is even higher than students at most high schools.

School should be about learning for the sake of learning. Sure, there are times when a tutor is necessary to help a student get past the initial barrier to where she can fight on her own to learn a subject. But too often tutors are helping students boost their grade from an A- to an A, and are the perfecting touch on an already high-quality assignment. If Marlborough girls and parents – the ones who pay tuition – realize that perfection should not be the ultimate goal, and it’s neither the job of the student to get an “A” all the time nor the job of the school to cater to that expectation, then the overall atmosphere of pressure on campus will decrease, leading students to be happy doing their best on their own. Something can be said for the student who struggles to understand the material and who doesn’t have someone holding her

hand every step of the way. Something also can be said for the student who asks her teacher for help, an action many students throw aside if they have a tutor (“I’ll just ask my tutor tonight”). If a student ends up with a “B” in the course, it was a “B” she earned by struggling and overcoming challenges the material posed on her own. She not only learned the material, but she learned how to tackle problems by using her mind, not her tutor’s.

However, at Marlborough, getting a B+ or lower on an assignment just doesn’t cut it for most students because they need great grades to get into a great college. Here more than anywhere is where pressure from parents – particularly those who can afford significant tutoring bills – comes into play for both students and the school. A student who has learned to struggle through tough material on her own stands a better chance of taking the greatest advantage of future learning opportunities, no matter what college she goes to, than a student who gets into one of the top universities in the country based on a tutor doing the struggling for her. But is that former mindset really what Marlborough instills in its students? Maybe it should be.

When we first came to Marlborough, hearing that someone had a tutor was surprising – were they struggling that much? As we got older, it became the norm and the smart thing to do. Students and administration need to reevaluate how and why we learn and why we’re here. After all, it is about the learning process, right?

out at home as opposed to giving it to them in class. No paper is saved, and it adds potential complications for the student who might have printer problems or who forgets to print out the paper.

At the same time, what teachers are trying to do is important, and students can do their best to help. If you are a student who takes your laptop everywhere and your only issue is Internet access, just download assignments to your hard drive instead of printing. If you’re a hard-copy kind of gal, there are still ways to save paper. For instance, for simple assignments, you might just circle the page numbers that need to be read or the questions that need to be answered in your book. Or if you must print out an assignment, how about copying and pasting online info from different classes onto a single page? Be practical about what needs to be printed. Some assignments can only be completed on the computer anyway, so why print assignments when you’re stuck in front of that screen regardless?

The first step to improving environmental problems is awareness. The school is doing an excellent job with that so far. The next step is action, which we’ve started. But we need to be realistic and honest. Ms. Wagner has asked teachers to cut paper use by 10 percent. We’d love to see that happen, but we’d rather see 5 percent if it’s truly saving trees instead of a 10 percent figure where teachers have simply handed students the axe.

The fact that we can’t access Facebook from school is a bummer, we can all agree. But the fact the school has to ban Facebook because students are so addicted to it - and that students are reacting like ex-smokers without a nicotine patch or finding proxy sites to access Facebook anyway - has even more serious implications for students.

Many students were surprised and upset when they tried to log on to their Facebooks this year, only to be greeted with, “If you are here, you are looking for an old page, or you were trying to do something you shouldn’t be!” But there is nothing to complain about, because while some students may argue that we should be able to access any sites we want to during the day, this is school, and we must abide by the contract we all signed at the beginning of the year. School is meant for learning, not for stalking your friend’s sister’s boyfriend.

Facebook is just not worth our time and energy, which we should be delegating to things such as schoolwork and other committments,

and it is one additional distraction we don’t need, even at home. Our happiness has become too dependent on accessing Facebook. What would happen if we didn’t go on Facebook for a day, either at school or at home? We would find ourselves better off. We would be more efficient in finishing more homework during free periods during school, and outside of school, we might find that we actually talk directly to the people most important to us, instead of spending hours crafting electronic messages to a massive network of friends.

For those of us who simply cannot imagine life without Facebook, and cannot resist the temptation to sign on in the middle of a class, we might want to reexamine our priorities. Facebook should not be the thing that takes priority over our roles as students. If you’re the student who is still trying to find a new proxy site to access Facebook from school, it’s time for you to bite the bullet, realize that you’re not only violating school rules, but that you’re wasting your time.

Opinion 15Friday, November 9, 2007

Marlborough School

Every speaker at ASM will not grab the attention of each student, but that doesn’t allow the student body to not pay attention.

”

“

View from the topBy Evan

Speaking of Speakers...Let the speakers speak; change your attitude Students should help choose speakers

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Send us a

letter or email!Drop it off at The UV of-

fice or send it to uvarticles@

gmail.com

Two weekends ago, I went to visit the University of Oregon campus. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with my friend Sara in her dorm room (or rather, her shoebox) on her co-ed floor. Yes, co-ed floor. As in there were boys right next door. And down the hall. And boys who randomly walked into her room and sat down on her bed to watch “Hitch” with us. Yes, boys who watched romantic comedy films. The first time this happened that night, I sat there on the opposite bed staring blankly at him until I realized that I looked like an idiot and diverted my attention to the gorgeous Will Smith. The second time that happened I stared blankly. The third time? The third time Sara nudged me the moment the boy walked out of the room and asked me what the hell was going on.

Boys in rooms and boys in hallways and boys in classrooms. To be honest, the

last of those three freaked me out the most. Like, boys go to school? Real school? Sitting in an intro to psychology classroom the following week with my friend Rena at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I couldn’t help but be more focused on the fact that there were boys in the classroom than on the actual lecture. Having spent the past six years of my educational career in classrooms with no testosterone, it’s weird realizing that it is possible to have a co-educational experience.

On that note, it’s even harder to comprehend that the most difficult (and possibly most important) quarter of my academic career is over. By the time you read this, early applications will be sent in and hopefully we’ll all be a little bit nicer to each other. Not that it’s really going to get any easier – I can feel senioritis creeping up over my shoulder, the type that tells me

By AliUV Staff

By CassidyUV Staff

There have been numerous criticisms by the student body that many speakers at all-school meeting (ASM) are boring, irrelevant and condescending.

These speakers take time out of their day to speak at Marlborough. We should only be so thankful as to welcome them with our attention, insightful questions and appropriate behavior. The problem is not the speakers, but rather the attitude of the

student body. Many people in the Marlborough

community acknowledge the recent upward trend in having speakers who are not just knowledgeable, but who are experts in their field.

Recent speaker Dr. Francine Kaufman is one of America’s leading specialists in childhood diabetes, said science instructor Dr. Arleen Forsheit. When speaking, Dr. Kaufman was met by students’ lackadaisical behavior.

The speakers are our invited guests, and greeting them with careless behavior reflects poorly on Marlborough and the student body. Sitting attentively for forty-five minutes is hard, especially if sitting on the wood floor. But what is more difficult than sitting on the floor is talking to a group of people whose faces show that they would much rather be somewhere else.

The image speakers may receive of Marlborough is of students too preoccupied playing with each other’s hair to listen to an expert. Is that how we want Marlborough to be perceived?

It is difficult to find a fitting speaker, so the student body should appreciate those who are available. Speakers must be knowledgeable, captivating, available

on a specific date and within ASM’s speaker budget; they must have been heard before and suitable for Marlborough’s demographic. By the time a speaker suits all requirements, the choices have tapered significantly.

Every speaker at ASM will not grab the attention of each student, but that doesn’t allow the student body to not pay attention. Consider any class you take. Do you enjoy what you are learning every day? Most likely no. Does that permit you to divert the interest of other students? No. The same is true for speakers; it’s not possible that such a diverse group of people will equally benefit from a particular subject or speaker.

We are a quality academic institution priding ourselves in acquainting students with a wide range of viewpoints. ASM is a way to provide the student body with pertinent, valuable information. Because of this every speaker may not be entertaining. We can’t have every assembly be Dr. Talone dancing to Soulja Boy.

Although every speaker will not be the beacon of fascination, it is every student’s personal responsibility to make ASM more successful. Students unhappily roll into ASM not because of the speaker, but because of their own attitude towards the idea of a speaker. Even when we’ve had entirely relevant and enriching speakers, students still are discourteous.

Four years ago, a speaker talked about the life of Zora Neale Hurston, the author who penned a book every student has read during her Marlborough career. The student body’s attitude was less than moving and the overall result — chagrin. How more pertinent of a speaker for this student body could one possibly find?

If speakers are unwilling to divert from their generic speech and relate their talk to Marlborough, they should absolutely not be invited to speak. If students are unhappy with the situation in ASM, they should take responsibility into their own hands. Student initiative, whether it is behavior during assembly or suggestions for changes, is the key to a successful speaker culture.

If you would like to propose a speaker, talk to Dr. Cottingham at least a year before they would speak. Or simply sit up, wake up and stop playing with your friends’ hair.

that we’re all so close but still just out of reach. So, it isn’t getting any easier, but at least we all know that this is as hard as it is going to get for us, right?

Alright, maybe that’s not as reassuring as I hoped it would be, but our days here are numbered; it’s our turn to chant “one more year, you’re still here,” and in January, “oh my God, we’ll be SECOND SEMESTER SENIORS” (by which point our brains will have officially shut off).

And if none of that gets you through it, just think, next year? Flip flops, noon wakeups, and BOYS.

Students sit in school all morning, learning math, sciences, and history, each subject covering a large span of material and ideas. When it comes to all-school meeting (ASM), the whole school is expected to sit in hard chairs (or on the floor) and listen to a speaker talk about a specific subject that often has little to do with their lives, such as “diabesity,” for a full forty minutes.

All-school meetings should be completely re-done to change speakers, format, and the amount of student input.

There is proof that more compelling, relevant issues that students are interested in make better assemblies. Just recently, Naama Haviv, a speaker on the genocide in Darfur, was brought in. Many students found the speaker interesting, and thought she approached the issue very well. This speaker was a hit for two reasons.

First of all, Marlborough chose a speaker directly related to a subject that numerous students had already shown an active interest in. Last year, a tent city was set up on the field to illustrate the problems in Darfur, and this year a whole new student organization, the Darfur Club, was started. Though the speaker wasn’t formally chosen based on student input, the choice

All-school meetings should be completely re-done to change speakers, format, and the amount of student imput.

”

“

was influenced by student connections, and she’s a good example of the kind of speaker who can be chosen if students are regularly asked for their opinion.

Second, a whole week, “Darfur Week,” was built around the speaker, and included advertisements and posters and activities for the rest of the week, which increased awareness. If Marlborough was to give more advance information, students

would be able to walk in with knowledge of what will be discussed, and the speaker will seem less random. This would give time for students to formulate questions and opinions about the issue.

For every ASM with a speaker, the rundown is the same. There is one guest who talks about one issue for forty-five minutes. Has the school considered varying this? Assemblies could be pro-cons, debates or panels. Cutting the time given to any one speaker would increase student interest and alertness, with less repetition in the speech.

Two speakers could each talk for twenty minutes on opposite or different views of an issue to take part in a pro-con assembly. With two sides of an issue going back and forth, there would be more excitement and action in the assembly, as well as a more balanced view on the topic. When environmentalist Gunter Pauli came to speak, science teachers thought that his ideas were inspiring, but noticed that a few of his more insignifigant science facts were incorrect. The pro-con format would help correct some of these smaller problems and create a more credible assembly.

In order to incorporate more student input, Marlborough could set up a panel of different guests who are knowledgeble about similar issues, and the assembly could be purely student questions and answers from the panel. A speaker could talk for twenty minutes and leave twenty minutes for student questions. These assemblies would have more student control over the sides of the issues that would be addressed.

Many speakers have a generic speech that they have prepared. The problem is, Marlborough students are a specific group of young students, and speakers should be willing to aim their talk at students. After all, speakers are brought in to educate us, and more people will learn if the assembly is more of a conversation with the students than a forty-minute speech recited, which is easy to tune out.

At this point, all-school meetings are not as successful as they coud be. If some measures are taken for improvement, speakers will be able to hold the students’ attention for a longer period of time, creating discussion and awareness in the student body while still showing students important, timely, and relevant issues.

16 Friday, November 9, 2007The Back Page

Volume 38, Issue 2

Buses are dirty. Buses are slow. Buses are for people who can’t afford cars. Talk to most Marlborough students, and this is what you will hear. On a Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., I stand under the orange Metro sign on the corner of 3rd and Rossmore to see for myself what riding the bus in L.A. is like, by taking a trip to the Beverly Center to buy a dress for my friend’s 16th birthday party. I didn’t have to ask my parents for a ride or work around other people’s schedules. I didn’t have to bum a ride off a friend. All I had to do was get a bus schedule online and then stand at the bus stop to wait for the bus to arrive. On any day, not just a Saturday but any weekday after school, students can get on a bus at the corner of 3rd and Rossmore and either head east to the Fashion District Downtown, west towards the Santa Monica Promenade, or north on Vine all the way to Hollywood and Highland. A white bus with an orange stripe and a #16 stream-ing across the electronic sign above the windshield pulls close to the curb and the double doors swing open. I board the bus behind four other people and drop five quarters into the designated slot. I move back and grab onto one of the overhead hand holds so as to not be jolted backwards as the bus takes off down 3rd St. I take a seat next to a girl who is a senior at a local public high school. She is taking the bus to Pan Pacific Park for a soccer game. I see other people who look like they are going home after a long day of work, oth-ers coming in with groceries in hand after shopping at Ralph’s and Trader Joe’s on 3rd and La Brea. The bus is far from dirty. Although there is some graffiti on the seats, the bus is free from trash and even smells freshly cleaned. Even though we stop at every block, we still seem to be making good time down 3rd. The bus is filled with a mix of people, most indistinguishable by their economic situation. One Marlborough student who rides the bus is Rose ’10, who commutes over 20 miles to and from school each day from her home in Pasadena. She also goes to friends’ houses on the public bus because she usually doesn’t have any other ride. Rose said many Marlborough students don’t ride the bus because “they can’t get over the stigma of the bus.” But she finds it “so much easier” than waiting on other people, like her parents, to drive her. It creates indepen-dence, while also requiring self discipline she said. She said that the L.A. transportation system is very convenient, especially the bus and train (Gold and Red

Lines), which she rides all the way to Pasadena after school. She passes the time by reading, listening to her iPod, or making conversation with sociable passengers. I balance myself again, as the bus breaks at another stop. I am already in front of The Grove after only 7 minutes on the bus and about 6 stops. A group of teenage girls get on, holding large “Abercrombie” bags, laughing about a movie that just let out, seeming to disprove the notion that the bus is only for underprivileged people. The girls find their seats, and the bus takes off again. After 7 more stops I arrive at the corner of 3rd and La Cienega in front of the Beverly Center, fifteen minutes after boarding. In the same amount of time on the bus I could also be at LACMA, Hollywood and Highland, or at “Milk” on Melrose by taking different routes all available from 3rd and Rossmore. I sigh in relief. I didn’t get lost, and I feel as fresh and clean as I did when I boarded the bus. I don’t have to tell my parents how long I will take at the mall, arrange a meeting spot, or plan when they need to pick me up,

which is good because I search for a dress for over an hour, although I come out of the mall empty- handed. Rose is right, independence is nice. Kelly ’09 is another student who agrees. She has been riding the bus consistently for two years, while in the process of getting her license, and finds it an easy and cheap way to get home or to her community service job at Cedar Sinai Medical Center. Page likes the freedom it gives her. “I can decide when I want to leave,” Page said. Page also sees this same stereotype as one of the main reasons that Marlborough students are hesitant to ride a public bus. “People think it’s a lower class thing,” Page said. But she added that there are routes that go through Beverly Hills and Bel Air. I board the bus again, and in just another 15 minutes I am back at 3rd and Rossmore. It might take longer, but I could have also planned trips from this spot to the Santa Monica Pier, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and Downtown L.A. And I wouldn’t have had to rely on anyone but myself.

By ColleenUV Staff

Santa Monica Pier: Bus 16 west, transfer to Rapid 720 at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica. Cost: $2.50. Time: About an hour.

The Grove: Bus 316 west, all the way there. Cost: $1.25. Time: 7 minutes.

Beverly Center: Bus 316 west, all the way there. Cost: $1.25. Time: 15 minutes.

Hollywood & Highland: Bus 210 north to Vine and Sunset, transfer to Bus 2 west the rest of the way. Cost: $2.50. Time: 30 minutes.

LACMA: Bus 210 south to Wilshire and Rossmore, transfer to Bus 20 west. Cost: $2.50. Time: 20 minutes.

Melrose strip: Bus 210 north to Vine and Melrose, transfer to Bus 10 west. Cost: $2.50. Time: 30 minutes.

From Third Street and Rossmore

Going Mass Transitfrom Marlborough ...

Many students have false preconceptions of the “dirty”

public bus. However, it’s a convenient way to go anywhere in L.A., from Santa

Monica to Downtown, without having to wait on your mom or hitch a ride with a friend.

Graphics by Hannah, Photos by Colleen