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HORACE MANN SCHOOL | WEEKLY SINCE 1913

March 9, 2012 Volume 109, Issue 22

The Horace Mann Record

Knowledge Masters Rise to The ChallengeBettina EdelsteinStaff Writer

This year’s SBP/SBVP election has been postponed until further notice to allow the school time to “absorb and consider what happened” at the candidates’ assembly on Tuesday, Upper Division Head Dr. David Schiller told The Record.

Faculty members are still discussing how to proceed in terms of the election until both faculty and students feel comfortable about the next step, Dean of Student Life Dr. Susan Delanty said.

Both teachers and students said they were offended by comments candidates made during the assembly that contained sexual innuendoes and veiled references to particular students.

For running mates Grant Rosen (11) and Ben Shelley (11), “This was not a competition to slip things by. We thought it was a line that would get votes from the freshmen and sophomores, but it was perceived in a way that we did not expect,” Shelley said. “We take responsibility for the perception, but it was a learning experience and all we can do now is apologize and move forward.”

Alex Talarico (11), who ran with Andrew Schwartz (11), said “if we were asked to take anything out, we

would have been more than happy to. Speeches were reviewed beforehand, and we did not intend on pulling a fast one on anybody,” Talarico said.

A Record poll of about 180 students found that 22% of respondents said they were offended by the speeches and 78% said they were not.

Responses to a question during the assembly about diversity and a candidate’s question about diversity clubs at the school were also concerning to administrators.

Diversity Associate Markell Parker said he was disappointed that a candidate for school-wide office “was not familiar with longstanding diversity organizations,” particularly after diversity assemblies this year, he said.

Director of Diversity Patricia Zuroski pointed to the absence of female candidates. “As we were looking at the stage filled with young men, some were asking where the girls were.”

The notion that the SBP must appeal to voters through humor and the SBP’s role in the community were subjects for discussion during Thursday’s Community Council meeting.

The council considered what formed “an institution where students have to make jokes in order to be elected,” Community Council Chair Max Moran (12) said.

SBP Thomas Foster (12) said he

has not fully understood the role of the SBP. “I didn’t see the difference between an idea coming from me, from the Community Council, or from any other student,” he said. “It seemed like the only power I really had was to organize events in addition to assemblies.”

Following the meeting, Foster said that he and SBVP Antonio Irizarry (12) will be creating a list of SBP responsilities to present to the administration.

Gideon Broshy (12) said that the SBP position should be eliminated altogether because “it’s become this problematic, bloated thing in our school.” Instead, Broshy said the CC Chair and SBP should be combined into one role.

“Ideas come out of this group of people who want to change the school, and I don’t see why the person who’s supposed to be representing the student voice is not here dealing with ideas and being in charge of the Community Council,” Broshy said.

Candidate Troy Sipprelle (11) said “any chance for the students to have a voice is intrinsically an invaluable position, so I disagree with the position that the SBP should be removed entirely.”

Matt Taub (11), who is running

with Sipprelle, said that the role should not be viewed as one that can “change the infrastructure of the school.” Rather, the SBP is someone “who can improve student life on a daily basis without rewriting the Horace Mann handbook,” he said.

With the dissolution of the GC, this is the time to redefine the election and student government process, Moran said. “Many people feel that the position in itself is outdated,” he said, “and we have the ability as the student council to make recommendations on

how to change it.”The Record’s poll found more than

80% in favor of the position.Parker said that the conversation

should extend beyond the Community Council meeting and should be happening year-round.

“No matter what happens in terms of the election, each candidate put forth creative and innovative ideas,” candidate Alex Posner (11) said. “I think the decision to delay the election is probably best, so the administration can figure out how to best respond.”

SBP Elections Suspended in Response to Candidate Speeches

Michael ReissStaff Writer

REPRESENT? • Above, candidates

await questions from the audience in

Tuesday’s assembly. Right, Rececca Segal (12) and Jacob Bass

(12) participat in the Comunity

Council’s I period meeting, discussing

their views of the role of the SBP.

Carly Amon/Staff Photographer

Asher Baumrin & Chloe tsangStaff Writers

City Council Speaker Shares Her Story with WIC and GSA

The Challenge team captured its second and third straight victories, Tuesday, and will now move onto the Bronx Finals. In this next round, they will have the chance to qualify for Tristate Finals, the prize of which is $10,000. Every round of this contest will be aired on MSG Varsity, with the quarterfinals airing on April 13th and the semifinals in late April.

The Challenge is an academic game show that tests students’ knowledge of subjects from the biological to the biographical and gives teams the opportunity to win 2,500 to 10,000 dollars. “The questions are on really random topics so we never really know what kind of questions to expect,” captain Sam Bauman (12) said.

“In this academic bowl, the questions can range from politics,

pop culture, current events, science, history, and many other topics,” faculty advisor Mitchell Francis said.

The teams of four, lined up facing each other, race to press their buzzers for the chance to answer each question, team member Courtney Hodrick (12) said. If one team answers incorrectly, the other team has the opportunity to win the points. Different questions net different point values, and whichever team earns more points when the game is over moves on to the next round.

Will Shore (11), Avital Morris (12) and Seth Arar (12), round out the team, with the availability of the members dictating who participates in each round, Hodrick said. The team members also compete as part of the larger Knowledge Masters Open team, a semi-annual online competition whose competitors include students from all four grades. The students chosen from KMO to

compete on The Challenge are the five highest scorers on a test administered by Bauman, he said.

“We have a team of incredibly smart people. My biggest problem is just making sure they know where to be and when to be there. I don’t have to worry about them knowing the material because I know they are all well prepared,” Bauman said.

Horace Mann began competing on The Challenge four years ago, and won the Bronx finals three years ago. “The money we win always goes a students assistance charity fund and we are hoping to win this year as well and get the opportunity to donate more money,” Francis said.

Bauman, with three years of Challenge shows under his belt, is the most experienced team member. “It is a great chance to show off what you know,” Bauman said. “I mean who doesn’t like to flaunt their skills.”

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn discussed her experience as a lesbian in politics with the Women’s Issues Club and GSA.

As the first woman Speaker, Quinn said she “largely ignores” her gender and sexual orientation while trying to get things accomplished. By disregarding people who told her she was not going to win the election, she put herself in a “much greater position than I’d ever thought I’d get,” Quinn said. “Quinn simply set out to accomplish her goals without getting bogged down by any criticism or adversity,” Co-President of the Women’s Issues Club Halle Liebman (11) said.

“The best part for me was that she was explaining things about her life and her views on life that really are useful to people who are still formulating what their ideas may be,” faculty advisor of

the Women’s Issues Club, Geraldine Woods, said.

Describing some of the people she has encountered through her position as Speaker, Quinn explained how she has seen ordinary people enter politics. She met a woman through her position who lost two of her sons to gun violence and has since become a powerful anti-gun activist.

Quinn gave advice on the best way for students to get involved in politics and encouraged students to figure out what aspect of politics he or she is interested in. She suggested that students interested in politics should get involved in community boards within neighborhoods.

“Students need to understand what it’s like to be in politics,” Woods said.

Liebman came away from the lecture motivated to “keep doing what you’re passionate about and ignore others who are trying to hold you back,” she said.

Emma Maltby/Staff Photographerwere you offended by the SBP speeches?

Yes

No

do you think the school should have an SBP?

22%

78%

81%

19%

no role.

other

entertainment

figureheadunite

community

make changes

what do you think the role of SBP should be?

12%4%

24%

23%10%

21%

6%student voice

160 students polled

2 The horace Mann recordFriday, March 9, 20122

The Horace Mann RecordLetters Policy: The Record welcomes letters from its readers as part of its commitment to an open forum. Letters can be submitted by mail (Letters to the Editor, The Record, Hor-ace Mann School, 231 West 246 Street, Bronx, NY 10471), e-mail (record@horacemann.org), or can be left in the Re-cord mailbox in the Deans’ office. All decisions regarding libel, anonymity, length, and clarity are subject to editorial discretion. All submissions must contain the writer’s name to verify authenticity and should be limited to 250 words. All letters will be printed on a first-come, first serve basis, space permitting. To be considered for publication in the next issue, letters should be submitted by 4:00 on Wednes-day afternoon.

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FeaturesAmbika Acharya

Arts & EntertainmentHillary Winnick Middle Division

Olivia El-Sadr Davis

NewsJenna Spitzer

Elizabeth WeingoldLions Den

Matthew CottThomas Kim

Opinions & EditorialsCourtney Hodrick

Editor in ChiefSarah Pyun

Managing EditorChristine Kim

Production ManagerBaci Weiler

Faculty AdvisorDr. Glenn Wallach

Senior EditorEden Sung

Photography EditorsRachel Essner, Laurence Ge,

Justin Gilston, Kimberley Sarnoff

Editorial Board Volume 109

Online EditorAramael Peña-Alcántara

Assistant Design EditorSeth Arar

Opinions & EditorialsOpinions & Editorials

While casually browsing NYPrepProblems the other night, a Tumblr blog that lists moments quintessential to the New York private school experience, I spotted an egregious error in one post: “When you meet someone from Horace Mann or Trinity and automatically assume they’re geniuses.” I’m quite sure the blogger meant to say “assume he or she is a genius,” as we’ve all been taught proper grammar at our NY prep schools.

While I know that the primary function of Tumblr isn’t to inspire philosophical questions, the post got me thinking. There seems to be quite a paradox at our school: we have been accepted at and have chosen to attend this school because we are “smart,” and yet I often find it difficult to feel smart in a community where everyone else is so brilliant. Though I am glad to be in a place that prizes academic achievement, I worry that our community and our values are

conducive to low self-esteem. I was once told by one of my

favorite 9th grade teachers that our school is a place where coolness and doing well in classes are one and the same. There are many schools where the nerdy kid who earns straight-A’s kid is on the bottom of the totem pole, but this is not one of them.

To the contrary, I find it very difficult to go through a single day without hearing kids talk about other students’ grades and scores. The perpetual hottest topic of gossip seems to be academic achievement: a student’s most recent SAT score is brought up, and someone exclaims, “I didn’t know he’s smart” with a newfound sense of reverence. How hip it is to be intelligent!

If this is not a school where the know-it-all is on the bottom of the totem pole, is it the other way around? Is Horace Mann a society in which there is a class structure based on GPA instead of income, as is the case in the “real world”? Course selection instead of career choice? Are we growing up prepared to foster an attitude of elitism and, furthermore, intellectual pompousness?

To a certain extent, I believe this to be the case.

Many students seem to have forgotten how possible it is to be

smart without being pretentious. What is to become of those who are not straight-A students, but who still care deeply about their educations? What can be said about those who are not part of the elite of the elite? We must remember that grades and scores really do not illustrate the whole portrait of intelligence.

Low self-esteem about one’s intelligence might be one of the greatest incentives to work hard and to get the high grades and scores that seem to be the key to future success and present respect, but it we need other motivators. We too often conflate good grades and true intellectualism. Instead of being a good student out of fear, we’d be much better off if we could be good students purely out of intellectual determination. Call me idealistic, but I bet you it’s possible.

I wish the feeling of “I’m not good enough” would vanish from our school; I’m sick of that attitude within myself and the people around me. The truth is that this school has prepared all of us to be “good enough” in whatever area we choose to study or practice. Our social obsession with smartness compromises our appreciation for how smart we already are.

Asher Baumrin

The Commoditization of Smart

There is a fraction – I do not know how large it is – of students, teachers, and administrators who were deeply offended by certain aspects of this year’s Student Body President election speeches. It should not

surprise anyone who knows me that I am a part of this group. We are hurt, and we are trying to heal. I would like to take this opportunity to tell the school community what will not help us to heal, and what will instead continue to dig into our wounds.

The administration must now make a choice that may have unintended repercussions for the individuals who at this moment most need their support. Tuesday’s assembly put the position of SBP itself in jeopardy, and with good reason. The administration now has justification to turn to the student body and say: “The positions of SBP and SBVP have become a popularity contest and about ‘who can make you laugh the three times a year they facilitate assemblies’ instead of the original intent of the position: responsibility and leadership. The conduct of certain candidates during Tuesday’s speeches has proven to us that there is no future for the SBP and SBVP positions, and

they are going to be dissolved effective this year.” Please, administration: do not make this decision now.

If you are going to end the SBP and SBVP positions, do it next year. Do not do it now, when the decision will hurt me and those like me who were already hurt once on Tuesday. Although the administration would see the decision to dissolve SBP as a rational move, one related strictly to the conduct of some of this year’s co-SBP candidates, the student body would see the decision in a very different light.

Although I belong to the injured faction, I know that there is another faction – I do not know how large this one is either – that was not offended on Tuesday, that is not offended now, and that is much more offended that people like me “could not take a joke” than it is that a joke was made. This faction will see the dissolution of the SBP and SBVP positions not as the fault of a system that made the positions meaningless, nor as the fault of certain candidates who abused a faulty system, but as the fault of members of the community who feel the way I do and “made a big deal of an innocent joke.”

We do not want to bear the legacy of killing SBP for the whole community because we “could not take a joke.” Spare us that burden. Keep the SBP position for the Class of 2013.

Don’t Make Us Martyrs

Colin Mark

The time has come for a fundamental reevaluation of the role of the Student Body President. Of course, some older students and teachers may argue that this time came years ago. Though we have heard both outrage at and defense of aspects of Tuesday’s assembly, we can all agree that the assembly has made us question the place of student leadership at our school.

Although the SBP does currently have real powers, including a seat on the Committee on Instruction and the Assembly Committee, our community has come to regard the position as a glorified MCing job. Students sit through the three SBP/SBVP assemblies each year and conclude that they must choose the pair who can entertain them best. We’ve witnessed ambitious plans and concrete ideas slowly leaching out of election speeches until what’s left behind is crude and sexual humor that, as seen on Tuesday, can grow cruelly personal.

Though “the student voice” has in recent years become little more than a buzzword used to inspire outrage against the administration, we fervently believe that students must have a say in their education. For example, the presence of students on the Committee on Instruction has been instrumental in the addition of testing days to our 10 day schedule and in other improvements to our daily academic lives. Similarly, the students who sit on the disciplinary committee add the empathy and context of a peer to the conversation. We must maintain these very real exercises of the student voice.

Many of us can also see the benefits of allowing students, and not just adults, to enrich the school and to bring us together by planning school-wide assemblies and activities. But both the November 1st assembly and the trends of recent SBP elections have led us to question whether teenagers have the maturity to stand before and attempt to entertain hundreds of our peers without resorting to possibly cruel humor.

Perhaps the root of this problem lies partially in our warped perceptions of the role of the SBP. While the leadership of most clubs is chosen based on merit, and the powerful seats on the Disciplinary Committee are filled by applicants selected by the administration, the SBP election is one of the few times that prospective leaders are paraded in front of their peers to be deemed worthy. The eyes of the entire student body create a powerful social pressure to conform to expectations, and if these expectations glorify the white male, it’s no wonder students who don’t look like the typical candidate choose not to run. The position of SBP was created when Horace Mann was a school for young men, and it has been been unable to evolve with our community. If a girl stood onstage making the sexual jokes that have seemingly become required of an Entertainer-In-Chief, how would the community respond?

There was a powerfully sexist undercurrent displayed in some of Tuesday’s speeches, not to mention a general ignorance of diversity issues and the many diversity clubs in our school, that should force us to question the status quo to which we are accustomed.

To be clear: the patterns that we observe in SBP elections cannot be blamed on any individual boy who chooses to run or any individual girl who chooses not to, and is not even the sum of their individual choices. But the image of a group of Caucasian boys standing onstage in suits to vie for the right to represent the school community is one that we’ve seen repeated year after year, with very few minorities and girls represented. Beyond the lack of female candidacy, girls, especially freshmen, have in recent years been singled out by boys who are often older than they are. In comparison, the leadership of our school’s oldest clubs and publications is diverse with respect to both gender and ethnicity. If girls consistently demonstrate their ability to excel in leadership roles, why has there never been a female SBP?

There is a bigger problem, of course, that leads to the repeated choice of sexual or sexist jokes. It’s present in our hallways and at our homecoming parties, in the comments made by our peers on Facebook and by our politicians on television. Just as students do not decide in a vacuum whether to run for SBP, our school does not exist independent of our external culture. We are subject to institutionalized racism and sexism, and we cannot hope to eradicate these forces with one election or one editorial. What we can do, though, is examine the institutions in place in our own community and decide whether they serve our goals and our core values.

The future of student government will be decided in the next weeks or years, and it is up to each of you to lend your voice to these discussions. If there are elections for SBP, we will leave to you the choice between assemblies that might keep you awake and concrete changes that might be attempted. Whether elections are held or not, we urge you to attend CC meetings discussing the role of student government. When we are not here to shape our school, how will you want it to look?

What Is Representation?

CorrectionsIn Issue #19: “Flamingos, Baseballs, and Records:Students Collect Their Passions” all photos were courtesy of the students featured.

The horace Mann record Friday, March 9, 2012 3NewsNews

An essay on cyber-bullying earned a New York City high school student the chance to witness Lady Gaga and Oprah introduce an anti-bullying campaign at Harvard last week. She was awarded a press pass through a contest sponsored by a political website founded by two Horace Mann alumni.

Of the approximately 30 high school students who entered the competition, Natalie Silver, a senior at the LAB school, received the most positive online comments on the site PolicyMic.com for her contributions on ways to prevent bullying before it occurs. “A lot of other people wrote generic ideas about why bulling is bad,” Silver said, “but I saw very few proposals for change.”

By suggesting that people educate students about making smarter choices online, and raising the issue of the risks involved in allowing children complete freedom on the internet, Silver was presented the press-pass to report on Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” Foundation’s entry in the fight against bullying. “Cyber-bullying can be incredibly hurtful,” Silver said, “especially due to the anonymous aspect of it. Every

Facebook, Formspring, or Myspace page is a constant reminder of the danger.”

Although she enjoyed the opportunity granted to her, Silver said she was somewhat dismayed to hear the pop star’s personal opinion on the issue. “Lady Gaga specifically downplayed the impact of cyber-bullying, claiming that because of the internet’s anonymity, it was not as big a deal.”

Co-founded by Jake Horowitz ’05 and Chris Altchek ’05, PolicyMic is dedicated toward making politics and intellectual debate accessible for the modern “millennial” generations, Horowitz said. Both founders said the largest problem with online information is that major news outlets are not geared toward younger readers, while social websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, do not supply enough factual news.

Horowitz and Altchek said the Harvard invitation was a means to popularize their website among high school students, as well as incite teenagers to take a stance on political or social issues. They decided that rather than having one of their staff to cover the Harvard conference, they would leave the decision up to their readers. “By creating a contest where high school students were

able to discuss among themselves the most troubling aspects of bullying,” Horowitz said, “we were able to allow our users to judge each other’s ideas, and vote amongst themselves.”

Silver wrote two articles about her experiences at Harvard for PolicyMic, concerning both the conference itself and her reactions to what was said. “We were very impressed with how she did,” Horowitz said. “Although she was granted no direct interviews, she was treated as a member of the adult press, and has expressed interest in writing for us again.”

Silver said that while journalism was interesting, she preferred creating her own intellectual content, rather than reporting on someone else’s. “I enjoy writing a lot, but it’s somewhat constraining when you need to report on a topic without adding your own opinion,” she said.

Altchek worked in the White House and on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reelection campaign before starting the website, while Horowitz served as Editor-In-Chief of The Record. “One of the greatest experiences of my adolescence, was engaging myself in the political world,” Horowitz said. “We created PolicyMic to allow other rising adults of our generation to find subjects that spark their interests.”

NYC Student Wins Alumni-Sponsored ContestAlex Fine Staff Writer

Model Congress Finishes Strong Season

The Model Congress club tied with its closest rival, Dalton, to win the most awards at last weekend’s Harvard conference. With approximately 30 schools and over 1000 students competing, the annual Harvard conference is the largest and most competitive conference the club attends, President Jessica Bernheim (12) said.

The group of 27 delegates who attended won a combined total of 13 certificates of excellence, the largest number of awards the club has ever received at Harvard. Although any upperclassmen interested was given priority, the delegation was almost equally balanced across the grades. The large number of freshmen and sophomores is “one of the things that has made this year so great because even though we know a really strong senior class is about to graduate, we know the club’s going to be left

in good hands,” President Andre Manuel (12).

The Harvard conference is unique in that bills are not prewritten, but rather researched in advance and crafted in committees with students from different schools. In addition to being judged on legislation and speaking ability, delegates at Harvard were evaluated on their ability to work with others. “It’s a great coalition building exercise,” certificate of excellence winner Nicolas McCombe (11) said. “You have to make a sort of working friendship with someone in a space of 30 seconds in order to get their vote on your issue.”

Because speaking ability is generally a strong suit for delegates and is easy to improve on, working with others can be the more challenging aspect of the Harvard conference, Berheim said. “We try to emphasize that there are ways in which to go about passing legislation while still being a leader in your

group.” Throughout the year club

presidents Bernheim, Manuel and Jacob Moscona-Skolnik, held meetings to teach delegates how to write legislation, speak clearly and research effectively. “We worked to give more guidance especially to the freshmen to help them come into their own as debaters,” Manuel said.

The four-day conference marked the end of the seniors’ last major away conference. “It’s bittersweet; we’re really sad about leaving it but we’re really excited about how far we’ve come and the way we’ve really matured as debaters and individuals,” Bernheim said. Not only has the Model Congress had a successful year in terms of awards, “but what we’ve really managed to achieve as a club is a sense of community,” she said.

In the spring, the club will attend one-day conferences at Columbia and Dalton geared towards underclassmen.

Amy Hood Staff Writer

Max Moran (12) addresses his committee at the latest Model Congress conference, where HM tied for the most awards. Courtesy of Max Moran

Seven students scored well enough out of a field of 250,000 on the American Mathematics Competition to qualify for the second round, the AIME test.

Qualifiers, Jeff Barg, (11) Sam Bauman, (12) Jay Fleischer, (10) Eddy Grafstein, (12) Noah Lee, (12) Pak Shen (12) and Xudong Zheng (9) will take the 3 hour, 15 question follow up test next Thursday, which eventually leads to the selection of the US National team that will compete in the International Math Olympiad.

Geometry H, Algebra 2H, Precalculus BCH, Calculus BC, Math Seminar classes took the qualifying contest last month.

The AMC 12 consisted of 25 challenging precalculus and calculus questions, with the purpose to spur interest in mathematics and to develop talent through solving challenging problems in a timed multiple-choice format, according to the contest website.

“The test is full of wonderfully-crafted, challenging problems that keep our students and math teachers buzzing for days. The results are secondary to experience” Math department chair Chris Jones said.

–News in Brief–

The Women’s Issues Club visited the CNN studios in New York where they met with two female journalists and received a tour of the studio. Tami Luhby ‘88, who is a senior writer at CNNmoney.com and a former student of Geraldine Woods, invited the students and Woods, the club’s faculty advisor. Her boss Gabrielle Solomon, the assistant managing editor, joined Luhby to talk to the students about their career paths, how they cover stories, and how the journalism world functions. “I learned that it definitely takes a lot more work than what it seems like to put together even just one small story,” Halle Liebman (11) said.

Although journalism as a whole was the primary focus of the visit, the question of the presence of gender barriers arose, and the two women had very different responses. Luhby said that once when she was working in a journalism internship, she found that she was earning 50¢ less per hour than her male counterpart, and while more than half of the writers at CNN are female, most of the higher positions are held by males. Solomon, however, noted the advantages of being a female journalist. She referenced the story of Bethany McLean, a reporter who was able to investigate and expose the fraudulence of the Enron Corporation in 2001 because the corporation “didn’t take her seriously,” Woods said.

Students Advance in AMC

WIC Goes to CNN

Showcasing tunes from Mozart to Michael Jackson, the Music Outreach Club performed at a Washington Heights children’s hospital last Sunday. A camera crew filmed the group’s first-ever concert that was uniquely for kids and families, broadcasting it live to bedridden patients and other screens throughout the hospital,

Mia Farinelli (11) said. The concert was meant to be “a temporary way

to get these kids out of their sickness and remove them from their pain,” Music Outreach Vice President Jacob Moscona-Skolnik (12) said.

Because it was the first children’s concert the club had played in its three-year history,

performers made a last-minute decision to replace some of their largely classical repertoire with kid-friendly songs like “Here Comes the Sun,” Farinelli said “It had a very relaxed atmosphere, and it’s always positive

to see how music can inspire people and uplift their spirits,” co-faculty advisor Micheal Dale

said.

HM Outreach Performs at Chidren’s Hospital

~ Molly Wharton

~ Teo Armus-Laski

~ Evan Reinsberg

The horace Mann recordFriday, March 9, 20124 FeaturesFeatures

Top, Dorin Azerad (12) poses for a picture after the blind nine-year-old student she has been working with at the Greenwich Special Olympics, won two gold medals in the speed skating event. Azerad works there on the weekends, teaching both speed skating and swimming. Above, Michael Winik (11) teaches students English in Samoa. He traveled there last summer with his sister, who is in the Peace Corps, to teach math, writing, reading and soccer.

Dorin Azerad (12) guided a blind nine-year-old boy with her voice across the skating rink, leading him to two gold medals. She has taught swimming and skating to people of all ages with disabilities as a volunteer with the Greenwich Special Olympics for four years now. It is moments like watching her student overcome obstacles and succeed, she said, that epitomize what the benefits of community service should be.

Students are required to complete a minimum of eighty hours of community service, but what they take from it differs. In a poll of 100 students conducted by The Record, about 35% admitted that they only do community service to fulfill the requirement, and 13% said they do community service primarily to augment their college applications.

However 43% said they completed their community service for personal fulfillment and to help the greater community because they enjoyed it. “It was nice knowing that I made a difference,” Morgan Raum (9) said about her work to help feed and clothe the homeless. “I made them happy, and even if it was only for that one night, I fed them and helped keep them warm.”

Azerad has also been a member of the Service-Learning team for the past three years. While volunteering at the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, Azerad noticed that the five to eight year old children were having trouble with reading comprehension, so she formed the Drama and Literacy Program.

In the program, children read a new book each week with mentors and do a variety of activities, such as acting out scripts or writing spinoffs of the stories they read.

Azerad’s work with one boy embodied why she does community service: “At the beginning of the year he told me his parents would read to him every night before he went to bed, but by the end of the year he was the one reading to them,” Azerad said. “Reaching that place with his reading was such a great feat and I was really proud that he accomplished so much in one year,” she said.

While coaching Special Olympics, “I get them in a competitive spirit. I skate around with them, some of whom are learning to skate for the first time and I help them up and some of whom I just race and help improve their times,” she said.

Raum drove around with her Hebrew School distributing the vital necessities to the less fortunate. “We got out of the car and the people would just come up to us and ask for something like pants or some food. We would then go for the back and try to find them their size or give them a bowl of chicken noodle soup,” she said.

While catering and assisting the homeless, the teenagers participating were encouraged to make conversation with the homeless and to try and get to know them. “They were all really nice, friendly and funny,” Raum said. “It was fascinating learning about their lives and all the little details about them.”

One person Raum talked to was a young woman who “only owned one pair of pants, and every night she would wash this one pair of pants and have to walk around pantless until they dried.”

“It was nice knowing that I made a difference, and made me realize how fortunate I am, ” Raum said.

On an international level, Michael Winik (11) went to the Peace Corps in Vava’u, Samoa in the South Pacific to visit his older sister and ended up working there himself for five weeks over the summer. During his stay in Samoa he lived “in a small house about the size of the half circle in the front library where the librarians stand. The school there had no walls, the roof was destroyed, the chairs were all broken and the kids sat on the floor.”

At the school where his sister volunteered,

Winik decided to help out with her daily classes. Additionally, he taught the children, who were around ten years old, how to play soccer. “They loved to play,” Winik said, “so much so that they would even play on broken glass, and most of them played without shoes.”

Winik spent his summer running drills with the kids and teaching the children different soccer positions and skills. “They did not use much technique, but they did have a lot of fun,” he said.

“It was such a life-changing experience,” Winik said. “Their way of life is very different: the food, the people, the way they acted in general. People would be walking there without shoes on and also everyone there shared everything.”

Yvonne Cha (12) focused her efforts on the public school systems around the world by working with Donor’s Choice, a non-profit organization that raises money for public school classes. “I got a first hand experience learning about the deficiencies of the public school system and the standards of schools,” she said.

At Donor’s Choice, Cha worked in the feedback department as a medium to send schoolteachers donations and supplies and to tell the donors what the students were doing in school. “I also got to take all the pictures of the students who were helped by the donors and made a collage on the office wall,” she said. ““It was a lot of real life experience about how non-profits work.”

Because of her interest in the schooling system, Cha applied for the Alex Capelluto award last year with a project called “In the Know.” “In the Know” is a project where Cha and other high school students go to teach children at a school in Queens current events and help raise social awareness though media literacy tools.

“I think the reason why this project is so important to me is because a lot of my friends from when I went to public school in Queens dropped out or did not go to college, and by helping kids learn about current events, I’m hoping to show the kids the impact they can make and to empower them to pursue an education,” Cha said.

No matter what the charity is, how many hours are put in, or why the students did it, for hours or for personal satisfaction, “there is always some way you can help those around you with the things you know,” Cha said.

Maddie PennStaff Writer

Community Service:Are You Lending a Hand?

43913

Why do you do community service?

& serve community

personal fulfillment

35hou

rs

college

for fun

Courtesy of Dorin Azerad

Courtesy of Michael Winik

Polls conducted by Alex Fine, Sarah Heintz, Amy Hood, and Vivien

Ikwuakom

100 people polled

The horace Mann record Friday, March 9, 2012 5Arts & Entertainment

“Take better care of your doll,” Missus (played by Rebecca Niederberger [12]) said as she handed a faceless plastic doll to her eight-year-old student Stephanie (played by Justine Potemkin [10]). Up in the tech booth, I held my breath. “After all,” she continued, “Your doll is perfect.” She crossed behind Stephanie’s desk. “Just like you are.” Exit. One beat. Two. Three. Blackout. Exhale. I had done it. I had brought my first one act play to life.

In an hour and twenty minutes, a cast of thirteen students (excluding the student stage manager, student producer, student lighting designer, student media coordinator, and me, the student writer/director) had told the story of Jonestown Academy, a dystopian boarding school whose headmistress had been so compromised by her own insecurities that she had instituted a policy of ridding her students of any personality or creativity, supposedly in the interests of keeping them all “safer” by keeping them all “equal.” This team of students, with limited adult involvement, managed to create a world onstage that Head of School Dr. Kelly told me deeply disturbed and moved him.

Vermillion in the Sky first took form during Emma Laurence’s Playwriting and Production

class last year. After I decided definitively to get the play proudced, I revamped the piece. This ten scene incarnation of the play, affectionately dubbed “Vermillion in the Sky V. 2,” would become the backbone for my first stint as a director.

My decision to pursue an independent play project without the formal backing of the Theater Department started more out of a fundamental need to fill my afternoons during the second trimester than out of a legitimate expectation that I would be putting on a

show I could be proud of.My original plan was to (possibly, theoretically)

get a bunch of actors to put on the play and keep myself and my cast entertained for awhile. But soon after I started the project, especially after I decided to continue the project after being told I would not have access to use any of the Theater D e p a r t m e n t ’s facilities, I began to set higher goals.

Suddenly, I didn’t just want to put on a one act play; I wanted to put on a good one act play – and I had the cast and production team to do it.

Giving faces to my characters and then giving life to my written words was a trial by fire. I had never directed, nor had I ever considered directing, anything before in my life. I was an amateur, and my cast knew it. Moreover, I had to hold rehearsal in an English classroom until the last two rehearsals before opening night.

Almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between Thanksgiving break and show week, we turned 153T into a stage and as a collective, drawing from our past acting experiences. I

referred to my decision to have costumed actors perform scene changes themselves as “doing it Grapes of Wrath Style,” an allusion to last year’s winter production, from which I borrowed the idea, We stumbled toward a show we could be proud of.

Meanwhile, to my pleasant surprise, I found that I would not be forced to put on Vermillion in the Sky with no venue, no tech, and no resources; Vernon Wilson, who advised the project, helped me to secure a few hundred dollars in funds from the English Department, and my production team, led by producer Rachel Simerka-Smith (11), spent these funds on costumes (designed by Anna Carroll [11]) and props, including the iconic “dolls without faces” that were so central to my writer’s vision.

After rehearsing for several weeks without a show date or a venue, I secured access to the recital hall for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 5-7. Finally, at our first rehearsal in the Recital Hall, two days before opening, we found that we would have access to all of the lighting and sound technology I could ever have wanted. I ultimately found myself armed with the tools to pull out all the stops and make Vermillion in the Sky the play I had written it to be.

On opening night, I watched my actors take my vision and make it their own. I watched David Zask (11), who played Eric Pliant, one of the largest roles in the show, reinvent a character who had written to be cool and relaxed as a man

struggling with deep anxiety and weighty e m o t i o n a l baggage. I saw the synthesis of Seth Arar’s lighting design; Arar, Simerka-Smith and my

choice of soundtrack extracted from our extensive libraries of eery music; my actors’ ingenuity; and my directing. For example, I saw Victoria McKaba (11), Valerie Bodurtha (10), Hannah Jun (12) Giulia Alvarez (10), and Alison Futter (9) in schoolgirl costumes occupy a triangle of desks in synchronized pairs of two, framed by a circle of light, smiling unnaturally and complimenting each other without looking at one another, as “The Great Marsh” by Camel played in the background. Seeing my writing transformed into lights, sounds, and acting was ultimately the most rewarding part of directing my work.

Those who attended the senior recitals of Juilliard students Adela Kim (12) and Gideon Broshy (12) were dazzled by the music produced by the performers, Broshy first and Kim following shortly thereafter.

Every Saturday since the beginning of their music careers, Kim and Broshy have diligently attended clarinet and piano practice, respectively. Last Saturday, both of them held hour-long senior performances to commemorate their time at the performing arts school.

Kim has been working with her instructor for the past two years, but this recital forced Kim to notice that perfection should not be something to strive for in music. Instead, “I realized that the importance of music was actually creating that special moment during the performance between me and the audience,” she said.

Having gone through the process of creating recitals several times before, Kim was familiar with the way performances work. However, this senior recital taught Kim more about herself; it was “an execution of how well I absorbed (her instructor) Jon’s philosophy,” she said. “I felt the

audience really connected with me, more than ever.” Although she was unable to see her viewers, “it was this vibe that I could feel in the room and that was the feeling that Jon had been talking about all along,” she added.

What “made the recital so special” for Kim was the last piece she played by Johannes Brahms. “He proclaimed that he would stop composing music a year before he wrote the piece but dedicated the piece to a forbidden love of his,” she said. Like the passion that never ends for Brahms, Kim’s passion for the piece never dimmed.

Thus far, Kim has performed a recital every year for the past nine years. For Kim, the future is still hazy but “I do plan on staying in music since it’s a big part of who I am.” Unfortunately, Kim has been unable to share her musical talent with the entire school in a school-wide recital but looks forward to doing so later this year.

On the same day, Broshy, who has played piano at Juilliard for the past thirteen years, said his “final word as a high school pianist.” Having gone through the process of creating and carrying through a senior recital, Broshy has learned a lot about himself and his working aesthetic. Although “practicing is very brutal on the hand

physically,” all of his hard work paid off throughout the recital. In contrast to Kim, Broshy actually saw choosing pieces as “one of the most natural parts of the process.” Choosing pieces of music came instinctively to him since he had been playing the pieces for several months. However, as the performance loomed closer, “I practiced 5 hours a day.” Broshy

bore the physical pain of practicing difficult pieces for elongated periods of time.

In addition, he has also learned to take chances, he said, ending his program with “a very quiet piece by John Cage, an unusual and frowned upon choice for a last piece” because piano recitals conventionally end with a “virtuosity.” His risk “really

worked. People loved it.” In the future, Broshy is looking

to carry on with his music but in a different way. “I’m planning on studying musicians” to gain a better idea of the type of music he hopes to write. In addition to studying the works of other artists and performers, Broshy hopes to “write and perform my own music.”

Staff Writer Colin Mark (12) is the writer and director of Vermillion in the Sky. Presented here is his reflection on the piece.

Diana Li Staff Writer

Senior Musicians Cap Off Juilliard Careers

Above, Hannah Jun (12) holds a doll without a face in her therapy session with David Lopez. Below, David Zask (11) warns Rebecca Niederberger that the school psychologist has defected.

Left: Adela Kim (12) and Juilliard School clarinet teacher Jon Manasse rejoice after Kim’s senior performance. Right: Gideon Broshy (12) began preparing for his recital at the beginning of January. Kim has been playing clarinet for nine years while Broshy has been playing piano for thirteen.

Giving faces to my characters and then giving life to my written

words was a trial by fire.

Arts & Entertainment

Courtesy of Adela Kim and Gideon Broshy

Online Editor/Aramael Pena-Alcantara

Director Gives Vermillion in the Sky a Face

The horace Mann recordFriday, March 9, 20126 Middle DivisionMiddle DivisionMiddle DivisionMiddle Division

Science Olympians Bond Together To Dissolve Competition

The Middle Division and 9th grade Science Olympiad Team participated in their annual competition against area schools this past weekend, placing 6th out of 17 other teams. The team of 15 students competed in 18 distinctive events that involved tests, labs, and building a device that would be tested at the competition, Jodi Hill, Middle Division science chair and director of the team said.

The team did better than it did the previous year, which was its first time attending the B level Olympiad. Fifteen students placed in seven different events. Five students placed in multiple events. In all, the team came home with one first place, one second place, and five third place awards. The team also earned honorable mentions in three events.

In addition to the team’s awards, it saw great growth this year, more than doubling from its seven members last year to reach the maximum of 15, Hugh Savoldelli (8) said.

Even with the larger team, each member needed to study hard outside of school in order to prepare for the competition. “The website for Science Olympiad provides many informational PowerPoints that tell us all of the information

regarding different tests and events,” Samuel Fisch (9) said. “We also made review sheets, as many of the tests that we took allowed us to bring in one double-sided review sheet with information about the test on it.”

Teachers helped students in particular events. Janet Smith worked on robotics, and Dora Barlaz and Diana Siegel assisted students with meteorology, Tyler Bleuel (9) said.

The team is optimistic about its future due to its newfound experience.

“I know that this was a big learning experience for most of the members on the team, as they have never been to a Science Olympiad event before,” Fisch said.

The members who were on the team last year returned and participated in the same events, while new 6th and 8th graders added on to our team, Bleuel (9) said.

“Most people will be returning next year, so they’ll be experienced: they will have already done it,” Bleuel said.

“Our hope for next year is that we make the states, which means we compete against other schools at the state level. This is given to the top two teams,” Savoldelli said.

“Next year, I expect we can improve yet again,” Hill said. “Every year, we will learn more about how to prepare and what to expect.”

Thomas EngStaff Writer

Quotations complied by Thomas Eng & Victoria McKaba

The Middle Division and 9th grade Science Olympiad Team pose after a successful competition, placing 6th out of the 17 other teams by winning seven awards and multiple honorable mentions in 18 events.

BECOME A MIDDLE DIVISION MENTOR

Check your FirstClass email to find out how to apply! Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to mentor a MD homeroom throughout

the year and go to Dorr for a training in August!

Applications to be a mentor for the 2012-2013 academic year are due on Wednesday, March 14th. Only 9th, 10th, and 11th graders can apply.

Please contact Henry Warder (11) and Kaitlan Puglia (11) if you have any questions about MD Mentoring.

Courtesy of Michelle Amilicia

I would say my favorite memory is from

last year when we did the homeroom

service-learning project: we made

sandwiches for Midnight Run, which

distributes sandwiches for the homeless.

- Ben Alexander (8)

My favorite memory is when my mentor came in and talked to us

and told us that they could help us with any school subject we needed help with.

-Chase Kauder (7)

Some of the talks we had, especially

about cliques were both honest and

helpful because our mentors went

through middle school too.

- Stephanie Fernandez (8)

When the mentors came to the communal meal.

- Ethan Kimmel (8)

What is your favorite memory of Middle Division Mentoring?

Spending time with my mentor and getting to connect

with them.- Benjamin Ades (7)

The horace Mann record Friday, March 9, 2012 7Lions DenLions Den

Spring sports PReview

softball

tennis

boys’ laxgirls’ lax

Going into the spring season, members of the Boys’ Varsity Tennis team have two main goals: to repeat as Ivy League championships, and move up in the city-wide Mayor’s Cup from second to first.

A simple explanation of the success of the team is the constant work of head coach Chris Lacopo. Even as players come and go, the team is always a force to be reckoned with.

The Lions’ biggest goal for the season is to win Mayor’s Cup after coming in 2nd place last year in a devastating loss in the finals to Beacon High School. The Lions’ strength is their depth, which will be advantageous in Mayor’s Cup.

The Lions are lead by four senior captains: Ian Antanoff (12), Jordan Berman (12), Steven Hefter (12), and James Ruben (12). “Last year, we had the two best captains I have ever seen in Alex Perry and Soren Zeliger. They added great chemistry and excitement to the team throughout the season, so hopefully the new ones will be just as good,” Teddy Drucker (11) said.

The team will spend the first week of spring break training in Newport

Beach, California. During the first two days, the Lions will play in a national tournament against some of the country’s best schools. “It will be good for us to face some top quality teams that are much stronger than the ones we usually play, which will help us when we return to New York,” Andrew Arnaboldi (11) said.

For the rest of the trip, the team will practice at the Newport Beach Tennis Club, playing all day long. “The trip is going to be a great bonding experience where players will get to know each other better and can receive a great deal of 1 on 1 instruction,” Drucker said.

In order to free up their schedule, the Varsity A team will play the Ivy League teams only once, instead of the typical two times. “We will be able to improve by playing a tougher schedule than what a standard Ivy League schedule would offer, while the Varsity B team plays each opponent once themselves,” Arnaboldi (11) said.

Although the Girls’ Varisty Softball team lost six seniors, and five starters, the team is looking to end the season in the same place: atop the league standings.

Last year, Clara Hill (’12) and Sydney Ginsburg (10) were the best 3rd baseman and centerfielder in the league, respectively, as well as the 1 and 2 hitters, leaving “big shoes to fill,” Barile said. However, many of the players taking those spots are in their second or third year of playing on varsity, and are ready to step up.

Several new players have shown the potential to help out the batting lineup. Jennifer Reiss (9), Sara Land (11), and Kaitlin Puglia (11) should “pick up some of the offensive slack,” Barile said.

Though a lot of the lineup is not yet finalized and will be experimented with during the spring break trip in Orlando, some of the positions are already determined with Mia Farinelli (11) as the ace on the mound, Puglia patrolling centerfield, Annunziata will be shortstop, and Ashley Gerber (11) behind the plate. “I really don’t think we

have a weak spot in our lineup,” Barile said.

In the upcoming practices and spring training, the team is looking to “focus a lot on the mental aspect of the game” and work on specific plays, Annunziata said. “We need to play smart softball: we have to make them earn their runs, limit their walks, and limit our errors.”

Offensively, whereas last year the team had more “finesse” with bunts and steals, this year “we have to be really aggressive and hit with more power,” he said.

In terms of competition, Poly Prep is the team’s longstanding rival, even though the team also lost their best player. There will be 3 or 4 other very competitive teams, including hilltop rival Riverdale, who is gaining a lot of new players, players said.

Finally, after two years of having only one team, there will be a junior varsity team this year with fourteen players, which will help “developing more players and getting them excited about softball and help the future of the program,” B

The focus on the Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse this year will be on teaching and giving the younger, newer members of the team the experience of playing a sport on a varsity level, coaches and players say.

The freshmen bring “enthusiasm and a lot of energy” to the team head coach Gregg Quilty said. With the addition of younger players, his job is to make sure that the team stays focused on the basics to help improve their defensive and offensive skills. Ben Deutsch (12), a midfielder and faceoff specialist who has been on the varsity for four years, said that the freshmen “are showing the strong future of the program.”

The team’s “biggest challenge” last season “was defensive as well as bringing the ball to the offense. We intend to play a more rounded defense and focus on clearing the ball successfully to the offense.”

Quilty said that giving the ball away and not taking responsibility as a defense are other challenges the team faced last season. Quilty intends to overcome these issues this year and will continue to work on them with the team during its spring break trip to Florida. His priorities include improving skills

and enhancing the team’s ability to work together on the field.

“Despite the loss of some fantastic starters from last season, it’s pretty evident from practice so far that everyone is stepping it up in order to fill those shoes,” defender Amay Sheth (12) said.

The attack, with Ben Fox (10), Bennett Heller (11), and Paul Tetenbaum (10), has dynamic potential, players said.

Deutsch said, “While our attack will be very strong, Eddy Grafstein (12) also gives us probably the best goalie in the league.”

Team members also trust that Assistant Coach Carlos Pena, the latest addition to the team, will add to the “awesome” team dynamic given his background both as a lacrosse player and an experienced athlete.

Hackley and Poly Prep are the team’s two biggest competitors to watch this season. Deutsch described Hackley as “an always outstanding program with a deep array of immensely talented kids, but there is no doubt in my mind that if the pieces fall into place, we can compete for a league title.”

After being knocked out in the first round of the NYSAIS tournament last season, the Varsity Girls’ Lacrosse team is “rebuilding” towards entering and perhaps getting a win in the tournament this year.

The team started preseason with eight returning seniors and a bright upcoming junior class. Freshman newcomers, Caroline Levy (9) and Ali Davis (9) will also bring some youth to this experienced squad. With such a deep squad, many players will be competing for starting positions and playing time.

“Our skills are still raw, and we definitely need to work very hard to make up for the loss of key seniors in order to be tough competitors in the league this year,” Rachel Scheinfeld said. “ What we may be struggling with

in terms of skill will definitely be made up for with our speed and

agility.”Returning varsity seniors

Rachel Scheinfeld (12) and Claudia Lichtenberg (12) will lead the offense and

defense, respectively. Juniors Paige Burris (11) and Gabi Lustig

(11) will lead the midfield while Carly Amon (11) strengthens and solidifies the defense.

“We basically lost a lot of key

players including former all Ivy first team striker Sam Schiff and the entire defensive line,” Coach Hall said, “but because of that we have to work harder as team and improve as a team.”

Both of the new freshmen, Caroline Levy (9) and Ali Davis (9), should help with that transition. “Although Caroline is a new goalie, her skills and strength are really up to par and she is going to be a key factor to our game. Ali will also be a huge help on the field with a good eye for the game,” Scheinfeld said.

“We aren’t facing as many out of league opponents this year as in the past. These have always been easier games for us, so we are going to have a lot of difficult match ups throughout the season,” Scheinfeld said.

The team is also looking to practice hard during preseason so that they can develop good chemistry and a good understanding of each other before the season starts.

“We don’t have one really dominant player this season so I feel like we’re more like a team this year. We don’t have to rely on one person to carry the entire load,” Coach Hall said. “Through hard work and practice I know we can string a couple of successful wins and some huge upsets, we can take out some of our rivals in Riverdale, Poly, and Hackley.”

Articles by Evan Reinsberg (11), Molly Wharton (11), Claire Hayes (9), Michael Chon (11)

Illustrations by Hillary Winnick,

Lions’DenMarch 9, 2012 Volume 109, Issue 22

The Horace Mann Record

The characteristic diamond, pitcher’s mound, and batting cage have been set up, so the Boys’ Varsity Baseball team and their Coach Neil Berniker are already at work.

Coming off of last year’s climb up the Ivy league ladder to compete at the NYSAIS level, Berniker said the team is hoping to build upon the previous success and play against the best teams in the league once again.

Starting pitcher Elias Wacht (12)said, “Coming off of the tournament

last year, we know Poly Prep is our toughest competition. We will be gunning for them as we aim for a state title.”

Having seven seniors graduating last year, the team is looking towards returning players to fill leadership roles and to offer motivation and encouragement on and off the field, Berniker said. “All of the pieces have to come together—on offense, on defense, and with solid pitching—and then we’ll be able to fill those spots capably.”

Harrison Bader (12), who batted over .500 last season, and Jesse Roth (11) will provide an anchoring force

for the younger players on the roster, Berniker said. In February, ESPN named both Bader and Roth top players in “all-state baseball,” and both players have been recruited by colleges with Division I baseball programs.

The rotation will consist of Roth and Wacht as the top two pitchers, with contributions expected from Ryan Their (11), Glen Brickman (11), Ricardo Fernandez (10) and Danny Baudoin (10). “It’s a big year for us,” Roth said. “It’s the most talent on our team that we’ve had in a while.”

Some of the younger returning

players have also showed up “bigger, stronger, and with new confidence.” “Stellar second baseman” Michael Reiss (11), and outfielder Eric Mass (11) worked hard during preseason, coming in ready to give it their all, Berniker said.

“The promise from the younger kids on the team really shows the success of the future of the baseball program at the school,” Wacht said.

Over spring break, the team will travel to Florida to practice together and to play four games against other schools. Wacht said, “Not only will the trip help to get some games in before the season starts, but it’s also

a great time for the team to bond and develop chemistry on the field.”

As the preseason rolls into full-on practice, the team has been heading to the batting cages, working on groundballs and high pops, and the pitchers have been getting to work on the mound. So far, the team is already playing with “a lot of speed, so we’re looking to utilize and combine it with solid hitting and pitching,” Berniker said.

“We have the real potential to make a run for the championship this year, and with the team’s talent it will definitely be an exciting year for everybody,” Roth said.

R

Boys’ SwimmingMVP:Pierre-Alexandre EidCoach’s: Eddy Grafstein

Boys’ Skiing MVP: Andre ManuelCoach’s: Dan Brovman

Girls’ SwimmingMVP: Amy HoodCoach’s: Lizzy Rosenblatt

Girls’SkiingMVP: Frances KronenbergCoach’s: Gillian Miller-Lewis

SquashMVP: Evan HahnCoach’s: Stephen Cacouris

Boys’ TrackMVP: Matt KimCoach’s: Brad McCandless

Girls’ TrackMVP: Dana BolsterCoach’s: Anise Charles

WrestlingMVP: Justin GilstonCoach’s: Malcolm ThompsonWilliam Quinn Award: Erik Derecktor

GymansticsCoach’s: Maia Landesberg

Winter Sports Banquet Awards

Baseball Leads Off with Influx of New Talent

Left, Jesse Roth (11) winds up for a fastball in a home game last year. Right, recent graduate Alex Baudoin ‘11 tags a baserunner out. Michael Reiss (11) will replace Baudoin at short-stop this year.

Girls’ FencingMVP: Karen ShimCoach’s: Natalie Immamura

Girls’ BasketballMVP: Maddy GordonCoach’s: Courtney Hodrick

Boys’BasketballMVP: Nick WienerCoach’s: Elias Wacht

Boys’ FencingMVP: Troy SipprelleCoach’s: Seth Arar

Kim Sarnoff/Photography Editor

Melissa RodmanStaff Writer