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The
Brewster Browser
January 29, 2022 Wolfeboro, NH
Novel Variant Omicron Strikes at Brewster
by Elisha-Grace King ’23
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As Brewster reopened to welcome back students from all over the United States and internationally for the first time in 2022, a new presence made its way onto campus: the novel Omicron variant. In the last few weeks, Brewster has seen nearly a dozen weekly reported cases of COVID-19 from community members. Additionally, many students had to begin their 2022 school year online due to contracting the virus, or travel complications. To go from being maskless and having full-seating at sports games to having strict masking and social distancing policies once again feels like a drastic change-up from before the New Year, though necessary to protect our community from the variant spreading around the country. Near the end of November, South African scientists identified a new variant of the COVID-19 virus. Named after the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet,
the Omicron variant (pronounced AHmuh-kraan) is raised concerns around the world. It remains unclear exactly when and where the Omicron variant developed, though epidemiologists speculate that it has been circulating internationally since as early as October. What makes the emergence of the strand so alarming is its high infectivity rate. According to early research from Johns Hopkins University, Omicron is more infectious than the Delta variant but not more, perhaps even less, dangerous. Leading epidemiologists speculate that similar to other COVID-19 variants, Omicron poses the greatest threat to the unvaccinated and those with underlying health conditions. In South Africa’s most populated province, COVID-19 infection rates are doubling daily- 75% coming from the novel variant. On November 27, President Joe Biden announced new precautions and
travel restrictions in light of the rising global spread of the Omicron variant. Flights from South Africa and seven other Omicron hotspots were blocked. The president encouraged American citizens to get vaccines and receive their booster shots, which had recently received FDA approval for adults 18 and older (Moderna and Pfizer). Companies also began altering their vaccine formulas to be best equipped for fighting off the new variant. Despite precautions taken in the early weeks of the variant reaching US soil, a January report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) predicted an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases and related hospital admissions. 95% of new COVID cases seemed to be linked to the Omicron variant and increases were forecasted in 39 states with a national estimate of 17,900 to 48,000 hospitalizations. Many of these cases can be attributed to the roughly 15%
Volume 44 Issue 3
of unvaccinated American adults, who tend to experience harsher symptoms of COVID-19. New Hampshire cases are to continue on its dangerous trajectory and peak in late January. According to the University of Washington, 50% of Americans can expect to contract the Omicron variant in the next weeks. As of now, news on Omicron’s impact on life during the COVID-19 pandemic is a developing story. Brewster has begun lifting restrictions that regulated spectators at sporting events, going off-campus, indoorgathering spaces, and increased testing. In response to the heightened cases on campus, Winter Carnival, a longstanding January tradition at Brewster, was pushed to the following month. For now, all the community can do is follow guidelines produced by the Covid Task-Force and stay diligent with the protocol we’ve come to know over the past two years.
Profile: Dean Matt Butcher
by Julia Golden ’22 and Kate Zdunczyk ’22
Many people who have not yet met Mr. Butcher might think that he is scary, but we have asked him many questions to learn more about who he is. We have learned that he is funny, nice, and deeply cares for his students. Below are twenty questions with the best academic dean, and AP Lit teacher, Mr. Matt Butcher. • Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan? Lindsey Lohan • Night in or Night out? Night in • When you shave your head do you use an electric razor or Nair? Electric razor • Cleveland or Detroit? Detroit • Sequins or Sparkles? Sparkles • What’s your skincare routine? I take showers • Is your air conditioner still on the roof of Esta? I believe so yes • What is the status of the air quality in your apartment?
• • • • • • • • • • •
Humid What’s your go-to karaoke song? Trailer trash by Modest Mouse What was your OG haircut? Shaved for soccer seriousness since high school Who’s one student you wouldn’t let date your son? Katie Carey Do you say caramel or carmel? It’s Caramel Do you believe in ghosts? Uh.. no. How many times have you been to Las Vegas? Probably 5. What is your credit score? Um.. I don’t think I’m supposed to answer that question. What are your opinions on bears? I want one for a pet.. It’s probably going to be the death of me. Most recent emojis? Smiley face or warthog Do you think Wyoming exists? Yes, I’ve been there. Is life is a simulation? Yes
A very happy Academic Dean and Head Coach for girls' Varsity soccer Matt Butcher (far right) after his team won the NEPSAC championship this year.
See Page 4 for Hall Talk!
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News Analysis
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Winter Schedule Challenges Community by Julia Golden ’22
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As the fall has ended and snow has covered the ground, the winter trimester has continued. Brewster has changed the daily block schedule for the winter with more class-blocks meeting each day and school beginning a halfhour earlier. With over 100 responses to a survey of faculty and students administered by the Browser, many people have come forward to express their opinions about the new schedule. The Browser has conducted s a poll of students and faculty and how they were feeling about the changes. Many students came forward expressing how they felt. Many agreed that the new schedule is making it, in the words of one student, “difficult to balance sports and academics.” Faculty like Mr. Butcher and Ms. Davis and others came together to discuss and come up with a plan for the schedule that would best fit students while also keeping in mind sports and the fact that it gets dark earlier. However, with this early start, many kids are not happy about it. “With classes starting earlier, it is really hard to try and do things like eat and etc before classes start,” said a student who wishes to remain anonymous. “The four classes a day sometimes even five is really challenging because of the amount of homework we get each night. Especially if the homework is really complex.” The amount of homework that is given with the extra blocks per day can be difficult. However, there is a
by: Tata Tirapongprasert '22
requirement that each class meets a minimum of three times a week. This is different from previous years from when it was four times a week, prior to the Covid schedule from last year. Although some might say that we should be grateful that classes only meet three times a week, it is still very stressful for both students and faculty. “It feels so taxing having the same
Zdunczyk ’22. With these comments on homework and stress, the administration may or may not be aware that students and faculty are struggling with the new schedule The Browser reached out to Head of School Kristy Kerin, to hear her perspectives and share the poll with her. For example, students responded to the poll with comments such as these:
two combination of classes in a row. This new schedule is stressful and has left many of my peers exhausted,” said Jaila Richard ‘22. Other students agree. “Having four classes in one day creates more stress and less time to complete our homework thoroughly,” said Kate
“This week has felt like five years… some teachers got rid of break times because classes are 1 hr and 20 min,” said Lexi Diers ’22. Many agreed with Diers as another student came out to say how they don’t like the new schedule because “...the teachers are supposed to have the last 15
To Write, or Not to Write
Blink. Blink. I was taking pleasure in my 43rd victory in a staring contest over Google Doc’s blinking cursor. My friend Oliver who sat across from me began to notice. “Attention passengers…” He began mimicking a monotone voice of an intercom announcer. “Due to our captain facing pilots’ block, your flight has been delayed until further notice.” What a whimsical wisecrack it was…the one I didn’t condone. “Such medieval task can’t be compared to a sacred, creative endeavor,” I joked with him and brought up the topic of writers’ block. A c c o rd i n g t o R e e d s y. c o m , writer’s block is the creative dullness that authors face when they don’t know what to write. This phenomenon happens not only to amateur writers but also to professionals. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a well-renowned
author who suffered from extreme writers’ block, once said, “so completely has a whole year passed, with scarcely the fruits of a month.—O Sorrow and Shame, I have done nothing!” Oliver held that writers’ block did not exist. Since he intended to work in the aviation industry, he trained himself to be disciplined. His life was structured on self-imposed routines hence he gave no credence to any kind of creative slump. I, on the other hand, viewed Oliver’s rigid habits as obstinate obstructors to creativity. I strive to create a “masterpiece,” I kept telling myself. Being an overthinking perfectionist, I ruminated over a perfect vocabulary word to constitute each sentence, causing me countless hours trying to perfect one paragraph. My writers’ block was merely a romanticized excuse, a scapegoat for the underlying fear that my work was not good – and unique – enough. This masterpiece obsession – yearning to create something new and original – imprinted an overwhelming
burden in my mind that robbed me of the joy of writing and exploring. The wrestling around with Oliver’s joke triggered my epiphany. Like a pilot flying through the same trail, I learned to embrace and appreciate the beauty of the pursuit, pushing past my fear of not achieving originality. Inspired, I reached for the laptop, set the timer for three hours, and began writing – unlike before; I experienced no encumbering pressure. Once the alarm rang, I remained still for a swift second, laying my palm flat against the keyboard, closing my eyes to savor the experience. I had given birth to my first and ever oped Equality for All: Stop AAPI Racism, reflecting on my experience with racism as an international student, which was then published in the October issue of the Browser. While I still sometimes dawdle in front of the thesaurus, I’ve learned to push past my meticulousness and hit the submit button.
January 29, 2022
minutes to do homework but half of my teachers don’t do that. It was a bunch of added homework for every student here and the students felt like we had not input or voice on the new schedule,” said Will Lynch ‘22. Not only are students feeling overwhelmed, but Brewster faculty member, Steve Burgess came forward to say, “Students and faculty both feel over-scheduled at this time.” Other faculty members have said, ”The schedule is too complicated.” Another faculty member said, “We need to find a better balance and do some serious research for what schedule formats best suit the needs of our kids.” Agreeing with them, Mrs. Kerin helped find a solution that would help both the students and faculty. Following the meeting, Mrs. Kerin said that she would talk with the academic leadership team to encourage teachers to incorporate the fifteenminute homework period at the end of 75-minute blocks. Students felt that wasn’t being followed. “Brewster has so many students with learning differences. With 1 hour 15-minute classes back to back kids are exhausted,” said Kenzie Kavanagh ‘23. As some teachers have decided to incorporate the 15-minute block, others have that in the middle of their classes, and hopefully will continue to follow this in order to make it less “emotionally exhausting”, as Ridgley Webster ’23 said, and “mentally drained” as Jack O’Neil ‘25 responded, so students can study at their best and complete each cont. on pg. 3
The Brewster Browser Brewster Academy Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
Editor in Chief: Julia Golden ’22 Managing Editor: Kate Zdunczyk ’22 News Editor: Elisha-Grace King ’23 Nameplate art: Shemar Joseph ’19 Staff members: Zoe Hausler ’24 Aubrey Swan ’23 Tata Tirapongprasert ’22 Faculty Advisonr: Jennifer Metcalfe Dumont From the Editors: The Browser is a student publication, written, edited and proofread by the students under the direction of the faculty advisor. The authors and editors take full responsibility for any errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar that may occur. THE BROWSER IS UNDERWRITTEN IN PART BY THE JON KONHEIM JOURNALISM AWARD.
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Brewster Implements New Advisory System
by Zoe Hausler ’24
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This school year, the faculty and administration at Brewster has decided to make modifications to the advisory system. In previous years, advisors would have approximately 8-10 advisees who would meet about once a week to discuss school and life beyond academics. In earlier years, students were also appointed different advisors depending on the grade and/or team that they entered. These students would then get the opportunity to meet with their advisor once a week, built into their academic schedule. Over this summer, returning students had the new possibility to pick three teachers they desired to have as their advisors. This new rule had the intention of giving the students a faculty member with whom they could spend their entire Brewster career, developing a strong bond that would allow the students to gain a lifelong mentorship. As students got to choose their advisors, many were content with their new advisory group. Although advisories meet once a week during school hours, it became a requisite in the Fall that on Thursday night, students must attend mandatory Community Dinner with their advisory unless instructed otherwise. Although the intentions of this dinner were set to be beneficial, many students struggled to attend due to afternoon commitments, or Covid-19 difficulties. On Thursdays,
Winter Schedule cont. from pg. 2
assignment to the best of their ability. Additionally, Mrs. Kerin said that she would do what she could about the one team study block a week during B weeks. With sports, it is difficult to have more team studies at the end of the day because teachers also have to go to sports, but many students felt frustrated about not getting the support they needed. As one student said, “B schedule only has 1 team study period and I don’t think that it’s sufficient to help students at all,” said Kellye Nguyen ‘23. As frustrating and exhausting as this schedule can be, we have many administrative faculty who luckily care about students and are doing what they can to set us all up for success. Thankfully, many students and faculty at Brewster came forward in the survey to express their feelings, which can be viewed on the previous page.
News
other students enjoyed homemade meals at their advisor’s house or takeout from restaurants in towns such as Hucks and El Centenario. This past obligation is no longer following us into the New Year as the Winter trimester imposes Covid obstacles of its own. While many students are more satisfied with the current advisory arrangement, some students find themselves frustrated by the demand for weekly reports or “weeklies”. Weeklies are not new to the advisory system, and students are expected to complete one every week. These reports are available for parents to read on their parent portal. Mr. Clinton explained the reasoning behind making this new structure: “To create family groups to hopefully become your second parents… or at least the cool aunt or uncle who holds you accountable and supports you in every way.” As for whether it will continue next school year, he said, “Every year we are looking to make it better and take feedback on it.” Some teachers feel that this new system has become a struggle as it has now become a more arduous task to check in with teams about how their advisee is doing. While we prepare for the Spring trimester, we can anticipate the return of advisory dinners and improvements on the advisory system dictated by the feedback heard from the faculty and students.
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Brewster Celebrates Annual Tree Lighting by Kate Zdunczyk '22
Everyone at school gathered together on the front steps of the academic building with their holiday spirit for this year’s tree lighting! After participating in ugly sweater day at school, Brewster met again later at night to see the lights all lit up. Although a quick note for next year, rainbow lights would be the move, or maybe a star on top! Estabrook prepared gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa for everyone before and after the ceremony. One of the highlights came at the very beginning of the ceremony. President Katie Carey ‘22 and Vice President Ezra Colcord ‘22 dressed as Mrs. Claus and Santa respectively. Although, in this reporter’s opinion, Katie looked like a Christmas wizard. The upperclassmen screamed and cheered for Santa and their disbelief that he made a stop at Brewster Academy. The senior girls lead a singalong featuring soloists Jaila Richard, Alyson Nagorniak, Morgan Johnson, and Jade Hall. They also featured many
international students sharing their holiday spirit in different languages. The student body brought the energy to show love to all the performers. We saw kicklines and kids on shoulders in the audience as they sang along with the performers on stage. We all turned around to face the tree located to the left of Estabrook and began the countdown for a slightly anti-climatic tree lighting. Regardless, the community all celebrated together as a tight knit community. We all gathered together inside the Estabrook to enjoy the sweets and sing along to the “All I Want For Christmas is You” the Remix by Mariah Carey. Speaking of Careys, Katie Carey ‘22 said, “I loved getting everyone together to celebrate and just be together since we don’t get a lot of chances to do that with covid.” She rates Brewster’ holiday spirit a “solid 5/10” and prefers rainbow lights. The tree lighting has been a long celebrated tradition at Brewster and we are so excited to see students up their sweater game next year!
Don't Look Up cont. from pg. 4
and big business owners, have all the power and would be considered the majority of the nation and support the potential commercial opportunities from the comet. They silenced the Dibiasky character by making her sign a contract to suspend all public media appearances, never speak of the comet again, and threaten her with the prosecution with charges of “inciting a riot”. Today, we see something similar in how the public and media behave towards people they disagree with, especially during the Black Lives Matter Movement. Conservative defenders of police wrongly characterized the protests as violent riots and arrested many protesters in the summer of 2020. The people in charge always seem to find a way to convince people to go along with their plans instead of ones that would truly benefit all people, as we see in the film when the people who want to destroy the comet are neglected and take action. Don’t Look Up provides a comedic satire entertainment; it contains a deeper warning that will hopefully open doors for scientists to make significant impacts.
Santa (Ezra Colcord ’22) and Mrs. Claus (Katie Carey ’22) dressed up and ready for the tree lighting.
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Features
Beyond Burning Out: Reclaiming Life’s Missing Joy
by: Tata Tirapongprasert ’22
Standing strong with head held high, the minotaur was trailing through the endless labyrinth. A compulsion to know; A desire to understand. He paused and pondered, “Why am I here?”
I wrote this stanza in SEL class two months ago. Unlike the ambitious minotaur, I found myself cast adrift in the current of life. The class had become a stampede through an endless maze, chasing one assignment after another. As I tracked one down, five more popped out, and the hunt continued. Gawking into the abyss between two summits of homework that should have been handed in weeks ago, I began to wonder: “Why am I here?” This is the question that every high school student should ponder deliberately. It is too easy for us to forget our why amid the trivial many chaotic day-to-day events. Without a strong why, we are prone to throwing ourselves into bed and unconsciously scrolling through Instagram until 2:30 AM before receding into our cocoons just to wake up and relive the vicious, same-old-same-old routine. It is vital to distinguish between burnout and laziness. Despite overlapping symptoms, these two are as different as chalk and cheese. As bittersweet as it sounds, high school students have developed a somewhat unique way of justifying their behaviors. One of the most notorious scapegoats is a coined-up phenomenon known as “senioritis.” It makes shifting the blame from ourselves remarkably easy, muttering as if laziness is an inevitable phase in one’s high school life. The term is, at best, an excuse—no wonder why many parents and teachers never bother to investigate the underlying issue seriously.
While senioritis is a whimsical wisecrack you might joke about at the dinner table, burnout is a severe psychological syndrome—one that deserves proper care and recognition. According to HelpGuide, burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Some symptoms include frustration, sadness, lack of hope, and fatigue, leading to anxiety and depression. A well-renowned social psychologist Christina Maslach acknowledges that the leading cause behind occupational burnout is an individual’s lack of control due to work overload. Bashed by a squall of responsibilities causes a person to feel overwhelmed as if they are not in the saddle anymore. The emotion then accumulates over time, manifesting itself into a state of mental fatigue. Regaining strength and pulling oneself out of such emotional turmoil is different for everyone. I have found it remedying to remind myself of what matters to me. After many contemplation sessions, I connected with several long-lost passions and concocted a personal repertoire of the activities that brought me joy. My list included: tutoring, writing prose and poetry, photography, and playing the ukulele. Juggling three AP classes, a college-level mathematics course, and twentyish college essays made me neglect these. “You have so many accountabilities. Recreational fun is a waste of time.” Quite a sorcery performed by the brain if you ask me. You need time to recover after a prolonged period of keeping your nose to the grindstone. Believe it or not, my inner drive automatically rekindles as I advocate time to pursue my side hustles. If you face a similar situation, don’t forget to give yourself some time off and start doing new stuff.
Pat Phoompuang ’22 deliberately cranking out homework a minute before the due date. Photo taken by Tata Tirapongprasert ’22 who secretly chuckled in the background.
Would you look up?
by Kate Zdunczyk ’22
Netflix released a new science fiction movie entitled Don’t Look Up directed by Adam McKay. While the movie has comedic elements and creates jokes or scenarios based on political stereotypes, it also warns the population of what will happen if we continue to ignore scientists. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawerence play astronomers who discover a giant comet hurtling towards earth, and if nothing was done, they would only have a little over six months to live. Something the movie does well is that it makes fun of everyone, not just a particular political group, which makes it feel more acceptable to laugh at the obvious cliches presented in the film. We see Jennifer Lawrence play a traditional liberal with a mullet haircut, nose ring, and combat boots. Jonah Hill gives off an attitude similar to Trump and his followers, even going so far as to say, “If she wasn’t my mother…” which compares to when Trump said, “If she wasn’t my daughter,” which is wildly inappropriate on many levels. When reviewing the editing styles, acting, and story plots, I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars. The editing style was often inconsistent throughout the film; for example, they used a freezeframe to display text information, a standard tool for visual storytelling, but they only used it once. After finishing the movie, it seemed misplaced. I’m also not sure how I feel about seeing Merryl Streep, a world-renowned and respected actress, have a tramp stamp and then get eaten by a bird-type creature. Although this comment is not impartial because I have been a JLaw fan since The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook, her performance was captivating, and I could tell she truly understood her character. I wish that they had given Timothee Chalamet and Ariana Grande more screen time since the movie broadly advertised their part. Chalamet only appears for the last 45 minutes of the movie but quickly becomes one of the most memorable and relatable characters. It’s a fun game to watch the movie and guess which characters are based on real-life people. There are parallels between character Kate Dibiasky and environmental activist Greta Thunberg; when they first tried to warn the world about its fate, they were seen as angry, and the public defocused on her message. The character Peter Isherwell, a CEO of a major technology company, represents an Elon Musk vibe because they are both fascinated with space travel and prioritize money and profit over the impending climate change.
January 29, 2022
Hall Talk
Is that Lila? Dude, I have like NINE layers on right now! There's no food in Vermont! I don't know if you know this about me but I like the spotlight. I should do "people I'd marry for money". Touch a tunk, or whatever. Pocket of poop bags. This is a varsity level class. Rinasourasoures It's too hot for Apple TV. Isherwell also uses his company to find intrusive data on the population, which refers to Mark Zuckerberg, who received backlash for Facebook’s history of collecting data without acknowledgment. President Janie Orlean and her son Jason Orlean are representations of Trump and his Family, specifically how his children can grasp on to their father’s attention and desire to be his number one hype man, even when discouraged. It is essential to acknowledge these moments in the movie because they are so ridiculous that we laugh but then realize these are based on real-life events. Streep plays the POTUS and symbolizes how people in political power make decisions that benefit themselves or how the power of big businesses can sway them. This is prominent today, especially with ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. This group of state legislative and corporate members unanimously approve model bills that benefit the large corporations that fund it. They work with impactful politicians like Ted Cruz and well-known companies like Walmart and Pfizer. That is why this movie has a large supportive fan base of scientists who are often ignored when trying to warn us about Climate Change. Science and climate activists see the film as an exaggerated portrayal of many people’s tendency to ignore how climate change is already affecting our world. Although the movie is still satirical, it displays their frustrations when politicians believe that science is a hoax despite overwhelming proof. Media presence is also a prominent theme because it shows that fame changes you. Promoting people who can be easily manipulated on a platform while pushing down people willing to speak out can also be seen in past and present society. Towards the end of the movie, the nation is divided between people who want the comet’s destruction, people who want to decry alarmism and believe mining the comet will create jobs, and some who don’t even believe the comet exists. The people in charge, the president cont. on pg. 3