the volume 55, issue 4
march 6, 2020
Everything Greenhill
It’s time to start talking about socioeconomic differences.
O
n any given Friday, senior Alexandria King heads to the cafeteria to eat her lunch while some of her classmates drive off-campus to eat. King typically isn’t part of the senior off-campus lunch crowd. With her tight family budget, she plans every outing in advance, weighing details such as restaurant choice and cost. “I think there’s just not a level of understanding that the smallest of things present barriers to some people,” said King. “An easy trip to Starbucks or Smoothie King, small purchases to larger purchases, aren’t as easy for some people. It’s a position of privilege, to be honest, and a lack of experience.” High school is a challenging time for most students, regardless of socioeconomic status. At an elite school like Greenhill, where Upper School tuition costs more than $30,000 a student, there’s an added layer of complication for students who don’t share the same affluence or privilege as many of their classmates. For students like Alexandria King, schools like Greenhill can be a daunting world of $50,000 cars, $20 off-campus lunches and holidays at five-star resorts. It’s a world where some students are frequently reminded that that they don’t measure up, at least not financially, to their more affluent peers.
By Jeffrey Harberg, Amber Syed and Leah Nutkis
News
Upper School students vote in the 2020 Texas primary p. 2
Features
Students and faculty members attend diversity conferences p. 6
Informing Greenhill since 1966
Arts
Staff duo reviews student production of “Carrie: The Musical” p. 11
cont’d on page 8
Photo illustration by Ashley Shan and Raag Venkat
Sports
Girls basketball bonds with Junior Mavs wheelchair team p. 12
Views In memoriam: Alec Becker ‘19 p. 15
4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001
News
2020 Vision: Students make their voices heard in Texas primary
Caroline Greenstone
News Editor
Nate Stitt Staff Writer
F
or Texans, March 3 was the big day. On that day, millions of political party loyalists cast ballots in the Texas primary election, expressing their preference for candidates up and down the ballot, from state races to the presidential contest. Many candidates focused on galvanizing young voters, sparking a bloc that was energized and ready to vote. This larger movement is reflected at Greenhill, where many high-school students are working and volunteering for various political campaigns. Senior Alexandria King volunteered for former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke and TX-32 Representative Colin Allred. “Voting in the primaries is critical when it comes to deciding who will be leading our country for the next four years,” King said. Working on a campaign isn’t the only way to participate. Voting, for example, is the most fundamental element of the democratic process. Senior Josh Leffler estimates that nearly 80% of the class of 2020 will vote in November. “The first time anyone can vote, whether it’s a primary, a midterm, a general election, or a local election, it starts a trajectory as a citizen,” Advanced Placement government teacher Genie Burke said. “I think if you start early, it becomes part of your routine as a citizen and it holds you accountable to act and not just complain or be idle.”
High stakes The Texas primary was one of the biggest prizes of what is known as “Super Tuesday,” with U.S. voters casting ballots in primaries for thirteen states, one territory (American Samoa) and Democrats Abroad. Based on the results of the March 3 primary, Texas will send 228 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in the summer. The Democratic presidential race provided the biggest upset on March 3, with former vice president Joe Biden winning 32.9% of the vote and earning 70 delegates. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (IndependentVermont), who was leading most of the polls heading into the Texas primary, finished second with 30% and earned 60 delegates. For Republicans, the 2020 presidential campaign doesn’t begin in earnest until the summer national party conventions. But for Democrats, the political season began in January with the first of a series of caucuses and primaries aimed at choosing the nominee who will oppose President Donald Trump in November. The year’s first primary-season political contests, the Iowa Caucus, took place on
Feb. 3. On the highly Democratic side, an enthusiastic turnout was marred by glitches in the system for reporting results. The ultimate winner was former mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, followed closely by Sanders. Sanders, with his talk of revolutionary change, Medicare for All, free college and college loan forgiveness, is a popular choice for many young voters at Greenhill and elsewhere. Senior Sophia Hurst has taken her support for Sanders to another level, volunteering in his campaign over the last two years. She lost count of the number of hours she logged phone-banking for Sanders in the spring of 2019. Her commitment to Sanders is motivated in part by the stakes in the 2020 presidential race, Hurst said. Hurst is one of many individuals both on and off the Greenhill campus who sees the 2020 election as beyond important. Party loyalties aside, the outcome of the November presidential election will shape policies affecting millions of lives. “I think we spend too much time thinking about the horse race, about who’s up and who’s down, will Democrats or Republicans win the next election, and not enough time thinking about what’s good for the country, what kind of country are we going to build together, what kind of country are we going to leave for the next election,” said U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas). In order to cast ballots, all voters must have registered by a certain date. For many, this is simply a step in the process. For others, it makes it more difficult for their voice to be heard. “I think just having to register to vote is a disincentive to vote,” Upper School Advanced Placement Government teacher Scott Cotton said. “I think that political science research has shown that it probably lowers turnout more than anything else.” Past the obstacle of voting, many people believe that the biggest detriment to voter turnout is the willpower of citizens to show up. Often this larger problem is exemplified in the national pool of young voters, who in recent elections have failed to show up and vote. Dallas City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn said she believes that the youth vote is crucial for democracy. “It’s important for all eligible people to vote, but especially young people,” Mendelsohn said. “Young people have the most at stake in the outcome of each election, as they will live with the consequences much longer, but it is [voters above the age of 65] who are most likely to vote.” That dynamic has been on full display in U.S. national elections over the past 50 years. “Young people need to get comfortable with the voting process and in the habit of participating in this civic responsibility,
Mendelsohn said. “Often people complain about the decisions of government without making an effort to participate. Young people have the ability to be a force for good in the community with a legitimate voice and fresh perspective.” The 2018 midterm elections suggest promising possibilities in the 2020 campaign. In the 2018 midterm elections, voter turnout among the 18-29 age group spiked to 36 percent from only 20 percent in 2014 according to the U.S. census bureau.
Making our voices heard The Greenhill senior class hasn’t been able to participate in the democratic process prior to this election, but many students have fierce opinions on the current political state. “We are scared about some of the changes we see and, until this point, our generation has been on the sidelines,” said senior Josh Leffler. “We have been observing. We have been sharing our opinions, but we haven’t been able to act on them. I think voting will afford us the opportunity to put those opinions into practice and help make the changes we want to see.” Some Greenhill political activists believe that showing up for the primaries is crucial in the process of ensuring that the general election is truly representative of all Americans. Voting in the primaries “is more important than the general because I think that it determines happens in the general election,” said Hurst. “And by determining what happens in the general election it determines whether that candidate can be elected.” As a result, politicians from all sides are trying to rally young voters. “Eligible residents have a responsibility to vote, and that includes doing the work to learn about candidates beyond just what partisan party they belong to,” said Mendelsohn, the Dallas city councilwoman. “Most people have access to the internet and can easily go online to view websites and social media profiles. Hopefully, a candidate will spark a person’s interest to go further by engaging in campaigning and serving their community in one of the many ways government relies on citizens to give input. The Texas primary provided mixed results on the question of whether young voters can build off the momentum of the 2018 midterms and demonstrate greater engagement in the political process. But the enthusiasm of Greenhill’s young voters remains high. “In the not too distant future, the problems created by today’s leaders will become our problems to deal with and to try to solve,” said Leffler. “And the sooner we can start making our voices heard in that problem-solving process, the better.”
POLLING THE UPPER SCHOOL Top five finishers in The Evergreen presidential poll conducted Feb. 10, 2020
1.
BERNIE
SANDERS
56.2%
2.
ANDREW
3.
PETE
4.
DONALD
5.
TULSI
YANG
26.6% BUTTIGIEG
5.5%
TRUMP
4.3%
GABBARD
2.6%
Graphic by Sarah Luan
friday, march 6, 2020
the
Evergreen
news
Community Conversations
3
Discussions Facilitate Crosscultural Communication Khushi Chhaya
Staff Writer
Valerie Xu Staff Writer
G
reenhill held its third annual Community Conversations series recently, with three days of events aimed at broadening racial and cross-cultural awareness among students, faculty and parents. The events, which took place Jan. 16-20, conveyed three themes: learn, discuss and serve. The “learn” portion of the event took place on Jan. 16, with keynote speaker Rosetta Lee addressing parents, students, faculty and administrators. She spoke to students about navigating the subtle or indirect acts of discrimination known as microaggressions, and later addressed parents about engaging in courageous conversations about difficult topics. “Ultimately, what I hope to do is make the work of diversity and inclusion easier for every community I interact with,” Lee said. For the “discuss” portion of the event, a community potluck was held Jan. 18. Participants discussed topics of race and culture while eating food from various cultures brought in by families. The third and final part of Community Conversations, held on Jan. 20 at the Children’s Hunger Fund, focused on serving. Students and parents volunteered to pack food and goods for those in need around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Community Conversations was an event started by two Greenhill parents, Marlo Melucci and Toria Frederick, who were worried about the lack of awareness and discussion within the community about different people’s race and culture. The 2020 installment was directed by Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman, who assumed the duties previously carried out by the founding parents. Another notable development was the participation of Lee, a nationally prominent speaker on diversity and cross-cultural interactions who teaches fifth grade science at Seattle Girls’ School. The Greenhill initiative seeks to foster discussions about the often-taboo topics of race and ethnicity, said Karen Bradberry, director of equity and inclusion at Greenhill. This lack of engagement, she said, leads to a potentially dangerous lack of knowledge about different races and cultures.
“
The ultimate dream is to build a community where employees, students, and families understand and value the importance of this work. “
Bradberry said she hopes these conversations will encourage students to talk about tough issues and gain more knowledge about other perspectives. “I would hope that even though this is focused specifically on race, it is something that is scalable to all types of conversations,” said Bradberry. During her visit, Lee also spoke to teachers and students in grades 7-12 about microaggressions and how to navigate through them. She connected with the student body with her charismatic personality and humorous analogies, said freshman Charlotte Purcell. Lee touched on various ways to find understanding with people from different races and backgrounds and how to become aware of both receiving microaggressions and sending them to others. After Lee’s presentation, students gathered with their advisory groups to discuss how they can implement the techniques they learned as they go about daily campus life. Lee’s insights can inform students about
Photo by Valerie Xu
TEACHABLE MOMENT: Rosetta Lee addressed students, teachers and parents about microaggressions and other aspects of cross-cultural awareness. how to interact with people from different found both thought-provoking, relevant and cultures and avoid microaggressions, said extremely well-delivered. She has an obvious talent for reaching her audience, and I have Bradberry. “My initial thought was that it was a referred to her talk frequently in my classes lecture that was very much needed, especially over the last few weeks.” In addition to Lee’s speeches, Greenhill on this campus,” said freshman Madison Rojas. “I think that being tolerant has students and parents had a chance to morphed into a battle between what’s right participate in a Community Service and what’s wrong, so no longer is there this opportunity on Jan. 20 as the “serve” portion of the series. The event took place at the middle ground.” Especially in today’s polarized climate, Children’s Hunger Fund, where volunteers people are too scared to express their own packed food for families in need around the opinions and often prematurely jump to Dallas-Fort Worth area. Director of Service Learning and conclusions about a person, said Rojas. In her Jan. 20 keynote address in the Community Service Angela Woodson said Marshall Family Performing Arts Center, Children’s Hunger Fund was a great choice Lee spoke about how parents could help their students and themselves have braver conversations about identity, difference and conflicts. About 120 parents attended the lecture and a discussion session afterwards. Having grown up in America as an Asian-American woman, Lee told her audiences she had faced many instances of microaggressions. Lee said she had always been taught to work hard and ignore offensive comments. But as she grew older, she started to realize that for some people working hard doesn’t lead them to success, she said. The injustices she faced motivated her to be a consultant on diversity and race, so she might educate people about different cultures and reshape the institutions that currently contain inequalities, Lee said. Lee said her speaking appearances forced her to examine her own hurtful conduct, such as joking about mental illness. “It made me realize how important it was for me as an ‘expert’ to talk about my mistakes,” said Lee. “The more I showed up authentically, vulnerably and honestly to say, ‘I’m in this journey with you,’ the more people felt willing to go there themselves.” By doing this, she hopes to send a message that making mistakes is okay. The important part is not to live in shame but to try to correct past mistakes, said Lee. Jaye Andrews, a Middle School math teacher and equity and inclusion coordinator for seventh and eighth grades, said he has learned so much by sitting through Lee’s talks. Lee has helped him as a white male understand other people’s cultures, and she has made him realize that he needed to own and learn from the microaggressions he commits, Andrews said. For Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio, Lee’s speech taught him more about how to create an inclusive environment at Greenhill. “I got to hear Ms. Lee twice, once with the Upper School and then again after school for our faculty meeting,” Mercurio said. “Each presentation was different, and I
for this event because it offered a variety of activities suitable for adults and children of all ages so families could work together. Around 285 people came to the community service event that took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Woodson described it as a great opportunity for those in the Greenhill community to increase fellowship and serve. “Everyone in attendance seemed to enjoy serving as one community and I will be looking for more opportunities to serve together throughout the school year and not just once a year,” said Woodson. Perryman, the assistant head of school, played a leading role in planning each of the three events. “[Community Conversations] is a way for us as a school to say unapologetically that this is important to us,” said Perryman. “It is important that we learn how to have difficult conversations, how to bring up topics that get at the essence of who we are as community members and have those conversations in a way that we learn about each other.” With Community Conversations, Perryman hopes to instill a “culture of courage” at Greenhill so stigmatized issues can be openly discussed in a respectful manner. Looking to the future, Bradberry, the equity and inclusion director, said she hopes Community Conversations will have students and parents alike lining up to listen and learn. “The ultimate dream is to build a community where employees, students and families understand and value the importance of this work,” said Bradberry, “to have people who understand that we can’t be Greenhill if we can’t sit down at the table and talk about our thoughts, even if they don’t align.”
Alumni
Chillin’ in Hollywood
Michael Paraskevas ’10 Scores Hit Movies
Photo courtesy of Michael Paraskevas
MOVIE MAGIC: Michael Paraskevas ’10 helped score the new movie “Frozen 2.” He studied music composition and film scoring after Greenhill and quickly found his passion. Paraskevas, left, works as an assistant to Christophe Beck, center, as they create music for the hit movie. They perform much of their work at Beck’s private studio.
Sumana Kethu Arts Editor
M
ichael Paraskevas ’10 realized he was living his dream when he found himself seated in a private studio in Santa Monica, California, a few feet from a bigtime Hollywood composer, helping craft the score for the Disney film “Frozen 2.” “I grew up watching the Disney animated movies from the 90s, and those are a big part of me getting into scoring as well,” said Paraskevas. “So it’s kind of crazy to be here doing that.” It has been a crazy few years for Paraskevas, son of Middle and Upper School Orchestra and Strings instructor Nick Paraskevas. In 2015, Michael Paraskevas moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of composing film scores. “For me, music was always a part of my life growing up,” said Michael Paraskevas. “I’ve just always been surrounded by music and it’s always been something I’ve been interested in and pursued.”
The journey begins Michael took his first steps toward his current career as a child noodling around on the piano, playing pieces his father picked for him to learn. In sixth grade, Michael began taking piano lessons and he learned other instruments in Upper School. He played acoustic bass in the Greenhill Orchestra as a senior and was in a rock band with a few of his friends, Michael Paraskevas said. “He was really involved in a lot of different aspects of music,” said Nick Paraskevas. And that, in turn, led to his deepening interest in the intersection of film and music. “He wasn’t interested in the photography and filming and writing [of cinema] but he was interested in the music in films,” Nick Paraskevas said. With the influence of his father, Michael Paraskevas started to develop an interest in studying music and, more specifically, music in films. “He never forced me to play or do anything, which I appreciate because he kind of let me come to [music] on my own,” said Michael Paraskevas. “But I think it was just seeing how passionate he is about music and
sharing it with other people and teaching, and just how big a part it is in his life.” Michael attended Greenhill throughout his elementary and secondary schooling. “Greenhill is amazing because I was able to explore all sorts of stuff and play different instruments,” said Michael Paraskevas. He found inspiration in Corbin Doyle’s Advanced Video Production class, an experience he describes as “amazing, too, because that might’ve been my first full introduction into film scoring specifically.” For his Capstone Project as a senior, Michael composed original music to silent film clips Doyle gave him. He recorded some of this music live and some of it electronically. He found his passion for film scoring and realized that was what he wanted to pursue. “He was Mr. Greenhill,” said Doyle. “He did everything. His intent was to have these films shown at the end of the year. I think very quickly he figured out his ability to produce things that made his peers’ films better, and that’s a pretty powerful thing that hit him in high school.” After graduating from Greenhill in 2010, Michael attended the University of Tulsa, where he minored in film scoring. “[The minor] introduced me a little more into the world of scoring, and they had different seminars or guest speakers and we did recording sessions once a year as well,” Michael Paraskevas said. “So it was kind of a way of getting more exposure and experience.” After graduating from Tulsa, Michael studied film scoring with Hummie Mann, an American film score composer, at the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program in Seattle, Washington. Then, in hopes of more opportunities to continue composing film scores, he moved to Los Angeles.
Taking it to the next level “Even film is going more global and you can do so much online nowadays and spread out all over the country, but LA is still the hub,” Michael Paraskevas said. “And it’s where it’s easiest to find work since there are so many people out here just chasing their dreams.” Other Greenhill alumni moved to Los Angeles to pursue similar careers, so Michael got the opportunity to reunite with them. He has lived and worked with people he attended Greenhill with.
“There are so many Greenhill people out here, which has made it so amazing and much easier just being around familiar faces,” said Michael Paraskevas. “And we’re all aspiring toward similar things and we help each other out all the time.” In Los Angeles, Michael began to work as an assistant to film score composer Christophe Beck, who composed music for movies such as “Frozen,” “Frozen 2,” “AntMan” and “Trolls.” Michael was aware that Beck had composed the music for “Frozen,” so when he went to work for him, Michael knew he would soon be working on the sequel. “My main role is really doing what I can to make [Beck’s] vision or score come to life,” Michael Paraskevas said. “So I help in the day-to-day process in writing cues and he’ll give me a sketch and I’ll orchestrate it. And when we have the recording sessions with the full orchestra, I’ll be in the control booth with him and I’ll help craft the music to the best it can be.” Michael Paraskevas said that working on “Frozen 2” has been a dream come true. In addition to this film, he has worked as assistant score composer to Beck for other movies, including “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “American Made.” Michael also co-composed the score to Netflix’s “The Christmas Chronicles.” “There are several different ways you can get into [scoring], but it’s kind of like an apprenticeship, and then eventually you just go out on your own and take what you learned with your mentor,” Michael Paraskevas said. Like with any endeavor, there are challenges to scoring music. “I’d say time is one of the biggest challenges because scoring generally comes toward the end of the process, so a lot of times you don’t really have time to think about things,” said Michael Paraskevas. “You just have to go for it and find a way to crank something out without waiting to be inspired or to find your muse.” Although Michael plays the piano, clarinet, electric bass guitar and upright bass, he jokes that these days he mainly plays computer, because most of his time is spent before a screen rather than with actual instruments. “It can be very mundane sometimes, since you’re working on the same two minutes of music in a day, so it’s a really
grueling process,” said Michael Paraskevas. “You get to do that every day until you have 70 minutes of music, so it can take months of doing the same thing over and over again.” Michael said that the best part of scoring a film is the end of the process, when his music is performed live by musicians and recorded. “I feel like that’s when the magic of it all comes to life and it all feels worth it,” Michael said.
Into the Unknown At some point in the future, Michael hopes to have his own studio and business. “Eventually, I want to be able to ‘graduate’ and freelance on my own and work on my own projects, so I can just continue building relationships with other peers and other film makers,” Michael said. One of his next projects will be working on the action film “Free Guy,” which stars Ryan Reynolds and is scheduled for release this summer. Both Nick Paraskevas and Michael believe that scoring is a prominent feature in contemporary films. “I think it’s one of the most important parts of music we’ve seen in our present day,” said Nick Paraskevas. “Almost every major symphony does concerts where they run movies and have a live performance of the orchestra in front of the movie. That shows you how essential it is.” Michael echoed his father’s view on the role of music in the contemporary cinematic experience. “Some movies are able to be good without music but most times it’s another character and it really gives a subconscious voice to the film that audience members don’t always notice or feel,” Michael said. “It definitely shapes your viewing experience, your understanding of the story, your relationship with the characters, and it’s just one of the essential and most magical parts of film.” After three years of movie scoring at the side of Christophe Beck, Michael is still thrilled and inspired by the experience. “It’s kind of surreal right now since I’m still learning and I still feel like a small part of something big,” Michael Paraskevas said. “It’s kind of cool to know that we are all working on this thing that has an impact on people all over the world.”
Special Report
Hidden History
Literature and History of Human Rights Explores Dallas’ Dark Secrets
Photos by Lane Herbert
STORIES OF THE UNKNOWN: Upper School students in Tom Perryman’s Literature and History of Human Rights class advocated for Dallas human rights victims during a Jan. 22 field trip. The students addressed the Dallas City Council, top left, and examined old newspapers and historical documents at the J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, right.
Raag Venkat
Managing Editor
Lane Herbert Sports Editor
S
everal years ago, Assistant Head of School Tom Perryman was standing outside the Old Red Courthouse in downtown Dallas when he noticed something that changed his perspective on the city forever. As happens most days of the year in Dallas, crowds of tourists stood around Dealey Plaza, peering up at the sixthfloor window of the Texas School Book Depository building from which Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, or checking out the grassy knoll where conspiracy theorists believe a second gunman was positioned. What struck Perryman was the fact that only 100 or so feet away from the tourists and JFK assassination buffs was the site of another shocking murder that remains largely unremembered: the March 3, 1910 lynching of African-American janitor Allen Brooks, who was dragged from a nearby jail cell and hung from a corner light pole. It was in that moment, pondering this juxtaposition of a crime for which Dallas is remembered around the world and another that has largely slipped from historical memory, that the idea for a Greenhill course called the Literature and History of Human Rights in the United States came to life in Perryman’s brain. In the three-plus years since introducing the class, Perryman’s course has become a popular English and history elective that takes students on a journey through three searing chapters of American life: Native American history, the Civil Rights era and the LGBTQ+ revolution. Perryman drew additional inspiration for the course from his experience at the Embrey Human Rights Program at Southern Methodist University. As a capstone project, Perryman conceptualized a class that reflected what he had learned during his master’s program, which was focused on how history and literature could impact the way people viewed
justice and injustice in the world. “I realized that I could take the parts of poetry that I love to teach and shift the focus to be exclusively social justice kind of human rights poems and create a really interesting, different class,” said Perryman. “So that was an easy class to propose to the Upper School leadership team.”
Searing chapters Students begin their journey by examining the injustices experienced by Native American tribes. The class focuses on the ordeal of Texas tribes and what Perryman calls the “culture-cide,” or destruction of culture, they experienced. “It just completely shocked me that this marginalization happened here in Texas, and that even the ground we are standing on right now was actually owned by Native Americans at one point,” said senior Veda Dhulipalla. Next, the class dives into the Civil Rights era. Perryman places special emphasis on the role teenagers and people in their early 20s played in the Civil Rights struggle. One case study is the “Freedom Riders,” the black and white activists who rode interstate buses to challenge the discrimination and segregation of the southern United States. “I want the students to understand that you don’t have to have gray hair to change the world,” said Perryman. “This was a movement that, over time, a bunch of young people participated in to demand change.”
“Something that I will remember forever” The highlight of this unit is an investigation of three Dallas human rights cases: the 1910 lynching of Brooks; the 1973 murder of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez by a Dallas police officer; and the 1988 hate-crime murder of two gay men, Tommy Lee Trimble and John Lloyd Griffin, in Reverchon Park. Students split into groups to investigate each of the cases and then
share their findings with their classmates. The culmination of their work is a field trip to downtown Dallas to inspect the crime scenes and examine original court documents. On Wednesday, Jan. 22, Perryman led his class to Dallas for their field investigation. Along with 17 students, the group included librarians Sonja Hayes and Abby Harrison and Director of Equity and Inclusion Karen Bradberry. Their first stop was City Hall, where junior Sami Khan, senior Alexandria King and senior Elli Dassopoulos testified before the Dallas City Council about their research and the need to commemorate these crimes. Each student had three minutes to present their arguments. Khan addressed the court about the Brooks lynching, King recounted the murder of Rodriguez and Dassopoulos described the Reverchon Park attacks on Griffin and Trimble. Afterward, the students traveled to the J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, where the cases came to life in old newspapers, books, theses and essays. “Students, at the earliest ages, learn when they have their feet on the ground and their hands on the material,” English Department chair Joel Garza said. “Mr. Perryman, in organizing this trip, brings the course to life and brings student eyes on the possibilities and responsibilities of citizenship and language.” Following lunch, the students walked to the Old Red Courthouse, where they heard the story of Brooks’ murder as they stood directly under the second floor window through which Brooks was dragged before the conclusion of his trial. The students heard presentations from their classmates and commemorated the moment by collecting soil to bring back to Greenhill. Afterward, the students walked down to the corner where Brooks was lynched before 5,000 spectators, some of whom took his clothes as souvenirs. “Standing on that corner, I think it was really meaningful and impactful to see those places and understand all that had happened,” said Dassopoulos. “To see the exact spot where [the lynching] happened and then see that now it has completely
changed in the middle of the city is something that I will remember forever.” Later, students gathered at the gas station where 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez was shot by a police officer who placed a gun to his head and pulled the trigger during a round of Russian Roulette; at the time, Santos was being questioned about the theft of $8 from the gas station. The students concluded their daylong investigation at Reverchon Park, standing along the trail where Griffin and Trimble were murdered.
“History in real time” Perryman concludes his class with an examination of the LGBTQ+ movement and equal rights. “The LGBTQ revolution is fascinating to me because it is literally unfolding before our eyes,” said Perryman. “The students are experiencing a revolution that is happening quickly and dramatically, where it is a different world today than it was even a week ago. It’s sort of history in real time.” The class has had a ripple effect in the Upper School, spurring similar human rights research and inquiry in other English and history electives. “I am humbled and inspired by the artifacts of knowledge that Mr. Perryman guides his students to produce,” said Garza. “They make their learning personal, they make it visual and they make it active. In many ways, I have tried to incorporate those same course strengths and challenges into my own classes.” Students conclude the class with a charge from Perryman to take their learning one step further. “I want the students to see themselves as having agency and power to change the world, and that they’re not just doing homework,” said Perryman. “If these guys finish this class and never think about these things again, then I have failed because they need to know that if they see injustice, they must do something about it. Once you’ve seen it, you cannot unsee it.”
Features
Integrating Classes, Hearts and Minds Teachers include lessons from PoCC into the classroom
Photos courtesy of Stephanie Almanza
MEMORABLE MOMENTS: Select Greenhill teachers attended the 2019 National Association of Independent Schools' People of Color Conference that took place from Dec. 4-7 in Seattle, Washington. The mission of the conference is to provide a safe space for leadership, professional development and networking for people of color and allies of all backgrounds.
Mila Nguyen
Online Arts Editor
T
wo months after attending the People of Color Conference (PoCC) in Seattle, some of the 21 Greenhill faculty members who attended the annual gathering say they are drawing on their lifechanging experiences to transform their classrooms and community. Middle School science teacher Hennah Abubaker said she was so inspired by her experience at PoCC that she has incorporated social issues into her science classes. When her seventh graders were working on a unit on genetics, she had her students create scientific posters to show that race is not encoded in genes. Working in groups, the students form bonds with people that they would not normally work with, Abubaker said “Race is a social construct,” said Abubaker. “I wanted to introduce that to the students and they were so open to it. I had students of color and not of color come up to me and thank me for doing that. After PoCC, I decided that I needed to be the change.” Stephanie Almanza said students in her Upper School Advanced Placement Spanish class have also brought back knowledge from PoCC. In her Advanced Placement Spanish class, her students had been watching a Spanish television series from Mexico called Corazon Contento that they would tie into the themes they were learning throughout the year. The show features Mexican actors that are mostly light-skinned, and Almanza made sure to point out that people with lighter skins are picked for more acting roles. “Especially in language, history and English courses, as much as we learn about culture, we should be incorporating a lot more diversity into our curriculum,” said Almanza. Even in other disciplines, there are ways to incorporate more culturally balanced lessons."
Finding their voices The December conference that has inspired Abubaker, Almanza and other Greenhill faculty and staff is an annual event organized by the National Association of
Independent Schools (NAIS). It’s held in conjunction with the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which was attended by six Greenhill students. Both events lasted four days. The People of Color Conference is at the core of the national association’s stated mission to address equity and justice in teaching, learning and organizational development. “The difference between SDLC and PoCC is that [PoCC] is more related to employment, how to deal with your authentic self, self-care, and social justice,” said Librarian Sonja Hayes, who attended the PoCC conference. In her keynote speech, Dr. Joy DeGruy presented her findings on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which she said explained how present-day actions can be connected to the repercussions of the slave trade. DeGruy gave an example of one of slavery’s legacies: When a white mother introduces her son, she praises him and proudly boasts about his accomplishments; a black mother simply says her son’s name without mentioning his accolades, a phenomenon DeGruy traced to slave mothers deprecating a child so that he would not be sold. “These are things that you would not even think to consider, but the way she presented everything was very eye-opening,” Almanza said. Other conference speakers included CEO of Tomorrow and bestselling author of “The Algorithmic Leader” Mike Walsh; civil rights activist, award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project Valerie Kaur; and associate professor at the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell Wayne Au.
they’re scared they won’t fit in or belong.” Hayes said that sharing her story of being the only African-American librarian at Greenhill “allowed me to find my voice. Every day we wake up and we can’t take our color off. To make someone else understand that is hard because they are not in my shoes.” Almanza found the conference emotionally challenging. “I am an introverted person and I normally keep my distance, so being around so many people and being emotionally challenged for four days in a row was tough,” said Almanza. “Because of my introversion, I also feel like I do not use my voice at Greenhill as much as I should, if not for me then for students that look like me. One of my biggest takeaways is that we need to talk, and we need to at least try to do something.” At the end of the conference, all the Greenhill delegates gathered to discuss their experiences. Hayes said there were no dry eyes by the end of the conversation. “All of the students and faculty members found their voice while they were there,” Hayes said. “I think that is why I was more emotional. A couple of the students I had never heard talk a lot and so it was really amazing to how strong and confident their voices were.” The discussion also produced straight talk about life at Greenhill, and what the participants viewed as areas where work is needed. “Greenhill says it’s a diverse community, and if you look at it, it is,” Almanza said. “We do have a lot of different races represented within our different classes, but just because it’s diverse that doesn’t mean that it’s inclusive.”
No dry eyes
The transition back to daily life at Greenhill has been challenging for some of the PoCC participants. Abubaker said she has seen two sides to life at Greenhill: diversity in numbers, especially compared to many other schools, but deficiencies in other areas. “It is important to me that I can come to school and wear my headscarf and not feel threatened in any way,” she said. “This is the first school that I have been able to
The conference gave attendees a safe space in which they were able to connect with people with similar backgrounds and share their own stories with no judgment, Abubaker and Almanza said. “I’ve realized that many students of color and faculty of color try to be politically correct to fit in,” said Abubaker. “People don’t want to embrace their truth because
Back on campus
feel this way. But there are other things such as other faculty members’ misjudgments or ignorance and other students’ lack of empathy or knowledge about how certain people dress.” Abubaker has sought to infuse her eighth-grade science class with lessons and inspiration she took away from PoCC. During a unit about water pollution, she discussed the Flint water crisis, the public health crisis that came to light in 2014 after state government officials changed the water source for the Michigan city. Casting the crisis as a political attack on the area’s poor and predominantly African-American population, she supplemented her lectures by showing the confrontational Michael Moore documentary film “Fahrenheit 11/9.” “I feel like if we are not teaching real things and we are just teaching them the Ph of whatever and they can’t apply their knowledge to the real world,” said Abubaker. “I feel like I am doing a disservice to the kids coming here if I am just teaching them what is in the textbook.” While social issues can be difficult to address, Abubaker said she makes sure that all her students feel safe to express their opinions and share their ideas. “Right now is the time to open the door of conversation,” Abubaker said. Abubaker credits her four days in Seattle for equipping her with other skills she is putting to use in her classes. “I am more aware and tuned in to microaggressions now than I was before, but I also am more tuned in to the students of color and work with their needs better,” Abubaker said. “I ask kids more personal questions which helps me build a better relationship with them, and it is because of the things that the SDLC students shared at the conference.” Across campus, a conversation is ongoing among administrators, faculty and staff about how to make Greenhill more equitable, inclusive and culturally competent. “The platinum rule really applies here: Do unto others as they would want done to them,” said Karen Bradberry, director of equity and inclusion. “Because we are in community together, we don’t just do this for ourselves. We do it for everyone else.”
the
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friday, march 6, 2020
with Lee Hark
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Head of School
How would you characterize your first year at Greenhill?
It was an amazing year. Lots of growth and learning for me. The main goal of the year was to get a handle on what Greenhill is. What are the values that drive this place? Learning people’s stories. And sort of gathering all of that in and processing it. I fell in love with Greenhill a long time ago, and so I knew that coming here would be great for me and my family, and then a lot of it was learning how to do a new job. Have you sensed a change in how people think about you? Where do you think this change comes from? That’s a really perceptive question. It’s normal, I think, when people see change happening, when they feel it, for the person who’s in charge of this school to be viewed as responsible for them. That doesn’t feel weird or abnormal or unfair to me, and many of the changes I am responsible for [the changes]. So that’s okay. In some ways, people are giving me too much credit, because I think they’ve forgotten that [former Head of School Scott] Griggs oversaw a tremendous amount of change. My goal, Leah, is for when you graduate and you go out into the world, is that your degree from Greenhill continues to increase in value. That’s the goal. I don’t want to give the sense that I just sat on my hands last year and just listened, because that’s not true. I hope people perceived that we were moving forward even last year. Why was the Faculty Dance-off changed to a Faculty Dance Showcase? Wow, we’ve talked this through so many times. So, here’s the short answer. My sense was that there were faculty who were participating in that who did want to, but felt like they had to, and I don’t think that that was fair, because I don’t like it when the adults are forced to be the entertainment for the students. We heard a huge cry from the students about how much they enjoyed it. I think I could tell that they enjoyed it. We modified it to say that if faculty wanted to participate, then they could. Frankly, the competition part of it left me feeling a little
bit uneasy. The faculty who wanted to participate did, and I thought it was very nice. I thought the kids really enjoyed it, and I think that was a compromise that we reached. Is the Forever Club going away? No. It’s not going away, because I have no control over whether the forever club exists or not. It’s not a school organization; it’s a private group organized by parents. It’s sort of something that you’re in or you’re not. It’s fantastic that we have students and families who devote their lives to the school, who have a strong sense of loyalty, who are with us for 13 or 14 years. The reason that this bubbled up this year is that the forever club dinner party was announced at a senior class gathering. It’s not an official school event, and it’s not something that every member of the class can attend, so I felt it wasn’t appropriate to be advertising it at a class event, because you’re talking about 40% of the class, not about the whole class. That was my issue. I don’t have the authority or the ability to do anything about the forever club, nor would I want to. Why were the titles of homecoming king and queen removed? That’s something that lots of schools are looking at, and I supported the change. I think it’s a good change. In a school like Greenhill, traditional gendered language often feels a little outdated. I don’t think removing homecoming king and queen affected the event at all. Are we going to have uniforms? No. I don’t know where this is coming from. This is one of the rumors that’s funny to me. I’ve actually always resisted restrictive dress codes. I’ve been in schools with strict dress codes and, to me, it’s felt very unnatural and kind of a waste of time. I think students are going to find ways to self-express through how they dress and through their appearance. Obviously, we aren’t going to allow kids to wear things that advertise drugs and alcohol, but outside of that...I think sometimes our kids look sloppy, but it’s a comfortable place.
Photo by Caroline Greenstone
How is Greenhill encouraging cultural appreciation without stepping into cultural appropriation?
Why do you feel that you’re being held responsible for all of the changes happening at Greenhill?
Here’s an example. I’ve always wondered about [my participation in Diwali], and whether my participation is seen as rude. I wouldn’t say that I feel uncomfortable, but it has raised questions in my mind. The invitation is the critical part. If I just show up to school one day wearing traditional garb, that feels way less authentic. That’s what it hinges on for me. Because one of the great things about this school is that we look for real ways to celebrate one another. I wouldn’t want to not do those things but it is good to ask the question whether we’re doing it the right way.
I think it’s normal and natural. It doesn’t bother me that it’s true. If there’s anything about it that bothers me, it’s the misinformation that seems to be circulating about changes that I simply am not interested in. What it says to me is that in the absence of information, minds go places and construct narratives that I imagine makes sense to a lot of people. They see a lot of changes happening, and so and so they assume that a rumor that they heard is true. I’m not just coming in to stir things up. I want to see the school improve. It’s one of the best schools in the country. And it can get better and needs to get better in a lot of areas. People say pick your battles, and I hate that phrase, because I pick them all. If it’s a change that’s worth making, then let’s make it.
Are you asking students and or teachers about the changes that are being made? Who finds out first about the changes and who finds out last? It depends on what the change is. A good example of a time when we probably did not think to include the student voice as much as we should have was about Homecoming. Although, I’ll say that Jeffrey [Harberg] was a participant in the large group meeting where homecoming was planned. But I think we need to do more of that, especially in changes that affect the students. For instance, with something like replacing the Farmhouse, there are constituents who are going to impact that decision, and I definitely talk to them about it; however, that’s not necessarily something that I’m going to bring to the students. I don’t say that in a sort of sneering way, because that’s not a decision that the students are going to affect. However, most of the rule changes that are going to affect students’ lives don’t happen in my office. I might get looped in if it’s particularly controversial, but by in large, that’s not what I do on a daily basis. The larger question, especially on the student side, is this: When we have opportunities to involve students in those decisions that affect their lives directly, how are we doing that?
When you came to Greenhill, did you feel a need to change the school’s culture? No. One of the things that attracted me to Greenhill was its culture. As I’ve said before, Greenhill is counterculture. Greenhill represents the best of what independent schools can become. Our commitment to academic excellence and to diversity, equity and inclusion, and the ways we work on that every day makes us unique. I don’t want to change that. I’m not saying that there aren’t things in that sphere that we need to get better at, but the culture of the school is one of its greatest strengths. What do you want the culture of Greenhill to be? I want Greenhill to be the kind of school where lots of different kinds of people can come here, feel like a part of a community, and can find a place to thrive. That means thirteen hundred and twenty different things to thirteen hundred and twenty different students, but it’s not simply just thirteen hundred and twenty individuals. There should be a pathway to success through the school for every student. Reported by Leah Nutkis
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The ‘forgotten one’
dollar
eveling the playing field for students of diverse backgrounds has been a core objective at Greenhill from its inception in 1950, when founder Bernard Fulton went without a salary in the school’s first year in order to provide financial aid. Seventy years later, Greenhill is a leader among its peers in need-based grants to students, part of a broader effort to promote a demographically diverse environment, Director of Financial Aid Amy deBorst and Chief Operating and Financial Officer Kendra Grace CPA said in a written response to questions. “Socioeconomic diversity has been a priority at Greenhill since its founding, and it remains an important part of our ongoing commitment to create a diverse school environment—because a truly diverse school is a healthy school,” Head of School Lee Hark said in an email. “People bring vastly different experiences to our school each day, and we have a responsibility to respect those differences and learn from them.” Efforts to create “a diverse, equitable and inclusive school” extend far beyond financial aid to include such areas as the shaping of curriculum and outreach to families, Hark said. He described these efforts as “a moral obligation.” And yet, in nearly two dozen interviews with Upper School students, faculty and administrators, many members of the Greenhill community said socioeconomic class is a complicated and sensitive subject that is discussed much less frequently or openly than topics like race, gender and sexual orientation. Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester said Greenhill does a great job of starting conversations about many difficult topics, but not so much when it comes to socioeconomic status. “Socioeconomic status is kind of the ‘forgotten one’ because it’s not personal and not always visible in ways that you’d think,” Worcester said. “It’s tough to create an environment where we can just talk about it.”
Culture of affluence Any discussion of socioeconomic class at Greenhill begins with a fundamental challenge: How is class defined? Anecdotal evidence suggests that the student body at Greenhill spans the range of socioeconomic classes. At one extreme are
families earning $12,000 or less annually, the federal poverty level; at the other are families with wealth that places them in the top 1 percent of Americans. In between are students who self-identify as “middle class,” many of whom receive financial aid. Greenhill and other independent schools generally don’t release detailed information on financial aid and family income levels of the student population. Greenhill administrators said the school, like its peers, only seeks family income information from students who are applying for financial aid. The Evergreen invited Upper School students to share information about their family financial status and how that factors into their campus experience. The resulting interviews conducted by Evergreen reporters produced a range of perspectives. Among the truths revealed by these interviews: Class differences manifest themselves at Greenhill in ways small and large, from the ease with which some students shell out $5 for a coffee or smoothie to the casual frequency of international travel. Kristal Crockett-Rogers, a junior, said she sees how socioeconomic class plays into Greenhill’s culture, specifically through the types of vacations many students take. While some of her peers will spend holidays at trendy spots like Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, she usually stays at home. Crockett-Rogers, who describes herself as being on the lower side of the socioeconomic spectrum at Greenhill, said she noticed a difference in the culture after attending a Dallas Independent School District (DISD) school. Since DISD schools are based on location, students came from similar neighborhoods, she said. It was a culture shock to come to Greenhill where some students came from neighborhoods like hers, whereas other students came from “complete opposite” ones. “It was weird, because you don’t know how you should act with [people who come from different socioeconomic backgrounds], if those people will perceive you differently or not,” said CrockettRogers. “They do, but it’s unintentional that they do. In the back of my mind, class really does affect how we do things at Greenhill.” Upper School Spanish teacher and Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Anna Galvez ’11 attended Greenhill on a student on 100% financial aid. She recalls that some families had to plan ahead and save up money for the costs of dresses for Homecoming dances, graduation parties and Baccalaureate her senior year. Even with fashion trends in Middle School, she felt different from her peers, Galvez said. “One of the really dumb things I remember as a seventh grader is that everyone else had already gone through their ‘Limited Two’ phase,” Galvez said. “I remember seeing these girls already wearing Juicy Couture sweatpants. I was this little girl from Oak
Cliff that had no inkling of what it was to have True Religion jeans. It must have made that big of an impact in my head at 12 that now at 27 I still remember.” As a teacher, Galvez said she still observes a culture of affluence among students. Alumnus Carlos Cardenas ’19 said he was aware of class differences while a student at Greenhill. For example, everybody had an Apple Macintosh laptop, whereas students on financial aid had very distinct-looking computers. Cardenas, who came to Greenhill in third grade, said socioeconomic class also manifested itself in how people socialized. “There is a distinction in the friend groups between socioeconomic classes, but I don’t think that it’s deliberate,” Cardenas said. Cardenas, whose mother works as a caregiver and maid and father works in a warehouse, said he used to get embarrassed by his parents’ occupations. He saw that many of his peers’ parents worked as lawyers or doctors. As he got older, he started to embrace his identity as a student from a lower socioeconomic background. “I started to become proud of it, because at the end of the day my parents that work in a warehouse and work as a caregiver and work as a maid have their kid going to the same school as all these lawyers and doctors that are driving Teslas and BMWs and Audis,” Cardenas said. “I’m making it just as far as all those other kids. Right now, [we’re in] the same position. Education is what you make out of it.”
Administrative efforts Over the decades, Greenhill has developed tools to help bridge fault lines of socioeconomic class in student life. One of the most transformative is financial aid. Greenhill is more generous than its peers, an analysis of financial aid data suggests. During the 2019-2020 school year, Greenhill awarded $4.9 million in need-based grants to a student body of 1,318, according to Director of Financial Aid Amy deBorst and Director of Admission Sarah Markhovsky. The per capita average of $3,718 ranges from 43% to 92% more than some of Greenhill’s most prominent peers. Financial assistance is also provided to cover the costs of other Greenhill-related activities, such as class rings, field trips and athletic equipment, deBorst said. “Anything that’s required of a student to fully engage in the life of Greenhill, we’re going to take that into consideration,” said deBorst. The school also assists financial aid students with the college admissions process. “Things like application fee waivers or testing fee waivers are a part of something larger, because the expectation at Greenhill is that everybody is going to apply to college, and so we can’t just leave people in the lurch when it comes to that,” said Jenny Fisher, a co-director of college counseling. “We want to make sure that everybody can feel
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like they can apply to the colleges that they want to, regardless of class.” While financial aid is essential for many students who attend Greenhill, it’s also another distinction that may amplify feelings of class-consciousness or insecurity, some students said in the Evergreen interviews. Greenhill administrators said care is taken to protect the feelings of students who are uncomfortable about being singled out because of their socioeconomic status. One example: Greenhill is implementing a new technology policy that will ensure that all students use the same laptop, said Worcester. Ultimately, bridging the campus fault lines of socioeconomic class requires more than money, said Upper School science teacher Kaleb Mathieu. “You can throw money and that’s great, but you need more than financial support,” Mathieu said. “You need that social and cultural support.”
The middle-class perspective Politicians in America sometimes speak of “the forgotten middle class,” and that idea resonates with some students who occupy the socioeconomic middle ground. Among the financial aid students at Greenhill who self-identify as middle class is Julia O’Gorman, a junior who describes herself as “middle class nationally and bottom third at Greenhill.” The middle-class perspective is sometimes overlooked at Greenhill, she said, “because they aren’t the ones in the most [financial] trouble and they also aren’t the ones making the rules. They’re kind of stuck in a neutral or middle space that gets pushed aside because they can live comfortably.” O’Gorman said her Greenhill education has exposed her to a level of socioeconomic affluence that she had never encountered. “I came in knowing that there would be some amount of ‘wow, you have a lot of money, huh,’” O’Gorman said. “But it’s not like I have experienced any sort of discrimination for not having a whole lot of money or anything.” At the same time, “some people don’t have a good grasp of how much privilege they have,” said O’Gorman. “I know that they are aware that they have it, but some of them walk into restaurants that I think are very fancy, and they walk in in workout clothes and sit down for a light meal at these places, and I
just have to pause sometimes when this stuff happens. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just something I see.” O’Gorman said she believes that Greenhill tries hard to level the playing field for students. “The financial aid program, I feel, does a pretty good job at helping people who might not be able to afford all of the stuff Greenhill does,” O’Gorman said. “For some example, I have been given a laptop that I can use, which is really nice. I also receive aid for books and other materials. But Greenhill also provides fun things, like we get a class ring on financial aid. Is a class ring necessary to graduate? No, but it’s still nice to have something like this, so I really appreciate the small things like that.”
Creating campus support Some faculty, students and administrators said they would like to encourage a more candid discussion of socioeconomic class at Greenhill. Alexandria King said she thinks the Upper School should offer a variety of economics classes that dive more deeply into cultural and economic impacts of historical events. She took the Economics and Society class at Greenhill the summer before her junior year and said the class didn’t discuss how people from up and down the socioeconomic ladder are affected by ideas and events. Mathieu is among faculty members working to start a broader conversation. A first-generation college student, Mathieu said he knows how it feels to be unfamiliar with a learning environment from both a social and financial standpoint. He’s working to create a support program for first-generation students at independent schools like Greenhill and colleges, because it’s “such a difference, culturally.” “There’s so much psychologically that students have to deal with and adjust to, so there needs to be more support than just money,” Mathieu said. “Students already feel like they don’t fit in. They have that in their head, it’s called ‘stereotype threat.’ It puts them at a disadvantage. I just want to help students with that and let them know there’s a support system.” Upper School English teacher Andrew Mercurio, who comes from a Massachusetts middle-class background, said he has been
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aware of the lack of understanding and conversation over socioeconomic status at Greenhill for years. In 2014, he started an elective called Social Class in Literature. The course, nicknamed Class on Class, focuses on how socioeconomic status manifests itself in the world and on the Greenhill campus and how students can become more observant and understanding members of society. Mercurio’s class aims to generate discussion on these subjects. “I think there’s a responsibility of the school to provide structures to give students access to that kind of information, to be able to have those conversations,” Worcester said. Cardenas said conversations about socioeconomic status between students can be difficult. He conceded it took him a while to be comfortable with it. Cardenas took Class on Class his senior year and thinks that the course should be required on campus. Students don’t have to talk about their situations if it makes them uncomfortable, but having a general conversation about the topic, or at least teachers providing the opportunity, “would be very beneficial for the students,” Cardenas said. Teachers sometimes don’t create the necessary opportunities to have those conservations, Cardenas said. Greenhill “should at least integrate it into the courses that are already required like the history or English courses. I feel that talking about socioeconomic class and the disadvantages or advantages that come with each class needs to be normalized,” Cardenas said. Mercurio said he hopes the message he teaches impacts students beyond the classroom. A curriculum discussing socioeconomic status is just the start of conversations that should become a priority for the school, he said. “Class affects everything we do, especially on this campus, and we need to be able to have conversations about what those impacts are,” Mercurio said. “And not just for us on this campus, but how we fit into the larger world around us, to create a greater understanding and empathy not only for people within the community but outside.”
Arts
Senior Natalie Park Wins YoungArts Foundation Award
Performance Hall Receives Recognition by
Dallas Morning News
Photo by Abby Platt
CENTER STAGE: MPAC is recognized as a top new building of the decade by DMN.
Jack Moses
Staff Writer
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Photos by Natalie Park
AWARD WINNER: Senior Natalie Park is being honored for her photography by the National YoungArts Foundation. Pictured are three of her submitted photographs. Her artwork focuses on Korean-American culture, which is reflected in her family.
Riya Rangdal
Managing Editor
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enior Natalie Park has been recognized as a 2020 National Merit Award winner by the National YoungArts Foundation. The Foundation invites all award recipients to participate in a week-long regional program in Miami, New York or Los Angeles. Park will be participating in the regional YoungArts Miami program at the end of February. The week will consist of masterclasses, performances, workshops and mentorships. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to focus on my craft and meet like-minded people who appreciate the work and have the similar drive for arts,” said Park. The Greenhill photography program has had seven merit awardees, three honorable mentions and five finalists. Park was the only student of the 18 Greenhill entries this year to achieve a distinguished place in the competition. The National YoungArts Foundation
recognizes the most accomplished artists through a variety of mediums, including visual, design, literary and performing arts. The foundation has recognized 700 young artists around the country since 1981. “We believe that every artist should be empowered to pursue a life in the arts, and we are excited to welcome our winners to the YoungArts family,” said Sarah Arison, YoungArts board chair. “This is just the beginning and we look forward to helping provide them with the valuable opportunities and support they will need to thrive throughout their artistic journeys.”
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Her skill is what comes naturally, and her ideas are what make her stand out as an artist.
YoungArts award winners are inducted into the National YoungArts Foundation and considered a YoungArts alumnus.
These alumni can receive further benefits, including financial and professional opportunities like internships, throughout their artistic careers. “Our photography program has been sending artists’ work [to the National YoungArts contest] since 2009,” said Upper School Visual Arts teacher Frank Lopez. “That year was when we also won our first award from YoungArts. This really helped to validate the potential of our program.” Park’s portfolio of 10 photographs consisted of a five-photo focus on her interpretation of the Korean-American experience and five other photos of her choosing. “I wanted to focus on my personal story as a Korean-American, and so with that in mind, I used old family photos of my parents who immigrated and then redeveloped and experimented with them a bit in the dark room,” said Park. “After deciding on the five pictures I would use for my artist statement, I chose five other photographs from the past two years that I really liked to submit.” Lopez was a trusted opinion throughout the process, Park said. “I ran almost every version of every picture past Mr. Lopez,” said Park. “I think that he helped me a lot with selecting the best photos I created for the competition.” The competition required that each student submits at least 10 photos. Five of these must pertain to each individual artist’s statement and have been photographed in the past year. The remaining photos, labeled as “breadth pieces,” may pertain to any topic as long as they were photographed in the past four years. “For Natalie, being able to see her grow since Middle School and watch her mature as an artist and person has been wonderful,” said Lopez. “Her thought process is rather natural, and although there are a few idea-related roadblocks she encounters throughout the creative process, they are usually overcome quickly. Her skill is what comes naturally, and her ideas are what make her stand out as an artist.”
reenhill’s newest building, the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center (MPAC), has been an essential piece of campus culture since its construction in 2016. Now, the 54,000-square-foot structure has reached city-wide recognition by landing on a Dallas Morning News list that spotlights the past decade’s notable architectural achievements. “Rather than a single champion, we spread the accolades among a group of projects that collectively make Dallas a better place,” Mark Lamster wrote in his article on the area’s architectural highlights of the past decade. In addition to Greenhill’s MPAC, Lamster singled out for recognition these Dallas-area buildings: Test Pavilion at the Dallas Arboretum; St. Michael and All Angels Columbarium; Temple EmanuEl expansion; College Park Pavilion; Cottages at Hickory Crossing; Webb Chapel Park Pavilion; Wyly Theatre, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts expansion; Warehouse; Pacific Plaza Pavilion; Science Building at the Lamplighter School; Bullion Restaurant; 1217 Main St.; Rolex Building; and Fire Station 27.
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It’s the subtle things that truly make the MPAC what it is. Everything is meticulously designed. It’s a beautiful building.
The MPAC was designed by the Weiss/ Manfredi architecture firm. Some of their other high-profile projects are the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum and the US Embassy in New Delhi, India, as well as spaces for institutions like Tulane University and Cornell University. Greenhill students carry out a range of social and fine arts activities in the MPAC. The building features several performance halls, including a theater capable of seating 600 people. The building’s Rose Hall hosts Upper School Community Time events and other gatherings and performances. “The MPAC is built with everything taken into account,” said Terry Martin, Head of Fine Arts at Greenhill. “Not many people know this, but floors in Rose Hall have springs in them so it’s easier on dancer knees, and the air conditioning flows up from the floor so it’s not loud and distracting during shows.” In making the Dallas Morning News list, Greenhill’s MPAC faced competition from buildings designed by some of the biggest names in international architecture, such as Snøhett, responsible for the first underwater restaurant in Europe, and Kengo Kuma, who designed the stadium for the 2020 Olympics. “It’s the subtle things that truly make the MPAC what it is,” Martin said. “The way the texture on the windows looks like the keys of a piano, or the pattern on the staircase railing. Everything is meticulously designed. It’s a beautiful building.”
the
Evergreen
friday, march 6, 2020
arts
DINNER & A MOVIE
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Caroline and Cameron eat at Maggiano’s and review “Bombshell” Caroline Greenstone News Editor
Cameron Kettles Features Editor
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ameron: Caroline and I are far from Fox News fans, but we were both surprised that the movie industry was attempting to take on a conservative
giant. “Bombshell” tells the true story of female reporters at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes and stars like Bill O’Reilly. The movie follows real-life news personalities Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson and composite character Kayla Pospisil through their employment at Fox News and subsequent sexual harassment legal claims against the network. The double-meaning of the title “Bombshell” cleverly captures the essence of the movie: It’s the story of sex symbols and their explosive revelations. The stories of female reporters on Fox News are yet another example of women forced to endure hyper sexualization and harassment to succeed in a male-dominated world of journalism. We left with mixed feelings on the movie. It was well done and at the same time, it didn’t say enough. The movie is largely encapsulated by an exchange in which Megyn tells Kayla about being sexually harassed by Ailes many years before. “Why?” Kayla asks, “Why did you drop it?” “I wanted to be on television,” Megyn responds. “Did you think what your silence would mean? For us? The rest of us?” Kayla presses. The saddest thing about the movie is what it doesn’t show. The movie’s plot ends in July 2016 on a note of optimism. Roger Ailes is fired and women at Fox News celebrate. Three months later the tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women was released. One month later he was elected President of the United
States. As recently as December 2019, Fox News employees were still filing harassment claims. “Bombshell” ignores the disturbing reality of our time: nothing is going to change. In hindsight, we definitely should have picked a funnier movie. Caroline: Wanting to eat our feelings away, we decided on the first restaurant that we could think of, Maggiano’s. I know it is not the normal Dinner and a Movie dinner, but it had good bread. So, I was on board. It was a weird time to be at the restaurant. It was 4 p.m., but, for some reason, it was really busy. Cameron and I were quickly seated. It was an interesting dynamic and setting. We were way too underdressed in comparison to the girls in dresses and heels that we saw on our way in, but way too overdressed in comparison to the soccer team sitting across from us. It took a while for the waiter to come, but I didn’t mind. We were engaged in a combination of eavesdropping on the riveting discussion between an apparently marriedcouple-to-be and their parents and eating all of the bread that they would give us for free. When our waiter finally arrived, I couldn’t tell if the aforementioned server was disappointed, confused or annoyed that I had asked to see the kid’s menu. In my defense, the food is far superior on the kid’s menu than the adult’s menu. I will always believe that. And Cameron should be used to it by now, but she still took the opportunity to make a joke at my expense. Not going to lie: I would have if I were her, too. I did order a kid-size spaghetti. BUT who was laughing when the food came out and mine was a normal serving for the price of a kid’s meal? Cameron had ordered a salad. It had blue cheese and salmon. I don’t know what the salad was, but she said it was good. I somewhat believe her. I am not sure if anything can be good with blue cheese on it.
Graphic by Sumana Kethu
We had eaten, collectively, 12 pieces of bread and ordered not that much food from their menu. So when the waiter came, this time with the check, I definitely saw some annoyance. That annoyance, I’m guessing, only grew when we ran into our waiter at Corner Bakery afterwards as I was ordering my cheesecake brownie. Oops.
Review: Upper School performance of Stephen King’s “Carrie” electrifies MPAC audience Lane Herbert Sports Editor
Raag Venkat
Managing Editor
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adness, joy, anger, surprise, fear, suspense and excitement. These were just some of the emotions that the Upper School winter musical production of “Carrie,” based on Stephen King’s 1974 novel, evoked during its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 run in the Marshall Family Performing Arts Center. “Carrie” opens with dimmed lights and a single spotlight on a scared high school girl, who, little do we know, will be the only person alive at the end of the musical. Through the sounds of distant sirens and crackling flames, popular, good-hearted Sue Snell (freshman Erica Fulbright) recounts the events leading up to the horrific prom night. “What you need to understand is that we were just kids,” said Sue Snell. “Kids trying to do our best.” The opening number, “In,” captivated the audience with its relatable antics and superb choreography by Middle and Upper School dance and drama teacher Kelly McCain. The show effectively set up the main characters, including the cruelly harassed Carrie White (freshman Molly Cleary). After another scene of bullying and being referred to as “Scary White” by peers, Carrie quickly goes from nervous and quiet to angry and assertive in her soaring solo. The spine-tingling effort electrified
Photo by Helen Wilson Jackson
SCARY WHITE: Freshman Molly Cleary, center, played Carrie White in the winter production of “Carrie: The Musical,” based on the bestselling Stephen King novel.
the audience and foreshadowed Carrie’s ominous emergence. During the solo, Carrie questions why everyone treats her as inferior and can’t even say her true name. She feels a change coming over her and charges herself to take more chances in life. The exhilarating mood doesn’t last. A chilling scene follows in which Carrie’s extremely religious mother (Caroline Sasso) beats Carrie with a Bible and locks Carrie
up for her “sins” after Carrie experiences her first menstrual period. In her isolation, Carrie develops supernatural powers. The special effects were breathtaking: lightning that jolted audience members in their seats as well as books and Bibles moving on their own, among other occurrences. The plot starts to thicken when Sue Snell prods her boyfriend, Tommy Ross (senior Timothy Owens), to invite Carrie to the prom in an effort to soothe Carrie’s tortured
soul and absolve Sue of her harassment of Carrie. Carrie’s plans of having the magical night of her dreams go awry when vindictive Chris Hargensen (junior Alison Thieberg) plots with her bad-boy beau Billy Nolan (senior Jeffrey Harberg) to further humiliate Carrie at the prom by pouring a bucket of pig’s blood on her head. The special effects at this prom are astonishing. Dripping blood, Carrie soars above her prom tormentors, flinging classmates off the stage in her fury. Cleary’s Carrie totally sells the “possessed ruler of the world” persona. The maelstrom of shattering glass, howling winds, crashing lightning and prom-goers meeting their doom were petrifying. Carrie returns home to her mother and they share a moment of tender intimacy and connection. They end up hugging on the floor. And then, in a shocking climax, Carrie’s mother plunges a knife into Carrie’s back while Carrie chokes her mother through her psychokinetic powers. “Carrie” provides a glimpse into the life of a struggling teenager that resonates with a school-age audience. The musical depicts aspects of mental health and the dangers of isolation through Carrie’s experience, provoking introspection about student life at Greenhill and those among us who are struggling to cope and fit in In the end, there are ways to deal with bullying. And then there’s Carrie’s way, and it’s pretty twisted.
Sports
Connection on the Court
Girls Varsity Basketball Team Continues a Beloved Tradition
Photos, left and right, courtesy of Kati Gibson; Center photo by Jung Min Yean
NEW TEAMMATES: The Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks (Junior Mavs) continued an annual tradition by participating in an exhibition following the Jan. 24 girls varsity basketball game against Trinity Valley School. The Junior Mavs, center, have maintained a relationship with the team for over a decade, participating in joint practices and exhibitions.
Diane Lin Staff Writer
Isabel Martinez Staff Writer
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he athletes race down the court in their wheelchairs, weaving in and out of their teammates. As they approach the basket, one of the players takes a shot. As the ball sinks into the net, spectators jump to their feet and cheer for the players. On Jan. 24, the Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks (Junior Mavs) prep team continued an annual tradition by playing an exhibition at a Greenhill girls varsity basketball game. The showcase took place this year between the boys and girls games, with the Junior Mavs splitting into two teams for their 10-minute scrimmage. “I definitely look forward to seeing them each year,” said girls basketball coach Darryn Sandler. “I know everyone is going to be encouraging, and I think that’s why we enjoy it so much.” The relationship between the girls basketball program and the Junior Mavs spans more than a decade. During the 2008-2009 basketball season, Sandler’s second year of coaching at Greenhill, the varsity girls basketball team had been looking for volunteer opportunities. One of his players suggested they work with the Junior Mavs. The resulting relationship has forged bonds between many Greenhill and Junior Mavs athletes over the years. “It was mainly a coincidence,” said Sandler. “The coach for the Junior Mavs
was good friends with one of my players’ parents, and through that, the player introduced me to the Junior Mavs coach.” It has now become an annual tradition for the Junior Mavs to play an exhibition at a girls varsity basketball game. Typically, the Junior Mavs also participate in a Saturday practice with the Greenhill girls. “They’ll come [to Greenhill] and all of the varsity team will be there,” said Greenhill team captain Kaiti Ness. “They’re able to practice with us, and we get to coach them and encourage them.” The Greenhill girls have maintained this tradition of a practice and a half-time game with the Junior Mavs for nine years now.
“
A lot of kids are inadvertently told that they can’t do things. And once they learn the sport, the realize that they are capable of many things.
“Even in middle school, when I was watching the varsity basketball games, I remember seeing [the Junior Mavs] playing,” said Ness. Ness is now a senior with four years of varsity experience, and she has experienced the bond between the Greenhill girls and the Junior Mavs. Founded 30 years ago, the Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks is a non-profit organization that gives young athletes with lower limb disabilities an opportunity to
play a sport they love. The organization fields three teams: Futures; Prep and Varsity. Futures is a development team for the next level, Prep. The Prep team is for players 12 and under, while the varsity team is for players from 13-19 years old. Once a week on Saturdays, the wheelchair athletes meet for a practice. Once or twice a month, they travel out of state to compete in different tournaments. Michelle Galbreath, Junior Mavs coach and league administrator, said her athletes gain so much from the program. “A lot of the kids are inadvertently told that they can’t do things,” said Galbreath. “And once they learn the sport, they realize that they are capable of many things.” Greenhill’s varsity girls practice with the Junior Mavs at least once during every basketball season. While there, they help run drills and scrimmage with their wheelchair counterparts. Ness, the Greenhill captain, said she always enjoys the shared practices. “One of the reasons I like it is that we all love basketball, and it never matters that they have disabilities and I don’t,” said Ness. Galbreath said the Junior Mavs also enjoy collaborating with Greenhill. “It’s nice to have somebody recognize our athletes as athletes,” said Galbreath. “A lot of times people just see people in chairs, but they truly are athletes, and they work extremely hard.” During the recent Greenhill exhibition, the entire gym cheered when a Junior Mavs player for either squad sank a basket.
“When they score, it is priceless to see their faces light up when the crowd cheers for them,” said Sandler. Other Greenhill team members also described the rewards of working with the Junior Mavs. “It really opened my mind to see kids who can’t use their legs play the same sport,” said Kaiti Gibson, in her third year with the varsity girls. “It’s like a new perspective.” As her senior season winds down, Ness continues to draw motivation and inspiration from the Junior Mavs. “We have a shared love of basketball,” said Ness. “And so, it’s really motivating to see that even though they are in a wheelchair, they’re still able to practice and love basketball as much as I do.” Ness thinks the shared love of their sport is one of the reasons that the Greenhill girls and Junior Mavs have maintained their relationship for so long. “I think that’s why Coach Sandler wants us to do it every year,” said Ness. “He wants to keep the kid’s love for basketball, and really it’s Coach Sandler’s love for the kids themselves that has definitely made an impact on them.” What Sandler calls “giving back” lies at the heart of the Greenhill-Junior Mavs tradition. “I just think that any time you can give back, you should do it.” Sandler said. “And this is a great way to give back.”
For more varsity girls basketball content, see p. 13.
the
Evergreen
friday, march 6, 2020
sports
Manly Mondays
13
Boys Varsity Basketball Learns Life Lessons On and Off the Court Cameron Kettles Features Editor
W
hile the boys varsity basketball team has had an impressive season with a record of 16-7, the Hornets are learning about more than just basketball. Since the season started in November, boys varsity basketball coach Joey Sims has been teaching the team life lessons in weekly “Manly Mondays” sessions. “I’m a teacher first,” Sims said. “Whenever people ask me what my profession is, I’m a teacher and I also coach. I want to give something back to these kids that they can carry with them and hopefully pass on to someone else.” Every Monday, for about 15 minutes after practice, Sims teaches the team lessons: basic manners; how to tie a tie; perform CPR; do laundry or write letters of gratitude. “These lessons are really useful tools for the real world,” said varsity basketball captain Grant Bulmash, a senior. “It's cool to do something other than basketball with your team.” Recently, for example, each player was instructed to perform three acts of kindness every day and make their bed every morning. “I told them, ‘every morning, if you make your bed, you’ve already accomplished something,” Sims said. Manly Mondays has become popular among coaches across America via social media. Sims credits a coach somewhere in the northern United States for his intro-
duction to the phenomenon. Other sources suggest the concept originated with an Alabama high school coach named Cody Gross, who began sharing Facebook videos with his team. “The big thing is, as coaches, we can have a big impact on young men,” Gross said in an interview with The Alabama Media Group. “That’s why I do what I do. When [last] season ended, I felt the need to be more intentional about some things we do. We try to model the behaviors we expect.” Like Gross, many coaches see their role as extending far beyond a court or field. “When I saw football teams doing it, I thought, that’s a really cool idea because he’s teaching them life lessons they can use outside their particular sport,” Sims said. “I wanted to try to give something more to these kids. They need it.” As students become busier with academic classes, sports, arts and extracurriculars, dedicated time to learn life lessons tends to be forgotten. “I think this is something other coaches should do because it just shows that Coach [Sims] cares about us not just as a basketball team, but as individual people,” said sophomore Ryan Saqueton. Many students agree that coaches should also serve as mentors. In that spirit, Manly Mondays has become a bonding exercise between Sims and his players. “It’s something I’ve looked forward to from the very beginning,” Bulmash said. “I think a lot of my teammates do as well.” Sims and team members hope their experiences will encourage more coaches to introduce life lessons into their practices.
Such an investment in each player shows true commitment, Sims said. “I think each teacher on this campus gives something in their own special way,” Sims said. “For my program, I think it fits perfectly for my kids.” For Greenhill basketball players, a successful season on the court has become even more memorable because of their Manly Mondays experiences. “If there is one thing coaches can teach their athletes, it's how to become not only better athletes but better people,” said junior guard Davis Gutow. “I think every team at Greenhill and every team in the world should be doing it.”
Photos courtesy of Joe Monaco
WORK HARD, PLAY HARD: Seniors Grant Bulmash, top right, and Drake Muller, bottom, second from left, are leaders on the court and supporters of Coach Sims’ Manly Mondays.
Queens of the Court
Girls Varsity Basketball Team Wins SPC Championship Lane Herbert Sports Editor
Caroline Greenstone News Editor
W
ith less than half a second left, the Greenhill girls basketball team was up by three points in the Southwest Preparatory Conference championship game, but Episcopal School of Houston (EHS) had possession. The Hornet student section eagerly awaited the final buzzer. In a desperate attempt to tie the game, an EHS player took a three-point shot. The shot went in, but the referees ruled the buzzer had already sounded. The Greenhill cheering section erupted and students stormed the court. Hundreds of fans and players jumped up and down chanting, “SPC…SPC…SPC!!!” Varsity girls basketball had won the SPC title for the first time in six years, a triumphant end to a historic season. The final score in the Feb.16 game was 43-40. The championship team was led by captains Kionce Woods and Brook Webster. The final game was intense, as the momentum went back and forth long into the fourth quarter. However, after some clutch free throws and solid defense, the Hornets were victorious. “[It] was one of the most exciting things that has happened in high school,” said Lucy Sayah. “ We set our minds on this goal early in the season and worked tirelessly to achieve this goal, and it paid off.” The five starters—seniors Kaiti Ness,
Kionce Woods and Brooke Webster, junior Kati Gibson and sophomore Mia Ness—played the majority of the game. In their title run, the seniors led the team to an undefeated counter season. “Winning the championship meant the world to me,” said Ness. “ Our whole team is going to change next year, having five seniors on the team. I am so glad we got to do this one last amazing thing together.”
“
[It] was one of the most exciting things that has happened in high school. We set our minds on this goal early in the season and worked tirelessly to achieve this goal, and it paid off.”
The Hornets finished the 2019-2020 season with a 19-6 overall record. This included a 6-0 performance in regular season SPC counter action. Many members of the team came into the season with low expectations, but that quickly changed. Going into the conference tournament, the Greenhill girls were the top team in the North Zone. They went on to win every game at the tournament. “Being able to come out on top with low expectations from the beginning of the season really was the best feeling ever,” said Ness. “Winning SPC really is such a special feeling and I wouldn’t trade a single moment with any of my teammates for anything.”
Photos courtesy of Kati Gibson and Greenhill School
NET GAIN: Junior Kati Gibson, left, takes a shot while senior Brooke Webster, right, drives to the basket. The team savored their SPC win, top, with a celebratory photo.
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senior columns
The space between not-ani ordinary girl sonali notani managing editor
A
s a child, I knew my natural eyebrows made me look different, and that didn’t feel particularly good. Let’s just say middle school was not the best time for me. As I was exposed to media, I noticed how unibrows were depicted in an unfavorable light. Characters sporting unibrows were consigned to being either comical or evil. There were countless examples: the sea lion from “Finding Dory”, Maggie Simpson’s nemesis Gerald Samson and Francis Monogram from “Phineas and Ferb”. The list seemed never-ending. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how much my unibrow impacted my psyche. On one last day of school, I had a sleepover with my friends. We had just
received our yearbooks and as we did every year, we flipped to the student section. My friends joked around and drew on each other’s portraits with a Sharpie. Their way of defacing someone often involved joining their discrete brows into one. Although I knew rationally they were not making a statement about me, with each stroke of their pen, I felt they were completing my portrait. That month, I decided to go to the threading salon and remove those 30 persistent hairs. However, I still had a gnawing doubt in the back of my mind whether biweekly hair removal for the rest of my life was the ultimate key to my happiness. Over time, I began to see my unibrow in a new light. One of my pastimes was watching Bollywood movies with my mom. I was startled to see that the “beautiful” actresses had a very different look from those in Hollywood movies, and some even sported unibrows. I started to understand that beauty varies significantly between cultures, and even changes over time. This insight felt liberating — watching these movies brought home to me the psychological truth that our brains are
voracious association machines and are highly influenceable through cultural messaging. I realized that “unibrowedness” was not an affliction, but merely a characteristic that has a natural population variation. Additionally, I started to wonder why different cultures have different standards of beauty in the first place. It occurred to me that in both movie industries, those shown as beautiful just happened to match the preferences of the dominant cultural group. From an evolutionary standpoint, this made sense. I can see how the phrase “beautiful people” may have evolved to mean not physical beauty, but rather, according to Merriam-Webster, people who lead lives of “elegance and sumptuousness.” So, what did I end up doing? Oddly enough, I no longer feel compelled to get my unibrow removed, but I also no longer feel the need to rebel by not getting it removed. My newfound understanding and confidence have allowed me to exercise my choice in this matter. And this has given me the greatest satisfaction.
Rules to learning English: Their our none
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ultiple times a day, every day, I have to take a mental pause while figuring out what I’m saying. Why? you may ask. It’s because I need those precious extra seconds, the approximately five seconds that it takes to tie a shoe, to double check the pronunciation of a word. As some may know, English isn’t my first language, and growing up everyone has always made the effort to remind me that, as if I didn’t already know. Going back to my prime, aka Kindergarten through
1st grade, my mom used to sit outside my classroom because I didn’t know English while going to, believe it or not, an English school. Now, my mom was also still perfecting her new English skills, but, as they always say, two heads are better than one. Okay, maybe not when it comes to two Russian speakers trying to figure out how to learn English grammar. So we learned to take time, as all good things need. I learned that not taking those extra seconds caused me to mess up the simplest of things, then and now. Not taking those extra seconds in Lower School caused me to say to the teacher, in front of my class, ‘red hairy berry’ as I forgot to take the extra time to remember the word raspberry. But, this isn’t the end. Not taking those extra seconds still causes me to say herbs with a hard “H” or depot with a hard “T” while reading aloud or during sentences.
So over the years, I have learned to love those five seconds that I need before I speak to others. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still make plenty, and I mean plenty, of mistakes, even when it comes to words I thought I knew like the back of my hand. But now, I just laugh it off. I realize that the imperfections of my bilingualism are a part of me. They’ve shaped me into becoming the (somewhat) articulate student that I am. It’s helped me grow my confidence as a reader, writer and speaker. We live in a country that has a plethora (see articulate) of different cultures and backgrounds, and each and every mispronunciation or verbiage is a reminder of that. So next time instead of laughing or mocking someone for their imperfections, take five seconds and listen to what they are trying to say. Even if it is something as random as red hairy berry.
More words, more problems let’s just be riya-l riya rangdal managing editor
T
he first time I ever noticed my accent was in 3rd grade during extended day when I “mispronounced” the word onion. Right then and there, my extended day teacher (along with three other kids) proceeded to mimic my pronunciation mockingly and laugh in my face. That day, I went home and complained to my parents and I told them that they were the reason for my mispronunciations. However, it wasn’t just my accent—
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it was the way I learned to spell various words. Favorite for me is favourite, theater is theatre, gray is grey, and the list goes on. Constantly having my spelling corrected when I was younger almost made me forget the traditional English that my parents taught me and adopt the Americanized version of these words. I even learned to write my dates “day-month-year” (which apparently doesn’t make sense to anyone but me whenever it’s discussed). I felt different, and not in the good way. Just last year while studying for the ACT, a tutor who I asked for English help told me the reason I was missing the same types of questions was because “I grew up with Indian-immigrant parents who didn’t speak to me with common American phrases, rather the British English that they were taught in school.” You could say I didn’t ask for his help after that. Even though what he said was hurtful, it did hold some truth. The standardized editorials written and edited by students. The Evergreen welcomes letters and emails from readers. We reserve the right to edit submissions for accuracy, grammar and length.
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questions I missed were because they were conversational phrases I had never heard before. My parents never used those particular phrases, so I never understood those questions. But instead of being hindered by this revelation, I was able to attribute these “weaknesses” and turn them into my strengths. While my parents didn’t teach me niche English phrases, they did teach me three languages other than English. Moreover, I learned two more at school and three more by myself. Although I’m not fluent in each language, I’m proud to say that I wouldn’t have learned them without my parents’ help and the impact (good and bad) that language has had on me. Being a polyglot has allowed me to communicate with so many different people, especially those that don’t make fun of someone when something doesn’t “sound right”.
Corrections & Clarifications On page 11 of the Dec. 18, 2019 issue, an editing error resulted in a clipped ending in the “Dinner & A Movie” feature. The final sentences should read: My Trailer Park had fried chicken, green chiles, lettuce, pico de gallo and cheddar jack cheese with poblano sauce on a flour tortilla. Delicious, as always.
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friday, march 6, 2020
In memoriam
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Alec Reid Becker April 26, 2001 - Feb. 6, 2020 “Love like Alec.” In the aftermath of the Feb. 6 death of Alec Reid Becker ’19, those three words became the rallying cry for those who knew the Greenhill graduate best. Born on April 26, 2001, in Dallas, Alec was the son of Jeff and Shelley Becker and younger brother of Ryan, a 2017 Greenhill graduate. Alec entered Greenhill as a Pre-Kindergarten student. Over the next 14 years, he left an indelible mark. He was co-president of the Upper School Honor Council and captain of the swim team. He was a member of the Greenhill Singers. He managed the girls varsity softball team. He was a top student, earning the status of Commended Student in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program. “The Alec that I knew and hold in my memory: smiling, warm-hearted, empathetic, sincere, intelligent, diplomatic, encouraging, supportive, generous, great student and listener,” said Upper School science teacher Andrejs Krumins. What Alec excelled at best at Greenhill was friendship. “No words can describe how genuine he was and how authentic he was in every interaction he had,” said close friend Ross Rubin ’19. "I will never forget any of him. We were so intertwined in every possible way— I could never forget him without forgetting part of myself.” Last spring, as Alec prepared to graduate, he wrote on his Greenhill senior page: “Fourteen years is a long time to spend at a school, but I can’t picture myself spending those years anywhere else.” He also wrote: “All of you have given me the most blessed life.” Alec entered Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, late last summer. In some ways, he never really left Greenhill. In spirit, he never will. “Love like Alec.”
Remembrances "The first time I ever hung out with Alec, we walked to the Buzz to get some cookies. It was November during freshman year and I had already spent almost all of my money on random junk. My last dollars were spent on those cookies. As we walked out of the Buzz, the bag that held my cookies split open and they feel right onto the side walk…if you’ve ever seen Lilo & Stitch, it was like the guy who always loses his ice cream. Alec looked at the cookies on the floor, then looked at me, and without hesitation, gave me half of his. He didn’t really know me, he didn’t have to do that, but he did…because that was who he was. He would give you his last dollar, or chocolate chip cookie, and never think twice about it. What followed were many more cookies, and a friendship that I will always cherish. #LoveLikeAlec" -Jacob Shepherd '19 "When Alec walked into a room, it was as if suddenly everything got brighter. His kindness and genuine care for others brought beauty to this world and to our community. He was and always will be a role model and inspiration for everyone. He took the time out of his day every day to check up on others, to bring smiles and laughs, to spread happiness. His interactions with the world inside and outside the classroom were such a blessing to witness. Alec was beautiful inside and out. He taught us and showed us every day what it means to be a good human being, what it means to be yourself. He uplifted others, and brought so much joy wherever and with whomever. He will be missed every single day. I hope we all remember to love like Alec." -Veda Velamuri '20 For grief counseling support, please contact:
Journey of Hope Grief Support Center (972) 964-1600
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friday, march 6, 2020
Addison, Texas, has nearly 200 restaurants with only about 15,000 permanent residents— more restaurants per capita than any city in the United States. Our hungry Evergreen staff checked out some of the restaurants in our own backyard.
Blue Goose Cantina
Blue Goose Cantina’s salsa makes for a very strong start to an equally delicious meal. Start off with grilled chicken nachos or their specialty, the Blue Goose quesadillas, which are filled with chicken, mushrooms and spinach. The queso and guacamole aren’t bad choices either, but they don’t stand out like some of the other items on the menu. For your meal, you can’t really go wrong. Steak fajitas and brisket tacos are my go-to’s whenever I eat there. I’m not a huge fan of enchiladas, but I have heard that their sour cream enchiladas are very good as well. If you’re in the mood for something lighter, you can’t go wrong with a cup of tortilla soup or the fajita salad. If the weather is nice, you can enjoy your meal on the covered patio. Blue Goose Cantina just opened their eighth location, in Fort Worth, and is continuing to expand as Addisonians flock to enjoy some of their delicious Tex-Mex favorites. Reviewed by Hayden Jacobs
Hudson House
I went on a date with my parents to Hudson House, and I’m really glad I did. For starters, the shrimp cocktail and Hudson’s avocado dip were good. The cocktail lived up to expectations. The dip was a little creamier than I typically prefer, but the slices of avocado in the bowl made up for that. My main dish, the chicken parmesan, was as flavorful and flawless as ever; I’m a big chicken parmesan guy, and this is near the top of the list. Yes, I know I should be getting fish here, but I had no regrets at the end of the meal. My dad ordered the red fish, I tried it, and it was phenomenal. I recommend both the chicken parm and the red fish. You can’t go wrong with either. For dessert, I ordered a key lime pie to share with my mom. I shouldn’t make promises I can’t keep, though, as I ate the whole thing. I couldn’t stop myself because the pie was so unbelievably good. My consensus: If you’re feeling fancy for a night, go to Hudson House!
Reviewed by Jeffrey Harberg
Duck Donuts
While finding a donut place in Addison is not hard, Duck Donuts is something special. The first thing we noticed as we walked in the door was an intense aroma of fresh donuts, hot oil and lots and lots of sugar. Even though there was the option to choose a coating, topping and drizzle for our treats, the featured donuts caught our eyes. After an awkward amount of time staring at the customizable menu, we ordered the Beachball donut with rainbow sprinkles, a cinnamon sugar donut, a glazed donut, an Oreo donut called the Boardwalk and two coffees. We were surprised by how inexpensive it was in comparison to other fancy donut places. We paid $9 for four donuts and $4 for two coffees. Duck Donuts, which prides itself on being the fastest-growing donut shop in the U.S., makes all their donuts ready to be customized. After we finally decided, we watched like kids in a candy store as our donuts were impeccably decorated through the glass surrounding a counter of toppings and fresh donuts. Frankly, we would recommend even just the smell. From the fast service to the incredible taste, Duck Donuts exceeded our expectations. We all ordered different items and not only were each of them appealing but they were also delicious. The store is not that far from campus and definitely serves as a great option for dealing with the notorious pre-exam stress! DONUT miss out!
Reviewed by Caroline Greenstone, Sumana Kethu and Cameron Kettles
Cantina Laredo
Cantina Laredo's cozy vibe makes for the best stop when craving Mexican food. Sonali and I instantly dug into the chips and salsa verde before ordering our meals. I, craving enchiladas, decided on the chicken enchiladas while Sonali decided on the Tradicional Tacos. The service was exceptional and the food was delivered very quickly. Although Sonali's choice was an abrupt decision, she ended up enjoying the tacos. I, on the other hand, having always picked enchiladas at similar restaurants, was pleased with the outcome (the chicken was cooked per-fect-ly). Afterwards, we ordered the Mexican apple pie for dessert and enjoyed the table service and set-up for the dish. The pie arrived sizzling on a plate accompanied with brandy butter and cinnamon ice cream, which was the perfect end to our meal. We highly recommend Cantina Laredo and if you can't make it to the Addison location, they also have a Dallas restaurant.
Reviewed by Sonali Notani and Riya Rangdal
Zoli’s NY Pizza
Are you looking for a pizza place that’s only a four minute drive from Greenhill? Well, we have the place for you: Zoli’s NY Pizza in Addison! Zoli’s NY Pizza describes themselves as a sit-down, East Coast, Italian-inspired restaurant. The restaurant boasts a variety of unique pizzas and Italian dishes with adventurous toppings such as habanero honey, soppressata marmalade, jalapeños and a plethora of meats. When we walked in, we immediately noticed the industrial-yet-cozy feel of Zoli’s with brick walls, wooden ceilings, large windows and string lights. Scattered across the restaurant are paintings of Star Wars characters posing as celebrities or the subjects of famous paintings such as Michelangelo's “The Last Supper.” We were seated right in the center of the building and could see everything around us. We started off with a classic: Nuggz. These delectable appetizers are old-school fried mozzarella balls. Afterward, we ordered the “Spangler” pizza and a “Return of the Mac” meal. The pizza had the perfect combination of cheese and toppings and the mac-and-cheese was creamy with a garlic bread crust. We thoroughly enjoyed Zoli’s NY Pizza and recommend it to all of you Greenhill pizza lovers. Reviewed by Raag Venkat and Chloe Wetzler