Issuu

Volume 62, Issue 1

the

Evergreen

September 30, 2026

Recent Greenhill graduates confront competition and rejection in the professional world. Page 12

Everything Greenhill

Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

Taiwan Travels

AI Update

Lotta Lattes

Over the summer, three seniors spent weeks in Taiwan studying Mandarin, teaching and experiencing the local culture. Page 8

The Upper School has launched a more ambitious eﬀort to facilitate artificial intelligence use in the classroom. Page 14

Fall is approaching and pumpkin spice lattes are popping up at coﬀee shops. We tasted the drinks around Dallas, and here’s what we found. Page 21

Informing Greenhill since 1966

4141 Spring Valley Road, Addison, TX 75001

News

Miller Named Dean of Students

Nithya Rao

ew York City native Brandon Miller has assumed the role of Upper School dean of students to begin the 2026-27 school year. Miller, 35, comes to Greenhill most recently from Dallas Independent School District’s Franklin D. Roosevelt High School of Innovation in Oak Cliﬀ. He replaces George Heinrichs, who held the position for two years before returning to the Seattle area for family reasons. Miller says he first became interested in working with young people as a high school student in a summer job. “I grew up in New York City, Queens to be specific, and I’ve been working with kids since the age of 14,” Miller said. “Working with kids has been a reoccurring theme throughout my Brandon Miller life.” Miller majored in history at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, then proceeded to work at Urban Dove Charter School as dean of students from 2016-18 before serving as director of student experience at four high schools in New York and New Jersey. In New York, Miller later worked as dean of students at a small independent school called Léman Manhattan Preparatory School. By the time he moved to Dallas in 2024, Miller says he knew about Greenhill and had an interest in working at the school. In the meantime, he joined the staﬀ of Roosevelt High School in a position designated as “reset coordinator.” Miller says his job at Roosevelt required him to work directly with students who had disciplinary issues and were facing consequences. His role was to help these students reflect on their choices, resolve

conflicts, develop strategies for making better decisions and then successfully transition back into the classroom. Miller says his positive experience at Léman Manhattan Preparatory School eventually led him to apply for a job at Greenhill. “I loved the sense of community [at the New York City school], and I always told myself if I ever got the opportunity to work at another independent private school with a similar community, I would do it,” Miller said. With the departure of Heinrichs at the end of the 2025-26 school year, Greenhill’s search for a new Upper School dean of students got underway. Miller’s application caught the eye of Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester, and a preliminary phone interview was scheduled. “When we got off the call, I looked at [Upper School Dean of Student Life Kira] Rivera and I went, ‘OK, we should have been looking at this guy sooner,’” Worcester said. Worcester says Miller’s experience and clear interest in the job established Miller as a serious candidate. “It was such an energizing interview,” Worcester said. “He brings a sense of joy to things, and that came through in the interview.” As he has begun transitioning into the Upper School community, Miller says he has tried to emphasize the importance of connecting with others. “My vision is to lead by example,” Miller said. “I want to pour into the community and give 100% every day.” Students say he has made himself present and accessible around campus. “My biggest thing is I don’t want to be secluded to my office,” Miller said. “I’m very out and about. I like to see people.” In addition to his responsibilities as dean of students, Miller is also co-teaching a 10th-grade U.S. history class with Director of Academics Jason Yaffe. “Mr. Yaffe has been a great support for

Photo by Willa Oza

DEDICATED DEAN: New Dean of Students Brandon Miller co-teaches a sophomore U.S. history course while ensuring the enforcement of norms and rules on campus. me, and it’s really made the transition really easy,” Miller said. Being in the classroom gives him an opportunity to prepare students for the future, Miller said. “I would love to teach a life skills class – something that helps students prepare for life after high school,” he said. Students say Miller encourages them to genuinely explore historical concepts in the class. “He is very passionate and asks very insightful questions,” sophomore Aarav Mehta said. “He’s always challenging us to teach and think deeper.” Yaﬀe praised Miller’s presence in the classroom. “I think he’s curious and he brings very positive energy,” Yaﬀe said. “We are a team, and I’m taking the lead. Still, there are intentional parts of each lesson that he is taking the lead on, too.” In his primary role as dean of students, Miller is also central to corrective action for students who defy rules and norms. Like his

predecessor, Miller has also assumed oversight of the Upper School Honor Council. “I tell people no two days are ever the same, so I look at the handbook and draw upon my experiences as a student,” Miller said. “I look at the student as a whole, and many factors come into play before making a decision regarding consequences.” Miller wants students to improve from their mistakes, leaving the situation with a better understanding of right from wrong. “I think his approach is he tries to incorporate parallels of real-life scenarios,” Worcester said. “He wants to get the message across about why the thing that that student did was not within our community norms.” Miller says he is striving to model Greenhill values as he develops relationships with students and faculty. “I want to continue to uplift the student body, and I think the biggest thing for me is the mission, the vision and the core values,” Miller said. “We have that, but I think as an employee, we have to live it out.”

Oney Takes Over as E&I Director Kaitlyn Yoo

ntering Greenhill’s campus for his first day of work, Director of Equity and Inclusion Tai Oney noticed one main distinction: the peacocks. Now, the representative birds have taken over his oﬃce – at least metaphorically. “I think the peacock is really symbolic of the work in this oﬃce,” Oney said. “They can be a little messy at times, and no two feathers are exactly alike. There’s something beautiful about that and I think the same is true of this community.” But Greenhill’s individuality is not limited to its Tai Oney feathered icons, Oney says. Instead, Oney says his main attraction to the school came from its adherence to connection and development. The mission statement of preparing and inspiring students to lead “authentic, purposeful lives” especially resonated with Oney and his values. “When I came on campus, it seemed like a fantasy world almost,” Oney said. “There is just such a commitment to developing the whole student, and I’ve noticed that with all the people I’ve met.” But while the peacocks are new to him, Oney is no stranger to the equity and inclusion mission. Whether it’s teaching in public and private schools, or working for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Oney has long focused on inclusion and learning. “My work centered around helping

people feel connected, and like they belonged, as well as creating opportunities for people to contribute to the community,” Oney said. Although his shift from an orchestra to Greenhill has immersed him in a different form of community, Oney says the work overlaps in many ways. “In this work, we’re trying to support people and make sure they feel valued and able to contribute,” Oney said. “Whether that’s a musical community or a school community, many of those same principles still apply.” Formally, Oney’s work began with these educational spaces. Even earlier, though, Oney remembers finding passion as a child. “I’ve always been curious about people and their differences and what makes someone who they are,” Oney said. “So, my passion really comes from being open-minded, wanting to understand and celebrate those differences, and just connect with people.” He says he has noticed how these principles already exist in Greenhill’s traditions, helping to build community and a sense of belonging. Oney has taken a particular liking to the campus community activity known as Heart of the Hill. “The intergenerational component is something I have never been a part of, and I’m really excited to be a part of that,” Oney said. In addition, he says he looks forward to helping the Student Inclusion Council and campus affinity groups.

Council members say they are eager for a fresh perspective. “I’m excited to get to know someone new,” junior Samy Santosh said. “He has so many ideas about diﬀerent activities, and even through these first meetings, I can tell he cares so much.” While Oney has ideas for how he might introduce change at Greenhill, for the immediate future he is focused on observing existing campus institutions. “Before my arrival, there was already a community formed,” Oney said. “There are already traditions. There are already strong foundations. My first responsibility is to listen and learn; to understand what’s working, where there are opportunities to grow, and how I can support that work alongside the community.” In doing so, Oney has made a positive impact on the community, according to Upper School Interim Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Jenn Jarnagin. To ease Oney’s transition, former Director of Equity and Inclusion Monsie Munoz ’05 created a plan that included naming interim equity and inclusion coordinators for the Lower, Middle and Upper School divisions. Jarnagin has worked alongside Oney

and Associate Head of Middle School Derek Porter to develop equity and inclusion programming. “I think that we all have a similar kind of approach to the work,” Jarnagin said. “I think the way we like to conduct ourselves feels a little more relaxed, and we all just bring the same energy, which is nice.” Jarnagin also mentioned Oney’s willingness to learn about his new role, leaning on the coordinators for help. In addition to seeing Greenhill’s existing traditions, Oney says he wants to learn about each student and build relationships within the community. His favorite enticement: candy. “Everyone’s been coming in and introducing themselves, which is wonderful,” Oney said. “My door will always be open proverbially speaking and sometimes even literally. I want students to know they can stop by.” In navigating this new space, Oney says he strives to create an environment that every student feels comfortable in. And even in his early stages, Oney’s goals for Greenhill are not small. From supporting the Student Inclusion Council to helping ensure aﬃnity groups thrive, Oney says much of his work comes back to one idea: belonging. “Success for me would be students feeling that they’ve been heard, that they matter, and that they’ve had opportunities to contribute to this community,” Oney said. “I want students to be able to look back on their time at Greenhill and say, ‘I helped shape this place, and this place helped shape me.’ That’s the kind of belonging I hope we can continue building together.” Graphic by Victoria Gonchar

Ever Evergreen Cafeteria Transformation September 30, 2026

Aashi Punnam

fter introducing new cafeteria procedures at the start of the school year, Upper School administrators and SAGE Dining Services managers have made additional changes in response to student concerns about how the system was working. The original changes included introducing self-serve side dishes, greater use of the grab-and-go Crossroads serving window and separate hot meal and Crossroads lines. SAGE personnel also added an intermediate stop in the line to control how many students entered the serving area at one time. The new system initially led to long lines as students adjusted to the changes. Since then, SAGE reopened multiple Crossroads serving lines and changed the procedure so students can get both a hot meal and Crossroads during the same trip. “We were just looking at ways to streamline the process a little bit better, so that essentially Upper School [students] could get their food faster,” Greenhill Director of Auxiliary Programs and Logistics Crystal Dixon said.

System Changes The cafeteria’s current setup is the result of an ongoing partnership between Greenhill and SAGE Dining Services. School administrators monitor student traffic and communicate with SAGE management about concerns, while SAGE oversees the day-to-day operation of the dining hall. “We try to follow SAGE’s lead,” Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester said. “They’re the ones that are actually living in the space the whole day.” One major change this year was allowing students to serve themselves side dishes. Dixon says the change gives students more control over their portions and eliminates the need to wait for a SAGE employee to serve each portion. SAGE also added an intermediate stop in the line to improve visibility. Previously, part of the line was behind the West Dining Room wall, making it difficult for SAGE employees to see how many students were waiting. SAGE Dining Services General Manager Jeffrey Babb says the new stop allows employees to monitor the line and determine how much food needs to be prepared or replenished. The change also keeps more students inside the cafeteria while they wait, reducing outdoor lines during hot or rainy weather, according to Dixon. The Crossroads procedure also changed. At the beginning of the year, students had to choose either a hot meal or Crossroads. Students who wanted both had to sit down after receiving one option and return to the line for the other.

the

SAGE initially tested the either-or system but later returned to the previous procedure, which allows students to get both options during the same trip. Babb says the change gives students more flexibility and avoids making them decide before entering the line. “We felt going back to how it was last year just worked out better,” Babb said. “You can choose at the time that you’re there.” The Crossroads window, located on the northeast side of the cafeteria, was also incorporated more heavily into the lunch system to distribute students across diﬀerent serving areas. Worcester says the school and SAGE personnel adjust procedures when they identify problems rather than following a set schedule. “If we see something isn’t working really well, we talk about what we can change and how we can make it better,” Worcester said. “It’s a partnership.”

Student Response Students cited long lines as one of the cafeteria’s biggest problems at the start of the year. Changes to the line structure have since made it easier for students to move through the dining hall. Sophomore Abe Glazer says the new two-stop system has made the area around the salad bar less crowded and simpler to navigate. “I think it’s easier to get through now because the line is more controlled,” Glazer said. Students have had mixed reactions to the self-serve stations. Freshman Alana Mason says she likes having control over how much food she takes, while Glazer says the stations can sometimes add to wait times. For both students, however, the cafeteria experience has changed since the beginning of the year. Glazer says shorter wait times have helped address one of the main complaints that students had earlier in the year. “The lines have been moving faster lately, and I think that’s made students happier overall,” Glazer said. Students can share feedback through SAGE surveys, the SAGE app, conversations with SAGE and school employees and a suggestion board in the dining hall. Babb says his staﬀ uses that feedback to adjust menus and determine which meals students prefer. SAGE personnel also track what students take and leave behind. Babb says those patterns help staﬀ determine which dishes students are most likely to choose. Worcester encourages students to continue sharing concerns as the school and SAGE adjust the cafeteria system. “We want students to tell us what their experience was,” Worcester said. “If something isn’t working, we want to know why and where they’re coming from. We want to listen.”

News

Water Tower Tradition Class of 2027 seniors kicked off the school year on Aug. 17 by spray painting their names on Greenhill’s Water Tower. What began decades ago as an unofficial senior prank has now expanded into an official annual tradition that involves decorating T-shirts, cars and the Water Tower.

College Admission Kickoﬀs The Upper School’s college counselors held information sessions in Rose Hall for seniors and juniors on Aug. 24 and Aug. 31. The counselors briefed students on how to meet representatives from various colleges when they come to campus, how to utilize websites such as Common App and Maia Learning, and the next steps for college admissions.

Mini School Parents and guardians were invited to take a peek into their student’s day during Mini School sessions during the month of September. The annual event was held on Sept. 3 for Lower School, Sept. 17 for Middle School and Sept. 24 for Upper School. Participants followed their child’s schedule to meet their teachers and listen to a synopsis of the class. Teachers answered any questions and some conducted a short activity representative of the class’s material.

Greenhill Fall Classic The 40th annual Greenhill Fall Classic debate tournament took place on campus Sept. 18-21. More than 600 debaters from 22 states competed at the event. The tournament provided participants with national competition and the chance for students in the Policy and Lincoln-Douglas formats to qualify for the upcoming University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions in April 2027.

Luke’s Locker Relay Greenhill hosted the 41st annual Luke’s Locker Cross Country Relay at Norbuck Park on Aug. 29. The varsity boys team placed second in its division, while the girls team placed fifth.

PSAT The Upper School will be closed Oct. 9 to give sophomores and juniors the opportunity to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test on campus. The PSAT is the oﬃcial practice test for the Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT. For sophomores, it is a chance to gauge their test-taking ability in a low-pressure environment. The stakes are higher for juniors, as a student’s performance determines if they qualify for awards and scholarships through the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Founders Day

Photo by Lillian Smith

FOOD FLOW: Students move through the new two-line system in the Greenhill cafeteria, a setup designed by administrators and the SAGE Dining Staﬀ in hopes of reducing traﬃc and accelerating Upper School lunch lines.

Greenhill celebrated its 76th birthday on Sept. 11 with a school-wide assembly. Among the highlights of this year’s Founders Day assembly was the recognition of longtime Head of School Phil Foote, who died earlier this year. Members of Foote’s family attended the assembly and also participated in a celebration of Foote’s life and a fourth grade Q&A.

By Brooklyn Dean, Alia Gaitonde, Laura Zaballa

04 News

Evergreen Ever the

Upper School Adopts Six-Day Rotation Talia Sidikaro

long with new classmates and new faculty, Upper School students have encountered another change at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year: a new six-day schedule. In redesigning the previous eightday rotation, the goal of Upper School administrators was to establish a calendar that prioritized club, council and board meetings. In doing so, students are given more opportunities to foster community building, according to Head of Upper School Trevor Worcester. But the shift is also marked by a loss in time, removing two of the three designated Oﬃce Hour periods that previously existed. “I feel like there’s way less free time or time to do your homework because of the six-day system where there is only one day we don’t have advisory,” senior Dani Reiman said. In the old rotation, advisories met every other day during the morning free block on Green Day. Conversely, advisory and class meeting time is on four days of the rotation, an increase from past years. Worcester says he worked with the Upper School faculty to determine which components of the schedule should be

prioritized, particularly as advisory became a more frequent part of the cycle. “There were times where it felt like we were missing opportunities to get messages to [students], and advisory is one of the vehicles to do that,” Worcester said. For some students, this added advisory time is a significant loss, especially for those involved in numerous activities and leadership groups.

The shortened cycle and additional advisory periods leave students with one designated day for Oﬃce Hours. And even with the other Hornet blocks booked for councils, aﬃnity groups and other student initiatives, some groups – like Link Crew – no longer have a designated meeting time.

“I will have to wake up a few hours earlier just to get my work done before the school day starts because I know that I won’t have time to do it during school,” junior Aarav Nesargi said. However, to assist the many students involved in multiple groups, Worcester and Dean of Student Life Kira Rivera worked together to make sure that meetings were distributed across days. The six-day cycle also eliminates the Club III rotation, distributing those meetings across Club I and Club II days. As a result, students who participate in multiple clubs may have to choose between organizations that meet at the same time. Junior Samy Santosh says she loves how Greenhill oﬀers so many diverse clubs and struggles to participate in as many as she can. “It was already hard last year, since my club was at the same time as many other clubs I wanted to do,” Santosh said. “Now the schedule change makes it even harder to go to the number of clubs I want to.” Reiman says she is concerned with the number of students that might participate in her club this year because they will have to prioritize certain groups. However, some club leaders are glad

to meet more often so they can grow and engage their organization further. “I am excited to see all the people in the club more often so that more people can get interested in what we do,” Nesargi said. With just two club rotations, the ability to build a focused and dedicated group becomes easier, even if it yields a smaller roster, according to Nesargi. In addition to the diﬀering opinions on club rotations, Reiman says she worries the loss of free time will limit students’ ability to meet with teachers. Furthermore, students who recognize their packed schedules might be dissuaded from joining new opportunities. “I think it discourages kids from applying for leadership roles because they’re not going to have as much free time in their schedule,” Reiman said. “It creates additional work on top of having a tight schedule.” But in the view of Upper School administrators, the benefits of the new schedule outweigh Trevor Worcester any downsides. While the new cycle may not benefit each student individually, it gives Upper School students more dedicated time to bond, fostering school spirit and a sense of community, according to Worcester. “I’m hoping that through the frequency of assemblies, advisory and class meetings, community-building pieces will be a strength to this schedule,” Worcester said.

Jordan Arbuckle

board or council member will attend every meeting. Faculty sponsors from each organization select two student representatives to go to every meeting. The representatives will present what their group has worked on, answer questions and brainstorm solutions when problems arise. “I’m excited to bring up any issues we have and have the other leaders be able to help us problem solve,” said junior Rehan Menon, a member of the Honor Council. After every group presents and collaborates, the group will shift focus to planning events for the Upper School. These might include fun activities to do on the last school day before winter break and the endof-year Student Leadership Conference. Through these brainstorming sessions, the Student Council Executive Board will be able to incorporate more student opinions into its work as it implements changes and events throughout the year. “I think it’s good to work with people who you don’t usually work with,” said senior Paylin Barnes, the Student Council Executive Board president. “It’s good to be able to share ideas and deliberate.” The overall purpose of the Student Council and Boards Congress is to amplify student opinions and create unity among previously separated leadership programs, according to Rivera. “Our school is big and we have a lot of diverse interests, and so we need to have as many voices be part of those conversations as possible,” Rivera said.

Graphic by Anjali Blewett

Student Congress Creates Connection

he new Student Council and Boards Congress is bringing together Upper School students from various leadership groups to learn from one another’s experiences, plan activities and provide leaders with more perspectives before making decisions. Upper School Dean of Student Life Kira Rivera says she wanted to create a space where a wider range of student perspectives could be heard than was the case when she arrived at Greenhill in 2024. The need for a diversity of voices was also showcased last spring when all three candidates for the Student Council Executive Board ran unopposed, leaving Upper School students with no option on who to elect. Now, in 2026, Rivera is making her vision a reality. “Student Council does an incredible job leading things like Homecoming, dances and grade-level events,” Rivera said. “Congress exists so our boards and councils aren’t operating in silos and so they can support each other’s work while having a real hand in planning schoolwide events. The goal is for students to have a bigger voice in shaping the events that aﬀect them.” The Student Council, Honor Council, Student Inclusion Council and all five student boards are participating in the congress, which held its first meeting on Aug. 26. Rivera and the Student Council Executive Board run congress sessions twice a semester during Hornet Block. However, not every student

Middle School

Middle School Musical Nears Premiere Evan Huang

he Middle School’s production of “Alice in Wonderland Jr.” will open on Oct. 7, a change from the previous February performance. This shift comes alongside an alternate timetable, based on a trimester of preparation rather than the typical semester. “The schedule change and time of year will hopefully allow us to have more participation, less conflicts and less obstacles in the process,” said Middle School dance teacher Gypsy Ingram, who is also a director and choreographer of the musical. As a result, preparation for the musical started much earlier this year, with cast members learning their lines and dances and the crew organizing the production. Gypsy Ingram The trimester-based schedule also shortens the overall preparation time. Ingram says she feels optimistic about the time constraints, as students are working more eﬃciently during rehearsal.

The schedule change and time of year will hopefully allow us to have more participation, less conflicts and less obstacles in the process.”

“I think that sense of ‘we have five weeks to put a show together’ has really made them focus in a way that we haven’t seen before,” Ingram said. Students working on the production also say they like the new schedule. “I think that it’s good to have the Middle School musical structured more like the Upper School musical,” said freshman Addy Kloeber, the

production stage manager. “It gets the kids who want to perform in the Upper School musical ready and introduced to that schedule.” Sixth grader Hannah Hager, who is playing Alice, also views the schedule shift positively.

I think that sense of ‘we have five weeks to put a show together’ has really made them focus in a way that we haven’t seen before.”

“It’s teaching us critical thinking and to learn and that we need to be on top of our work,” Hager said. The core aspects of preparation will remain functionally the same, with after-school rehearsals and the climactic “Tech Week” to practice full-length runs of the show. But instead of these moments occurring in January, they’re happening now. The new dates also minimize scheduling conflicts that normally prevent students from participating in the production. Ingram says that in addition to helping students develop theater skills, working on the musical also promotes life-long traits. Kloeber echoes this sentiment. “It’s given me more confidence in myself, and I’ve been able to work better with others,” Kloeber said. Hager says the musical, with its significant time demands, has helped her organize her schedule. “Before, I wasn’t really good at

time management,” Hager said. “After a couple of weeks in the musical, I’ve become a lot better.” Eighth grader Lou Heeringa, who was cast as Alice’s sister, says that working on the musical has helped her socialize with others and become a better public speaker. “It’s a really good community,” Heeringa said. “Everybody is really kind and supportive, and they really just like to bring each other up.” Ingram says she has seen a notable increase in teamwork skills while teaching the students choreography. “They cheer for each other,

celebrate each other, and they’re starting to hold each other accountable,” Ingram said. “When somebody messes up, they step up, and I think that’s a really cool thing to watch happen this early in the process.” With preparation for the musical nearing a peak, cast and crew members say they are eager to share their work with the Greenhill community. “I’m excited to step into a larger role with more leadership and really try my strength in technical theater,” Kloeber said. Graphics by Victoria Gonchar

Fifth Graders Ease Into Laptop Use Elena Kramer

reenhill fifth graders are receiving their schoolissued laptops in October, several weeks later than past years. This change was conceived to create a smoother transition into Middle School, administrators said. Instead of picking up laptops before the first day of school and immediately starting online assignments, fifth graders this year have spent their first weeks of Middle School learning routines, locating their classes and building healthy study habits. “The adjustment to Middle School has been good so far,” fifth grader Layla Kirksey said. “There has been a lot of new stuﬀ that has taken time to get used to but a lot of new fun things too.” Prior to students receiving laptops on Oct. 19, Middle School is hosting the first Parent Technolog y Night on Oct. 14 to introduce families to the tools and expectations around laptop use. The programming is being planned and executed by the fifthgrade team along with Assistant Director of Design and Innovation Don Myers, Educational Technologist Lane Worrall and Head of Middle School Susan Palmer. The goal of the parent technology night is to help families navigate their child’s newfound device access. “We are going to share what rules and procedures we have at school regarding the devices and what the monitoring

platforms are, how to find helpful resources on MyGreenhill and what platforms fifth graders will be expected to use and advice on how to set boundaries and expectations at home,” said Fifth Grade Team Leader Rachel Ainsworth. In Lower School, students used iPads only when teachers gave them out from locked cabinets. In the past, moving from that controlled environment to an unlimited one beginning in fifth grade was overwhelming for students, Palmer says. “The change to computers will definitely feel really new, but I have Susan Palmer used iPads in the past so it will not be too hard,” fifth grader Dub Harkey said. Palmer also says that the expectation for students to complete assignments on MyGreenhill right when school began caused confusion. “It was a cognitive overload,” Palmer said. “We heard that. We heard it from families, and we heard it from our own teachers, who felt they spent so much time on the monitoring end.” Teachers noticed that during the school day laptops were frequently distracting students from their lessons and schoolwork, according to Palmer. Most noticeably, the uncontrolled nature of websites and online games tempted students to put oﬀ work. “You’re in Oﬃce Hours and you’re supposed to be doing math, but instead, this device is calling you to play a game,” Palmer said. This issue caused Palmer and the fifth-grade team to suggest integrating technology use into the curriculum in a more measured way.

During the first weeks, fifth graders have worked primarily with paper, pencils and books. Fifth grader Alessandra Browne-Nichols says that she doesn’t find laptop-free classes challenging because all her classes in the past have been mostly on paper. “Since I mostly used no technology in Lower School, Middle School has been similar so far,” Browne-Nichols said. Ainsworth says she has also seen positive results from this change. “Delaying laptops has given us more time to set these good habits, such as how to utilize Oﬃce Hours eﬀectively and how to use the planner to manage time before learning how to manage laptops,” Ainsworth said. “There is a lot to learn at the start of Middle School, and delaying laptops has helped us not overwhelm our students.”

It was cognitive overload. We heard that. We heard it from families, and we heard it from our own teachers, who felt they spent so much time on the monitoring end.”

Once students receive their laptops on Oct. 19, teachers will begin to integrate technology into class, but in a very controlled way. “Teachers will gradually fold in structured activities, but in Middle School, you have to be invited to open your laptop,” Palmer said. Skills like digital notetaking, navigating MyGreenhill and emailing will also be worked into the curriculum over the first weeks of laptop ownership. Even though students will receive laptops later than usual, fifth graders are excited and anticipating the new change. For many students experiencing personal technology for the first time, this anticipated freedom makes them feel older and more excited for the future, fifth grader Mari Wettreich said. “I am very excited to finally get my laptop,” Wettreich said. “I have never gotten to take a device home before.” Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

Features

Football and Cheer

Lillian Smith

As the fall sports season enters full swing, Greenhill football players and cheerleaders are busy training to perform their best on game day. Balancing a full course load and athletics isn’t easy, but senior cheerleading captain Neve Felder and senior football captain Alex Meyer navigate their busy schedules by flying through schoolwork and making halftime adjustments in a typical day.

Neve Felder

Alex Meyer 5:45 A.M. 5:00 A.M.

I wake up at 5:45 a.m., and I get ready for practice. My sister is also on the cheer team, and we leave our house on time so we get to practice a little early.

6:30 A.M.

I wake up at 5 a.m. to one of my four alarms because it’s hard to wake up at that time. Once I get out of bed, I usually take a cold shower for 30 seconds to wake me up.

5:35 A.M.

We roll out the mats, and then we start working on the routine we’re performing on Friday. We will work on fixes to our current routine, or sometimes we’ll learn a new routine. We also go over cheers and chants to make sure everyone knows them. Lastly, we’ll run through stunts, tumbling and jumps.

Sometimes, I’ll eat a protein bar and then I leave my house after getting dressed and packing my bags. Then, I pick up my freshman teammate, Grant Staub, and I drive him and myself to practice.

8:00 A.M. We end around 8 a.m., and I will get ready for the day. Then, I go to Starbucks for breakfast with [seniors] Sonia [Brown] and Lucy [Kim]. I usually get a Strawberry Acai Lemonade Refresher and a plain bagel with cream cheese.

5:55 A.M. I arrive at practice around 5:55 a.m. We usually start with warmups then we will either do oﬀense or defense first, and then we’ll do an individual period, a team run period, a team pass period [and] finish with a full team period where we’ll scrimmage 11 on 11. Sometimes, we will even work in a short lift around 8 a.m.

8:50 A.M. 8:15 A.M.

A Block is my free period, and I usually sit in the locker room to get all my work done. Recently, it has been a lot of schoolwork and college supplementals. Sometimes, I will meet with my teachers too.

After practice everyone heads to the locker room. We all have to fight to get a shower, but afterward I’ll change and eat breakfast burritos.

B Block I have Advanced Placement Calculus AB. I have [Upper School math teacher Hsi Hou] Bjurstrom, and my friends [seniors] Brielle [Kommer] and Vishaal [Gaitonde] are also in that class. Right now, we are working on limits.

I start my day with Advanced Placement Physics 1. I’m the only senior in that class because everyone else is a freshman. Next, I have Modern Fiction with [Upper School English teacher Alvaro Cantu ’99]. Right now, we are reading “Batman: Year One,” which is a comic book.

10:20 A.M.

11:50 A.M.

8:50 A.M.

11:50 A.M.

Then, I go to Honors Photography with Alex [Meyer]. Recently, we have been going over our photos from the summer and working on them. My favorite thing we do in that class is chemical processes, specifically cyanotypes.

Then, I go to Honors Photography. My favorite thing we do in that class is going into the dark room and working with the chemicals, experimenting and creating new images. It’s really cool how Greenhill has a dark room.

1:10 P.M.

I walk to lunch with [junior Natalie Davidoﬀ ], and then I get food from the cafeteria. My friends and I sit outside at the picnic table right outside the main door. We’ve sat at that same table during lunch for the past few years.

1:10 P.M.

1:50 P.M.

2:35 P.M.

For Hornet Block, I usually just sit in the locker room and talk to my friends. Recently [senior] Dario [Dixit] and I have been doing a crossword every day. Sometimes, we’ll have a class meeting or assembly, but if not, I’ll usually just hang out.

I have AP Literature during D Block with [Upper School English teacher] Joel Garza. My friend [Kommer] is also in that class. We have been going through our intro to literature book, and we’ve been talking about characterization, narration, setting and other things like that.

1:50 P.M.

At lunch, I will usually grab my food then head to an oﬀense or defensive meeting. Depending on the day, it will either be in [Assistant Coach Bobby] Vadnais’ room or the athletic building. We eat our food while watching film and going over the game plan for Friday’s game.

During Hornet Block, I will deal with my [senior class] vice president duties. That can look like having a Student Council meeting or leading a senior class meeting. In general, though, I don’t have many obligations during that time, so I will hang out in the [junior and senior] locker room.

2:35 P.M. I will head to AP Statistics with [Upper School math teacher Jason] Zuﬀranieri. We learn about numbers.

4:00 P.M. 4:00 P.M.

After school, I will go home and start my homework. I am taking AP Microeconomics using the [Global Online Academy], and that has been a lot of work. Sometimes, I will also have college counseling, so I will call my personal college counselor.

6:00 P.M. My family always has dinner together. My favorite meal that we have is “brinner,” which is breakfast for dinner. That usually includes eggs and pancakes or waﬄes. Sometimes my parents will make it or sometimes I will.

8:00 P.M.

After dinner, I will call my friends from out of town. Sometimes, I call my boyfriend, too. Other than that, I do more schoolwork and just try to finish up everything. I also use this time to talk to my parents, which recently has been about a lot of college stuﬀ.

10:00 P.M.

I get into bed around 10 p.m. and I like to read for a little. Recently, I have been reading the “Maze Runner” series. It’s my favorite thing right now. Then, I go to bed!

Since we get our lifts done in the morning, I can head home at 4 p.m. Some days, though, I will stay for some of my classmates’ games.

6:00 P.M.

I try to get all my homework done before dinner. My mom or stepmom will usually make food. I have a lot of beef and rice usually. It’s my favorite.

8:30 P.M. I’ll then finish my homework and then hop on FaceTime with my friends. Finally, I go to bed around 8:30 p.m. and do it again the next morning. Graphics by Lylah Pouratian and Kaitlyn Yoo

Evergreen Ever the

September 30, 2026

Features

Students Intern for Greenhill Advancement Oﬃce Khushi Punnam

onor calls, handwritten thank-you notes and lunches with Greenhill community members may not sound like a typical summer for high school seniors. But for four Greenhill students, this was their daily routine from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Paylin Barnes, Ray Guo, Eliza Hark and Brielle Kommer each applied for the Advancement Oﬃce’s internship with hopes of seeing a new side of the school. And that is exactly what happened. “There are so many decisions happening behind the scenes that students might not understand but are so important to keep the school running,” Hark said. The interns spent June 1-July 23 working with Director of Annual Giving and Major Gifts Robert Clements. Their primary duties involved fundraising for the Greenhill Fund, the annual giving program that supports everyday school operational expenses. In previous years, interns have helped

raise money for projects that have included the Middle School garden, the new Athletic Performance Center and the What’s NEXT Pitch Event. This year’s interns primarily worked to renew alumni and parent support for the Greenhill Fund.

There are so many decisions happening behind the scenes that students might not understand but are so important to keep the school running.”

Specifically, their work involved raising the extra funding needed to cover the shortfall between student tuition and the school’s operational costs. Accordingly, they contacted alumni and parents, seeking donations, thanking previous donors and strengthening relationships. Clements says work like this was

Photo courtesy of Greenhill Communications

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS: Seniors, left to right, Ray Guo, Eliza Hark, Brielle Kommer and Paylin Barnes interned at Greenhill’s Advancement Oﬃce during the summer.

exactly his goal in developing the internship four years ago. In doing so, students have been able to experience work outside the classroom, much like he wished to do as a child. “I really wanted to be a grown up, work and feel like what I was doing mattered and was doing something real,” Clements said. But the internship isn’t open to just anyone. Instead, students underwent a lengthy application process. Applications began in January and required students to describe their relevant experiences, interest in the position and future plans. After this, the applicants had to engage in an interview with Clements. For Kommer, the journey began even Brielle Kommer before January. She learned about the opportunity through a meeting with her college counselor, who encouraged her to apply. “A lot of my extracurriculars align with what I would have been doing in the oﬃce,” Kommer said. “I interned at [Jewish Family Service of Dallas], where I was a marketing and events intern, so I did some similar things.” This prior experience allowed her to hit the ground running when the internship began shortly after her acceptance. Once underway, the interns’ days quickly fell into a consistent schedule. Mornings often started with writing donor letters and making phone calls, followed by lunch meetings. Some of these meetings, called Lunch and Learns, involved forming connections with administrators, trustees, parent volunteers and committee chairs. For Kommer, those networking meetings became one of the most valuable parts of the experience. “I personally really liked the Lunch and Learns,” Kommer said. “I also think it was good to hear about their jobs, see their experiences and possibly see what other

pathways we’d be interested in.” Barnes also found importance in making connections and learning about how to communicate with alumni and donors. “It was a lot of emails, not just asking for money, but building a connection with these people, finding common ground,” Barnes said. The interns also wrote thank-you notes to faculty members, helped create social media content, proofread The Hill magazine and visited the Episcopal School of Dallas to compare its operations with Greenhill’s. The ESD visit offered the interns a broader perspective on advancement work, according to Clements. “You get to see what a peer school is like, what they do differently than us, how they’re similar to us, and then also what their fundraising staff looks like,” Clements said. Barnes and Guo echoed this sentiment, saying the experience led them to new passions. While Guo reinforced his business interest, Barnes says she became more interested in business-related careers. Reflecting on the interns, Clements says he was particularly impressed by how quickly the students adapted to the work. “They were all very confident and unafraid, and just dove in,” Clements said. While the four entered the Advancement Office with different goals, Clements says their collective ability to show initiative made the group stand out. Reflecting on her experience, Barnes says she has taken away an important life skill.

They were all very confident and unafraid, and just dove in.”

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the importance of building relationships with people, because I think that’s a skill you take anywhere and that was the biggest thing because everything we did was about that,” Barnes said.

Evergreen Comic

Illustration by Lylah Pouratian

08 Features

Evergreen Ever the

Students Spend Summer in Taiwan Ela Battikhi, Cindy Chou

enior Valentina Rojas and some friends were wandering through the streets of Taipei one night last summer when a curious street vendor outside a temple summoned them with a gesture. The vendor asked in broken English what had brought them to Taiwan. Rojas answered in Mandarin, using the language lessons she had spent the summer learning, and a friendship was born. She and the vendor kept in touch until she departed Taiwan several days later, one of many fond memories for Rojas in a fulfilling summer enrichment experience. Moments like this are treasured memories for Rojas and Greenhill seniors Vivian White and Natalia Serrano, each of whom spent part of the summer in Taiwan with language and cultural immersion programs. White and Serrano taught English through the English Teaching Volunteer Service Program for four weeks, sponsored by the Overseas Community Aﬀairs Council of Taiwan. Rojas spent seven weeks taking classes Petra Lynch in Taiwan under a U.S. State Department scholarship. All three were the first Greenhill students to participate in their programs, a result of Upper School Chinese teacher Petra Lynch’s encouragement. “I think this is a very motivated group,” Lynch said. “We are starting to build a culture that wants to step out of the classroom.”

Teaching English White and Serrano spent their first week at Taipei Medical University training to teach English to Taiwanese students. They

learned through guest lecturers and English teachers how to create lesson plans, manage a classroom and engage students with varying levels of proficiency. In the following two weeks, they put that training into practice. Both seniors traveled to separate schools in Hsinchu County alongside fellow student volunteers from various countries. White taught a class of nine seventh and eighth graders. One of her first challenges was encouraging students to participate. “Taiwanese students and children are very shy, and a lot of times they don’t like to participate,” White said. “They don’t like to answer questions or raise their hands or play games or things like that, and that’s a lot of what they [faculty sponsors] were warning us about in the training week.” To encourage speaking in class, White and her fellow student-teachers used games and relied on more outgoing students to set an example for their classmates. For Serrano, teaching meant finding ways to make lessons more engaging than simply memorizing English vocabulary. To do this, she utilized interactive lesson plans, such as playing English music and trying to keep the classroom an English-only environment. “You can’t just teach them vocabulary,” Serrano said. “You have to have activities and things for them to do.” By the end of their camps, both volunteers began seeing improvements from their students. Serrano’s students spent the program learning “Let It Go” from “Frozen” before performing the song at a talent show at the camp finale. “Seeing them be able to do something that they couldn’t do at the beginning was really impactful,” Serrano said. For White, some of the most fulfilling moments came from hearing a student correctly form a sentence in English after struggling with it. “It was literally the most rewarding thing ever,” White said. “I could see what I was doing playing into

Photo courtesy of Vivian White

ACROSS CULTURES: Senior Vivian White, center, celebrates her last day teaching English in Taiwan with her seventh- and eighth-grade students and co-teachers. action and actually working.” White also formed connections with her students outside the English lessons. After discovering two students shared an interest in basketball, she showed them photos from a Dallas Mavericks game and a Greenhill boys basketball video. In return, the students gave White their NBA basketball cards. “They wanted me to have a little piece of them to take back home, which was really sweet,” White said. White and Serrano weren’t just teachers, though. Both seniors say their Chinese improved significantly through the immersive environment. Initially, Serrano said communicating with native speakers was intimidating, as conversations were faster than she was used. “I would kind of be scared sometimes to speak,” Serrano said, “But then at one point, I was like, ‘I think it’s better to try than to not try at all.’” The program concluded with a weeklong trip through Taiwan. Serrano and White spent the time visiting temples, night markets, museums and other cultural sights. “It’s such a unique experience that you can’t really get anywhere else,” White said. “Being there also made me really want to continue studying Chinese and eventually travel back.”

Immersed in Mandarin

Photo courtesy of Vivian White

TAIWAN TRAVELERS: Seniors Vivian White, left, and Natalia Serrano explore local shops at Sun Moon Lake during their program-sanctioned tour of Taiwan.

Interested in the intersection between language and law, Rojas says she jumped at the opportunity when Lynch introduced the prospect of a Taiwan immersion program. The National Security Language Initiative for Youth, a fully funded U.S. State Department program, sends students to study critical-need languages, like Mandarin, Arabic, Russian and Korean. After being selected, Rojas traveled to Taiwan, spending seven weeks learning at National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu. Here, she attended a seminar led by Taiwanese Foreign Affairs officials and met with local government officials. Her daily schedule consisted of four classes, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The respective courses covered grammar, vocabulary, oral practice and Taiwanese culture. All classes were taught in Mandarin. Rojas tracked her progress through daily quizzes, weekly tests and topic presentations. “It’s definitely true immersion, which sounds scary, but it really isn’t because they guide you into it,” Rojas said. Rojas also spent the weekdays in residential dorms and lived with a host mom who only spoke Mandarin on the weekends. Aside from academics, Rojas was paired with a Taiwanese university student to experience moments like shopping, eating dinner and karaoke. To this day, they still

keep in touch. Moments like conversing with her host mom or interacting with Uber drivers helped sharpen her skills, according to Rojas. “Really just listening and being able to comprehend everything they said, even little idioms and things like that made me realize, ‘Oh, shoot, I actually got better,’” Rojas said. Rojas also participated in the Freedom 250 initiative within the program, which connected her to Taiwanese high school students at a neighboring school. “We visited their high school and hung out a lot after school as well,” Rojas said. “All of these interactions were mostly held in Chinese also, though most of them did already know English.” Living in an environment where she couldn’t rely entirely on English changed how Rojas approached Mandarin. “I think I became more open-minded to making mistakes because you have no choice when you’re in another country,” Rojas said. “I really just wanted to get better.” Following her to America, the program assessed Chinese improvement through benchmark tests. Her last assessment focused on oral proficiency, where Rojas was interviewed and had to respond in Chinese. “I did feel like compared to before I left, the interview went a lot smoother,” Rojas said. “I know a lot of people that have gotten the results back, and they improved by two to three language levels.”

Looking Ahead The student’s experiences represent a larger goal for Greenhill’s Chinese program. “Language is just a bridge,” Lynch said. “That is always my vision, to bridge between two cultures.” Since the students returned, Lynch says she has noticed greater confidence in the way they use Chinese. Their conversations have become more natural after spending weeks abroad, she said. The experiences also gave the students a new perspective to bring back to their Chinese classroom. “I had the opportunity to participate in a Dragon Boat Race which was a part of the cultural unit we studied in class,” White said. “It was so surreal to witness the culture I had learned through flashcards, and even cooler to be able to engage with it.” Since these seniors were the first Greenhill students to participate in their programs, Lynch hopes it will push more to pursue similar opportunities. “I think it will definitely encourage other students to participate,” Lynch said. “I want them to share not just the good things, but also the challenges they had and what they gained from it.”

Evergreen Ever the

September 30, 2026

Features

Senior Editors Take on the Circus Evergreen Senior Editors

o swing into the new school year, the Evergreen senior editors decided to ditch the journalism world and run away to the circus. So, over the long Labor Day weekend, we booked a beginner’s flying trapeze class at Dallas Circus Center and learned how to soar through the sky. After safety instructions, groundwork training and an example from our instructor, we climbed the steep ladder and leaped oﬀ the ledge – secured by safety harnesses, of course. Each round our skills progressed. First, a simple swing, then to an upside-down knee hang, to a backflip and finally a catchand-release trick with one of our instructors. It was an unforgettable night for all of us. What follows is a snapshot of our experiences.

Victoria Going into the trapeze class, I was honestly very scared. My nerves were further agitated when our instructor told us we would be attempting a backflip by the end of class. Even though this was fully optional, my brain went into fight or flight mode, and I immediately started thinking of excuses to get out of it. However, once I got in the air, I felt fearless. Jordan also told me I “looked very coordinated up there,” which further fueled my ego. In the spur of the moment, I decided to attempt the flip, and I feel like I executed it fairly well for my limited athletic abilities. I was sore for the next three days though.

Vivian I knew I had made a mistake by being overly friendly with our instructor when he asked who wanted to climb up the 30foot ladder and take the first jump, and his

eyes darted toward me. His enticement and everyone else’s fright led me up without the liberty of watching others go before me. I was terrified, but I had to keep a brave face to make sure everyone wouldn’t chicken out after me. After some initial hesitation, I jumped oﬀ the ledge and completed my first swing. It was actually super fun. As we progressed throughout our lesson, I successfully did a knee hang and a back flip. However, I paid the price the next few days. I was so sore, I couldn’t even laugh. Who knew the circus was such a workout!

Jordan The very first thing I did when I heard we were going to be attempting trapeze was ask what it was, because surely the Cirque du Soleil activity which first popped into my head would not remotely be the same acrobatic insanity we would try to attempt. To my misfortune, I was wrong. I pulled up to the tent-like structure late, and to my dismay, missed most of the instructions and safety procedures. However, the encouraging instructors and my confidence in the legal system, in case I seriously injured myself, led me to overcome my hesitations. I am beyond glad I did. The addicting adrenaline which caused butterflies in my stomach made me want to go again and again. On my last attempt, I tried a catch – a stunt where the instructor caught me while I was flying through the air by hanging upside down. I can safely say the bruises on the back of my knees were well worth it!

Aanya As I walked through the doors of the Dallas Circus Center, I was equally excited to finally live out my “Greatest Showman” dreams and terrified I might fall to my death. The center was intimidating, filled with people eﬀortlessly twirling down from aerial

Photo by Vivian White

LEAP OF FAITH: Senior Aanya Bhoria steps outside of her comfort zone, committing to acrobatic activities with encouragement from fellow Evergreen staﬀ members.

Photo courtesy of Lillian Smith

FLIPPING AND FLYING: Senior staﬀ took a break from many days (and nights) of editing and writing to learn trapeze stunts and routines at the Dallas Circus Center. silks and a giant trapeze set-up towering over the room. I was still questioning my choices while I climbed the impossibly long ladder to the platform, but once I gathered the courage to jump, I actually had fun! The amazing coaches made the environment feel supportive, and although I was sore for days after, I am so glad I got to try this unique activity!

nature. It was enjoyable. If you put my fear of heights aside, along with my general stress over the safety hazards of trapeze, I could even say I had fun. Though, if you asked me to go again, I probably wouldn’t, still incredibly scared of the infamous ladder.

Lylah Our visit to the Dallas Circus Center began with a disclaimer to my fellow senior editors: I am the least graceful person ever. This was proven on the trapeze. Climbing the ladder was terrifying (I am scared of heights) and at the top was a tiny platform. All I could think was, “Don’t look down, DON’T look down.” Then my horrible sense of balance took over. Instead of jumping oﬀ the platform normally, I jumped oﬀ with one leg and started swinging sideways. When our instructor said, “jump,” it took me four seconds to process his words. I eventually landed in a backward roll.

I spent a good half of my summer extremely unemployed, and to fill time, I found some interesting things to do around Dallas. Unfortunately, the summer ended before I could take a trapeze lesson, but when the editors-in-chiefs approached me for ideas for our senior staﬀ outing, I knew exactly what to choose. The only other time I swung on a trapeze was into a pool at summer camp, so I was a little nervous going into the lesson. Still, my experience at the Dallas Circus Center’s trapeze class was nothing short of amazing. The instructors were extremely friendly, and the trapeze was exhilarating. In the end, I had a fantastic time, but admittedly, I was very sore the next day.

Kaitlyn

Aftermath

In all honesty, I walked into the trapeze class with dread in my eyes. The night before, I had even texted Aanya begging her to skip it with me. In hindsight, that would have been an idiotic decision. On my first attempt, I felt a jolt of excitement swinging back and forth, especially with the staﬀ praising my perfect form. I was even more elated to try each advancement, all culminating with a backflip oﬀ the trapeze, my personal favorite trick. But I was most pleased with my ability to complete each task, succumbing to my extremely competitive

After flipping up an appetite, we went to the Original Pancake House for brunch. We shared our experiences over some homestyle pancakes and breakfast delights. The next day, our circus endeavors showed us who was boss when we struggled to get out of bed. However, our sore abdomens and triceps did not taint our experience. Thank you Dallas Circus Center for your patience, but more importantly for a once in a lifetime experience!

Lillian

Arts

Evergreen Ever the

“Les Misérables” on Campus Anvitha Sagi

pper School theater students and faculty are deep into preparations for the Nov. 19 premiere of the fall musical, “Les Misérables,” the popular French opera based on the classic 19thcentury Victor Huge novel. The opera tells the story of impoverished Frenchman Jean Valjean’s quest for redemption after being unjustly imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. Throughout the past two musicals, fall productions focused on light-hearted stories. “Les Misérables” provides a contrasting tone by focusing on a timeless story of individuals struggling to survive amid diﬃcult socioeconomic circumstances, according to Upper School Drama and Theatre teacher Valerie Hauss-Smith. “It is a meatier and important story to tell,” Hauss-Smith said. “It kind of speaks to nowadays, too.” In terms of technical challenges, “Les Misérables” is considered a harder production because it requires more cast members and consists entirely of singing. Due to its diﬃcult musical pieces, the show also requires high levels of vocal training, making it more challenging than previous productions, according to Hauss-Smith. After looking at the current group of theater students and predicted changes in numbers, this year was seen as the best time to produce the show, Hauss-Smith added. Junior Arhaan Iyer emerged from auditions cast in the demanding role of lead character Jean Valjean. “The most challenging part of my role is definitely the technically challenging vocals for Valjean,” Iyer said. “In the prologue, Valjean hits some incredibly high notes that I am working on trying to do healthily.” Because of the show’s challenging

nature, the auditions last spring focused heavily on testing students’ singing capabilities. The audition was closed to individuals who have already fulfilled or are currently fulfilling a pre-required skills class such as dance, improv, choir or acting. The decision was made to limit the cast roster to just 35 students, smaller than past productions. In addition to the smaller size, the production also limits

doublecasting, where multiple students would typically perform the same role on diﬀerent nights. At the end of the school year last May, potential cast members were given so-called audition cuts – excerpts of songs –to practice over the summer. Early in the current school year, all aspiring cast members were invited to a preliminary rehearsal to practice the songs with the musical director, Emmanuel Espiritu, the Upper School choir teacher. Then, the two-day audition process took place to finalize the cast. The smaller cast size and limits on

double-casting were based on student feedback, according to Hauss-Smith. This came from a post-mortem form, where students reflected and commented on their experiences in last year’s production. After that production, “Descendants,” students said double-casting felt stressful to arrange and required more effort for less opportunities on stage. The decision to limit the roster was also done to help students have a safe, fun experience on stage, and one in which they could feel valued for their effort. “Last year, so many people were involved,” Hauss-Smith said. “There was just too much going on, and we wondered if it is even safe for 100 students to be on stage at the same time.” Although students have found having a smaller cast fosters closer connections, some believe it makes involving new people harder, senior Dani Reiman says. “Everyone has very different opinions on whether this will help or hurt the class,” Reiman said. “I believe that it is a great way to reduce the amount of people on stage, but it makes it harder for freshmen to get incorporated.” Additionally, while this change allows for more efficient, organized rehearsals, it turns away students looking to perform for the first time. “I know that a lot of people stumble into theater by chance and find a special home in the community, so it does make me sad for people to be turned away, but I understand the logistical rationale behind the decision,” Iyer said.

Rehearsing Every summer, Hauss-Smith works on creating a rehearsal calendar to have an organized approach. During rehearsals, students split into groups to work on

diﬀerent aspects of the show, such as rehearsing certain movements, learning a song and emulating their characters. “In our first rehearsal, we sang the big ensemble number ‘One Day More’ and I got literal chills,” Iyer said. “I just know this is going to be a great experience.” On the technical theater side, crew members work on building projections, scenery and other necessary pieces to bring the show to life. Also known for its complex technical demands, “Les Misérables” has numerous scene changes that can be challenging to execute. To organize these transitions, it is necessary for the crew members to build materials eﬃciently and ensure the moving parts are well-coordinated throughout each scene change, according to Upper School technical theater teacher Will Turbyne.

It is a meatier and important story to tell. It kind of speaks to nowadays, too.”

“Most audience members don’t recognize the amount of passion it takes to make this work happen,” Turbyne said. “I think the students, whether they’re on tech or in performance, just have such an unbelievable amount of love for the work.” During the climactic tech week that precedes the production date, actors practice various scenes while crew members execute scene changes and the lighting and sound cues to ensure that the performance runs smoothly. This process requires constant communication between both sides of production to ensure a successful opening night. Even in its early stages, cast members and technical crew are excited to share the story of a “miserable” life. “I was excited when we chose it this year for Greenhill,” Turbyne said. “I think it’s cool that it can carry hopefully the same weight for some of our students here that it did when I was a student.” Graphic by Ven Larson

ISAS Teachers Visit Greenhill Daniella Antypas, Isabel Evans

pper School arts faculty and students are ramping up preparations to host the 60th Independent Schools Association of the Southwest Arts Festival next April. September marked the first major milestone in the countdown to the ISAS festival with Greenhill hosting a Sept. 25-26 visit by representatives from more than 60 independent schools from six states. The two-day visit was designed to give the guests from other ISAS schools a first-hand look at where students will showcase their talents during the April 8-10, 2027, event. Yeva Uppal The ISAS festival features performance arts like dance, music and theater and the work of student photographers, filmmakers and other artists. The September gathering also allowed Greenhill administrators, faculty and students to share with the visiting representatives important dates and times for the ISAS Arts Festival. Junior Yeva Uppal, a student Arts Board member, said the goal was to give visiting schools confidence that Greenhill could

deliver a smooth, well-organized festival. “I just hope that people can feel welcomed, safe, appreciate the arts here and feel free to bring their own experiences here,” Uppal said. The visit began with a reception and dinner where guests were welcomed by student performers. Highlights of the second-day agenda included speeches from Head of School Lee Hark and Head of Arts Terry Martin and campus tours of the 16 venues that will be utilized during the spring festival. Attendees also received brochures from Upper School Arts Board members that included campus maps and venue specifications. Junior Gabriel Torres said it was important for Greenhill to create an environment where students feel comfortable sharing their art while also learning about other students’ work.

to the representatives from other ISAS schools how the April 2027 festival would be unique to Greenhill. “[The festival] really speaks to Greenhill and the value placed on diversity, diﬀerent perspectives, and a community where we can all share our experiences and learn together,” said ISAS Arts Festival Coordinator Emily Eland. In preparation for the visit of ISAS representatives, Greenhill organizers paid careful attention to small details. Organizers made custom T-shirts featuring the festival’s logo, along with lanyards for visiting guests. One way

I just hope that people can feel welcomed, safe, appreciate the arts here and feel free to bring their own experiences here.”

Greenhill atte mpte d to make the representatives’ visit memorable and distinct was by incorporating student voices and feedback in the preparation process. “[The Arts Board] is in essence the ambassadors for our arts programs and the

“Greenhill’s support allows kids to show oﬀ what they are made of artistically,” Torres said. Upper School faculty and student Arts Board members said they wanted to convey

community,” Martin said. Arts Board member Lydia Kerridge described her excitement to show oﬀ how Greenhill would incorporate the festival theme o f “Deep in the A r t s ,” a reference to the arts-rich Deep Ellum area in downtown Dallas. The Greenhill hosts highlighted the theme by presenting their guests with miniature versions of an iconic Deep Ellum sculpture, “Traveling Man-Walking Tall,” provided by the sculptor, Brad Oldham. The robotic Traveling Man character is seen in a series of three Dallas statues created by Oldham and illustrator-filmmaker Brandon Oldenburg. As preparations for next spring’s festival move forward, thoughts of the inspiring art and bonding associated with each ISAS festival are already stirring anticipation on campus. “ISAS is just a bunch of people going and bringing it all for each activity,” said Upper and Middle School visual art teacher Corbin Doyle. “Then they go right on to the next thing, and that’s amazing.” Graphic by Lydia Kerridge

Evergreen Ever the

September 30, 2026

Arts

Students Balance Arts and Academics

Khushi Punnam

unior Samy Santosh dreamed of becoming a professional singer from a young age. But over time, she bowed to the conventional wisdom held by adults in her life and dropped her Upper School choir elective to enroll in robotics. “Choosing robotics over choir my sophomore year, in hindsight, wasn’t the best decision at all,” Santosh said. “[Course selection] is just whatever I feel like looks better, which is often STEM stuff, which is really sad. But I guess it’s just how it is.” Terry Martin Santosh is the face of a growing number of Upper School students who are trying to balance arts and STEM passions with the broader goal of creating the perfect high school transcript for the college admission process. When it comes time to balancing time-intensive Advanced Placement academic courses with other demands, arts electives are often the first to go, students say. Head of Arts Terry Martin says he worries that some students feel pressure from the college process and comparisons to their peers. Indeed, some students say they feel compelled to drop these classes to compensate for difficult scheduling decisions. “Our enrollment is not suffering,” Martin said. “Ninety percent of our students take far more arts than is required, but I see the disappointment in students’ eyes when

they make the decision to drop.” Senior Elise Nelson says she feels that sense of loss without theater on her schedule this year.

Choosing robotics over choir my sophomore year, in hindsight, wasn’t the best decision at all.”

No one forced her to step away from her Upper School theater class this year. But after researching the importance of rest this summer, she concluded that swapping theater for an additional free period to focus on her academics and demanding fine arts college applications is in her best interest. “I feel like that’s really sad,” Nelson said. “For my senior year, I’m not able to do artsy stuﬀ I like to do, but I want to keep my voice and body in the best shape it can be for doing auditions. The decision weighs on Nelson. “Theater, even when I’m doing the most intensive dancing, or singing my face oﬀ, has really given me comfort and stability that academics just doesn’t always allow me to have,” Nelson said. Some students describe how wellmeaning peers and adults in their lives tried to steer them away from arts into impressive AP science or math courses. As a result, some students reluctantly abandon their arts passion. “I’m trying to do the most unique things that I can to optimize [Greenhill academic

oﬀerings] as best as I can,” said Santosh. “But I just feel like sometimes it makes it out to be that arts aren’t as important.” Santosh says she has come to understand that pursuing the arts and academic rigor don’t have to be mutually exclusive. She has found an outlet for her musical passion by

participating in the Music for a Cause club and singing outside of Greenhill. Upper School UX Design teacher Luna Kim says she has noticed students who would like to take her AP Computer

Science A elective class confronting similar dilemmas. “I think there is a hierarchy in the students’ lives, and there are these courses you take to look good for college,” Kim said. “Students in these rigorous courses tend to focus on the academics over exploring their artistic craft.” While Martin understands the diﬃculty of the choices students face, he sees value in the selfexpression and community found in arts classes. The arts also provide variety and balance in a rigorous academic environment, he said. “The core principle here is to teach students to lead authentic and purposeful lives, and maybe another AP is not the path to that,” Martin said. The challenge is not simply whether students can handle rigorous academics, but whether they can pursue that rigor without giving up the activities that make their lives more meaningful, according to Martin. “There’s a freedom,” Martin said. “There’s a catharsis that can happen here. There’s a breath you can take.” Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

The Evergreen Crossword Across: 1. Where the new Upper School dean of students is from. 2. Senior and co-captain of the girls varsity volleyball team who has committed to Bowdoin. 3.NHL team that plans to move to Plano. 4. Greenhill’s new assignment wheel is meant to direct student use of ___. 5. Senior on the football team who journals before going to bed. 6. Country where three Greenhill seniors studied language and culture over the summer. 10. Protagonist’s first name in the Middle School musical debuting this October.

Down: 7. The school who hosted the tournament girls volleyball finished second in. 8. Ceramics technique Jordy Wilkofsky used for her identity piece. 9. Political advertising strategy that targets specific groups of voters. Crossword by Willa Oza

Centerpiece Jordan Arbuckle, Noa Pouratian, Cate Simpson

s a Greenhill student, Andrew Cai ’25 exemplified the school’s mission of leading an “authentic, purposeful” life. He excelled at video production, advertising on behalf of a non-profit and fundraising as an Advancement Office intern. In the process, he discovered his passion: business marketing. Now a sophomore at Emory University, Cai is working toward the career he discovered as an Upper School student. But he is also discovering that life beyond Greenhill is harder and much more competitive than his time on campus prepared him for. While being in a leadership position or landing a spot in a desired elective course is almost a given at Greenhill, access to opportunity is not guaranteed in the real world. Cai is now finding that out as he applies to more than 100 companies in the hopes of landing a coveted internship. “In the current job market, it’s a ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ scenario, except practically everyone is a beggar,” Cai said. The new hyper-competitive environment Cai finds himself in highlights key questions that await recent Greenhill graduates: Are they prepared to fight for positions, and ready to respond when the doors to opportunity don’t swing open like they once did? “When a student develops the courage to step through a door and try something, there needs to be something outstanding on the other side of that door,” Head of School Lee Hark said. “And I want that to be true about every experience at the school.”

Endless Exploration For Greenhill’s youngest students, much of the school day is filled with predetermined classes and activities. But throughout Lower, Middle and Upper School, schedules become tailored to student’s individual interests. Hark says this increase in freedom is designed to develop authenticity while still instilling positive and healthy learning habits such as time management and advocacy. “I think you see a kind of graduated approach to the way students use their time as they get older,” Hark said. Independent and diverse schedules culminate in the Upper School, where students are introduced to a wide array of subjects, activities and resources. Some of these opportunities include introductory, advanced, honors and Advanced Placement classes, 74 Design and Innovation and Arts electives, community service, modern facilities and 26 sports and physical education possibilities. “I went to a high school where we got to take so many different and cool electives and be a part of so many cool things,” said Riya Kommineni ’24, a junior at the University of Michigan. “I really was exposed to so much at Greenhill.” While similar academic offerings exist at other schools, Greenhill provides significantly more elective choices in humanities, computer science and arts. An Evergreen analysis of eight Texas private high schools that have Upper School enrollments within 100 students of Greenhill’s found that the schools offered an average of 27 arts courses. Greenhill has 57. For many students in public education, having the ability to pursue passions is a

Everg Ever the

The Cost of rare occurrence that can be substantially more competitive, according to senior Inari Huynh, a former Allen High School student. “At my old school, we obviously had clubs and other extracurriculars, but if you wanted to start a club or be a leader of something, it was a lot harder because there were so many people applying,” Huynh said. On top of providing a multitude of opportunities, Greenhill offers large levels of support for every student to help them manage classes and extracurricular activities. This primarily comes from counselors who assist with mental health, learning specialists who provide academic help and advisors who guide students through their entire Upper School experience. “It’s not just about one particular thing or another, it’s more about having a cohesive team and having people that know your story work together to help support you,” Director of Learning Assistance Grace Kiang said. Student support can be especially needed on campus because the pursuit of opportunity at Greenhill is oftentimes not a choice, but a requirement. Core classes, athletics, community service, arts credits, language courses and a design and innovation elective are all graduation requirements. “If I didn’t have to, I might not be getting as many community service hours or taking some electives I take,” Huynh said. Many alumni say forced exploration and heavy participation was a positive experience on campus. Payton Blalock ’24, who is currently a junior pursuing journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, says she misses the amount of diverse involvement she had at Greenhill. During Upper School, she was her grade’s Student Council secretary all four years, the online editor-in-chief of the Evergreen and a member of the soccer, field hockey and track teams. “I can’t imagine my high school experience had I not been in even one of those things,” Blalock said. “Taking one piece out of that puzzle just would have felt incomplete to me, because I think that each of those experiences gave me something.” Other alumni, however, said graduation requirements pulled time away from their passions and toward other inauthentic areas. “The difficult part about Greenhill is that because there are so many resources, I do think that you have the possibility to feel overwhelmed and also a lot of pressure to take advantage of everything,” said Sherry Zhang ’25, a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hark agrees. “I think our schedule for the Upper School or our requirements in the Upper School can at times feel restrictive,” Hark said.

Finding Purpose Despite many students saying the number of different disciplines they feel compelled to pursue can often be overwhelming, having a leadership position – an opportunity that is not required to graduate – has become normal on campus. In the Upper School, Greenhill has 30 clubs, 12 affinity groups, six faculty-led programs and eight competitive groups. At the end of last year, Dean of Student Life Kira Rivera organized the

Student Leadership Conference, held on May 20, to give students who possessed a leadership position a designated time to set goals, improve teamwork and brainstorm upcoming plans. Two hundred twenty-two Upper School students indicated their intention to attend the event. That figure does not include the many students who hold multiple positions, any rising freshmen or graduating seniors and the students who could not attend. This means that approximately 56% of Upper School students across the three invited grades are labeled as “leaders.” But a label does not necessarily create a leader. No student or faculty

member interviewed by the Evergreen said they believed that over half of the Upper School met the definition of a leader. Despite this, Rivera said the point of having these positions is to develop leadership skills. “The goal is that when we have the leadership conference, I’m giving you the tools to do that,” Rivera said. Junior Sophia Wang says the normalcy and, oftentimes, ease of applying and receiving distinguished positions creates an environment where true leadership can be muddled. “When you have a lot of leadership positions, [the] significance of you having this leadership role becomes diluted,” Wang said. Wang adds that many students who choose to apply for these positions often do so in hopes of being accepted into a prestigious university or college. Some faculty members echo this sentiment, suggesting that the distinction between meaningful participation and resume-building has become significantly more noticeable.

green

Opportunity “You can tell when someone is very genuine about what they’re doing versus ‘I’m doing this because I need to start a club or I need to be the leader of this so that I can have it on my resume,’” Upper School Math Department Chair Darryn Sandler ’95 said. Graduation requirements along with abundant leadership positions can complicate the relationship between providing students opportunities and ensuring Greenhill is fulfilling its mission statement of preparing and inspiring “students to lead authentic, purposeful lives.” Students and faculty say that while graduation requirements and leadership positions are often almost performative rather than heartfelt, they help students discover what feels purposeful through exposure to different activities and subjects. “Greenhill encourages

students to try as many things as possible in order to help them find what they are passionate about,” Sandler said. Many students add that exploration of various opportunities led them to find their passions. Students often enter Greenhill with a set idea of their future, only to discover new interests through programs they would not have encountered elsewhere, according to junior Samaira Panjiar. One of these opportunities includes the What’s NEXT Pitch, an annual event where students sell a business idea or product to a panel of judges in hopes of receiving funding. “I came into Greenhill thinking that I would pursue medicine or thinking that I had to be on one set path,” Panjiar said. “But now that I am at Greenhill, I am able to participate in new things like the What’s NEXT Pitch, which taught me how to make pitches.” Discovering areas of passion at Greenhill has led many alumni to their intended career path.

Blalock says she first discovered her love for writing as a Middle School student. Then in Upper School, she found her love for journalism by joining the staff of Greenhill’s school newspaper, the Evergreen. Today, she writes about UT’s football team as a sports desk editor for the Daily Texan while also holding an internship at the Texas Monthly, a national magazine. She said faculty encouragement at Greenhill gave her self-belief to chase authenticity and purpose when she graduated. “Having that affirmation and kind of getting to get the ‘go ahead’ from the people around me was something that really helped me decide what I wanted to do and gave me the confidence to go and do it,” Blalock said. Rivera says that she views opportunities as important ways to affirm and support students while also building up their confidence to advocate beyond Greenhill. “[Leadership positions] can teach you that you matter and that you have agency in creating the culture that you want,” Rivera said.

Beyond Greenhill But beyond Greenhill, agency is not as easily exercised; participation is not a requirement; and confidence does not ensure success. For many alumni, accessing opportunities requires relentless pursuit, beating competition and facing the inevitable possibility of rejection. Things that used to be a given at Greenhill, such as individualized support and extracurricular involvement, require greater initiative and persistence in college. Many alumni said that while they expected a shift, they did not anticipate the degree of urgency needed to pursue what were once guaranteed opportunities. “Greenhill didn’t show me that much about how to handle rejection or how to really work for opportunities because Greenhill was very encouraging of you and as long as you were willing to put yourself out there, then they would give you something in return,” Kommineni said. “I feel like that’s why I didn’t really understand how to get the things I wanted in college initially.” The struggle to access opportunities beyond campus has not always been a common, prevalent issue. As a part of the school’s reaccreditation process, Greenhill surveyed graduates between 2011 and 2021. Out of 248 participants, 96% said they felt prepared for college or work. But for many more recent graduates, those times are in the past. Internship postings nationally fell more than 15% from January 2023 to January 2025 while the average number of applications submitted for each internship more than doubled, according to Handshake, a leading career network and internship platform. The recent and rapid increase in competitiveness within the internship market reflects the new difficulties that college students are facing across the nation. “It takes a lot of work [to get opportunities] and everyone still gets rejected 99% of the time,” Zhang said. “You just have to hit the jackpot because there are always so many other qualified people.” This intense reality outside of Greenhill has forced successful alumni to accept rejection as they work to actualize their passions. For Cai, this meant submitting

internship applications a part of his everyday life. He also worked to improve his interview skills while enhancing his cover letter and resume. “Initially it was overwhelming, but now it’s kind of become routine,” Cai said. “Every day I just get up, check the job boards and see if anything happened. Then, I see if I have any referrals and then I will send in an application.” Many alumni say an aspect of Greenhill they miss is the support and help faculty members would give them. In the reaccreditation survey, alumni named more than 100 different faculty and staff members when asked who had an impact on them as a student. “We had such a great support system at Greenhill, and we were surrounded by teachers who actually cared about you and supported you,” Kommineni said. “It really was a wonderful learning environment.” Even some current students say they will miss the closeness and comfort they have with their teachers once they graduate. “I think a big change for me would be the teacher to student ratios because obviously here you get a lot of attention and people are always seeking out [to help] you, but in college you’re going to have to seek out that help yourself,” senior Paylin Barnes said. While acquiring opportunities with little support is a hard feat, many alumni say an area in which they felt ahead was writing and problem solving. “I took multivariable calculus in my first semester at MIT, and I honestly didn’t have to study for it because of how good the class was in high school,” Zhang said. Greenhill also attempts to help its graduates find internships and jobs through a network of other alumni on LinkedIn, a professional social media networking app. Still, several graduates say that for Greenhill to fully prepare students “to lead authentic, purposeful lives,” they need to better teach students how to prepare and apply for opportunities. The alumni suggestions include resume workshops with college counseling, fewer graduation requirements, greater latitude to make schedule choices, networking events for current students and a higher standard for achieving leadership roles through a formal interview process. “Students can find their purpose in life by exploring all these options that the school has to offer, whether that’s courses, clubs or activities,” Cai said. “But I think when that is in the terms of preparing people to chase career-related endeavors, Greenhill is a little bit lacking.” While valuing the perceptions of alumni, Hark opposes changes that might limit opportunities for Greenhill students. “I wouldn’t want to ever make Greenhill a less opportunity-rich environment,” Hark said. “So, I don’t know that there would be anything I would want to necessarily change.” While Greenhill may not fully simulate the world beyond campus, as some alumni suggest, the school’s abundance of opportunities give students the space to find what feels authentic and purposeful. And that can ultimately help guide graduates to find meaning when opportunity becomes harder to find. “I think Greenhill is an awesome time to try as many things as you can,” Blalock said. “I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time in anyone’s life where they will have more access than they do at Greenhill. High school is a time where people just need to explore.”

Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

Special Report

Upper School Fosters Cutting-Edge Literacy Aanya Bhoria, Willa Oza

n any given day, Upper School students grapple with the constant presence of rapidly changing technology. Artificial intelligence bots can check homework, summarize emails and even design presentation slides, becoming a source of tension within educational spaces. At its core, AI’s presence in the classroom has forced students to make choices that test honor and integrity. “I try to avoid using AI because I am never able to fully understand the right way of using it to the point where it does not add or do anything I didn’t ask for it to do,” sophomore Cannon Baker said. To combat this struggle, Upper School administrators last year implemented a “stoplight” AI policy, designed to clarify to what extent AI could be used on assignments. Some colors were relatively clear: green meant any AI was allowed, while red signaled no AI use. However, the yellow and orange categories became more nuanced, inviting an AI “language barrier” between students and teachers. “It was confusing because sometimes an assignment would be marked orange, but the directions within the ‘orange’ category wouldn’t really explain how to use AI,” sophomore Sarah Grossfeld said. “It made me worry that if I used AI the wrong way, it could be considered an Honor Code violation.” As a result of this uncertainty, the policy became inconsistent in many areas. While some teachers established blanket restrictions where students were never allowed to interact with the chatbots, others integrated these platforms into learning. But as students struggled to shift between environments, many faced cheating accusations and Honor Code violations. In response, Upper School faculty unveiled a new, more detailed AI Assignment Wheel this year, focusing on how AI can be used without interfering with conceptual learning. “We were thinking about the diﬀerent ways that a student might use it, and then how do we teach them to do it better, and when do we allow that use?” said Upper School math teacher Melissa Battis, a member of the faculty task force shaping Greenhill’s AI policies.

Stoplight Confusion The change from the stoplight system came from the AI Task Force, a group of six faculty members selected from a larger AI team that consisted of administrators as well as teachers. The task force is composed of members across departments who worked over the summer with a school Summer Enrichment Grant to create the new policy. According to members of the AI Task Force, the original stoplight policy was intended to be a temporary solution to a constantly evolving landscape. After using the policy for the 2024-25 school year, the team met again to reassess its pros and cons. “We know that the stoplights were a good starting point, but they’re not where we are now,” Battis said. The temporary policy became increasingly outdated when no new oﬃcial guidelines were developed last year, causing additional inconsistencies to emerge with the increased power of AI. In many classrooms, teachers would fail to label assignments altogether. And even those who utilized the stoplight rarely included further instructions about what appropriate AI usage looked like. Battis noticed that the lack of information and knowledge about AI was

the root of this miscommunication. “The path of least friction and resistance for faculty was to just label assignments red and just trust that their kids were not using AI,” Battis said. Even teachers who used the colored assignments did not properly educate students on how to use AI, allowing for more confusion and misuse, Battis said. The ambiguity surrounding the old AI policy caused a misunderstanding between teachers and students, thereby complicating Honor Code cases, according to senior Dani Reiman, who is a co-chair of the Upper School Honor Council. “The issue the Honor Council noticed with a lot of the AI-related cases often surrounded the green, yellow, orange and red systems,” Reiman said. “If a teacher didn’t mark an assignment on MyGreenhill, it would allow for the student to honestly blame the teacher when they came in front of [the] Honor Council.” Battis said that the old policy was

created with the a s s u mp t i o n that as time went on, teachers would begin to mark fewer assignments as red, teaching students how to correctly use AI to support their learning. However, this never happened. The AI Task Force has since been tasked with developing new AI guidelines that would apply to all areas on campus. “Everyone brings in challenging questions that we get to wrestle with about how to teach in all environments rather than just in ‘that classroom over there,’” Battis said.

Improved AI Policy Faculty members did not create the new policy entirely by themselves, however. Last school year, the AI Student Research Group was created. The group consists of eight members who applied or were recruited based on demonstrated interest. To start identifying problems, the group conducted numerous interviews with faculty and students. “Once the group was established, we decided to take a design thinking approach to solving the AI problem,” said senior Oliver Morales, a member of the AI Student Research Group. “That really means starting by observing the current state and then generating insights from that.” Once the AI Student Research Group

questioned community members, it reported findings back to the faculty members on the task force. Then, the faculty task force met to combine the feedback from all faculty with ideas that they pulled from other institutions to create a policy that better aligned with Greenhill’s vision for AI. A main focus for the policy centered around clear and uniform communication, according to Battis. “For both policies we were looking for consistency, so that when students have a conversation with an English teacher, a math teacher and a science teacher, they’re all talking in the same language,” Battis said. Greenhill’s new AI guidelines are organized into the “AI Assignment Wheel,” which teachers post on MyGreenhill class pages. The new policy organizes AI use into three categories: Thinking, Checking and Creating. These categories are based on how much AI contributes to a student’s work. In “Thinking,” AI is able to act as a tutor or help develop ideas but cannot produce work.

In “Checking,” AI can provide feedback on student-created work without rewriting it. Finally, in “Creating,” students can use AI more directly, if they remain in control of the work and disclose their AI use. This “wheel” approach further emphasizes identifying and supporting skills that students need to develop on their own before reaching AI, according to Upper and Middle School Educational Technologist Lane Worrall. “The biggest shift and the thing that I think is most important is that we want teachers to approach this from a skills mindset,” Worrall said. Senior Izzy Shiloh, who says she prefers not to use AI for writing, still appreciates the new policy for the clarity it provides. “Sometimes I just want to brainstorm with AI, and before it was kind of questionable about whether that counts as AI use or not,” Shiloh said. “But I feel like now it’s more clear than just the green, orange, yellow, red thing.”

Classroom Integration As part of the change, teachers underwent training led by Battis and Worrall prior to the start of school. This initiative helped faculty learn how to better incorporate AI into their classrooms by improving assignments and informing students about AI literacy. Battis also created an AI assignment

tool introduced during training called the “AI Workbench,” where teachers can upload assignments and receive feedback on how students should be able to use AI on the respective assignment. The tool helps teachers identify skills an assignment is designed to develop and then suggests ways AI could be used without replacing those skills. Upper School English teacher Joel Garza appreciated the training and the way it was explained to teachers. Melissa Battis “They did also create opportunities where, in small groups, we could really put our hands to the thing,” Garza said. Greenhill has also provided all teachers with school-managed Claude Enterprise accounts. This resource gives faculty a way to use AI for tasks such as creating lesson plans, developing assessments and generating ideas. Some students feel that this is unnecessary and say they would prefer to receive unmodified assignments from teachers. “I think that teachers should apply the principle of less is more when using AI in assignments,” Shiloh said. “You don’t need to put the assignment into AI, just give me whatever you’re putting into AI in the first place.” Many faculty members have already begun experimenting with incorporating AI into their lessons. “I’m grateful that it’s a policy that compels educators like me to expand and to think outside of stark, simplified, and perhaps false black and white terms,” Garza said. Garza primarily uses AI to analyze his class feedback surveys he has students fill out. Similarly, other teachers use AI to assist with creating assignments or additional learning tools. While some teachers and classes are adapting to a world filled with AI, others are less willing to integrate it into education and are skeptical about its potential benefits. Upper School History Department Chair Amy Bresie ’96 has not been persuaded by the new policy. “I remain very firmly convinced that I don’t think AI has many places in a liberal arts humanities classroom where the struggle is the point,” Bresie said. From an academic honesty perspective, Reiman says she thinks clearly communicated expectations in class, and the AI wheel will clear up confusion and uncertainty. “I’m really glad we changed the system,” Reiman said. “I think before it was very hard for students to understand the AI policy because people got confused about what was allowed and what wasn’t.” In the future, the faculty task force and the student research group are planning on creating new opportunities for students to learn about AI literacy. “We plan on starting to do short, fiveminute presentations during assemblies where we present a simple concept just to start introducing students to AI literacy and hopefully help make students more aware of AI and how to understand it from a technical lens,” Morales said. Battis added that the policy will continue to be evaluated and adjusted to better fit the needs of students and faculty. “AI is constantly growing,” Battis said. “We have to have a space where we can discuss it and grow with it.” Graphic courtesy of Greenhill Communications

September 30, 2026

Evergreen Ever the

Arts

MaxiLu Pokorski Elena Kramer, Julia Bella Frankfurt

hen the curtain rises at the beginning of a Greenhill theater production, the audience sees the final result of intricate and transformative outfits. What they do not see are the hours of measuring, sewing, ironing and planning that junior MaxiLu Pokorski spends creating these costumes. For Pokorski, costume design has largely become a way to combine her interest in fashion with her involvement in Greenhill’s technical theater program. Pokorski first became interested in fashion when she was young, trying on clothes and high heels from her mother’s closet. However, she did not begin designing and creating clothing until years later. When she began studying technical theater in sixth grade, Pokorski initially focused on woodworking. It wasn’t until her sophomore year that Pokorski was introduced to the costume department. In Tech Practicum, the MaxiLu Pokorski Upper School class connected to the annual musical production, Pokorski was encouraged by Technical Theater teacher Will Turbyne to begin working with costume design. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to sew,” Pokorski said. “When they gave me the option to work at costumes in Tech Practicum, I took that class.” Through her first year working with costumes, Pokorski helped with several pieces for the musical “Descendants,” including Mal’s coronation dress, her biker outfit and Audrey’s coronation dress. Senior Dani Reiman, who played Audrey in “Descendants,” worked closely with Pokorski through the fitting process. Through it, Reiman says she was impressed with Pokorski’s skill, especially since it was her first time designing for a show.

Lylah Pouratian

or many seniors, deadlines, endless essays and looming uncertainty can cause the college admissions process to become the main stressor of their final year at Greenhill. Even so, Upper School seniors Elise Nelson and Marina Azevedo are pursuing a path to acceptance that can be even more rigorous and complex: auditioning to attend a Bachelor of Fine Arts program. What follows is an account of their respective experiences in their pursuit of a BFA.

Elise Nelson For Nelson, who hopes to pursue theater professionally, the college admissions process requires her to submit prescreens and self-tapes. “This process can be pretty laborious,” Nelson said. “I had to miss pretty much a whole day of school to film just my self-tapes.” Prescreens, which normally are composed of monologues and songs, are submitted alongside academic applications. After reviewing academic and artistic submissions, schools invite top applicants to a live audition. These either take place on a campus or through unified auditions, where students can audition for multiple universities and programs over a few days.

“MaxiLu is extremely talented at what she does,” Reiman said. “She always has a unique vision of how to make a character come alive through a costume and makes all of the actors feel confident in what they are wearing.” Turbyne added that since joining Tech Practicum, Pokorski has learned to move beyond simply describing her ideas to expressing them visually. “MaxiLu has made a lot of progress in terms of taking all the wonderful ideas she has about clothing and being able to actually turn them into sketches,” Turbyne said. Since then, Pokorski has taken the skills she learned at school and used them for personal projects. Starting with a variety of tops for the summer, Pokorski has most recently worked on a corset for her Homecoming dress. Making the corset taught her how much effort goes into making a single piece of clothing, as it is a very difficult sewing project, Pokorski says. “Corsetry takes forever,” Pokorski said. “So much math, different steps and ironing goes into making it, and you just wouldn’t expect that.” In addition to improving her craft, Pokorski says this project has helped her get out of her comfort zone. Typically, she has focused on A-line styles and mini dresses, so the Homecoming design serves as a significant shift. But this dress isn’t the first challenge Pokorski has faced with designing. Depending on the production, many costumes must reside within a specific historical period, requiring appropriate colors, necklines and silhouettes. Pokorski says she appreciates the learning curve, as she is constantly introduced to new techniques and designs. While making Reiman’s dress, she worked with a new style creating a tight top and flowy skirt-style dress. “I loved the style of my dress and the way it made me feel,” Reiman said. “I received many compliments on how well it fit my character.” Like with Reiman’s gown, Pokorski says the most rewarding moments come from the

Photo courtesy of MaxiLu Pokorski

DESCENDANTS DESIGNS: Samantha Herrmann ’26, who played Mal in Greenhill’s 2025 fall musical, wore a ballgown designed and sewed by junior MaxiLu Pokorski. stage, where she can see the final product in the show. “Being able to create a piece of art for someone else that they can feel the most confident in themselves brings me lots of joy,” Pokorski said. Pokorski has also become an essential member of the costume team through her work in “Descendants.” She currently works alongside senior Marina Azevedo. Due to the budget limitations and lack of interested students, costumes are occasionally thrifted and rented rather than constructed. Although Pokorski plans to pursue medicine after Greenhill, she doesn’t intend

Pursuit of a BFA The added stress and time commitment of completing college auditions led to her not participating in this year’s Upper School fall musical, “Les Misérables,” after performing in Greenhill musicals in previous years, according to Nelson. “Rehearsals [are] obviously very necessary,” Nelson said. “But for me personally, that time could be spent towards saving my voice to film prescreens. I need to be at my best when I need to audition.” Another drawback for students applying to BFA programs is the elongated timeline. While most regular applicants find out their early decision or early action results around mid-December, Nelson will not hear back from most of her schools until March, or even April. Nelson says this means she must excel in her schoolwork throughout the entire year. “I can’t really aﬀord to get ‘senioritis’ because Elise Nelson I’m just going, going, going,” Nelson said. Despite all the added pressures and responsibilities, Nelson says she views the longer process as worthwhile because it allows her to practice auditioning in a professional environment. “I feel like I’m not as good of an auditioner as I am a performer, and by that I mean it’s really nerve-wracking to stand in

front of people and be like, ‘Hi, this is what I’m performing,’ and then just do it,” Nelson said. Ultimately, Nelson is searching for a college where she feels comfortable. “I’m excited to see what place vibes with me and what place I vibe with,” Nelson said.

Marina Azevedo Azevedo plans to earn her BFA in fashion design. The first step in this admissions process is to attend local portfolio reviews. During these events, Azevedo showcases her art and receives feedback from admission oﬃcers who represent a wide range of colleges and universities. “I had my first portfolio review at [Southern Methodist University] last year, and a bunch of colleges gathered,” Azevedo said. “There are booths you go up to, and I was so nervous because it was my first one ever.” At the review, Azevedo presented three outfits and various 2D artworks to representatives from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. By Nov. 15, Azevedo needs to have her portfolios completed and submitted along with an academic application. The portfolios often include rough-draft sketches, 3D projects and explanations for creative choices.

to leave fashion behind. She wants to continue designing and eventually create her own clothing line. “I’d like to continue making clothes as kind of a hobby,” Pokorski said. “I would also love to have a side business of creating dresses or having my own label in the near future.” For students interested in learning how to sew themselves, Pokorski says the technique and creative aspects are not the most important part. Instead, she stresses patience. “Part of the process of sewing is just enjoying creating it,” Pokorski said. “Not just the output.”

The Fashion Institute of Technology’s application goes beyond a traditional portfolio, however. Applicants must create a mood board which is a visual collage that combines images, colors and textures to guide a fashion collection. “I need to create five designs following specific requirements, in color, fully rendered with descriptions of its intended time, place and seasons,” Azevedo said.

I can’t really afford to get ‘senioritis’ because I’m just going, going, going.”

Azevedo says she is drawn to a BFA program because of the opportunities top fashion schools provide. She says she sees internships, study-abroad programs and industry connections essential to building her career in fashion. “Some of them tend to have programs outside of the U.S., like Milan, Florence, China or Korea,” Azevedo said. “[This] makes a huge diﬀerence because then you get influences from other cultures.” Azevedo says being accepted into a top fashion school is her main priority. “It’s just on such a diﬀerent level that’s so important to me as someone who wants to continue fashion [for] my entire life,” Azevedo said. “I want to extend my dream, and I want to hit the ground running.”

16 Arts

Evergreen Ever the

Senior Jordy Wilkofsky’s Life of Passion Marleigh Massoud

n the way to an afternoon of puppy yoga with her cousins, senior Jordy Wilkofsky walked past Plano’s Holman Pottery. On her way back home, Wilkofsky stopped by the shop to look inside. That was the moment that Wilkofsky knew what she’d be doing that summer. Over the weeks that followed, Wilkofsky worked at the pottery studio and gallery as an apprentice. There, she was exposed to new ceramics techniques, talked with gallery customers and worked alongside her mentor, shop co-owner Tony Holman. “I learned a lot about what it means to be a full-time artist and the work you do in that field,” Wilkofsky said. “It was a really demanding experience, but I got to learn more about something I love doing.”

Inside the Studio While she expanded her skill set, Wilkofsky already had significant experience in art. Over the past four years, she’s taken various Upper School elective classes. She is currently enrolled in both the Honors 3D Art and Honors 2D Art classes. “I think being able to incorporate the two mediums together has been a great part of taking both classes,” Wilkofsky said. Wilkofsky started her journey with ceramics and sculpture. “I like how hands-on it is,” Wilkofsky said. “You get messy, but you have so much control over shaping whatever you want.” As Wilkofsky began to find enjoyment in 3D art, she says she learned diﬀerent techniques by putting in as much time as she could. “The first time I tried the [ceramics] wheel, it didn’t go so great, but I just told myself I had to get better,” Wilkofsky said. “So, I went home and watched as many YouTube videos as I could to keep drilling the right process into my head.”

After spending multiple classes attempting a new process, Wilkofsky says she would finally start to get the hang of it. “She got onto the ceramics wheel and just exploded with talent, but she also puts in the time,” 3D art teacher Erik Tosten said. “She was in the studio before school, after school, during her free period and just whenever she could.” Wilkofsky has also branched out to 2D art to further her artistic journey. Erik Tosten “I’ve loved getting to watch her work on her identity piece right now because the way she combines both 2D and 3D art together is so cool,” said senior Natalia Serrano, a classmate in Honors 2D art. To incorporate her love for both classes in the piece, Wilkofsky is using a base she made in ceramics with etchings drawn into the surface using a technique called Sgraﬃto. “Everything I identify with, love or pursue as a hobby can, for the most part, be found somewhere on the piece,” Wilkofsky said. In her 3D art class, Wilkofsky is working on a dinner set for her mother. “When it comes to ceramics and Jordy, she has her own direction,” Tosten said. “She knows what she wants to do and is really independent with her work.”

On the Court In addition to the time she devotes to art, Wilkofsky is also a dedicated volleyball player. Wilkofsky started volleyball when she was 14 and has seen her drive and skill levels soar. As a member of the Greenhill girls’ volleyball team and Dallas Skyline Volleyball Club, she spends much of her time at practice, workouts and games. “I love the team aspect of [volleyball], how

Photo courtesy of Greenhill Communications

GAME TIME: Senior Jordy Wilkofsky serves during a Greenhill volleyball game. She balances her commitment to athletics alongside her passion for ceramics and art. satisfying it is to play, how fun it is and the culture of the sport,” Wilkofsky said. “I also love the competitiveness and the friendships I’ve made through the sport.” This is Wilkofsky’s fourth year on the varsity team after transferring to Greenhill for her freshman year from Ann & Nate Levine Academy. Wilkofsky was named a co-captain of the Greenhill team this season, stepping into a leadership role. “I love that the younger girls get to look up to me and that I get to lead them,” Wilkofsky said. “It’s just a really awesome team this year.” She brings good Jordy Wilkofsky energy onto the court and stays vocal to encourage her teammates, according to teammate and co-captain Julia Deibert. Wilkofsky says she recently made her verbal commitment to the application process to play volleyball at Bowdoin College. “I’m super excited to get to compete at a higher level,” Wilkofsky said. “I also love that when I get to Bowdoin, I’ll automatically have a solid group of friends who are on the team.”

Talents Colliding

Photo courtesy of Jordy Wilkofsky

ARTISTIC FLAIR: A ceramics piece sculpted by Jordy Wilkofsky showcases the abilities that she has developed through enrolling in Upper School art classes.

By dedicating her time to both arts and athletics, Wilkofsky says she has noticed ways in which they work in tandem and how they maintain diﬀerences. “Throwing on the wheel is one of those things that’s athletic and so I think her experience in sports helped her get a lot of

that skill,” Tosten said. “The technique is something you get through muscle memory and so she built that really quickly.” While the two activities can work together, they also stand on their own. “Arts and athletics both bring out diﬀerent sides of me,” Wilkofsky said. “A lot of people only get to see one side of me if they’re on a sports team with me or only in an art class with me.” Wilkofsky says participating in both activities has shaped her high school experience. While the two seem to be diverging, they complement each other, according to Wilkofsky. “I think art and volleyball sort of balance each other in a way,” Wilkofsky said. “Volleyball is physically demanding and can be stressful and frustrating at times. Having art as an outlet allows me to relax, be creative and take my mind oﬀ other things.”

A lot of people only get to see one side of me if they’re on a sports team with me or only in an art class with me.”

As Wilkofsky prepares to leave the Greenhill athletic and art programs, she hopes to carry the skills she has learned along with her. In addition to continuing her volleyball career, she plans to do pottery in college at the Bowdoin student-run studio. “I definitely want both sports and art to continue being a part of my life in college and beyond,” Wilkofsky said. “I’m excited to see how I can continue growing in both, even as they take on diﬀerent forms throughout college.”

Sports

Trey Davis

Natalie Ledyard, Vivian White

ver since senior Trey Davis was little, he dreamed of making it to the NBA and NFL. He started playing basketball when he was three years old and football when he was seven. Since then, Davis has prioritized his multi-sport passion on both the court and field. Davis only came to Greenhill in his sophomore year, but his relatively short history at the school hasn’t hindered his impact on campus. That year, Davis became a starter on both the varsity basketball and football teams. “I think Trey is one of the best studentathletes Greenhill has seen,” senior Mason Finley said. “Trey genuinely has passion in the classroom and on the field; he doesn’t push most of his energy or eﬀorts towards one thing.”

Off the Field Davis became familiar with Greenhill through a trainer he worked with who had been an assistant varsity basketball coach at the school. Additionally, his older brother was previously scouted by the longtime head basketball coach, Joey Sims. Feeling dissatisfied with athletics at Wakeland High School in Frisco, Davis started considering the move to Greenhill. After starting classes at Greenhill, Davis says he initially found it challenging to go from a large public school to a private school with much fewer students. “I’ve always had a good group of friends, but at Greenhill, it Erik Park was more challenging than I thought to make friends,” he said. “As I got through more and more of the year, it became easier.” After Davis began to find his place, things changed. “Once he got into football season and basketball, obviously the community welcomed him,” senior Ibrahim Abdelfattah said. “He’s an outstanding athlete, but beyond that, he has made so many meaningful connections with teachers and students.” While moving to Greenhill as a sophomore has created additional academic stress, senior Sam Schultz says Davis handled the transition gracefully. “He got straight to it, and he didn’t fool around,” Schultz said. “He was locked in from the moment he came. He knew it was going to be a big step, and he took on that challenge very well.” Davis has always prioritized balancing training and demanding schoolwork, so he manages specific routines to complete everything. “What I love to do is when I get the homework, I do it that day,” Davis said. “It just helps relieve stress to see all your stuff checked off on MyGreenhill.” Davis also disappears during free periods and never wastes a spare moment, according to Abdelfattah. “He has really mastered his workload and managing it,” Abdelfattah said. “He’s not one of those people that just wants to do a good job on all his work; he likes to go above and beyond.” Davis’ teachers share these thoughts on his work ethic.

“Trey is the type of guy who’s not afraid to ask questions,” Upper School math teacher Erik Park said. “He wants to know why he did things wrong, and if he needs to stay after class, he will. He prioritizes his learning and sets time for that before he does anything else.” Davis also shows leadership outside of school athletics. He is the president of the campus Black Student Union and a leader of the Upper School transition and mentoring program, Link Crew. Friends describe Davis as thoughtful, hardworking and faithful. “In our friend group, I would say he’s someone that we can all trust and is very reliable,” Schultz said. Davis says the best part of Greenhill is the people he has connected with. Whether it’s eating lunch with the basketball team or playing video games like FIFA with his friends, Davis says he just enjoys spending time with people. Additionally, Davis’ friends noted his strong religious faith. “This last Ramadan when I was fasting, he went out of his way to skip lunch and sit with me every single day of Ramadan and read his Bible while I’d fast, and we would just talk about things like God and life,” Abdelfattah said. “During that time, he was the best friend I could have.” In addition to hanging out with friends, Davis journals each night. “I like writing in my journal about my day, and it kind of helps me relieve stress as the last thing I do before I go to bed,” Davis said.

On the Field Mirroring his eﬀort in school, Davis spends much of his time in sports. Since coming to Greenhill, he has emphasized his commitment to basketball and football. “It was never ‘I’ve got to pick one or the other.’ I’m a basketball player and a football player,” Davis said. His ability to succeed as a dual-sport athlete was something that stood out to his coaches from the start, according to Bobby Vadnais, an assistant varsity football coach. Playing both sports has allowed Davis to take skills from one to the other. “He’s very driven and has a very strong work ethic,” Vadnais said. “That combined with his intellectual promise just makes him an elite player in both sports.” On the football field, Davis is focused on making an impact. As of Sept. 24, he was leading the team with 2,552 all-time receiving yards and 31 touchdowns. Vadnais says his impact goes beyond statistics. “He has a great understanding of the big picture,” Vadnais said. “A lot of athletes just understand their

Photo courtesy of Javi Johnson

MAKING PLAYS: Senior wide receiver Trey Davis breaks away from a defender and runs into the end zone during a standout game against John Paul II. has happened away from team practices and games, as he puts in individual work. “It was definitely a lot of hard work, a lot of days in the morning of my junior year not wanting to wake up,” Davis said. Although Davis has found success in both sports, football has become where he has made the biggest impact. “Don’t get me wrong, I love basketball, but the feeling of playing football is diﬀerent than anything else,” Davis said. His impact has continued to grow as he has taken on more leadership roles. As a team captain both his junior and senior year, he has set an example through his work ethic, Vadnais says “This year he has become a more vocal leader I have noticed,” Vadnais said. “When we need some pickme-ups, he’s there.”

Future Plans

own position, but he understands all the passing concepts as well as the coverage concepts of all the players around him.” While his athletic ability has contributed to his success, much of Davis’ improvement

When Davis decided he wanted to play football in college, he started talking with coaches and attending camps, working to find something that matched what he wanted on and oﬀ the field. “My biggest thing when I was looking at schools was definitely academics,” Davis said. “Coming to a school like Greenhill opened my eyes to what it can do for you.” Davis says the Yale University coaching staﬀ has communicated with him throughout the process, making it stand out from other schools he was considering. In April, he says he took an

unofficial visit to Yale, where he toured the campus, watched practice and met coaches. Davis later returned for an official visit and camp where he competed in front of coaching staff again. He says he ultimately received a verbal invitation to begin the application process.

He’s very driven and has a very strong work ethic. That combined with his intellectual promise just makes him an elite player in both sports.”

“I told my dad, ‘I don’t know if I can turn down Yale,’” Davis said. For Davis’ friends, seeing his college quest moving toward a successful conclusion was meaningful after watching the work he put in. “To see all the hard work that he’s put into the sport pay oﬀ made me really happy for him, and he is the most deserving person I know,” Abdelfattah said. Davis says he also feels pride in his commitment. Especially as a latecomer to Greenhill, he feels he has truly earned this spot through all the hard work he put in past three years. Looking back on how far he has come, Davis stresses the importance in trusting the process. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Trust in God’s plan. Everything will work out,” Davis said. “You have to keep working hard. Stay focused. Be outgoing.” Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

18 Sports Vivian White

Ever Evergreen Crushing the Courts

s the girls’ volleyball season swings into the final month of conference play, the Greenhill team has been implementing new tactics and fostering chemistry to achieve success. The team competed in the TexFest tournament in Wimberly from Aug. 13-15. The girls placed second, making it to the finals against Wimberly High School. This tournament was a new addition for the team, which typically only competes in two

the

private school tournaments a season. “The goal was for the girls to experience some diﬀerent competition, play against diﬀerent talents and to also get out of town and work on their team chemistry,” Head Coach Tati Deibert said. The tournament allowed the team to test lineups and figure out its game flow early in the season. It also gave the new captains a chance to develop their leadership, Deibert says. Seniors Julia Deibert and Jordy Wilkofsky are co-captains this season.

Photo courtesy of Kellyn Lonergan

WORKING AS ONE: The volleyball team celebrates after beating Legacy Christian Academy 3-1 in a recent match. The team has developed new tactics this season.

“We lost three seniors, and in in my eyes, probably some of the best captains that we've had on a leadership standpoint,” Coach Deibert said. “So having the kids learn how to step into the new role and fill that the gap drove my idea to go to Wimberley.” The long days together brought the team closer, leading to high-intensity games, according to junior Anaya Dubé. “In our second game against Caddo Mills, we blew them out,” Dubé said. “We were doing some of the cheerleaders’ cheers on the bench ... and I think that energy translates so much into the game.” Finishing second early in the season helped establish confidence for the team, according to Julia Deibert. “[The win] set a good vision for the rest of the season,” she said. “If we can come out getting second place at a pretty good publicschool tournament, then we can do good things around here too.” This season, the team is focusing on improving their mentality through goal setting. Each player had individual meetings with Coach Deibert to review the first month of the season and reflect on areas of improvement. Players have held each other accountable to these goals by checking in before and after practice with a designated teammate. The athletes also created personal binders containing their goals, the team handbook, scouting reports and pages for reflection. “They're meant to help us think more throughout the season,” Julia Deibert said. “Going game by game and putting it all in the past isn’t a very productive way to have

a season.” Two players also recently announced that they have verbally committed to the application process to play collegiate volleyball once they graduate. Wilkofsky says she committed to Bowdoin College and Dubé says she committed to Yale University. “Their commitment to playing volleyball in college is a true reflection of their hard work and love for the sport,” Coach Deibert said. “It is so special to watch all these athletes work toward the dream of playing at the next level. Balancing volleyball and academics at a school like Greenhill is no easy task, and that is why they have my utmost respect.” The team’s record as of Sept. 24 was 205, with what Coach Deibert described as the hardest schedule she’s had in her 17 years at Greenhill. With the Southwest Preparatory Conference championships set for Nov. 5-7, the team has high hopes and a greater goal overall. “Obviously, our goal is to win SPC, but if that doesn't happen, [I want] a season where everyone's growing together,” Julia Deibert said. As the season ends and players graduate from the program, Coach Deibert says she hopes that they can take more out of this experience. “I tell them every time, ‘It's great if you can put your year in the banner,’ but to be quite frank, I think about the character and what kind of human they have become once this road is over,” Coach Deibert said. “How they can transfer those life skills is the biggest gift that I can give to them as a coach.”

Football Seeks Support

Victoria Gonchar

enior Walter Fagelman was shocked when he arrived at the first Greenhill football game of the 2026-27 school year on Aug. 28. It was an away game at Plano’s John Paul II High School, and typically well over 100 Greenhill students would be in the stands to cheer on the Hornets. But not at that game, and not so far this year. “I had to double check the time because I thought I arrived early,” Fagelman said. “I had such high expectations because this was the first game of my senior year, and there was basically no one else there.” Fagelman sees the meager student turnout for the John Paul II game as the first measure of the impact of Greenhill’s decision to pull its football team out of the Southwest Preparatory Conference to compete as an independent program. The departure has brought mixed opinions from students. “For the sake of playing schools that we know and are actually rivals with, I think missing that part kind of sucks,” said senior Paylin Barnes, a varsity cheerleader. “But for the sake of people being able to cheer for touchdowns and for us to score more, I am glad that we went independent." The Greenhill team acquitted itself well against John Paul II, losing a hard-fought game 33-28. But the challenges of competing as an independent program, without decades-old conference rivalries, remain a source of concern for students and team members. “Student morale has honestly always been pretty low around the football team, but I’m scared it’s going to get even worse this year,” said senior Alex Meyer, who plays linebacker and oﬀensive lineman on the team. “It’s a pretty terrible thing; the

whole student body is doubting us.” Last season, the Greenhill football team went 1-9 playing in the Southwest Preparatory Conference’s 3A Division. Other Greenhill sports play in the more competitive 4A Division. By enrollment, all Greenhill sports should compete in 4A. Earlier this year, Head of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine says he petitioned the SPC to allow the Greenhill football team to remain in 3A because of the school’s unusually small football roster. Conference oﬃcials rejected Shine’s request, which resulted in Greenhill’s decision to take the football program out of the SPC to compete as an independent. “We decided to go independent for two years until we developed the roster size to be more competitive,” Shine said. “I didn’t think we were ready to compete at the 4A level. I think it’s the right move at this moment.” Scheduling games as an independent has proved diﬃcult, Shine said. “It was hard to find teams that could play us because a lot of them had filled their schedule already,” Shine said. “That’s why we’re playing a couple [of] homeschool teams that we’ve never heard of before, just to get the games in.” Competing as an independent also prevents Greenhill football from playing conference rivals, eliminating the annual showdown with St. Mark’s School of Texas and other local teams. “We have no game to look forward to, and I don’t know any of the opposing players,” Fagelman said. “At many of the other private schools in our area, the players are kids I have grown up with, so it’s more interesting to play them because I feel like there’s more at stake.” Even though there are fewer students coming to the games, the ones showing up

Photo courtesy of Lillian Smith

CHEERING LOUD: Senior cheerleader Briana Solomon, center, celebrates at the first football game of the season with friends in the whiteout-themed student section. are enthusiastic, according to Barnes. “I think the school spirit has been just as good, even though we switched conferences, because I think people are excited that there is a higher chance we'll win the game,” Barnes said. Many students still dress up, bring confetti and speakers and make signs, including Fagelman, who uses a megaphone to cheer on players. “I am still trying Walter Fagelman to support all my friends, especially my senior friends, who are working very hard even when there is no championship for them to play for,” Fagelman said. The enthusiasm created by Greenhill

scoring more points is also evident to the cheerleaders. “Every time we get a touchdown, there is so much more cheering and it’s much more fun,” Barnes said. But the reduced number of students turning out to support the team is an issue for players, according to Meyer. “I think having a student section is very important,” Meyer said. “If we can feel the energy on the field, it really motivates us.” Fagelman is trying to do his part to encourage Greenhill students to support the team. “I’d love for more people to actually show up and bring things like megaphones, speakers and signs to get the team going,” Fagelman said. Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

September 30, 2026

Ela Battikhi

Sports

Future Athletes in the Making

or many young Greenhill students, the first step onto a field is not just about learning how to throw, kick or swing. It is about finding a team, building confidence and discovering what it means to represent their school. To encourage team building, the Hornet Sports Association was created nearly two decades ago to give younger athletes an opportunity to develop skills and prepare for Middle and Upper School athletics. “It was created because of equity,” said Head of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine said. “Some kids didn’t know how to get on a team.” HSA currently serves prekindergarten to sixth grade, leading up to the seventh-grade switch to competitive sports. Like Middle School athletics, HSA is split into three seasons: fall, winter and spring. Additionally, the program oﬀers almost all Greenhill sports, ranging from swimming to flag football. The program originated when Head of Preschool and Lower School Michael Simpson recognized a need for young students’ access to Jarrett Shine sports. The goal was to create a system with little pressure where students could participate, work together and compete as members of the Greenhill community, according to Shine. “This is really a way for all the kids to develop together, learn and have fun playing these sports,” Shine said. Before HSA existed, younger students frequently faced challenges in finding the right teams and opportunities. “It was only about who had the right information, who had the right connections,” Shine said.

Penelope Stone

Evergreen Ever the

While originally Greenhill athletics organized teams by collecting sign-ups and placing students on rosters, the HSA allowed for more transparency for students looking to join sports competitions. Now, the association provides a structured environment where students can develop as athletes while building relationships with their peers. As a parent-led organization, the HSA can also directly connect with students and families dedicated to athletics, creating dedicated teams that also benefit from Greenhill’s facilities. “Through HSA, my son has thought about sports he wants to play in high school and what that looks like at Greenhill,” said Elizabeth Starrs, a parent involved in HSA. “It is sort of the feeder to the sports at Greenhill, so he maybe knows what to expect and what’s expected of him being on a Greenhill team.” While the program incentivizes younger students to learn about team sports, higher grade levels mainly focus on preparing for Greenhill athletics. “One of the things that has changed is when they get to fifth and sixth grade,” Shine said. “Now they’re creating sort of like a cut structure, so kids are separated based on skill level.” This approach allows athletes who are ready for a higher level of competition to continue developing while still providing opportunities for other students to improve and enjoy the sport. “It’s trying to prepare those kids, so when they get to Middle School, they’re prepared to help us compete at a higher level,” Shine said Beyond athletic development, Shine believes the HSA teaches students lessons that extend beyond the field. “It teaches being dependable,” Shine said. “Teams create teamwork, and they’re taught teamwork. It’s the ability to push through some adversity.”

Photo courtesy of Elena Kramer

BUZZING PLAYS: Young Hornets secure a win at a volleyball tournament through the Hornet Sports Association. Tournaments like this create cherished memories. For many students, one of the most meaningful parts of HSA is the opportunity to represent Greenhill. Instead of playing on unrelated community teams, HSA athletes compete under the school, helping them build school pride and a connection to future athletics. “I think it’s better to play with kids at your school because you can relate to things at school like sports,” sixth grader Arthur Starrs said. “You may not have any classes with them, but you’re on the same team, so you can still get to know them.” Shine said he hopes those experiences encourage students to continue pursuing sports as they grow older and eventually

contribute to oﬃcial Greenhill athletic programs. Through teamwork, competition and skill development, the HSA continues to provide younger students with the foundation they need to become confident athletes and key players in the future of Greenhill’s athletics. “You hear parents come back and say, ‘my kid had a great experience in HSA. We had a great coach. They grew to love the sport,’” Shine said.

Soccer team, FC Dallas, plays in Frisco, around 28 miles away. I understand the economic arguments made by owners of the Mavericks and Stars in explaining their relocation plans. For the past 30 years, the Dallas Stars have been building a Dallas-Fort Worth youth hockey ecosystem through eight StarCenters located in Valley Ranch, Farmers Branch, Richardson,

Alberts recently told the Dallas Morning News that “the overwhelming percentage of Stars season-ticket holders live north of Interstate 635.” It’s clear that the move to Plano will shift the team closer to its fanbase, bringing convenience and further expanding its hockey ecosystem. The Mavericks move could be an economic bonanza for the team’s owners. Their destination is the 104-acre site of the former Valley View Mall, which will allow for future mixed-use commercial and residential development around the new sports arena – a model that has proved profitable for the owners of MLB’s Atlanta Braves and other sports franchises. While both the Mavericks and the Stars have compelling reasons for leaving Victory Park, I can’t help but think this decision will hurt Dallas in the long run. It will make it harder to compete with places like New York, Chicago and Boston as a vibrant urban destination. As I start to give thought to where I want to live and start my career after college, I’m already thinking about the sports and nightlife a city has to offer. Professional sports teams build community, and that’s something young people crave. While it’s unclear whether Dallas officials could have done more to head off the departure of the Mavericks and the Stars, I worry that these developments will damage its aspirations to become one of the leading cities in America.

Nirvan Bhattacharya contributed reporting to this story.

Mavericks and Stars Move

ust four months ago, I watched the New York Knicks defeat the heavily favored San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden to win the NBA Championship. The series was a cultural event for the city of New York whose fans, from A-list celebrities to the average joe, watched, cheered and celebrated with their team. Events like this are what draw people to live in the heart of New York City. Across America, some of the most celebrated cities have grown up with major sports franchises at the heart of their downtown. The Dallas Metroplex is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and civic leaders aspire to build an iconic identity like those of other great cities. With the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and NHL’s Dallas Stars playing home games in the American Airlines Center located in the heart of Victory Park, Dallas was rapidly attracting the country’s best and brightest. But now, with the recent news that the Mavericks and the Stars are leaving the AAC for new homes in the years ahead, Dallas won’t have a single sports franchise located in its urban core. While this may be a smart economic move for the

team owners, it’s a huge loss for the city of Dallas. Growing up in Oakland, California, I personally watched a city lose all three of its major franchises. This was devastating for the fans and the city, which is still dealing with the economic and cultural fallout of those departures. I don’t want Dallas to face the same fate.

Before the announcement that the Mavericks were headed to North Dallas and the Stars were headed to Plano, miles from the city center, three other major sports teams already resided outside the Dallas city limits. Both the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the MLB’s Texas Rangers have stadiums in Arlington, around 20 miles away from downtown Dallas. The city’s Major League

Frisco, McKinney and Plano. The proposed arena in Plano is much closer to these existing hockey fan bases. Stars CEO and team president Brad

20 Sports

Evergreen Ever the

New APC Inspires Excitement

Victoria Gonchar

he new Athletic Performance Center had its soft opening on Aug. 19, debuting a new weightroom and turf

field. The 7,200-square-foot weightroom allows for up to three sports teams to use the facilities at once. “Our most important consideration was space,” said Director of Sports Performance and Student-Athlete Development Jessen Houston. “We wanted at least twice the amount of space as the old High Performance Center because sometimes three teams would want to use it at once, and it took a lot of Jessen Houston organization for that to work.” The space is modeled after athletic facilities at NCAA Division I programs to provide Greenhill students with a collegelevel training environment, according to Houston, who helped design the APC. He said the center has similar square footage, amount of weight racks, equipment and staffing as facilities at the collegiate level. “Everything we do at Greenhill is college prep, and we can now effectively say that our sports performance is college prep,” Houston said. Head of Athletics and Physical Education Jarrett Shine, who also contributed to designing the new building, echoes this opinion. “Among the high schools, what we have to offer in the new space is some of the best in the DFW area.” Shine said. “Some people even say that they’ve been to a college-type atmosphere and our facility is better than some of them.” The APC is furnished with new equipment, including machines that were

not in the old High Performance Center such as open trap bars, lat pulldowns, cable row machines, jammer arms, hyperextension machines and Jacob’s ladders. “I’m really excited to use the new equipment, especially when I’m out of season and the building opens up more,” senior Alex Meyer said. While the second floor is currently open, construction is continuing on the sports medicine and team rooms. It is set to be completed before the Homecoming football game, according to Shine. The new facilities have also attracted many students who are not currently playing a sport to come and work out. The recent turnout is the most students Houston says he has ever seen this early in the year. “I like going because I feel like all the new equipment is geared towards athletic performance versus just building muscle,” said senior Sam Schultz, who is currently in his oﬀseason. Other students shared similar positive feedback. “I really like the new building, and I definitely think it’s more motivating to work out there since it’s new and diﬀerent,” freshman Aisha Bhasin said. Houston and Shine are still debating what to do with the old space. Currently, it is designated for the after-school yoga class and cheer team practices.

Everything we do at Greenhill is college-prep and we can now effectively say that our sports performance is college prep.”

The football team has also been given access to the new boys locker room on the first floor of the APC. Like the weightroom, these athletic lockers are modelled after NCAA Division I programs. They include a space for players to hang their shoulder pads

Photo by Penelope Stone

LEVELING UP: The new APC consists of NCAA-level facilities, including a large weight room on the second floor for students to exercise in throughout the year. and helmet, a drawer for cleat ventilation, a lockable compartment and a seat. “Especially for football, the old locker rooms were outdated,” Meyer said. “It’s just really cool to have that new space right next to the practice field.” Field hockey is set to start using the girls locker room when the nearby AstroTurf field is completed in the coming weeks, according to Shine. While the new facilities have brought more space and equipment, students and faculty are still adjusting to the transition. The sports performance team had figured out a flow in the old space, since it was more convenient for the gym to be attached to the HPC, according to Houston. Now, the team is working to maximize eﬃciency in the new space. “It is still much better than the old space, and as soon as we figure out how to filter kids in and out, it is going to be everything

I’ve dreamed of,” Houston said. To better manage the new space, Houston emailed a schedule and sign-up sheet to all Upper School students to track the APC’s busiest times and staff the building appropriately. “I’m hoping with our increased efficiency, it will allow us to develop more of our athletes into the dreams and aspirations that they are reaching for,” Houston said. “We’ve had the staff for it, but now we have the equipment, space and availability.” The sign-up sheet system has not been convenient for everyone. Schultz said it has discouraged him from using the facility. “I usually just go when I’m motivated instead of planning in advance,” Schultz said. Although the new building is exciting for many, Meyer said its benefits ultimately will depend on a different factor. “You can’t say the team won’t succeed without a good weightroom,” Meyer said.

Athletic Leadership Council Launches Evan Huang

he Upper School has replaced the Captains Council this year with a new Athletic Leadership Council comprised of captains from every sport in the current season. The Athletic Leadership Council’s first event was held on Aug. 11. Members reviewed expectations, participated in activities and discussed needed improvements across teams. While superficially this meeting aligned with the previous Captains Council, the organization and frequency of meetings shifted the group’s purpose, according to Upper School Math Department Chair

Darryn Sandler ’95, who coaches the girls basketball team and also oversees the council. Sandler leads each meeting alongside Associate Head of Athletics John Rortvedt and Head of Athletics and Physical Education Darryn Sandler Jarrett Shine. “The Captains Council did not meet as frequently as we would like to have the impact that we want it to have,” Sandler said. “We thought regular meetings with the captains throughout the season would be more beneficial.”

Photo by Marleigh Massoud

LEADER'S LUNCH: The Athletic Leadership Council discusses upcoming games, tournaments and fun events to highlight important achievements of all fall sports.

Currently, the Athletic Leadership Council is set to meet weekly, allowing student-athletes within a season to better discuss struggles and successes. Sandler adds that the increased sessions help center the council’s attention around leadership growth and team culture. Before introducing the Athletic Leadership Council, the previous council met three times each season, with gatherings including the captains of every season’s sports. “The Captains Council used to be all the captains, so it was harder to get more sportspecific things,” said senior Julia Deibert, who is a girls volleyball captain. By shifting the meetings to a smaller group, the council has more time to focus on issues, as the sports are limited to that current season. “We do it by season, so it's all fall sport captains together, a smaller group,” Deibert said. “This way, we can have more conversations and discussions.” Through meeting with coaches and administrators, Sandler identified areas of improvement for Greenhill athletics which he now uses to organize regular council sessions. He also reports to the coaches what was discussed during the meetings, ensuring the captains meet expectations. Senior Trey Davis, a football captain, notes the positive changes the council has made for teams. “Because there's less people, there's more room to participate,” Davis said. In addition to building stronger relationships across teams and allowing for more streamlined communication, the council is also aimed at improving student leadership. Davis, for one, says the council meetings have begun to help him cultivate leadership skills as a captain and serve as a role model

to his teammates. “I think hearing other people [oﬀer their views] helps me grow, and learning new things in every meeting helps me grow too,” Davis said. Senior Jordy Wilkofsky, a girls volleyball captain, echoes this sentiment. “I think it's helped me think more deeply before I act and speak because sometimes, I don't realize how it will aﬀect others,” Wilkofsky said.

I think hearing other people [oﬀer their views] helps me grow, and learning new things in every meeting helps me grow too."

Sandler says he hopes these positive impacts of the council continue to occur. One result that Sandler hopes to see is increased participation and stronger school spirit. Wilkofsky and Deibert say council discussions about the lack of student support for Greenhill sporting events have given them ideas for how this problem might be addressed. “Some of the schools on the teams in our conference have a lot of kids, so they have more support,” Deibert said. “But because we're a smaller school, sometimes getting kids to come out and support can be challenging.” Sandler says he is hopeful the new council can improve sports and the sports culture at Greenhill. “This is one of the strongest classes we've had, both athletically and as far as leadership is concerned,” Sandler said. “This is a great year to really see this take oﬀ and hopefully set the tone for what we want in future years.”

Views

Pumpkin Spice Review

Victoria Gonchar, Lillian Smith

ach fall, various coﬀee shops in Dallas feature pumpkin spice lattes on their menus. These lattes seem to be fanfavorites year after year, so much so that you can find them on practically every corner. So don’t waste your time trying them all, because Evergreen foodies Victoria Gonchar and Lillian Smith set out on a hunt to find the best pumpkin spice latte in Dallas.

Starbucks Each year, pumpkin spice fans await the return of Starbucks’ fall line. Although a classic, the pumpkin spice latte served by the Seattle-based chain is just all right. The coﬀee taste overpowers the hints of pumpkin, and honestly, there are just better options out there. However, Starbucks also features a pumpkin cream chai and a pumpkin cream shaken espresso. In our opinion, all three of these drinks are delicious, but the chai and shaken espresso outdo the latte every time. Therefore, we rate the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte a 6 out of 10.

La La Land La La Land Kind Cafe’s World’s Best Pumpkin Cloud Latte definitely lives up to its name. This coﬀee adds the perfect fall twist to La La Land’s year-round World’s

Best Vanilla Latte by replacing the signature vanilla “cloud” – their version of a whipped cold foam – with pumpkin and a dusting of pumpkin spice on top. The “cloud” gave the coﬀee a creamier consistency than the other lattes, but it also made the drink much more unique and enjoyable. The latte had the perfect amount of pumpkin flavoring without being overly sweet or overpowered by the bitterness of the coﬀee. Overall, the pumpkin flavoring and creamy “cloud” made this one of our favorite fall drinks this season. We rate La La Land’s World’s Best Pumpkin Cloud Latte an 8.5 out of 10.

Whole Foods The Whole Foods coﬀee bar is a year-round favorite of ours. It’s consistent and known for uniquely flavored lattes such as Berry Chantilly Cake and Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie. So, when Whole

Foods came back with their pumpkin spice latte, we knew it was a must-try item. The latte was delicious and not too milky. It was essentially autumn in a cup and featured hints of maple and nutmeg in addition to pumpkin. The coﬀee taste wasn’t too strong, though, so strengthening that would be our only note. Overall, we would give the Whole Foods pumpkin spice latte a 9 out of 10.

White Rock White Rock Coffee makes all its iced lattes with a signature cold brew concentrate, not espresso. So, we were interested to see how that would complement pumpkin spice. We found that the coffee taste was much stronger than most other lattes. Instead of a melted pumpkin milkshake taste, this latte was more coffee with a hint of pumpkin. This resulted in a nice contrast with some other lattes on the list, and White Rock Coffee clearly chooses to avoid compromising coffee flavor for seasonal flavorings. Overall,

we’d give this latte a 7 out of 10.

Foxtrot As weekly Foxtrot Market visitors, we had high expectations for their Pumpkin Pie Latte, but unfortunately, it left us very disappointed. The drink was bitter and tasted like an actual pumpkin instead of the sweet, flavored syrup we were expecting. The “pumpkin pie” name was very misleading since the latte did not have a single hint of sweetness. While we appreciated the eﬀort to create a more authentic pumpkin taste, the execution was just not there. The latte lacked flavor overall, allowing the coﬀee to overpower the pumpkin. Foxtrot, please stick to matcha! We give the Pumpkin Pie Latte a 3 out of 10.

Catalyst On Sept. 8, Greenhill’s Catalyst Coﬀee premiered its pumpkin spice latte. As soon as we heard the news, we scurried over to try the latte immediately. We thought Catalyst’s pumpkin spice latte was everything that Foxtrot was trying to be. It had a nice, strong pumpkin spice flavor, but it wasn’t overly sweet like other pumpkin spice lattes. Additionally, the barista made our latte in a matter of seconds and, as always, made our day with his kindness! Overall, we would give this pumpkin spice latte a 7.5 out of 10.

Upper School Votes on Summer Films

Graphics by Lydia Kerridge and Lylah Pouratian

22 Views

Evergreen Ever the

the

Evergreen Sta� Ever

Gen-Z’s So-Called Literacy Crisis

Lucy Kim

Lucy Kim is a senior who is passionate about reading and literature.

f you’ve been reading or listening to the news lately – whether TV, news websites, or Instagram Reels and TikTok – you’ve probably been told that our country is in the midst of a literacy crisis. From the infamous “she wore a silhouette of clothes that were extraordinary but somewhat gauche” video to “Love Island’s” viral “epi-tome,” it does seem convincing enough to think we really are in one. But while these funny clips of mispronunciations have become “proof ” of this so-called “crisis,” they raise the question: What even is a literacy crisis? And to what extent are we in one? Simply put, Lucy Kim there is a growing disconnect between reading and Americans; however, the mispronunciation of words doesn’t equate to a literacy crisis. That’s hyperbole. The term “literacy crisis” has led to several interpretations. Some might consider it to mean the inability to read, while others may believe it to be the inability to make meaning out of text. Even further, most online clips and popular news stories that ramble on about this concern fail to define the supposed crisis. This is not to say that these interpretations are wrong. Instead, it demonstrates the subjectivity of the term, making it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition. For me, I don’t think America is in

a literacy crisis, but rather in the face of a severe disconnect. This is the case because of two major factors: socioeconomic status and the difference in accessibility to resources and how we use them. Socioeconomic status and literacy have always had a corresponding relationship with each other. In a research article published in the University of Michigan’s “Journal of Economics,” author Maren Blanchard observes that just as those born in poverty are more likely to remain impoverished, those born into families with lower literacy levels have a greater likelihood of having weaker literacy skills themselves. Quality education levels have a direct correlation to literacy competence, as the skill is taught and established from a young age. Research published by the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth found that in comparison to their lower-income peers, higher incomes were consistently associated with better results for children – specifically in teacheradministered reading scores. Other studies reveal the importance of additional support inside the classroom for disadvantaged students. This lack of support and educational attainment doesn’t just impact a child’s ability to learn in their early years, but it also affects them long-term. A study by the National Library of Medicine shows that more educated individuals usually have higher levels of literacy skills than the less educated. Thus, an assumed literary “crisis” fails to account for the everpresent effect of socioeconomic gap, a key feature of our society that has only been amplified in recent years. So, are we really in a literacy crisis? In an interview, Harvard professor of cognition and education Catherine Snow contends that “data [does] not support anything like a literacy crisis.”

The data she is referring to is National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, which measure the core subject performance of students from grades K-12. Overall trends show that pre-pandemic literacy scores since 2000 have steadily increased among all ages. However, that is not to say there is no literacy problem in America. Personally, I do feel that America and upcoming generations are in trouble due to the lack of reading for pleasure, though not at a crisis level. For me, reading both in and outside of the classroom has made me a better person. Not only is reading intellectually beneficial, allowing for an expanded vocabulary, improved memory and reduced stress, but it also morally benefits us. Growing up in Greenhill English classrooms, I have had the privilege of reading stories of people from all walks of life. From “The One and Only Ivan” to classics like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Animal Farm,” and “The Great Gatsby,” to culturally profound stories like “Purple Hibiscus,” “Mexican Apology,” and “Poet X,” just to name a few, literature has shaped the person I am today. However, it was one story I read in my Spanish literature class that sparked my realization of the profound importance reading has to humanity. Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al libro” (“Ode to the book”) emphasizes that: “A book, filled with human touches… without loneliness, with people and tools, a book is victory.” Reading is a privilege, something that we are lucky to have access to, even if we don’t use it to the fullest. Not only does it benefit us mentally in numerous ways, but it also makes us better human beings. So, whether you are in a reading rut or haven’t picked up a book for fun since middle school, let this be a sign to go read.

The Rise of Flock Cameras

he rise of automated license-plate readers commonly known as Flock cameras across Texas has signified yet another push toward a dystopian society. “Big Brother” is here, and we are all bracing for what comes next. In the past few months, these inconspicuous devices have become a central point of tension. Amid public outcries, Gov. Greg Abbott halted funding to Flock Safety, the manufacturer. Thirty-six states have reported vandalism directed at these cameras so far because of the perceived intrusion into our privacy and liberties, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At the same time, arguments have risen in favor of these devices, emphasizing how Flock cameras contribute to public safety. Flock Safety itself highlights the ability of these cameras to find missing people and combat car theft. However, we can’t help but question the necessity of these cameras. Whether it’s the use of AI in analyzing camera data or the genuine skepticism of a governmental tracking system, Flock cameras give an alarming amount of control to their operators. The cases of police oﬃcers tracking former romantic partners undoubtedly hinders safety, the very opposite of Flock’s goal. We wouldn’t want police cars to follow us home, so why can police cameras do it? Moreover, this technology seems suspiciously fitting for an Orwellian story. Specifically in Texas, 6,809 Flock cameras were used to locate and arrest a woman,

simply because she got an abortion. Another concern comes from the anti-immigration sentiments that linger through our state. Texas’ location along the U.S.-Mexico border makes it crucial in all immigration-related legislation. As racial profiling is mixed into this system, Flock cameras give officials another tool in their toolbox to find people solely off their ethnic or racial background. While officials have not addressed this potential, we can infer the signs that are in bright, bold letters. The stated primary purpose of these cameras has been to track license plates, connecting each car with characteristics, locations and times of drives. No other details have been released to the public, creating another red flag surrounding these devices. On all accords, Americans view privacy as a right. While the concept has long been disputed in the United States, keeping the whereabouts of our cars private should not be controversial. The development of this technology relies on the muddled existence of our right to privacy. Yes, our license plates are publicized on our car, but that doesn’t mean the police department can store this information

alongside our timestamps and location. As these cameras become more widespread, the line between public safety and constant monitoring becomes increasingly difficult to define. In a state where Donald Trump’s border policies have had a severe effect on many, Flock cameras cannot be seen merely as a tracking system for law enforcement. The supposed efficiency of these devices is largely undercut by the possible malicious underlying intent, especially when attempted deportations are such a common protocol for Texas officials. Ultimately, public safety matters; Flock cameras are simply not safe. Police should have effective tools to investigate serious crimes, but many of these tools already exist, such as toll tags, traffic cameras or cruiser-mounted cameras that automatically read license plates. Why should we allow state overreach to impose another tool that infringes on our privacy? Technology must serve the public, not quietly expand the knowledge of our government. And until someone can provide a true rationale for these cameras, we cannot support their existence. This isn’t Orwell’s “1984.” Safety matters, and the cost of privacy is one that is too high to be paid. Graphic by Lylah Pouratian

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Jordan Arbuckle Vivian White Kaitlyn Yoo

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF - ONLINE Penelope Stone

EXECUTIVE EDITORS Aanya Bhoria Lylah Pouratian Lillian Smith

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE EDITOR Victoria Gonchar

MANAGING EDITORS Cindy Chou Kushi Punnam Cate Simpson

NEWS EDITORS Noa Pouratian Julia Bella Frankfurt

FEATURES EDITORS Marleigh Massoud Natalie Ledyard

ARTS EDITORS Ela Battikhi Aashi Punnam

SPORTS EDITORS Elena Kramer Anvitha Sagi

VIEWS EDITORS Willa Oza Nithya Rao

STAFF WRITERS Daniella Antypas Brooklyn Dean Isabel Evans Alia Gaitonde Evan Huang Talia Sidikaro Laura Zaballa

ADVISOR

Gregg Jones

Response? Opinion? Original Idea? Email the Editors-in-Chief: arbucklej28@greenhill.org whitev27@greenhill.org yook27@greenhill.org

EDITORIAL POLICY

The Evergreen is an independent, studentled newspaper serving the Greenhill School community. It is printed six times during the school year. Print circulation is 900 copies. Past issues are archived at issuu.com/ghevergreen. Our staff upholds a code of ethics that values honesty, integrity, accuracy and responsibility. Our mission is to help our community interpret campus, local, state and national events through content 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. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Evergreen staff, not necessarily that of Greenhill School.