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VOL.46 NO.6 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, CA •www.scdsoctagon.com • March 7, 2023
APPLYING PRESSURE Country Day seniors race against one another in the admissions process. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM AKINS & SAMHITA KUMAR
Seniors recall application season pressures SCDS heads to Mock Trial state
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BY ANISHA MONDAL
lass of 2023: 35 students; 506 college applications; 135 schools. Country Day seniors are preparing for college life and have now completed the application process. The class of 2023 felt the pressure. Director of College Counseling Alicia Perla has noticed an increase in applications per student compared to last year. “I believe we’re at about 14 applications per student this year, as opposed to maybe 11 applications last year,” Perla
said. “We always have a lot of students applying to the Universities of California, but it seems like more students applied to all the UCs than last year, and that may be due to how unpredictable they were last year.” Senior Ryan Paul said the pressure from family and friends increased the number of colleges he applied to. Senior Adam Akins struggled with narrowing down his college options, as he started with a list of 58 different schools of interest. Akins also had arguments with his family while deciding which colleges to apply to. “First, you have to manage your ex-
pectations and understand what’s realistic to you,” Akins said. Secondly, he said you need to manage your parents’ expectations. Akins combed through his essays, rewriting word by word in order to perfect the voice. Akins also had progress and editing checks with friends and family. Many students, like senior Minh Dang, had to juggle between her college options because of her parents. “I have to balance between schools that my dad wanted me to get in and the schools that I wanted to get in. So,
ADMISSIONS page 3 >>
SCDS community speaks multiple languages Country Day students are always chattering about something; whether it be their next class, fresh new gossip, or simply wondering when lunch will finally arrive. However, not everyone is speaking the same language all the time; students can be heard calling their parents at the end of the day, speaking in Cantonese or Spanish, while other students chat amongst
themselves in physics class in Turkish or Uzbeki. One of the everyday ways Country Day’s multiculturalism manifests itself is linguistically. Here, some of Country Day’s students living in bilingual and multilingual households share their language experiences.
Grace Zhao
darin. Zhao grew up with the language, having two fluent parents at home and close ties to extedended family in China. When Zhao was young, before reaching kindergarten age, she would spend months at a time with her grandparents in China. That was the best her Mandarin had ever been. “I picked it up like my first language. English was actually the second language
Junior Grace Zhao understands Man-
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ONLINE PSAT
On March 18, the school will be hosting its annual fundraising gala, Shaken and Stirred. The theme is 007 Bond, and guests are encouraged to wear black tie attire. The gala will include a red carpet, live music, dancing, food, casino games and a martini bar.
On March 31, sophomores will be taking the Compass Practice PSAT. This standardized practice test will be their first opportunity to experience the new digital format of the PSAT. Starting with the class of 2025, CollegeBoard’s standardized test will be taken via computer.
Country Day’s mock trial team will be heading to the state finals after triumphing over Elk Grove High School at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County competition. The Cavaliers took two ballots to Elk Grove’s one and earned a score of 505-504. The Feb. 15 trial was the fourth time the team has gone to finals and the second time the team has won the county competition since SCDS formed its team in 2005. Last year, Elk Grove beat Country Day in the finals of the county competition with tied ballots and a score of 607-605. Mock Trial is a competition that simulates court trials. Each trial is judged by three scorers, two of whom voted for Country Day and one who voted for Elk Grove this year. Junior co-captain Grace Zhao was amazed by the team’s performance. “It feels great to win this year,” she said. “We worked so, so hard. We were in a much better place in terms of preparation this year despite the number of new members to the team.” Zhao credited the team’s dedication and confidence as big factors in the finals. “We had a lot of new people trying new positions who were always super dedicated to their
BILINGUALISM page 3 >>
FEATURE
BY SIRI ATLURI
BY ISHAAN SEKHON
Fashion in focus Learn about the unique styles of four members of the SCDS community. (PAGE 6-7) PHOTO BY ADAM AKINS
MOCK TRIAL page 3 >>