The Reserve Record - Western Reserve Academy

VOL. CI....No. 3
The Reserve Record
The longest-running
newspaper in historic
Hudson, Ohio
WESTERN RESERVE ACADEMY, HUDSON, OHIO.
OCTOBER 2014
Reserve Marches for Green World
Seven WRA students join protesters in
largest climate march in history.
Academy’s Goulish Past
Captain Breaks School Record
WRA Archivist Tom Vince reveals eerie Hassell ’15 surpasses Boys Soccer school
details about older buildings on campus. record for career goals scored.
Hong Kong Democracy Protests
Hong Kong’s tradition of self-governance clashes with Chinese rule.
P A G E 3 | CO M M UN I T Y
PAGE 6-7 | C EN T ER FO L D
P AG E 1 2 | W ORLD NE W S
Dorms Stay
Open Over
First Break
New Policy Lets Students
Relax on Campus
By MICHAEL PAMER ‘17
As the leaves and temperatures
started to fall, Western Reserve
Academy began its first break
of the year. Unlike in previous
years, the dormitories remained
open. While students living relatively close to WRA can easily
go home even for short breaks,
international students must often find other accommodations.
In past years, the Dean’s Office
has required students to either
go home or find housing with
host families, but last year, many
international students stayed
at a local hotel—not the most
welcoming of places to spend a
school break.
“Keeping the dorms open is a
good and appropriate option for
those who live several time zones
away,” said English Department
Chair Matt Peterson, who serves
as the House Master of Long
House. “[The House Masters]
had input on what would be
reasonable expectations for adult
supervision,” he said. According
to Peterson, the policy did not
demand much from house masters: “My charge was to be in the
dorm and be available at night,”
he explained.
Although the dining hall
provided a hearty continental
breakfast, lunch and dinner for
the students on campus, those
who decided to stay had few responsibilities. Director of Weekend Activities Tim McQuait
scheduled a ghost walk at the
Cuyahoga Valley National Park,
a shopping trip at the Aurora
Farms Premium Outlets and a
movie run to the Macedonia
Cinemark Theaters.
Check-in was at 10:30 p.m.
from Saturday through Monday
for the boarders. The policies
on transportation remained the
same: the students had to notify
the administrator on duty if they
wished to venture off campus in
a car.
“It’ll be the norm,” reported
Dean of Student Life Annie
Neill. “Dorms will remain open
during mid-term breaks.” This
way, students will be able to relax
in a familiar, comfortable environment: their own dorm room.
Neill confirmed that dorms will
still close for Thanksgiving, Holiday, and Spring Breaks.
PA GE 8 | S PO R T S
French Students Visit Campus for ELISA Exchange
By ANNA McMURCHY ’15
Ah, France. With its breadbaskets teeming with baguettes
and its cathedrals brimming
with vibrant history, this land
of high culture fascinates many
Americans. Rachel Morris ’16
traveled to France over the summer in the ELISA program, one
of Western Reserve Academy’s
study-abroad opportunities. She
spent much of the trip in the
south of France, but also enjoyed touring Paris.
During her visit, the World
Cup was in full swing. She remembers that Algeria won its
first-ever world cup game, causing Parisians to celebrate in the
streets where they shouted joyously and honked their cars’
horns. At La Louvre, she caught
a glimpse of Mona Lisa’s mysterious grin and witnessed many
aspiring artists concentrating as
they sketched and even spraypainted their own renditions
of famous paintings. While
abroad, Morris even won a game
of Scrabble, despite the fact that
she played mostly in French!
Down south, Morris experienced her favorite memory of
the trip: hiking in the Pyrenees
mountains. Her taste buds em-
JENNY XU
French students on their way to the Szalay’s Farm and Market, one of many destinations on their itinerary.
barked on an adventure of their
own as she sampled the local
cuisine, some things of which
did not taste quite as delicious as
she had hoped. Tartare, a lump
of raw meat, didn’t tickle her
fancy.
Max Borrmann ’16 reports
that while he was not exactly
thrilled about his experience
with head cheese—all the various bits of ground up meat from
the crevices of a pig’s head—it
did make everything he ate after
that taste like a sensational trip
COURTESY OF LISABETH ROBINSON
Students visited a Cleveland conference about LGBT issues on Oct. 18.
GSA Goes to GLSEN
By MAKENA HAYES ’17
On Oct. 18, a dozen students
sacrificed their school-free Saturday to venture out to Cleveland in a quest for knowledge,
justice and equality. Their destination: the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network
(GLSEN) Eighth Annual Youth
Conference at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. History teacher Dr. Lisabeth Robinson chaperoned the
group.
From the outside, the Center,
a small brick storefront, would
not warrant a second look from
passerby. Its sole distinguishing feature was a collection of
scarves—red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo and violet—
in the window.
The students were led down
a staircase in the store to discover the lively atmosphere of
the event. Friendly greetings and
warm cinnamon rolls soon demonstrated the Center’s effervescent hospitality.
To begin the conference, attendees met Gary DiBianca, the
Co-Chair of GLSEN of Northeast Ohio (GLSEN NEO). Next
through Wonka’s factory.
From Oct. 18 to Oct. 25, these
students’ French hosts embarked
on a journey to the most incredible place imaginable: America,
the land of cowboys, apple pie
and deep fryers. During their
short time here, the French students took part in all kinds of
excursions, such as trips to the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
apple orchards, local festivities
and so much more.
Morris, who kept in touch
with her French host sister via
email and Snapchat, enjoyed
taking her friend shopping at
authentic American retail stores.
These exchange students accompanied their hosts to classes;
Morris was excited to see what
her student thought of her AP
United States History class, famously taught by History Department Chair Diccon Ong
’82.
Reportedly, all Borrmann’s
guest student really wanted was
to taste some good old American
fried chicken.
to speak was the inspiring and
witty Paige Joy, a college junior
with many heartwarming stories to tell about her experiences
growing up as a lesbian.
Jeff Bixby, co-chair of GLSEN
NEO, followed with an interactive lesson in LGBTQ history,
the all-too-often glossed over
chapter in world history textbooks. Attendees created their
own LGBTQ timeline, anddating all the way back to the
time of Alexander the Great
and including dates as recent
as President Barack Obama’s
repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” policy. At the very end of
this wall-sized timeline, the attendees signed their names to
commemorate their places in
LGBTQ history.
Nancy Boutilier, professor at
Oberlin College and celebrated
lesbian poet, was another big
hit. According to attendee Sandra Spurlock ’17, Boutilier “was
an incredibly passionate speaker
who knew what she was talking
about.” Her enthusiasm encouraged attendees to use their stories to change the world.
After a quick pizza break, the
conference was visited by several
members of The North Coast
Men’s Chorus. Their main goal
that day was to deliver powerful and touching stories about
their lives as gay men. These
stories ranged from lighthearted
recollections that had their audience bursting out into laughter
to emotional sagas that moved
some attendees to tears.
“The conference allowed me to
see the way that real people have
been impacted by social injustices and how America is coming around to equal rights,” said
Duncan Ostrom ’17. By implementing this equality at Western
Reserve Academy, we can allow
for a safe space for students and
teachers to be who they are no
matter what.”
GSA co-president Taryn Washburn ’16, who attended the
conference, recommended that
everyone try to go to at least one
event like this, simply “for the
sheer exposure to the information and culture.”
After hearing the stories of so
many inspiring people, the attendees of the GLSEN NEO
Eighth Annual Youth Conference would like to challenge Reserve Record readers to use their
own stories to make a positive
difference in the world.
2
RESERVE RECORD NEWS OCTOBER 2014
A Familiar Face Returns to WRA Campus to Coach
By TIA FORSYTH ’18
At the beginning of the school
year, while Western Reserve
Academy students focused on
the kickoff of fall sports, the athletic department made it their
mission to replace last year’s
Boys Lacrosse coach, Tim Randall. After a long and arduous
search, they finally found the
perfect fit, alum Audi Glass ’04.
Glass will take over the position with plenty of experience,
including playing at Bishop’s
University in Canada, working with many club teams and
coaching at the the College of
Wooster. He will be the program’s third head coach in the
past three years.
Glass is excited to carry on
JENNY XU
the rich, respected tradition of
WRA lacrosse and prove that
WRA still has one of the best
programs in the Midwest. “Even
while I was coaching college lacrosse, I aspired to be a part of
a community that you can only
find at a boarding school,” he
said. “I am honored to return to
WRA and to lead my alma mater, a program that I respect and
love so much.”
Ping Pong Club Sparks Interest
By COLIN HORGAN ’15
around 30 students showed up
to the meeting on the first Friday, after dinner, ready to “get
the ball rolling.” With the first
objective of Ping Pong Club—
to spread the word—complete,
the only goal left was to have
fun.
“Moving forward, we definitely want to have a couple of
tournaments and award the winner with some sort of prize (likely a Chipotle gift card). Then,
we will have the student winner play the faculty winner for
bragging rights,” said ButenskyBartlett; his fanaticism for table
tennis was born just like that of
many students: from playing on
a table in his basement or at a
friend’s house.
The club welcomes anyone
who wants to play and is certainly not only for those who
wish to play competitively. In
case this all isn’t motivation
enough for you to join, Baasiri
and Butensky-Bartlett will also
wear warm-up jackets to all ping
pong-related events.
The club leaders invite all interested individuals to contact either of the two faculty leaders or
any of the student leaders: Ajay
Dakappagari ’16, Timmy Lund
’16 and Adam Birch ’16.
To paraphrase Fight Club, the
two rules of Ping Pong Club are:
do talk (to everyone) about Ping
Pong Club and have fun! While
these may not be exactly quite
up to Brad Pitt’s standards, these
rules have found success for the
club in the Western Reserve
Academy community.
Ahmad Baasiri and Jonathan
Butensky-Bartlett, teachers of
history and chemistry, respectively, first started playing with
students in the Green Key and
joking about helping to start the
club. With some demonstrated
interest from the aspiring table
tennis players of the WRA student body, the two were happy
to help make the dream a reality.
Baasiri and Butensky-Bartlett’s
new club revived the ping pong
enthusiasm previously witnessed
on campus when former Chinese
teacher Andy Shu, the “King
Kong of Ping Pong,” played
at WRA. There is rarely a moment during a TGIF when the
Green Key’s ping pong table isn’t
crowded with eager spectators of
intense one-on-one matches, so
they decided to set up several
tables in the Murdough Athletic
Center fieldhouse to encourage
JENNY XU
shyer players to participate.
Ahmad Baasiri offers his knowledge of ping pong to help aspiring
According to inside sources, players like George Wiggam ’18.
The Reserve Record
Editors-in-Chief: Max Forsyth, Trevor
Levin
Associate Editor: Kevin Yang
Managing Editor: Hannah McKenzie
News: Makena Hayes, Niraj Naik
Community: Harrison Ahn
Arts: Timmy Lund
Entertainment: Morissa Clayman
Centerfold: Max Borrmann
Sports: Trevor Lin
Opinion: Jaret Skonieczny
The Coin: Max Forsyth
World News: Timmy Lund, Niraj Naik
Photography Coordinator: Jenny
Xu
Photographers: Max Borrmann,
Josh Estrada, Maya Greenwald,
Jenny Xu
Faculty Advisor: Russell Morrison
Writers: Helena Ahn, Anna Anderson,
Arthur Aubergine, Adam Birch, Max
Borrmann, Eric Buehler, Ajay Dakappagari, Tia Forsyth, Makena Hayes,
Leo Holland, Colin Horgan, Yara Hussein, Amy Kerr, Ying Ka Leung, Trevor
Levin, Trevor Lin, Anna McMurchy,
Gracie Morgan, Niraj Naik, Ketty
Nolan, Simon Ong, Michael Pamer,
Charles Prendergast, Joey Randazzo, Adam Redlich, Ainsley Rhodes,
Connor Semple, Gabe Skora, David
Smith, Amanda Sudilovsky, Nina
Tekelenburg, Peter Thewissen, Yuki
Yamasaki, Mike Zeleznik
The Reserve Record is the student-run, monthly newspaper of
Western Reserve Academy and the
voice of and for the student body.
It aims to educate its staff, writers
and photographers on journalistic
style, format, ethics and excellence,
while entertaining and informing
the student body and providing
its readership a forum for community expression and discussion.
The editors and staff have worked
on every facet of this publication.
The opinions expressed in the
Reserve Record do not necessarily
represent those of the administration, trustees or student body. The
editors assume full responsibility
for the contents of the publication
and invite community responses.
Glass will also work in the Admissions Office and coach Ice
Hockey in the winter. Despite
planning on such a busy winter,
he reassured the Record that the
team will be ready come spring,
thanks to scrimmages and Sunday practices.
Glass carries the unique perspective of a WRA alumnus. “​
Some of my most cherished
memories are the fun times that
I had living on campus with my
friends, and the unique relationships that I built living in the
dorms,” he recalled. Glass also
reflected on what it’s like to be
back on campus, this time as a
faculty member. “It is certainly
different, but it is exciting to see
that WRA is still a place where
bright, talented students come
to learn.”
Boys Lacrosse goalkeeper Otto
Bohan ’16, who has been a member of the WRA lacrosse team
for the past two years, first met
Glass a couple of summers ago
at the All-Star Lacrosse Clinic
held at WRA and immediately
felt comfortable around him.
Ever since then, he has considered Glass a good friend and is
excited about all the experience
he brings to the table. “I have
no doubt that Coach Glass is
prepared to help the whole team
learn and ultimately lead us to
success in all aspects of lacrosse,”
he said. Bohan, like Glass, looks
forward to the program’s growth
in the offseason and to jumping
back into WRA’s winning ways
this Spring.
Jewish Students, Teachers
Celebrate High Holidays
By ADAM REDLICH ’16
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, also known as the High
Holidays, are the two most important holidays of the year for
the Jewish people. The holidays
occur on different dates each
year on the Gregorian calendar,
but they always fall on the same
date on the Hebrew Calendar.
This year, Rosh Hashanah occurs on Sept. 25 and Yom Kippur on Oct. 4.
Rosh Hashanah translates to
“head of the year” in English
and marks the first day of the
New Year, the first of Tishrei,
on the Hebrew Calendar. The
calendar is much older than the
Gregorian calendar and it just
entered the year 5775. Jews observe Rosh Hashanah by praying
at temple and celebrating with
family. Apples with honey is a
popular Rosh Hashanah snack:
their sweetness is meant to symbolize the sweet new year.
Yom Kippur, on the other
hand, is more somber. Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance, is
meant to be the most religious
day of the year, and Jews are supposed to repent for all of their
sins that they have committed
the past year. They traditionally
Corrections
atone by fasting from sundown
to sunrise.
The High Holidays impact the
lives of the Jewish members of
the Western Reserve Academy
community. “Family means everything to me,” remarked Dan
Dorman ’16, “and celebrating
the High Holidays with them is
a blessing.” Jewish students and
teachers often find it difficult to
celebrate the High Holidays with
family members at synagogue,
especially if they reside on campus, but many had meaningful
experiences nonetheless. “The
High Holidays are a time for me
to reflect and think about how
I can become a better person,”
stated chemistry teacher Jonathan Butensky-Bartlett. “I also
think a lot about family. At this
time of the year, I always think
back to all the times as a child
that I would attend synagogue
with them.”
Student Body President Trevor
Levin ’15 echoed ButenskyBartlett’s sentiments on the
value of the holidays: “At WRA,
you don’t get a lot of time to
zoom out and look at the person
you are and the person you are
becoming. The High Holidays
are an opportunity for that kind
of reflection.”
Teams’ Historic Wins” claimed that
the WRA football team has not deAugust Issue
feated Linsly in 16 years, but the
The Sports Page picture of Boys team actually defeated Linsly nine
Cross Country coach Nicky Schnupp years ago in its undefeated 2005 seawas taken by Jenny Xu ’15, not Maya son.
Greenwald ’15, as originally printed. The crossword clues contained three
The crossword clues contained two errors: 10 Down, which was incorerrors: the clue for 7 Down, which rectly “Will Ferrell movie,” should
was missing, should have been “Lord have been “Cy Young statistic,” 53
of the Rings novels,” and the clue Down, which was missing, should
for 59 Across, which was incorrectly have been “Cheer” and 55 Down,
“Central American capital,” should which was missing, should have
been “Metal-shaping tool.”
have been “Middle Eastern capital.”
If you notice an error in an issue of
September Issue
the Reserve Record, please e-mail us
Makena Hayes ’17 was listed in a at [email protected]. We will
Community Page caption as a mem- correct it in the following issue and
ber of the class of 2018.
tweet the correction with the userThe article “Girls Soccer, Football name @wrarecord.
3
RESERVE RECORD COMMUNITY OCTOBER 2014
Paparella’s Charity
Gives Furniture to Needy
By AJAY DAKAPPAGARI ’16
Western Reserve Academy
student Maria Paparella ’16 established a non-profit organization titled “CHAIR-ity.” Paparella is the sole creator of this
organization and she manages
all the executive duties and logistics. CHAIR-ity aims to provide various furniture items to
emancipated kids once they are
no longer under the guidance of
Children Services.
Currently, it restricts its services to the kids of Summit County
Children Services, whose policy
mandates that they release kids
MAX BORRMANN
WRA students traveled to Manhattan with Oberlin students to participate in largest climate march ever.
at the age of 18. Paparella’s foundation ensures that these adolescents have essential furnishings
such as beds and dinner tables.
Thus, they have one less expenditure and can allocate that
and deposited the Ohio activists warning, the crowd slowly began money towards something else.
By LEO HOLLAND ’17
Paparella initiated CHAIRon the corner of 86th Street and to crawl forward. People started
ity at the beginning of this year.
On Sunday, Sept. 21, a group Central Park West, the edge of cheering and chanting.
She states her experiences with a
of seven Western Reserve Acad- the designated marching area.
Each member of the WRA
childhood friend as the impetus
emy students took part in the
The group of WRA students
group acquired various items
largest climate change-related
walked from 86th Street down along their walk, with which
march in history. Music teacher to the allocated student section they proudly adorned themMargaret Karam ’79 led the in- that lay between 47th Street and selves. The march proceeded in
trepid group of students, which 46th Street. They encountered
this fashion for the rest of the
included Max Borrmann ’16,
marchers handing out flyers,
day, with the exception of the
Lexie Dungan ’15, Max Forsyth distributing socialist indepen- two minutes of reverent silence
By KETTY NOLAN ’15
’15, Leo Holland ’17, Gracie dent newspapers and trading
at 12:58 p.m. A wave of noise
Morgan ’16, Sesugh Tarhule ’15 signs with slogans like Pokemon then broke the silence, rippling
On Saturday, Oct. 18th, Westand Nina Tekelenburg ’15. Af- cards. At every juncture, there
through the crowd from front
ern Reserve Academy put a new
ter a long and tiring journey, all was a different attraction, such to back. The march ended at the spin on a favorite weekend acmembers of the party said they as live environmentally-themed intersection of 34th Street and
tivity: the school-wide coed volwere glad they went.
music, speakers and vendors.
11th Avenue.
leyball tournament. WRA’s Key
The group departed campus
The city reverberated with
Afterwards, the students en- Club, which aims to give WRA
late at night on Sept. 21 and
sounds of peaceful protest.
joyed a few precious hours ex- students the opportunity to volheaded west to Oberlin College.
With the help of Karam, the
ploring NYC and then departed unteer in community service
They boarded a coach bus at
students found their way to the for Oberlin. They returned to
projects while at school, orgaOberlin’s Wilder Hall and then Green Schools Alliance repre- campus just in time for their sec- nized the event.
set off for New York City. By
sentatives. WRA is a charter
ond-period classes after the tax- The WRA Key Club, launched
the time the students arrived, it member of the Green Schools
ing bus ride. While reminiscing, over the summer, has been
was nine o’clock in the morning. Alliance, a coalition of schools it seemed as though an overall
working to coordinate fundraisEveryone was already exhausted, that agree to operate by certain feeling of activism still lingered ing opportunities throughout
since the bus regulations re- environmental standards.
in their hearts. They claimed
the year, such as the charity volquired stretching breaks at travel
The students waited what
that the march filled them with leyball tournament. This year,
stations.
felt like hours on their already- a sense of accomplishment and the tournament has a twist:
The bus drove into the city
aching feet, and then, without historical significance.
players must donate two dollars
Seven Young Activists Walk Beside
400,000 Others at Climate March
for her creation of this nonprofit. “When I was younger, I had
a friend named Heaven who was
under the protection of Child
Services and realized that once
she was discharged at 18, life
would be tough,” recalls Paparella. She envisioned “CHAIR-ity”
as a means of helping kids like
Heaven who would need to support themselves, and Paparella
thought that providing them
with basic furniture was the least
she could do.
Although “CHAIR-ity” is
currently limited to only Summit County, Paparella aspires
to broaden this foundation into
other Children Services programs around the state of Ohio.
“There are not many groups
like ‘CHAIR-ity,’ and since we
are so unique, it would be great
to expand into other cities and
states.”
Paparella’s great passion and
ambition for “CHAIR-ity” is
evident and she seems optimistic
about its future.
Volleyball Tournament
Supports Food Pantry
One Bead Project Expands with Help from WRA
By HELENA AHN ’15
The One Bead Project, started
by alumna Sara Wroblewski ’09,
is near and dear to the hearts
of Western Reserve Academy.
In June 2011, Sara had the opportunity to travel to Africa and
work at a recycled-glass-blowing
studio, Kitengela Hot Glass,
owned by Anselm Croze in Nairobi, Kenya.
She was assigned to create a fundraiser to support the
Oloosirkon Government Primary School in Nairobi. Previously,
Anselm had bought books for
the students, but, due to the lack
of security, most were stolen. As
a result, he decided, with the
principal, that the school needed
a fence, along with other things
like a restroom, electricity and a
permanent water supply, which
were all very expensive.
Wroblewski thought making
bracelet beads would be perfect
for a fundraiser, and she was
right. Now she sells beads. Half
of the bead is thick and the other
thin to symbolize the contrast
between having a lot and having a little. In the center connecting the two halves is an “O”
for the name of the school. The
“O” also symbolizes the circle of
unity and reflects the idea that,
regardless of the different backgrounds, we are globally bound
together. The bead hangs on a
piece of leather like a small glass
charm.
With the money raised by
selling the beads, One Bead has
built a 923-meter long fence,
which protects 350 students,
and has donated 400 pounds of
school supplies to students and
teachers at the school.
Currently, One Bead is a registered non-profit organization
that has raised over $60,000 and
is partnered with four elementary schools, with 60 representatives across the world. Of the
60, three currently attend WRA:
Paige Warner ’15, Cecily White
’16 and Casey Semple ’18.
Warner, who has been a representative for four years, pointed
out that “seeing the difference
the money we raise makes is an
incredible thing.” At the college,
high school and elementary level, One Bead is proving that one
student, just like one bead, can
be a catalyst for change.
Over the past couple of weeks,
Warner has been selling One
Bead bracelets with Semple and
White. Setting up One Bead
merchandise on dining hall ta-
MAYA GALLEGOS
One Bead offers exclusive green
beads to WRA students.
bles, they sold many bracelets
and t-shirts with One Bead logos. During Spirit Day in September, the WRA One Bead
team promoted their cause and
sold merchandise as students
participated in class events.
to play in the grueling, intense
match. Proceeds from this year’s
tournament will be going to the
Hudson Food Pantry, an organization that collects and distributes donated food to families in
need.
This is not the first time WRA
planned an event like this for its
students, though. “We thought
that this tournament would
be a good idea because of the
WRA community’s enthusiasm
for similar events in the past,”
explained Connor Semple ’15,
president of WRA’s Key Club,
referring to the previous years
of glow-in-the-dark volleyball
tournaments and the Business
Club’s “Dave’s Cosmic Dodgeball.” These community gathering events showed WRA’s passion for throwing things at each
other in a little friendly competition.
The team of Peter Barba ’15,
Vince Brookins ’16, Katherine
Boniface ’15, Ryan Hassell ’15,
Sydney King ’15 and John Roberts ’15 won the tournament,
and, with it, a Chipotle gift card.
Despite healthy doses of t-shirt
decorating, serious practices
and competitive team spirit, the
important aspect of the tournament was to support the Hudson Food Pantry through team
donations. Before the event,
Casey Semple ’18 remarked,
“We hope that the event will
be a lot of fun for students of
all grades and skill levels, while
benefitting an important cause.”
After the charity volleyball tournament, Key Club turns its focus to their next project: selling
Christmas Poinsettias.
4
RESERVE RECORD ARTS OCTOBER 2014
Brent Peterson and
Singers, Actors, Dancers Ready to
Band Perform for
Stage The Addams Family Musical
Alma Mater Again
By AINSLEY RHODES ’15
MAYA GREENWALD
By CHARLES
PRENDERGAST ’15
On Saturday, October 4,
Brent & Co.—a band comprised of Brent Peterson ’03,
Dominic Fragman, Joe Martone
and Frank Mitchell—returned
to Western Reserve Academy’s
Green Key to play a free show
for all students. Peterson grew
up in Washington, D.C. and attended WRA. He said his time
here was a “fundamental part of
[his] development musically and
personally.” He first discovered
music as a freshman at WRA,
when he learned guitar.
After graduating from WRA,
Peterson continued to play guitar at Kenyon college. His senior
year, he started a Motown cover
band, which was “what really
kind of gave [him] the bug to
play music full time.” After college, he played professionally
in Chicago for a year and then
started work for the U.S. government in Washington, D.C.
Through Craigslist, Peterson
joined a band that included Joe
Martone, the bassist in Brent
& Co. Once that band broke
up, Martone introduced him
to Dominic Fragman, a drummer. Frank Mitchell played
saxophone for the successful
Scary Things
band Thievery Corporation,
which Peterson had seen live.
He saw Mitchell on the sidewalk
and told him, “Sir, my name is
Brent, you don’t know me, but
I’d love to work with you someday.” Peterson quit his job and
started playing full time with his
new band.
Their music is stunningly
diverse: they juxtapose Justin
Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat”
with a number of classics. Brent
& Co. fit “Beauty and a Beat”
into their sound so masterfully
that a listener who hadn’t heard
the original could mistake it for
a song Peterson wrote. It’s hard
to properly describe Brent and
Co.’s saxophone-infused sound,
but they come close with “Funky
Folk,” their stated genre on their
Facebook page and an old name
of the band.
Peterson has a unique taste for
music. He explains, “I’m mostly
drawn to things that have really
strong fundamentals. Any good
pop song, or soul song, or reggae song, it connects to you in a
way that is kind of hard to elucidate…but it moves you. Even
if it’s Justin Bieber! Indie musicians sometimes really spurn
pop music, but, hey, that stuff is
very successful for a reason.”
By Timmy Lund ’16
The Addams Family first appeared in a 1938 issue of the
New Yorker. Created by cartoonist Charles Addams, the closeknit family is an eccentric bunch
that is the mocking antithesis of
the traditional American family.
In 1964, Addams’ comics were
brought to life when ABC released The Addams Family television series. The black-and-white
television program followed the
daily lives of the Addams Family. A wealthy and bizarre family, they unintentionally frighten
outsiders with their eccentric
lifestyle.
Filmed in the epitome of a
“haunted mansion” across from
a cemetery, The Addams Family
paired light humor with ghoulish props. As the TV show script
was drafted, Charles Addams assigned names to the cast; among
the main characters are parents
Gomez and Morticia, and their
young children Wednesday,
Pugsley and Pubert, along with
their extended family Uncle Fester, Grandmama, Lurch and
Cousin Itt.
The show
introduced
“Thing,” a bodiless hand who
befriended Gomez during childhood. This comical creature
completes routine tasks such as
getting the mail and communicates through morse-codelike taps. The Addamses own a
ghastly array of pets, including a
lion named Kitty Cat, an octopus referred to as “Aristotle” and
Cleopatra, a man-eating plant.
In 2010, composer Andrew
Lippa brought the family to
Broadway in the musical The
Addams Family. While influenced by Charles Addams’s
original cartoons, Lippa’s show
reveals a new side of the family. The musical centers around
a dilemma caused by 18-yearold Wednesday’s newfound romance. Wednesday, played by
Jiji Kang ’17, falls in love with
a “normal” boy, appalling news
for her parents. Chaos ensues
when Wednesday’s boyfriend is
invited over for dinner.
The contemporary musical has
an energetic feel. Trevor Levin
’15, who will play Gomez, described the musical’s style as
“varied; some of it is pretty traditional musical-theatre fare,
some of it is more modern and
a lot of it has a flamenco touch.”
The production also includes
dancing choreographed by
WRA dance teacher Emily Barth
and English Sasha Maseelall ’96.
“There’s a lot more dancing in
this musical than in the past
musicals,” said Mika Takahashi
’15, a longtime star of the WRA
dance program who will play
Morticia. “The Addams ancestors open the show with thrilleresque dance while Trevor and I
have been working on mastering the tango. The dancing adds
a fun and upbeat element that
contributes to the light humor
of the show.”
“Often, when one thinks of the
Addams Family, the first thing
that comes to mind is death: a
humorous take on death, but
still death,” said Simon Ong ’15,
who portrays Uncle Fester in the
musical, “but really this musical
is all about love and how people
who are very different can overcome obstacles all in the name
of love.”
With a blend of lively performance and playful humor, The
Addams Family is a perfect way
to jump into the Halloween
spirit. WRA’s musical adaptation of the creepy and kooky,
mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky Addams Family will
open October 31.
CARTOON BY CHARLES ADDAMS
Musicians Host Fall Family Concert
By YARA HUSSEIN ’18
On Sunday, Oct. 5, students,
parents and faculty members
gathered at the Knight Fine Arts
Center to listen to the Reserve
Symphonic Winds, the Academy Orchestra and the Academy
Choir. The Reserve Symphonic
Winds, directed by Will Talaba,
kicked off the concert, followed
by the orchestra and choir, both
directed by music teacher Margaret Karam ’79.
Each of the groups played
or sang a version of “The Star
Spangled Banner” to celebrate
the 200th anniversary of the
song. To compliment the theme,
Karam handed out small American flags to faculty children in
attendance. After performing
the national anthem, the musicians performed some slightly
less famous pieces.
After last year’s departure of
four-year concertmaster Ann Yu
’14, this concert gave the opportunity to sit in the coveted position of concertmaster to three
violinists: Harrison Ahn ’17,
Audrey Hu ’17 and Jiji Kang
’17. Between pieces, they rotat-
JENNY XU
ed into and out of the position.
Karam wanted faculty members and their families to feel
welcome, so she hatched the
idea to give the faculty’s children
a craft table where they could
make their own instruments.
The kids then played their instruments while the choir sang.
Two of the choir pieces were
traditional, including longtime
favorites “Siyahamba” and “We
Shall Walk Through The Valley
In Peace.”
Karam, who was on sabbatical
last year, says her first year back
is “great” and she “loves it.” “The
choir is really fun,” she enthused.
“It is full of really energetic kids
who are really smart and witty
and challenging—and they’re
really funny!” Karam finds the
orchestra “really interesting.”
Although she “didn’t know over
half the group,” she does know
“they’re working really hard.”
The concert was comprised
mostly of music that Karam
loves, and she thinks the concert
showcased her students’ talent
well. Overall, the musical triad
provided the Western Reserve
Academy community with great
music and a fun experience.
5
RESERVE RECORD ENTERTAINMENT OCTOBER 2014
The Eggplant: New
Expectations Put
on Sportsmanship
By ARTHUR AUBERGINE
High school sporting events,
especially those between rivals,
can fuel an undefinable energy
among the student body. However, sometimes the cheers and
conduct of the students can get
out of hand: students might boo
at calls made by referees or laugh
when an opposing player makes
a mistake. Because this type of
behavior does a poor job of projecting the image that our school
desires, the Western Reserve
Academy administration has determined that certain measures
need to be put into place to keep
the sporting environment positive and respectful.
Some of the new measures include the following:
1. Rosters handed out at games
will include pre-approved positive nicknames for all the players
on both teams.
2. Fans from the home and visiting team must shake hands before and after the game, just like
the players.
3. All cheers must be submitted
to the deans office for approval
no later than one week before
the game.
4. If signs are going to be made,
then a sign must be made for
every player on the field: home
and visiting. As with cheers,
they must be submitted to the
deans office for approval.
5. All fans must cheer when the
opposing team scores a point.
6. All members of the team are
allowed to ring the victory bell,
regardless of the final score. Everyone is a winner if they try
their hardest. The opposing
team is also allowed to ring the
victory bell.
Hopefully, with these new
practices in place, more students
will attend sporting events and
those in attendance will have a
great time. “If everyone is positive and supportive, the stands
will be full at every event,” states
one administrator. The students
sound excited as well. One
sophomore exclaimed, “I can’t
wait to get my cheers approved.
I’ve been thinking of a lot of
really nice things to yell during the game against our rivals
next week!” Clearly, students
just wanted permission from the
administration before they supported opposing sports teams.
As the fall season draws to a
close and the games move inside,
the WRA community hopes the
constructive and enthusiastic
spirit of the student body will
make the Murdough Athletic
Center a welcoming place to
cheer on our—and, of course,
visiting—student-athletes.
The Eggplant, above, is a satirical sub-publication, not a real news article.
Crossword
ACROSS
1 ’50s dance
6 Excuse me!
10 Reasons
14 Disney-animat
ed wrecker
15 Meager
16 Ky. senator
17 Mix of metals
18 Abandon a
commitment
19 Star in musical
20 Mexican cash
21 Cleveland land
mark church
23 Heavy load
24 Student Haller
26 Prying
28 Catalyst in bio
31 Inning number
32 Romance
33 Fabric
36 Pick
40 Italian mountain
42 Billion years
43 Alter
44 Irish dance
45 Francis’s office
48 Spotify’s worst
feature
49 Influenced by
Bentham
51 Folded over
and sewn
53 Recount
56 USSR oppo-
MAX BORRMANN
Ong battles it out with favorite Super Smash Bros. characters on “custom built” stage, Brick Row.
The Ong Review: Super Smash Bros.
for 3DS Console Impresses Players
By SIMON ONG ’15
Nintendo fans, rejoice! The
long-awaited fourth installment
in the Super Smash Bros. series is
here for the 3DS—and it does
not disappoint. Immediately,
it’s worth noting that this is the
best roster Super Smash Bros. has
assembled to date. It takes characters from across Nintendo’s
various franchises. Boasting 51
characters both new and old, the
new characters feel absolutely
incredible, with a huge variety in
play-style. Shulk, for example,
of Xenoblade Chronicles uses his
Monado arts to switch his playstyle mid-match.
by Trevor Levin ’15
nent
57 Alcoholic beverage
58 Subordinate
ruler
61 Poles
65 Plunge into
water
67 Thailand
68 Agricultural
student
69 East
70 Border
71 Soothe
72 Fulminate
73 Accomplishment
74 Fold bread
DOWN
1 Snare
2 Rapper from
D.C.
3 Evils
4 Halloweenthemed
5 Archaic “your”
6 Scope
7 Cure
8 Buehler
9 Skin pigment
10 Typing speed
11 Dominican Republic neighbor
12 Jack London’s
river
Even old characters like Bowser, Mario’s archrival, have been
reinvented in a way that makes
them feel new. There are some
exceptions, of course, but clones
are nothing new for the franchise, and, as developer Sakurai
states, they’re nice bonus material that the player would not
have otherwise.
The stages in Super Smash
Bros. 3DS are, on average, of
the highest quality they’ve ever
been. Stages like Spirit Train
from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit
Tracks, Magicant from Mother
and Arena Ferox from Fire Emblem: Awakening are all some
of the best that Smash Bros. has
to offer. While the stages are of
the highest caliber, there are unfortunately not many of them.
Compared to the previous installment’s 41 stages, Smash
Bros. for 3DS only has 34, with
nine of them coming from previous games in the franchise.
However, it’s important to note
that Smash Bros. 3DS pushes its
hardware to the limit, and with
such a large roster and smooth
gameplay, sacrifices needed to be
made somewhere.
Smash 3DS’s new exclusive
mode, Smash Run, is also less
than perfect. Inspired by City
Trial from Kirby Air Ride, Smash
Run sees players running around
a large arena, taking out classic
Nintendo enemies in an effort
to boost their individual stats,
all culminating in a battle-royale
where players benefit from the
stats they collected. While it’s an
interesting concept and is arguably the best part about Kirby
Air Ride, it falls short here. It often leaves the player wondering
what the point is, as the stats can
be difficult to collect and in the
end don’t seem to make much of
a difference.
Overall, however, Smash for
3DS is a fantastic game. It has
its problems, but most of these
stem from hardware limitations
on the 3DS (including the lack
of the Ice Climbers in the roster!). This means that one can
only expect the best from the
Wii U version, which will arrive
on November 21.
alt-J Disappoints
By GRACIE MORGAN ’16
13 Jargon
21 Popular cookie
brand
22 Sine qua ___
25 Baseball official
27 Dry, to Ancient
Mariner
28 Large jug with
wide mouth
29 Short letter
30 Area
31 XC captain
34 Bell’s ringing
35
37
38
39
41
45
46
47
50
52
53
Cut off
Dutch cheese
Assistant
Veterans’ illness
___ Mater
Content
Fellow
Still
September issue fixed headline
Evan, Gracie
Detection
system
54 Study abroad
program
55 Botches crossword twice
56 Called
59 Moon effect
60 Wrath
62 Lecherous
stare
63 Opera singer
64 Origin
66 Devour
68 Inquire
You know if Miley Cyrus is
featured on an album, it won’t
be a masterpiece. Alt-J’s newest album release is certainly no
masterpiece. I had high expectations, but alt-J, an experimental
rock band from England also
known as ∆, let me down.
There was so much hype for
a great alt-J release: a followthrough to their first studio album An Awesome Wave. But This
Is All Yours, their sophomore album, only has a of couple tracks
worth listening to. “Warm Foothills,” featuring Conor Oberst, is
choppy yet graceful with strange
but beautiful lyrics: “Blue dragonflies dart to and fro / I tie my
life to your balloon and let it go”
highlights the album’s roman-
tics. On the other hand, “Every
Other Freckle” has some creepy
pick up lines and remarks worthy of calling the police.
Quite frankly, some songs
seem carelessly thrown together.
“Hunger of the Pine” mysteriously opens with dark lyrics
about yearning for a loved one
before breaking to Cyrus’s line
“I’m a female rebel.” It then
closes with two statements in
French. The styles of music
shoot out in a dozen different
directions, and it’s not pleasant.
Alt-J is trying too hard to be
edgy, indie and hipster all at
once. While I applaud Alt-J’s
quest for “fun” through diverse
musical expression, This Is All
Yours is flat and boring. I hope
their third album is a bit more
organized.
6
RESERVE RECORD CENTERFOLD OCTOBER 2014
FALL FUN
Haunted Happenings
in Academy’s History
By ADAM BIRCH ’16
Founded nearly 200 years
ago, Western Reserve Academy
holds many tales that relate to
the spooky attitude associated
with Halloween. Hayden Hall,
the Loomis Observatory and the
cemetery on Chapel Street are
all suitable places for rumors of
hauntings. While Hayden and
the Loomis Observatory offer
few concrete facts upon which
ghost tales could be based, many
people have experienced odd occurrences while in the cemetery.
“Most [tomb]stones face west,”
said WRA archivist Tom Vince,
“but there is one that faces east.”
The east-facing tombstone is
that of a man by the last name
Loomis—the same Loomis that
the observatory was named in
honor of. The adjacent house,
where music teacher Margaret Karam ’78 currently lives,
dubbed “Tombstone Cottage,”
refers to the Loomis stone.
Along with the mysterious
tombstone of Mr. Loomis, there
is an area of the cemetery that
is coined “Old College Area.”
In the 1830s, when WRA (then
Western Reserve College) had
just been founded, the quality of
health care and knowledge about
disease was far more primitive
than the technology we have today. For this reason, the school
allocated a portion of the cemetery to the purpose of burying
students who died of illness.
The WRA class of 1901 was
30 students large. Eleven young
men and two ambitious young
women earned diplomas that
year– the other 17 students attended the school, but did not
earn a diploma. Among these 17
students was Otto Neubauer, a
popular young man who often
volunteered at the Cleveland
hospital. Otto contracted the
smallpox disease in April of 1901
and died in North Hall shortly
thereafter. The senior’s death
forced officials to quarantine the
school for over a week to prevent
COURTESY OF THOMAS VINCE
Otto Neubauer, class of 1901, died of smallpox while at WRA.
the spread of the deadly disease.
Otto was temporarily buried in
the cemetery on Chapel street.
Later, his classmate Lucien Price
wrote about the macabre story in
his account of his experiences at
WRA called Hardscrabble Hel-
las. Originally published in the
Atlantic magazine, Hardscrabble
Hellas inspired the name of the
WRA yearbook, Hardscrabble.
The first edition was published
in 1942.
Perhaps the most convincing
Wood House Haunted House
Returns After One-Year Hiatus
tale of a ghost comes from the
David Hudson house. It served
many purposes over the years.
Built from 1805-1806 by David Hudson for his family of
eight children, the David Hudson house, located on North
Main St., is currently the oldest
standing structure in Summit
County. After David Hudson,
the house served as a post office,
a tavern and a stop on the underground railroad; the Burner
family lived in the house from
1994 until 2009. During their
stay they encountered a number of “strange happenings” according to an article from the
Akron Beacon Journal in 2006.
They reported creepy sounds
and lights powering on after
they had been turned off. Another goulish instance, Matthew
Burner, then 2 or 3 years old,
yelled “Mommy, there’s a man
in the dining room.” There was
no one there, but Matthew was
convinced. “He’s in the corner,”
he told her, “He’s wearing really
weird clothes.”
Whether true or not, the stories of ghosts at WRA speak to
the rich history associated with
the school.
By YUKI YAMASAKI ’16
After a one-year hiatus, the
Wood House Haunted House
is back! Under the masterful
guidance of Latin teacher Jeff
Namiotka, the freshmen boys
will attempt to put on a show to
scare the “P” out of any Pioneer
who dares to enter. “Namiotka
has been doing this for years,”
said English teacher Jeff Warner,
“He’s got this thing down to a
science.”
A tour guide will take each
group on a winding tour of
Wood’s first floor, second floor,
some of its common rooms and
even its basement. Each room
will have a different surprise,
with a different horror around
every turn. In the spirit of Halloween, candy will be awarded
to anyone who makes it through
the whole course.
“It’s pretty scary,” Namiotka
boasted. “One year, a girl came
out the other side and just
burst out into tears.” Grinning
with pride, he recalled: “I just
thought, ‘Yes!’” Namiotka has
even involved his family in the
spook fest in past years, with his
daughters singing and scaring
right alongside the boys.
Numerous upperclassmen
boys remember the event fondly. Simon Ong recounted, “My
freshman year, I wrapped myself
in tin foil and hid in a tin foil
acorn
butternut
pumpkin spice
gourds
crimson
leaves
cider
rain
How Pumpkins Procured their Place in our Palattes
If, by chance, you have seen a
pumpkin in the past month,
odds are it is October. Peculiar,
considering that said fruit (Yes,
fruit. A pumpkin spice latte,
sadly, does not come from a vegetable.) hibernates for about 11
months before they appear all
over the community. And wow,
do people jump on the bandwagon! This time of year, anything and everything originate
from pumpkins; there are the
traditional appearances in the
form of pumpkin pies and jack
o’ lanterns, as well as limited
editions of foods, which include
but are not limited to: pumpkin spice Oreos, pumpkin spice
marshmallows, pumpkin spice
gum, pumpkin potato chips,
pumpkin Pop Tarts, pumpkin
ice cream and let’s not forget
the infamous, aforementioned
pumpkin spice latte. At this
rate, it is only a matter of time
before someone creates a pumpkin spice toothpaste or pumpkin
lip gloss.
As the world continues to buy
into the pumpkin hype, let us
take a minute to ask, “How exactly did the pumpkin become
such a Halloween staple in the
first place?”
To find out the answer to that
question, we must dig into the
archives of history and find the
origin of the most prominent
use of pumpkins around Halloween: the Jack O’ Lantern.
According to an Irish folk-tale,
a man by the name of “stingy
Jack” once met the devil in a local pub, where Jack convinced
him to turn into a coin, so they
could both get free drinks. Jack
then placed a cross on the table,
while the devil could not escape
it. Jack held him hostage until
the devil agreed not to disturb
him for a whole year. After that
time passed, the unsatisfied
Devil sought to meet Jack again.
They met in a field, where Jack
told the devil to climb a tree and
pick fruit. While he did so, Jack
carved a cross into the tree and
the devil could not go down.
They then made a deal, in which
the devil could not claim Jack’s
soul. However, when Jack died,
God did not want his impure
soul in heaven and placed it in
a burning coal, which He then
placed into a turnip.
Yes, you read that right. The
first Jack O’ Lantern was carved
in a turnip. Not to worry, however, for over time, the rest of
Europe began to embrace the
Jack O’ Lantern. People in Scotland made them out of potatoes. Then, Britain joined in on
the action, using beets! To cut
to the chase, it was not until
the discovery of the new world
and westward expansion that
the pumpkin, a fruit native to
the Americas, was introduced.
The colonists soon found that
the pumpkin, with its large size
and removable seeds, made great
Jack O’ Lanterns, thus becoming the main means of carving.
With the popularity of the Jack
wrapped room. The costume
trapped all of my body heat and
was uncomfortable to wear, but
the thrill of scaring people was
definitely worth it.” Ong expressed high hopes. “Some of
this year’s freshmen seem especially creative, and I can’t wait
to see what they will come up
with.”
The event will take place on
Saturday, Oct. 25. It will start
at 7:30 and continue until 9:30
or until every guest has gone
through the course. Students are
allowed, and encouraged, to go
through multiple times.
The Wood House residents are
excited, since this is a great way
to show off the and demonstrate
ALAN DOE
The freshman will try to scare everyone, just like they did two years
ago. Visitors can expect to run into just about everything. You never
know what is around the corner.
what its occupants are capable of
doing. Wood House, as a freshman dorm, has developed a reputation for uncleanliness, which
has in turn inspired a determina-
tion to impress. With a group as
goofy, organized and enthusiastic as this year’s freshman boys, it
is hard to imagine this haunted
house as anything but a success.
Find the Fun Fall Phrases...
TIMMY LUND
By MIKE ZELEZNIK ’16
7
RESERVE RECORD CENTERFOLD OCTOBER 2014
O’ Lantern came the popularity
(albeit for one month every year)
of the pumpkin. This means
pumpkin harvests, pumpkin pie
and pumpkin spiced everything.
In hindsight, it is quite bizarre to
think that the pumpkin might
not have been the celebrated
fruit of Halloween, but the colonists’ choice was probably best.
After all, a potato spice Oreo
does not sound very appetizing.
JENNY XU
UND
TIMMY L
Mcintosh
Fuji
Red delicious
granny smith
chill
hot cocoa
football
cornucopia
ghost
haunted
skeleton
mummy
cinnamon
scarecrow
flannel
autumn
maple
boots
squirrel
candy corn
crisp
hayride
haunted house
jack-o’-lantern
8
RESERVE RECORD SPORTS OCTOBER 2014
Pioneers Post Prosperous Fall Season
By AMY KERR ’18
ALAN DOE
Hassell Concludes
Record-Setting Career
By TREVOR LIN ’15
In the last four years, the Western Reserve Academy Boys Soccer team has achieved some of its
greatest success in the history of
the program. With Ryan Hassell
’15 in the center of the attack,
the past four teams have conceded only eight losses on their way
to 64 victories and 10 draws.
Hassell arrived on WRA’s campus in 2011 with the goal of
excelling in the classroom and
on the soccer field. The team
quickly felt his presence. By the
end of his freshman campaign,
the center-striker had already
compiled 23 goals while helping
the team to an impressive record
of 16 wins, two losses and one
draw.
Sporting a new number, 10
instead of 17, Hassell reached
new heights during his sophomore season. He contributed an
astonishing 33 goals to a team
that finished with a record of 19
wins, zero losses and two draws.
This team finished the season
atop the state rankings as the #1
Division III team in Ohio and
second-ranked prep school team
in the country.
Facing high expectations, Hassell entered his junior campaign
demanding more of himself
than ever. The 2013 season was,
comparatively, a down year, but
the team still managed a respectable 14-5-2 record. This was due
in large part to 18 goals from
Number 10.
Hassell’s senior season was an
emotional one that
he described as “filled
with many victories
and many tears.” At
press time, the striker
had an unprecedented
105 career goals at
WRA, thanks in part
to a 33-goal senior
season. These goals
helped the Pioneers
achieve an exciting
15-2-5 record.
One of these draws
came against stateranked CVCA. In the
match, Hassell sealed
his name in the WRA
record books by scoring his 102nd career
goal. This goal tied
the all-time record held by head
coach and Director of Athletics
and Afternoon Programs Herb
Haller ’85, but more was still to
come from the striker.
On October 17, in a match
against the Linsly School, Hassell broke a 0-0 deadlock early
in the second half by finding
the back of the net off an assist
from Tim Lund ’16. This goal
brought his career total to 103,
the highest mark in the history
of the program. Hassell recalled
the excitement both he and the
team felt in this moment: “I
threw up 103 with my fingers
and hugged my teammates who
also knew the record was now
mine.” Hassell finished his career with 105 goals, the most
of any Boys Soccer player and
second all-school only to Nicky
Waldeck ’13.
In the final Division III rankings of the 2014 season, WRA
ranked second in the state of
Ohio. This success was the result
of a team effort, though Hassell
certainly contributed greatly.
Hassell gave credit to Haller,
calling him “the rock that was
like a father to [him] and the
best coach [he has] ever played
under.”
The co-captain will not soon
forget his days donning the
green and white, and it remains
to be seen how next year’s squad
will compensate for his absence.
It is clear, however, that Hassell
will find success at whichever
college can lure him.
JENNY XU
This year’s fall sports teams
achieved great success, from the
all-star soccer squads to the triumphant football team.
Boys Cross Country was led
by first-year head coach Nikki
Schnupp and captain Colin
Horgan ’15. The team continued its tradition of success, placing in the upper half in all of its
meets. The boys placed second
four times and took home the
first-place trophy twice. Horgan
and Danny Mylott ’17 consistently took home top finishes
for the group.
Captained by seniors Molly
Hulver ’15 and Nina Tekelenburg ’15, Girls Cross Country
achieved similar success. The
girls consistently outran opponents, enjoying themselves
along the way. In all but one
of the team’s 10 meets, the girls
placed among the top 10 teams.
Tekelenburg and Elizabeth
Downing ’17 often crossed the
finish line first for the Pioneers.
The Golf team posted a strong
2014 campaign as well. Captain
Barnabas Wang ’15 was a big
factor in the team’s 12-2 record.
The team ended the season with
a five game winning streak that
culminated in their winning the
IPSL League Championship for
the first time since 2010. Their
record was a team effort; everyone on the squad averaged
a score in the 40’s, with some
members even scoring in the
30’s on occasion.
The Girls Tennis team conquered under the leadership of
captain Sydney King ’15, finishing the season 10-4. King, along
with McKenzie Deeter ’17 and
Alicia Ma ’18, often came out
on top in singles. The duo of
Elizabeth Wood ’15 and Sophie
Shen ’15 powered through their
match-ups, contributing to a
great season.
This success carried over to the
back fields for the Girls Soccer
team. The team had an enormous year under captains Zoe
McCormick ’15 and Sam Haseltine ’15, finishing with a 12-41 record. The seniors provided
great leadership while youngsters Abby King ’18 and Alex
Randazzo ’18 showed promise
to carry on a winning tradition.
The Field Hockey team performed well in the face of adversity, finishing with a 6-8-2
record. Captains Abby Wyman
’15, Darby Johnson ’15 and Sarah Forhan ’15 led a very closeknit team. Lexi Hubbel ’15, the
team’s goalie, provided a steady
presence the whole season while
Cristen Barnett ’16 was consistently spectacular. The team performed well despite the absence
of Forhan, who missed the season after sustaining a back injury last spring.
The Volleyball team finished
the season with an impressive
19-6 record. Two-year captain
Katie Chlysta ’15 led the team to
a winning streak of eight games
to end the season. The team will
lose over half of its roster next
year, but under the leadership
of juniors Maya Gallegos ’16
and Rachel Morris ’16, the team
hopes to be ready for 2015.
The Boys Soccer team found
their rhythm again this season,
following the lead of senior captains Kurt Haller ’15, Ryan Stifler ’15 and Ryan Hassell ’15.
At press time, the boys had a
record of 15-1-5 with one game
remaining. Their season was
highlighted by Hassell’s recordbreaking performance in which
he increased his career goal total
to 105. The team finished the
season second in the Ohio Division III State Rankings.
Finally, the Football team
had an encouraging season that
bodes well for the future of the
program. In recent years, the
team has struggled to post a
winning record, but this year,
quarterback Colt Roe ’16, along
with Zak Burgan ’15, Alex Cecchini ’15 and Mat Haemer ’15,
led the team to a record of 5-2
at press time with two games
remaining on its schedule. The
football program’s upswing,
along with the success of all other varsity teams, meant a very
prosperous fall sports season for
Western Reserve Academy.
What to Expect for 2015 NBA Season
By DAVID SMITH ’18
As the 2014-15 NBA season
draws nearer, fans continue to
speculate as to what the new season will bring. The Association
was shaken up over the offseason
as many notable players moved
to new teams. There were several offseason transactions, none
more substantial than LeBron
James leaving the Miami Heat
and returning to Cleveland to
play for the Cavaliers.
New teams will likely emerge
as the top Eastern Conference
powers. The Chicago Bulls and
the Cleveland Cavaliers are now
the favorites to advance to the
Finals. While the Cavs are sure
to finish the season with a winning record, the squad may not
be poised to bring home the title
just yet. Most of the players on
their roster lack any true experience in the postseason, and the
players have not had the time to
form chemistry. This team will
likely need a season to gel.
In the same division, the Chicago Bulls are coming off a playoff season and now have all-star
point guard Derrick Rose back
from injury. Pau Gasol’s move to
the Bulls from the Lakers should
also help them secure a high seed
in the East. Although both the
Wizards and the Raptors should
do well this year, the Bulls seem
Lebron James (left) and Blake Griffin (right) hope to go far in 2015 season.
likely to win the conference.
On the other side of the country, The Western Conference is
loaded with quality teams, but
the true contenders should be
the Spurs, Clippers and Thunder. The 2013-14 Most Valuable
Player, Kevin Durant, is currently out with a foot injury that
will certainly hurt the Thunder’s
chances of competing for a title.
If Durant returns to the court
in full health, however, he and
Russell Westbrook should lead
the Thunder into the playoffs.
With the Donald Sterling controversy in the past, the Clippers
should be able to focus strictly
on basketball. This team has true
talent, and are likely to to make
the Western Conference Finals
this year, provided the Thunder
struggle to compensate for the
absence of Durant.
Meanwhile, the reigning
champions, the San Antonio
Spurs, may be as good as ever.
The experienced squad has the
skill and the confidence to bring
them to their third consecutive
NBA Finals appearance. Despite
their old age, this team shows
no signs of slowing down and
should not be ignored.
The NBA landscape has undergone dramatic changes, but only
time will tell if these changes will
have enough influence to change
the balance of power that has existed for years in the Association.
9
RESERVE RECORD OPINION OCTOBER 2014
Keep Out of OHSAA for a More Inclusive Athletic Program
By JOEY RANDAZZO ’17
As our fall athletic season
comes to a close, we are all
faced with an anti-climactic
final game. Depending on
what sport you are participating in, or how long you
have been around Western Reserve Academy, you
may be wondering “Why
don’t we have playoffs?”
For a time, I wondered the
same thing. Several WRA
fall sports teams had great
seasons and, if given the opportunity, could potentially
perform well in the state
tournament.
I discovered that WRA
does not participate in
the state tournament because the school is not a
member of the Ohio High
School Athletic Association
(OHSAA). So why don’t we
just join the Association?
Therein lies the problem:
OHSAA allows any school
to join their association, but
it prohibits international
students from participating
in interscholastic sports. As
Josh Estrada
Randazzo (middle) with international students David Rabus ’17 (left) and Max Shin ’18 (right) after practice.
part of the eligibility check,
students must have at least
one parent living in Ohio in
order to be eligible.
This would violate one
of WRA’s key principles:
inclusion. Because of these
rules, many of our sports
teams would be signifi-
cantly downsized if we
joined OHSAA. Many of
our friends and teammates
would not be able to play on
these teams. It is unreasonable for OHSAA to prohibit
members of a school community from participation
in a sport. If a student is liv-
ing on campus at a school
that is, in a way, accepting
parenthood and responsibility for the student, then
he or she should be allowed
to participate in interscholastic sports. Because of this,
I support WRA’s position
not to join OHSAA.
WRA offers opportunities
in lieu of the state tournament so that students still
experience traveling with a
team and participating at a
high competition level. Fall
and winter teams often participate in tournaments or
travel out of state to play
games, and spring teams
head south for spring break
to take part in tournaments
or to play “preseason”
games. Some teams travel
by plane and some by bus.
Most students love the trips.
Many times, these trips
make the best memories for
a team. I participated in the
baseball spring break trip
this past school year to Vero
Beach, Florida and had a
great time.
As much as I would love to
win a state championship, it
would never be the same if
my international teammates
couldn’t do it with me. I am
glad that we have not joined
OHSAA. It would be against
the principles of our school
to discriminate against the
international students.
A Call for More Time Towards Club Activities
By MAX BORRMANN ’16
In addition to academics and athletics, one of the
highlights of Western Reserve Academy life is the
myriad of clubs and organizations available for
students to join. Although
WRA students hold high
expectations for themselves
and their clubs, they do not
have much free time to accomplish their goals. Accordingly, students require
more allotted time during
the week to gather with club
members and discuss future
activities and projects.
My freshman year, when
the schedule was a bit different, two time slots each
week were designated for
club activities. This worked
well because it split up the
meetings so that they were
not all at the same time.
Now, with our new schedule, there is only one activities period per week. With
this arrangement it is nearly
impossible for anyone who
is a member of multiple
clubs to attend the meetings
of more than one club.
On top of having limited
time for group meetings
during the week, there are
often class meetings or other
mandatory meetings scheduled during this time, making it even harder to gather
as a group.
We must carve more time
out of the schedule for stu-
dents to develop their interests outside of required
academics. Other time gaps
during the week, such as
Friday afternoons, Thursday mornings, or even Saturdays after lunch, could
easily be devoted specially
to the meeting of clubs and
organizations.
Of all the clubs students
can join at Club Expo, very
few become regularly-meeting clubs due to the difficulty of finding a time that
accommodates the varying
schedules of all involved.
While there will never be
a perfect solution, carving
time into the existing schedule will make it significantly easier to plan meetings.
This will lead to more active
clubs and allow students to
explore a greater spectrum
of interests without having to sacrifice other areas
of concern. One activities
period per week just is not
cutting it.
Yik-Yak: Drawing the Line Between Humor and Hazing
By ANNA ANDERSON ’17
Yik Yak is an app that allows anyone to write and
read anonymous posts
called “yaks.” Once a yak
is posted, it can be read by
the nearest 500 users, unless it has received enough
“downvotes” that it disappears. The anonymity of the
posts gives their authors an
immense power: the ability to say anything without
having to take responsibility
for it. Does it really matter
who sees the post or what it
is about? Even though there
are no direct consequences
for the author, there are
many reasons to think before typing.
In the app, gossip and
rumors run rampant. Often, the yaks insinuate
specific people by giving
away details about them.
Some yaks even mention
people’s names. The writer
of a yak does not usually
prioritize writing in a considerate manner. The aim
is usually humor; however,
a moment’s amusement
should never risk humiliation. Someone’s reputation can be tarnished with a
few clicks and swipes. The
words of the yak’s 500 potential viewers can spread
to thousands, orally and
through today’s technology. It is unjust for people
to write things about others
that they would not want
written about themselves.
If a thought is too controversial to voice without anonymity, it probably should
not be voiced where hundreds of people can see it
on Yik Yak. The invisibility
the app gives is hazardous.
It creates an undefined line
between reality and fantasy,
between truth and lies. The
small blurbs of up to 200
characters can have a mas-
sive influence on readers. A
person’s initial instinct is to
believe what is told.
If someone is angry with
a peer, they can spread slander and falsehoods while
remaining perfectly nameless. Even worse, secrets of
the most private form can
be made public, and the revealer maintains the security of being unknown. This
method of communication
produces a haziness that
has the power to destroy
people’s self-esteem. The
yaks can be true or false.
The writer can be anyone.
Philippians 4:8 instructs:
“Fix your thoughts on what
is true, and honorable, and
right, and pure, and lovely,
and admirable.” This is an
applicable way to think
about the posts of Yik Yak.
The community should post
Max Borrmann
thoughts that are honest
and respectable.
Yik Yak is an interesting
way to express thoughts or
jokes because there is an absence of inhibition caused
by known identity in other
social media. Many users
do not abuse the app and
inspire laughter in many
people. However, humor
and injustice are not inseparable.
10
OCTOBER 2014
The Coin
Free-Market Health Care: Accountability and Access
By PETER THEWISSEN ’15
Even before the passage of the
highly-controversial Affordable
Care Act on March 23, 2010,
debate about nationalized versus free-market versus hybrid
healthcare systems was quite
common, and remains that way
today. Though I concede that
universal healthcare systems
lead to longer average life spans
where they are implemented, I
firmly believe that such systems
remain inferior to free market
models, principally because of
the inequitable distribution
of costs of treatment and long
waiting times for care.
Unlike free market systems,
universal healthcare systems remove any sort of financial accountability from the process of
treatment. Consider two hypo-
thetical people named Jim and
Allen respectively. Jim eats lots
of unhealthy foods, smokes copious amounts of unfiltered cigarettes and practices Motocross
tricks without wearing a helmet.
He also pays $30,000 in taxes
annually. Allen, on the other
hand, eats only healthy food, exercises daily and makes a point
of avoiding anything potentially
harmful to his health. Allen pays
$60,000 in taxes annually. If Jim
and Allen live in a country where
universal health care is in effect,
such as the U.K., both men will
pay a certain percentage of their
taxes, say one third, to the National Health Service (NHS).
This means that the NHS will
receive $10,000 from Jim and
$20,000 from Allen.
Now let’s pretend that Jim, as
a result of his unhealthy lifestyle,
suffers a heart attack from his
terrible eating habits, followed
by the development of lung cancer from his smoking and then
a horrific Motocross accident
resulting in a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using conservative
estimates, the cost to the NHS
of performing Coronary Artery
Bypass Grafting for the heart
attack, chemotherapy for the
tumor and brain surgery for the
TBI amounts to about $80,000.
That’s eight times more than
what Jim paid the NHS! So
where does the rest of the money come from? Allen and people
like him, of course. Allen almost
never requires medical care, and
when he does, it is very inexpensive. As a result, the vast majority
of the money Allen pays to the
NHS will not be used to care for
him. Instead, most of it is used
to pay for treatments for Jim
and others like him. To further
exacerbate this injustice, if Allen
suffers an injury that does not
Universal health care
does not equate with
universal access to
medical care. At any
given time, there exist close to 900,000
patients waiting to
be admitted to NHS
hospitals.
require immediate treatment,
(maybe he breaks his arm rescuing someone from a bear attack), he is forced to wait while
the hospital treats Jim for all of
the severe injuries he brought
upon himself as a result of his
own idiotic behavior. Welcome
to the world of universal health
care, where the healthy people
pay for the unhealthy people’s
bad decisions.
In addition, one must consider that universal health care
does not equate with universal
access to medical care. A 2006
report by the U.K.’s Department of Health stated that at
any given time, there exist close
to 900,000 patients waiting
to be admitted to NHS hospitals. On top of this, each year,
50,000 operations are cancelled
in the U.K. because of shortages
resulting from inefficiency in the
healthcare system. In Sweden,
another country with universal
health care, the waiting time for
heart surgery can last over six
months, even though 75% of
cases are “urgent.” Furthermore,
the average waiting time for a
hip replacement in Sweden is over a year. Can
you imagine waiting for
over a year for a crucial
pain-relieving
surgery
such as hip replacement?
I certainly cannot. When
Chief Justice Beverly
McLachlin of the Canadian Supreme Court
wrote, “access to a waiting list is not access to health
care,” she was entirely correct.
To contrast the depressing
waiting times suffered by patients within universal healthcare systems, data from the U.S.,
a country that thankfully does
not have universal health care,
suggests a much better landscape for prompt patient care.
Zero percent of U.S. heart-surgery patients had to wait longer
than three months for surgery,
and nearly 90% of U.S. patients
requiring hip replacement underwent their surgery in under
three weeks, with no patients
waiting six months or more.
Moreover, the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development reported that in
the U.S., “waiting time is not a
policy concern.” It is clear that
the U.S. is better off with a freemarket health care system.
Universal Care Improves Health and Society
By TREVOR LEVIN ’15
Four years ago, President
Obama signed into law the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, affectionately dubbed “Obamacare” by
House Republicans. The law
has surpassed even the administration’s optimistic expectations and has tangibly improved healthcare access in the
U.S. (a topic for another Coin,
maybe). It stopped short, however, of creating a publiclyfunded “universal” healthcare
system and left the healthcare
market intact. This decision,
though politically necessary,
left much to be desired from
the healthcare overhaul. Every
other developed country—this
is no exaggeration—has recognized the moral, economic and
health benefits of a universal
healthcare system. It’s time we
do the same.
I’m puzzled by the accountability argument made by my
friend on the other side of
the Coin. He assumes, most
troublingly, that people need
health care primarily for maladies that result from their own
decisions. People go to the hospital for viruses that they did
not choose to contract. They
go for car accidents that they
did not decide to enter. They
go for cancers and diseases and
disasters of all kinds, some of
which result from their choices, but most of which don’t.
Additionally, Peter argues that
a universal healthcare system
incentivizes people to make
less healthy decisions. Firstly, if
that were true, where does the
longer life expectancy in countries with universal health care
come from? Secondly, that’s
just not how people make
health decisions. I may have to
check this with the Caterham
exchange students currently
visiting campus, but I would
guess that few people in single-payer healthcare countries
decide that heart disease is no
trouble as long as someone else
pays for the double bypass.
people live longer.
It is impossible to make a
convincing moral case for a
free-market healthcare system.
In such a system, the quality and amount of care you
receive directly depends on
how much money you have. A
private health system attaches
your right to life (or, at least,
I’m pretty confident in the
moral strength of my argument, because I haven’t read
a convincing case why some
children don’t deserve to go to
the doctor when they’re sick
because their parents don’t
make enough money. Instead,
let’s discuss the practical effects
of a single-payer system.
I need not turn to hypotheticals. Here’s the data: even with
longer waiting lists, people in
advanced industrialized countries with universal health
care live longer than Americans at a lower cost. In fact,
even Cuba, a country with a
per-capita GDP at just over a
tenth of America’s, has a higher
life expectancy and a lower infant mortality rate. Somehow,
when more people have greater
access to medical care, more
In a free-market system, the quality and
amount of care you
receive directly depends on how much
money you have.
to treatment) to your ability to
pay. A person’s economic success, contrary to popular belief,
does not reflect that person’s
value. Even if it were, it would
be a terrible metric: the U.S.
offers lower economic mobility
than our European counterparts.
Peter gave me the (probably
sound) advice to avoid using
Breaking Bad in my argument.
It’s worth noting, however, that
when people face serious medical conditions like cancer, they
often also face financial disas-
ter. Our collective decision to
allow such a situation wreaks
havoc on the patient’s health.
(You know what this cancer
patient needs? Stress, guilt
and poverty!) It’s also morally
bankrupt. We look the sick in
the eye and tell them exactly
how much they need to pay for
us to save their life. If they can’t
afford it, tough luck.
More fundamentally, our
healthcare system shapes our
understanding of society. With
universal health care, we (literally) take care of each other.
When you’re down, we’ll help
you back up. We take responsibility for the general wellbeing. We strengthen our national community and respect
each other’s value as human
beings. Without it, you’re on
your own, kid.
Comics by Timmy Lund ’16, Portraits by Max Borrmann ’16
RESERVE RECORD THE COIN OCTOBER 2014
Space: Final Frontier or Misuse of Money?
By CONNOR SEMPLE ’15
“To explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life and new
civilizations, to boldly go where
no man has gone before.” These
words, famously spoken during
the introductory sequence of the
classic ’60s television series Star
Trek, inspired a generation of
Americans to reach for the stars.
The United States, a nation once
infatuated with space travel, put
12 Americans on the moon between 1969 and 1972. Yet, in recent years, the once-popular idea
of space exploration has been put
on the backburner by the United
States’ government.
During the late ’60s, a historic “space race” with the Soviet
Union put lunar exploration at
the forefront of American foreign policy. As the two powerful
nations grappled for global superiority, the sprint to the lunar
surface represented a contest to
determine which country was
technologically dominant. The
contentious divide between the
East and the West, as well as between communism and capitalism, was displayed for the world
on the stage of space exploration.
The climax of this competition,
American Neil Armstrong’s vic-
torious walk on the moon in July
of 1969, inspired unparalleled
national pride and patriotism in
the U.S.
However, despite these historic
successes, recent budget cuts
have forced the National Aeronautic and Space Administration
(NASA) to cancel their modern
shuttle program altogether, leaving the U.S. with no way to transport humans into outer space. As
a result, NASA has been forced
to rent spots aboard Russian
space expeditions: the agency
shells out $63 million per seat to
the program that our nation once
fought so hard to outdo.
What happened to the spirit
of innovation that once drove
America to achieve the impos-
is not a nation that depends
on the advancement of others.
America is a nation of leaders,
dreamers, and doers. It is our
government’s responsibility to
put this country’s vast resources
to use in a way that will forever
benefit our global community. It
is time for the U.S. to revitalize
its space program, and to once
again lead the world in discovery and innovation. It is time to
once again excite today’s students
about science, and to go where
no man has gone before.
By AMANDA SUDILOVSKY ’15
sible? The moon has provided
scientists a natural laboratory to
study mineral resources and the
atmosphere. As a result, NASA is
responsible for more than 6,300
patents on inventions that average Americans come into contact
with daily, from the smoke detector to the cell phone. Why have
we rewarded the successes of this
ground-breaking organization by
slashing its funding and reducing NASA’s scientific prowess to
a shell of its former self? Why
are we now content with taking
a back seat to foreign nations in
the field of exploration?
It’s time for a change. The U.S.
On the night of October 7,
hundreds of Americans broke
out their telescopes to get a look
at a rare celestial event known as
a Blood Moon. A Blood Moon
occurs when the Earth, the
Moon, and the Sun align and is
characterized by a brilliant red
lunar surface that lights up the
night sky. Recent media fixation
on this event has left some people
wondering, why has the United
States ceased to send Americans
to the moon?
The last mission that the United States launched to the moon,
called the Lunar Atmosphere
and Dust Environment Explorer
(LADEE), took place in September of 2013. The unmanned
expedition, which was intended
to test the dust composition of
the lunar surface, is estimated to
have cost the United States’ government over $260 million in its
entirety. And what do we gain
as a nation from these imprudent
expenditures? What is the true
value of modern lunar experimentation?
It’s hard to say for certain. The
U.S. has not landed a man on the
moon in more than 40 years and
the the argument that moon missions are justified by a national
“love of exploration” is simply
becoming irrelevant. In a world
of constantly improving science
and technology, space exploration is old news. The money spent
on the National Aeronautic and
Space Administration’s (NASA’s)
lunar expeditions can and should
be spent on the science that will
better benefit the average American. We need innovations in energy and communication more
than we need another astronaut
bouncing around on the moon’s
surface. In this sense, the United
States has been smart about their
decision to cut funding dedicated to manned aerospace expeditions, and should continue to do
so. Furthermore, technology is
becoming so accurate that there
is not any more value in putting
a man on the moon as opposed
to a rover, and even those are extremely costly.
Besides, what is being done
with the scientific data collected
on these trips that makes lunar
missions valuable to our society?
The answer is this: very little!
Information about the moon’s
composition is not helping us
on Earth to do anything other
than to understand the geology
of the moon itself. Why should
our indebted government spend
its limited resources on this type
of space travel?
The only other countries with
plans for future lunar missions
are China, Russia and North
Korea. But these countries only
desire outdated bragging rights
rather than actual scientific research and discovery.
In the end, the only reason
people urge NASA to continue
its lunar missions is because the
moon is cool. Let go of that
nostalgia, people: America and
the moon had a good run, but
it’s time to move on! It’s okay to
hold on to those good memories
of the times we had. You might
still shed a tear when you hear
Elton John’s song “Rocket Man.”
But at the end of the day, the cost
of a lunar mission is simply not
worth the minimal results. There
are new, more relevant sciences to
explore!
Charles, Gabe Debate Block Period Controversy
By CHARLES
PRENDERGAST ’15
While the schedule modification a few years ago instituted a
number of significant changes,
none of them seemed to affect
the average student more than
block periods. Extending seven
class periods a week by 25 minutes completely changed the nature of the two days that were
affected. Block periods mean
sitting in a classroom for much
longer stretches, so they have
their share of detractors. While I
certainly cannot say that I always
enjoy classes of that length, I believe that block periods are, all in
all, beneficial.
Block periods have fulfilled
their principal purpose perfectly.
Before my sophomore year, few
labs or other short projects could
be finished in just one period,
which often had a domino effect that could disrupt the whole
week for that class. Now, there’s
more time for these projects.
Taking out that disruption can
also make classes more efficient.
Have you ever finished a period
and realized that the class got
absolutely nothing done? Block
periods have saved many classes
from that fate.
Block periods can actually make
the schedule kinder. They mean
one less period on both Tuesday
and Wednesday. That means only
four classes of homework if you
have one free track, as many do.
Fifty-minute periods are much
easier to deal with after seventyfive minute ones the day before.
By the end of my freshman year,
fifty-minute classes still seemed
pretty long, but now they seem
downright speedy.
Longer classes have further academic upside. They allow teachers to take their students out of
the classroom, for example, to a
coffeeshop for a morning class or
the hockey pond for a biology investigation. Block periods actually allow the class to take their
time and enjoy themselves. Block
periods offer academic advantages and make the week easier
to get through, a noble endeavor
when one considers the average
WRA schedule.
By GABE SKORA ’15
At the beginning of my sophomore year at Western Reserve
Academy, the schedule was
changed to incorporate “block
periods.” These extended periods
would last an hour and 20 minutes (now reduced to an hour
and 15 minutes). The logic behind the block periods was that
they would make up for the class
time missed from the cancellation of Saturday classes, which
had been replaced with the current ECHO schedule, and would
allow teachers (of science in particular) time for more involved
projects. While, theoretically, this
indicated that students were fully
compensated for the missed class
time, in reality, there
was a tradeoff involving the students’ attention spans, which
of course were more
likely to give way as
the class dragged on.
The 50-minute classes make more sense,
because students require less stamina to
remain attentive during the shorter class.
In addition to the
additional strain piled onto students, the block schedule assigns
more of a burden to teachers as
well. Teachers are now asked to
plan extended class periods, and
the effectiveness of such planning
is heavily affected by the subject
matter. If a science class teacher
wants to plan a block period, a
hands-on lab is often effective,
11
and very efficient in teaching a
concept. Having a similarly effective class in history or math
is much harder to accomplish,
because the subject matter is
more difficult to manipulate in
a hands-on way for the students.
Group projects and discussions
are a great help in these subjects,
however it can be difficult to tell if a student is pulling their
own weight within
their group.
It could be argued
that the extended
class periods are better preparation for
the longer classes that
we will experience in
college.
However,
while college classes
are longer, there is
much more free time available,
which enables students to participate more fully in a class, as
classes will not make up a huge
portion of their day. All told,
having similar extended block
periods in high school does not
provide enough realistic college
preparation to justify the wasted
efficiency that they incur.
12
RESERVE RECORD WORLD NEWS OCTOBER 2014
Reach of ISIS Grows in Middle East
By NIRAJ NAIK ’16
The Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria, commonly known as
ISIS, is an unrecognized Sunni
jihadist group in Iraq, Syria, and
other areas of the Middle East.
The group originated in 1999 as
part of al-Qaeda of Iraq (AQI).
However, in 2008, al-Qaeda cut
all ties with ISIS due to ISIS’s
brutality and complex structure.
The group has grown significantly ever since current leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi came to
power in 2013. ISIS originally
aimed to establish an Islamic
state in only the Sunni-majority
regions of Iraq, but after the Syrian Civil War, the group strove
to gain control of the Sunnimajority regions of Syria as well.
Currently, the group claims
authority over all Muslims
worldwide and aims for control
over all Muslim regions. According to the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), as of September
2014, ISIS has 20,000 to 31,500
soldiers. The Syrian government
claims the number could be as
high as 90,000. The United Nations, European Union and the
United States have all declared
ISIS a terrorist organization.
On Oct. 14, the New York
Times released a report stating
that ISIS had gained control of
a former chemical weapons facility in Muthanna, Iraq. The
facility operated under Saddam
Hussein in the 1980s and at one
point contained sarin, mustard
gas, and VX, a nerve agent. After
Hussein’s regime was dismantled
in 2003, the Iraqi government
planned to dispose of the chemical weapons, but their plans
were never carried through. The
weapons remained in Muthan-
na. In 2008, U.S. soldiers were
exposed to mustard, one of the
chemical weapons; however, the
incident was kept secret during
the Iraq war.
In 2013, three journalists from
the New York Times confirmed
that they had seen old chemical stocks. In June of 2014 ISIS
gained control of the area, and
gained access to the harmful
weapons. The Iraqi government
remains unsure of how many
chemical munitions ISIS currently possesses.
The United States and some
of its allies have begun to bomb
key ISIS targets, but it is unclear
how involved America is willing
to become in the conflict. So far,
ISIS has not used any chemical
weapons on the ground in Syria
or Iraq. If it does so, it risks provoking further military intervention from external powers.
Hong Kong Protests for Democracy
By YING KA LEUNG ’18
An ongoing protest campaign
in Hong Kong, dubbed the
“Umbrella Revolution,” is a civil
disobedience movement where
thousands are currently occupying the streets.
The current protest movement can be traced back to British colonization in the 1800s.
After China lost both Opium
Wars, Hong Kong, as an important trading port, was leased to
Britain for 150 years. In 1997,
when Hong Kong was returned
to Chinese control, the Chinese
government promised Hong
Kong free and fair elections written under the Basic Law (Hong
Kong’s mini-constitution) and a
high-degree of autonomy for the
next 50 years. Since 1997, the
Chief Executive, leader of Hong
Kong, has been selected by an
election committee of 1,200
pro-Beijing loyalists.
On Aug. 31, the Chinese legislature declared that elections
would be held but that candidates must be selected by a
nomination committee similar
to the current committee. This
outraged pro-democracy activists, who took to the streets in
protest. By Sept. 22, the Hong
Kong Federation of Students,
comprised of high school and
college students, announced
that they would boycott classes
and refuse to attend school.
They protested the declaration
held by the Chinese legislature
and demanded the resignation
of current Chief Executive C.Y.
Leung.
As protesters began demonstrating outside the government
headquarters on Sept. 28, police utilized tear gas and batons
in order to clear out protest
sites. Protesters resorted to umbrellas in order to dodge tear
gas, hence the term “Umbrella
Revolution.” The police action
backfired, and this police brutality caused a surge in attendance
numbers. Clashes broke out
again a few days later by “AntiOccupy activists” against the
“Umbrella Revolution.” Several
human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have
criticized the police for failure to
separate the groups.
Ebola Ravages W. Africa
By NINA TEKELENBURG ’15
After recent outbreaks across
the globe, the deathly disease
Ebola has been the talk of every town. Ebola Virus Disease
(EVD) is an illness that spreads
by contact from animals to humans and humans to humans.
According to the World Health
Organization, outbreaks of the
fatal disease have occurred since
1976 in various parts of Africa
but never reached the enormity
of the epidemic in the year 2014.
One of the first outbreaks occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, near the
Ebola River, from which the disease obtained its name. Of the
five different species of Ebola
identified—Zaire, Bundibugyo,
Sudan, Reston and Taii—four
of them have been found in
specific fruit bats, leading to the
conclusion that members of the
Pteropdidae bat family are the
inborn Ebola virus hosts. Humans contract the disease from
bats and other infected animals
through contact with their
blood, organs and other bodily
fluids. Humans then pass the illness to each other in the same
forms of contact.
The vast majority of Ebola
outbreaks has sprouted in parts
of Africa, but small eruptions
have also occurred in England
and Russia. Ebola first appeared
at the end of the ’70s, took a
13-year break from 1980-1993,
then began to show appearances
again up until its biggest outbreak which has now reached
North America.
Returning from Liberia to visit
relatives, Thomas Eric Duncan
arrived in Dallas with common
symptoms of the disease. However, his travels to the contagious country of Liberia was not
recorded, so he was not taken
to intensive care immediately.
Duncan died Oct. 8, the first
person in the U.S. to be diagnosed and die from Ebola. Nina
Pham, the hospital nurse who
treated Duncan, contracted the
disease and was under intensive
care until “cured” on Oct. 24.
More diagnoses have arisen in
other countries where the disease
has traveled, such as Germany
and Spain. In a short period of
time, the outburst jumped from
Africa to various pockets of the
world, producing anxiety and
concern around the globe.
Protest numbers surged again
on Oct. 10, when Carrie Lam, a
senior government official, cancelled talks with student leaders,
announcing that “illegal acts will
not persuade the government to
talk.” Delivery of several local
and international newspapers,
including the New York Times,
was blocked by Anti-Occupy
activists accusing them of biased
reporting.
On the Oct. 14, footage surfaced of policemen beating a
pro-democracy politician and
other handcuffed protesters in a
back alley, leading to thousands
of police brutality complaints.
Clashes have broken out in most
protest locations as of Oct. 17,
as the government plans to evict
protesters. Meanwhile, Anti-Occupy activists call for the deployment of the Chinese military to
restore order.
A poll of Chinese Western Reserve Academy students shows
that they appear to be equally
split in opinion. One Hong
Kong student says he agrees with
the protesters’ aims, but adds
that the occupation of main
roads is irresponsible, as it grinds
the economy to a halt.
Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia. In Kansas,
the Democratic Party is hoping
the independent candidate Greg
Orman beats out the Republican incumbent, Sen. Pat Roberts. Although the Democrats
wouldn’t technically gain a seat,
most pundits believe Orman
would caucus with the Democrats once in the Senate. In
Kentucky, if Democrat candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes
were to beat out incumbent Sen.
Mitch McConnell, it would be a
huge embarrassment for the Republican party, as McConnell is
the Senate Minority leader.
At press time, predictors and
pollsters give the Republicans
a modest but persistent advantage, but there is no guarantee
whether Senate will flip Republican red or stay Democrat blue.
Regardless of polling and speculation, only the people can decide the results of this midterm.
So, if you can vote, go out and
vote. If you cannot, have fun
keeping track of this exciting
election.
Democrats, GOP Battle for Senate
By ERIC BUEHLER ’15
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, people
will flood voting booths for the
United States’s midterm election. “Midterms,” during which
candidates compete for seats in
Congress, are held two years into
the President’s four-year term.
In every midterm, all the seats
in the House of Representatives
are up for grabs, while only onethird of the Senate’s seats are up
for grabs; Senators serve six year
terms that are staggered so only
one-third of the seats open every
Congressional election.
As it stands right now, the Republicans have control of the
House, holding 233 out of the
435 seats, while the Democrats
control the Senate, holding 53
out of the 100 seats. While the
Republicans are expected to
keep their House majority, the
Senate is heavily contested between the parties. Both parties
have raised millions of dollars
in attempts to out campaign the
other over control of the house;
National Republican Senatorial
Committee raised 98 million
dollars, while Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
raised 127 million dollars.
Republicans are hoping to
gain the majority in the Senate
by winning the States of Iowa,
Arkansas, New Hampshire,
Louisiana, North Carolina and
Colorado. Out of these, Louisiana appears most likely to
flip Republican due to the fact
that Democratic senator Mary
Landrieu has only won her last
three Senate races by narrow
margins.
Colorado is the most heavily
contested out of these States,
pitting current Democrat Sen.
Mark Udall against Republican
nominee Cory Gardner. Democrats hit Gardner over the head
for his stance on abortion, while
Republicans hammer Udall for
his unwavering support of the
Affordable Care Act.
Democrats are hoping to defend their majority by winning
the States of Alaska, Colorado,