T h e L a k e F o r e s t A c a d e m y

Volume 89 Number 6 April 13, 2011

S P E C T A T O R1500 West Kennedy Road Lake Forest, IL 60045

128-9 2See page 2 See page 8 See page 12

Service Day New LFA Clubs

ShakespeareanIdol

By Eric ClamageEditor-in-Chief

According to multiple sources, the Deans of Lake Forest Academy are considering a pro-posal for students and faculty to be using iPads in the classroom during the upcoming school year. “We are exploring the iPad as a poten-tial classroom tool starting next year,” stated Grier Carson, Director of Library Information Services. The school has been very interested in the new releases of digital tablets in order to eliminate text books

from the daily lives of students. According to Dave Ayk-roid, Director of Information Technology, his department has been evaluating the Kno, Archos 101 Android, iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom as portable tablets that students could use. With the recent release of the iPad 2, Aykroid and Carson are leaning toward that tablet as the tool for LFA. “Right now [the iPad] has thousands of apps that would supply many opportunities for stu-dents in and out of the classroom,” noted Aykroid. The iPad 2 is the most portable, durable tab-let that is closest to a computer mobile device with-out the need of a mouse or keyboard, compared to

Students likely to be using iPads in school soonthe other tablets investigated. It has a duo-core pro-cessor and a 10-hour battery life. In addition it has front and rear cameras, garageband, iMovie, etc. “It’s a life device,” Carson continued, “it’s a way of accessing all the content one values from me-dia to surfing the web to e-mailing. It even has video capability for students to communicate to one another.” At least half of the textbooks that LFA students cur-rently use are available on the iPad and very soon all of the books will be available. Through the iPad’s e-book applica-tion, students are able to use sticky notes, annotate and take

Story continued on page 3.

Prom!!!

Prom location: Milwaukee Art MuseumBy Erica Lewis and Ariana BhatiaStaff Writers

The mystery is finally solved!While LFA usually heads south to Chicago for its big for-mal dance, Prom 2011 will be held up north at the stunning, new Milwaukee Art Museum. The building has become world famous for its movable “wings” that offer shade to the structure throughout the day. The building’s design is

becoming recognized internationally as cutting edge archi-tecture – and, quite frankly, a really cool place to hold a prom. “I was very excited when I discovered the building was available for our prom,” said Junior Class Advisor Mr. Bill Murphy. “We will basically have the whole building space for dancing and eating, and we have the use of the museum’s large outdoor pa-tio, which overlooks Lake Michigan, for a quiet place for people to cool off and chat during the evening.”

The main dance will be held under the glass dome, a space that is almost as large as the main floor of the Cressey Theater. Tables will for eating dinner will be ar-ranged in adjacent wings and students will also have access to the main museum exhibit spaces for strolling together. After much debate, prom committee decid-ed on a theme that will take LFA back to the good old days: The Roaring 20’s. Students can expect nothing

Story Continued on page 4.

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april 13, 2011

Yearbook to make various changes with new system By Mark YinglingEntropica Editor

“Totally Re-imagined,” said Mr. Jason Koenig, the fac-ulty advisor of the LFA yearbook staff, while describing the highly anticipated 2010-2011 Caxy. Ac-cording to Koenig, this year the staff has departed from a tradi-tional yearbook design where it is neatly organized into rows and columns, sports seasons, and se-mesters. Instead, said Koenig, “The yearbook will be more art-based and it is very different from what we used to do because it re-flects the changes in modern me-dia.” One of the major shifts from last year’s yearbook has been the adaptation of a com-pletely new idea of organizing the yearbook by the cycle system. Using the cycle system is a com-pletely new concept and students will immediately notice that the Caxy is not segmented as it has been in the past. It is more chron-ologically based, said Koenig, so it is easier to read and follow,

while it is also a heavily layered book consisting of “many, many layers.” One of the main reasons the yearbook is using this new system because it “represents the inclusive community that we have here at LFA,” stated Koenig. The yearbook staff believed that the yearbooks in the past separat-ed the community and divided it up, and they wanted to change be-cause it did not fit the atmosphere of the school. They wanted to show the unity and community felt by the student body by rede-signing the yearbook and “rein-vent it so it is much more mod-ern.” The cycle system seems to be well received by the staff and the few students who have seen it, but some still worry that it won’t be well received by the traditional yearbook lovers. Another change for this year’s yearbook was the number of staff members working dili-gently on the book. Towards the end of last year, the yearbook staff dwindled to four students, for various reasons. But it is a completely different story this

year. “There is a lot of inter-est in what we’re doing here,” said Koenig. “Enrollment has in-creased three fold.” The students on the yearbook staff seem to be re-ally intrigued by the new trends that are being put in place in this year’s Caxy, which is reflected in the increasing number of students who want to take the class. Also, this year is different for students due to the fact that it is almost an experimental year, and many can’t wait o see how it will be re-ceived by the LFA community. As of this print date, the yearbook is slightly behind schedule because of the new sys-tem which causes production to be more intricate and therefore take longer. “This year we had to re-structure how the students work,” Koenig said. “It involves a lot of rethinking.” However, staff members are working hard and catching up quickly to meet the deadlines of the highly-anticipated yearbook.

Ra WeekendOutdoor activities celebrate SpringBy Andrea ShenA&E Editor

LFA’s annual Ra Weekend falls on Saturday, May 14, this year. The long-standing tradition, named after Ra, the Egyptian sun god, is a celebration of the coming of Spring.

“It’s a great time for visiting families, faculty, and students on and off campus to come together and show the strength of the LFA community,” said Sophomore Class President Will Shoemaker.

“It’s a chance to get the kids excited about the season, about finishing school, and about being part of the community,” agreed Class Advisor Dr. Kerry Cedergren.

The event is run by the Sophomore class as a fundraiser for the following year, when they organize prom as juniors. The day will begin with the Freshman car wash in front of Atlass dorm in the morning, followed by the rest of Ra Weekend festivities behind Atlass and on the field hockey field throughout the day. The carnival-style event will feature the classic inflatable obstacle course, moon bounce, dunk tank, and pie throw, but the Sophomore class officers are also exploring other types of attractions.

“We’re hoping to take it one step farther each year and really try to improve on last year’s Ra Weekend,” said Shoemaker.

“As the person who ran Ra Weekend last year, I now have

a whole new appreciation of how fun it can be,” says Class of 2012 advisor, Mr. William Murphy. “I hope particularly that non- boarding students will come and take advantage of what is usually one of the most fun weekends of the year.”

Volunteers from the sophomore class will run the games, booths, and ticket sales. Tickets, available for purchase at Ra Weekend, will offer admission to the day’s activities, and can also be used to buy traditional carnival fare, such as popcorn, cotton candy, and Robeks smoothies. The event will be open to the whole community: students, faculty, faculty children, as well as other guests and visitors.

Japan struck by two catastrophesInformation from BBC News An earthquake with an 8.9 magnitude hit Japan on March 11th. Following the destructive quake, a massive tsunami washed over the area northeast of Tokyo. Extreme damage occurred, such as fatalities and displacement of houses, cars, and ships. As a re-sult of the natural disasters, a nuclear power plant’s cooling system failed, causing the pressure inside the boiling water to rise. This defect has forced thousands of people to evacuate Fukushima due to the possible threats of radioactivity. Radioactivity from this plant has been traced in the United States in Oregon; however, the levels are low. But, in Japan, the effects are apparent and devastating. The death toll has passed 10,000.

US intervention in Libya crisisInformation from BBC News The US attack on Libya “Operation Odyssey Dawn” stemmed from the conflict of rebels against Muammar Gaddafi. The use of civilians as human shields in areas like Misrata has com-plicated NATO airstrikes. Hiding weapons in populated areas as well as adverse weather has further diluted their efforts. NATO war planes flew 58 missions on Monday, April 4th, 14 of them strik-ing Gaddafi targets. Fighting in the oil-rich town of al-Brega has started up again. All parts of the country have seen destruction to civilian lives as the brutal fighting endures.

Brazilian students murderedInformation from CNN April 7 marked the tragic day of the massacre of 11 Brazil-ian students. Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, a 23 year old gradu-ate from the school in Realango, was identified as the shooter who gained access to the school by claiming he was there to obtain tran-scripts. Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral, referred to the gunman as a "psychopath.” Municipal School Tasso da Silveira is located in northern Rio in a middle- and lower-middle-class area not familiar with this type of crime.

World News RoundupAssembled by Mary Kate Hayes and Ariana BhatiaNews Editors

Photo Courtesy of Tribune Media ServicesJapanese scientists fight the radiation crisis.

Photo Courtesy of Tribune Media ServicesLibyan soldiers stand guard on their post.

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LFA strives to make Ferry Hall go as green as possibleBy Ariana BhatiaNews Editor

Now that Durand Hall has been successfully moved and construction begun on the new Ferry Hall, the Ferry Hall Con-struction Committee has been working hard to finalize its plans for what the completed building will be like, both inside and out. In the committee’s discussions one particular question came up: How “green” will Ferry Hall be? While the building will not be specifically LEED certified, it will contain many measures to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. Obtaining a LEED certification ensures that a building is environmental friend-ly in all aspects. Ferry Hall may not obtain this gold medal stan-dard but is definitely aiming for silver. “It’s important to be en-vironmentally conscience, but as stewards of the school we also have to do what is financially re-sponsible,” said Assistant Head of School Bill Dolbee. ‘”You have to strike the right balance between being environmentally sensitive and being efficient with your dollars” The Ferry Hall Con-struction Committee consists of faculty members Mr. Andrew

Kerr, Mr. Bill Dolbee, Mrs. Mag-gie Tennyson, and Mrs. Suzy Vaughn. Also on the commit-tee are board members Mr. Tom Duckworth, Mrs. Robin Zafirovs-ki, and Mrs. Loretta Kaplan, a Ferry Hall alumna. The architect on the project, Mr. Peter Witmer works alongside builder Todd Altounian, an LFA alumnus. The committee has already made a se-ries of environmentally friendly decisions about the new building. In the construction pro-cess, the bricks for the building are being transported from no more than 500 miles away—lessening the carbon footprint of shipping. The building will be centrally air conditioned and centrally heating using high ef-ficiency boilers. While geo-ther-mal technology was considered, it was deemed not price competi-tive for the size of the building. “We have a tight budget and while we’re working to stay within the budget we are still fo-cused on the best program—and the best program includes not only a nice common space and study rooms but also a building that fits aesthetically, architectur-ally, and operationally on cam-pus,” said Kerr. “Low E” windows, or UV coated windows will keep

the rooms more temperature bal-anced and insulation is at the high end of building code,” continued Kerr. Additionally the build-ing’s design is attempting to use as much natural light as possible. The fixtures being used are read-ily adaptable from CFL to LED lighting when that reaches the next level of technology in com-ing years. The automatic light-ing system, already used in most classrooms, will be used in the dorm as well. “We’re dealing with some modern buildings and some quaint antique buildings...we’re trying to honor the old buildings but understand that, in some re-spects, they cost us significant amounts,” added Kerr. While wind power and solar energy were considered, there were no cost efficient op-tions for se in ferry Hall at the time. The combination of too many cloudy days as well as pack-ages that didn’t fit campus needs deterred moving to these sources of energy. This has caused some dissent among students. “I feel as if more plan-ning should have gone into the production of this new build-ing,” said senior Hailey Arnold, a member of the AP Environmen-

tal Sciences class. “Geothermal heating should have definitely been put in pre-construction; the funds should have been asked for by trustees and alumni.” “With the amount of time and resources the school is pouring into the establishment, adding insulation and UV coded windows is negligible,” added fellow class member, junior So-phia Smith. Junior Casey Coulter commented that he felt Ferry Hall could be made “10 million times more green.” Other students are pleased at the efforts already tak-en. “I think it’s great. The girls, and boys for that mat-ter, forget to turn off their room lights, leave unnecessary things plugged in, and well...we’re just wasteful as a group,” said senior Lizett Meraz, who currently lives in Mac. “I am actually really pleased with these changes and am slightly upset it hasn’t hap-pened sooner.” “Ferry Hall will improve the living conditions for female boarders while simultaneously reduce the harm to the environ-ment! I’ll be happy to see both changes,” stated junior Rachel Riccio, who lives in Field.

April 6th- Choir Trip Lake Forest Academy’s choir went to New York to attend 3 plays and perform a requiem at Ground Zero

April 11th- All-School President SpeechesJunior candidates running for All-School President made speeches in front of students and teachers

April 10th- Open HouseCaxy Keys and the Admis-sions office hosted an Open House for prospective LFA families

April 14th- Service DayThe LFA community volun-teered at various charities in proximity to Lake Forest

April 19th- LLORK PerformanceLFA’s Laptop Orchestra will hold their second concert of the year featuring original pieces

April 20th- Shakespearean Idol Students performed a mem-orized piece of literature in order to win a contest similar to American Idol

April 25th- Guitar RecitalStudents in Mr. Schlipmann’s guitar class, as well as those in the Guitar Picker’s club will perform

April 27th- Arts Concentration ConcertMembers of the arts concen-tration group Vox will have their second concert of the year at 7 pm

April 29th- Trustee WeekendTrustee weekend will kick off on the 29th, ending with the Spring Gala on the 30th

May 2nd- AP Exams StartThis year’s AP Exams begin with AP Chemistry, AP En-viromental Science, and AP Psychology

May 5th- Chamber Music ConcertThe seconds chamber Music concert of the year at 7 pm featuring Vox and choir members as well as Music Concentration students

May 7th- PromPre-Prom is scheduled to start at 4:30 pm followed by Prom at 7 pm

LFA looking to expand to iPads for studentsnotes as if they had the physi-cal textbook in front of them. “One of LFA’s goals is to prepare students for college, and to teach 21st century technology to students is going to prepare them for the world,” explained Carson. According to Aykroid, the school is considering a two-year commitment to using the iPad. “With the cycle of in-novation, specifically with the iPad, we (LFA) do not want to stick with just the iPad in the years to come. If there is an-other device that is better than the iPad years from now, we (LFA) would want to switch to that tablet,” said Aykroid. “I think that if the teach-ers actually use them it has the potential to be useful, but it could end up being a waste of money,” commented junior Alex Pan-khurst when asked about the idea for LFA students to use iPads.

Carson acknowledged the iPad has flaws, too. He noted that there are three main flaws with the device: it lacks the ability to type fast and ef-ficiently, the audio/video/me-dia editing is imperfect and the storage/retrieval on the tablet is limited. However students will most likely need Bluetooth keyboards to go with the iPad. The touch computer screens that were installed in the library this year was also a preview to the iPad/touch computing explained Carson. “I think it would be helpful to the students to ac-cess the internet and text-books at your fingertips,” said freshman Mary Kate Patton. “Having something like an iPad program at our school could change the classroom envi-ronment and how students learn at this school,” stated Carson.

For the remainder of the semester a few teachers will be trying out the iPad 2 to see how it could benefit students and teach-ers in the classroom. “With the cycle of innovation, specifically with the iPad, we (LFA) do not want to stick with just the iPad in the years to come. If there is another device that is better than the iPad years from now, we (LFA) would want to switch to that tablet,” said Aykroid. “I think that if the teach-ers actually use them it has the potential to be useful, but it could end up being a waste of money,” commented junior Alex Pan-khurst when asked about the idea for LFA students to use iPads. Carson acknowledged the iPad has flaws, too. He noted that there are three main flaws with the device: it lacks the ability to type fast and ef-ficiently, the audio/video/me-

dia editing is imperfect and the storage/retrieval on the tablet is limited. However students will most likely need Bluetooth keyboards to go with the iPad. The touch computer screens that were installed in the library this year was also a preview to the iPad/touch computing explained Carson. “I think it would be helpful to the students to ac-cess the internet and text-books at your fingertips,” said freshman Mary Kate Patton. “Having something like an iPad program at our school could change the classroom envi-ronment and how students learn at this school,” stated Carson. For the remainder of the semester a few teachers will be trying out the iPad 2 to see how it could benefit students and teachers in the classroom.

Assembled by Ariana Bhatia and Mary Kate HayesNews Editors

AroundCampus

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Annual LFA Service Day helps aid nearby charitiesBy Mary Kate HayesNews Editor

Lake Forest Academy’s annual Service Learning Day, held this week at various loca-tions in Lake County, involved the entire community divided into various volunteer groups. This day is yearly devoted to helping nearby charities and increasing service awareness around the LFA campus.

Many volunteer groups filled up quickly because of their popularity. Students who did not sign up through the website for a specific site found themselves assigned to random groups that needed volunteer workers. Re-views from both students and faculty participants indicated that the day’s activities were success-ful this year.

“I think service day is

a nice break from classes and a good way to promote involve-ment in community service,” said senior Olivija Cepaite. “I like how students have so many op-tions as to what they can do. It’s definitely a rewarding day, know-ing you spent a few hours helping out and you can still have the rest of the day to yourself.”

Director of Service Learning Sarah Collins was ex-cited and hopeful for a successful Service Learning Day this year; she enjoys seeing the meshing of the different members of the school’s community on various projects.

“I always hope we can get full faculty and staff sup-port,” commented Collins. “It’s nice to have non-teaching faculty involved with the students, as well.”

The tradition of Service

Learning Day has had an ex-tremely positive impact on pre-vious students. Serving the com-munity has opened student’s eyes to participating in other charities. Junior John Walton, for example, believes he has taken away a very important value from the event.

“The more you give to your community, the more it gives back to you,” remarked Walton.

For volunteers look-ing to interact with elders, Win-chester House provided that op-portunity. Similarly, members of choir went Lincolnshire to sing at Sedgebrook, a retirement com-munity.

Volunteers hoping to spend the day outdoors were in luck. This year, many forest pre-serve opportunities presented that option to LFA. Due to positive feedback from Lake County’s Forest Preserve’s Tom Smith,

LFA expanded into different nearby locations such as Indepen-dence Grove.

Because traveling to the neighborhood near Midway Air-port has posed several logistical problems in the past, there was no

trip to the Greater Chicago Food Bank this year.

“Service Day is a really helpful experience,” said junior Ryan Arnett. “It lets people have a chance to give back to their community.”

Photo by Ruth KeysoSophia Saulsberry volunteering at an retirement home during Service Day 2010.

By Erica Lewis Op-Ed Editor

This 2010-2011 school year two Lake Forest Academy students are spending their junior year studying abroad in Europe: Taylor Spratt is studying in Zara-goza, Spain, and Anastasia Perry is studying in Rennes, France in the Bretagne Region. Both girls are taking the majority of their classes in French or Spanish, with the exception of their math and English classes. Their ex-periences living and studying in

different countries sound some-what alike to the LFA experi-ence in the sense that they have a similar homework load each night and they run on a block schedule; however their every-day lives abroad seem to be filled with much more excitement and action than a day in Lake Forest. One feature unique to the life of a school-year-aboard student is their opportunity to travel throughout the country they are living in, and both Tay-lor and Anastasia are taking ad-vantage of this experience. An-

astasia is constantly traveling all over France with her Art History class, studying many churches and museums. She is looking forward to planning a trip to Lon-don over a long weekend. Taylor also spends many of her long weekends adventuring in Spain traveling throughout Barcelona, Madrid, and the cities of Granada. “Within school we make many trips as well: as I am writ-ing this (quote), I am in a hotel in Andalucía spending the week touring the cities of Granada (so far my personal favorite), Cor-

doba and Seville. Two weeks ago, we spent a Wednesday near Barcelona eating a spe-cial onion dish,” said Taylor about her traveling experience. Another aspect of the school-year-aboard program that distinguishes it from life at LFA is the emphasis that is put on be-ing an independent and responsi-ble individual. Deciding to spend your junior year of high school away from all your friends and family in a country where you are only just being to speak the national language immediately

teaches you the important of be-ing self-sufficient. Learning to navigate a city on your own is one lesson Taylor and Anastasia have become experts in. Taylor’s typical day in Spain consists of working at her local café for two to three hours after classes, and then returning home for dinner at 9 pm. Anastasia agrees with the importance the program puts on the being independent, saying that she feels like a “college stu-dent sometimes” because she is able to “just show up for class and then go out and explore the city”.

Students study abroad

Prom announcementContinued from page 1.

less than boas, top hats, and silent

movie memorabilia throughout

the night. For the pre-Prom party,

Reid Hall will be transformed

into the ultimate 1920’s mansion.

Pre prom is currently scheduled

to start at 4:30 p.m. and buses

will leave for the Museum at 6:00

p.m. Prom will go until 11:00 p.m.

when students will return to LFA.

While at the museum,

students can anticipate hav-

ing access to chocolate foun-

tain for dessert and a photo

booth near the dance floor as

some highlights of the evening.

While this location

may be new for LFA prom,

many juniors know the location

well. Their freshman founda-

tion of the arts viewed mod-

ern art exhibit here in 2008.

“I think the location is

really cool and it’ll be a great

place to hold prom. It was a stel-

lar place to go freshman year

and I’m really excited to go

back,” said Junior Prom Com-

mittee member, Corry Lane.

Similarly, junior Grace

Robinson, also on Prom Com-

mittee, thinks it’ll be “different

from any other prom experi-

ence” and sure to be a fun night.

Although prom is just

around the corner, there is still

much work to be done. Music

suggestions are still welcome and

Prom Committee will be open

to any other recommendations. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Art Museum

Dance floor that will be used for this years prom.

april 13, 2011

Poet David Huddle pays visit to LFABy Kathleen KennedyPhoto Editor

David Huddle, an Amer-ican poet and literature professor, visited Lake Forest Academy on last month. It was a return visit for Huddle, who has taught at several colleges, who also visited LFA in 2004, when his readings were very well received by the com-munity. Since then he has writ-ten poetry about everything from war, to small-town life, to teenage crushes, and he has even written about penguins. In fact, English Department Chair Jon Freeman, a friend of Huddle, said “He writes about adolescent longing better than any writer I know.” In explaining his reasons for inviting Huddle to re-visit the LFA community Freeman stated, “he helps student’s see that poetry can immerge from anywhere and can be hilariously funny just as easily as it can be beautiful and profound.” Huddle, who performed at All-School meeting, was some-what different from the previous visiting poet, Jamele Adams. But Freeman felt that both Huddle and Adams, while being very different, were able to achieve the same goal when it comes to

young writers. “They have very differ-ent styles, but like Adams, Hud-dle showed us poetry’s immense possibility’s,” said Freeman. Senior Cody Watson has enjoyed the visiting poets this year at school.

“I think that poets, in general, each opened a new perspective [for students]… al-though we are quick to judge and disregard what is said, if we keep an open mind I feel like we learn a lot,” stated Watson. Having taught at the

University of Vermont, and in his current teaching position at Hol-lins College, Huddle has had the opportunity to teach writing skills and share his passion for poetry with many students. He has writ-ten six volumes of poetry, five short story collections, and three

novels. In the process of writing yet another novel, Huddle is con-tinuing to share his work with the public. The fact that he has 1300 Facebook friends, probably more than any student at LFA, proves that he has a large fan base.

Photo by Kathleen KennedyAssistant Dean of students Jon Freeman speaking with David Huddle before his All School Meeting performance.

By Sophia SalsberyPhoto Editor

As the 2010-2011 school year comes to a close, annual stu-dent publications complete their production cycles and prepare to head for the printers. The LFA Literary Magazine is one of them. Best known as the Litmag, this year’s staff, which includes Rick-ey Larke, Hannah Jung, and Ar-wah Yaqub. They have made fre-quent announcements at school meetings hoping for more student content to be submitted for publi-cation. Litmag even created the Metaphor-offs, which where a big hit this year during morning meetings, to attract attention to Litmag. Even with those efforts, student written material has been difficult to attract. Motivating the student body to submit its work was not the only challenge this year for the staff of Litmag; they were also faced with the challenge of switching faculty advisors, from Mrs. Kim Bell to Ms. Emily Ash-er. One unexpected bonus was the experience that Asher brought to the magazine since she was the Litmag editor-in- chief for three

Attention LFA students: the Literary Magazine needs YOU!years when she was a student at LFA. She was also part of the Lit-mag group that changed the de-sign layout, cover, and inside de-sign to create a more professional look for the magazine. Asher has been excited to work with this year’s group of editors, giving them credit for taking such ownership of the project. “It has been a transi-tion, but it is going a lot smoother than it could in any other group because we are smaller and tight knit,” commented Larke. Submissions have been coming in at a slow pace, howev-er, and the Litmag staff hopes that the Sophomore Narratives and other English classes will bring in more creative work. Jung is extremely pas-sionate about creative writing, and English in general, and com-ments that for her it is not about the submissions, but rather the enthusiasm the student body has for English. The staff has meet-ings regularly for Litmag where they plan a great deal for the upcoming publication and Jung comments that she wants the stu-dents to love the Litmag as much

as she does. What the students may not recognize is how much the staff works; Jung wants the en-ergy from those meetings to spill over into the student body. She hopes that since Robert Pinksy inspired so many submissions last year the same will happen

for David Huddle, a poet from Vermont who was here recent-ly. Change seems to be a theme this year for the Litmag, with a new faculty advi-sor and new ways to motivate the student body; the changes do not stop there. This year written work may be submitted in a different

language: Spanish, French, Chi-nese, and Latin with translations offered in Chinese and Latin. This year’s Litmag seems to heading in a great direction, but to make it more amazing please submit to lfalitmag@gmail.com.

Photo by Sophia Salsbery The Literary Magazine has become increasingly popular and has published some of the best student work.

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See the truth behind the label... Where do your clothes really come from?

AP Tests: Are they really helpful?By Natasha PatelOp-Ed Editor

Today more and more students find themselves taking Advanced Placement classes. In a recent article published on us-news.com, the web site for the magazine U.S. News and World Report, it was reported that there was a 45 percent increase in the number of AP Exams between 2004 and 2009. This has left many observers wondering why taking these classes has become such a popular trend. Students have always had the option of tak-ing APs, yet now AP classes are overflowingm, a new phenom-ena prompting people to wonder about the dramatic increase in AP students. In that U.S. News ar-ticle, writer Eddy Ramirez report-ed that some teachers are worried about the trend. “The majority of teach-ers of Advanced Placement courses are satisfied with the college-prep program,” wrote Ramirez, “but they worry that quality could erode as more and more students—including those who are less prepared or who seek only to boost their college credentials—are allowed to par-ticipate in classes, according a new survey.”

In addition, Ramirez also wrote that “… students ‘ap-pear to be focused on AP for utili-tarian or pragmatic reasons, not intellectual reasons,’ according to most teachers, who said that more students want their college applications to look better. As a result of these attitudes among students and school leaders, 56 percent of teachers surveyed felt that too many students overesti-mate their abilities and are in over their heads in AP courses.” More than 6 in 10 of the teachers in-terviewed said that putting some limits on who can enroll would improve the AP program.

In a recent interview with The Spectator, Assistant Academic Dean Kristine Von Ogden, who oversees all AP Test-ing at LFA, gave her opinions on growing student enrollment in AP classes, as well as the film (“A Race to Nowhere”) presented to LFA students before spring break, chronicling the increased pres-sures and stresses on today’s high school students. “I think that a lot of our students identified either directly with certain students in the film or at least with the situations,” re-marked Von Ogden. When asked about her

views on the correlation between the pressures highlighted in the movie and higher AP enroll-ment, Von Ogden responded that everyone needs to consider their individual situation and figure out who is putting that pressure on them and why it is there. Von Ogden empha-sized the importance of students examining why they are making the class choices they are and suggested that students ask them-selves, “Is this good for me?” Christian Buerkle, a ju-nior at LFA, said that he takes AP classes “mostly because colleges look at them in a high school tran-

script.” Rob McNerney com-mented that he takes AP Eco-nomics because he is genuinely interested, AP Calculus because he feels pressured, and AP Envi-ronmental Science for his college transcript. Writer Ramirez conclud-ed his article by stating that the differing views about AP classes reflect a more important conver-sation that needs to take place in education: how can schools best prepare students for college?

Photo courtesy of onlineschools.orgThis AP Psychology exam , along with several others are being debated about their importance in college.

By Takia BroomfieldA&E Editor

As you walk down the halls of LFA, one brand of cloth-ing seems to be highly favored among students, and that brand is Abercrombie & Fitch. Abercrom-bie & Fitch, as well as Hollister, a smaller branch of A & F, oper-ate more than 1,000 stores across all four of its brands, located throughout the United States and other countries. Founded in 1892, Abercrombie and Fitch, like many other retailers, use cheap labor in order to keep their profits high and production costs low. In 1999, the U.S. Gov-ernment and representatives of the Garment Workers’ Union began a 3-year-long class action lawsuit in which Abercrombie & Fitch (A & F) was one of several American retailers involved be-cause of its sweatshops in Saipan that notoriously abuse child labor. Today, law enforcement sources

say that A & F continues to ex-ploit children, as well as adults, in sweatshops. In November 2009, Ab-ercrombie & Fitch was added to the “Sweatshop Hall of Shame

2010” by the worker advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum. The Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 emphasizes clothing and fabric manufacturers that use sweatshops in their international production. Hall of Shame in-ductees are responsible for “evad-

ing fair labor standards and often are slow to respond or provide no response at all to any attempts by the International Labor Rights Forum, workers, or others to im-prove working conditions.”

At the Alta Mode sweat-shop in the Philippines, A & F employees attempted to form a workers union to address the harsh and inhumane conditions in their working environment and a production quota set beyond hu-man capacity. In response, over

100 workers and union members were fired and replaced with other poor job seekers. While A & F’s labor is shifted from sweatshop to sweat-shop in many countries, majority of its cotton comes from Uzbeki-stan. In Uzbekistan, there are 1.4 million who range between the ages of five and fourteen who work in the cotton fields. For one kilogram of cotton a child gets paid 3 cents which gets sold for a $1.15 on the global market. For 10 kilograms valued at $11.50 on the global market, they get paid 38 cents. Schools are even closed so children can do more harsh la-bor in the fields. If these kids do not meet the standards that their “masters” set for them they re-ceive cruel and unusual punish-ment, and children who try to run away, face expulsion. While many people pay top dollar for clothing and other products sold by Abercrombie &

Fitch, most do not know or care to investigate where these items come from. The labor that goes into making these clothes isn’t nearly paid for entirely, and the profit that these garments yield, are not distributed fairly. The LFA community was extremely shocked and ap-palled when they discovered the truth behind their favorite brand Abercrombie & Fitch. “I hate Abercrombie & Fitch. I think it’s really horrible that they have such unfair prac-tices,” replied Sophomore Han-nah Thuroff. Junior Haley Whilhelm said she discontued shopping there three years ago because she found out about how badly they treat employees in sweatshops. Prefect and senior Lamees Esmail said she felt horrible after finding out that A & F pays its sweatshop employees only 3 cents on every $1.15.

“For one kilogram of cotton a child gets paid 3 cents which gets sold for a $1.15 on the glob-al market. For 10 kilo-grams valued at $11.50 on the global market, they get paid 38 cents.”

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Young Republicans Club is becoming more popular By Leo RudbergStaff Writer LFA seems to be a one-party school this year, sort of. The Young Democrats Club no longer exists and the Young Libertarians Club has fewer members than one has fingers. But The LFA Young Republicans Club has a strong, active membership this year. The Spectator recently had an interview with some of the clubs members: club leader David Levine ’11, Tom Gallagher ’11, Mitchell Gregory ’12, and Aline Feijo ’12. The interview consisted of questions about the club’s thoughts on current events. One of the first issues discussed by the club members was what are biggest problems facing the United States today. The club members listed the American deficit and overspending, border security, and stabilizing the Middle East. Gallagher also added that the government needs to put more emphasis on education, but they shouldn’t just throw money at it. Overall, the Young Republicans’ main point was that the government should not “spend money you don’t have.” Another topic the Republicans discussed with The Spectator was the chance of bipartisanship in the current Congress. Today’s news is filled with the two major political parties insulting and blaming each other for everything. The interviewees

Check Mate!Chess Guru AJ Jayakumar brings atten-tion to LFA’s Chess Club.By Zunaira Arshad

Staff Writer

Junior Adarsh Jayaku-mar enrolled at LFA this year and immediately rejuvenated LFA’s Chess Club. A national-ly-ranked chess player himself, Jayakumar is extremely passion-ate about the game and has taken pride in raising the level of play at his new school after previous-ly attending Townview Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas.

“The chess club is pro-gressing very well,” said Jaya-kumar, who cannot compete with the club because of his na-tional ranking, “and it’s great to see more people playing.”

Jayakumar is serving as the club’s resident instructor teaching the group advanced tactics and combinations that they can use in competitions. New, enthusiastic members have joined the club’s ranks hoping to learn more about the game from Jayakumar.

Jayakumar started play-ing chess when he was eight years old, but it was not until he was 10 that he actually began competing in tournaments. Ini-tially, Jayakumar was attracted to the game when he joined the chess team at his elementary school. After his first team won recognition in the national tour-nament, Jayakumar’s interest grew and he decided he would always want to be affiliated with the game.

“There’s beauty in its simplicity,” Jayakumar stated when asked what he loved about the game.

Not only has Jayakumar won tournaments all around the United States, he as also won tournament in other countries. At these tournaments, Jayaku-mar has won everything from money to college scholarships.

Though, he does not plan on playing chess competi-tively forever, Jayakumar stated that he will play for enjoyment throughout the rest of his life.

said that bipartisanship is essential for the government to run. The club wanted it to be clear that Republicans do want reform, just smart reform. However, suddenly this discussion evolved into a discussion over “Obamacare” and American economics in general. Gregory said that, “socializing” heath care would be a bad move. Feijo added that U.S. is unlike European countries (Scandinavian states in particular) who have embraced a strong system of government-controlled health care. The group then stated to talk about economics in general. The Republicans are still steadfast in their beliefs about Reaganonmics, or the trickle-down theory. The group made it clear that relaxed taxing on the

upper class is necessary because they employ the middle classe, thus allowing the money to “trickle-down.” Feijo said that “taxes on the rich lead to weaker industries.” Levine added with a chuckle, that “outsourcing doesn’t help very much.” When questioned about the environment, a less fractious issue, albeit an important one that often gets pushed aside, Gallagher said the main problem is “technology going to China.” Gregory said that the world, but particularly China, needs to find ways to handle pollution. Feijo added that irresponsible industries responsible for the growing pollution should have the blame put on them. What about the fractious issue of global warming?

Gregory replied that “global warming is still a debated topic.” “Although,” Gallagher added, “we should care for the environment, regardless of global warming.” Finally, The Spectator asked the club about its future and that of its party. Club members suggested Mike Huckabee or John McCain as possible candidates for the 2012 election. Gregory said that the party has, “a good shot at winning the 2012 presidency and more senate seats.” The club’s future seems bright according to Levine, who pointed to a membership that has grown from 10 to 40 students.” Gregory joked that, “the fall of the Young Democrats Club reflects the government.”

Photo by Sophia SalsberyThe Young Repbulicans has become more popular this year than in previous years.

Rickey A. LarkeOp-Ed Editor In most high schools around the country freshman year is used as a time for 13-and- 14 year-old students to get accli-mated to the rigors of high school work, but here at LFA, freshman have been turning heads with their creative work assignments, especially in Mr. Nat Small and Ms. Lauren Kelly’s English 9 classes. “ It’s a different kind of learning; it’s a chance for stu-dents to show understanding of major ideas of the book while adding their own creative touch to it,” said Small when describ-

ing the purpose the new type of assignments. The projects, which count for an essay grade or test grade for the freshman, are a chance for students to respond to some important element of the literary piece by using some cre-ative form. The rules are simple: make something creative that de-scribes a major theme in the book and write a one-page summary about it, the rest is up to the indi-vidual student’s effort. The projects allow stu-dents to go in various directions, including collages, one-act plays, and music to go accompany the literature. Some of the stand-out pieces produced by these young

heavyweights include: Monterey Pepper’s Photo of a young Oedi-pus after his graphic mutilation scene (which she used her little brother to help her create); or Tommy Clarke’s original piano piece, Greek translation, and dia-gram summarizing the plot of The Odyssey. “Many of the students just took off with the idea and came up with pieces that I would never imagine they would. Mr. Small’s class did a great job, too, so I think it might become a regu-lar element in our classes,” stated Kelly. When asked how the idea to create such a unique set of assignments originated, Small

stated that he had previously tried some in other classes. Kelly attributed her assignment ideas to conversations she had with Eng-lish Dept. Chair Jon Freeman and English teacher Bill Murphy. “I thought this type of assignment was the standard here,” added Kelly. Whoever’s idea they were, the assignments that gave students so much freedom in how they learn deserve an A+. The projects show students are learn-ing more and understanding the material better.

Freshman get in touch with their creativity

By Hunter JohnstoneStaff Writer Although only in its first year, In-vestment Club is already one of the largest clubs at LFA with more than 50 members. The club aims to help students “get expe-rience with managing money”, according to senior Nathan Pabrai, the club’s founder and president. Members use an online stock simulator from Investopedia.com®. They are given 100,000 virtual dollars and are let loose in a virtual stock market. They can buy, sell, and short stocks that mir-ror those in the real NASDAQ and NYSE stock markets. Investopedia.com® then gives them the tools they need to monitor the markets and manage their investments. And because it is only a simulation, mem-bers can learn the ropes of the stock market risk-free. “At times you feel as though you’re really gaining and losing money,” said Tom Gallagher, vice president of the club, about the simulator. “It’s very realis-

tic and truly gets the adrenaline going.” Gallagher also explained that al-though members “invest, study the market, and learn from the experience” as individu-als, the club itself allows for group collabo-ration. Members agree about the club’s usefulness. Graham Harwood, a senior and Investment Club member, said that it “pro-vides an interesting forum for discussions and practice in a simulated, real-life situa-tion.” As of March 31, 2011, the Investo-pedia.com® standings are as follows: Tom Gallagher in third with $138,315, Nadeem Bandealy in second with $143,484, and Nathan Pabrai in first with $164,850. Pab-rai made it to the top of the standings by trading and investing in ARM Holdings, Apple, and Boeing, and shorting Black-berry and RIMM. “I thought it would be cool to get people interested in what I like to do and to share my passion for investing with oth-ers,” said Pabrai about founding the club. “So far it’s been very successful.”

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Investment Club provides real world experience in finance

Free the Children holds walk-a-thon on campus

Club Fare: New and interesting groups on campus this year

By Sarah ClarkStaff Writer

This year many new and interest-ing clubs were added to Lake Forest Acad-emy’s already large collection of extra cur-riculars. Though they were only recently

formed, these clubs are adding fresh di-mensions to the school community as they continue to grow in popularity. LFA students and faculty alike have taken the initiative to bring their own interests into the community through clubs. From guitar playing, to robot building,

these clubs are involving students in fun and unique activities. The creation of these groups has allowed members to participate in new experiences and come together to enjoy LFA’s great variety of organizations. With the addition of these great new groups, the variety of LFA clubs con-

tinues to grow, creating spaces where ev-ery student can be a part of something that truly interests them. The Spectator staff put together these pages to let students know about the new and exciting clubs that have been created at school and to encourage everyone to find a club to join!

Photo by Hunter Johnstone

LFA club raises funds for newelementary school in Bangladesh

Tom Gallagher checks the LFA Investment Club standings.

By Grace CoburnStaff Writer

This year, the internationally known organization Free the Children has finally re-established a chapter in the LFA community. FTC empowers young people in the U.S to take action to improve the lives of children over-seas. To help FTC this year, the LFA club will be staging a Walk-a-thon this later month.

“Free the Children is an orga-nization that was started by Marc and Craig Kielburger; they were interested in helping students across the world,” said senior Sachi Patel, one of the three club leaders . Patel was the one who brought the club back to LFA this year.

“This year we’re working with the Head of School Symposium. We want to work to reach our goal of raising $5,000 to build a school in Ban-gladesh,” said Patel.

Faculty sponsor, Adam Ger-ber, was present when FTC first be-came apart of LFA.

“A couple of years ago, the head of FTC came to LFA, and, in that year, we had a trip to Kenya, Africa; then we started the club at LFA,” said

Gerber. To raise the money for the school, the club hopes to stage a huge walk-a-thon that will really make peo-ple interested in the fund-raising proj-ect. “We’re having a walk-a-thon where people can win a lot of fun priz-es. Everyone is going to get into teams with maximum of seven people,” said sophomore co-leader Amelia Moses, “They can dress up, raise the most money, or be the most enthusiastic in order to win a prize,” said Moses. “We’re also hoping to have a t-shirt sale in conjunction with the walk-a-thon, and people will hopefully have a chance to tie-dye them as well!” said Moses. When taking on this huge proj-ect, the FTC club officers are looking for students willing to help make the event happen. “ For this event it’s really easy to get involved, all you have to do is simply participate in the walk-a-thon, or help run the event,” said Patel. “We usually meet C-days or F-days in Mr. Ryder’s room and we could always use some more help, especially with this event!”

(left to right) Members Zunaira Arshad, Kalina Gajda, and leaders Mimi Moses, Sachi Patel, and Mariel Rogozinski

Photo by Jane Xu

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Photo by Carina BakerAndy Lee and Alex Pankhurst work on the robot’s arm.

Robotics Club takes part in regional competition

By Mimi MosesStaff Writer

When talking about a club at LFA that has both students and faculty as members, most people think about Coax. But the newly-formed Guitar Pickers Club also has both student and faculty members. All people who share a common interest in playing guitar are welcome. Mr. Adam Schlipmann, who teaches both the LFA Orchestra and the Guitar class, decided to organize the club when he realized how much interest there

was for a club like this among students and faculty members who have experience playing and teaching the guitar, and sing-ing. A few of the members remarked that they didn’t have time to sit around and just play, so now they look forward to meeting every breaks on C and E Days. Coax leader Mr. Steve Ryder has joined the guitar pickers, and Schlipmann said he would encourage any other teach-ers to come out and play with the club as well. At its inception, the club mem-bers intended to play more Classical and

Folk genre guitar, recalled Schlipmann, but since then the group has decided to play more modern rock music as well. “Because we have grown up with different generations of music, it is inter-esting to learn about music from each oth-er,” said Schlipman. “The one thing I origi-nally intended the club to be, is that, over time, music has stopped becoming some-thing you sit around with other people and share. Today it’s more, hit the buy button on iTunes.” The club members have agreed its great just to sit down with a bunch of

people who enjoy music as much as they do. Sharing music with each other is how they learn most effectively and artistical-ly. Members such as Leo Rudberg, Jack Schweighauser and Scott Suiter are some students who are very experienced with guitar and do a great job helping others perfect their playing. However, there is also a group of people who are just now learning how to play simple chords. The Guitar Pickers Club encourages anyone who wants to learn or simply enjoy playing the guitar to join.

Guitar Picker’s Club gives LFA musical outletThe members of Guitar Picker’s club (from left to right) Scott Suiter, Leo Rudberg, Jack Schweighauser, Beatriz Chufani, Tracy Lu, and Sasha Breydburd

Photo by Sarah Clark

By Matt StevensStaff Writer

The LFA Robotics Club, a new activity at the school this semester, is a great outlet for the technically inclined. It is currently made up of about ten students and two faculty members who build robots for competition. They have spent the past couple of months building their entry for the First Robotics Competition in Milwau-kee, where they were the highest ranked rookie team.

The club was started by Alex Pankhurst, who had done robotics before in middle school and took summer courses in it at the University of Pennsylvania. He approached Mr. Phil Schwartz, who teaches the Computer Sci-ence class at LFA, to be the faculty spon-sor.

“I thought it would be an amaz-ing opportunity for students to apply knowledge in a totally different way,” said Schwartz.

Schwartz got together the funding and asked Mr. Keith Cameron, a member of the school’s Information Technology Department, to help the class’ efforts.

Since the start of January they have been building their robot, the prod-uct of more than 100 hours of work. It is remote controlled and is designed to place

inflatable rings onto beams suspended in the air. According to Cameron, the group started with six boxes of parts, and within six weeks they managed to turn what was inside into a working robot. They had to learn how to use and combine all of the components, all within tight competition regulations. They worked almost every day for two hours, and over Winter Weekend worked nearly nine hours a day to finish it. Finally, said Cameron, after a lot of hard work and a steep learning curve, they fi-nally had a working robot.

The club requires a wide variety of talents, so it is a good fit for many different types of people. Robot-ics combines skills in engineering, electron-ics, computer program-ming, woodworking,

and general craftsmanship, among others. “It is a good program for anyone

considering a future in something like ro-botics,” said Alex Pankhurst, the club’s founder.

The club, with just ten members, competes with two partner teams against other teams that often number from 30 to 100, so additions to the club would certain-ly help. According to Pankhurst, if the idea of building a robot interests you and you are willing to put in the time, the LFA Ro-botics Club is definitely something worth considering joining.

“I thought it would be an amazing opportunity for stu-dents to apply knowledge in a totally different way.”

- Mr. Schwartz

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Caxy Rant

Everyone knows Atlass, Warner, and Field dormitories, but I would bet that most of the LFA day students don’t even know that there is a fourth dorm -- Macin-tosh Cottage. Yes, cottage; not a dorm, but a cottage. It houses 10 girls and we all pay the same amount to attend Lake Forest Academy, yet we are consistently the butt of many student jokes. First, I would like to clarify that this is not a rant about Mac on the physical side; we have new carpet, central air condition-ing, a new paint job, a student pa-tio (yes, other dorms, we have a private patio with a grill), and re-painted and repaired faculty apart-ments that differ from those more uniform faculty apartments in

other dorms. I might go so far as to say that Mac has the best bath-rooms on campus and yet people still make fun of where I live. These comments not only stem from students, but also from teachers. What message does it send to the girls living in Mac? It saddens me to mention instances in which Mac was left out of the community; we failed to make it into the 2008 yearbook as well as The Spectator’s story on cooks in the dorms in 2009. Not only are we forgotten in sto-ries, but we are also the forgotten dorm when natural events occur. During the recent snow day Mac residents watched as the plows came to the rescue of Field, but as

the day ended we were still wait-ing for our route to school to be cleared. The next morning’s walk to school was difficult, and as I walked across at least three feet of snow all I could think about was the hole in the fence that I was sure Sarah Hong was going to fall into. Luckily, she made it through the icy walkway until

it was cleared a few days later. As the preparation for the new Ferry Hall dorm gets under-way I can’t help but think of what is in store for Mac. We often get harassment from students, board-ing female students, who love to put Mac down given the chance; I worry that with a new girls dorm it may become two against one.

But watch out Field, you may be-come the next old girls dorm. So it might be a good idea for people to stop bothering us over in Mac cottage and start appreciating what we have to offer: great bath-rooms and family atmosphere.

By Sophia SalsberyPhoto Editor

G i v e r e s p e c t b a c k t o M a c

Photo by Kathleen KennedySenior Sophia Salsbery expresses her frustration with the lack of awareness of Mac Cottage.

Opinion

By Taylor JenkinsEditor-in-Chief

Debate over environ-mental issues, particularly global warming, has become a hot button topic recently as experts attempt to addresses the mounting issue. Support for the cause has started to grow as evidence of the increas-ing problem has become undeni-able. As access to cars and tech-nology grows, so does the output of pollutants into the atmosphere necessary to power these things. Eighty percent of the world’s en-

ergy is produced by a combina-tion of coal, oil and gas which all release harmful by-products into the air we breathe and the ozone layer every day. A frightening statistic to support this fact is that experts estimate two million people worldwide die prema-turely every year due to pollu-tion. This is compared too much lower numbers in previous years. LFA as an institution does a very good job of support-ing a green lifestyle after mak-ing many important changes in recent years. Some of these include changing many of the school lights to more energy ef-ficient models, having lights that automatically turn off when no one is present, and making com-post and recycling bins read-ily available for community use. While the school does a good job, it has become clear to me that we as a student body do not do enough to help LFA become a more sustainable community.

There are many easy, reasonable steps that we as students can take to help reduce our impact on the frightening global environment. Recycling would be one of the easiest ways for LFA stu-dents to reduce their environmen-tal impact. Currently, recycling statistics are absurdly low. In 2008 the United States alone buried or burned 166 million tons of recy-clable resources and only recycled or composed one third of these materials. These numbers are as-tonishing, especially when you consider how simple a recycling program is. As students at LFA we can do our part to help correct this trend. Recycling bins are scat-tered around campus, so be sure to use them correctly. This means putting the paper and plastic in correct bins. If done, this would majorly decrease the LFA commu-nity’s impact on the environment Another easy method student could utilize would be carpooling; such a program would

be an easy and efficient way to greatly reduce the CO2 emis-sions from transportation. It would also give you an opportu-nity to spend some time with your friends. Better driving techniques could also reduce emissions. These include slowing down and going the speed limit and ac-celerating more slowly. Driving just 10 miles slower can reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent. And no, you won’t burn more

gas because it takes a tiny bit longer to get to your destination. Finally, I would rec-ommend educating yourself on the topic. By reading up on the facts you can make your own informed decisions on how you would like to reduce your impact.

How students can help the environment

Sophomore Hilary Werner practices recycling regularlyPhoto by Kathleen Kennedy

Let’s break apart from break

STAFF LISTEditors-in-Chief Eric Clamage Lucy Emery Taylor JenkinsNews Editors Ariana Bhatia Mary Kate HayesManaging Editor Georgiana WagemannFeature Editor Lucy IrunguSports Editor Chris BoudreauxArts & Entertainment Editor Takia Broomfield Andrea ShenOp-Ed Editors Rickey Larke Natasha Patel Erica LewisEntropica Editor Mark YinglingPhoto Editors Kathleen Kennedy Sophia Salsbery Staff Writers Matt Stevens Grace Coburn Carina Baker Phil Pray Zunaira Arshad Jane Xu Sarah Clark Mimi Moses

Faculty Adviser William Murphy

PUBLICATIONThe Spectator is published eight times per year by the stu-dents of Lake Forest Academy and is a forum for student ex-pression. The views and reporting herein are the sole product of The Spectator’s student reporters and in no way reflect the official views of Lake Forest Academy faculty, staff, adminis-tration or Board of Trustees.

EDITORIALSOpinions of the staff are presented in the form of unsigned editorials. Personal views are bylined or presented as formal dissents.

SUBMISSIONSThe Spectator welcomes submissions from the community. If you would like to write an article, please see Mr. Murphy (please note: if space is limited, priority goes to journalism students). We also welcome short stories and poetry for our “Featured Writers” column, and we are always interested in publishing student artwork and photographs. Please send all submissions to Mr. Murphy via e-mail at wmurphy@lfanet.org, or hand them to him directly.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORSThe Spectator welcomes responses to its articles in the form of Letters to the Editors in addition to letters on subjects of the author’s choosing. Please e-mail Letters to the Editors to Mr. Murphy at wmurphy@lfanet.org.

“Journalism is, in fact, history on the run.” -Thomas Griffith

AWARDSThe LFA Spectator has been awarded several very prestigious journalism awards in recent years.2008 The American Scholastic Press Association... 1st Place2008 The Kempler Moraine Press Association... 1st Place2009 The American Scholastic Press Association... 1st Place2009 The Kemper Moraine Press Association... 1st Place2010 The American Scholastic Press Association... 1st Place

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april 13, 2011

S P E C T A T O R

quote of the month

Catchy Cartoons

Editorial

Walk the halls at 1:00 p.m. on certain days in the class cycle and you can literally find every student walking around the school with a look of con-fusion on his or her face. How are we supposed to fill the next 30 minutes? We have already taken that dreaded Statistics test, used a free period to finish the English reading, and even made time for the Science homework we skipped; so what, honest-ly, are we meant to do now? Even the most over-zealous student, who willingly over-subscribes to club mem-berships at LFA, cannot possibly expect to fill the time of every

break. Clubs meet occasionally during breaks, but a majority of club meetings happen during the two-hour time slot after G-day. So why do we have to fill anoth-er 30 minutes of time when we all would rather just get on with the day and end it? During years past, break used to be in the morning, which allowed people the time to prepare for the rest of the school day; but now we have finished the majority of the day and don’t need the break. By the time 1:00 rolls around, every student is trying to work up the strength to finish the day, and the last thing we need is to sit around aimlessly for 30

minutes. The staff of The Spec-tator proposes that we do away with afternoon break all togeth-er. Allow us to either end the day at 2:30 p.m. or sleep in an extra 30 minutes in the morning. Every student is so busy at LFA that the extra 30 minutes, wheth-er it be at the start or end of the day, could be put to better use. Teachers constantly complain about how worn-out students look first period, so give us an extra 30 minutes and perhaps we will be a little bit more lively and bubbly in class. Let’s break apart from the tradition of break.

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New and former competitors try to win annual Shakespearean Idol title

One-woman plays:A new genre of theater arrives on campus

I thought of changing my poem.” Broomfield added a word of advice to an aspiring Shakespearean Idol winner, say-ing that “the audience must be able to feel the emotion you are evoking, or else they will not re-late to it.” The idea of Shakespear-ean Idol was started in 2006 by former English Department Chair Jeffery Bell, to expose students to the world of poetry. Current Eng-lish teacher and former LFA stu-dent, Ms. Emily Asher believes that it is a great addition to the English curriculum. “Shakespearean Idol is great because students are forced to memorize what they are saying and really think about the mean-ing behind the words.” explained Asher. “As English teachers, we try to teach our students the beau-ty of language. Shakespearean Idol definitely adds and interest-ing dimension to literature.”

One student who knows this pro-cess better than any else is LFA senior and reigning Shakespear-ean champion, Takia Broomfield. “The hardest thing about being on stage in front of the whole school, and most im-portantly, the judges, is that the judges have a really indifferent look on their faces, so you can’t really tell if they enjoy your piece or not,” commented Broomfield. Much like the grading rubric used by English teach-ers during the class competition phase of Shakespearean Idol, the judges use the same criteria, judg-ing each performance on vocal quality, emotion, timing, eye con-tact with audience, bodily move-ment, and articulation. Although she man-aged to win Shakespearean Idol, Broomfield hardly practiced her piece for the competition. “I practiced about four days before the competition,” said Broomfield. “And almost two days before I had to perform

but I really enjoyed interacting with the audience,” replied Ku-las when asked what she thought about the process of putting on a one-woman play. Senior Jenna Madeley will also be performing a one-woman play titled “The K of D” later this month. It’s a new show by Laura Schellhardt in which she portrays 14 to 15 different characters all with different voic-es and movements. The play is a mystery surrounding the death of Jamie McGraw. It’s also an urban legend as well. “It’s really fun but at the same time it has some deep moments. It’s not really recom-mended for younger children be-cause of some of the more seri-ous topics,” responded Madeley when asked about her upcoming performance in the play. The plays will be fin-ished this month and are some-thing new and fresh for the LFA community to see. Although some of the plays are for more mature audiences, everyone should try to attend at least one. They are too exciting to miss.

By Takia BroomfieldA & E Editor

The ladies in LFA’s Theatre Concentration Program have begun performances of one-woman plays. The plays were chosen and rehearsals began be-fore spring break. The actresses will play multiple characters, sometimes more than 10 people. They must be precise and switch voices, tones, and body language frequently throughout the perfor-mances. It is a really difficult job to do because they must demon-strate to the audience a change of character, but they are physically the same person. The debut play starred senior Emily Kulas. The play was such an interesting performance to see because all of the prior theatrical shows starring Kulas had multiple actors and actresses playing one character each. The play titled “Chicks” is about a kindergarten teacher talking to her class. It shows the progres-sion of her attitude towards her own life. “It was really fun. Some-what stressful and I was nervous,

Photo by Ms. Ruth KeysoJunior Yangwon Yoon performs in last year’s Shakespearean Idol.

Photo by Sophia SalsberyKindergarten teacher Ms. Phallon is played by senior Emily Kulas in her one-woman play, “Chicks.”

By Lucy IrunguFeatures Editor

To be or not to be? That is the question that the LFA English Department is asking in search of this year’s Shakespear-ean Idol contest winner. The Idol competition requires every fresh-man, sophomore, and junior to memorize and perform a signifi-cant speech or poem. In the past three years LFA has heard some of the best poetry and monologues from students from all grade lev-els. From “spoken word” poetry, by up-and-coming poets, to funny film monologues, to Shakespear-ean soliloquies, LFA students are not afraid to try it all. However, before that brave handful of students chosen to compete in the final round of the competition grace the Cressey Stage, they must compete within their individual English classes first. Those winners compete in a semifinal round before being se-lected to perform on the big stage.

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Thank god it’s not “Friday”By Georgiana WagemannManaging Editor

With more than 65 million hits in its first month on Youtube, this video has had an overwhelmingly response from viewers worldwide. Rolling Stone called this song an “unintentional parody of modern day pop.” “Friday” by teen Rebecca Black chronicles the daily life of a teenager anxiously anticipating the weekend. Black sings (almost chants) over a undeniably catchy beat, again and agin repeating that, yes, it is Friday. She sings, “Fun, fun, think about fun/ You know what it is/ I got this, you got this/ Now you know it” followed by, “Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday/ Today is Friday, Friday/ We so excited/ We gonna have a ball.” How can a song with such simplistic lyrics generate such a huge response? Doesn’t anyone miss the days when lyrics were actually well thought out and not just thrown

over a catchy beat? Well, the LFA community has something to say. Senior Jack Schweighauser, a member of Coax, draws inspiration from old school rock artists. Says Schweighauser, “I definitely prefer the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Steely Dan, or the Rolling Stones.” As a guitarist, Schweighauser can relate to the raw talent and authenticity of these artists. About the music of today, he comments, “It is too generic and predictable.” Playing the guitar, piano, and violin to name a few, junior A.J. Jayakumar agrees with Schweighauser’s view on modern day music. “It is really repetitive, the lyrics and melody are redundant. All of the songs seem to be about getting drunk.” Jayakumar draws inspiration from bands like Rush, Led Zepplin, and the Rolling Stones. Additionally, Jayakumar acclaims alternative rock band The Artic Monkeys, believing that they are an accurate

representation of a band that is current and noteworthy. Music veteran and LFA senior David Lin comments that the pop music of today is, “less sophisticated” than that of previous generations. Adds Lin, “What’s popular today is beat driven songs you can dance to- the aesthetic music of yesterday is more mature.” Lin draws much of his inspiration from the Beatles. However, Lin also commends some of todays alternative rock bands, including The Fray and Snow Patrol. So although some students are more partial to the music of yesterday, many find solace in the pop melodies of today. With stars like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Ke$ha blowing up the charts, it is clear that the commercialized auto-tuned ear pleasing music is here to stay. And thank you, Rebecca Black, for reminding us all that Thursday indeed comes before Friday.

Image courtesy of blog.incipeindustries.com

Image courtesy of www.musicwallpapers.net

“What’s popular today is beat driven songs you can dance to--the

aesthetic music of yesterday is more mature.”- Senior David

Lin

Image courtesy of www.musically.com Image courtesy of www.mp3lyrics.org

Image courtesy of www.inquisitr.com

Image courtesy of www.ninetyandnine.com

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rs p o r t s 1 4 april 13th, 2011

Softball looks to seniors for leadership this season

Photot Courtesy of Sophia SalsberyReturning Senior Lizett Meraz warms up playing catch during practice.

By Jane XuStaff writer

The LFA Softball team began its new spring season this month. Head Coach Dar-rin Madeley, who started work-ing with the team last year, said his goal this year is for the team to “enjoy, have fun and get better without pressure”.

More than 20 girls at-tended the first team meet-ing, which was more than ex-pected, and Madeley had to decide whether or not to have cuts for this year’s team. There was a rumor circulating around campus that the softball team had never cut people before.

“That rumor is not true,” said Madeley. “We’ve cut people every year except last year,” said Madeley, confronting the rumor. “We want to keep a certain num-ber of players because only nine athletes are playing at a time.”

Madeley finally decided that he will use as many as 20 girls during the season, so no cuts were needed for this year’s team.

Softball, is a game where the ball can move very quickly. According to Madeley, “it’s not safe” to have someone unfamil-iar with the softball on the field so the team will spend much of its early practice time “throwing,

catching and hitting” so that play-ers become more comfortable with the movement of the ball.

Madeley is popular among his returning players, some of whom described him as an “experienced”, “hilarious”, “passionate”, and “entertain-ing” coach who “chills a lot”.

“For the first few weeks, we are just going to get their arms loose,” said Mr. Wil-liam Dolbee, who is the as-sistant coach this year. Dolbee has also been working with the girls on their baserunning.

There are six seniors on the team, and the captains had not been selected before this story was written. The results will also come out later this season, through votes from the team.

“I hope we are going to have a really good time and have fun,” said Jenna Mad-eley, who is one of the seniors on the team, expressing her ex-pectation of this new season.

“We will definitely play better since we have a solid team this year with returning play-ers,” said senior player Lizett Meraz, the team’s shortstop. “It will be our winning season, and we will be better than football.”

By Chris BoudreauxSports Editor

The Chicago Black-

hawks, a team coming off a Stan-

ley Cup Trophy, are now fighting

to retain a playoff spot. With only

six games remaining in the regular

season, the Blackhawks are only

three points above the Calgary

Flames according to NHL.com.

This point value is insignificant in

a Western Conference where the

difference between 10th place

and 4h place is only 6 points.

This was an unbeliev-

able drop-off for a team that

made the playoffs with 22 points

to spare last year. There is how-

Opinion From Stanley Cup to 8th seed, why the Blackhawks can and will make a difference in the playoffs.

NHL Western Conference has a

difference of only 6 points be-

tween 4thand 10th place

ever, a reason for the lack of

success and it pertains to the

NHL salary cap. Within a month

of winning the Stanley Cup, the

Blackhawks traded away many

key members of their cham-

pionship team because their

contracts would have exceeded

the $44 million salary cap. The

key players lost in this manner

included fan favorites Dustin

Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel,

Kris Versteeg, and Andrew Ladd.

Despite an incredibly

shaky start to the year and be-

ing mostly out of playoff conten-

tion for the season, the Black-

hawks are starting to play their

best hockey right now. Although

recently losing 3-0 to the Bos-

ton Bruins, the Blackhawks are

coming off an 8- game winning

streak and are getting fantastic

production from their stars. Pat-

rick Sharp and Duncan Keith are

playing fantastic hockey and the

rise of rookie goalie Corey Craw-

ford has put the Blackhawks in a

rising position come playoff time.

The real question is

will the Blackhawks make the

playoffs? Personally, I think they

have a very good shot at mak-

ing the playoffs and even making

an impact in the first round. The

reasoning behind this is that de-

spite losing a lot of players, the

Blackhawks are still one of the

most talented teams in the NHL.

They are playing their best hock-

ey of the season and are a team

that had the experience of win-

ning the Stanley cup last season.

If the Blackhawks do

make the playoffs, it is likely that

they will play the Vancouver Ca-

nucks, a series that has become

a major rivalry in recent years.

This series will be hard fought

but I believe that Chicago will

win. The combination of past ex-

perience, the rivalry, and being a

probable 8th seed will motivate

the Blackhawks enough to carry

them into the second round.

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Tennis looks for successful season with new head coach

By Leo RudbergStaff Writer

There is reason to be excited about this year’s LFA boys tennis. Coach Andrew Poska said that he is, “excited by the veterans,” especially by the three senior varsity captains: David Lin, Rob McNerney, and Mark Yingling. Poska also said that he was excited about the talented varsity newcomers junior AJ Jayakumar and freshman Andy Xia. In addition, new Head Coach Dennis Dobrin is excited to be working with the talented LFA squad. “I’m enjoying getting to know the guys and seeing them compete against each other during preseason practice sessions,” stated Dobrin. “But I’m most excited about seeing the guys battle against other

teams. We have great potential” Dobrin said that, for now, McNerney and Yingling are the definite No. 1 doubles team. He said that Mike Hong, Jayakumar, and Xia will most likely be playing singles. Poska said that returning veterans will really help the team. They include juniors Christian Buerkle, Mike Hong, David Rowe, and William Duckworth. The sophomore vets are Brian Ahern and Teddy Baldwin. In his interview, Poska put a lot of emphasis on the three captains: Lin, McNerney, and Yingling. “Our senior captains are the anchors of our team,” said Dobrin. “They are showing great leadership, and are really setting the tempo in our practices.” McNerney and Yingling both said that the team seemed stronger and better overall than last year. For big games, Yingling said

By Chris BoudreauxSports Editor

Both the boys and girls track teams opened their seasons last week at the Wauconda In-vitational. This competition marked the end of more than three long weeks of training for the start of the 2011 out-door schedule. Although the spring season is still in its be-ginning stages, many members of the track team have been training since December as part of the newly created Win-ter track season. Head coach Chris Dozois believes that this is a good thing for the team and hopes that “it will pay off with lots of experience.”The team this year has a total of 19 seniors and has added many new talented individu-als. According to Dozois, there are quite a few athletes to look out for this season. “We are lucky to have Olivija Cepaite, Sophia Smith, Bev-

erly Onyekwuluje, Jess Ka-minsky, and Lexi DeYoung, on the girls team, and hope for great efforts from Rickey Larke, Spencer Friske, Aus-tin Pejovich, Quai Chandler, Taylor Click, and Matt Goad on the boys side,” said DozoisLeading up to the Wauconda meet it was clear that excite-ment was building among team members. “Everyone was gen-erally excited for the season to start”, said junior Quai Chandler. “We have talented runners with the potential to break records, including Tay-lor Click in the 800, Matt Goad in the 200, and Sophia Smith in the long distance races”. The season ahead looks to be filled with excitement with the historically challenging Lem-ont Invitational and the excit-ing Clinton Invite still ahead. “The Lemont Invitational has the best competition of our regular invites” said Dozois.Even more exciting than the

schedule this season is the tal-ent on which the team is built. According to Dozois, the team’s strongest areas are going to be sprints and long distance, but it appears that the team is balanced in many other events. “This is probably the most talented team I’ve seen in my four years at LFA”, said senior captain Beverly On-yekwuluje. “I am very ex-cited to see how we progress through the season.” Beverly’s sentiment was echoed by the other senior captain Graham Harwood. “I’m really excited about the prospects for this season, the newcomers are very talented and I expect to do well in our in-vites this year,” said Harwood. The track season is start-ing soon and there is good reason to be excited. The team is extraordinarily tal-ented and looks to break nu-merous records this season.

that, “the Lake Forest High School game is always the biggest highlight of the year.” Out of all the players interviewed, all showed excitement for newcomers Jayakumar and Xia. Dobrin said that Jayakumar, “never misses a shot. He’s going to cause serious headaches for his competition.” On Xia, Dobrin said that even though he is a freshman, he doesn’t play like one. Dobrin continued to compliment the player, saying that Xia has a “monster forehand...He has huge potential.” Anticipating a great season, Dobrin said, “as long as we give our total effort each and every match, win or lose, it’s going to be a successful season. We’ve got great guys on this team and I’m looking forward to seeing them battle the opposition.”

Track hopes to break many school records with help from experienced athletes

Photo By Sophia SalsberyJunior Christian Buerkle awaits a shot during practice.

Photo Courtesy of Kathleen KennedySenior Graham Harwood and Junior Spencer Friske run long distance.

April 13, 2011

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Photo by Sophia Salsbery

Where’s Wagemann?

Caxy Match

This edition’s look-alike is a comparison between an LFA student and a famous actor. The sophomore, Brandon Warnes, and actor, Patrick Renna, who plays the porter in “The Sandlot.”

Top 10:Worst ways to celebrate earth dayBy Mark YinglingEntropica Editor

Earth Day is coming up pretty soon and I just thought I

would give you a heads up so you can get your Hummer out of the

garage and drive it to school for a couple of days while its still social-

ly acceptable. Now, we all know how crazy people get around this

day. All of a sudden about half of the people you know become “Al

Gores” and speak of “Inconvenient Truths” all day. Also, everyone

makes it seem as if they have been committed to saving the Earth

all year even though you know they are huge hypocrites and look

disappointed when you tell them you left the water on while you

brushed your teeth this morning (which seems to always come up in

conversations of course). However, I still approve of the day because

I appreciate what it stands for - but I have come up with a couple of

suggestions of what not to do on this day in order to prevent you

from ruining it for others.

10. Make a bunch of signs promoting not to waste paper and to re-

cycle plastics. Why? Because it’s wasteful.

9. Forget that the day is about recycling and then thinking it’s about

bragging about how Earth is better than other planets. Most of all,

do not wear a shirt that says, “Earth is Number One!”

8. Brag if you have a hybrid car. That means you hippies.

7. Climb up a tree so someone won’t cut it down.

6. Go through someone’s trash and comment on how wasteful they

are. This is because it’s not only annoying but you don’t want to end

up with a mystery liquid or smell on your hands.

5. Yell “save the polar bears!” all day. Why do you want to save the

polar bears? Would they save us? No, they would eat us.

4. Use the pick up line, “Hey, your eyes are as blue as the ocean was

before the BP oil spill.”

3. Wear your alligator shoes.

2. If you have an idea, make sure it’s an incandescent light bulb.

1. Throw this paper out.

Here’s “Where’s Wagemann” again and this time she is in the school parking lot. Try to find her but be careful, she’s sneaky/creepy.

Photo by Kathleen Kennedy

Photo by Kathleen Kennedy

Photo courtesy of moviekids.com

“I Spy”To continue the theme

of trying to find people/things around school,

we have taken a picture of this object that is lo-

cated somewhere within the school. This will test your knowledge of how

well you really know your school. Where/what is it?

Answer: This is the painting, by Zach Volland, which is hanging in the square between Corbin and Reid Hall.