Playing computer games while your teacher is teaching is probably not a smart move. But as long as you’re enrolled in next year’s new elec-

tive—Inventing Computer Games—feel free

to play away. Inventing Computer Games is only one

of several new classes that appeared on stu-dents’ elective selection forms. Others are Screenplay Writing, Sketch Comedy, Music Appreciation and World Literature.

Inventing Computer Games immediately caught the attention of junior Kevin Wang.

A lover of technology, Wang was pleas-antly surprised.

“Finally, a computer language class!” he said.

And his amazement only grew when he found out that the class is taught by history teacher Bruce Baird, who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

“I thought that Tom (Wroten, director of technology) was teaching it,” Wang said.

Baird has had experience working with computer programming ever since high school, though not recently.

He said that while some students are ca-

Student Council elections are usually little more than popularity contests, at least in the eyes of adviser Patricia Dias.

And to remedy this problem, SCDS is imple-menting a radical solution: not putting student

whole of the student body have been selected by Dias and the current seniors on Student Council rather than by the student body.

nominated by the senior Student Council mem-bers and were interviewed by Dias.

Next year’s positions will be Brandon Mysicka as president, Natalie Polan as vice president, Maddy Mahla as secretary, and Clement Goet-zeler as treasurer.

“They’re dedicated and they have done a great job this year and I think that alone will make every single event better,” said Dias.

Class representatives for individual grades will remain elected and in addition to the tra-ditional roles of president and treasurer, each class will also gain a vice president, a secretary

SAT CHANGESDue to the recent Long

Island SAT cheating scan-dals, the College Board has changed the SAT reg-istration procedures.

Next year, test-takers must submit photos to the College Board website. Photos must be govern-ment approved or issued by a school.

This photo will be on the student’s registra-tion form, which must be brought along with an ID to compare to the form. A third copy will be sent to schools with test scores.

—Grant Miner

WWW.SCDSOCTAGON.ORG May 29, 2012VOL. XXXV, NO. 8

THEOOctag�  �  n

Like Dorothy and Toto, the Whitney and Jackman fam-ilies have been unwillingly swept up in the cyclone of

the corporate Waste Connections move and sent to the Land of Oz (or, as it’s more commonly known, The Woodlands, Texas).

The two families won’t return to the school in September as a result

of Waste Connections, Inc. mov-ing its corporate headquarters out of California.

Fourth grader Kelsey Jackman, seventh grader Jack Whitney, sophomore Margaret Whitney and junior Cooper Jackman will all be moving, along with their parents’ employer, to the Houston suburb this summer.

Waste Connections was found-ed in 1997 and has rapidly grown into the area’s largest publicly trad-

ed company, according to a Sacra-mento Bee article.

Its move, said vice president of

Whitney, was “inevitable” with the company’s growth.

When Waste Connections was founded, it was primarily focused on the West Coast. Now, however, the company has operations in 30 states and is “better served by be-ing more centrally located (i.e. in Texas),” Whitney said.

Additionally, “California doesn’t go out of its way to make itself at-tractive to companies, whereas on the other hand, Texas does, espe-cially in tax rates,” Whitney said.

“California is just not a very business-friendly state.”

In the largest sense, the differ-ence in taxes boils down to vary-ing recruitment opportunities.

Where California has a 10 per-

Student Council changes o! cer selection process

OFPOINTS

INTEREST

Does the “o” below have a familiar pattern? Find out on p. 2

New classes thrown into the mix

By Jeffrey CavesPage Editor

ADDITIONS INCLUDE CLASSICAL MUSIC, COMP SCI, SKETCH COMEDY

Waste Connections move sends two families packingBy Zach LemosCopy Editor

By Ryan HoPage Editor

See Classes, page 5

See Council, page 5

See Connections, page 5

NEW POSITIONSEditors-in-chief of next

year’s Octagon staff will be juniors Madeleine Wright, Yanni Dahmani and Jef-frey Caves. Junior Natalie Polan will be editor-in-chief of The Medallion. The editorial board for the school’s literary magazine, The Glass Knife, will be announced in the fall.

—Mollie Berg

ctag�  �  n

Junior Natalie Polan, vice president

Sophomore Maddy Mahla, secretary

Junior Clement Goetzeler, treasurer

“I hope to better our school by trying to make special occasions

more fun for the student body.”

“I like how we’re expanding Student Council because it

represents a bigger majority of the school.”

“I want to get everyone on the

ciently run the events and make them fun for everyone.”

“Next year I want to help raise more money for Student Council.

I want to make (it) more active than it was this year.”

“I hope to better our school by trying to make special occasions

more fun for the student body.”

Junior Brandon Mysicka, president

Teacher Bruce Baird discusses Malcolm X with his junior US History class. Teacher Ron Bell talks about the Great Depression and the New Deal in junior English. Next year both Baird and Bell will step out of their subjects, teaching computer science and classical music electives. (Photos by Will Wright and Kelsi Thomas)

2 Feature The Octagon May 29, 2012

Hats o! to 28 years of imagination

Perched on her wooden footstool, lower-school librarian Cary Kelly hunches protectively over the silver desk bell cradled in her left hand.

“Are you ready?” she asks the second graders.

And then, promptly after she rings the bell, the high voices of the 20 or so students paired with the equally high voice of Kelly, holler in perfect unison, “Pohh-etryyy Break!”

There is even a hand gesture to go along. Re-member the “swish-and-

Just apply that to poetry.“That was amazing!” Kelly springs up,

gers spread wide as she gestures in approval.Welcome to the lower-school library class,

where it’s 40 percent books, 60 percent Kel-ly.

She invented the Poetry Break. She also in-

on that later.Replacing the poetry bell behind her, Kelly

ems that Roar.” It is so new she hasn’t had the time to put a jacket or barcode or anything on it. She just couldn’t wait.

“What’s this?” she asks, gesturing to the ex-clamation point. “What does it mean?”

“That means woohoo!” one boy calls out. Several others second his opinion.

“That means cowabunga, exactly!” Kelly answers. Right now she is the teacher. She takes her seat on the wooden footstool.

“Everyone pat their legs like this,” she says, tapping her thigh in rhythm. Now she is the conductor.

voice morphs; “bad” becomes baritone, and “silly” is shrill. “Poetry” is just plain loud.

The second graders are drumming along, screaming when it is their turn to chant, “Shout it! Shout it! Poetry!”

Right now, Kelly is only being herself, the librarian. In the next 40 minutes, she will

Professor Thornbine and Mrs. Cadogan. And it’s just a typical day.

But Kelly wasn’t al-ways a librarian, as her mélange of characters and roles would suggest.

Before joining the community in 1984 as a lower-school parent, Kelly was a dancer. She danced with Ballet West, roughly the same size as the San Francisco Bal-let, while living in Utah and attending the Uni-versity of Utah. In 1976

she moved to Sacramento to teach dance at the university level and dance with the Sacra-mento Ballet, a company founded by her aunt and uncle, Barbara and Deane Crockett.

Ten Years of Dance Kelly was a professional dancer for 10

years, and up until the time she had her son, Clay, and stopped dancing as a result, dance

high-school dances or hanging out with friends so she would be fresh for rehearsal.

“Dance is only something you do if you love it so much you just have to,” Kelly said.

And with such a serious dancing career, Kelly never expected to be back in the tra-ditional school environment. So when she

the lower school library for 4 years, then as a sixth-grade teacher for 12 , and ultimately as the librarian after Georgia Rust retired in 2000—it was no surprise she made her class-room not so “traditional.”

As the sixth-grade English and history teacher, Kelly transformed the curriculum.

When the class studied Egypt, Kelly cre-ated the Wax Museum of Ancient Egyptian

they read “Around the World in 80 Days,” she

ect where students, by the end of the year, would be able to reproduce a map of the

ished “Farewell to Manzanar,” she created the

venue where students read their poetry into a

And Kelly said it was this background in teaching that allowed her to take her job as librarian into a whole new realm.

dom and, in fact, encouragement to teach what we love and in a way that we can do it effectively and joyfully. It has allowed me to be creative,” Kelly said.

And creative she is. She sits on her foot-stool, facing an arena of sorts—three levels of seats form an amphitheatre with Kelly on center stage. The second graders sit on the benches above so they’re at the same eye level as Kelly on her stool.

The left side of the arena seating is labeled “Australia,” and a koala bear rests on the bot-

there’s a sign that reads “The Galapagos.”Behind Kelly is another bench cluttered

up map beach balls, the Poetry Break bell,

Roar,” and a silver platter covered with a silver lid with a sign reading “Mys-

scattered across the bench in disorganized chaos. It’s like Kelly’s own version of a Green Room.

This little nook, created by the three walls of arena seating and the wall behind Kelly, is the “Story-time Corner.” But this is no corner; in fact, it lies in the middle of a room whose walls are lined with books, artwork from all grades in the lower school, and posters, peo-ple, and exhibits that Kelly has created.

saying “Run with a good book!” and adja-

life-sized dolls Kelly has made who cheer “Go Read!”

And this is only the back room of the li-

brary.The main room’s walls are covered in dis-

plays—there’s one that compares opening a good book to popcorn, and another behind her desk boasts “Add Color!” next to a box of 5-foot tall crayons. At one table is a dis-play entitled “Cowabunga!” with spotted-cow print, and on a bookshelf a pile of book

looms. But Kelly is back, this time as a radio an-

nouncer.

Taking Howard Home

“I interrupt this classroom to bring you important information about the Auction

discards the silver blow-up microphone she had grabbed from her bench, and now dons glittery bug-eye sunglasses with blue lenses.

“I’m here to tell you about the prize of

She bends down and lifts up a two-foot long plastic iguana, sporting a polka dotted bowtie. The class cheers.

per bag, ranging from his extra-whitening Colgate toothpaste to his favor-

ard real?”“Real? What do you mean real?”

presses.“You know you seem so doubtful, and I

said.

brarian says hands up!”The second graders raise their hands high.

By Madeleine Wright

Page Editor

“I interrupt this classroom to bring you important in-formation about the Auc-tion 2012, and here to

–Cary Kelly, librarian

See Cary Kelly, page 14

“Pohh-etryyy Break!”–Cary Kelly

The Octagon May 29, 2012

Clockwise from top left: Cary Kelly as a pirate for Talk Like a Pirate Day (Photo courtesy of Julie Nelson); a lady at the Renaissance Faire (Photo by Briana Titus); The Cat in the Hat

(Photo courtesy of Nelson); a Pitchy-Patchy Parade leader (Photo courtesy of Barbara Fackenthall); and Lady Beatrice Teaselpaw (Photo courtesy of Kelly).

SCHOOL BIDS FAREWELL TO BELOVED LIBRARIAN

3CommunityThe Octagon May 29, 2012

Jazz Band breathes life into ‘Night at the Museum’ Auction

It’s a balmy evening in the middle-school quad on May 5 as the 13 well-dressed Jazz Band members prepare to

SCDS auction.

word.

ond- and third-place trophies won by them and the jazz

to junior guitarist Carter Brown.

enough to be considered an audience.

ue with their preparations leisurely.

old.

grade.

calls his students in.

seniors were in eighth grade.

agement they needed to trophy

band that his goal was to place in the top three at a major jazz

ever since they have placed in

ally what my classes are all

he said.

screams.

sicians recollect

adjustments be-ing made to in-struments can still be heard.

with a grin.

magic words.

Micaela Bennett-Smith and bass instructor Maurice Mont-

music by practicing on the simpler clarinet.

covered that his teacher’s music set list was more oriented

is very suitable.

tenth grade.

utes.

the cries as the song begins.Juniors Gerardo Vergara and Elise DeCarli use the opportu-

The Jazz Band poses before performing at the Auction. Front row—Garrett Kaighn,

Ben Hernried, Morgan Bennett-Smith, Nick Samson; second row—Anna Young, Charlie

Johnson, Richard Whitney, Micaela Bennett-Smith,Carter Brown; back row—Bob Rat-

(Photo by Elena Bennett)

have been trying to

and encouragement they

— Bob Ratcliff,

Jazz Band director

By Ian Cardle

Editor-in-Chief

See Jazz Band, page 14

enough to be considered an audience.

magic words.

have been trying to

and encouragement they

Jazz Band director

I

4Feature The Octagon May 29, 2012

From helping hand to patient in denial

By Margaret WhitneyPage Editor

Alumna describes her battle with anorexia nervosa

Anorexia,

From helping hAlumna describAlumna describeses nnorexia nervosaorexia nervosa

From helping hand to pand to paher battle with her battle with

From helping hher battle with her battle with

5NewsThe Octagon May 29, 2012

New classes: Frishman to o! er Screenplay Writing(Continued from page 1)

Council: O! cers will be more quali" ed

pable of working with program-ming, they are not familiar with writing programs from scratch.

“You need to learn the basics somewhere,” Baird said.

He believes students will have the most fun learning program-ming through computer games.

The class will use Python, a pop-ular computer language suitable for beginners. Students will move at their own pace, creating games such as Tic-Tac-Toe and Hangman.

Drama teacher Brian Frishman is also mixing up his electives.

Frishman is offering Screenplay Writing and Sketch Comedy next year instead of Playwrting and Breath, Voice and Movement.

In Screenplay Writing, students will learn about the three-act-struc-ture of most contemporary screen-plays. In Sketch Comedy, students will do sketches similar to “Satur-day Night Live” and “Mad TV.” The class was created in response to the students’ interest in improvisation.

In fact, the on-the-spot impro-visation is what draws sophomore Savannah Symister. She was intro-duced to improvisation last year and was immediately hooked by its randomness and excitement.

At the course’s end students will perform a mini production that in-cludes a selection of the sketches.

On another note, teacher Ron Bell will offer three new electives.

Music Appreciation explores Eu-ropean classical music. Bell said that classical music carries com-plexity and emotional depth that most modern music lacks. Even when Bell was young, he chose classical over rock ‘n’ rock.

Though Bell is no musician, he will invite band and orchestra teachers Bob Ratcliff and Felecia Keys to teach the technical aspects of classical music, while Bell will teach the cultural aspect from the listener’s point of view.

Bell will also offer two world lit-erature electives—American Ethnic Voices and the Asian Connection.

The former will focus on the cul-ture and literature of African-Amer-ican and other U.S. minorities. The goal of the class is to understand that “American culture was shaped and formed by groups other than European Americans,” Bell said.

Similarly, in The Asian Connec-tion Bell will introduce Asian cul-tural philosophy and literature to explain how both shaped Western culture.

Dias said the previous election

“The student body doesn’t really know what the positions are,” Dias said. “They’re picking the prettiest or they’re picking their friends (for

“The problem is that every once in a while (the students) get every-thing right, but other times it’s the one who promised the most, even if they couldn’t really do it.

I need people who are responsi-ble and motivated and who really know the school,” Dias said. “I’m

just not consistently getting that (with the current system).”

Dias said that the additional move of Student Council from an activity to a graded elective will

To receive credit, members will need to accumulate a required number of hours spent on council projects inside and out of school.

However, they will still meet during lunch period on Mondays and outside of school rather than in elective periods.

The current Student Council members decided to eliminate school-wide elections along with

Dias, Sue Nellis, head of high school, Brooke Wells, assis-tant head of high school, and headmaster Stephen Rep-sher.

According to Nellis, the change will help to make stu-dent government more inclu-sive and will allow students in “who don’t think they’re popular enough to win an election.”

“We are following what The Octagon and The Medallion have always done. Our best people this year (nominated) the people to take over their jobs next year,” Dias said.

Class presidents and trea-surers will continue their tra-ditional roles of overseeing class meetings and monitor-

new positions of vice president and secretary will deal with danc-es and communication between students, faculty and the Student Council for that grade.

“As the school is growing and the classes are growing, the Stu-dent Council needs to grow too,” Dias said of the new class repre-sentatives.

“It means more ideas, more dis-cussion—now it’s not just two or three people making decisions but people from every grade.”

Plans are also underway to in-

grade to coordinate planning of Student Council events like Spirit Week.

“I think it will make Student Council more serious,” senior class treasurer Madison Galati said. ”It’s a real commitment, and

“(The change in elections) does make it less democratic, but it’s necessary to keep it from being a popularity contest.”

Some students, however, be-lieve that this goes too far, and others have reservations about a teacher playing such a pivotal role in student government.

“I’m sure we can all agree (the old system) was far from perfect,” senior Richard Whitney said. “But having a teacher help select the representatives completely under-mines the concept of student gov-ernment.”

cent, possibly soon-to-be 12 percent, state income tax for its top earners, the rate in Tex-as is 0 percent. This means that, according to Whitney, potential “recruits” will be more likely to come work for a Waste Connections with its corporate headquarters in Texas than in California since they’ll retain the 10-12 percent of their paycheck they would have lost in the Golden State.

And since about 80 percent of the com-pany’s employees are expected to move, ac-cording to Whitney, the Sacramento area will be losing about 75 or so jobs. But in a sense it will be losing far more than that; it will be losing roughly 75 families who call this city “home,” including those of parents Worthing

Connections, and Whitney.And the effect of the Waste Connections

move radiates outward, touching the lives of far more than just those involved.

Country Day will lose scholars, artists, ath-letes and dedicated parents to what senior Richard Whitney describes as a “soulless,” pre-planned Texas community.

(mother of Kelsey, Cooper and senior Cabot) has become an integral part of many different parts of the school.

With both her sons participating in the school’s ski team, Katrina was the team’s main driver when the team was young, ac-cording to coach Jason Kreps.

“When I needed a volunteer, she was there. If I needed someone to gatekeep (essentially refereeing for a ski race), she would do it—or at least hold one of her sons accountable to do it,” he said.

And Wendy Ross, director of institutional relations, saw Katrina as equally valuable, particularly in her running of the high school’s used-book sale.

“(The book sale) is hard, ‘dirty’ work, (and) Katrina has always been an energetic and spirited volunteer,” Ross said in an email.

While Katrina was raising funds at the used-book sale, her husband was making an

Waste Connec-tions and applied it to his time as treasurer for the Board of Trustees.

H e a d m a s t e r Steve Repsher considers Wor-thing’s leadership in this position a

tor in getting the school on a “sol-id, sustainable

“ E s p e c i a l l y with the school going through

times, it was im-portant to have a strong leader at the helm,” Rep-sher said.

Equally im-portant to SCDS were the contri-butions of Mary Anne and Mark Whitney. Mark volunteered his time to the school’s infant lacrosse team, becoming “an essential part of the coaching staff,” according to team captain Donald Hutchinson.

Mark, who played lacrosse at Bowdoin College, was the only coach with experience as a defender.

“He knows all the formations, how to play ‘man-down’ defense. His absence is going to have a huge impact,” Hutchinson said.

In addition to coaching, Mark was out cooking.

And while Mark was coaching and barbe-cuing, Mary Anne became a strong member of the Parents’ Association.

She’s also been the “room parent” for tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades, as her son, Rich-ard, has been in them.

But Sue Nellis, head of high school, most appreciates Mary Anne’s time as a parent

spokesperson for the high school forum, the school’s annual presentation of the high school to eighth graders and their parents.

“She was so thoughtful in her presentation; she did it in both a parental and professional way and I think it really spoke to the parents,” Nellis said.

But the school won’t be losing dedicated parents; it will be losing dedicated students as well.

Starting with Richard and continuing with Margaret, the Whitney family has had a lega-cy of editorship on the Glass Knife. Both par-ticipated on the ski team and Margaret, who has participated in state championships both this year and last, was one of the team’s few girls. Jack has continued Richard’s participa-tion on the Jazz Band and soccer team, and has become a representative on the middle-school Student Council as well.

Similarly, both Cooper and Cabot were avid participants of the ski team, and Kelsi was

likely to follow suit, considering she frequently went up to the mountains with the team. Was Cooper not moving, he would also be returning as a four-year veteran of the golf team.

And, according to Ross, “The Jackmans have also been incred-ible ambassadors for the school, bringing a number of families to join us,” she said.

“They will be sorely missed.”As sorry as Country Day is to

see these families off, the stu-dents are even less enthusiastic.

“Even if we had to move, the last place I would have chosen would be Texas,” Margaret said.

A two-year staffer for The Oc-tagon, Margaret had hoped to focus on her journalism skills when presenting herself to col-leges. But this has changed with her move to Texas.

“There’s no newspaper at our school in The Woodlands, so I’ll have to choose another focus, probably art,” she said.

Although Cabot, who will be attending Cornell University in New York, and Richard, who will be at Williams College in Massa-chusetts, won’t be spending much time in Texas, they are also unenthusiastic about the move.

“While all my friends will be coming home to Sacramento, I’ll be coming back to The Woodlands, where the only other person from my senior class is Cabot—but thank God at least he’ll be there,” Richard said.

Kelsey isn’t quite as unhappy.“I kind of want to stay, but I kind of want to

leave,” she said. “It’s really, really nice there and everyone was really kind, but it’s depress-ing that I’m going to leave all my friends.”

While Kelsey’s off making new friends, Sacramento will mourn the loss of a $3.6 bil-lion company.

But Country Day will miss the Jackman and Whitney families far more.

“Even when (Ron) Bell was young, he chose classical (music) over rock ‘n’ roll.”

Waste Connections: Whitneys, Jackmans go to Texas(Continued from page 1)

Student Council meets to discuss end- of-the-year events. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

(Continued from page 1)

Next year sophomore Margaret Whitney, seventh grader Jack Whitney, fourth grader Kelsey Jackman and junior Cooper Jackman will attend The John Cooper School in The Woodlands, Texas. (Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

ders, Isabel’s parents sent her to Summit Sacramento, a cen-ter for the treatment and prevention of eating disorders, to be medically evaluated.

Isabel was found to be severely underweight; she was 21 percent below her ideal body weight (her exact weight is something else she won’t reveal). To qualify as anorexic a person must be at least 15 percent below the ideal weight for his or her height.

“They told me I was anorexic and that I needed to start a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP),” Isabel said. “I had to start the next week, and they wouldn’t take me at any lower level of care.”

Isabel entered treatment in June 2011.

She lived at home, but went to Summit seven days a week for 11 hours a day, and was under 24-hour supervision.

At Summit she ate six times a day (three meals and three snacks) and was treated by a team that in-cluded a therapist, nutri-tionist, psychiatrist, family therapists and various doctors.

She had daily medical examinations and was weighed three times a week. (“You took all your clothes off and were weighed backwards.”)

Although Isabel was told PHP would last four to six weeks,

enough weight to move to a lower level of treatment.“I think they say it will only be four to six weeks so that we

won’t run off,” Isabel said.

ning; mostly she just felt out of place.“It was a very surreal experience. I felt like I didn’t belong

there,” Isabel said. “I was worried that they would laugh at me, like, ‘You don’t have an eating disorder; you’re not that

On the day she was evaluated, Isabel was asked if she would, hypothetically, eat a ham-and-cheese sandwich.

“I was like, laughing, of course I’d never eat that,” she said.

bers saying “No, I’d never eat a grilled cheese.”“I just believed at that moment that they would never

make me eat a grilled cheese.”

After two weeks in the program, however, it hit Isabel that

cess.This was hard on her parents and brother. According to

Susan, Isabel’s treatment has been “an odyssey.”

substances away, but with anorexia you have to eat, so, short of going into a residential facility, the family is on the front line,” she said.

There were family therapy sessions, nutritionist meetings and family meals with a therapist present.

had to be under constant supervision, which fell to her family.

“That meant she had to sleep with me,” Susan said. “She had to take showers downstairs where the bath-room door couldn’t be closed.

“She basically had no time she could

she had that time, she would crunch; she would jog in place; she would do anything to burn calories.”

The process has been emotionally draining for the entire family, and, said

most people don’t understand it, and, second of all, they’re

est disease I’ve ever heard of; it’s not even a disease.’”Gradually, though, Isabel began to gain weight.Anorexia can have devastating effects on the body, caus-

ing many medical issues as the malnourished body enters “starvation mode,” slowing metabolic processes in order to conserve energy.

As Isabel explained it, “The body starts shutting down un-necessary things.”

ing and her hair began to fall out. She had very dry skin and cold insensitivity. She also suffered from dizzy spells caused by orthostatic hypotension, a condition where blood pres-sure and heart rate change drastically from when a person is lying down to when they’re standing up.

gained weight, self-starvation has permanently lowered her bone mineral density, giving her osteopenia, the precursor to osteoporosis.

Overall, however, Isabel got off lightly. Other side effects, including heart disease and organ failure, can be deadly. Ac-cording to Summit, anorexia has the highest death rate of any mental illness.

As her mental and physical health improved, Isabel was able to step down her treatment shifting into an Intensive Outpatient Program in January, when she went to Summit

Now she goes to the treatment center only three days a week for three hours.

In the last few months Isabel feels she has become more accepting of her anorexia and has begun to cope better.

“I know I don’t have to let it control me,” she said.But she doesn’t believe she will ever fully recover.“They say it’ll be different, that the thoughts won’t be at the

forefront of my brain all the time, but I don’t believe that,” Isabel said. “I think (anorexia) is something you learn to con-trol like diabetes, that you just learn to live with.”

Isabel is committed to improving, though. She is currently working as an actress doing school performances with The B Street Theatre Company.

Though Isabel does not want to give up acting, she is cog-nizant of the role the profession played in her disorder.

“I try to focus on the art aspect as much as possible,” she said. She also plans to avoid the pressures of the LA and New York City acting scenes for now at least.

According to Isabel, her work at B Street has actually been a great motivator for her. “The idea of passing out (from hun-ger) in front of children really scares me,” she said.

This and continued support from Summit and her family help keep her on track, though she still struggles “every day, every moment.”

diet-obsessed culture.“Everyone talks about exercise, what’s good for you and

what’s bad for you. So even if they’re not dieting, maybe they only want to eat organic or vegan or raw foods,” Isabel said.

“It’s just tiring.”

of the thin ideal.

as “disgusting,” and points to the scantily clad, emaciated models on the cover.

all,” she says. “But I see that, and I can’t help but think, ‘Oh, I need to lose weight.

6Remainder The Octagon May 29, 2012

(Continued from page 4)

Anorexia: Lifelong ‘odyssey’ with disorder will never end

Online

Exclusive

We just couldn’t fit

this story into this

issue,

so find it in

“Online Exclusives”

at scdsoctagon.org

This sophomore

climbs rocks and

waters gardens

“She basically had no time she could

If she had time, she would crunch; she would jog in place; she would do anything to burn calories.”

–Susan, mother of Isabel

7ReviewThe Octagon May 29, 2012

CONGRATULATIONSClass of 2012

“If you can imagine it,

you can achieve it;

if you can dream it, you

can become it.”-William Arthur Ward

Best wishes,

the Israel Cardle family

butt

erka

sem i c r o g r e e n s

sautéed mushrooms

rose

mar

y a

ioli

br iegoat-gouda

grilled

zucchini

SummertimeANDTHE Grillin’ isSummer: the season of perpetual barbecues.

And what’s more classic at a cookout than a burger?

But as the months stretch on, even the most delectable burger recipe begins to pale with repetition.

This summer, howev-er, there is no excuse for monotony. Dress a burg-er up, dress it down; the possibilities are endless.

Hit Up the Farmer’s

Market

Vegetables are almost always overlooked. Most people just slap on a tomato slice and some iceberg lettuce and call it quits.

First, iceberg lettuce is too watery for a burger; try replacing it with crisp, dry butter lettuce or fresh mi-crogreens.

And one of my pet peeves is low-quality toma-

toes. Unless they’re organic and locally grown (not

no

heirloom tomatoes.And who ever said vegetables always had to be

raw? Sautéing mushrooms and onions in butter is incredibly easy and can make a decent burger out-

standing.To take

a healthier route, grill zucchini with a drizzle of olive oil. A

char is al-ways a good thing.

Avoid the

Shrink-wrap

American “cheese” is a sin. Don’t let this slice of orange plastic

When looking for cheeses, keep this in mind: shrink-wrapped and processed is a no-go. Hand-wrapped cheeses sold by their weight are always the better choice.

Go European with a German Butterkase

vor.Blue cheese is already common, but

you can up your game with high-end vari-eties such as Stilton or Roquefort.

One of my favorite cheeses for burgers is Goat-Gouda. It appeals to people who

you offset it with light and acidic ingre-dients such as onion and aged balsamic vinegar.

Saucy Sophistication

A simple way to add sophistication to any burger is to whip up an aioli.

This versatile sauce starts with garlic

almost anything. Some of my favorites are chipotle chilis, rosemary and thyme.

It’s important to keep the other burger

Rosemary and mushrooms, for instance, are a match made in heaven, but mush-

For more summer recipes, such as Lemon-Thyme Soda and White Bean Salad with Meyer Lemon and Rosemary, go to www.scdsoctagon.org.

By Connor Martin

Page Editor

Ian Cardle and Jeffrey Caves grill burger patties to be paired

with brie and balsamic-caramelized onions. (Photo by Chris-tina Petlowany)

Winning Formulas

microgreens + goat-gouda

french brie + onions caramelized in balsamic vinegar

heirloom tomatoes + thyme aioli

stilton + sautéed mushrooms

Teachers, family members get gears going for prospective engineers

Adam Pinson

Lyria Beck

Garrett Walters

Camille Getz

Christina Petlowany

Ian CardleCabot JackmanNick Samson

Sasha Ragland

Hayley Graves

Barrie FeusiZach Lemos

Brandon NakagakiBryan Nakagaki

Trevor Sutley

Mollie BergAlistair Fortson

David Co! llWei Dai

Grace Mehta

Alistair Fortson

Lydia Lu

Blair Wigney

Alex StamatisMatt Einhorn

Shaun Shah

Blair WigneyBlair Wigney

Gordon Ho

Katheryn ContrerasCorvia Jones

Anna YoungMayuri Sadhasivan

Madison Galati

Sam Messina Nick Neal

PRESENTING THE CLASS

OF 2012

Calculus teacher Glenn Mangold stands at the front of his class. Behind him, on the whiteboard, is an array of mirrors labeled with station numbers. Someone asks what the mirrors are all for.

“The freshmen are having a lab,” Mangold says. “They have four minutes of set-up time to arrange as many mirrors to bounce a laser back and forth and hit a target.”

Instantly the room falls silent. Another student then asks what the record was. When Mangold responds, it’s almost as if you can hear cogs turning in the brains of half the students.

“You guys can try it if you want during lunch,” Mangold says.Senior Cabot Jackman jumps from his chair and rushes to an-

other classmate, trying to discuss strategy.“Sit down, Cabot,” Mangold says. “Wait till after class.”It’s only the beginning of Calculus, and half the class can’t wait

for lunch. This isn’t because they’ll have time off from their rigorous workload to eat, laugh and enjoy the company of their friends.

It’s because they can’t wait to try to beat the record in the fresh-man mirror lab.

Meet the class of ‘12. The class of math-science people. The class of engineers.

An unprecedented seven of the 34 seniors—Jackman, Nicholas Samson, Anna Young, Nick Neal, Christina Petlowany, Ian Cardle and Adam Pinson—plan to major in engineering.

And surprisingly, from mechanical engineering to nanoengi-

tells customers how wanted they are in the market—“over the last ten years, the demand for engineering talent has grown dramati-cally.”

A Forbes article from 2011 has an explanation for this dramat-ic increase: tech companies and non-tech companies have been looking for engineers to “create, build and maintain high quality systems” in all stages from manufacturing to design.

The real question, though, is not why is there such a high de-mand for engineers, but why so many seniors have decided to fol-low this trend—was there something in the water Country Day moms were drinking in 1994?

Well, maybe there was for Young’s mother. Ever since Young was little she has always liked the “natural world.”

rocks and plants just to study them,” she said. When she turned 8, she moved her curiosity from the earth to

the cosmos.

And from there Young fell in love with science.“History and English are all good to know, but science is ulti-

mately ‘the way.’”Young will be majoring in nanoengineering—engineering on a

scale smaller than the width of a hair—at UC San Diego.The class of ‘12’s to-be-engineers are kids who discuss topics

such as quantum entanglement or Moore’s Law for fun. Take, for example, Samson’s senior project title, which happens

to be a mouthful: “A Demonstration of the Basic Concept of Or-bital Based Kinetic Bombardment and the Effects of Acceleration via Non-Combusting Accelerator on Impact Energy and Velocity.”

“I’ve learned not to think about physics while I’m driving,” Jack-man said. “I’d get distracted and drift.”

For Cardle—who will be majoring in bioengineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.—it all started with the “100-problem worksheets.”

These were problem sets that his third-grade teacher gave to the students for practice. Each sheet had 100 problems and were divided into four categories: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

When a student answered at least 96 of the questions correctly, they moved up to the next level.

was about crushing his competition: Christopher Kalra.

something that hadn’t been done in a long time,” he said. “It got so competitive that even after school we would beg our teacher for more.”

beating Kalra in the process.“That was when I realized that I wasn’t just good at math, but

that I loved it,” Cardle said.Petlowany, who is planning to major in electrical engineering at

Rice University in Houston, Texas, and go on to nuclear engineer-ing, has a similar story. But for her it was her seventh-grade math teacher at Golden Hills School in El Dorado Hills.

“Ms. Nygaard really motivated everyone to do well,” Petlowany said. “I think she was such a great role model for girls who wanted to do something in math.”

Nygaard used methods that appealed to the “girl-heavy class.”For example, to learn and memorize the quadratic equation,

Nygaard taught the class a song (to the tune of “Pop Goes the Weasel”). On Pi Day, the students ate pie and sang other songs.

While both Petlowany and Cardle’s decisions to become engi-

Matt, another engineer.When Neal was 7 years old, his brother, then 17, was part of a

borhood with them.“For a good two- to three-year period, we would have engines

sitting in our garage doing nothing,” Neal said.

As a small child, Neal would stand over his brother’s shoulder, watching his every move with fascination and helping whenever he was able to.

Neal and his brother took apart the engine on what was sup-

And when he grew older, Neal began to build contraptions by himself. He designed brackets to mount lights on his car, and once got so bored that he designed a 3D chess board for junior Carter Brown.

So the most logical next step for a handyman like Neal? Me-chanical Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

Pinson’s grandfather has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, a fact that Pinson hadn’t realized until he had decided to become an engineer.

He helped Pinson earn his engineering merit badge by design-ing and building a crane made up of rudimentary materials—such as rope, wooden poles and pulleys—that was able to lift objects.

“I remember thinking during the whole project ‘this is so cool,’” Pinson said.

Pinson, the president of the Engineering Club, will go to Carn-egie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., to study electrical engi-neering.

fellow: Bill Nye the Science Guy.When Samson was in middle school, his teacher would bring in

videos of the show for the kids to watch. “I would always see these people doing science and having so

much fun,” he said.

in electrical engineering.What Samson realized, with the help of his father, is the tremen-

dous effect that engineers have on our society, even if people don’t realize it, Samson said.

Jackman agrees with Samson.

“I like thinking in terms of math and science, and I like helping people and having that human connection,” he said.

Both Jackman and Samson will be going to Cornell to study ma-terial science engineering and chemical engineering, respectively.

One variable that seems to remain constant throughout all the senior engineers is Mangold.

“I know I can distinctly remember just about all of the engineers at one point or another staying in Mangold’s room after class to ei-ther try an experiment or just mess around with the stuff he had to

And, interestingly enough, the class of ‘12 freshman year was

gold’s new class came Neal and Jackman’s series of experimental escapades.

These included, but were not limited to, frying a calculator with a tesla coil; making an “arc welder” out of 12 six-volt batteries and alligator clips; seeing how long it would take for a calculator to start smoking when a “grounding coil” was taped to it; trying to pop balloons with a Van de Graaff machine; and, most recently, trying to fry a calculator with the Van de Graaff machine to “see

lator frying experiments matured with their age).“We were in there all the time during lunch (freshman year),”

Neal said. “Mangold was a bump,” Pinson said. “(He and my grandfather)

weren’t the ones who tipped the scales. They were just further con-

the class of ‘12 had a spark.“I knew when they came into my class,” he said. “A larger per-

centage of that class was generally interested in science and math as a primary career goal than any other class I’ve taught.”

And at the end of the day, it wasn’t a freshman who claimed the record in the mirror lab. It was Jackman (with some help from Brown) with 11 mirrors.

ByYanni

Dahmani

8 CenterpointThe Octagon 9May 29, 2012

PRESENTING THE CLASS

PRESENTING THE CLASS

OF 2012

average number of schools applied to by the class of ‘1211.5 average number of

schools applied to by the class of ‘028 average

number of acceptances6 number of seniors accepted to UC

Santa Barbara, the college that admitted the most people11 most schools

applied to this year (Mollie Berg)22

Richard Whitney

The Student Council’s new plan leaves the

in the hands of adviser Patricia Dias and this

year’s seniors.

That, in itself, is undemocratic.

We admit that fully. Yet it may be the best solution

to the problems that Student Council faces.

Country Day has had complete democracy for de-

vote of freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

for the job.

Much of the time, however, the student body vot-

ed for other reasons.

They voted for friendship, popularity or one of a

thousand other reasons completely unrelated to a

mocracy?

As much as we hate to admit it, our Student Coun-

cil is essentially a social committee.

and more, but what the Student Council does not

currently do is act as the representatives of the stu-

dent body to the administration.

However, they provide a valuable service, and,

And why does a social committee need to be a

full, representative democracy?

Isn’t it more important that we have an effective

committee that represents what the student body

experienced Student Council representatives.

tion of three new representatives for every class.

Yes, it allows more student participation on the

ery 30 students (or so) is simply excessive.

But our current system simply will not do: it is

that.

EDITORIAL: democracy is overrated

is pub lished

jour nal ism stu dents of Sac ra men to Coun try Day School, 2636

Latham Drive, Sac ra men to, Calif. 95864. Phone: (916) 481-8811,

Editors-In-Chief

Ian Cardle

Christina Petlowany

Copy Editor

Zach Lemos

Assistant Copy Editor

Business Manager

Ian Cardle

News Editor

Christina Petlowany

Editorial Editor

Jeffrey Caves

Community Editor

Yanni Dahmani

Sports Editors

Mary-Clare Bosco

Darby Bosco

Ryan Ho

Centerpoint Editor

Review Editor

Connor Martin

Feature Editors

Online Editors

Anthony Valdez

Yanni Dahmani

Photo Editor

Kelsi Thomas

Photographer

Graphics Editor

Kamira Patel

Reporters

Micaela Bennett-Smith

Grant Miner

David Myers

Shaun Shah

Emma Williams

Cartoonist

Camille Getz

Adviser

Patricia Fels

10Editorial The Octagon May 29, 2012

Letter to the EditorsEditors:

As a parent of a kindergartner who began

at Country Day in PK, I’ve been reading

issues of The Octagon since 2010.

I wanted you, your staff and your adviser

to know what an outstanding newspaper you

publish. I look forward to every edition and

devour it upon its arrival in my mailbox.

My father (Ellery’s grandfather) was a

lifelong journalist, and my working life

regularly brings me into that world.

In other words, I can be viciously critical

of the fourth estate. But your product is

intelligent, informative and—above all—

not boring.

This breezy and economic writing is a

joy to read. You’ve restored my hope that

written communication is not an entirely

discarded value.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Loren Kaye, parent

Onions to. . . the HUMAN vend-ing machine for not accepting

any bills that aren’t fresh from the mint. Standing for half of morning break, trying in vain to shove dollar bills into an overlypicky vending machine is a waste of students’ time.

Orchids to. . . the compost buckets put out by sopho-

more Sarah Wilks. Having them allows us to make sure that even uneaten food does not go to waste and instead can benefit the garden.

Orchids to. . . the Chipotle fund-raiser for the Dyer Kelly School.

Chipotle was generous to donate half its profits for the night and bur-ritos for a good cause are always a great thing.

Onions to. . . Haggin Oaks for booking a wedding on the same

day as Prom without informing us. Because of that, Student Council members had to set up at the last minute with little notice.

Onions

Orchids&&&&&Onions&OnionsOnions&OnionsOnions&Onions&Orchids&OrchidsOrchids&OrchidsOrchids&OrchidsOrchids&OrchidsOrchids&Orchids

Orchids to. . . the Auction. Living paintings featuring students

were an unorthodox idea, but it was clever and fit well with the theme of a “Night at the Museum.”

Correction

A story in the April 24 issue of

The Octagon (“Programming changes

spark controversy”) misattributed this

quote: “You may have forgotten, Rick,

a public radio station is different from a

commercial venture—IT’S A PUBLIC

TRUST. You have abdicated that public

trust.” The quote was attributed to Rick

Eytcheson but should have been attrib-

uted to Elizabeth Shattuck.

We apologize for the error.

11OpinionThe Octagon May 29, 2012

I have been to Disneyland more than 30 times since I was 3 years old. So if you’re curious about a typical day at “the happiest place on earth,” I can tell you all about it.

At 7 a.m. I wake up, excited for the day’s adventure. It’s early, but, hey, it’s Disney-land—there are rides, princesses and magi-cal experiences.

As soon as I step onto Main Street I inhale the sweet scent of candy and homemade treats. Mickey Mouse jumps up and down in the distance and children dressed as prin-cesses run through the gates of the park.

Excitement spreads through every bone in my body and a new feeling—a new experi-ence—arises every time I visit.

But even the magic of Disneyland can pale. The late-afternoon crowds, ridiculously long lines and annoying moms hitting you with their strollers—not to mention the scorching sun—overwhelm me. The enchantment dis-appears and annoyance takes over.

But at 9 p.m. the magic is fully back and

stars are out—I am ready to go home. But af-ter I’m gone, I miss it. I miss the rides. I miss the characters. And, inexplicably, I miss the crowds.

With the year coming to a close, I can’t help but compare a day at “the happiest place on earth” to four years at Country Day.

I entered high school excited for the ad-venture ahead of me: Ancil Hoffman Day, Olympics Day and Ashland—they were all

new adventures.Yet like at Disneyland, the excitement

wore off after a while. I worked hard on the sophomore project and exhausted myself in

out—close relationships, graduation and spe-cial senior dinners.

But now, once again, it’s time to go. High school was fun. There were moments of stress and unhappiness—moments I wanted to strangle my fellow “park-goers.”

I’m ready to move on, but, at times, I’ll miss it. I’ll miss the classes. I’ll miss the teachers. And I’ll miss my friends.

At least I know I can always go back.—Mollie Berg

I consider myself a “math” person. I have

that I can express myself well (enough) us-ing words. However, this time, I haven’t been

So, instead, here is my high-school career, in numbers.

Twelve: The year of my graduation.Eleven: The number of my volleyball jersey

freshman and sophomore year. I traded my favorite number, 13, with my best friend be-cause it was also her sports number.

Ten: The number of games I played in when I joined the softball team my senior year.

Nine: The number of days until I graduate.Eight: The number of issues of the Octa-

gon per year, and the number of issues dur-ing which I have been editor-in-chief—even though at one point we were sure there was

going to be only seven.Seven: The number of AP classes I’ve tak-

en.Six: My height, in feet.Five: The number of minutes it took me to

decide that I wanted to join the newspaper staff.

Four: The number of years I have been at SCDS.

Three: The number of years I’ve been on Octagon.

Two: The number of sports I have stepped in for because they needed someone, even

and have never, in my life, run three miles without stopping. I also do not play soccer.

One: The number of times you will be in high school. Make the best of it. Life isn’t a movie where you can go back to high school

A thousand: The number of “thank yous” I owe my friends, teachers and fellow staffers. I will miss you all a million times over.

—Christina Petlowany

Midlife, Primetime, John McCardle, Peean, Lan and B+ are just some of many nicknames I’ve been given since enrolling at Country Day four years ago.

And believe me, I’m doing you a favor by not sharing the rest.

Albeit unsought, obscure and a bit too

to me.Rather, as much as it embarrasses me to

say so, they are me.

It all began with Midlife.During my freshman year, I was given this

name by Charlie Martin, ‘10, for reasons still unknown to me.

When I asked him or other upperclassmen that adopted the name for me (and a lot did and still do), I was always told, “Well, you’re just Midlife.”

The name Primetime (and, yes, that’s the name of a cigar brand) soon followed as Rich-ard Walter, ‘11, thought I shared a shocking resemblance to Optimus Prime from “Trans-formers” (I still don’t see it).

However, not all my nicknames have such a background.

Since I told my friends that “Ian” is a Scot-tish name corresponding to “John” and that my family’s last name was “McCardle” before my ancestor fell off a boat heading to Amer-ica, shaming the family name, I have been called John McCardle.

And let’s not forget about Lan or Peean, thanks to the waitress who misread my name on a restaurant waiting list in Ashland and to the name rhyming game that took place in Mrs. Dias’s summer Pre-Calculus class.

However, the most recent of my “accom-plishments” is B+, which you can see nicely inscribed inside and outside of my locker.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten so openly worried about a B+ in AP Physics C, espe-cially in front of junior Will Wright and se-nior Nick Neal.

Despite all of the meanings behind these nicknames, I have never once considered any of them malicious.

Rather, I see them as the bridges to the people I’ve come to know and love over my high-school years.

—Ian Cardle

C Boys’ baseball: 3-9Girls’ softball: 0-10Boys’ basketball: 3-16

Girls’ basketball: 6-13Country Day might be known for its fantastic

teachers, spectacular Jazz Band, award-winning newspaper or any of its other notable groups, but it is certainly not known for its sports teams.

Though not all our teams are bad—consider girls’ volleyball or boys’ soccer with records of 14-8 and 14-5-2, respectively—most are.

Some of our teams dominate the league while, at the same time, other teams might as well forfeit before they hurt themselves trying to score a point.

But why? Is there just an abundance of natural tal-ent for some sports and not others?

Or is it something deeper?While natural talent might play a small role, it

really boils down to the competitive attitude of the team. The problem is that so many students simply take their athletic life as a joke.

For most schools and most teams (even the small, Div. VII ones), making playoffs is something of which to be proud. Apparently this isn’t the case for Coun-try Day—at least not for all of our teams.

I was astounded when I learned that half the members of the girls’ soccer team were missing their playoff game on May 5 because they had a test the next day or a lot of homework that night. And after digging deeper, I discovered that this was a common mindset for a good number of our athletes.

Athletes need to understand that to join a team is to devote yourself wholeheartedly to everything it demands.

you better start your studying a night early so you can still make the game. You can study at just about any time, but your team needs and expects you for

the two hours it will take to win (or lose). You have to tailor your life to the concrete, pre-

set practice and game times.But, of course, any game-skipping SCDS athlete

who reads this, even if they agree, will only con-tinue as they’ve done, because there’s neither a

their life around their team.Currently, a girl can miss her softball game be-

cause of a test and still start for the next one because the team has only nine players and so has no one else to take her spot.

Well, I say no more. This attitude makes our teams a joke. And teams become even more of a joke as we continue adding more and more, stretching our already limited amount of talent.

If there aren’t enough athletes for a team, or there are barely enough but there’s minimal devotion, cut the team.

For example, if there aren’t enough girls to make a soccer team, cut it.

A portion of the talented athletes who would have played soccer can now shift their attention to soft-

dedicated, less-talented girls out of their comfort-able positions, which will either force them to train harder, (maybe even outside of school), step up their devotion, or quit (in which case they didn’t deserve to start anyway).

And the team will become more competitive; that is, girls’ softball will start winning games. And be-cause the team has become a winning one, more athletes will want to join, only furthering the inter-team competition and stepping up the required de-votion to a new level. This new devotion makes the team win even more, which makes more athletes want to join, and a circle is formed.

You can already see this theory at work with both boys’ soccer and girls’ volleyball. The coaches and athletes take the team seriously, and they win be-cause of it. Because they win, they get a selection of athletes to choose from when picking starters, which just causes them to become that much more com-petitive.

Alternatively, with too many sports options and not enough talent, athletes get spread thin. Instead of our few strong players being concentrated on one team, we get only a few on each and the team be-comes less competitive, which causes students to take it less seriously. Because it’s a non-competitive,

losing team, students begin to miss practices for tests, and their improvement slows. This causes fewer stu-dents to want to join the team, and a circle appears that violently spirals in the opposite direction of the pre-mentioned one.

For more proof, look at boys’ baseball or girls’ softball. Both have malnourished rosters, a number of undedicated players, and losing records.

Of course, this proposal means that there would be a lot fewer sports teams. Even though everyone’s favorite sport won’t be offered, it’s better to have a few winning teams than 30 teams that nearly all lose.

This is exactly why we’ve never had a football

this logic, where only teams that can be competitive are created, seems to have disappeared over the past few years.

Now I’m not saying a team with only a few mem-bers should never exist, but if this is the case, all the athletes need to be dedicated.

There’s something akin to legend in the rowing

Varsity 8, despite having only nine rowers on the team (and you need eight) won youth nationals, beating teams that selected their row-ers from a pool of over 300.

The moral of Pa-

the nine rowers committed to each other and to their team, and they be-came the absolu te best as a result. No one missed practice for a test, and no one t r e a t e d the team like a joke. See Sports, page 14

SCDS: the happiest place on Earth?

Senior’s known by many nicknames

Words can’t describe what numbers can

Goodbye to all that: Mollie, Christina & Ian check out

My Angle

By Zach

Lemos

Bad teams, you’re outta here!

12 Sports The Octagon May 29, 2012

SOFTBALL lost their season ! nale against Valley Christian High School, 13-3, according to assistant coach Alisha Harris. “It was tough to get in a rhythm all season,” Harris said. “It’s al-ways hard not having people at practice, like in all sports.” The Cavs ! nished their season with a disappointing overall record of 0-10.

Sports

Wrap-Ups

Funniest moment?“Donald intercepted the goalie’s throw as he was clearing it. As he fell down, it rolled into the goal.”

Personal lowlight?“When we were playing Justin Siena, a grounder rolled into the goal that I could have easily blocked.”

Best game?”Our second game against Lincoln, be-cause they were a good team and we won.”

Favorite aspect of lacrosse?”The strategic side of the game, decid-ing where to face when people are all around you.”

Most impressive stat?“Only letting one goal in against Bent-ley.”

Sports idol? “Wayne Gretzky.”

Lowlight? “It’s hard to be peppy throughout the whole game, and with softball it’s kind of a mental game, especially with a bunch of girls when the energy is low-er, the game is going to be lower.”

Best advice from your coach? “When I’m pitching and having a bad inning, he will call a time out. And he’ll come out to the mound, and I al-ways think he’s coming to tell me to get my head in the game. But he’ll just ask ‘What do you want for dinner?’ or ‘How was your day today?’ And he’s trying to make you relaxed, and just joke with you.”

Most impressive stat? “I had three or four home runs this season.”

Funniest moment? “My dad (the coach) during practice ripped his pants and couldn’t change because he didn’t have anything to change into.”

Favorite aspect of softball? “Being on offense, when you’re at bat and when you’re running because it’s so strategic.”

Highlight?“The under-the-lights game. I scored

alty kick. We went on to beat Buck-

was 4-2.”

Best advice from your coach?“Keep your head down and shoot for the corners.”

Something most people don’t know about your sport? “The length of time that the goalie has to hold on to the ball while in the pen-alty box. I had no idea that the goalie was only allowed to hold the ball for six seconds.”

Who’s your rival?“Faith Christian.”

Funniest moment?“When Mollie Berg suggested that we all sit down and cry during the playoff game we lost.”

Favorite aspect of soccer?“I love playing defense!”

Highlight?“The highlight for me was seeing the great improvement from our new play-ers like George, Kevin, Ian and Tyler.”

Best round?“Sectionals.”

Most impressive stat?“The team score as a whole. We all re-ally improved.”

Best advice from your coach?“Hit the ball straight.”

Who’s your rival?“Buckingham (Charter).” (Buckingham

The GIRLS’ SOCCER season ended in the ! rst round of the playo" s, after a 4-0 loss to Jim Elliot Christian High School. “It comes back to that numbers thing,” coach George Champayne said. “If we’d had a full team at prac-tice, we could have won it all.” The Cavs’ overall record was 7-3.

LACROSSE ! nished the season with a record of 3-6. ”I’m re-ally proud of this season,” head coach Brooke Wells said. “It was our ! rst season and we could have easily gone 5-4. This was a building year. The team is com-prised of mostly freshmen and sophomores, and I have high expectations for this team in the years to come.”

GOLF ! nished second in the league. Even though they won league the year before, coach Greg Kaighn remained opti-mistic. “It was a great season from everybody’s point of view.” Asked about the drop from ! rst to second, Kaighn said, “The overall talent of our team has not gone down. But the compe-tition has become much better.”

Sports

Sports idol? “Wayne Gretzky.”

Madison Galati

Corvia Jones

Troy Hoddick

Cooper Jackman

To wrap up spring sports, the Octagon chose a player from each team to answer questions about the season.

By Skovran Cunningham,

Morgan Bennett-Smith and

Micaela Bennett-Smith

One-on-one with the Cavs!

13SportsThe Octagon May 29, 2012

TRACK member senior Wei Dai quali! ed for sectionals in the 400-meter category with a 56.94, the only member on the team to make it that far. At the league meet, Dai placed third in the 200 meters and ! rst in the 400 meters, followed by junior Jacob Frankel in second. Junior Logan Win! eld earned second place in the 800 meters and third in the 1600 meters. “I was really proud of this season; we trained hard. Everybody got a little faster,” coach Nick Domich said.

Highlight?

“Throwing a no-hitter against Lutheran.

They only had two base runners and

two walks the whole game— and I had

14 strikeouts.”

Lowlight?

“Losing in the last inning to Bucking-

ham on an error. All we had to do was

front of him.”

Something most people don’t know

about your sport?

“Most people don’t know that if the

Favorite aspect of baseball?

“The mental element because baseball

is one of the sports that you have to

think more.”

Sports idol?

to McClatchy. He doesn’t have a 98

Highlight?

“Singlehandedly bringing the men’s

swim team to 33 out of over 100 teams

at high-school sectionals.”

Lowlight?

“It was really hard recruiting people for

the team.”

Something people don’t know about

swimming?

“(It’s) a sport that should be practiced

to put the effort in.”

Favorite aspect of swimming?

“First off it’s really fun. But it has taught

I have learned time management and

how to work hard.”

Sports idol?

Cielo and Ryan Lochte but aspire to be

Funniest moment?

“When we went up to Golden Sierra

But we still had to play. Before the

match started we were catching the

snow on our tongues.”

Lowlight?

set was 7-5; I won that set. The last set

I got that far.”

Something most people don’t know

about your sport?

it’s actually really strenuous. There is a

lot of quick movements.”

Favorite aspect of tennis?

“I like playing singles because I don’t

self.”

Sports idol?

to have much experience to win. I can

relate to that because I’ve only been

and I’m good for having that much ex-

perience.”

Highlight?

“My proudest moment was running a

Lowlight?

and cold. We were all soaking wet and

freezing.”

Best advice from your coach?

“He doesn’t really give advice; he

sends me videos. But he got me into

cause of Nick.”

Most impressive stat?

year and got a 5:03 and I have been

working on this the whole year. My

best mile time is now 4:55 and I am

very proud of this achievement.”

Who’s your rival?

“Cory Wallace. My goal all season was

to beat him. I trained and trained re-

Sports idol?

“Jim Ryun.”

and I’m good for having that much ex-and I’m good for having that much ex-and I’m good for having that much ex-and I’m good for having that much ex-

perience.”perience.”perience.”perience.”

TENNIS ended the season with a 2-7-1 record. “Ninety percent of the team were freshmen,“ coach Haitham Batarseh said. “But next year we will keep playing, and they will learn more so we can get bet-ter. Then we can attract better athletes too.” Batarseh is optimistic for next year despite this year’s losing record. The top men’s singles player was senior Richard Whitney, who lost in the CIF Sac Joaquin semi-! nals.

The SWIM TEAM (freshman Claire Pinson, senior Adam Pinson and freshman Lauren Larrabee) ended the season after Claire and Adam quali! ed for the ! nals of the CIF Sac-Joaquin section meet, May 10-12. Overall, Country Day ! nished 23rd of the 53 teams who participated. Claire placed 22nd as the women’s team, swimming the 200- and 500-yd. freestyle. Adam placed 23rd as the men’s team. He swam the 200-yd. individual med-ley and 100-yd. butter" y.

BASEBALL ! nished its season with a forfeit victory over Faith Christian. The Cavs were leading 5-2 in the third in-ning when the game was called, due to a lack of Faith Christian players. “We de! nitely ended on a high note. We had a good chance to win that (last) game, and we had a couple good wins against Lutheran in the second half of the sea-son,” coach Chris Millsback said. The Cavs ! nished 3-7 in league.

Morgan Bennett-Smith

Adam Pinson

Caroline Mehta

Wei Dai

14 Remainder The Octagon May 29, 2012

(Continued from page 2)

Cary Kelly: From ballet to Lady Beatrice

We thank The Caves Family

The Bosco Family

The Nichols Family (Case, ‘11)

The Williams Family

The Martin Family

The Berg Family

Freshman Claire Pin-son single-handedly garnered the women’s swimming team 22nd place of 43 teams at sections, May 10-12. She swam the 200- and 500-yd. freestyle.

Alone, senior Adam Pin-son brought the men’s swimming team to 23rd of 37 teams at sections, May 10-12. He par-ticipated in the 200-yd. individual medley and

Suzanne Kyle Design, Inc.

“Jog!”No one moves.“Loopy the Librarian says

jog!”Everyone, including Kelly,

pump their arms and legs in place. Her delicate limbs are graceful, despite the jerky move-ments.

nally, Kelly rings a different bell with a wooden handle, and in a quiet voice says, “Let’s read ‘Something is Growing’ by Wal-ter Lyon Krudup.”

Kelly begins reading the story,

from Madagascar a young boy plants, quietly. Each new char-acter introduced, from Profes-

sor Thornbine to Mrs. Cadogan, sports a different voice.

But Kelly’s characters are not limited purely to the library.

Kelly is also the Cat in the Hat on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, Lady Beatrice Teaselpaw at the Book Bonanza, Captain Bravebuildge of the Rusty Hall on Talk Like a Pirate Day, Claudde Strawbot-tom the Scarecrow at the Har-vest Festival, Mrs. Runnselbell Farthing at the third-grade Colo-nial Market Day, and Lady Car-rion Poultry at the Renaissance Faire, to name a few.

“Being different characters is fun, helps sells books, literature and the library,” Kelly said. “It just seemed natural because of

my theatrical background.”When Kelly, back in her role

she talks about its moral.“Remember when the boy

whispered to the seed, ‘Please grow,’?” Kelly asks them, “What do you think that means?”

The second graders shift in their arena seating.

“It means if someone encour-ages you, you’re going to grow

Then she pulls out a small box that houses one marble-sized green seed labeled “Gigantus

car.”“Let’s plant it!” Kelly ex-

claims.The class leaves the Story Cor-

room. On a table is a green

hands the seed to a boy, and he plants it.

“Now all you need to do is walk by and occasionally whis-per, ‘Please grow,’ to it,” Kelly said.

“I promise it will.”

After 28 years Kelly will retire in June. She plans to spend a month in Paris with her husband and many nights staying up late to read. Second-grade teacher Sue Ryan will replace Kelly.

becoming even more clamorous.And accompanying the adoration is the

tapping of heels on hot concrete. “Woah, watch that hand!” a man in the

audience yells at two parents waltzing to the tunes.

Throughout all this, Ratcliff stands next to the band, swinging his arms and rocking his head back and forth.

When the song concludes, Whitney takes the mic.

“Seven minutes left,” he says, referring to the time by which the parents need to be under the large tent for the dinner segment of the auction and even more music from the Jazz Band. “Seven minutes left, folks!”

Like Jackman and Samson, Whitney too has been on the high-school Jazz Band for

four years; however, his reasons for playing the trumpet are closer to home.

His father played during middle school,

Whitney began to play around with his fa-ther’s old trumpet and thought it would be fun to pursue it further.

And while he also participated in Con-cert Band throughout high school, he has always preferred jazz, as “the level of mu-sicianship is higher.”

With Whitney as the lead singer, the band then performs “The Heart of Rock and Roll”—the last planned song before moving under the tent.

And as the keyboard, drums and guitars form the powerful rhythm for the wind instruments, people applaud at the brief

mention of Sac-ramento during the song.

At the cli-max of the performance, parents and faculty remain planted in their positions, their eyes and ears still honed in on the musi-cians.

So the Jazz Band gives them what they want: another song.

So if we’re going to have a small team, be it boys’ baseball or girls’ basketball, the members need to be fully committed. They need to come together and become com-petitive as a team, or be cut.

And, largely, these commitment issues come from a student’s ability to gain P.E. credit for “participating” in a sport. This draws uncommitted athletes to understaffed teams like softball. They miss practice and, when they do show up, their performance is dreadful and the team only becomes that much more of a joke.

As Jason Kreps does for ski and snow-board, coaches need to set up strict require-ments for athletes who want P.E. credit for their participation in a sport.

Missing games and practices without good reason (good reason being that your grand-mother died, not that you have a test tomor-row) is unacceptable, and any student doing so should forfeit both their right to play and P.E. credit.

Alternatively, P.E. needs to be made more available, possibly offered before and after school so students who don’t want to be on a sports team—but can’t afford to give up the elective slot—aren’t forced to waste the time of the coaches and players whose teams they reluctantly join.

There’s also the idea that “everyone should participate, everyone is valuable,” and that was a cute notion up until about sixth grade.

But in the real world, or even at another high school, or on any real sports team, it’s simply untrue. If you’re not talented, no one wants you. To lead students into thinking the alternative is simply unfair.

Country Day is a school that prepares its

students for college and the life beyond it, and no employer is ever going to say, “Even though he loses us money, he tries real hard so we’ll keep him around.” In college, no coach is going to keep an athlete who can’t play and isn’t dedicated.

We can still advertise having “no cuts,” but less-talented students will have to work hard if they want to play.

But this is good. They will build their work ethic and learn how to really want some-thing as only an athlete can, and, ultimately, come out better for it.

And, unfortunately, some people just aren’t cut out to be athletes and won’t play no matter how hard they work. They need to be realistic and go join another extracur-ricular, such as Octagon or Student Council. Maybe they’ll excel at those.

Currently, however, many of our sports

the school seem easy and pathetic and, in the process, scare off middle-schoolers who are considering matriculation.

In this time of low enrollment, competitive sports teams would make Country Day that much more appealing to outsiders. Why not at least try to make our school’s athletics on par with our academics?

Jazz Band: Seniors end year on high note, place second at Reno festival(Continued from page 3)

Sports: More teams, fewer wins

Librarian Cary Kelly in Ballet West’s The Nut-cracker in 1975. (Photo courtesy of Kelly)

“Missing games and practices without good reason (good rea-son being that your grandmoth-er died, not that you have a test tomorrow) is unacceptable.”

Juniors Elise DeCarli and Gerardo Vergara swing dance to “Jump Jive An’ Wail.” (Photo by Ian Cardle)

(Continued from page 11)

15CommunityThe Octagon May 29, 2012

Just after noon high-school students settle

down for lunch, sitting in the garden, in

the quad, or buying sodas at the vending

machine.

All the while, a green man with purple

sunglasses stares down at them as they pass,

And the letters B, C, D and E stand alone,

as the “A” is nowhere to be seen.

These are elements from the three murals

at Country Day, all known for their ambigu-

ous messages and perplexing images.

“Ever since I was 4 years old I wondered

what was the story behind (the murals),” se-

nior Mayuri Sadhasivan said. “What do the

letters stand for?”

The National Art Honor Society (NAHS),

which included Schuyler Ellers, ‘96, and Jes-

sica Kreig, ‘96, started the trend of painting

on school walls during the spring of 1993.

weight room, followed the creation of the

Chalk Mural done every year by the NAHS.

The theme that year was Picasso.

Ellers and Kreig decided to make another

mural as their senior project (the larger one

on the side of the gym) during the spring of

1996.

And so the creative process began.

According to Ellers, he and Kreig were

inspired by artists like Jasper Johns, Robert

Rauschenberg, Kurt Schwitters and Man Ray,

who were all associated with Dada.

“Dada was formed by a group of artists

celebrating the absurd and the non-art as

art,” Kreig said.

Because of its element of surprise, ran-

domness and juxtapositions,

Dadaism is usually categorized

under surreal art.

“Can I say that for us Dada bordered on

obsession?” Ellers said. “We held elaborate

initiation rituals for the NAHS involving Da-

daist poetry, sound and performance. We

loved collages.”

According to Ellers, one day he and Kreig

used all the photographs, paintings, draw-

ings and graphics that they had been collect-

ing over the years to create a collage.

They used the “exquisite corpse” method

to string all the artwork together.

Basically one person starts drawing an

image. They cover up what they had drawn

and the next person adds to the composi-

tion without

k n o w i n g

person drew.

The result:

the design on

the gym wall.

“The mural

is about frag-

ments, bits

and pieces

coming to-

gether to

make a whole, inexplicable juxtaposition

and quizzical connections,” Ellers said.

“In a nutshell, it’s meant to be weird.”

So, for those who thought that the letters

B, C, D and E had some special meaning,

they don’t.

“(It) doesn’t stand for “Better Country Day

Education” or something like that,” Ellers

said. “It hangs in space as a fragment, like

the letters and numbers in Jasper Johns paint-

ings, or the letters in Picasso’s “Still Life with

Wicker Chair.”

Ellers said that he got the idea of the red

stripes from the inside of an airmail enve-

lope, while an upside-down hat came from a

vintage fashion magazine.

“The eye is from a computer printout of

photos I had taken with a primitive webcam

(it was 1996 after all),” Ellers said.

A year later, Sunny Seegmiller, ‘97, added

the green man with purple sunglasses.

According to former art teacher Kay Sch-

weizer, the headmaster at the time (Dan

White) was very excited about the “beauti-

Lenora Yerkes, ’99, was a freshman when

Ellers and Kreig painted their second mu-

ral.

Yerkes was so inspired by their work

that she painted another during her senior

year, which can be seen next to teacher Jane

Bauman’s room (21).

Yerkes explained that when Ellers and

Kreig were working on their mural, she

asked them what exactly it was.

They responded, “It’s your head.”

“I realized at that point that the mural

meant nothing,” Yerkes said. “It was just ran-

dom images.”

Yerkes used this idea in her own mural.

“It’s truly valuable, though, because really

the viewer brings their own meaning to the

piece of art,” she said.

Yerkes’s mural is

comprised of a boy

and a bird bath as

well as a giant, color-

ful parrot with a city

scene as the back-

ground.

“I think it was ac-

tually a picture that

I found in National

Geographic of a

9-year-old boy lean-

ing over to tie his

shoe,” she said.

The mural took three weeks and two doz-

en quarts of latex house paint.

And those paints created the lasting im-

pression the murals have had on the school.

“Knowing the mural is still there and caus-

ing students to question its meaning is won-

derful!” Kreig said. “It makes me feel like a

small piece of who I am still resonates on

campus just as my experiences at Country

Ellers, Kreig and Yerkes all carried on

their art careers after high school.

Ellers earned a degree in Digital

Art at Columbia University in New

York City and is currently designing

fashion.

His creations include colorful crocheted

pants for men, made from vintage blankets.

Kreig graduated from UC San Diego and

the Academy of the Arts in San Francisco.

She has been working in the animation in-

dustry for nine years in Los Angeles.

She recently worked on art for a new at-

traction in Walt Disney World. called “Sor-

cerers of the Magic Kingdom” as well as the

Disney Cruise Line and Aulani Hotel.

Yerkes graduated from Whitman College

in Washington state and got a degree from

the California College of the Arts.

She then moved to Washington, D.C., and

graduated from Georgetown Law School.

In the last year she has been involved in

group exhibitions in Washington.

“I do mostly small paintings—actually,

very small paintings,” she said. “They are

Her mural may be much bigger, but it, too,

And Schweizer says that really shouldn’t

matter.

“Those who spend time with any image

will see something that speaks to them,” she

said. “But if they are looking for meaning, as

Picasso said, ‘they are bark-

ing up the wrong

tree.’”

Graphics Editor

Madison Galati“

My senior project is to raise money for a small town in

Italy (called) Vernazza. I’m making Italian food all by

myself and serving three lunch-

es to the high school for a fee.

Last summer I got to go (to Ver-

nazza) and I really made good

friends with the kids there. So

when I was told that the town

I was devastated.”

Trevor Sutley“

I’m going to be designing an SCDS iPhone App. Colleges

have iPhone apps, and I want to make one for SCDS that

follows the same idea. It will be

a mobile SCDS website, one that

updates you about what’s go-

ing on at our school. If there’s

a sports game at 4 p.m., or if it

happens to be the 100th day of

school, the app will update you

on it. It’s like a morning meeting

on your phone.”

Grace Mehta“

My project is to make my own clothing line. My grandma

sews, and I’ve always been interested in learning to as

well. I’ve always been interested

in fashion and in art, and this

project allows me to combine

the two and spend time with my

grandma in the process.”

The mystery behind the mural

What’s the secret of your senior project?

DADA, “EXQUISITE CORPSE” METHOD MAKE UP THE ART ON THE WALL

Schuyler Ellers, ‘96, and Jessica Kreig, ‘96, relax in front of the school mural during their senior year. (Photo courtesy of Kreig)

(Photo by Kelsi Thomas)

By Kamira PatelGraphics Editor

“I realized at that

point that the mu-

ral meant nothing.

It was just random

images.”

—Lenora Yerkes, ‘99

It was getting late, but he had

UCLA.

Angeles.

alumnus said.

he said.

students.

By Shaun Shah

16Feature The Octagon May 29, 2012

Side effects may include...A’s?

The Octagon